My Shopping Orders

Alright, I'm sure you have been holding your breath just waiting on the edge of your seat for this post. I have been  avoiding packing working hard on it all week.

First off: I always look at what’s on sale around town. I get my grocery adds in the mail on Tuesday’s (and Wednesday’s, and sometime’s Thursday’s…) and I take note of anything that’s a super-duper steal, especially meat; the other week I got pork chops for $1.29 a pound! I also go online to Safeway.com and check out their “Just4U” section, which I love. It saves me so much money! With my card specials I get $5 off $20 worth of groceries almost every other week. Also, Dave’s Killer Bread, the sprouted kind, for $3.29 a loaf about once a month. Jaw-dropping, really. (Not on sale it's $5.69. Ouch!)
   If I find something that’s at a stomping price I’ll try to plan the majority of my meals to be as inexpensive as possible so that I can stock up on the sale. Otherwise I just make whatever the heck I feel like, within reason. (As much as I feel like eating steak every night, it’s just not fiscally feasible.)

Next: P-L-A-N. I know some people go *all* out here (breakfast, snacks, lunches, more snacks, and dinners), other’s don’t do any planning; I am in the happy middle. I know what we’re eating for breakfast most days anyway (Eggs, with toast and sometimes I manage to include veggies).  I keep it simple with lunches (leftovers!). And I have a list of “grab-n-go” snack foods that I try to keep stocked (fruit, veggies, bread, cheese, yogurt, etc.). So for me, planning consists of dinners and checking the pantry and fridge to make sure we’re not out of staples.

Then the (not) hard part; shopping! Planning makes my grocery trips so easy. Or at least as easy as it can be with a two-year-old in tow. I go once a week, on Mondays. Armed with a list I get in, get what I need, and get out. One tiny trick; I go to the discount store *first*. Their stock is constantly changing, but as a general rule they have the *best* prices on bacon (all natural, raised without antibiotics, none of the –ites or –ates , for two bucks a pound last week), sometimes cheese, and canned beans (when they have them).  Then I go to Safeway and/or Top Foods, and wrap it up at the farm stand and health-food store.  Also, I usually go to the farm stand twice a week, once on Monday (my regular shopping day) and again on Thursday. I found I throw away much fewer scary looking veggies this way.

In the past I’ve done the whole “cash only” thing but I’m currently just using my debit card, which also works! 

How much I spend: Honestly, it varies. I try to just spend $50 a week, but there’s also the usual Costco trip about once a month where we spend probably $60 on food, and we bought a quarter of beef last year which worked out to about $35 per month. (So very, very worth it.) Total, we’re at about $300 a month for a family of three (about to be four).

And there you have it! What about you? Are you a super-duper planner? How often do you shop? Let me know!

Have a great Reformation Day! 

A Weeks Worth of Dinners

 Alrighty! It's Monday, i.e., grocery shopping day. Which means yesterday I sat down and tried to figure out what to make for dinner this week. I think I managed to come up with things that will keep everyone happy (and full) for the most part.

Monday – Steak, Butternut Squash, Green Beans
Tuesday – Beans and Rice w/ Sausage and Kale

Wednesday – Avocado Chicken Parm*, spaghetti squash, peas

Thursday – Pancakes, Bacon, Fruit

Friday – Pork tacos*

Saturday – Leftover day! 

Sunday – Mom and Dad’s

*These are new recipes that I'm trying for the first time this week, I'll let you know how they turn out. 

 Now, you can see that I've got all those meals assigned to specific days and while that doesn't mean that I'll absolutely be making them on those days, I usually do. It helps me when I'm buying vegetables to know which ones I can get on Monday and which ones need to wait. For instance, the veggies for pork tacos have a much higher chance of being scary if I get them five days before I need them, so they'll be picked up on Thursday. Also, I can look at my schedule and pick out really easy meals for days when I have stuff going on the afternoons and more time-intensive meals when I'm supposed to be home all day. Planning is awesome.

What's for dinner at your house this week? You can let us know in the comments! (You know, that little button down there that doesn't get a whole lot of use right now...)

Have a joyful Monday!

Mealtime!

You know this picture makes you hungry....

Do you have ingredients like this lying around? Yes? Excellent. Then you have dinner at your fingertips! If you don't, no worries, these ingredients can be found at the nearest grocery store.

Bacon-Tater-Hash
serves 2-4, depending on how hungry/pregnant the people are
8 oz bacon, chopped into pieces
2 cloves of garlic
3-4 sweet potatoes, grated (about 4 cups) To save time, grate the potatoes while the bacon is cooking.
1/2 - 1 cup tomato, chopped
Cheddar Cheese

In medium stockpot (mine is 4 quarts) brown the bacon until it reaches the desired level of crispy-ness. Remove the bacon from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add the garlic to the left over bacon fat and saute until fragrant, then add the grated potatoes. Cook the potatoes, stirring occasionally for about 10-15 minutes, until they're almost soft, or longer if you prefer them really cooked. (Tasting is the best way to tell how done you like them, so do it!) When the potatoes are done, add the tomato and stir until they're warmed through. Add the bacon. Serve sprinkled liberally with cheese, and enjoy!

This dish is very, very flexible. Really. The recipe is more like... guidelines... than actual rules. Add more, add less; whatever tickles your fancy! I might add Kale to give it some green next time. Remember: If you want to get the most out of your meals, you have to eat the rainbow, and I'm not talking about skittles. :-P

For me, this dish was also *super* inexpensive! Yay! Using bacon from the super sale, the cost for the *whole* thing was less than $4. You heard me, $4! Even if Noel and I eat the whole thing at one meal (ahem) then that's still a whole, good-for-you, meal at two bucks a person. It's hard to beat that.

Happy Eatings!

Grocery Budgets?

This is just a quick check in to see if anyone would be interested in some meal planning/grocery budget/shopping posts... I've found some bloggers definition of a budget to be *much* more luxurious than I currently operate on. I'd love to share and be shared with when it comes to getting the most bang for your buck at the grocery store!

May You Be Strengthened

"May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." - Colossians 1:11-14
(emphasis mine)

 We are being strengthened for endurance and patience with joy! When the baby wakes up at 5 and never goes back to sleep; joy! When she decides to practice pouring with bowls of popcorn in the living room; joy! When we are waiting for plans to take shape and progress to happen; joy! Why? Because we have already been rescued from darkness and transferred to the kingdom of the Son! Forgiven; joy!

There Should Be A Dr. Seuss Rhyme For This

Big Brig, Small Ball.
Who knows.
I read a not-really-interesting article this morning about moms, outside stressors (the economy, etc), and how the latter affects the former. Anyway, it really wasn't that important. But the article had this thought in it, "moms know themselves well. They don’t need a DNA test to know if they get stressed easily or tend to roll with things (even big things)." And I started thinking about those last three words, "even big things". 

 Does something being a "big thing" make it easier to stress over? Not for me. If I feel like something was never inside of my range of control to begin with I'm much *less* likely to stress over it. The economy? That was never placed in front of me with direct orders to fix it. Noel's surgery? I couldn't fix his legs, and they needed to be fixed! 

 But things that seem as though I ought to be in charge of them, those stress me out. Like the fact that at one and a half we're still trying to figure out how to get Addie to sleep well. Or that all of my children will probably fall into that camp of people who think the laundry belongs on the couch. Or the last couple of weeks where I was so spacey there was no meal plan. (I NEED A MEAL PLAN.)

All that to say, I think that the sentence in the original article doesn't quite capture the nuances of stress. However, God knows we tend to stress out over the little things. (Like food! How funny that he specifically mentions not to worry about what you will eat. And I know he was probably talking more to people who didn't have *enough* to eat, but the worry/stress aspect still applies.) And he has told us to cast all our cares upon him, and bring them to him in prayer. 

 Which reminds me of a really awesome thing I heard a pastor say recently, that prayers about our worries aren't *for* God; he already knows what we're worried about and why. They're for us; God knows that we like to talk about our problems and he's the one who reigns over them all. And he may not change our problems, but he will certainly change us. Shaping us into people who seek after him more and more, and who are learning to live in the peace of Christ. 

I'll stop rambling now and go finish my coffee. Maybe make real breakfast so Addie can stop eating last night's popcorn. No stress though! 

~Noble

And here's a cute kitty picture to help you relax. 

They Tell Me It's August Now

It seems a little incredible. That it's August I mean. It seems like it should still be July, or even June, potentially May. Yeah, we'll go for May.

 We're just wrapping up our first week of being back home from our stay-cation with Noel's parents. The house still looks like a bomb went off, but that's okay because I'm having a good friend over for a visit and she doesn't mind the crazy.

 This last month (or maybe two) I've been *awful* at writing/calling/getting together with people; it makes me feel silly and embarrassed. It really shouldn't take me five days to call my sister back. Or five weeks to respond to that FB message from a friend. But it does. (I do still love them though!)

Noel's new hips are working *perfectly*. His Physical Therapist says he should only need a week or two more, then he can be done with therapy. And he's almost to the 6 week post-surgery mark, which means he gets to stop taking blood thinners, too. Praise the Lord!

Addie's adjusting to being back at home. (Read: She's not sleeping. At all. And is super cranky. All. The. Time.)

The new baby seems to be growing nicely! I can't suck my stomach in anymore. But I need to do a better job of making good food choices. July was rough; hopefully this sweet thing doesn't end up with three arms.

A lost kitten came and visited us yesterday, it fell asleep in my arms. Cats have a wonderful calming effect.

I ordered a replacement part for our oven so we should be able to use it again soon. It's sad how none of my dinner recipes sound appetizing until the oven breaks and then I want a roast chicken. Oh the cruel irony.

I've been reading through the NT in my Bible; I just finished 2nd Peter. I have been encouraged, and Jesus+Nothing=Everything ties in nicely, echoing and clarifying things.

                                      
Addie recommends stopping to smell the flowers every now and again, even if they're stinky daisies.