Heavenly Homemakers

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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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Big Family Food and Fun: February 11-17, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: February 11-17, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: February 11-17, 2024

Sunday morning we had a little bit of extra time since we don’t meet for church until 2:00 pm right now. So we worked on kids’ valentines for their Wednesday parties at school. I had ordered stickers with the kids’ names on them from Delight Design so Keith and Anna put their stickers on fruit cups and fruit strips. Easy and so cute!

We spent the rest of the morning giving baths and showers, fixing hair, and prepping for the Super Bowl. I boiled some noodles for lunch and added some White Queso and milk. We ate it with spinach because we are very fancy around here.

Matt was preaching that afternoon so we got to church a little bit early. Elias and Malachi had brought their skateboards and pulled them out to entertain the kids. Nothing warms my heart more than watching my Bigs with my Littles.

Matt had used one of our dining room benches for an illustration in his sermon, and it took almost every Coppinger to get it back out to the van. :) Daddy is a rock star.

When we got home, we had some time before the Super Bowl started so Kelsey and I took the four littles for a walk in two double strollers so that we could visit. How amazing is this weather that we can take a long walk in February!

We got home and put together Super Bowl Party food: Ham and Cheese Melts, Bacon Ranch Chip Dip, Spicy Ranch Dressing (to eat with these Potato Wedges), and regular Ranch Dip to eat with veggies. and Brownies.

Something had gone a bit wrong with my jar of Ranch Dressing Mix when I put it together last week so none of my dips were salty enough. So I kept stirring in salt and testing them again. Good grief, how does one mess up this recipe??

We had a small crowd but it was perfect. A couple friends from York came, a friend from Lincoln, plus Justus and Kelsey. I didn’t actually get to watch much of the game (or the commercials, ha) until after all the kids were in bed. So I watched the final three minutes of regulation time which was actually pretty exciting! I decided that I don’t hate watching football and actually kind of enjoy it once a year for three minutes. (I had been up since 4:15 that morning so staying up for overtime was a no-go for me.)

Just before bed, Kelsey read part of a chapter book she’s been going through with the kids. I love our big kids’ relationships with our little kids. :)

Monday morning Keith and I went to help set up for Tuesday’s Food Distribution.

Wait. Has anyone seen Keith?

That afternoon, the little girls and I made a double batch of Banana Muffins. Kiya got to enjoy Craft Club after school.

Elias took Brayden to Holmes Lake for their Bro Time. They walked all around the lake, about two miles!

Then they took advantage of Honest Abe’s 1/2 price kids meals for an extra special treat.

Dinner at home for the rest of us that night was Sausage and Cheesy Eggs, Banana Muffins, and Steamed Broccoli.

Tuesday morning, BabyBoy#11 and I were on our own for about a half and hour before everyone else got up. So he helped me get our big freezer a little bit more organized.

For breakfast that morning we ate more Banana Muffins with some yogurt.

Two of our kids had appointments with their Speech Pathologist, then I took Anna for a different appointment. I love reading to the kids in the waiting room during our rare and precious one-on-one time. :)

We came home and made Mac and Cheese with Peas for lunch before sending Keith and Anna to preschool.

Then while Daddy stayed home with napping BabyBoy#11, I took Acacia and Josie to Walmart to get Valentine cards for the kids and to try and find Baby’s new Pediasure drink. (His dietitian is working to make sure he is getting the right kind of nourishment since he is almost 14-months old and still not eating solids. Matt and I are following doctor’s orders and trying not to overthink reading the label on these drinks. The sugar content is reallly high, oy. But God is bigger, right?)

The girls and I found the special cart that allows me to actually have room for groceries while they sit in the blue chairs.

While we were there, I told the girls to look for yellow mark-down labels. You never know what you’ll find marked down at Walmart! (Remember my $5.00 hams?!?!) Half-way through our shopping, Acacia reached over and pulled Josie in for a hug. She’s only 8-months older than her little sister but she’s such a little mommy.

Oh hey, look what we found! Great big pizzas marked down to just $6.88! I bought three and decided that we were having a special pizza dinner for Valentine’s day!

Brayden, Kiya, and I went to had out food at the Food Distribution after school that day. For dinner, Elias and Matt warmed up Burritos I’d found in the freezer that morning.

Then we gathered around the table to finish up Valentine’s for tomorrow’s parties. I’d gotten Keith’s and Anna’s finished on Sunday. But Brayden and Kiya weren’t allowed to take any edible treats so I finally got their cards picked up that day and we put them together just in time to take for the party. Phew.

Valentine’s Day morning I attempted Heart-Shaped Pancakes. They weren’t a total fail, but they also weren’t very pretty. They got eaten though. :)

After getting Brayden and Kiya off to school we loaded up the five littlest and went to Aldi. We’ve found that their organic fruit and veggie pouches are best for BabyBoy#11. We can usually get him to eat 6-7 bites of this in one sitting compared to 2-3 bites of any other kind. So Matt kept the kids in the van while I ran in to restock.

Of course, I always have to check for meat markdowns. SCORE!!!!!! I found three 1/2-price pork butts. These guys were just $5.60ish each!

From Aldi, we ran to Costco because we were almost out of diapers. Matt took the kids and gassed up our van while I ran in and grabbed diapers, strawberries (for Valentine’s day dinner!), and butter. Oh look. Annie’s Mac and Cheese was on sale so I got two cases. :)

We were close to Scheels so we went to look at fish and play in their play place. On our way out, Matt and Keith picked up a package of plastic practice golf balls to use with the small golf clubs we’d acquired.

The weather was lovely that afternoon so we played outside while we waited for Keith and Anna to come home on the bus. Then everyone was excited to pull out their valentine cards to show us.

Our neighbor, John, walked over when he saw us playing. Anna had received a ring in her Valentine sack and John was a good sport about letting her try it on his pinky. :)

I baked the marked down pizzas I’d picked up the day before so that we could have a special Valentine dinner. Plus I cut up strawberries and made Cheesecake Parfait to enjoy with them.

Elias and taken Brayden out for a Bro Time session and they had been making big “surprise Mom for Valentine’s Day” plans! They snuck in and spread little gifts on our tub for me to discover.

Brayden walked in ahead of me so that he could be standing there with the rose and card they’d picked out.

Wow, wow, wow. I was not expecting all of this, that’s for sure. Elias is doing an amazing job pouring into Brayden and this day he taught him to think of Mom and to show appreciation and honor. They were both pretty thrilled with how they spent their outing time that day, but not as thrilled as I was. :)

Thursday morning I made Scrambled Cheesy Eggs and Smoothies for breakfast.

Matt and Elias went to work in York for the day and Malachi came over to help me. Josie and I made a pan of Butterscotch Bars for our birthday celebration for Justus that evening.

Days without Matt here are always a bit of a blur. But we see a light at the end of the tunnel as we get more of our properties fixed up and sold so that Matt doesn’t have to go back and forth so much.

After school, Brayden and Keith played outside with our neighbor while the girls helped me prep for a big birthday dinner for Justus.

These salad kits are so helpful and easy and the kids love making them (and eating them, woot!). We put three kits together this night since there would be extras eating with us. Kiya made two of them…

And Keith came in and made one. This was the first I’d turned one over to him, but it really is as simple as cutting open the bags and tossing it all together. Did it make a mess? Sure. But messes wipe up. He was very proud.

Justus’ birthday meal request was this Italian Cream Cheese Chicken. I always forget about this recipe until he requests it and every year I tell myself that I have to make it more often. It is so easy and good!

I put candles in his Butterscotch Bars, but not 24, ha.

Friday was a day off school for the kids so we loaded them up after breakfast and headed to the Children’s Museum. We have a membership there that we bought with Christmas money so we decided to take advantage!

The trickiest part of this outing was staying with all seven kids by myself while Matt ran a few blocks to get the van and pull up to the front for us. Somehow we all managed not to scatter back into the museum. Phew!

We got home in time for a visit with case workers and CASA for BabyBoy#11. While I visited with them, Matt warmed up Hotdogs and sliced apples and got out carrots for the kids for lunch.

We cleaned out the fridge to eat up leftovers for dinner. Then to end the evening I told the kids that if they got the toys all picked up and put away we could get out our drawing paper and pencils and watch a “How to Draw” video on YouTube.

Before I went to bed that night, I put one of the pork roasts into a crock pot to cook all night. We woke up Saturday morning to a delicious smell and I turned it into Pulled Pork for our Sunday evening meal.

Friends came over to spend several hours with us on Saturday. They brought Rotisserie Chicken from Sam’s and fruit. I steamed broccoli and buttered some rolls. This visit was so rich and encouraging.

For dinner that night I boiled some 5-Cheese Tortelloni from Sam’s which we ate plain (little kids) or with spaghetti sauce (the rest of us). This is such a great “cheat” meal to make when we want a night off from cooking!

And that was our week!

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4 Grocery Items I Can Only Find at Sam’s

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I’m a big fan of Costco, Aldi, and Sam’s so those are the stores where are do the majority of my grocery shopping. Here are the 4 grocery items I can only find at Sam’s.

To be fair, when I say that I can only find these at Sam’s, I mean that I can only find these brands at these prices in these amounts. As in, there are certain items I can buy at Sam’s, Costco, or Aldi or any other grocery store. But there are four items I always and only buy at Sam’s because they are amazing and/or not specifically to be found at other stores.

Allow me to explain. Shall we begin with bacon?

5 Grocery Items I Can Only Find at Sam’s

UPDATE: The original post I wrote in February, 2024 didn’t include the fifth item that I added December 2024!

1. BACON

I’ve been so excited about this restaurant-style box of bacon I find and love from Sam’s. It is worth mentioning that we have two Sam’s Clubs in Lincoln but I can only find this box of bacon at one of the locations. So that’s the store I go to!

This is a 10-pound box of bacon for only $29.98. That’s a great price per pound for very good bacon, and a huge bonus is the cooking convenience this box provides. The bacon comes on parchment paper sheets (about 8 slices per sheet) so all I have to do is get out my cookie trays, place a sheet of bacon on each tray, and bake it as-is. SO EASY. And the bacon is delicious.

I usually cook eight or ten sheets of bacon in one cooking session so that we can eat some for our upcoming meal and then have leftovers in a bag in the fridge for sandwiches, breakfasts, and casseroles. I also save the bacon grease to flavor our green beans.

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2. PEANUT BUTTER

The ingredients in this peanut butter are very similar to this Homemade Peanut Butter I used to make. The price – $8.12 for 5-pounds of peanut butter – cannot be beat! And we love how this peanut butter tastes.

We go through a lot of peanut butter at our house so I usually buy two 2-packs each time I go to Sam’s. Here are 40 recipes we use regularly.

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3. WAFFLE FRIES

Sam’s carries this 4-pound bag of Waffle Fries for only $6.98. I pick up a bag of these every time I go to Sam’s and we love this treat!

With so many of us living here, we usually eat the entire bag for one meal. But what an amazing price compared to buying fries if we were to eat out! $6.98 to feed fries 10-13 people, depending on who is here, is fantastic!

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4. COLBY JACK CHEESE SLICES

Obviously there are packages of sliced cheese at just about every grocery store. But here’s why I always get it at Sam’s:

  • Costco’s Sliced Colby Jack is “reduced fat” and we prefer regular.
  • I love having a huge quantity to work with and Sam’s is the only place I find it like this.

This 42-pack costs $7.24 at Sam’s, and in case you’re wondering – the cost per slice is the same at Aldi. But there are only 11 slices in an Aldi package and that doesn’t go very far for us.

We love this cheese when we make Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and sometimes the kids like to eat a slice for a snack. It is worth mentioning that while we don’t like the Reduced Fat Colby Jack at Costco, they do have a sliced Havarti cheese that is incredibly good. So that’s the variety of sliced cheese we buy at Costco.

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5. GRASS FEED HAMBURGER MEAT

Costco has organic hamburger meat, but it doesn’t specify that it’s grass fed. Aldi has grass fed hamburger meat, but their price just tipped above Sam’s price by $1/pound. So each time I go to Sam’s, I get several pounds of their Grass Fed Hamburger Meat for $4.98/pound.

Beyond these five items, there are all kinds of groceries that overlap between Costco and Sam’s that I get at either store depending on where I am and what I need. I love having memberships for both warehouses because they are similar, yet different, and I’ve settled into needing both.

Have you found anything you always make sure you pick up at Sam’s?

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Big Family Food and Fun: February 4-10, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: February 4-10, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: February 4-10, 2024

My brother and his wife had spent the might so Sunday morning we enjoyed a little bit more time with his family before they headed out to join my niece for church in York. I made bacon and set out fruit, yogurt, Bran Muffins, and Lemon Bread.

If you recall, our church is currently meeting in a temporary location on Sunday afternoons while we wait for flood-related repairs to be done at our building. So we spent the rest of the morning giving all seven kids baths and showers. Plus I took a long bath – woot!

We warmed up leftovers for lunch, then enjoyed a Snacky Dinner after church with some of our older kids and some friends coming over to join us.

Matt turned on some soccer highlights to watch and I captured this happy moment of hoopla in our living room. :) :) :)

Monday morning Eva came over to help and I took Keith to our Food Distribution site to help set up to give out food the next day.

When we got home, I discovered that Eva had cleaned my kitchen and made it so shiny! Bliss!

We warmed up leftover Instant Pot Mac and Cheese for lunch and the kids requested frozen peas to be stirred in. Who am I to argue when the kids want veggies?

That night, Elias and Brayden made dinner as part of their weekly Bro Time. They had purchased the groceries during last week’s time, and this night was a great night for them to put it together for us. Hiring Elias for this special task of pouring into Brayden was such a good decision. It’s making a big difference in Brayden’s life, even more than we’d hoped.

They mixed up Brownies to bake before starting dinner.

Then we all feasted on the meal they made: Pasta with both red and white sauces, Garlic Butter Shrimp, Meatballs, Caesar Salad, and Garlic Toast. We all loved it and Brayden beamed with joy.

That afternoon, since I had the night off from making dinner, I put together a batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs for snacks.

While the guys were cooking, Kiya spent time with the loom she’d gotten for Christmas to make her sisters bracelets and necklaces.

Tuesday morning we ate Breakfast Cookies that I pulled out of the freezer. While the kids ate those, I made a batch of Warm Vanilla Soother.

Matt walked Brayden and Kiya to school, then our Speech Pathologist came to work with Acacia. Josie joined this morning too, and she was wearing her life jacket – just in case. ;)

Afterward, we loaded everyone up to do some shopping. Matt dropped two girls and me off at Sam’s then took the other three littles with him into Menards. Divide and conquer, right?

It had been a while since I’d been shopping so I over-filled our cart.

I got lots of fresh produce, sparkling water and 100% juice “pop” for our Super Bowl gathering, shredded cheese, applesauce, chips, chicken nuggets, eggs, milk, chicken thighs, hamburger meat, and a few ingredients and condiments we needed.

That afternoon, I picked up Brayden and Kiya from school and we headed to the Food Distribution to help hand out food. Brayden got to give out Runzas and chicken; Kiya gave out boxed side dish options. Over 100 people come through the line each week, giving us lots of opportunity to smile and show love.

We brought home three bags full of food – lots of bread, buns, and bagels and even a container of strawberries!

Back at home, Elias and Matt warmed up Green Beans that I had made that afternoon and baked this Easy Ham and Hashbrown Casserole that I’d put together over the weekend. In the hubbub of getting home, I almost forgot to take a picture. By the time I remembered, the green beans were gone and people were going back for seconds on the casserole. :)

Matt and Elias went to York on Wednesday to work on our properties and Malachi came over to help me with the kids. For breakfast before sending everyone off to school or work, we had toasted bagels/bread/English muffins, and ate them with sausage and grapes.

To keep the kids busy that morning, I filled a container with dry rice then gave everyone a yogurt container and measuring cups.

Was this messy? Yes. But it was a controlled mess and it kept the kids engaged for several minutes. Malachi and Keith decided to go outside and ride their skateboards together so the girls and I continued to measure and scoop.

I had a lot of help sweeping up the floor afterward.

Once the mess was cleaned up, we spotted the boys through the dining room window with their skateboards.

BabyBoy#11 got up from his morning nap so Malachi came in and took care of him while the girls and I went outside to join Keith. His regular bike is missing (might have been taken??) so he’s making do with his old balance bike for now.

Everyone worked up a big appetite so we came in and ate applesauce pouches and finished off a small bowl of leftover Cream Cheese Salsa Dip with chips.

Dinner that night was simple: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, Tomato Soup, and Stir Fried Veggies.

After kitchen clean-up, one of the kids brought me a book to read. We opened it up and before I knew it there were six kids piled up on and around me. This was perfection!

Thursday morning was apparently not picture-worthy, ha. I had a treasured phone call with one of my cousins while the kids played and Matt took Keith to get a hair cut before school. Then I took BabyBoy#11 to yet another specialist to see if we could get to the bottom of his eating issues. I’m so thankful for everyone at Nebraska Children’s Hospital, and I’m extra thankful that there is a satellite clinic in Lincoln so that our appointment needs with his specialists are more convenient. I came home overwhelmed with information but also hopeful that we are on the right track to meet his needs.

We got the big kids home from school and played outside again since it was so nice!

That morning, I had put Crock Pot Fajitas in to slow cook all day. I fried some corn tortillas that I had tucked away in the freezer so we ate the Fajita meat more like Tostadas. :)

I cut up a fresh pineapple for dessert. So good!

The most exciting part of Thursday was that I found a few minutes to actually find the bottom of two laundry baskets that night! This is no small thing to celebrate.

Friday mornings are a bit more hectic because Brayden has to be at school an hour early for Ukulele class. So I decided to not cook and instead get out cereal and granola choices that morning.

Here’s what our couch looks like each morning after I make my way to our laundry room and bring up outfits so that we can dress the five littlest.

Everyone was dressed and ready for the day when our friend Courtney arrived for a visit!! She’s one of our dear York College friends we become close to during her time as a student a few years ago. It was so good to catch up with her!

We fed the kids a snacky lunch of crackers, cheese, grapes, cucumbers, and sliced turkey or ham before the preschool bus arrived to pick up Keith and Anna.

Then Acacia, Josie, BabyBoy#11, and I walked around outside our house and enjoyed the sunshine for a while.

I dropped the girls off at Ms. Kathi’s house for their special time with her that afternoon. They started off with a tea party which was so cute that I snapped a photo before I headed out. :)

I took the night off for dinner and got out frozen nuggets and fries.

Besides not cooking, the best thing about a meal like this is that everyone eats it without complaint! After dinner, I got to go out by myself to an Adoptive Moms Support Group that meets once-a-month. My time at these meetings is incredibly valuable and helpful to me. Oh how I need the support and understanding that this group offers.

Saturday morning I made Scrambled Egg Sandwiches with fruit.

Then we loaded up and headed to Sensory Friendly Story Time. (Saying it this way makes it seem like it is actually easy to feed everyone breakfast and load up in the van, hahaha. In reality, it takes a solid hour to get everyone ready to leave after we feed them breakfast. Getting out the door doesn’t always bring out the best in me, oy.)

Today the kids got to enjoy waving scarves along with Valentine-themed books, rhymes, and songs.

I love seeing Keith so engaged. :)

After story time, Librarian Diane gets out lots of tubs full of sensory toys for the kids to enjoy for about 20 minutes. Brayden and Josie weren’t able to play though, seeing as they were buried under all the scarves.

That afternoon we worked on Super Bowl Party food. Kiya had helped me make a double batch of Brownies the day before and we got them frosted.

I baked several pans worth of Bacon like this. I needed cooked bacon so that I could make this dip, plus we’ve found that it’s really nice to have pre-cooked bacon in the fridge to pull out for breakfasts or sandwiches. And yes I had just baked several pans worth of bacon on Sunday, but indeed, it was already gone. What can I say? 13 people live here and six of us are adults. Food comes and goes, then comes again, then goes. :)

I cut several pieces of cooked bacon into a bowl and Kiya stirred ingredients together to make Bacon Ranch Chip Dip for our Super Bowl Party.

I had recently made a big jar full of Ranch Dressing Mix, so it’s possible I went a little bit too Ranchy as I made our party food. I was just trying to use what I had and I didn’t feel like getting out a bunch of different seasonings. So Ranch won when I was working on recipes. Bacon Ranch Chip Dip, Spicy Ranch Dressing (to eat with these Potato Wedges), and regular Ranch Dip to eat with veggies. I didn’t put ranch in the brownies though, so I feel like we’re ok. :)

I was in “use up what we have” mode so dinner that night was a little bit of this and that as I cleaned out the fridge. I had olive oil in a cast iron skillet on my stove from Thursday night’s Tostadas, and I had a small bag of pizza dough that Eva had given me. So I baked the dough in the olive oil in the oven then topped it with leftover marinara sauce from the night Elias and Brayden had made dinner. Then added cheese and we had a skillet pizza!

This was obviously too small to feed our entire clan, but we just pieced it together with whatever fruit everyone wanted plus I asked everyone to eat some fresh spinach on the side. We didn’t sit down to eat dinner together that night, just ate in spurts as I kept working in the kitchen.

Acacia crushed some cornflakes for me and we made another batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs. (We go through these faster than we go through bacon.)

I also made a small batch of Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Bars. The Puffs and the Bars are just my way of staying on top of everyone’s hunger when kids (or mom) needs a little bit of protein throughout the day.

Super Bowl Dips in the fridge, snacks made, sink full of dirty dishes, and it was time to get everyone ready for bed to wrap up our week!

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Big Family Food and Fun: January 28-February 3, 2024

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It’s time for our Big Family Food and Fun: January 28-February 3 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: January 28-February 3, 2024

Because our church building is undergoing major repairs due to a frozen pipe and flood, we will be meeting for worship with our church family at a different location on Sunday afternoons for the next several weeks. It’s different, but we sure are thankful to be together with our church family again!

With the change in Sunday schedule, I decided to make Pancakes, Eggs, and Sausage for lunch that day before we left. Josie helped me count the cups of water we added to the mix.

Keith helped me whisk it together.

And we had a great feast.

Unfortunately, while trying to get everyone fed, some of our kids had some pretty severe behavior struggles. We can never predict what might trigger these larger melt-downs and this particular day, my heart felt broken to pieces after dealing with them.

Our babies have so many hurt places to deal with and I just hate it. I was so glad to spend time in worship right after this, and I just cried through the songs. Their words were perfect to minister to me, knowing that we serve a Savior who rescues and heals us. He will do this for our children. Oh how I hurt for their hurt.

It was good to hug friends after church that we hadn’t seen for quite a while because of the harsh weather. Then Justus and Kelsey came over to have a Snacky Dinner with us.

We had Cream Cheese Salsa Dip with chips, carrots, pickles, leftover tuna, fruit cups, and cookie bars that I made from a mix we got at Christmastime.

Monday morning we got Brayden and Kiya off to school, then Eva came over to help! Keith and I packed up some snacks for him to eat on the way, then headed to help set up food for the next day’s Food Distribution.

Is he setting up the food or is he building towers? The answer is yes.

We arrived home to find Anna feeding BabyBoy#11 his bottle, while Eva made sure no one dropped any babies off the couch.

Now that Acacia and Josie are 3 1/2 and 2 1/2, they have decided that afternoon naps are for babies and Matt and I have decided to stop fighting the losing battle. Booooo.

So we let them watch a show for a while in the afternoons so that we can at least have a short minute of breathing time, then I took them into the kitchen with me to do some food prep. Acacia crunched up some cornflakes for me while I mixed up Peanut Butter Honey Puff ingredients for a snack.

After everyone got home from school, Kiya started her homework and Elias grabbed Brayden to head off for some “Bro Time.” (I mentioned last week that we’ve hired Elias to spend some very intentional one-on-one time with Brayden to help meet some of his needs. It’s going fabulously.) This particular day, they headed to Barnes and Noble to look around at games and books. Brayden comes home ten feet taller after these outings.

Meanwhile, I’m able to use this time to pour more intentionally into the others. Anna and Acacia were happy to fold kitchen towels and washrags for me.

I wrote out my Easy Egg Casserole recipe for Kiya. She read through it, and I got out measuring cups and spoons to show her more details about how to use them. Then she put the entire casserole together almost completely on her own. She has decided that she loves cooking and can’t wait to learn more!

After she finished putting together the casserole, we set it into the fridge to bake Tuesday morning for breakfast. Then she started to butter hoagie buns for dinner.

For dinner that night I had made a Crock Pot full of Spicy Ham and Potato Soup with leftover ham from last week. 

Then we toasted the buns Kiya had buttered and spread jelly over them for our dessert.

Tuesday morning I was up early and put Kiya’s Egg Casserole into the oven to bake while I had my God time. Once all the kids got up, we ate it with pears and leftover pancakes from Sunday. It tasted great!

For a morning outing, we went to a Music and Movement Library Storytime. Then we played with some of the library learning toys for a while before heading home.

Late that morning, we had a visit from BabyBoy#11’s CASA who has been with us through several of our kids’ cases. She loves seeing all the kids’ progress (and we appreciate hearing her perspective since we are living through the day-to-day and don’t always see progress through the messes). The girls had fun vising with her while they ate avocado cups and applesauce.

It was gorgeous outside so we got to play in the sunshine and get nice and muddy. :)

After school, I took Brayden and Kiya to Food Distribution to hand out food. Before clients started to come through the line, I was able to sneak in a quick photo of the kids setting up their tables so that you can see a little snippet of what the set-up looks like. Brayden got to hand out boxes of crackers this week and Kiya gave out different varieties of meat. I can’t say enough to share how good this service opportunity has been for our kids.

Back at home, Elias and Matt were holding down the fort. Elias warmed up leftover Pizza Casserole from last week for everyone to eat for dinner. We got home and handed out some grapes and berries we’d been given at Food Distribution and the kids acted like they’d never eaten fruit before. :)

Wednesday was GLORIOUS. The beginning of January gave us negative temps and the last day of the month gave us high 50s. Amazing! We got ready to head out for the morning, but before we did, everyone took turns scrubbing potatoes to put into the crock pot for our dinner.

They took their jobs very seriously.

It takes FOR.EV.ER to get out the door any time we go anywhere. Shoes, man. Finding this many shoes (that have a matching pair), and getting everyone a jacket, and packing snacks, not forgetting the baby’s bottle…

Leaving the house is such an ordeal every time. But then it’s always worth it!!! We went to a skateboard park so that we could play outside at a park but avoid mud from all the melting snow. This was perfect! We took Keith’s skateboard, Anna’s bike, and Acacia’s and Josie’s little scooters. But then, of course, they mostly just climbed all over the cement mountains. :)

We got home in time to eat a few bites of lunch before sending Keith and Anna out the door for the preschool bus. Then we cleaned the kitchen and took Acacia and Josie over to our friend Kathi’s house to spend part of the afternoon.

Matt and I have been praying that we’d find a few more people we could call on for babysitting as the girls stopped napping and we are rather exhausted from the pace we keep. It’s been hard to get much work done beyond parenting tantrums and dealing with poop.

God answered with not one, but two different people who are kind and willing to helps us out a few afternoons each week. We are so thankful! As I write this sentence, only BabyBoy#11 is home and he is asleep. The quiet house is life giving and needed!

Meanwhile, this is how I left the girls today. Ms. Kathi had a lovely assortment of activities for them to enjoy.

The weather was so incredible that the kids played outside all afternoon when they all got home while I made Smoked Chicken. We ate it with salad, corn, stir fried veggies, and watermelon. I had made Baked Potatoes in the crock pot but they weren’t done cooking by dinnertime, so we had buttered rolls instead.

Justus and Malachi came over and ate with us (followed by a piano lesson for Brayden by Justus). I plated up some leftovers to send back with each of them for Kelsey and my nephew Troy since they couldn’t come over to join us. We’d eaten most of the food, but at least they got some of the amazing chicken!

Thursday morning for breakfast, I made two loaves of French Toast like this. No need for syrup when it’s this good all by itself. :)

Keith spent some time with gloves and a shovel clearing out more melting snow. He enjoyed this work so much that I could hardly get him inside when it was time to get ready for the bus to come.

After school that day, Elias took Brayden out for some Bro Time so Kiya and I hit the kitchen for more cooking lessons. The little girls joined us too, of course. Today, Kiya learned how to make Chewy Granola Bars. This involved learning to turn on the stove and stay safe with the heat.

They turned out great!

Meanwhile, I made a big jar of Ranch Dressing Mix to use with our dinner.

The Baked Potatoes we attempted the night before got turned into Potato and Bacon Foil Packs for this night’s dinner because it was beautiful enough to grill again.

While they cooked, Kiya helped me make Pineapple Fluff Salad for a side dish.

What is the best part of helping cook? Licking the spatula. Of course.

Josie had been puttering around and found one of our waffle irons. She sat down and started using it as a laptop. It was the CUTEST.

Dinner that night was Potato and Bacon Foil Packs, Green Beans, Salad, and Pineapple Fluff Salad.

Elias sent me this as the two of them headed home from their outing to enjoy dinner with us.

Friday morning I made Eggs in a Nest for breakfast before getting Brayden off to his early morning Ukulele class, Matt off to York for the day, then Kiya off to school. Elias wasn’t feeling well so Malachi came over to help me hold down the fort while they were gone.

We spent some time getting Malachi’s empty room cleaned up for company over the weekend. The kids had too much fun with the extra mattress that kept “accidentally” falling on them.

At noon I had a big IFSP meeting for the two youngest kids (IFSPs are like IEPs for kids under age 3). So we made a couple of Frozen Pizzas for an early lunch then Malachi was a rock star chasing kids while I spent two hours in the meeting. Phew.

With Matt being gone, we kept dinner simple too. I cooked a package of hotdogs and made these smoothies so we’d get some veggies in us. Kiya helped make Baked Beans because she’s enjoying the kitchen so much and wants to help at every meal now. :)

Saturday morning we had cereal, yogurt, and fruit plus leftover Chewy Granola Bars.

We headed to our favorite Sensory Friendly Storytime. Check out Brayden sharing his coat with Keith as they walked in.

Everyone got to pick a special sensory chair to sit in.

Afterward, Ms. Diane, the librarian, pulled out special sensory-friendly hand-on toys. Truly, this is an amazing option we love to take advantage of here in Lincoln!

We spent time in the main area of the library also, thinking we’d just be there a few minutes. But the kids got very involved playing Post Office and we ended up mailing packages for an hour!

On our way home, Matt remembered that we had some Free Kids Meals coupons that we’d been given way back in October. Today was a good day to cash them in! So he bought one adult meal and we got five free kids’ meals. The kids were so excited about this treat!

There was a special showing of Charlotte’s Web at the theatre for only $3 that afternoon, plus someone gave us two free vouchers. So Elias helped us out and took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith there during afternoon rest time. What a day – restaurant food AND a movie at the theatre!

While they were gone and the youngest four were resting, I cleaned. Hello mop. Thank you for your service.

Meanwhile, Anna’s “nap”…

My brother and his family came to visit Troy so they were all here for dinner. Having them all in our living room was pretty great!

Asa and Eva were able to join us for dinner. (Justus and Kelsey came later. Malachi was filming a hockey game and couldn’t make it.)

For dinner I made 3-pounds of Meatballs, a double batch of 10-Minute Instant Pot Mac and Cheese, Cornbread, and Buttered Peas.

 

I had Chocolate Chip Cookies and Brownies in the freezer so we pulled those out for dessert.

And that was our week!

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Monthly Grocery Budget for 13 People

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Here it is! Our current grocery budget for 13 people living in our house right now.

First, let’s talk about inflation.

As I write this, it is January, 2024. Grocery prices have been creeping up, but here’s what I’ve noticed:

The food that has more greatly been affected by inflation are processed foods. Restaurant prices? WOW. Items in the frozen prepared food section of the store? Those prices shock me!! Cereal? Yikes. I used to rely on some of these more often as back-up options on days I am too worn out to cook. But I find that I buy fewer of these now because I just can’t justify spending the asking prices.

But be encouraged by this:

Some ingredient and fresh food prices have gone up also, but not so much that I feel any sort of shock while I’m buying groceries. Truly, basic grocery prices are still very, very reasonable and many still cost what they have cost for several years!

  • I can still buy Chicken Legs for $0.98/pound, just as they have been for quite some time.
  • Boneless Chicken Thighs are still around $3.50/pound, no change here!
  • Produce sales still give great savings – just take note of the sales and buy in season.
  • Stores still have marked down items that need to be sold quickly. Watch for those and take advantage. (Remember the $5 hams I found after Christmas?!)
  • There are still wonderful sale prices available at stores every week – giving us all great opportunities to buy our favorite foods at prices we feel good about. We just have to spend a little bit of extra time to watch for the sales.

But beyond inflation…

Have I been able to hold onto my $1,200/month grocery budget?

Sometimes. Oh how I’ve tried. The stubborn, frugal part of me has been so determined to avoid a budget increase. Some months I can easily stay under $1,200. Other months I go over quite a bit. I suppose it all averages out, but here’s what I realized:

It’s causing some stress and I’m overthinking. 

Now, there’s a lot to be said for determination, hard work to stay under budget, and finding great ways to save money on groceries. But my head spins too much keeping up with our family as it is. I finally bonked myself on the head and asked, “Why are you doing this to yourself?”

Ultimately, I’ve been trying to stay within our 2017, family-of-six budget EVEN AFTER DOUBLING our family size and adding more adults to our household (three gals who rent our third floor suites). Plus, our little kids are getting older and starting to eat more.

And there’s more to be considered: The rent amount we charge our three third floor housemates includes food. They are welcome to eat any and all meals with us, pack their work lunches and snacks from the food in our pantry/fridge – what’s ours is theirs. It’s part of the package, they are a part of our family, and it’s fantastic! But one must wonder: Why it has taken me so many months to consider the fact that some of that rent money should be added into our monthly grocery budget amount?

I just really like keeping our budget number as low as possible, I suppose. I like a challenge!

But I’m tired.

I need to give my budget brain some freedom. We eat A LOT OF FOOD at our house.

2024 Monthly Grocery Budget for 13 People

I just drank a cup of coffee, so let’s look at this with fresh eyes and an awake brain. What if I took some pressure off and bumped our grocery budget up to $1,400/month?

This would feed:

  • Six adults
  • Six kids
  • Lots of guests throughout the month
  • One year-old baby who still struggles to eat solids, is mostly covered by WIC, but not entirely and wow, formula is expensive.

I just did some calculating and wait. This can’t be right. $1,400 divided by 13 people is just $108-per-person-per-month?? THAT’S IT? Why have I waited so long to figure this out?

We can absolutely increase our Grocery Budget to $1,400/month. We are still eating so well for so little. And with this, we can easily feed all the precious extra people who join us at our table each week! It’s one of our favorite things to do!

More Math

I’m going to geek out some more. Thank you.

  • $1,400/month for 13 people = $108/person for the entire month
  • $108/person/month divided by 30 days in a month = $3.60/day
  • $3.60/person/day = $1.20/meal

Ok, Laura. This is a no-brainer. You should have made this move months ago.

Something important to note

There are three very significant items I need to point out about why I don’t need to increase our monthly budget amount even more:

  1. Our youngest four kids qualify for WIC because of their foster/adoption subsidy benefits. This blesses our family with some cheese, cereal, beans, juice, bread/pasta/rice, and produce – saving us around $180/month.
  2. We volunteer once a week at a Food Distribution and often bring leftovers home, which saves us a small, unknown amount, but saves us nonetheless. I haven’t had to buy bread, buns, or bagels for a very long time. This has been such a gift!
  3. I am an affiliate with Azure Standard. Typically this earns us $30 in Azure credit each month. I wait until the amount accumulates to somewhere over $100 then place an order for free. Such a blessing!

The Bottom Line

I don’t actually think much will change about how I grocery shop and buy all the food we need. But the grocery budget increase will relax my brain, and that’s what I need.

  • I’m still going to watch for and take advantage of deals and sales and markdowns.
  • I’m still going to buy the frozen pizza and other occasional convenience items we need so that I can give myself needed breaks as I feed all of us.

We have the money we need for this increase. —> If you’re curious, these are all the ways we don’t spend money so that we have enough money for groceries. We are so thankful for God’s provision!

Grocery Spending Total for January 2024

I decided to do the official calculations for this month since we just started a new year and because I wanted to see where I landed on our budget as January comes to a close. As it turns out, I spent:

  • $639 at Costco
  • $90 at Aldi
  • $112 at Walmart
  • $102 at for Amazon Subscribe and Save
  • $182 at Sam’s
  • and I ordered seven Domino’s pizzas once for $53

Grand total for January: $1,178

So after all that, I stayed under my old budget amount, and now I’m cracking up. :) :) :) Stay tuned for grocery spending updates as the weeks and months go by!

Care to share your household size and grocery budget? It’s always fun to see what works for other families!

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Big Family Food and Fun: January 21-27, 2024

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Here’s our Food and Fun: January 21-27, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: January 21-27, 2024

Because of the extremely cold temps last week, our church building had a pipe burst and a lot of water damage. :( We are unable to use our building for a while now, so our ministry staff put together a worship service that we could stream online, and our church leaders organized families to meet together in people’s homes.

We were happy to open our home to whoever wanted to join us, so in preparation to host Sunday morning, I set out Bran Muffins I’d baked that morning, plus some Banana Muffins that were in our freezer.

I also made a pot of coffee and got out creamers and mugs.

We were thankful for the friends who gathered in our living room for worship that morning.

Our Kid’s Minister had organized a “Picnic with Pals” event for that day also. Since we couldn’t stay after church at our building to eat as originally planned, we all met at the Mall Food Court. The kids had helped me pack a picnic the day before. We ate cheese, turkey, crackers, pistachios, applesauce, juice, and cookie bites.

After we ate, several of us walked over to the Mall’s play area. It was so fun to burn off energy after so many days of being cooped up in the house. But the best part was being with friends. We are so thankful for the connections we are making here.

We watched a show when we got home so we could have some down time. Then for dinner I made a big Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole, using the leftover burgers I’d made last week. I topped it with leftover French Fried Onions I had in the pantry from Thanksgiving. This made the casserole so good! Also, not all of our kids like bacon so I left that on the side for people to stir in as desired.

After dinner that evening, I got Brayden and Kiya involved in scrubbing potatoes for our next day’s big meal. They are so capable of being big helpers, I just have to be intentional about involving them. They love it!

Monday morning we ate Bran Muffins that I cut in half, buttered, and warmed in the air fryer. They are so good this way! I also made several sheet pans of bacon and got out a container of yogurt to finish off.

Eva came over to help with kids that morning so I took Anna to an appointment then used my extra time to make a batch of Peanut Butter Honey Puffs. The kids love these, but mostly I make them because I’m addicted to them right now. :)

I took a photo of the smoothie full of greens I made that morning, just in case you were wondering if we still drink these every day. ;) For Matt and me, this blender-ful means survival. :)

Acacia has decided that she doesn’t need an afternoon nap any more. Ugh. So she and I did some baking during naptime. My plan was to make a double batch of Poppyseed Bread. But then I realized that I didn’t have poppyseeds or almond extract – both key ingredients in this recipe. So this turned out more like our knock-off Starbucks Lemon Loaf. It was delicious as our after dinner treat!

When the kids got home from school that afternoon, Elias figured out how to play our new Catan Junior game with them.

Malachi dropped by to pick up a few things. Just like when each of his older brothers left home and then came back for a visit, he seemed like a celebrity. :)

We’d been given two turkeys during the holiday season – one from the realtors who helped us buy our Castle and one from our foster care agency. I pulled one out of the freezer to thaw last week and baked it for dinner that night. We ate it with mashed potatoes, gravy, and green beans. It was more work than a typical weeknight meal, but it was so good!

Unfortunately, we had a mix-up on getting leftovers put away so the leftover turkey got left out all night and wasted. Boohoohoo. :(

The good news is that I had already put the bones into the fridge and could still use them to make broth. I started cooking it during breakfast on Tuesday and it turned out great.

That morning, we had a home visit with our Speech Pathologist who comes to work with three of our kids. As you can see, the kids love her.

That afternoon I picked Brayden and Kiya up from school and we headed straight over to hand out food at the Food Distribution site where we volunteer. We had missed two weeks because of all the terrible weather and road conditions so it was so great to get back and see everyone. Now that we’ve been doing this for several months, we are starting to become acquainted with the clients who come through the food line each week. We love this.

I’m not able to have my phone out while people are coming through the line so I can’t show you pictures to describe the specifics of how this works. But local restaurants and grocery stores donate items that they can’t sell to an organization called Food Net. There are locations all over Lincoln throughout the week that give out this food to people who come at the designated pick-up times. The goal is that no food gets wasted and that no one goes hungry. It’s such a cool program and we’re so thankful we can serve in this way.

Volunteers are blessed with any excess, and often we come home with quite a bit of wonderful food.

We got some great bread and bagel items on Tuesday plus some fruit, sparkling water, chicken broth, and canned goods.

While Brayden, Kiya, and I are handing out food, Elias and Matt are home holding down the fort. I try to leave something easy for them to make for dinner while I’m gone. This week I left what I called “Taco Dip” which was all of last week’s Taco Bar leftovers stirred into a casserole like this. Elias warmed it up and scooped it onto plates with chips like this. It was so good!

Wednesday morning I made a pot of oatmeal and told the kids that after they ate theirs, they could have a Poptart. :) We’d been given a box of Organic Toaster Pastries at Food Distribution so this was very exciting!

The kids’ favorite way to eat oatmeal right now is with an overripe banana smashed up and stirred in.

Mid-morning we took our five littlest to a Music and Movement Storytime at one of our libraries. We got there early so we had time to play with the learning toys. The girls found the make-believe post office.

Meanwhile, Keith hung out at the Train Station.

The story time was SNOW themed this time. I tried to capture the fun they had dancing and singing with their snowflakes here…

Back at home, we decided that our table was a “charcuterie board” and just tossed out apples, clementines, nuts, and crackers for the kids to eat before the school bus came for Keith and Anna.

That afternoon, I baked Chocolate Cake full of spinach for our dessert that night. I topped it with this Cream Cheese Frosting, though instead of stevia I used a couple of tablespoons of powdered sugar just to lightly sweeten it.

I also cracked 24 eggs onto parchment paper-lined cookie sheets to bake. Once they came out of the oven I sprinkled shredded cheese on top to melt.

Then I cut the eggs into squares and turned them into 24 Breakfast Sandwiches to have on hand. I’ve noticed that our third floor renters really enjoy grabbing these and warming them up for breakfast before heading to work. Elias, Brayden, and Matt really like them too. How long will 24 sandwiches last? I give them a week. :)

For dinner that night I made Smoked Sausage, Stir-Fried Veggies, leftover Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans, plus Mac and Cheese and Corn on the Cob we’d brought home from Food Distribution. Followed by Chocolate Cake of course.

I had to run out the door for Parent-Teacher-Conferences that evening, Justus and Kelsey came over to eat and to have a piano lesson with Brayden, and we had a lot of dishes to wash at the end of the day. That sums up Wednesday. :)

Thursday morning for breakfast I warmed up Sausage Links or Bacon, depending on kids’ preferences. Then we toasted and buttered some Cranberry Orange Bread we’d been given at the Food Distribution plus I sliced apples.

Mid-morning we piled all the littlest kids into the van and went to the Zoo Play Place to burn off energy.

We had freeze dried apples, crackers, and juice for a snack while we were there.

That afternoon, Elias took Brayden out for some one-on-one time (something we’ve decided to employ him to do a couple afternoons each week to help with some of B’s extra needs). So I used that time to pour extra energy into Kiya. We read through my fun new (old) cookbook and picked a recipe to make together. She learned about measuring cups and some simple, cooking basics and she LOVED IT. So did I. :)

I had put together a huge pan of Pizza Casserole that morning, so it baked while Kiya and I made her snack. We steamed broccoli to go with it.

That evening, one of our housemates, Abby, went out for dinner with some of our York friends, Melody and Alice. Abby returned home with a special bag for us from Melody – a 4-pint package of Culvers Ice Cream!!! Such a sweet surprise!

Friday is a big blur as Matt and Elias went to work in York for the day. Malachi came over and helped me with the kids, but I got no photos of our day because we were mostly in survival mode. We decided to take advantage of a Domino’s Pizza special offer for dinner. We knew we’d have up to 16 people joining us that evening, so I ordered seven larges, paid for them online, and my nephew Troy picked them up and delivered them for us at dinner time. He then grabbed the Baby and chased preschoolers and toddlers and basically, he was the hero of the night. :)

By the way, seven large two-topping pizzas that night only cost $53 – a pretty sweet deal!

Matt and Elias brought our Bonus Boy (former foster son) back from York with them Friday evening so that we could enjoy the weekend with him. Saturday morning we took all 8 kids to our favorite Sensory Story Time at one of our libraries.

BabyBoy#11 was soooooo cute, crawling up to the front where Librarian Diane was singing and reading and doing fun action games with us. He sat there the entire time, just like he was one of the big kids. :)

We then did something a bit crazy, but what do you do when you are almost out of milk, eggs, and formula?? We took all 8 kids into Walmart, oy. It was a good outing but wow, not one we want to enjoy regularly. I got zero pictures of the shopping time or groceries because we were keeping everyone alive and trying not to scan groceries twice. Also, Walmart on a Saturday?? WHY? But at least we now have milk, eggs, and formula. :)

I had made a big bowl of Tuna Salad before we left so as soon as we got home, we made sandwiches for lunch.

Our friend Katie came by for a visit and while we chatted, she washed dishes and swept my kitchen floor. SO SWEET!!

We had a couple extra friends over that afternoon so after they did crafts and painted nails (hello, we have girls now!!), we let them watch a movie. I made popcorn for everyone, and as it started popping out into the machine, Anna laughed and laughed!!

Dinner that night was one of our $5.00 Hams, along with Mac and Cheese and Peas.

It was time to get ready for bed after that, and that wraps up our week!

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