July is a good month for us to try to save some cash in the area of groceries...so I try to do a Pantry Challenge - where we eat from our food stores and shop as little as possible.
Saturday, July 26:
Breakfast: Hubs & I had our weekly date to the Farmer's Market. We picked up a biscuit for ds on the way home.
Lunch: We sort of snacked our way through lunch, knowing there was a big cookout coming for dinner.
Dinner: Our family came over to celebrate my grandpa's 86th birthday. Sausage, hotdogs, chicken & shrimp on the grill, plus a bunch of cherry tomatoes from our garden (they got so sweet & plump!). I also pulled out last season's corn, and made baked beans. My mom brought potato salad, and sis brought coleslaw. I made a chocolate zucchini cake and homemade ice cream for dessert. What a feast!!!
Friday, July 25:
Breakfast: Hubs had eggs & bacon, ds had cereal. I met my sister at Panera.
Lunch: Hubs had a BLT at the bowling alley, but ds chose not to eat there at the end of bowling camp. I made more chicken pesto pasta (from last night) for him. I just snacked.
Dinner: Our trusty spaghetti. I used leftover sauce from eggplant parm.
Thursday, July 24:
Breakfast: eggs & bacon for hubs, and a breakfast sandwich for me. Ds#3 spent the night with a friend.
Lunch: Hubs had a meeting at school, so they went out to lunch. I had leftovers at home.
Dinner: Hubs had his leftover lasagna from the Italian restaurant date; ds & I had chicken pesto pasta.
I made FishMama's Oaty Maple Breakfast Cake, then discovered I had no powdered sugar. I did have some cream cheese frosting so I warmed that & drizzled on top. It met with approval.
Wednesday, July 23:
Breakfast: eggs & bacon for hubs, breakfast sandwich for me, and ds finished off the cereal.
Lunch: Hubs & ds ate at the bowling alley. I ate the Lawnmower taco leftovers.
Dinner: Ds spent the night with a friend, so hubs & I went out for a date.
Tuesday, July 22:
Breakfast: Eggs & bacon for hubs (I bought bacon yesterday...), 'breakfast sandwich' for me - swiss chard (garden), sliced mushrooms, cheese, 1 slice bacon (super yum!), cereal for ds.
Lunch: Ds & Hubs ate at the bowling alley. I ate a pasta concoction using leftover egg noodles, sautéed mushrooms & cherry tomatoes (garden) with a little white sauce.
Dinner: Lawnmower taco. A sort of oven-nacho thing. Guys liked it. Hubby asked for pecan pie afterward. (Not happening...I can make many things, but I never have any luck with pecan pie!!)
Monday, July 21:
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs & toast for hubs, smoothie for me, cereal for ds
Lunch: Ds is bowling again this week but he doesn't like the person who cooks on Mondays (!!!) so he came home and I made sandwiches for him & hubs on our new Cuban bread experiment. I had some leftovers - egg noodles with beef.
Dinner: Eggplant Parmesan, made with an eggplant from our garden. It was magnificent, and my guys LOVED it, even though it was a totally meatless meal.
Sunday, July 20:
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and leftover pancakes for hubs; a smoothie and cereal for ds & me.
Lunch: Hubs decided we should go out...so we did...and ate so much that nobody was hungry at ALL for dinner.
Snack: popcorn, cheese & crackers, nachos.
Saturday, July 19:
Breakfast: Hubs & I have a standing date to the Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings, and we usually eat breakfast at a spot nearby. It was pouring, but I wanted to get some milk and check on veggie options, so he went with me. None of my farmers with veggies were there because the rain was so bad, so we left with just milk (and breakfast).
When we got home, I went out to the garden after the rain subsided. I picked this eggplant, which will make a beautiful eggplant parmesan next week!
Lunch: Leftover pasta salad from yesterday for hubs & me, and ds had a sub sandwich on the last of the Cuban experiment bread. He requested I make more. I made a blueberry cobbler with some berries that had been given to us - the blueberries were old and chewy...so the cobbler was less than stellar...but we will still eat it.
Dinner: Pancakes for dinner tonight! Ds asked for chocolate chips in his, and there are extras for breakfast in the morning if anyone wants them.
Friday, July 18:
Breakfast: Hubs had a meeting with our pastor; I had a smoothie (swiss chard from the garden, cherries, blueberries, a chunk of frozen pineapple, and some ginger) and ds stayed in bed until 11!!!!
Lunch: Hubs had a lunch appointment with a friend; I had pretzels & cucumbers dipped in homemade ranch dressing. Ds#3 had a sub sandwich on my
experimental Cuban bread. Which isn't much like Cuban - more like French - but he liked it.
Dinner: Burgers on the grill, and a pasta salad concoction that I created - penne tossed with mozzarella (I cut the balls into 4 pieces each) and cherry tomatoes and basil from the garden. Like a caprese pasta salad!
Thursday, July 17:
Breakfast: Hubs made scrambled eggs for himself as I headed off to a doctor's appointment. Ds apparently did not eat. When I got home, I had some peanut butter & crackers.
Lunch: Sandwiches for everyone - my guys love the Cuban bread from Publix, so I bought some yesterday.
I'm going to try my hand at making it this week! Hubs likes ham & cheese; ds#3 & I prefer turkey, so I sliced up some of the leftover turkey in the fridge (out of lunchmeat) and put that on our sandwiches. Hubs also had some cherry crisp. It is so good - there is NOTHING like fresh fruit in the summertime!
Dinner: A feat of leftover wizardry. :) I took a tip from FishMama and had rice bowls - using leftover rice from Sunday, leftover taco meat & cheese from last night, and black beans cooked in the pressure cooker. We topped with salsa & sour cream and everyone loved it. I've been wanting to try this, and now that I know it's a success, we will definitely do it again!
And the cherry crisp is all gone.
Wednesday, July 16:
Breakfast: no breakfast for anyone but me - I had half a sandwich and then headed to the grocery store, for....
bath tissue
pasta (coupons made it .66 a box)
produce - mushrooms, cucumber, cherries
cheese
eggs
Cuban bread
spent $43.
Lunch: Hubs & I had to return some greenery to my mom's office across town, so he wanted to stop for lunch...like a date to have time to talk.
Dinner: Taco night - huge success! Seasoned ground beef with lettuce, salsa, cheese, sour cream, and queso dip with tortilla chips. Everyone was full and happy.
Dessert: A cherry crisp with some of the fresh cherries - yummmmmm.
Tuesday, July 15:
Breakfast: eggs for hubs, none for me or ds.
Lunch: Hubs had What-a-burger on the run; I had a sandwich at home; ds had Chinese out with the youth group.
Dinner: Leftover London Broil & gravy over noodles (baked potato for me).
Monday, July 14:
Breakfast: Hubs had a cheese omelet and bacon. Bowl of cereal for me, and a lazy morning with no breakfast for ds#3.
Lunch: Frozen pizza bought for $2.99 each. Leftovers will be lunch later in the week. Easy, and everyone was happy.
Dinner: We went out. Our church had an evening service & youth event that we were all going to, so hubs suggested dinner at our fave Mexican spot. We stayed for an 'ice cream social' after church.
Sunday, July 13:
Breakfast: Hubs had scrambled eggs & bacon. I had a bowl of cereal, and ds#3 had a big glass of milk. Sigh.
Lunch: London Broil cooked in the crockpot while we were at church. Had rice & gravy, corn on the cob, and green beans to go with. And naturally, zucchini cake for dessert. Yum.
Dinner: Hubs is having sort of a reunion from his Bible College days, so we were off to a meeting at church. Before we left, I had some dough for pretzels, so I baked those in the oven and they were all eaten. After church, I helped 'host' refreshments - a sandwich bar with veggies, fruit, and assorted homemade cookies - so we ate there.
Saturday, July 12:
Breakfast: Hubs had scrambled eggs, and then he decided he wanted a bowl of cereal. I ran down to the Farmer's Market and bought fresh raw milk, cheddar, and a roast for the freezer. Then I came home and had a cheese sandwich with cherry tomatoes from the garden. (yes...I know my breakfast choices are unorthodox.) Ds#3 did not want anything.
Lunch: I had planned to make some pasta, but the power went out, and stayed out for about 1.5 hours. We had sandwiches - used hamburger buns leftover from the July 4th cookout, filled with ham, turkey, cheese, and lettuce.
I also made FishMama's chocolate zucchini cake and had JUST taken it out of the oven when the power went off. So we each had a slice.
Dinner: I used up partial boxes of two different kinds of spaghetti, and the guys had the leftover spaghetti sauce from Wednesday (I managed to squeeze two servings from it instead of one!). I tossed my pasta with cherry tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella. I made garlic bread from hotdog buns from the same July 4th cookout.
Friday, July 11:
Breakfast: Hubs & ds#3 ate on the run. I had bloodwork done, so I rewarded myself by meeting my sis at Panera, followed by a little spontaneous shopping.
Lunch: Hubs & ds#3 took the bowling coach out to lunch. I snacked at the house.
Dinner: At a reunion of sorts for Hubs. We took baked beans. Ds#3 ate leftover mac'n'cheese and BBQ chicken at the house (and asked for a serving of the baked beans before we left).
Thursday, July 10:
Breakfast: Made hubs scrambled eggs & bacon; I used the last apple on an apple-cheddar sandwich; ds#3 had a big glass of milk.
Lunch: Hubs & I had large salads using some of the cherry tomatoes that are beginning to come in from the garden. I made homemade croutons to go on the salads. Ds#3 ate at bowling camp.
Dinner: Hubs had a gift card to Chick-fil-A so we had dinner from there. I also have a calendar card that entitled us to a free milk shake, so ds#3 got that added bonus. :)
Wednesday, July 9:
Breakfast: Hubs got breakfast on the run; I had an apple-cheddar sandwich on homemade bread; ds#3 opted not to eat.
Lunch: Hubs & ds#3 ate at the bowling alley (bowling camp); I snacked at the house and made some brownies.
Dinner: I made spaghetti. I had planned to make a salad to go with it, but my stomach was upset and I was doing the bare minimum. Everyone had their fill; we have enough sauce left for one more serving if I make more noodles.
Tuesday, July 8:
I went to the grocery store today after breakfast.
We had one egg and no milk - I picked up a few other things which were on sale:
Organic milk $2.99 (that's a DEAL in these parts!!)
Frozen pizza (2) $2.99 ea
Bacon $5.29
Mozzarella $4.40
Crackers (BOGO) $3.79
Flour $2.29
Baked beans (3) $5.00 (for dinner @ a friend's house)
Soda (4) $2.50 ea (but I had a coupon for a free one)
Natural Cane sugar $3.59
Pasta $.67
Rice *free w/coupon*
Sour cream (BOGO) $2.49
18 eggs $3.99
TOTAL SPENT: $51.91
Breakfast: Hubs had scrambled eggs; I had a sandwich on whole wheat bread with apple slices & cheese; ds#3 had these Larabar fake-outs which taste great, but are also a great way to get some fruit in him that he wouldn't normally eat.
Lunch: ds#3 ate at bowling camp. I ate leftover chicken parm (it's all gone now!), and hubs ate some salami slices and cheese cubes (he was working in the yard and it was HOTTTT).
Dinner: Leftover chicken was made over into BBQ chicken sandwiches which everyone loved (there's enough left for ONE sandwich). To go with, we had some very decadent mac'n'cheese that my mom made, and some farm-fresh corn on the cob.
Monday, July 7:
Again, no breakfast. Meeting Marine Son & DIL at airport to see them off.
Lunch: ds#3 is in bowling camp this week, so he'll eat there. I ate leftover chicken parm, and hubs grabbed something at the bowling alley when he dropped ds#3 off.
Dinner: turkey breast (cooked earlier and frozen), pan gravy, over homemade whole wheat bread, along with fried okra. I got the okra when the older boys were here - it's not something we usually eat, but they requested it. Now I've gotta use it up!
Sunday, July 6:
No one was up early enough for breakfast (Marine Son's wedding reception was the night before and we all got in LATE).
Lunch: leftovers from the Italian dinner we hosted on Thursday (lasagna, chicken parm, spaghetti)
Dinner: leftovers from the 4th of July cookout (I made 40 burgers by hand - 11 of them are now in the freezer). We had burgers, chips, pasta salad, and fruit. No cooking for Mom. :)
Monday~ Eggplant Parmesan with spaghetti. This beauty will be the base for our dinner!
