Came home to a great dinner......and was pleased that SO and I talked so he did not go grocery shopping and duplicate what was already in the house that he needed! He operates like a typical guy....if it is not immediately in his face when he opens a cabinet, right at eye level.....then we must not have any!!!

He and his son decided that chicken jambalaya was the meal of choice. Lots of diced tomatoes, chicken, rice, leftover veggies and tons of seasoning......and they all enjoyed it tremendously. When I got home he informed me it was a hit, everyone had 2 huge bowls full.(when asked, all of them including SO will say the meals are good. I know when seconds are taken that they love it.)

It was so popular that I had it for lunch Monday, all of them did too, SO had it for dinner, and we both have lunch for today as well.....all with what was in the house, cost was well under $5 for about a dozen servings.....love those chicken sales where the boneless skinless breast is 99 cents a pound!

Picked up a huge container of quick oats and am going to start with oatmeal as a tummy filler while on the afternoon shift, figuring a good way to start the day. When I am back on the early am shift, it will be Krogers carb yogurt(60 calories/9g protein) mixed with a half cup of low cal granola.....thinking that I can experiment and make my own granola, so if anyone has a recipe they would like to share, please let me know


Right now just putting budgets into place for the year to keep the costs in check and the plan is to watch the sale papers and use the loss leaders to be the menu plans. Will also be reorganizing the chest freezer and regular freezer so SO can easily see where everything is at so we avoid extra shopping trips that are not needed.

BL: Sounds like you have a "family favorite" type of dish, in that jambalaya!

I shopped at the regular grocery store (not the ethnic store) yesterday to pick up bread ($1.29), whole milk ($3.29), 2 bottles of 7Up ($1.10@), hot cheetos for DD ($2.49), frozen garlic toast ($1.84), 6 bananas ($1.48; $.69/lb), oranges ($1.60; $.50/lb), and ground beef ($3.29; $2.99/lb). Total spent: $17.48

(Also bought 2 bags of cat food; $10.59@ plus $2.05 sales tax)

I had bought just over 1 lb. ground beef - the smallest package they had. Added to it: onions, celery, carrots, tomato, green peas and corn, all from the fridge & freezer. Kept aside 1/3 of the mixture to have with rice, later in the week, at DD's request. Topped the rest of it with mashed potatoes and made a cottage pie. DD and I had some of it for dinner last night (DD had 2nds), I packed up some for our lunch for today, and there's 1 small piece left for 1 person's lunch (unless it gets eaten as a snack, before that!)

Made a batch of yogurt with half of the gallon of whole milk I bought.

Total spent on groceries so far this month: $54.86 + $17.48 = $72.34.

Balance left in Jan. grocery budget: $77.66; I plan to keep the regular grocery spending to $125 and use the balance for stocking up (need to buy coffee, oil, teriyaki sauce, etc.)

I think I might make a batch of chicken soup for tonight's dinner: I have some roast chicken bones & leftovers in the freezer and I can add some veggies (celery, carrots, onions, bok choy, etc.) and potatoes (need to use up the bag of potatoes before they sprout!) and maybe some pasta, as well.

Beaglelady, do a search for "Granola Math" on the blog linked in my signature file... I have one that works really well, and is highly, highly adaptable.

I finally did the grocery shopping yesterday; spent $126 ($20 of it was a stock-up on hen grains and produce treats--we have the most spoiled hens in the world), and we should be good for about two weeks, with another $30 in fresh dairy and produce fill-ins.

I made two meatloaves tonight (one for the freezer, and one devoured by the family and four ravenous beasties otherwise known as "my band sons." Eighteen is such a *hungry* year. LOL), and froze the second for a future meal. We paired that with a vat of mashed potatoes, gravy, raw veggies, and frozen peas, plus a baked lemon sponge (cakey top, curdy sauce that forms under it... SO good). I estimate the ingredients cost about $15 for everything, which is pretty good for a meal that feeds ten, and has a whole meatloaf leftover.

I'll also make some cheeseburger pockets with two pounds of ground beef, cheese, etc... enough for about four dinners.

There was a great buy on chicken leg/thigh quarters, 88c a pound. I found two packages with the right amount for a family meal, $4 each. Nice!

I was able to stock back up on some spices and staples I needed, and we're having fun planning meals with what's in the house... given that we have a goodly number of guests on a shockingly regular basis. Good thing they're teenage boys, and very cheerfully consume cheap homemade food like bread, cookies, popcorn, and loads of water.

Elizabeth, that lemon sponge sounds lovely!

We are expecting rain and cold for us temperatures this weekend, so I thought I'll do the chicken soup then.

So, tonight's dinner was the planned over ground beef/veggie mixture with freshly cooked rice, garlic toast, and gingerbread. Just enough mixture leftover to make up a lunch for 1 person (me) for tomorrow; DD will have the leftover cottage pie. We'll both take some gingerbread for snacks, along with bananas and oranges.

BL Please share your method for organizing a chest type freezer so the men in the house can find things. I loved your description...must be at eye level in front of their face etc. I am beyond frustrated. I have a list in a sheet protector, taped to the door and it hasn't helped one bit. The door is raised and they can't see the list it seems. I tried to tape a copy inside the lid but tape doesn't hold

Jambalaya, pilaf and paella are all wonderful plan-over meals, easy and delicious.

bless the chicken soup sounds great!

Elizabeth, I found a recipe in one of my old books and did go to your site too......thank you soo much....I am going to compare what I have found and will post what I end up with after tweaking it.

Cyd....too funny....I am not looking at so much a list of whats in there as diagramming what is on each shelf( I have an upright freezer, would never go with the chest type as it is too hard to find stuff,,even for me!!Have you thought of different colored baskets for the different types of meats/other things that could be pulled out more easily). Already have SO trained that on top right shelf is shredded cheese and in the pull out drawer is portion packed chicken breast, middle door shelf has imitation crab and lobster meats,.....with having him doing some of the shopping, and the "helping" of putting it away, needless to say things are very disorganized.

He knows where the rice and pasta premade items are(bought for nineteen cents a pkg from their regular $1.29...only reason I bought them!!), but still didn't see them til I told him where to look!

Waiting for the sale papers to arrive today as we are one day behind with Monday as a holiday. And with working the rest of the week and another weekend of teenagers, definitely need to do some meal planning. Son's friend who spent weekend was picked up by his grandmother on Monday and she mentioned to SO how much he enjoys coming over here with us as he eats well, has lots of freedom, but is still watched over....I took that as a pretty nice compliment!

B'fast: peanut butter sandwich with banana; Luna Bar & orange for DD
Snacks: gingerbread
Lunch: cottage pie for DD; ground beef/veggie mixture and rice for me.
Dinner: I am thinking of making rice, spicy beef, sauted leeks, cauliflower and maybe lentil curry. Depending on how energetic I feel when I get home at 8:00 p.m., tonight!

EZ dinner last nite as both of us not feeling well.....changing temps of 30 degrees from morning to nite playing havoc on the body. Pulled the last of the pork chops from the freezer thinking SO's son would be here.....not.

Seared them in the fry pan, added lots of sliced onion, garlic powder and a package of onion soup mix. Covered and simmered for 3 hours, can we say falling off the bone tender! Added some flour to thicken the gravy. Boiled a bunch of potatoes adding the leftover sour cream, and skin on garlic mashed potatoes to it. SO sick so took for lunch today(he had lots of water for dinner). 3 more chops with taters for dinner tomorrow nite for us.

I hit my favorite chinese buffet on the way home from therapy yesterday and got it to go(way cheaper with as little as I eat). For just over $2.50, I got a big to go container and a cup of hot n sour soup. Had lunch yesterday and leftovers for lunch today.

Not sure of menu for dinner tonite, probably just soup and bread as we are both sick....I am off to dr right now.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if chest freezers were built with slide out drawers? then the top could be used for a counter and each drawer could be used for one category of food!

BL: Hope you and SO feel better, soon.

Cooked the rice, spicy beef, leeks and cauliflower for dinner, last night (didn't have time to cook the lentil curry; might cook it tonight). Leftovers for lunch today.