Moolie's "is it really that hard?" journal

[moolie]

Well, we had leftover turkey, gravy, cranberries, veggies and home made bread for dinner (hot turkey sandwiches with veggies on the side). The girls and I did a little meal planning based on the meat we have in the freezer and tomorrow I will get to the grocery store with my list above plus the meal plans we made and check prices. Well, hopefully tomorrow--I have a busy work day but I should be able to fit it in

 

[moolie]

So I hit the grocery store yesterday morning after dropping the girls at their schools (one in Jr. High, one in Sr. High) and it took about an hour to find pricing for all the basics. The girls and I will sit down over the weekend and make up our meal plans, and do any shopping we need to do, and I'll report back once we've got it all organized.

 

[moolie]

So, before I post my family's meal plans and grocery lists (which I'm just tweaking before I copy them here) I will post a few resources that have helped me a LOT over the years:

-An emergency $45/week menu plan from the Hillbilly Housewife, complete with shopping list, recipes and nutrition info

-A $70/week menu plan from the Hillbilly Housewife, complete with shopping list, recipes and nutrition info

-A searchable recipe site from Kraft Canada, I have been receiving regular emails from this site along with a free magazine (I think it comes out quarterly) for years. I don't actually cook with the Kraft foods, but get ideas for quick and simple meals and then finagle the recipes so I cook them from scratch.

-Scroll down to download an excel spreadsheet to track meals and ingredients for one month, the spreadsheet multiplies everything for a 3-month supply so you can stock up. Columns include meal, ingredients, how many on hand, pricing, size of pkg etc.

 

[moolie]

Grocery Total Cost:
$415.36

(There's a few items listed in italics I didn't find prices for yet, but they don't amount to much.)

Baking

$5.48 - 5 kg No Name WW flour
$5.48 - 5 kg No Name AP flour
$17.95 - 10 kg/22 lbs rolled oats
$5.87 - 4 kg Rogers white sugar
$2.50 - 1 kg Rogers brown sugar
$5.48 - 500 grams No Name cocoa
$1.58 - 200 grams No Name coconut
$3.98 - 113 g jar Fleischman's Traditional dry Yeast
88c - 500 gram box No Name baking soda
Baking powder
$3.59 - 750 g Granola
$3.59 box Cream of wheat
$1.88 No Name saltine crackers
Popcorn
-------
$58.26

Fruits & Veg

$6.99 4L Sun Rype Apple juice
$3.50 - 79c /lb bananas
$3.84 - 96c /lb navel oranges
$6.98 - 6 lb bag Gala apples
3x $2.17 - 796 ml NN canned fruit
(Fruit Cocktail / Peaches / pineapple / Pears)
$5.99 - 1 L Last Mountain Jam (Straw or Blueberry)
4x Applesauce
8x $1.17 750 ml canned tomatoes
$6.99 - #10 can PC tomato paste
2x 88c each cabbage
$5.80 - 10 lbs potatoes
2x $1.27 - long English cucumber
$2.58 - cauliflower
2x $2.88 2 lbs carrots
2x $2 iceberg Lettuce
2x $1.49/lb Tomatoes
$1.28 - 398 ml NN canned beets
6x Onions
Celery
6x $2.50 500 g Frozen veg
(corn, broccoli, green beans, peas, Asian mix)
-------
$85.86

Rice & Pasta

$3.98 2 kg NN macaroni
$3.98 2 kg NN spaghetti
2x $1.28 500 g NN pasta (various)
2x $1.28 500 g NN lasagne
$2.18 450 g pot barley
$8.99 8 kg Jasmine Rice
-------
$24.25


Dairy & Eggs

8x $4.99 - 4L Milk
4x $1.88 dozen Sparks Farm eggs
$4.97 - 500 ml Oikos Greek yogurt (to use as starter for home made yogurt)
$4.47 - 500 ml organic sour cream
3x $3.49 - 1 lb NN butter
$7.99 - 900 g NN Cheddar
$7.99 - 900 g NN Mozzarella
-------
$83.33

Spices

$2.75 900 gram box No Name Kosher Salt
$3.98 150 gram bag No Name Black Pepper
$2.18 35 gram bag No Name Italian Seasoning
$2.48 50 gram bag No Name Poultry Seasoning
$2.78 150 gram bag No Name Chili Powder
$2.28 80 gram No Name Minced Onion
$2.28 80 gram No Name Minced Garlic
$2.48 150 gram No Name Cinnamon
$4.69 50 gram jar Clubhouse Dill Weed
$2.58 125 gram No Name Curry Powder
$2.18 5.5 gram No Name Chives
-------
$30.66

Condiments

$7.49 1L PC Olive Oil
$6.99 - 375 ml PC maple syrup
$6.00 500 ml Honey
$3.99 - Litehouse coleslaw dressing
4x $2.39 - 430 ml PC salsa
$3.49 - 350 ml PC Ginger Teriyaki sauce
$2.47 - 4 L Heinz White Vinegar
$7.99 - 4 L Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar
$1.88 946 ml NN lemon juice
$3.59 - 890 ml PC mayonnaise
$1 - 400 ml NN yellow mustard
$2.48 1 L No Name PC ketchup
-------
$56.93

Meat & Protein

2x $1.99 1 lb Bacon
8x $1.95/lb reduced price lean ground beef
Stew beef
$11.57 - 8 pork chops
$9.48 - 2 lb pork roast
$22.41 pkg 3 whole fryer chickens
$5.18 6x 170 g NN chunk tuna
$3.49 - 750 g PC natural peanut butter
4x $2.18 450 g dry beans (various)
-------
$76.07

 

[moolie]

Breakfast Recipes:

Whole Wheat Bread

1 tbsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water

2 1/2 cups hot water
1/2 cup honey
1 tbsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil
5 cups whole wheat flour
3 cups all purpose flour

Soften yeast in warm water for 10 minutes. Add rest of ingredients, mix, knead until smooth and elastic. Let dough rest 10 minutes, shape into 2 loaves, let rise 1 hour or until about doubled in bulk. Bake at 350F for about 45 minutes, cover loaves with foil last 20 minutes to keep from browning too much.

Waffles

3 cups whole wheat flour
2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups milk
3 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp vanilla

Stir all ingredients together, drop by 1/4 cupfuls into waffle iron, bake until iron stops steaming.

 

[moolie]

More Recipes:

Meat Sauce for Pasta

1 lb raw or 1 pint canned ground beef/bison
1 L tomato sauce
1/2 cup tomato paste
2 cups frozen cubed squash, mashed
1 tbsp minced onion or half an onion, chopped
1 tbsp italian seasoning
salt & pepper
1 tbsp honey
splash of red wine

Brown meat, add rest of ingredients, simmer till hot, serve over pasta.

Tamale Rice Dish

1 lb ground beef/bison
onions, garlic, green pepper (optional) chopped
2 pints home made salsa
1 cup frozen corn
1 tbsp honey
Chili powder and cumin to taste
1/2 cup water
2/3 cup white or brown rice

Brown ground beef and chopped veggies, add remaining ingredients, simmer until rice is cooked, pour into casserole dish.

Sprinkle with 1/2 cup grated cheese, dab with sour cream, and serve with plain nacho chips.

Pizza Dough

Makes 2 medium thin crust pizzas.

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 cups flour, white or whole wheat
splash olive oil

Soften yeast in warm water for 10 minutes, stir together rest of ingredients, knead till smooth and elastic, put dough into oiled bowl and let rise 20 minutes. Punch dough down, cut dough in half, sprinkle two oiled pizza pans with cornmeal, stretch out dough with your fingers, add toppings and bake at 450F for 15-20 minutes.


Whole Wheat Tortillas

3 cups of whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup of warm water (may need a little more)
1/3 cup olive oil

Mix ingredients together in bowl, knead a few times, form into ball, let rest 10 minutes. Cut ball into 12 equal portions, roll each piece into round, fry briefly on each side till done.

Bonus Recipe (not included in meal plan above)

Curry Tuna

2 cans tuna, broken up in medium saucepan
garlic
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp (or more to taste) curry powder
1/2 cup mango chutney
red pepper flakes to taste

Stir ingredients together over medium heat, cook till heated through, serve over rice.

 

[Denim Deb]

Whoa, Moolie, that's an impressive looking menu! Meals look good, and you're way under budget!

 

[lazyday]

WOW, very impressive

 

[luvinlife offthegrid]

at the spreadsheet! Well done!

 

[moolie]

Thanks everyone

As I mentioned, there are a few food items that I don't have exact pricing for yet but I think I still come in under budget.

I think my family has an easier time with the imposed budget because there are four of us, I think a bigger challenge is to pull it off with only one or two people because you can't buy bulk. This plan isn't too far off what we normally do, there is just a little more repetition in the dinners. The breakfasts and lunches and snacks are pretty much exactly what we do each week.

Oh, and it isn't a spreadsheet--it's just a table in a Word document. I've attached the .doc file here if anyone wants it to tweek for themselves.