Baking Day

Goal: Make muffins, English Muffins, and cookies

This is my very first baking day. I'm trying to become Suzie Homemaker here! Really, I do love to cook, but this baking day idea is driven by our need to cut back our grocery spending.

Blueberry Muffins: Using the fresh blueberries that I got such a good deal on, I made muffins for our breakfasts. This will last us 3 meals. Don't they look scrumptious???


English Muffins: I found this recipe on The Happy Housewife, and I thought I'd try it. By my estimation it cost $1.40 total for the recipe, and I made 24 muffins. Now the recipe was only supposed to make 11-13 muffins, but I rolled them out too thin. So the finished product was a bit thinner, but they still taste awesome!

Rising:


Finished!


Cookies: This is part one of doing away with Little Debbie. Sorry Little Debbie, I really do love your scrumptious cakes! I froze most of these in individual packets for easy lunch making. I haven't estimated the cost on these, but I imagine $2-$3. These will last me easily 4 weeks, and it would have cost $4 (at least) in Little Debbies. So not much saved, but a penny saved is a penny earned!

Grocery Shopping 6/15/09

Aldi:


Highlights:
Blueberries - $.69
Eggs - $.85
Milk - $.189

Total: $20.41

Meijer:


Highlights:
Snickers Ice Cream Bars- on sale 50% off, used $1 coupon, $.93 per box
Ground Chuck-$1.99/pound, not a super good deal, but we needed meat
Yogurt-on sale for $.40/cup, used $.60/6, $.30 per cup total
Tabasca-$1.18, used $1 coupon, $.18 total

Total: $35.04

Grand Total: $55.45

Menu:
Spaghetti
Meatballs & Rice
Black Bean Chilaquiles
Spinach Artichoke Calzones
Loaded Baked Potatoes
Grilled Hamburgers and Fries
Pork Chops & Herb Roasted Squash

Dan and I have cut back our grocery budget due to the pay cut, so I am determined not to buy Little Debbie cakes or granola bars anymore. I'm sure I can make them cheaper. I had my very first "baking day" this week. I will post more on that later.

I will try to start posting recipes too so that I can share any good ones I find.

I'm a hick!

My expander on my top jaw was getting harder and harder to turn. To the point where I thought if the key slipped out I'd stab the key through my throat and brain stem and die. :) So I went to the ortho yesterday (YESTERDAY!) and he said that means that the expander isn't working. The ridge of my mouth is fused shut and this method of expanding my jaw isn't going to work. So we create a new treatment plan, schedule new visits, and I leave.

I get ready for bed last night and I have EXTREME sensitivity in my front left tooth. The sensitivity moves to the right tooth...the gums around these teeth start throbbing. I, of course, ignore all of this and try to sleep. I have trouble getting to sleep because it hurts so stinkin' bad. I've had a lot of pain in my teeth though and I'm tired so I'm not getting up to check it.

I wake up this morning and this is what I look like:


AHHHHH! I'm a hick!

So I'm going to call the ortho asap this morning to see if we can countinue with the original plan. FYI: This separation was supposed to happen under normal circumstances. It just looked like mine wasn't going to expand

George is B-A-D

Please walk through my house with me...

We'll start in the kitchen:

Dining Room:


Living Room:


Yep, that's a Bible.


Oh yes, and our super cool guest book from our wedding along with a couple books and magazines.


Our Bedroom:

Close up of Dan's flashlight for his gun. He doesn't know about this one yet. George will be lucky to be alive after Dan gets home. George chewed up the handle to one of his hand guns yesterday.

Anyone care to guess how our un-crate training is going???

Deals Deals Deals

Here is my grocery shopping for the next two weeks:

Aldi Highlights:

Milk - $1.89
Eggs - $.85
Breakfast Sausage - $.89 (Yay! price went down $.10!)
Cottage Cheese - $1.99 (decrease of about $.60)
Strawberries - $.99 (Cheaper than Meijer!)

Total: $29.28


Meijer Highlights (sorry, my deals won't help anyone; I post them too late. I'm just gloating!):

Crystal Light - $.88 + free water (I ended up with 3 24-packs for FREE! Thanks, Lacey!)
Chex Mix - $.50 after coupon
Oscar Meijer Beef Hot Dogs - FREE from coupon in mail
Sausage - $1.50/pound
Mott's Apple Juice - $1.17 each after Meijer Mealbox coupon (for those who track juice prices, this was a phenominal deal. As you can see, I bought 6 half gallons, and after I left underbudget, I decided to go back and buy 6 more. It's such a deal!)

Total: $23.49

2nd Meijer run - 6 more Mott's juice = $5.00


Total Available in Budget: $63.03 (because I was a good girl last week!)
Total Spent on Groceries: $57.77

STILL under-budget! Woot Woot! I even have an extra $5.26 for next time!

Menu:

Breakfasts:
Muffins
Bagels
Pancakes
French Toast
Banana and PB Smoothies

Dinners:
Chicken Salad
Black Bean Chiliquiles
Smoked Sausage Pasta Primavera
Sausage with Vodka Sauce on Penne
Pizza
Salmon with Morney Sauce
Kalbi (Korean Ribs) and Rice

Stauch Update

Sorry, no pictures this time, just an update on our lives.

Dan is out of work, for those who read this and didn't know. He is interviewing at two places: Lighthouse Insurance and Modern Woodman. He is also looking at some other positions open in the GR area. If you hear of anything, please let us know! We are confident that God has a good plan for our lives. We want to make sure we are sensitive to his leading during this process.

Emily is still working at Foremost Insurance. Her job is stable for now. Thank you, Lord! She is working on yard work with Dan most weekends and just being a housewife.

Thank you all for your love and support!

Grocery Shopping 5-23-09

I'm pretty sure this was my best saving yet for grocery shopping. I went to two stores: Aldi and Meijer.

Here is the Aldi load:


Highlights:
Milk - $1.89
Eggs - $.85
Brick Cheese - $1.29

Total: $45.08

Everything else was pretty typical for an Aldi shopping trip. The price of cheese was lowered which made it cheaper to buy from Aldi than from Meijer, even with coupons. I didn't have enough coupons to stack. So I didn't get the great deal that Lacey did.

Now here's what I'm super proud of....the Meijer load:


Highlights:
Hunts ketsup - FREE with coupon received in mail today. I have no idea how I got, but it's free!
Ritz Crackers - $2.50 - $1 from MeijerMealbox
Wheat Thins - FREE - with manufacturer coupon from SmartSource. Sorry, no idea what week it's from. I also used a $1 Wheat Thins manufacturer coupon, and I think I got $1 extra off. Not sure though...too many coupons.
Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce - $.44 each. I think I got ripped off on this one because my coupon was for $1 off 2, but the computer would only give me $.88 off because they were $.88 each on sale.
Ball Park hot dogs - $.98 each - $1 coupon on two, so $.48 each
Cool Whip - $.49 each using Kraft food coupon
Aunt Millies bread - $1.19 - $.35 manufacturer coupon, from SmartSource or RedPlum
Kraft Dressing - $1.49 - $1 coupon from MeijerMealbox or Kraftfoods.com
Ekrich sausage - $1.69 - $1 coupon on two, so $1.16 per pound
Breyers Ice Cream - $1.99 - $.75 or $1 coupon, I had two coupons. One for each denomination. Making the ice cream $1.12 each.
Jello - $.50 each - $1 coupon for three, so $.5 for 3 total
Ragu sauce - $1.34 each - $.60 manufacturer coupon from SmartSource or Red Plum
Danactive - $2 each - $1 manufacturer coupon
Lever 2000 - $4.5 each - $1.5 manufacter coupon from Red Plum
Bic Soleil razors - $4.5 each - $3 manufacturer coupon from SmartSource or Red Plum

Coupon Savings - $32.79
Non-Coupon and Meijer promotions savings - $31.70
Total Paid: $33.47

Grand Total: $78.55

So it looks like I went over budget, but I have a Household Items column in my budget for toiletry items. I spent $9.17 out of that column bringing the grocery total to $69.38. Still $4.38 overbudget, I know. I had leftover from last shopping trip which will cover the difference.

Note: We are also have company at least once during this two weeks. That meal is included in the groceries bought.

Menu:
Breakfasts:
-Eggs and Toast
-Bagels and Cottage Cheese
-English Muffin sandwiches
-Pancakes
-French Toast
-Baked Oatmeal

Lunches:
-leftovers from dinners
-yogurts
-Debbie Snacks

Dinners:
-Pork Roast, mashed potatoes, veggies
-Lasagna rollups
-Baked spaghetti
-Sausage and Penne with Vodka Sauce
-Marinated Baked Chicken and Rice
-Chicken Salad sandwiches
-Brats and homemade fries
-Sausage Veggie Grill Pockets