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Big Family Grocery Spending for March 2024

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Curious how much it cost to feed 13 people every day last month? Here’s our Big Family Grocery Spending for March 2024 post!

Big Family Grocery Spending for March 2024

Here are the details to share where we shopped, what we bought, and how much we spent on food during the month of March!

1. Super Saver

The very first day of the month, we went to Super Saver (a store we hadn’t tried out yet) to take advantage of their Mega Meat Sale. We got pork loin for just $1.58/pound, pork roast for only $1.18/pound, pork steak for $1.78/pound, plus hamburger meat marked down that ended up being $2.20/pound.

Matt spotted packages of Chicken Strips and Popcorn Chicken that ended up only costing $2.98 for a 24-ounce package (which breaks down to $1.99/pound). We bought nine packages to enjoy during the next few Friday nights. I also checked the French fries in their freezer section and found some big bags on sale at a fairly decent price so I took advantage so that I could have a night off or two. :)

Overall this store’s non-sale prices were significantly higher than what I pay at my regular stores (Costco, Sam’s, Aldi). But stopping in this time for this meat sale was worth it!!

Total at Super Saver: $108

2. Bro Time Meal

Elias and Brayden planned a meal for our family and went to the store to buy needed items to make the meal. They decided on biscuits and gravy, hashbrowns, eggs, and orange juice.

It turned out amazing and the night off was a gift to me. I had most of the necessary ingredients on hand for them to make this meal, but they did (use my credit card to) pick up biscuits, hashbrowns, and juice at the store.

Their total at the store: $18.17

3. Sam’s

March 5 I went to Sam’s with two of our girls to give them an outing and to pick up a few of the items I can only find at Sam’s plus some other staples. While I was there, I picked up two boxes of our favorite Orange Chicken so that when I needed a night off, we’d have it on hand. Cost for two boxes is a splurge at $25.96. But when compared to needing a night off and ordering take out, this is super savings!!!

Total for food at Sam’s: $204.67

4. Costco

The next day we needed diapers, plus the littles needed an outing, so we headed to Costco. Since we were there anyway and we always need fresh produce, we picked up grapes, oranges, bananas, and peanuts. (We like keeping those peanuts in the van to help with hunger meltdowns and to feed the parents who also sometimes get hungry and need to eat.)

Total for food at Costco: $31.74

5. Aldi

I hadn’t been to Aldi for a while and needed baby food pouches for our littlest plus a few of our Aldi favorites.

Total at Aldi: $76.56

6. Costco

Matt and I had decided to have a two day getaway! So, I ran in to Costco get a few convenience items for our big kids to have on hand to feed our gang while we were gone.

Costco Total: $47.26

7. Eating Out

While Matt and I were on our short getaway, would you believe that we ate out three meals but didn’t have to pay out of pocket for any of them thanks to gift cards we’d saved up for this? So thankful!!

We enjoyed Cheesecake Factory…

Good Evans…

And Culvers.

8. Costco Lunch

We’d made plans with our littles to have a special Costco lunch sometime during their spring break. So we made this happen mid-March, ordering a pizza ahead of time then ordering some hotdogs once we got there. This is about the only way we can make it work to “eat out” with our crew and the breakdown ended up being only $1.80/person for this fun lunch!

Total at Costco: $21.65 for 12 people

9. Costco

While we were there, I ran through and picked up a few items like potatoes, apples, bananas, maple syrup, and juice for picnics.

Costco grocery total: $78.01

10. Sam’s

We decided to pick up some Rotisserie chickens at Sam’s on our way home from church on March 17. Since I was in the meat aisle, I grabbed hamburger meat – the best price for the best quality that I can find in Lincoln.

Total at Sam’s: $42.68

11. Costco Stock-Up Trip

It had been quite a while since we’d done more than pick up a few items here and there during small shopping trips. So on March 22 we took our five littlest kids on a big shopping outing.

We got what we needed up and down each aisle: chicken thighs, chicken breast, organic hamburger meat, strawberries, sliced cheese, shredded cheese, chicken nuggets, fish sticks, applesauce, avocado cups, crackers, hot dogs, sour cream, ketchup, mayo, coconut oil, turkey lunch meat, tuna, cream cheese, tortelloni, butter, crackers, and pistachios.

Total at Costco: $501.69

12. Gallon of Milk

We were getting low on milk toward the end of the month but I didn’t have time to do anything about it. So Elias and Keith make a quick trip to a local grocery store close to our house to get us by until I could go to Aldi. Milk at this store was significantly more expensive than I’m used to paying at Costco, Sam’s, or Aldi so that definitely solidified these as my favorite three money-saving stores here in Lincoln!

Total at Russ’ Market: $5.02

13. Aldi Bro Time Dinner

Elias and Brayden spent another Bro Time afternoon making dinner for us. They had gone to Aldi earlier in the week to decide on what to make and to pick up needed groceries.

They made us a Taco Feast with Cinnamon Rolls for dessert.

We already had most of the needed ingredients at home, but they grabbed limes, cilantro, taco shells, cinnamon rolls, and a few other things when they were shopping.

Total from Aldi: $16.61

14. Aldi Stock Up Trip

On March 28, Matt and I loaded up our five littles and got stocked up on all of our favorite Aldi items. I bought a case each of Organic Spaghetti Sauce, Organic Salsa, and Whole Milk Yogurt. Plus we bought 5 gallons of Milk, about 15 Fruit/Veggie Pouches to try and feed the baby, Organic Spring Mix, Bananas, Blueberries, Apples, 6 containers of 100% Fruit Cups, Tortilla Chips, French Fries, Granola, Cottage Cheese, and Salami.

Total from Aldi: $203.68

Total Grocery Spending for March:

$1,356.

I stayed under budget, but barely. I felt great about this because it had been a while since I’d focused on stocking up fully on all of our staple foods. As of the end of March, we had full freezers, fridges, and pantry to get us kicked off into April!

Running total for 2024:

January: $1,178
February: $849
March: $1,356

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Big Family Food and Fun: March 24-30, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: March 24-30, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: March 24-30, 2024

Keith has been counting down the days for his very first soccer game! Sunday afternoon was the big day, and he had his cleats and shin guards ready. :)

The game location is closer to church than home, so we decided to pack lunch to eat at the church building and then go to the game from there. I made a crock pot full of Pasta with Red Sauce, a crock pot full of Smoked Sausage cut into pieces, a small crock pot filled with Costco Meatballs, a container of Carrots and Cucumbers, 4-Pounds of Cut Strawberries along with a dish of Cheesecake Parfait, and a container of Rice Krispie Treats. I also got out a few items to hand out as snacks to the remaining kids during Keith’s game.

As church began, Matt got a text that rain had canceled Keith’s game. Poor Keith. He took the news like a champ as we had prepared him for the possibility of a cancellation. Since we already had all the food at the church building, we decided to go ahead and eat there before heading home.

We were blessed to grab a few extra friends to join us. I loved this kitchen scene which included some of our boys with a bunch of their friends. (All the plates on the floor were left there by our little ones as I had fixed their plates and parked them there to eat before the big guys came in.)

While the adults ate, Brayden led the other littles in worship in the auditorium. Notice our littlest, standing by the stage in his diaper after peeing through his outfit. Hey, Jesus wants us to come as we are, yes?

We came home through the rain (that had canceled Keith’s game) so our afternoon was spent watching a show and then playing games with Daddy.

Our friend Paula dropped off Brayden and Kiya’s school lunches for the week and I put them into a fridge. She and Randy have been doing this since October and it has been incredibly helpful on school mornings!

I pulled out leftovers for dinner and got out a bag of pears to go with them.

Everyone ate a pear before having a random plate of whatever sounded good from our leftover stash. :)

Monday morning I made a double batch of Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Muffins. These were a hit, though once the little girls discovered the chocolate chips on top they only wanted to eat the tops of the muffins and ignore the rest. ;)

We had a rough behavior morning for three of our kids. :( So I changed our plans for the morning, hoping that the change of routine might give us a reboot. Eva came over to help as she does every Monday, which was a huge and needed blessing. We left BabyBoy#11 home to nap with Daddy while Eva and I took the other four out to shop for Easter clothes.

Sure enough, while it isn’t always easy to shop with little ones, the change of pace distracted everyone and behaviors settled (mostly). Keep praying for these kids’ healing. We are seeking answers from professionals and trying to figure out where to turn to help meet all their needs.

Fun side note: One of our neighbors has a tree service business and Keith LOVES watching him work and organize tools in his garage. Coleman has been such a gift to Keith as he allows him to ask thirty-eleven questions and chatter and look at his tools and basically, Keith wants to be like Coleman when he grows up.

While shopping for an Easter shirt, Keith came across this toy chain saw. “I need to get this so I can help Coleman cut down trees!!!” The word “no” isn’t Keith’s favorite, but I was able to help him settle with the promise that while we weren’t going to buy the chain saw, I’d be sure and show this picture to Coleman the next time we see him. :)

The afternoon went smoothly and for dinner I decided to make Pancakes and Bacon. Lots and lots of bacon.

Tuesday morning both of our dishwashers were full and clean from the day before (we run them both at least once each day). Acacia got right to work and cleaned out one dishwasher all by herself (except for the knives and mugs that I grabbed before she got started). She loves doing this job – and watching her reminds me of her capabilities. She’s a very tiny 3.5-year-old. She struggles with speech, so much of what she says doesn’t come out clearly. She delayed in other ways that make learning harder for her. She was born with a club foot, which affects her gate and growth. But she knows nothing about this. She’s a big girl who can clean out the dishwasher for her mommy, while chattering confidently even if I can’t understand most of her words. I love her heart and how she goes all in with everything she does. :)

It was cold and windy that day so we kept the little ones in all day instead of having an outing. To help them get some wiggles out, Matt found some interactive YouTube videos that we all danced and jumped and did jumping jacks with.

Late morning I got out ingredients to make White Chicken Chili, including Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix.

I discovered the three little girls sitting in the pantry singing “The Wheels on the Bus” together.

We didn’t have any leftovers so I baked two frozen pizzas for lunch. Have you tried the Cauliflower Crust Pizzas from Costco? They are pretty tasty! I added some pepperoni to ours since it was a veggie-only pizza.

That afternoon, Brayden, Kiya, and I went to our weekly Food Distribution. We were placed in charge of some “extras” that day so we handed out toothbrushes, toothpaste, and Easter items to over 100 people who went through the line.

Matt and Elias had served all the kids the White Chicken Chili from the crock pot. Then Brayden, Kiya, and I dug in when we got home.

Wednesday morning we had Bagels and Fruit. Kiya is enjoying her newly found freedom in toasting her own bagel in the air fryer.

I made a double batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs to have on hand for snacks.

Keith, who is always (always, always, always) rigging something up, taking something apart, or creating some sort of something, had hung a rope with a hook around our second floor banister. He then attached our ball pump to it and used the rope as a pulley to move the pump up and down. Why? Well, why not?

Elias and Brayden had picked up groceries to make a meal for us during their Bro Time on Monday. So Wednesday night, they made a Taco Feast for us with beef, chicken, and shrimp options plus all the taco fixings.

To top off their meal, they made Cinnamon Rolls for dessert.

Thursday morning we loaded up all five littles for a shopping trip to Aldi. Outings like this are both great and hard – but they offer a fun experience for our kids and we get the shopping done that we need so it’s worth the craziness.

Two carts are a must.

This particular trip I bought 5 gallons of milk, 12 jars of spaghetti sauce, 12 cups of yogurt, and 12 jars of salsa -plus all kinds of other needed items I like to get at Aldi. The gal at checkout was like, “Wow, that’s a lot of spaghetti sauce.” and then when she saw our five littles “Wow, that’s a lot of kids.” Should I have told her this wasn’t even half of our kids? Naw. :)

We got home in time to put Keith and Anna on the bus for preschool. Then I blended up a batch of Mini Crustless Cheesecakes to put into the oven.

I also mixed up a big batch of Cream Cheese Cut Out Cookies so the kids could have fun making Easter cookies on Friday.

Acacia was playing dress-up but stopped to help once she saw her opportunity to help me scoop and pour. :)

After school that day, I finally got around to cutting Kiya’s hair. I took off a few inches to get all the dead ends removed so she’ll be fresh and ready for spring!

Meanwhile, I had dumped some barbecue sauce on to a package of chicken legs, so those were on the smoker making us all very hungry. Back in the kitchen, Elias helped Acacia and Josie make Caesar Salad and Chipotle Cheddar Salad to go with our chicken.

I had peeked outside to see that our neighbor Coleman and his wife Sarah were chatting with Matt and the kids so I hollered out to see if they wanted to eat Bbq chicken with us. Elias and I finished putting the meal together, and we had a feast with our neighbors. :)

We had BBQ Chicken Legs, Mac and Cheese (that I’d picked up at Aldi that day), Fried Zucchini, and Salad.

Friday morning, I made a big batch of French Toast for breakfast.

Matt and Elias left to work on our rental house in York so Kelsey came to spend the day with the kids and me. There was no school that day so we had lots of fun plans. I started to roll out the Cream Cheese Cut Out Cookies that I’d mixed up the day before and the kids took turns cutting out cookies to bake. (Ever made cut-out cookies with a bunch of eager children? Oy. This is how I do it and stay sane-ish.)

Mission accomplished.

Then we moved into the dining room to dye Easter Eggs. I’ll admit that this is not one of my favorite activities, but the kids love it so it’s worth it. The best part is seeing the kids’ reaction when I add vinegar to the little dye tablet in a cup. :)

The weather was beautiful so we packed a picnic and walked several blocks to a big park to eat and play.

Justus met us there, which was just the boost we needed after such a full morning with the kids at home.

We played and ate and ate and played, staying at the park for over two hours.

Our lunch was cheese, meat, crackers, artichoke dip, sweet potato chips, pear cups, avocado cups, and some mini-cookies that we’d baked that morning.

Keith is sooooo interested in all things construction so before I knew it he was way across the park visiting with “the workers” and trying to learn about what they were doing.

We were hot, hungry, and thirsty when we got home so I made a blender full of these Smoothies to cool everyone off and to give us nourishment.

Everyone continued to play outside the rest of the day, and look who found the big bottle of bubbles? Eh, they needed a bath anyway.

I cooked 28 hotdogs on our smoker that night, made a small pan of Baked Beans, and got out pickles for dinner. Justus, Kelsey, and I were all pretty tired by the end of this full day so we were all very happy to see Matt and Elias get back home!

Saturday morning Anna and Acacia helped me finish a project for Sunday morning.

The girls put stickers on baggies (I’d picked them up at a sidewalk sale that Delight Design was having last summer and decided that this was a great way to use them!). I put a decorated Easter cookie into each bag and the kids can hand them out at church tomorrow. :)

Our church was planning to walk around to homes in the neighborhood surrounding our building that morning so that we could invite people to join us for Easter. Our family decided to take part in this, hoping it would work with so many kids in tow. Before leaving, we had a simple Cereal and Fruit breakfast then I made Peanut Butter and Honey Sandwiches to take along since I didn’t know how long we’d be gone.

It was a chilly morning but it worked out pretty well for us to take this on. Our littlest four were in strollers and our friend Caitlyn was helping us. The kids took turns putting invitation cards on people’s porches as we walked from house to house.

Back at home, we finished our sandwiches and applesauce then had some Easter fun.

The rest of the evening was spent getting ready for Easter Sunday. I somehow managed to make a double batch of No Knead Yeast Rolls for Sunday’s Easter Dinner.

I browned several pounds of ground beef, saving half of it for another meal and turning the rest of it into Sloppy Joes for our dinner that evening.

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: March 17-23, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: March 17-23, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: March 17-23, 2024

We had been gone all day the day before, so this Sunday started off with an easy breakfast of Breakfast Cookies from the freezer.

We were finally able to meet for church back in our own building after many weeks of being displaced due to a frozen pipe bursting situation. It was so good to be there! Sam’s is right on the way home so we grabbed two Rotisserie Chickens for lunch to share. (And I picked up hamburger meat while I was at it.)

I’d made sides in the morning before church so we warmed them up to eat with our Rotisserie Chicken: Cheesy Potatoes, Green Beans, Cream Cheese Corn, Baked Beans, plus Pineapple Fluff.

Our friends Kermit and Caitlyn joined us plus Justus and Kelsey and Asa and Eva came. There were 15 of us altogether. :)

Justus had picked up a turkey super cheap ($0.58/pound!!!!!) but they didn’t have freezer space so it had landed in our freezer. I had been thawing it and decided to get it baked that afternoon.

I do it this way – boring but good. :)

We had leftovers for dinner, random bits of whatever we could find in the fridge. So this freed my time to work on the turkey plus the kids helped me use over-ripe bananas to make a Banana Cake for Monday’s breakfast.

They turkey finished baking and Matt turned on an audio book to listen to while he took all the meat off the bones after the kids went to bed. My hero. :)

Meanwhile the Banana Cake had cooled and I had made a simple Cream Cheese Frosting for it and covered it to have Monday morning.

Monday morning we enjoyed pieces of Banana Cake with bacon. I made quadruple the amount of bacon we would need for that morning so that we would have extra ready for future meals that week.

Matt had saved the turkey bones for me, so I got out our huge stock pot and started a big batch of broth.

Eva arrived to help Matt so Keith and I headed off to help set up food for Tuesday’s Food Distribution. It’s always a bit hard for me to keep him focused on our work, but if I say, “Keith, will you help me take this apart?” he is ON IT.

Monday afternoon I spent some time making some Turkey Bacon Cheese Sandwiches for easy grab and warm up meals.

Elias had taken Brayden out for Bro Time and Kiya wanted to help me in the kitchen. So she put cheese on all of the sandwiches after I assembled them.

We packaged them up for the fridge or freezer, feeling great about having 25 ready-made sandwiches plus 5 wraps!

I used more of our cooked turkey plus the broth that had cooked all morning to make Turkey Noodle Soup for dinner. Oh, this is good stuff! So good that I was excited to eat it and almost forgot to take a picture until we’d already filled our bowls and worked on seconds. (By the way, I shared turkey sandwiches and cooked turkey with Justus and Kelsey since it was their bird, after all.)

Tuesday we stayed home all morning because we had a case worker visit for BabyBoy#11. (We’re working toward adoption!!!!!)

After getting Keith and Anna on the bus for their afternoon preschool, Matt stayed home to put the baby down for his nap and I took Acacia and Josie to Walmart to pick up a lot of our WIC items for the month. This gave Matt an hour and a half of quiet time to get some work done and it gave the girls and I a little outing plus restocked our fruit and veggie supply. :)

We got home in time to put groceries away. Then I left to pick up Brayden and Kiya from school so that we could head over to our Food Distribution to hand out food to the community. We came home with some too:

Remember the van door debacle from last week? The parts came in and Matt was able to get us all fixed up with a working door again. PHEW. That is a relief and now no children are allowed to touch the new door handle. ;) Isn’t she beautiful?

I had put Baked Potatoes into the crock pot to cook all day so we had them for dinner with leftover Rotisserie Chicken from Sunday and cheese dip.

A friend of ours is the principal at Lincoln High School and Matt had been talking to him about trying to watch at least one of their home soccer games. The weather was just right for this so after we fed the kids we loaded everyone up and headed over. We found a perfect spot on the “non-fan” side where we could climb all over the bleachers and not drive everyone crazy.

I sent this photo of the game field to Malachi who had played both teams last year during his senior year of high school soccer. :)

We got home just in time to brush teeth and tuck everyone into bed so Wednesday morning we had a simple breakfast of cereal so that we had more time to clean up and get ready for school.

After Brayden and Kiya got off, we got the other five ready and went to the indoor play area at the Zoo.

The snacks I packed turned into the kids’ lunch because they just kept eating and eating. We had cheese and crackers, applesauce, fruit/veggie pouches, and juice.

Then Anna, who was being very sweet and grown up that morning, took out the clementine she had packed. She peeled it all by herself and enjoyed her dessert.

Subjects not covered and photos not taken to share with you here: One major preschooler fit as we were trying to get out the door to go to the zoo, one baby puking on the zoo indoor play place floor, and one major toddler fit all the out of the zoo and all the way back home. BUT, these outings are super fun and super worth all the effort to get there and get back home. Truly. :)

Back at home, we got Keith and Anna on the bus for preschool then Acacia and Josie went outside to enjoy the sunshine.

Acacia: “I a Mommy!!”

Josie: “I digging! I outside! I not inside. I outside.” :)

Malachi stopped by that afternoon to pick up some of his mail and Acacia promptly put on his shades. :) Note the little sleeping blob on the bean bag beside Acacia. That’s Josie. She “doesn’t need a nap anymore.” Okedokee.

When Brayden and Kiya got home from school, Elias took Brayden out for some Bro Time. (They go out twice each week so Elias can pour into him.) Kiya and Acacia helped me in the kitchen, cleaning out a dishwasher all by themselves. :)

Meanwhile, Josie was making BabyBoy#11 belly laugh with her games.

For dinner that evening, we pulled out leftovers to eat so that nothing went to waste in our fridge. Kiya made a package of Caesar salad to go with our meal.

We finished off the Taco Rice Dinner that I’d made last week – eating it as a dip with chips. Plus we had Kiya’s salad and leftover green beans.

The next morning we got out pre-made Breakfast Sandwiches and Pancake Sausage Muffins for everyone to warm up in the air fryer.

This particular day turned out to be quite amazing for me. We had made arrangements with a dear friend/babysitter in York for Matt to drop off our three youngest with her while he worked on one of our properties for a few hours. That left me at home with only four kids – and part of the day they were all in school. So I had three and a half hours of COMPLETE QUIET TIME in our house that afternoon. Oh, it was life giving and wonderful! And our little ones loved their time with their precious Emma!

I decided to grill burgers for dinner that night because the weather was lovely and because as meal-prep time, I didn’t have any littles underfoot. We had our Burgers with Tator Tots, Cucumbers, Tomatoes, and Pickles.

We decided to go to Costco on Friday morning to grab diapers and ended up turning it into a big stock-up trip. I’d been trying to focus on using up what we had in the pantry and freezers but getting restocked on all of our basics brought a lot of relief to me that day so that meal planning and prep will be easier.

I’d had a first breakfast around 5:30am and a second breakfast around 7:30 but those were small “meals” so by the time we loaded up at 10:00 I was ready for my first lunch, ha. I grabbed the one leftover burger from the night before, chopped it up, and warmed it up with leftover corn to eat on the way to the store. Weird? Sure maybe. But it hit the spot and kept me going!

Matt ended up with four of the five kids in and on his cart on the way in. Anna hung with me until we redistributed kids in our two carts for the actual shopping time.

We got a variety of random items from crackers to berries to applesauce to chicken and hamburger. We got avocado cups, cream, half and half, coffee, sliced cheese, shredded cheese, pistachios, chicken nuggets, and several items we use that were on sale. I love watching the end caps of each aisle to see what is featured at a big discount! (Matt’s cart was full of two more kids, diapers, water bottles, and chips.

We got to enjoy some free samples, the likes of which made a sweet chocolate mess all over Acacia’s face.

We made it home in time to get Keith and Anna on the preschool bus then Elias and Matt brought in all the groceries with Acacia and Josie trying to help them bring in huge, heavy boxes. :)

I dropped off Acacia and Josie to spend time with a friend from church who watches them for two hours each week. They love going there and always have fun adventures. :)

Matt picked them up and brought them home. Again we see evidence that Josie doesn’t need a nap anymore. ;)

For dinner that night we had Orange Chicken with Rice and Spinach. This is one of our favorite splurge meals from Sam’s. We go through two boxes in one meal, which costs $25.96 – much more than our typical homemade meals. But this fed 5 adults and 6 kids on Friday night, which breaks down to $2.36 per person. MUCH cheaper than ordering take-out!

We were able to find the Husker men’s basketball game and watched it, sort of, between chasing kids and changing poop diapers. ;)

Saturday morning I made 15 Scrambled Eggs and cut up leftover Baked Potatoes from Tuesday night. I fried the potatoes in butter with salt and pulled apart several Clementines for us to eat.

After breakfast we loaded up to go to York just like we did last Saturday. We had been invited to a birthday party so we worked out details for Asa and Eva to help us spend the day there (they were already in York for a photo shoot).

I packed up a big bag full of extra “just-in-case” clothes, diapers, wipes, and snacks.

Matt and Asa spent four hours at our rental house working on repairs while Eva hung with the kids and me, first at a Carnival and then at a Birthday Party. We saw so many York friends that day!!

We got home in time to make Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup for dinner.

Then we got all seven kids through bath time.

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: March 10-16, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: March 10-16, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: March 10-16, 2024

Our friends, the Brock family, had been staying at our house all weekend for a Homeschool Speech and Debate Tournament and we got to enjoy Sunday morning with them before they headed back home. They were exhausted from their very full weekend so we didn’t rush around but instead sat and enjoyed downtime together. (Well, as much downtime as we could have with our seven littles and their six kids, ha.)

I made pan after pan of Sam’s bacon for breakfast plus cut up 4-pounds of strawberries, whipped cream, and got pound cake out of the freezer for Strawberry Shortcake.

Their little girls had a sweet time with our little girls. :) :) :)

We gathered in the living room late morning for a time of worship together. Then had lunch before they took off for home and we headed out for afternoon church service.

Brayden made two bags of Caesar salad with help from our little guest.

I smoked some Chicken, rewarmed last week’s leftover Smoked Pork Loin, and made Corn, Green Beans, and Baked Beans to go with Brayden’s salad. The Brocks had brought back French Bread leftovers from their tournament so I cut, buttered, and toasted it to serve.

Justus and Kelsey had joined us so that they could say hello to the Brocks but Justus had to leave our house early to get to church. So Kelsey stuck around and helped us get out the door with our kids. This was the view in front of me as Matt, Kelsey, and the little girls made their way from the van into the church building.

And this was the view behind me, with Elias and Keith bringing up the rear. Our days are so full and the needs so great. These photos show a glimpse of how our Bigs help make this possible, and we are so grateful.

We stuck around home that evening and played in our yard. I did not feel like cooking, but for some reason, everyone felt like eating. ;)

I made a fruit tray and threw on the leftover pieces of buttered bread from lunch to take outside for the kids to munch on.

Then I boiled a package of Tortelloni that I found in our freezer.

The kids still had room in their bellies after all of this, so some of them had Banana with Peanut Butter, some leftover popcorn, and whatever other random food lurked about the kitchen.

Monday morning warmed several packages of Pancake Sausage Muffins in our air fryer for breakfast. The kids loved them!

Then we spent the morning getting ready for a big outing at the zoo. Since we have a membership, often we just go for an hour or two. But today we planned to take one of Brayden’s friends from school and make a day of it!

I put together a big assortment of food for lunch and snacks to get us through the day. For lunch, we would make our own “lunchables” with crackers, croissants, meat, and cheese. Plus I packed mandarins, applesauce, juice, cereal bars, and fruit snacks for an extra special treat.

We picked up our friend and headed to the zoo, which was packed that day due to the lovely weather and spring break.

Everyone stood on a square – and even Mom got to be in a picture!

Now that the weather is getting nicer, more of the animals that had been “away for the winter” are making an appearance. SO exciting!! Here we are admiring the llamas.

We were nice and hungry by lunchtime and found our favorite sunny table by the flamingos.

The peacocks were back and seemed to really enjoy exploring their territory so we saw them all over the zoo that day. This one wanted to join us for lunch, which most of us loved and some of us didn’t. Josie was not happy that Peacock walked by during her rock climbing expedition.

We walked, we played, we explored, we played some more – and every thirty minutes the kids asked to eat more meat or cheese. We were working up big appetites today! The applesauce tasted real good about 2:00. :)

Meanwhile, Matt and I were starting to drag and I remembered that I had stowed THESE in the bag! Yup. This was a perfect parent pick-me-up as we enjoyed eight kids at the zoo for almost four hours. :)

The kids were mad that we didn’t share with them. Nope, sorry kids. These are only for the parents.

Back at home I hadn’t even thought about dinner so we just pulled leftovers from the fridge to fill our bellies and clean out the fridge. Oh, and I made Kid Smoothies to refresh them after their big day and to give them some greens. (Matt and I already drank ours earlier in the day.)

Tuesday morning, Matt and I turned our crew over to our adult kids and some church friends. We’d made arrangements to have a two day, one night getaway so that we could rest and find refreshment!

Eva came to spend the day with the kids plus we had help throughout Tuesday from Elias, Malachi, and three friends. We knew the kids would be well cared for – we just hoped our caregivers would have the help and energy needed to take this on! We are so thankful for them!

Matt and I headed toward Omaha and enjoyed lunch at Cheesecake Factory thanks to a gift card someone had given us for Valentine’s Day.

I was too “busy” enjoying the rest so I didn’t get any pictures at our retreat center but guess what? We “accidentally” booked a room at Sonlit Retreats, a Christian-based acreage set up to provide rest and refreshment.

We weren’t searching for this, we truly just happened upon it. Matt had done an Airbnb search for something about an hour away, and this came up. It looked good to us so he booked it. BUT WOW. It was so much more than a place to stay. It turned out to be just what we needed – a place to walk around the lake and by the Platte River, a place to sit and talk and reflect, a place to be still and silent, a place to find connection with each other and with God.

We spent all of Tuesday afternoon, evening, and night there and didn’t leave Wednesday until the very last minute before check-out. I’d packed snacks and I was so glad I did because we didn’t want to leave Tuesday to find dinner. We just pulled out our snacks and ate in the quiet. I’m so thankful God led us here.

We had a great night of sleep and I woke up early (because sleeping in isn’t something I can do apparently). I took my Bible, journal, and my leftover cheesecake – because I was there without kids to question my breakfast, ha! – and sat with coffee and Jesus for almost two hours on Wednesday morning.

Matt and I walked around the property enjoying the water and trails for about an hour and a half before heading out for our second day together. We split an Omelet and Hashbrowns for lunch at Good Evans. Super tasty!

Then we went to Nebraska Crossing Outlet Malls for the afternoon. We had so much fun shopping for ourselves and for our kids. Our time away ended at Culvers before heading home to relieve our caregivers. (Asa and Eva had spent Tuesday night at the Castle then Kelsey came to relieve them Wednesday morning with Elias, Malachi, Justus, and church friends coming and going as scheduled.)

We strategically came home just after the kids had been put to bed so that we wouldn’t end our rest time with the hubbub of bedtime. Then we were back to the grind, refreshed and grateful.

Thursday morning Josie and BabyBoy#11 had a visit from our kids’ speech pathologist.

It was rainy that morning so we pulled out playdough and cookie cutters to enjoy for a while.

The kids and I had talked about having a special Costco lunch some time during their spring break. This rainy day seemed like the right time to do it! So we called ahead and ordered a pizza, then picked up a few hotdogs there too for a special lunch out. Elias came, one of our housemates joined us, and we picked up some extra pizza for Malachi and our nephew Troy. $21.65 fed 12 people – thank you Costco!

While some finished eating, I ran through the store with Acacia and Josie to get a few items we needed. We were delighted to run into a dear friend from York while we were there too!

That evening for dinner Brayden made a Caesar salad and we rewarmed some spaghetti leftovers that Eva had made when Matt and I were gone.

Eating leftovers that night freed me to get some extra cooking/baking done! Keith helped me make a batch of Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins.

They turned out beautiful!

While the muffins were baking, I browned two pounds of sausage and scrambled them with 28 eggs. I added cheese and put together six Breakfast Sandwiches and 22 Breakfast Burritos.

We are now set for grab-and-go breakfast options for a while!

Friday morning the kids ate some of the Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins I’d made the night before plus some leftover Pancake Sausage Muffins from the fridge.

I got a batch of Stick of Butter Rice cooking in the oven.

And I browned four pounds of hamburger meat.

Then Anna helped me make a double batch of Taco Rice Dinner.

Acacia helped me use the rest of the cooked hamburger to make a pot of Chili. We packaged some of both dishes up to deliver to a friend the next day. Then we saved some for our lunch that day.

Late morning, we loaded everyone up and went to the Children’s Museum. Matt let us all out at the door then he went to go park the van.

I had managed to get all seven littles situated for playing when GUESS WHAT?? Matt came in from parking the van to show me that the handle of the van’s sliding door had busted off. Nooooooooo.

Ok then. There’s always something, right?

But outside, the van door was wide open and wouldn’t close without the handle to release it. And I was inside with all seven kids by myself in a huge play place. Matt called Elias to bring over special tools he needed. I called Malachi to please drop everything and come help me keep track of all the kids. What would we do without our amazing grown kids?!

Elias got the tools to Matt and he started taking the entire door apart. Wow. What a rock star! Malachi arrived and helped me keep track of everyone.

An hour and a half later, Matt (the rock star) had the door at least functioning until we could order the parts needed to fix it. Malachi (also a rock star) helped us load everyone in the van to go home. The kids were starving so I handed out apples that I’d thankfully grabbed from home to take along “just in case.”

We got home in time to eat a late lunch of the Taco Rice Dinner that I’d made that morning.

It was after 2:00 before we had everyone down for naps or rest time. Matt went back out to take the door apart again, mainly to see what parts he needed to order. Keith loves anything that involves taking things apart, so of course he was right there with Daddy.

Late afternoon I spent some time getting ready for our family to be in York all day Saturday. I made our Saturday lunch and dinner to grab and take with us when we left the next day.

First, I made a loaf of bread worth of Peanut Butter Honey Sandwiches.

Then I made 6 cans worth of Tuna Salad to eat with crackers. I gathered everything I could find to make our day away easier and to keep our kids’ bellies full.

Since I was focused on prepping for Saturday, Friday night’s dinner was three Frozen Pizzas and Spinach.

Saturday morning we loaded up at 8:45 to be in York for the day. I was going to a funeral that morning while Matt took the kids to play at our friends’ house. Then after the funeral, I took over with the kids so that he could go work for the afternoon at the rental house we are getting ready to sell.

The friends’ house where we hung out that day? We got to be with our Tuesday People. Oh how we miss our regular weekly time with them. Having the day with them was so encouraging and good.

The kids had been playing hard all day so mid-afternoon we turned on a movie for them to watch. The sun was glaring onto the TV so Aaron gave them all one of his hats to put on. It was the cutest. :)

At 5:00, Matt came back from working and we loaded up. I handed everyone some Peanut Butter and Honey Sandwiches, applesauce, and juice and we headed back to Lincoln.

And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: March 3-9, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: March 3-9, 2024 post for this week…

Big Family Food and Fun: March 3-9, 2024

Our church building has been having major repairs done following a frozen pipe incident in January. Therefore, we’ve been meeting in a different location in the afternoons on Sundays. We’ve adjusted to this different Sunday schedule, grateful simply to still be able to meet together! Just a couple more weeks until we can meet back at our church building, so that’s exciting.

Meanwhile, Matt and I have been spending Sunday mornings at a slower pace getting kids ready for church. Instead of trudging through Saturday evening baths, Sunday morning bath time can be drawn out to two hours, letting the kids splash and play longer in the tub. The love this.

This sweet babe’s curls after a bath are nothing short of amazing…

This Sunday we cleaned out the fridge of leftovers for lunch after baths.

We had invited a few families to join us at a park after church for play time and potluck picnic. So that morning, between baths, I tinkered around putting some easy food together to pack and take. We had Cinnamon Swirl Bagels so I spread cream cheese on them and cut them into fourths to take with us.

I also made several Ham and Cheese Quesadillas. Then I just grabbed food off the shelves in our pantry like Peanut Butter Pretzels, Sweet Potato Crackers, Applesauce, and Clementines. I had some Chocolate Chip Cookies in the freezer so I grabbed those too.

At church, Josie grabbed Malachi’s sunglasses and Kelsey snapped this sweet photo. :)

The park was amazing and the fellowship was what we all needed.

Friends brought Tuna Salad and Chicken Salad on Croissants and a wonderful assortment of other goodies. We feasted together before the temps started to get a little bit chilly. :)

We let the kids play a little bit more before loading up. They were playing so hard that they didn’t notice the cold as much as we grown ups. :)

Monday morning we had a random assortment of leftover breakfast food as I had a little bit of this and a little bit of that: Apple Bread, a few slices of French Toast, and what was left of the Bagel Triangles from the picnic. I made some sausage links to go with these and everyone got enough to eat.

Eva came by at 9 and Keith and I headed to set up food for Tuesday’s Food Distribution.

For dinner that night, Elias and Brayden used their Bro Time to make dinner for all of us! Biscuits and sausage gravy, scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, and orange juice.

Hey Brayden, look at me and say, “Elias and I made dinner!”

The best part of the day was that our dear friend Charlene came to visit from York. Her daughter has dance class in Lincoln on Mondays so we get to hang out during that time. Anna loves how Char pours love into her. We love it too. :)

Tuesday morning after breakfast (I don’t remember what we ate that day!) I made a batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs to have on hand.

Our little ones’ Speech Pathologist came to work with Acacia and all five kids gathered ’round for the lesson. :)

At lunchtime I seasoned the big pork loin I’d gotten for cheap last week and got it cooking on the smoker for the afternoon.

Matt got BabyBoy#11 down for a nap and I took Acacia and Josie to Sam’s to pick up a few items we needed.

Brayden, Kiya, and I went to give out food at the Food Distribution after school while Elias helped Matt at home with the littlest five kids. At dinnertime, Elias baked the Cheesy Potatoes I’d made ahead, pulled the Pork Loin off the smoker, and made Caesar Salad that I’d picked up at Sam’s.

We got home from Food Distribution with a container of berries which the little girls dug into right away. :)

Justus and Kelsey joined us for dinner so that Justus could give Brayden his weekly piano lesson. Let me just say again how much I love living close to our older kids!!

Mid-morning on Wednesday we took the five littlest to Costco so that we could pick up diapers. We grabbed peanuts and fresh fruit while we were there.

Since we had so few items, we attempted self-check out. This went especially well since we had so many little helpers. Oy.

That afternoon we prepped to fill up the Castle with guests for the weekend. Our friends, the Brock family, were hosting a Homeschool Speech and Debate tournament close to Lincoln and we had their family plus one other family staying with us. Asa/Eva and Justus/Kelsey hosted some families also. We’ve all been so excited about this weekend!

For the most part, we were just needed to provide beds and showers. But Wednesday night we got to spend several hours with the Brocks before the tournament started the next day. There are eight of them so I thawed 14 Brats and 28 Hotdogs for dinner.

When they arrived, several of us hung out in the kitchen making a pile of 20 Breakfast Sandwiches that they could grab and take to the tournament the next morning. We wrapped them in foil to make them easier to warm and go.

Their two little girls and our three little girls played and played and played all afternoon and evening. Never have we had so many hours in our house without someone throwing a fit. It was glorious.


Meanwhile, several gathered around our living room table to play a game. :)

Matt smoked the brats and hotdogs while I prepped the rest of dinner.

It was a simple meal with the Brats and Hot Dogs plus Baked Beans, Grapes, Carrots, Olives, Pickles, Sweet Pepper, and Chips.

I sliced an Angel Food Cake we’d brought home from Food Distribution on Tuesday and I pulled Brownies from the freezer that I’d baked another time.

Truly, the night was magical. After visiting and playing, we all worked together to get mattresses set up for the kids all over the house. The other family that stayed with us showed up after bedtime and Matt helped them get settled in. We are so thankful for this house God provided for us so that we could comfortably add 12 extra people for five days!

Here’s a peek at our little boys’ room where we set up mattresses. Was it a mess? Sure. But six boys slept comfortably while we had girls in a different room and parents in their own rooms.

Thursday morning Brayden helped me put 13 of the Breakfast Sandwiches into the oven to warm up. Our guests needed to be out the door around 7:45 to get to their tournament and they’d be gone all day.

We set out fruit, bagels, and yogurt plus made a pot of coffee. Our guests all got out the door and we got Brayden and Kiya to school. Then Matt left for York to work. Malachi had to be in York for video work so they met up there and Elias stayed home to help me with kids.

During the baby’s nap, the other four helped me crack eggs to make Breakfast Burritos. Only one egg smashed onto the floor, so I’d say this project went pretty well. ;)

I cooked two pounds of sausage, then we made 20 Breakfast Burritos and a batch of Pancake Sausage Muffins for grab-and-go breakfast options during the next two days.

I was somehow on an egg and sausage kick, so for dinner that night we had Quiche with Spinach and Oranges.

On Friday I decided our meals would not involve eggs or sausage. Well, except for the breakfast options we’d already made. :)

For dinner that night we had a cheat meal of Chicken Nuggets and Tator Tots with Grapes. Bliss.

Breakfast on Saturday was more of the same as our guests headed out for one final day of their Speech and Debate Tournament.

Our former foster son was visiting this weekend so we had eight littles. It made sense, then, that we would take them all to Walmart. ;) What can I say? We were out of greens and apples, plus we needed an outing. Daddy had a cart of boys and and I had a cart of girls. (Sorry, Kiya. I tried to snag a quick photo but I didn’t capture your best facial expression.)

We got our needed WIC items, checked out, then a few kids had to potty before getting back into the van. Those of us waiting by the bathroom had an apple to help the wait time go faster. :)

From there, we headed to Aldi. Matt kept all the kids in the van with a snack while I ran through the store as fast as I could. I grabbed lots of fruit/veggie pouches for the baby and littlest kids, salad kits, granola, milk, yogurt, berries, mandarins, and pear cups. Plus I grabbed crackers and meat for a picnic next week.

It was lunch time by then so I texted Elias and asked if he would get Mac and Cheese started for us so we wouldn’t have any hunger meltdowns.

We had lunch and naptime, then headed to the zoo for a couple of hours.

I had popped some popcorn to take with us so the kids sat on a bench and snacked on it before playing more and heading home.

The rest of the evening was full of bath time and leftovers for dinner. And that was our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: February 25-March 2, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: February 25-March 2, 2024 post…

Big Family Food and Fun: February 25-March 2, 2024

Before sharing all about this week, I’ll back track to Saturday afternoon, Feb 24 as I spent a little bit of time getting ahead in the kitchen but didn’t have time to add these photos to this post.

While the baby was napping I made:

I had some really good help making the muffins. :)

There were a few Uncrustables leftover from our Saturday picnic so I baggied them up individually to grab and go as needed.

For lunch on Sunday, I baked one pan of the Crunchy Ranch Chicken Strips I’d made the day before. We ate them with steamed broccoli and sweet potato crackers. :)

Meanwhile I’d been working to pack a bunch of picnic food for us to eat at a park after church that afternoon. (Just a few more weeks until we should be able to meet again in the mornings back at our repaired church building!)

This along with quite a few drinks (juice and sparkling water) that I packed filled three bags!

It was a piggy tail day for our four girls. :)

There were 24 of us that met at the park that day after church. It was so great that I want to do it every single Sunday that the weather allows. Post-church-potluck-picnics for the win!

Together we enjoyed turkey/ham/tuna sandwich options, oranges and apples, avocado and salsa, chips, drinks, and rice krispie bars.

Monday morning I cut our Simple Bran Muffins open, buttered them, then melted them in our air fryer. They are SO GOOD this way! We had them with yogurt and bananas.

Eva came over to help Matt, and Keith and I went to the Food Distribution site to help set up for the next day. Keith got to use a sharpie to make marks on all the UPC codes. Phew, if you give a kid a sharpie…

We came home and played outside with everyone before the preschool bus came for Anna and Keith. Eva snapped this photo of the little girlies. Yep, I had just redone yesterday’s pigtails for today…

It was so gorgeous that I carried plates of Corndog Bites (from Costco, a great find!), apples, and olives to the picnic table for the kids.

For dinner that night I made 2-pounds of whole wheat elbow noodles with 2-pounds of hamburger meat spaghetti sauce and served it with corn and spinach. I’ve found that elbow noodles are so much easier for our little ones to eat (compared to spaghetti noodles) and when I make them, they eat a ton (with butter and salt).

We ate outside and some of us ate with ear protection. ;)

Elias and Brayden had been out for their Bro Time and everyone was excited to see them when they pulled up!

Later that evening, the neighbors who had hosted a 50th Anniversary party Saturday stopped by with leftover fresh fruit and veggies that needed to get eaten quickly. They guessed we could probably help them out and they guessed correctly! (They also gave us a lovely package of ground sausage that she’d ordered by accident. Yep, we’ll eat that too.) So sweet that they thought of us!

For breakfast Tuesday morning I set out the pretty tray of fruit with sausage links and cottage cheese.

Brayden, Kiya, and I went to hand out food at the Food Distribution that afternoon so Elias and Matt warmed up Burritos from the freezer plus some Burrito Filling to eat with chips.

They sliced some avocado to go with it. This girl LOVES her avocado.

Matt had hung a hammock in our basement for the kids because we wanted to see if it would help with their sensory needs. So far so good, now that the initial excitement is over and we are no longer fighting over it. :/

Wednesday morning I scrambled 15 eggs and warmed up bacon I’d baked last week. Mid morning, I put what was left of the eggs plus two pieces of bacon into a sandwich for my “third breakfast” and it was SO GOOD. (My “first breakfast” was a Peanut Butter Honey Puff with coffee at 4:30 during my quiet time with God before all the hubbub of the day began. Around 7:00 I had a glass of Smoothie for my “second breakfast.” And by 10:00 I needed bacon, apparently.)

We got out a few hidden containers of toys this morning which was fun and engaging. It’s worth a mention that our days can be so long and challenging with this many littles who struggle to regulate (read: there’s a lot of screaming and tough behavior in our house every day). So when I upload these photos and look back at our days, I see a lot of goodness too. It’s hard to remember the good when we’re working so hard against the struggles. Thank you, God, for these sweet moments captured.

If you see anyone pouting in this photo, it’s because I insisted that she put on shoes to wear to school. Sometimes I can be entirely unreasonable. ;)

Brayden and Kiya had discovered the Tie Quilt Kits they’d gotten for Christmas last year and were excited to work on them after school.

For dinner that night, I made 5 cans worth of Tuna Salad and spread it onto 19 rolls. Brayden topped them with cheese and we put them into the oven to create Tuna Melts.

We had our Tuna Melts with Mixed Veggies, Tomato Soup, Strawberries with Chocolate Cream, and Chips with dip.

Justus joined us for dinner so he could give Brayden a piano lesson. Plus our friend Bruce was in town and joined us.

Thursday morning we were sending Matt and Malachi off to York to work on our properties for the day. So I declared it a cereal morning, plus I cut some apples to eat with peanut butter.

Since Malachi went to York (he had other business to take care of there so it made sense for him to work with Matt this time), Elias stayed behind to help me with the little ones. We stayed home all day (because Matt had our van in York), and I took advantage of the time to get caught up on three loads of laundry.

Keith had been asking to make Breakfast Cookies and this morning was a good time to make it happen. We doubled the recipe so we could freeze some.

He was having a very calm behavior day and I was able to keep him engaged in the kitchen with me for quite a while. He took pride in refilling my Oatmeal Container for me from our bulk package.

Then he helped me make a Chocolate Cake because I had spinach that needed to be used up.

Our Breakfast Cookies turned out great, though some of them crumbled because I didn’t have time to let them cool properly on the pan before transferring them. I needed my pans so I could make our pizzas for lunch!

We finished our baking projects and baked some pizzas in time to eat before the school bus came for Keith and Anna.

Once the Breakfast Cookies cooled I put half of them into our covered dish to serve for tomorrow’s breakfast. Then I put the other half into the freezer for another time.

After school that day, Kiya and Anna helped me turn our Spinach Cake into what was supposed to be a layered pudding cake.

Ah well. My idea didn’t go so well and it all fell apart. Somehow we still ate it though. ;)

Dinner before cake was Monday’s leftover spaghetti meal turned into a Casserole topped with cheese plus Steamed Broccoli.

Friday morning we followed a tip by reader Julie and went to a store here called Super Saver to check out the Mega Meat Sale they were advertising. Woot! We got some amazing prices on meat!

We discovered Popcorn Chicken and French Fries on sale there too. So Friday night that’s what we had for dinner for a “Mom’s Night Off.” I sliced some nectarines and pears to go with our two pans of chicken and three plates of fries (with meals like this we just keep making more in our air fryer until we’re all full). :)

Malachi had told me he would run over for dinner after the game he was filming. But I forgot, ha. So when he showed up it was a fun surprise!

Saturday morning I scrambled 15 eggs for breakfast and served them with fruit and Apple Bread that I’d pulled out of the freezer the night before. While I was at it, I put together the smoothie Matt and I drink every day so that we get enough greens without having to take time to eat salad. ;)

Justus and Kelsey came over and took six kids to Sensory Storytime at the library – joined by a friend of ours who had come to spend the weekend – while Matt and I took BabyBoy#11 to church for a special Child Dedication Brunch for the newest little ones.

Asa and Eva met us there to pray with us for our little guy. It was a beautiful, rich morning. And it was super relaxing because we only had one kiddo with us – wow. How great was it for us to share a table with our youngest and our oldest (and with the sweet mama with our grandbaby on the way). Sure, I cried. Most of the morning, actually. :)

Back at home, Justus, Kelsey, and our friend Kermit had fed the kids Sloppy Joes, Mac and Cheese, and Peas. Matt and I got home in time for me to turn right around and head out to watch some dear friends in a Homeschool Melodrama. Malachi had been a part of this during his last years in high school and oh how we’ve missed it! I got to enjoy the entire afternoon by myself, which was very much needed. Plus I got to see all kinds of wonderful friends and grab lots of hugs. Praise God for this!

I didn’t get any pictures yesterday, but here’s a flashback of “old man Malachi” in last year’s Melodrama.

Elias and Matt held down the fort while I was gone, played outside with the kids, and made frozen pizza for dinner.

And that was our week!

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Big Family Grocery Spending for February 2024

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If you’re curious, here’s the breakdown and total for our Big Family Grocery Spending for February 2024…

I thought it would be fun to keep track of everything I bought and share what I spent throughout the month as I shopped for food.

Here’s the amount we currently budget for groceries so that we can feed 13+ people every day at our house. Household items, diapers, and cleaning supplies are a separate line item in our budget, so this amount is just for food.

Ready to see where I shopped, what I bought, and how much I spent?

Big Family Grocery Spending for February 2024

1. Special Bro Dinner

Elias and Brayden spend some one-on-one Bro Time each week. One of their “outing activities” early this month was to go to the grocery store to buy food in order to make a meal together to give Mom a night off. They decided to make Pasta with Red and White Sauces plus Veggies and Texas Toast. While shopping, they also picked up Blackberries and a box of Brownies to make for dessert. The cost for this was a bit more than I typically spend for a meal. But was this priceless? Absolutely.

Cost for this meal and experience: $25.

2. Goodcents Kids Meal Treats

We had a stack of Free Kids’ Meals coupons that we’d received back in October. So on the first Saturday of the month, we decided to take advantage of those on our way home from the library. Matt bought himself a meal and six kids shared five free kids’ meals.

They LOVED this and altogether we only spent $12.90.

3. Sam’s

It had been a couple of weeks since I’d been grocery shopping and it had been nice to save money during that time by creating meals with what we had on hand. But we were completely out of fresh produce and almost out of all dairy products. So February 6, I had a stock-up trip at Sam’s for a lot of basics.

Total spending for food that day: $348.86.

4. Walmart

The middle of the month, two of the girls and I went to Walmart to look for Pediasure for BabyBoy#11.

While we were there I picked up a few other things I needed like sour cream and ice cream (<—emphasis on the word needed, haha.) I also looked around for markdowns because I usually find some. Indeed, a few of their pizzas were priced really low!

Total out of pocket spending at Walmart: $52.25

5. Aldi

Another day we went to Aldi so I could pick up Fruit and Veggie Pouches for BabyBoy#11. While there, I  found Organic Blueberries on sale plus amazing 1/2 price markdowns on three Pork Putts!

Total spent at Aldi: $39.51.

6. Costco

I ran to Costco that same day for diapers and grabbed strawberries, butter and discounted Annie’s while I was there.

Total at Costco for food: $51.95

7. Walmart

Later in the month, we went to Walmart to get more of the Pediasure needed for BabyBoy#11. We also picked a lot of the little girls’ WIC items that they get through their Adoption Subsidy.

I always scan through the aisles and meat section for markdowns, and today I scored this big package of chicken breast for just $1.76/pound!

Our WIC benefits covered almost all of this shopping trip, which is a HUGE BLESSING.

Total spent at Walmart: $59.12

8. Costco

On February 23, I went to Costco for a big grocery haul. I got cooking basics that we needed plus lots of fruits and vegetables. A huge blessing: I had received our once-a-year Costco Rewards Certificate that I was able to apply to this purchase. So I decided to use it to buy some convenience items to free me up a little bit for busy days and for picnics we like to take as a family.

Among other things I got Fish Sticks, Chicken Nuggets, Frozen Pizza, Mac and Cheese, Crackers and Cheese, Nut Packets, Fruit Bars, Meat Sticks, and Sweet Potato Crackers. I found Halo Cookie Kits on clearance and bought one to enjoy with the kids.

Thanks to our Rewards Certificate, I only had to pay $239.81 out of pocket for all of this! What a gift!

Total at Costco: $239.81

10. Amazon

We receive a monthly subscribe and save order from Amazon, mostly for toothpaste and other household items. But I did spend $20 on a couple cases of GoGo Squeezes for the kids.

(I forgot to take a picture; here’s something similar.)

Total from Amazon: $20

Grand Total Grocery Spending for February, 2024

We ended up way under budget by spending a total of: $849 

The Costco Reward Certificate certainly helped. But even without that, we would have been under budget. Thank you, God!

Running total for 2024:

January: $1,178
February: $849

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5 Grocery Items I Can Only Find at Walmart

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This has been my experience: There are 5 Grocery Items I Can Only Find at Walmart.

Are these all random items? Absolutely, wait till you see! And would I surely be able to find them if I continued to drive all over Lincoln and see what my options were at all of our many different grocery stores? Maybe. But here’s what works for me:

  1. I do the majority of our grocery shopping at Costco, Sam’s, and Aldi. (None of the items I’m mentioning here today are found at those stores.)
  2. I don’t have time to check out other stores in town, especially since I’ve found my rhythm now that we’ve lived here for eight months.
  3. Even if I discovered any of these items at a different grocery store, it’s unlikely that the price would be much better and it’s not worth it for me to go to another store for just one or two items.
  4. And…while Walmart isn’t my favorite place to shop anymore (prices are overall much better at Costco, Sam’s and Aldi) – I do go to Walmart a couple of times each month.

Why do I go to Walmart every month if I don’t buy much there?

There are two reasons. One is to get these grocery items I’m about to tell you about. And the second is because our four youngest kids qualify for WIC benefits through their Foster Care or Adoption Subsidies. I’ve found that Walmart is the easiest place to shop for WIC items, especially because BabyBoy#11 has to drink Pediasure and Walmart is the only place we can find it so far.

So off to Walmart we go.

Are you ready to see the very exciting list of items I must get at Walmart? You aren’t ready for this level of excitement.

5 Grocery Items I Can Only Find at Walmart

1. Dry WHOLE Milk

There is Dry NONFAT Milk at other stores. But finding the whole milk variety was super exciting for me! Now I can make my favorite Peanut Butter Honey Puffs regularly – which I do. We love these.

This large package costs $12.44, which seems pretty expensive. But I’m still going strong on the first package I found a few weeks ago and there are many cups of this left in my pouch. This is saying something because I truly make this recipe at least once each week.

2. Jif Natural Individual Cups

Sam’s has these cups in the “regular” Jif variety – the kind with the hydrogenated oil we like to avoid. Those cups are cheaper at Sam’s, but I’m not willing to compromise on the unhealthy fat. So I pick up a couple boxes of these Jif Natural Cups at Walmart when we need them as they are fantastic to send in school lunches.

Did you know that baby carrots dipped in peanut butter is the only way to eat baby carrots? So says my eight year old daughter and I’ll certainly get behind it! Also? These don’t have to be refrigerated so typically one of these cups can be used for three of her lunches because she doesn’t eat the whole thing in one day. We just slip it into a baggie and send it back with her carrots the next day.

3. Wheat Germ

Costco, Sam’s, and Aldi don’t carry this in my area so I always get it at Walmart when I need it (which is rare). This jar lasts a long time and I use it when I make Mudballs.

4. Mr. Dell’s Shredded Hashbrowns

This 4-pound bag provides two or three casseroles or soups for us and only contain 100% frozen potatoes.

5. Walmart Markdowns

Ok, fine. Sam’s and Aldi have markdowns too. Plus Costco offers good clearance finds.

But there’s something about Walmart Markdown items that are unique and they are very fun to discover! Whenever we go to Walmart, if I have a few minutes, I walk up and down aisles to see what I can score. I also look in the refrigerated sections and end caps to see what’s waiting for me to snatch at a crazy low price!

Remember my $5.00 hams?? These were marked down after Christmas to just $0.50/pound!! Best deal on meat I’ve ever found!

During the fall, cans of Pumpkin were just $0.50/can so I bought 12.

A couple of weeks ago these super large pizzas were $6.88 or less each.

These Christmas Fudge Kits were marked down from $6.46 to just $1.50. Note that this box contained an entire package of Nestle chocolate chips which normally costs $2.98 (and the off-brand costs $2.32). So buying these kits at this price was worth it just for the chocolate!

I’ve gotten super cheap tomato sauce, marked down chicken and roasts, crazy low priced pork loin – these are all such fun finds!

Chicken breast for $1.76/pound!

It can be easy to be sucked in to buying something that’s marked down just because of the deal, so I’m careful to only get what we’ll use and what actually saves me money. But it’s very worth looking up and down (literally down as typically many of the clearance foods in the aisles are toward the bottom) to see what you might find!

Are you a Walmart shopper? What are your favorite items to get there?

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Big Family Food and Fun: February 18-24, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: February 18-24, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: February 18-24, 2024

Sunday after church some friends came over to hang out with us. The girls painted nails. The boys chased each other with light sabers. The parents had adult conversation – bliss!

At mealtime, we had Pulled Pork, Honey Glazed Carrots, Baked Beans, Corn, and super delicious Cheesy Potatoes that our friends brought.

Monday morning we had Breakfast Cookies that I’d found tucked away in the freezer. They were almost gone before I remembered to take a picture. :)

I made another batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs that morning. Having these on hand for the kids is really helpful, but the truth is that I often need to grab one for a quick bite of protein. So maybe I really make these for me? ;)

 

I made two cans worth of Tuna Salad that morning to get ahead on kids’ lunches for school.

Then we packed up a big picnic to take to the zoo. The kids were off school that day and the weather was beautiful so we made a day of it!

Kelsey was off that day so she met us there!

Late that afternoon, while BabyBoy#11 napped, Elias took Brayden out for some Bro Time. I told Kiya we should use the time to make tomorrow’s breakfast and she requested Pumpkin Donuts. That’s a bigger and messier recipe to make compared to muffins, ha. But I decided to go for it. Slowly but surely all the other littles came in to join us and “help.”

After a big zoo day and a big Pumpkin Donuts mess, I was glad to just pull out leftovers for us to eat for dinner.

Tuesday morning I pulled out the Pumpkin Donuts we’d prepped and put some in the air fryer to cook.

We didn’t need all of them that morning so I put half in a freezer bag and froze them for another day.

I made a quick glaze to dip the donuts in, plus I baked several pans of bacon.

Keith and Anna’s teachers came by that morning for their quarterly Home Visit. The kids LOVE this!

After school that day, Brayden, Kiya, and I went to our Food Distribution site to give food to people in that area. Usually there are around 100 people that come through the line. We came home with some goodies too, including two Easter egg decorating kits that the littlest kids wanted to “eat” right away, ha!

Before leaving that afternoon, I had smoked a Whole Chicken and cooked Green Beans and Stick of Butter Rice. I kept the chicken warm in a crock pot so at dinner time, Elias rewarmed the beans and dinner was served!

It was gorgeous outside so the kids ate at a picnic table in the yard.

Wednesday morning, Matt and I loaded up the youngest five and headed to Walmart for WIC items.

These shopping outings are a mixture of great and hard. I’m so thankful to do this with Matt. :)

I don’t remember what the kids had for lunch that day. But for some reason I decided that I really wanted a bowl of Cheerios. So that’s what I had with my daily smoothie.

With the weather being so awesome, I decided to grill burgers for dinner that night. We ate them with  Stir Fried Veggies, and Strawberries with Chocolate Whipped Cream. It was all so delicious!!! Our kids had been outside most of the afternoon/evening and we found ourselves hanging with neighbors so we invited them in to join us too. It was perfect!

Thursday morning I made two loaves of Cinnamon Bread worth of French Toast for breakfast.

Mid morning I used spinach and pumpkin to make a batch of these.

When it was time to pick up Brayden and Kiya from school, Acacia and Josie took a muffin for the road. :)

I used leftover rice and chicken from Tuesday to make Cheesy Chicken and Rice (this recipe subbing chicken for beef). We ate it with another two pounds of strawberries and the leftover Chocolate Whipped Cream from the day before, plus peas and corn.

Matt had been working in York all day and Malachi helped me brave the day without him. By the time we’d chased kids for hours and gotten them fed dinner, we were wiped out. Malachi sat in a chair with a Anna and Acacia watching videos. At this point, we were just surviving until Daddy got home. :)

Ah, but what did Daddy have with him when he got back? A big girl bed for Acacia. Malachi helped him get it set up, along with a big girl bed for Josie that we already had, while I kept seven VERY HYPER KIDS alive.

Here they are, all set and ready for their first night out of cribs!

It went better than I expected with only one middle-of-the-night wake up. :/

Friday we played outside as much as possible, enjoying the amazing sunshine.

I was pretty mentally worn out from all the intense parenting involved in our days, which is made worse when Matt is in York for the day as he had been the day before. So that afternoon I was able to go out by myself and spend a leisurely two hours at Costco. Phew, this was good down time for me. :)

I needed to stock back up on basics and I also wanted to pick up some convenience items that are easy to grab and take for picnics. I also had our third floor renters in mind as I shopped as it is handy for them to have several small snack items with them when they go to work.

We are now well stocked with some basic cooking/meal ingredients (coconut oil, cheese, hamburger meat, sausage, milk, cream, turkey lunchmeat, olives, spices, eggs), fresh fruits and vegetables (that will last maybe three days, ha), chips, and some special packaged snacks that our renters can enjoy AND our kids can enjoy for special outings.

It was Friday and if I can, we like to have “French Fry Friday.” I have not wanted to spend the money on prepared frozen fries lately as the price of those has gone up A LOT. Meanwhile, right now I’m finding our favorite Gold Potatoes priced at $0.54/pound which is fantastic!

So for dinner that night, I used 5-pounds of potatoes to make Homemade French Fries. (I made them similar to this and then after baking them, I put them in the air fryer to crisp up.) We enjoyed them with Chicken Nuggets and we ate in shifts as it’s pretty impossible to make enough fries and nuggets to feed us all at the same time. :)

There was some excitement going on one block over from our house as a pipeline had some sort of issues. All of our kids were interested in what all the flashing lights were about so we loaded up in strollers and walked over to “watch the show.” The worker trucks were gone by the time we got there, but we did get to admire the great big hole in the street. :)

Saturday morning I had help cleaning out a dishwasher…

I baked a dozen eggs on a cookie sheet, cooked a bunch of sausage patties, and turned them into Breakfast Sandwiches.

I planned to save and freeze extras for future easy breakfasts, but this is all we had left, ha!

Keith helped me make two loaves of bread worth of Uncrustables.

We packed them up with apples, olives, cucumbers, chips, cookies, and juice to take to the park for lunch. (I also packed a Pediasure and fruit/veggie pouch that we needed for BabyBoy#11.)

It took a literal three hours to get out the door that morning because behavior struggles slowed us down over and over. Please pray for these children and for Matt and me as we help figure out their needs and how to help them find peace. The effort it takes to get out the door for these outings is huge. But then once we finally reach our destination, it is all worth it as the kids can run out their energy in healthy ways. Phew.

We went to one of our favorite parks where there is a playground, bike trail, skateboard area, basketball, tennis, and disc golf. It’s perfect for our family!

Food tastes better when you’ve been running around outside!

Oh but wait. The food is abandoned when you spot ducks swimming in the water behind you!

Malachi joined us with his skateboard and Acacia and Josie tried to keep up with him on their scooter bikes.

We rode/walked around the trail together then we made our way over to the skateboard and basketball area. Everyone was soooo much happier and peaceful while we were there – one of the big reasons we venture out any chance we can with this crew!

We ate leftovers that evening in an effort to clean out the fridge. Our neighbors hosted a 50th Anniversary party and we briefly went to our church’s game night. And that was our week!

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Grocery Prices I’ve Found that Have NOT Increased

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Let me tell you about the grocery prices I’ve found that have NOT increased!

Everyone is complaining about inflation and the rising cost of groceries. I get it. I don’t like it when prices go up.

I’m a BIG grocery shopper for our Big Family. With so many people that I get to feed every day, and while striving to stay within a wise budget, I am very focused on what is reasonable to buy and how to manage costs of all the food we need. And well…

This is really exciting!!

Yes, I’ve noticed a rise in some prices. But guess what else?

  • Not everything has increased. Keep reading to learn what I found out.
  • Weekly sale prices and loss leaders are still very, very good.
  • There are still great grocery markdowns if you take a few minutes to look for them. And best yet…
  • Some prices are actually lower than they used to be.

I just spent some time looking at my online accounts, comparing my Costco and Sam’s purchases from early 2022 until now, early 2024. Friends, please don’t believe all the hype and fear we’re hearing about how grocery prices have increased exponentially. While it is true for some products, it simply isn’t true across the board. Or across the grocery store aisles as the case may be. :)

Are grocery prices as bad as everyone says that they are?

Not based on my receipt comparisons from February 2022 to February 2024. Below you’ll see everything that hasn’t gone up and even some prices that have gone down! Take a look here at some staple foods I buy that I noticed that have gone up in price. But then take notice of the actual amount that they have increased.

  • 3-pound bag of organic petite Baby Carrots was $3.98 and is now $4.86. (That’s an increase of $0.88, but do you know how many baby carrots are in a 3-pound package? It’s a lot of carrots.)
  • 3-pound package of Tortellini was $9.48 and after inflation is now $9.78. (Up only $0.30?? To feed my entire family? Ok.)
  • 2-Pack of Mayonnaise was $5.58 and is now $6.11. (That’s an increase of $0.27/jar.)
  • 2-pound package of Sliced Colby Jack Cheese was $6.88. Two years and inflation later, it’s $7.24. (That’s less than a penny per slice more than I paid in 2022.)

Would you call these increases “exponential??” I don’t.

And now for the really fun discoveries I made while looking at old and new receipts!!

Grocery Prices I’ve Found that Have NOT Increased

  • Organic Grass Fed Hamburger Meat at Sam’s was and still is $4.98/pound. (This is the price I’ve paid for years, not just since 2022.)
  • Regular Hamburger Meat still regularly goes on sale for $2.98/pound at various grocery stores. All meat goes on sale at a variety of times throughout the year. Watch the ads and stock up on prices we’re used to.
  • Chicken Legs at Costco and Sam’s used to be and still are only $0.98/pound.
  • Organic Spring Mix and Spinach at all stores where I shop are still less than $5.00, just like they used to be. (I just bought some at Sam’s for $4.12 and Walmart usually has them for $4.98.)
  • Banana’s price-per-pound has actually gone down a few cents from 2022 to 2024.
  • Costco and Sam’s still offer their amazing Rotisserie Chickens for just $4.98 each.
  • Sam’s 5-pound bag of shredded cheese was $13.68 in January 2022. February, 2024 it is $12.68. That is a dollar LESS.
  • Also a dollar less is my favorite frozen fruit mixture from Sam’s. It was $11.98 and is now $10.98.
  • Just about every store I’ve seen still has store-brand pasta at $0.98 for a 1-pound package.
  • Gold Potatoes were at Costco and Sam’s for just $0.52/pound – not a sale price.

This isn’t everything, but these are many basics I shop for regularly. Isn’t this encouraging?!

I realize that my prices may not be your prices. But I am guessing that if you compare your receipts from two years ago and today, you will find what I found. Some small increases, some actual decreases, and some prices that have stayed the same.

Be encouraged!

My goal for today is to share that we really can keep feeding our families well within a very reasonable budget.

Share with us here what you’ve experienced where you live and where you shop. :)

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