I’m not quite back in the swing of things.  I’ve been feeling like I’ve been grocery shopping every day for a while now – mostly for lack of planning.  At the beginning of the week, I thought I had gotten past this phase.  But, then we ran out of milk, so a forth trip was required.

On Monday I went to BJs.  The baby is phasing from Puffs to Cherrios.  The two round containers are banana chips (left) and shrimp (right).  It’s a bit odd that they look so much alike.  The paper wrapper is cod, which went into last week’s fish stew with the shrimp.  The dark chocolate chips were to make a peanut butter pie.  It came out well, and tastes exactly like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.  But, that’s a bit much in a pie.  I also got 8 gallons of milk and two 24-packs of Gatorade that didn’t make the picture.

Tuesday I went to Stop & Shop.  Most of this was on sale.  Though, the trip was driven by the yogurt which I had forgotten that I needed to make banana bread with my seconds bananas purchased last week.

Friday I went back to Stop & Shop to prep for the weekend.  Ground turkey was on sale.  Soup was on sale for 50¢ each if you bought 12.

I also went to the farm stand.  The raspberries and tomatoes are local.  The others not so much.

Then, despite buying 8 gallons of milk on Monday, we were out.  So, I went back to Wegman’s on Saturday and picked up a few other items as well.  This time I took a picture of the milk before I took it out of the car.

This is our first week with a full slate of fall activities.  So, its a bit of a trial run.

Saturday:
Hamburgers

Sunday:
Indian Take-out

Monday:
Spaghetti

Tuesday:
I’m going out so they’ll have take-out pizza.

Wednesday:
Tacos

Thursday:
Kids: ???, but it will be fast
Adults: ???, we’ll see how the week goes

Friday:
Kids: Eggs
Adults: Homemade pizza

Yes, today’s Tuesday.  But, yesterday was a holiday.  I also should be including our August numbers in this post, but I haven’t found the box with the receipts in it yet.  Since the older boys have a real week of school this week (yes Monday is a holiday, but last week was 2 holidays, 2 half days, and only 1 full day so it hardly counts) and the preschooler starts this week (with a similar warm-up period), I should have time to find it this month and get that info out to you.

Tuesday was the first day of school so I went to Target & BJs with only two in tow.  I didn’t take a picture of the grape juice (6) I got at Target.  I had to put the perishables from BJs away quickly so I didn’t get a picture of them either, but here’s the non-perishables.

Wednesday I went to Stop & Shop.  Granola bars & Oreos were on sale; the rest is for this week and restocking.

I also went to the farm stand.  The paper bag is full of seconds bananas.  I took them out so you could see how many I got for $1.50.  They’re pretty uniformly in ok shape.  Sometimes the bag is more mixed with more that are good for eating.  These will all be used for baking.

The apples aren’t local yet; hopefully soon.  Everything else is.

And, the meal plan.  Evening activities kick off again this week so you’ll start to see the split dinners reappear.

Saturday:
Tenderloin steaks
Creamed spinach
Baked potato
Salad

Sunday:
Shepards pie
Green & wax beans

Monday:
California fish stew
Bread

Tuesday:
Asiago chicken
Salad

Wednesday:
Beef & Broccoli stir fry

Thursday:
Kids: Macaroni & cheese
Adults: tuna noodle casserole

Friday:
Kids: Eggs
Adults: Homemade pizza

First week of school!  I’m trying to keep things simple.  Groceries first.

I had intended to go to BJs on Tuesday, but a spontaneous park play date took up that time.  So, I went to Shaw’s instead.  I got a gallon of milk (expensive here so that’s why there’s not more), apples, goldfish, and my usual Shaw’s items – oatmeal, pizza dough, and pizza cheese.

In the afternoon, I went to the Farmer’s Market.  It’s my first trip of the year, which is much later than usual.  I don’t always go much at the beginning because its mainly greens.  Then we were moving so I was paring down and not cooking as much.  Last week it rained; this was desperately needed so I won’t complain.

Everything here is local and I was happy to see the apples because Shaw’s hadn’t had Macintosh.

I made it to BJ’s on Wednesday.  I got 8 gallons of milk, along with the items shown.  I don’t actually need this much jelly, but it was free with the peanut butter purchase and it will keep.

I’m still working through the holes created as I used up but didn’t restock before moving.  So, Thursday’s trip to Wegman’s was motivated by a lack of Chili Powder.  If I’d realized this earlier I would have picked that up at BJ’s.  I also used up our Red Wine Vinegar before moving.  The other items are for regular use.

Saturday we were at Wegman’s again (this was planned during the previous visit) to get a roast to BBQ.  We also started to restock the school supplies – craisins and granola bars.  With this were 12 gallons of milk (1 was left from the 8 purchased Wednesday at BJs).

Now for the meal plan.

Saturday:
Beef roast
Carrots
Mashed potatoes
Salad
Gravy

Sunday:
The new dishwasher has failed so in an attempt to not generate too many dishes I opted for take out pizza.

Monday:
Chicken pot pie
Broccoli

Tuesday:
I’m going out so we have leftover chicken pot pie.

Wednesday:
Shepard’s pie
Green & wax beans

Thursday:
Asiago chicken

Friday:
Kids: Eggs
Adults: Homemade pizza

This past week I finally got back to restocking.  But, I was still stuck with extra small grocery runs as we chose what to eat (that wasn’t take out).

On Monday I went to Wegman’s.  I actually bought a dozen milks, but this was all that fit in a single location in the car.  The rest were scattered and therefore didn’t make the picture.  I did some restocking – ketchup, cereal, granola bars, etc; bought some produce for the first time in what seemed like forever; and bought a few easy lunches- chicken salad & mac n cheese.

I also went to the farm stand for more produce.  Everything is local except the peaches, which are from Pennsylvania.  I recall hearing that we had a bad freeze or such that damaged the fruit trees in New England this past winter so we may not get local peaches this year.  These were good though, better than standard grocery store fare.

On Wednesday, I went to Stop & Shop.  With the exception of bananas and pepperoni, these are things I can’t get at Wegman’s.  Either they don’t have the brand I prefer or I prefer the Stop & Shop version.

Once we knew the weekend weather was going to hold, we decided to BBQ.  We got steaks at Wegman’s (no picture).  I went back to Stop & Shop for a few sides.

Now, I admit I don’t have this whole week planned out.  We’ve got a couple of weeks here with few evening activities so I’m trying to make the most of it.  But, I still don’t have everything I usually have available at home.  And, the kids are still off school so I have to balance my desire to shop with them vs my desire to plan interesting menus.  There wasn’t anything in this week’s sale flyers that interested me.

Saturday:
We all went to the minor league baseball game.  Most people had hotdogs.

Sunday:
Rib-eye steaks
Pan fried potatoes
Carrots
Salad

Monday (boys’ have last summer golf lesson in the evening):
Kids: Eggs
Adults: Homemade pizza

Tuesday:
Tacos

Wednesday:
TBD

Thursday:
TBD

Friday:
Kids: Eggs
Adults: Homemade pizza