Weekly Shopping Trip

This weekend was my son's 4th birthday party. Alas- I forgot to take pictures of my shopping trips, but it was more than my usual budget: $119 at Kroger and $26 at the health food store. We sent the kids home with paper sacks full of raisins, Annie's Organic Bunnies, and fruit juice.

I pretty much bough everything pre-made and ready to pop in the oven. The cake and cupcakes were fabulous, made by my friend who has her own homegrown Bridget's Bake Shop. We spent another $50 on wings from Buffalo Wild Wings and $50 for the cake and cupcakes. We fed 40 adults and kids, and had a great time.

Now, of course, it's time to get back on the horse! This week we'll be eating a lot of bean dishes and need to use of the leftover veggies and fruit.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday: Whole Wheat Pasta with Roasted Red Peppers

Tuesday: Spanish Rice with Black Beans

Wednesday: Falafel, Cucumbers, Oven-Roasted Cauliflower

Thursday: Homemade Pizza with Cheese and Peppers

Friday: Slow Cooker Pot Roast with Balsamic Onions

Saturday: birthday party for my son, party leftovers for dinner

Sunday: hunt and peck, leftovers. Cinnamon Rolls for Breakfast

Breakfasts continue to be Green Monster or Spinach and Fruit Smoothies

For more menu plans, try here!

Shopping Trips

This week's Kroger trip: $74.71 in food. $8 of that was for juice boxes for birthday party attendees. I otherwise never buy them. (Also spent $15 in plastic cups, paper treat bags, baby wipes, and a birthday gift for my son's birthday next weekend.) I got two 40-count Comforts Wipes for $0.40 each with coupons.

My main frugal food strategy is cooking from scratch and using vegetarian meals several times a week.

CVS trip for this week: Paid $1.35 out of pocket, used $8 in ECBs, and got $5.75 in ECBs back.

Planning on going back to get 8 Aquafresh for Kids toothpastes. It will cost $7.54 out of pocket with coupons. I will use my $5.75 in ECBs, and actually pay  $1.69 out of pocket and get $5 ECBs back. I will have to stretch this transaction between 2-3 different stores, so I am not cleaning out the shelves.

These peppers were a gift from Mom. She found them marked down at Meijer today. She got 12 peppers and spent $6. We are making a double batch of Roasted Red Pepper Pasts tomorrow night and the rest of the peppers will be frozen for later use.

CVS trip from last week: Blink tears and 2 Colgate Max toothpastes: Paid $6.96 out of pocket, used $8.99 in ECBs, got $8 in ECBs back.

Walgreens trip: Paid $6 out of pocket for U by Kotex tampons, got $6 back in Register Rewards. Got Youth Code Gel Facial Wash for 25% off.

Walmart: I was able to score three FREE Reach dental flosses. I have 17 coupons left, and will be hitting both Target and Walmart, as they regularly have Reach for $0.99, making them free with $1 coupons.

Green WHAT?

What do you get when you combine fresh spinach, a banana, peanut butter, and unsweetened almond milk...

...and spin it around in a food processor for a few minutes?

Why, a delicious and healthy Green Monster Smoothie!

I admit, the color is off-putting. I wasn't sure if I had the cojones to try it. I really didn't believe that you couldn't taste the spinach.

Trust me- you can't taste it. All I can taste is peanut butter and banana. It's quite good, and hey- you're getting your green leafies, right?

This is now my breakfast 3-4 mornings a week.

Menu Plan Monday

Sunday: Spanish Rice and Beans

Monday: Baked Homemade Chicken Nuggets (going to experiment with butternut squash puree in the mix), Baked French Fries, asparagus, pineapple

Tuesday: Skinny Baked Broccoli Mac and Cheese

Wednesday: Zucchini Burgers, Cauliflower with Fennel and Garlic

Thursday: Whole Wheat Pasta with Mushroom, Yellow Squash, and Onions

Friday: Homemade Whole Wheat Pizza with Onions

Saturday: Anniversary Dinner- still finalizing plans!

Breakfasts: Oatmeal with Walnuts and Raisins or Green Monster Smoothies

Lunches: leftover rice and beans or mac n cheese

Weekly Shopping Trips

Dorothy Lane Trip: $64. Yep, this is all we need for the week! Add to this $3.50 for some Hartzler Dairy milk we picked up yesterday, and out total is $67.50 for the week. The eggs, milk for baby, and all the veggies were organic!

CVS trip: Blink tears were $8.99 on sale, and you get $8.99 back in ECBs until today. (Tomorrow the sale is the same, but you only get $3 back.) I had $6 in ECBs, so I paid $3.19 out of pocket and got $8.99 back.

Tomorrow, I will hit up CVS for some FREE Colgate toothpaste and another box of Blink tears. I'll also hit a couple Walgreens for FREE U BY Kotex Tampons.

Organized Home: Project #1

I've been working on clearing out the clutter, and finding a home for everything in our house the past month or so. I've decided to see what I have, what I need, and am using the FlyLady's method of the 27-Fling Boogie; grabbing a box, and throwing 27 things in that box once a week to go to Goodwill. I've been hitting the kitchen hard this month.

I decided to start with a simple refrigerator redo.

This is the before picture- cluttered mess!

 I had bookmarked this school paper organization project at Transforming Home some time back. It was quite easy. I went to Office Max and bought exactly the same things she used. The only exception is the color of the files. Mine match my cranberry and white kitchen. I have a file for each family member, including the two adults.

I decided to purchase a vinyl chalkboard sticker to go on the left side of our fridge. I bought it in the ChalkAllAboutIt Etsy shop.  I have a chalkboard pen to use on it. It wipes off with a damp cloth easily. My husband agrees it helps to see at a glance, as we're going out the door, what chores, appointments, and classes we have, and what we are having for dinner.