Day 7 since my Costco trip, with another trip planned for tomorrow (Monday).
While I got off track a little relating to my bulk cooking plans, I’m catching up today and will be caught up before my shopping trip tomorrow. I have a list and since there’s still a lot of food left from the last trip, that list is pretty small! While I wasn’t able to completely avoid any and all grocery shopping this week outside of Costco, I didn’t do too badly. I purchased Gold Peak Sweet Tea for my sick kiddo since she insisted she couldn’t drink anything else (sore throat). I bought half-and-half, creamer and naproxen because I’d forgotten them at Costco and felt I couldn’t live without them till Monday. I also bought grapeseed oil because I didn’t see any at Costco. I bought an extra gallon of milk to make yogurt but we ended up drinking it. And I updated my August Amazon Subscribe-and-Save order to include some staples that I can’t get elsewhere for anywhere near as inexpensively.
Today I’m roasting my two chickens and those will be Sunday dinner and then stock. I still have a ton of sandwich meat left as well as a lot of chicken breasts and a huge salmon filet. I’m planning on cooking the salmon in packets with rice and veggies and then freezing portions for hubby to take to lunch. I’m going to crock-pot the chicken breasts and shred them, saving portions for future meals. The kids are requesting chicken-and-rice and hubby is requesting my cheesy spaghetti with chicken. I have a bunch of ground beef portions but I was not thrilled with the quality/texture, so the plan is to use those in meals I won’t eat (like lunches for hubby). In the future I think I’ll continue to purchase my beef at Fresh and Easy, since they have grassfed ground beef for $5/pound and it’s not grisly. I’d rather pay $1.50 more per pound and enjoy the beef than bite into a chewy piece every three bites–plus I will feel better about it being grassfed! We also still have English muffins and bread and and eggs and sausage and so-on remaining, so I won’t need to buy those this week. It’s a relief to see that a lot of the items I bought last Monday will be things I only have to buy every 2 weeks or so…and not weekly.
My Week Two List (see last week’s list here):
- 8 gallons milk (normally would do 6 but I’m making yogurt this week)
- disposable baking pans (for cook-ahead meals)
- brie (treat)
- sandwich bread
- bottled water (we have reusable bottles but honestly when I run to the barn or we’re on our way out the door to dance or school, it’s really easier to grab a bottle from the fridge or freezer…I’m tired of constantly washing our reusable bottles so I’ll be paring them down and using them when there’s time, but won’t kick myself if there’s not)
- shredded cheese (while there’s a lot left, my make-ahead meals call for a lot and I don’t want to have to resort to buying it somewhere else)
- tomatoes (we have some left but they’re pithy so I’ll make sauce with those and buy fresh for eating…I want to make bruschetta so I’ll buy the big flat again)
- romaine (we didn’t use it all but will give the remainder to the guinea pigs and buy new for us)
- plastic food containers (in May I bought a set of 24, all the same size and the disposable/reusable kind…I’d like more since I’m going to freeze so much food for hubby to take for lunch and I’m running low on them)
- fabric softener (haven’t been able to give this up yet…last Costco bottle was purchased in May so lasted two months)
- white vinegar
- carrots (we do have a lot left but I’m using a lot (horse LOL) so I don’t want to run out before the following Monday)
- strawberries
- grapes
- light roast K-Cups if they have them
I’m tempted to add body wash, shampoo and tooth paste to the list but we have a little stockpile that we need to use up first. I would need dish detergent if I hadn’t bought a box on Amazon a few weeks ago…just ran out of Kirkland brand so we can use that other box before buying more.
I do have my eye on a four-slice toaster, so if they still have the stainless steel model for $29.99 I will pick one up.
I’m looking forward to this being a faster, less-expensive trip than last time. I want to stay under $200 this week and I think it’s definitely do-able!
It’s amazing how much less we spent on eating out and fast food this week! Even with a lunch out, three dinners out (one with our oldest to celebrate his Freshman status, one with oldest daughter and me and one just hubby and I), we spent around $90 instead of the usual $200+.
Leave a Reply