There’s no way to deny it; I did a lot of grocery shopping this week.

On Tuesday, I went to Shaw’s, Stop & Shop, Target, and the farm stand.  This was the second to last day of preschool before the holidays so I was trying to get done as much as possible without extra people in tow.  (The last day of preschool I went to the mall!)

The only reason I was going to Shaw’s again so soon is that they had no oatmeal last week, we’re out, and its on sale until the end of this month.  I also bought one ball of pizza dough to use this week.

I got a rather random set of items at Stop & Shop.  Everything except the cheese was on sale.  Pam gave $5 off for buying 8.  Since they’ll keep, I did.  I also got 4 gallons of milk that didn’t make the picture.

I had a return to do at Target, so I got a few items there also.  Juice was on sale.  I’ve been working on a new price book (more on that in a later post) so I now know that Target has the lowest prices on single serve raisin boxes.  Green sugar has been hard to find; the eyeballs just looked fun.

Finally, I went to the farm stand to order the turkey and pick up a few items.  The brownies were seconds, as were the peppers.  We ate one loaf of gingerbread for dessert that night; I put the other in the freezer.  The green beans went with the Shepard’s pie on Saturday.  Much of the broccoli, the red pepper, and the scallions went with the dumplings on Sunday.

Now for the meal plan.  I’m going to cover next weekend also since I don’t expect to be posting much mid-Christmas holidays.  I’ll also finish up this week’s shopping below because it will make more sense after you see the Christmas weekend menus.

Saturday:
Shepard’s pie
Green beans

Sunday:
Pork pan-fried dumplings
Soy dipping sauce
Broccoli stir fry
Brown rice

Monday – Friday:
Hit or miss, but easy, as I gear up for next weekend

Christmas Eve:
Beef roast
Carrots
Twice baked potatoes
Sausage stuffing

Christmas Day:
Turkey
Mashed potatoes
Gravy
Stuffing
Roasted buttercup squash with tahini sauce and pomegranate
Green beans
Brussels sprouts
Cranberry sauce

Boxing Day:
Salmon Wellington
Dill sauce
Pan fried potatoes
(we’re having guests who will choose & bring other items)

Desserts being made this week:
Gingerbread cookies
Sugar cookies
Creme brulee (CE)
Pumpkin pie (CD)
Pecan pie (CD)
Key lime pie (CD)

Now to continue the shopping pictures.

On Saturday, I had to pick up cakes for Sunday’s birthday party so I got organized and did the Christmas shopping at Stop & Shop.  Coke was on sale for a better price than BJs, but you had to buy 4.  The grape juice is on sale for the holidays so I bought enough to last a while.  Peas were on sale.  The roasts were on sale and even though we won’t eat them this week, it was too good to pass up.  The New York strip roasts were $3.99/lb ($10.99 usually) and the boneless leg of lamb was $4.99/lb.  I put all three in the freezer for another time.  Spending just over $160 in one shopping trip got me 600 extra gas points, or 60¢/gallon off.