I don’t like doing this, but last week I went to three food stores on the same day.  I had intended to split them up, but sick kids at home limited my chances to get out.

I was at Stop & Shop first.  The cheese ($5 total for three packages) and potatoes were on particularly good sales.  The Parmesan and margarine were not so this is to stay afloat until the next sale.

We went to Wegman’s next.  This week’s coupon was for seafood so we got some nice tuna steaks.  The cheese is just good.  And, I picked up a few other items that are regularly priced better there.

Finally, we were in need of a trip to BJs.  Obviously we got a lot of milk.  We’re also gearing up for sports season so I got pre-sliced apples for soccer snack next week and some Gatorades for when we have to go directly from one sport to another.

Unfortunately, now that the spring schedules are rolling in, its become apparent that we’re going to have rather few family dinners for a few weeks – none this week.  And, I didn’t figure this out until it was too late to produce leftovers.  I need to dig up a few more kid specific / adult specific fast meals.

Saturday:
Kids: Macaroni & cheese
     Adults: Homemade pizza

Sunday:
Tacos

Monday:
Kids: Hot dogs
     Adults: Reubens

Tuesday:
Kids: Turkey dinner
     Adults: Homemade pizza

Wednesday:
Asiago chicken

Thursday:
Chicken chili

Friday:
Kids: Eggs
Adults: Homemade pizza

Shopping went well the past month.  I’m starting the transition from winter to summer foods – ie less oven and no school lunches – earlier this year as last year I had stuff that basically sat around all summer until fall came again.  I’m trying to work down the pantry and be a bit smarter about those things.  As such, the grocery bill has been nicely low.

• March TOTAL: $722.12
  • Stop & Shop: $80.37
  • BJs: $329.66
  • Other: $312.09
    • Local: $45.87
    • Wegman’s: $141.73
    • Star Market: $61.96
    • Trader Joe’s: $21.89
    • Target: $28.65
    • Other: $11.99

(I’d like to say the local purchase was all produce, but its not.  It is still consistently below freezing here with heavy snow cover.  $30 of this was the birthday cake.)

Sickness is still afflicting our house, but now it’s a cold so that’s not so bad.  But, you’ll see some dinners that didn’t get made last week and I’m pretty sure not everything listed will get made this week.  So, there might be a few that reappear next week.

Saturday
Chili
     Corn muffins

Sunday:
Leg of lamb
     Baked potato
     Green beans
     Corn

Monday:
Tuna
     Red potatoes
     Peas

Tuesday:
Nacho chicken
     Rice
     Broccoli

Wednesday:
Kids: Leftover steak and lamb, gravy, carrots
     Adults: Homemade pizza

Thursday:
Tacos

Friday:
Kids: Eggs
Adults: Homemade pizza

The menu is in flux this week as we have many sick folks.  The stomach bug has been ravaging our area.  So, I’m including the plan, but you may see something pop up again next week because we don’t get to it this week.  And, the front end of the week is very basic since I know there are sick folks.  Hopefully they’ll be well in a few more days.

I did make it to BJs without any kids in tow to get supplies for this weekend as we had company.  As it turned out we didn’t use it all with the sickness, so some will be used later in the week and some will be frozen.

As for the snow, its not gone.  I’d say we have just under a foot left on unpaved surfaces.  To add insult to injury we got an inch of snow on Saturday and woke up to flurries and accompanying cold and wind today.  It does not feel like spring.  Here’s the bench and tree you’ve seen before.

The last time we had rain the snow depth went from seat high to this (minus the fresh inch).  We’re due for more rain at the end of the week so maybe some more will depart.  Though, what is left is very, very solid.

As for the menu:

Saturday
Kids: Chicken nuggets (for those who are not sick)
     Adults: Homemade pizza

Sunday:
BBQ chicken
     Pasta salad
     Tossed salad

Monday:
Kids: Macaroni & cheese (for those who are not sick)
     Adults: Tuna noodle casserole

Tuesday:
Tacos

Wednesday:
Ham
     Sweet potato
     Green beans
     Raisin sauce
     Egg bread

Thursday:
Chili
     Corn muffins

Friday:
Kids: Eggs
Adults: Homemade pizza

The menu really isn’t interesting this week.  We will have no family dinners until next Sunday as one adult or another will be out.  All good reasons – business dinner, social event, haircut (yes, I do those in the evenings so as not to have to bring a toddler with me), and Little League meeting.  We also have our standard Friday eggs/homemade pizza night and baseball Saturday evening which runs during dinnertime.

As such, I have only a small shopping trip to show, but one very heavy on produce.

What also worked out very well is that I needed to spend $26.50 (after sales, but before coupons) to be able to use all my coupons and this came to $26.54.  Can’t do much better than that!  Total after coupons was $23.93.

Saturday
Kids: Macaroni & cheese
     Adults: Homemade pizza

Sunday:
Chicken & dumplings

Monday:
Chicken strips
     Green beans

Tuesday:
Take out pizza

Wednesday:
Kids: Shrimp, broccoli
     Adults: Take out pizza (different place)

Thursday:
Chicken nuggets
     Carrots

Friday:
Kids: Eggs
Adults: Homemade pizza

We decided we were tired of winter and would BBQ this week.  Of course, that day ended up being snowy, but we persevered and had our first BBQ of the season Sunday.  The chickens and packs of ribs in the BJs photo are for that.

We’re also hosting a birthday party next weekend so I’ve started accumulating the necessary items including the drinks in the Wegman’s photo.

But, we also have many nights when an adult is away this week and next so the week itself is a hodge podge.

Saturday
Kids: Leftover braised pork
     Adults: Homemade pizza

Sunday:
BBQ chicken
     BBQ ribs
     Baked beans
     Cinnamon apples
     Biscuits
     Salad
     Grapes

Monday:
Kids: Macaroni & cheese
     Adults: Chinese take-out (we ended up eating in last week)

Tuesday:
Take out pizza

Wednesday:
BBQ leftovers

Thursday:
Shepard’s pie
     Green beans

Friday:
Kids: Eggs
Adults: Homemade pizza

Things are getting back to normal, though this will be our first full week of school in a long time (assuming we make it with no snow).  We have a few evening events this week that will affect dinner, but that’s normal too.  The temperature is in the mid 40s which is good for melting.  All in all I can’t complain.

Here’s what I got at Stop & Shop last week.  Most items were on sale.  The best purchase was the ice cream for $0.74.  The chicken was more than 50% off.  The paper wrapped item is cod, our fish for that week.

Saturday
Kids: Eggs
     Adults: Homemade pizza

Sunday:
Braised pork
     Mashed potatoes
     Carrots

Monday:
Chicken pot pie
     Green beans

Tuesday:
Chinese take-out

Wednesday:
Tuna steaks
     Baked potato
     Brussels sprouts

Thursday:
Kids: Chicken nuggets
     Adults: Steak, potato pancake, salad

Friday:
Kids: Eggs
Adults: Homemade pizza

First, the update on February’s grocery spending.  It was excellent.  Now, I must attribute some of that to the snow.  While I did generally get to the store once a week, it was hit or miss.  We didn’t get out of the house as much as usual which meant we were eating through what we had.

• February TOTAL: $680.50
  • Stop & Shop: $167.01
  • BJs: $229.59
  • Other: $283.90
    • Local: $66.21*
    • Wegman’s: $118.67
    • Star Market: $85.28
    • Trader Joe’s: $6.57
    • Target: $7.17

*Usually, local means local food.  In this case it means sold by a local business (and elementary school fundraiser) since, well, its winter and there isn’t much food growing around here right now.

While we’re still getting snow on what seems like a daily basis, the volumes are much less so things are returning somewhat to normal.  At some point I’ll have to restock our groceries, but I’m not in a rush.  Here’s what I did get at BJ’s last week.  Note that the meat is all for this week so there really isn’t anything I would call stocking up here.

Saturday
Kids: Leftovers
     Adults: Homemade macaroni & cheese

Sunday:
Beef & broccoli stir fry
Rice

Monday:
Kids: Eggs
     Adults: Homemade pizza

Tuesday:
Chicken soup
     Corn muffins

Wednesday:
Cod
     Peas
     Sweet potatoes

Thursday:
Asiago chicken

Friday:
Kids: Chicken nuggets
Adults: Homemade pizza