Heavenly Homemakers

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Big Family Food and Fun: July 30-August 5, 2023

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What does our Big Family Food and Fun look like as July ends and August begins?

Before we dive into the week, here are a few more photos that Kelsey took during last week’s surprise birthday party. She was intentional about getting pictures with me in them, since I am usually taking the pictures and therefore not in them. :)

Friends kept showing up to surprise me all day long. Amazing!

The chip and dip buffet:

I had a hard time winding down that night! What a fantastic day!

Big Family Food and Fun: July 30-August 5, 2023

And now for the new week!

Sunday for lunch I tried Pizza Chicken in the crock pot (usually I make it in the oven). It sort of worked??!? I made 8-pounds of chicken thighs at once, so the middle chicken pieces didn’t get thoroughly cooked while we were at church. We ate what was ready and I finished cooking the under-done pieces in a skillet while we ate the rest. We had green beans, corn, bread/butter, and No-Bake Cookies with our Pizza Chicken.

Sunday evening we were invited to swim at our friends’ house and have dinner with them. We had THE BEST TIME!!!!

There were plenty of adults and teens to help with our littles so they got to have fun in the pool too. Then we ate a delicious feast of Sloppy Joes on homemade slider buns, baked beans, grapes, cucumbers, watermelon, salad, pickles, chips, and Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats. We felt so spoiled!


Monday morning we enjoyed Pumpkin Bread and Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread – both made by friends who gifted them to us. So good!

Here’s how Josie felt about it her chocolate bread breakfast. ;)

We needed to go to the bank to both set up an account and to get some paperwork signed/notarized. So  we figured out a way to do it without taking seven babies into the bank, yikes! I packed grapes, animal crackers, and water or juice for everyone and we headed out.

First we stopped at a park to wear them out a little bit. Then we loaded them back into the van and headed to the bank where I stayed with them and handed out snacks while Matt went in to get our account set up. After wayyyyyy to long (it couldn’t be helped), Matt came out and stayed with the kids while I ran in to do my part. We are thankful that the bank people worked with us and that we could get this necessary business done!

Meanwhile, it was past lunchtime because the bank needs took much longer than we anticipated. So I texted Malachi to throw Chicken Strips into the air fryer so we’d have food right away when we got home. At 12:50, we finally made it back and gave them chicken and canned fruit while I warmed up peas to complete the meal. Naptime didn’t happen until almost 2:00 that day but we sure were thankful to finally have our bank account set up and paperwork taken care of!

Dinner that night was Breakfast – pancakes, scrambled cheese eggs, sausage, bacon, blueberries, and applesauce. This is one of our favorite meals! And having a griddle on my stove is INCREDIBLE. I cranked out a huge amount of pancakes in a very short amount of time. Amazing!

The weather was beautiful that evening so we took another walk to the Sunken Gardens before bedtime.

We finished the Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread on Tuesday morning, plus I got out our apple-peeler-corer-slicer and made apple spirals for the kids. (This is actually faster than slicing them and the kids love it!) They ate the apples with our favorite “caramel cheese” so breakfast seemed like a real treat!

Matt kept all the kids occupied outside of the kitchen after breakfast because after eating chocolate bread – I desperately needed to sweep and mop. Then we packed a lunch and headed to the zoo for our morning outing. I used the rest of our leftover smoked chicken from last week to make Chicken-Ranch-Spinach Melts.

We weren’t sure how this would work since these are hot sandwiches. But I packed our cold side dishes and drinks in one cooler with ice. Then I packed the hot sandwiches in a separate insulated lunch bag. I toasted the sandwiches in our air fryer at 10:30 and at noon when we ate at the park, the sandwiches were still hot. Amazing! Now we know!

Flamingos are our favorite. Watch the video here to learn why.

Each time we go to the zoo (we have a membership and we live six blocks away so we can go as often as we are able), we choose something different to “feature” for the kids so that every trip is special. This time it was the Dino Dig. We chose a table by the digging area so that the kids could play and then eat when they were ready. The hot sandwiches were a hit, plus we had applesauce, chips and salsa, and juice.

We headed home and put littles down for a nap then I headed to Costco. I underestimated how long my shopping would take – and how many carts I would fill. Phew. Every time I’m buying food or clothes I’m struck by the reality of how many kids I have. You’d think I’d be used to it by now, haha.

I needed many basics, plus I was getting items for our kids’ lunchboxes for first couple of weeks back to school. Plus I needed diapers, and the yogurt was on sale, and….

I was an hour later than planned getting home. Matt had fed the kids leftovers for dinner but it didn’t matter. They were screaming and extra needy anyway. We somehow unloaded all the groceries while holding very loud children.

All said and done, I spent $653 for Costco groceries and we are well stocked up, at least for a few days before we run out of fresh produce again. :)

Wednesday morning Matt and and Elias headed to York to work on our houses there. Malachi was my side-kick all day, helping me with littles. I had an at-home 9:00 meeting for our littlest kids. Then at 10:30 we decided that a fun morning outing would be McDonald’s Play Place. Malachi’s app told us that we could buy nuggets for a good deal so I told the kids that everyone would have a fun snack of 2 chicken nuggets each and that we’d play and come home and bake pizzas.

Good idea, Mom.

Except – do McDonald’s Play Places not exist anymore??? It’s a been a long time since I’ve looked for one. My phone told me there was a Play Place so we drove to that location. But in fact, there was no Play Place. Moving on to Plan B…

Malachi still grabbed nuggets, we handed everyone their tiny 2-nugget snack to eat in their car seats, and we headed to the Scheels to enjoy their Play Place. Phew.

Oh but did I mention that our wagon broke while we were in there?! Good grief.

The kids had a great time playing, Malachi grabbed himself some frisbee golf discs, and we headed home – much later than intended. Too late to bake pizzas before having screaming children who had become hangry.

Soooo, when we got home I told the kids to wash hands, get a drink of water, and meet me at the table for fun sliced apples. We scooped out peanut butter for them to eat with their apples, I found leftover pancakes to warm up with butter, and that was lunch. THEN IT WAS NAPTIME, thank you Jesus.

Oh wait. It was not naptime. I had missed the fact that the three little girls had been taking turns smearing their peanut butter in each others’ hair. Oh no they hadn’t. Oh yes they had. I took them to the sink at stuck their head under the water to clean their hair the best I could. And then it was naptime. Wet hair and all.

That afternoon I experienced something new…

Grocery Delivery

After yesterday’s crazy Costco shopping trip I decided to see how I could make grocery shopping easier to meet our family’s needs. So I put in an Aldi order and took advantage of a Free Delivery deal.

Having my groceries delivered to my door? AWESOME. But will I do it again? I’m not sure. Probably not??

While shopping, I noticed that Aldi’s online prices were all higher than in-store prices. This is the case for both pick-up and delivery. With the high volume of items I need to buy, it will not be worth it to pay the extra amount per every item. Anyone have experience with Aldi pick-up or delivery? Any tips for how to save? Or should I skip it and just shop in the store somehow each week?

Is it still only Wednesday?

Thank goodness for afternoon rest times. I enjoyed some down-time (sitting with my feet up  and uploading pictures of all of our food, hehe) then got ready for company. I was so excited about this because friends from York were coming for dinner. Kelsey happened to be free to join us and I’m not sure if you know this, but she is a professional watermelon-cutter-upper. That’s always her job when she comes. ;)

There were 22 of us for dinner that night and it was magical. We smoked two different kinds of brats and ate them with salad, watermelon, grapes, oranges, carrots, chips, No-Bake Cookies, and Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars. (<— awww, I wrote this when Asa was only 15.) We enjoyed our visit so much!!

I was visiting with our guests, the bigger littles were playing outside with their kids and our neighbors, and it was getting close to bedtime. Kelsey grabbed the three little girls and gave them a bath to get the rest of the peanut butter out of their hair. Bless. Then Kelsey, along with guests Julie and Emma put them girls down for the night. This was such a precious scene as they said goodnight and headed to bed…

Thursday was my big birthday. :) Just like the day before, I had meetings all morning for our little ones (The Early Childhood Development team is highly involved with our kids ages 0-3 because they are all at high risk and need early intervention. We met with them frequently in York and now we are getting set up with our new team in Lincoln. Lots of meetings later, we are almost ready to roll!)

While I was in our living room filling out paperwork and answering questions, Matt and the kids made a picnic lunch for us. They made Chicken Salad and put it on croissants for sandwiches, plus packed applesauce and chips. I had splurged on Kirkland’s Organic Chocolate Milk for a special treat for picnics but none of the kids enjoyed them very much. A bummer, but now I know not to buy them again. :)

After we ate, the kids ran around the park and attempted to climb a tree.

After naps, they put together a special show for me for my birthday, hahaha.

Elias cooked and perfectly seasoned the shaved beef steak I had gotten in our Aldi delivery, then everyone else worked together to put together a buffet for Steak Nachos for my birthday dinner. All the Bigs were able to join so all 15 of us were together – just what I wanted for my birthday!

My nacho bowl was so delicious!! Cilantro, white queso, seasoned steak, corn, black beans, garden tomatoes, and chips. It was a perfect birthday meal.

Ah, but then there was cheesecake!!

After we ate, we headed outside to hang out.

Kelsey taught me how to play Cornhole. Super fun!

It was a great birthday!

Friday morning we ate cereal and bananas, then headed to a bookstore that was featuring a Reptile Storytime.

We ended up being there with several families from church which was a fun surprise! Most of our kids were brave enough to pet the snakes. :)

Since we were already out and about, we found a park that we hadn’t tried out yet and ate the rest of the Chicken Salad on croissants and No Bake Cookies with juice and clementines. But oooops. This park didn’t have bathrooms, which is a no-go with this many kids! We cut our picnic short and came home so that we could make a mess of food all over our kitchen floor. I mean, so that some of the kids could potty while we finished lunch in our kitchen. :)

For dinner that night I decided that I wanted NO DIRTY DISHES (or drama), so I threw a bunch of chicken nuggets into the air fryer and made these smoothies. Disposable plastic cups with fun straws for the win!

Malachi had made himself a pizza for lunch and the cardboard circle was still on the counter. So that became my fancy serving tray for the nuggets. Nice, eh? The kids ate outside while playing because the weather was wonderful.

Meanwhile, Justus had been coming back and forth all day working with our smoker to made his delicious ribs for some buddies that night. Brayden was his side-kick, which is good beyond what I can express. Our little kids need our bigger kids pouring into them like this. Thank you, God, for moving us to Lincoln so that we could be together in these ways. We all need this.

Acacia gave up on her straw and went all in, drinking her smoothie like a big girl.

Plan B again

If we’ve learned anything we’ve learned that we can make plans, but they almost always need to change.

Saturday morning we had plans to go to Walmart to get a few school supplies and some of our WIC items for the month, especially formula for BabyBoy#11. But, the roofers we’d been waiting on for over a month to come do repairs FINALLY came that morning. So Matt needed to spend time with them, pushing back our plans.

By 11am we were finally able to get out the door, and we decided we needed to work our plans out differently. I put together a snack of animal crackers, applesauce pouches, and cheese sticks and we made our way to the store. All the kids stayed in the the van with Matt and he handed out snacks while I ran into Walmart and hurried as fast as I could to get everything we needed. It wasn’t a very fun outing for the kids, but at least the necessary shopping got done.

I forgot to take any pictures, sorry! I got formula, cereal, juice, cheese, yogurt, frozen hashbrowns, spring mix, spinach, grapes, pears, bananas, strawberries, plus a few packs of glue sticks, crayons, and pencils. Matt and the kids were hanging in there in the van, bless. We unloaded groceries as fast as we could when we got home then quickly warmed up leftover brats and served them with watermelon before naptime.

We made fresh green beans from our friends’ garden that night plus corn on the cob. I put a bunch of Burritos from our freezer into the air fryer to heat up while the veggies cooked and that was dinner. (By the way, make these burritos to have on hand for nights you don’t feel like or have time for cooking. They are so great!)

This was my view of dinner from the corner of the room where I sat feeding BabyBoy#11.

We just have one more week before school starts. We are both excited and sad that summer break ends and a school year begins. When do your kids start their school year again?

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What to Buy (Or Avoid) at Costco or Sam’s to Save Your Grocery Budget

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Here’s what I buy at Costco or Sam’s so save my grocery budget. And…here’s what I avoid buying at those stores!

What I Buy at Sam’s and Costco

These are the purchases I make that save me the most money as I strive to keep our big family budget at $1,400. (I’m currently feeding 12 people three meals every day. Plus we have frequent guests.)

Here’s what saves me the most at Costco and Sam’s:

Organic Produce

I typically find organic produce at Costco for the same price as non-organic produce elsewhere. I still sometimes opt for non-organic depending on cost, but it’s nice to get organic options at Costco when I can. I have found that their organic apples, pears, mixed greens, spinach, carrots, and grapes are usually a great price!

Chicken Legs

These are always $0.98/pound, which is a great price per pound for high-quality meat.

Sliced and Shredded Cheese

In my experience, the bulk bags of shredded Colby jack and mozzarella cheese at Costco or Sam’s is less than what I find elsewhere, even Walmart. I also buy big packages of sliced Colby Jack and sliced Pepper Jack for grilled cheese sandwiches, saving quite a bit!

Other Dairy Products

BUTTER!!!! I always buy butter and save at Costco – while watching for loss leader sales at other stores, especially during holiday season. Also on my Costco and Sam’s list: Daisy Sour Cream, Cream Cheese, 4% Milkfat Cottage Cheese, Half and Half, and Heavy Whipping Cream. Sam’s has a large container of Whole Milk Yogurt that we like also.

Rotisserie Chicken

They are always $4.98 and you can eat them as-is for a fantastic convenience meal! Or you can turn it into any of these meals.

Chicken Thighs

I buy the six-pack of boneless chicken thighs at Costco or Sam’s for $3.49/pound. (Worth noting: I can also find these marked down for even less at Walmart so I always check there also.)

Beef Hotdogs

These are a great price at both Sam’s and Costco, and their taste doesn’t compare to any others I’ve found. We especially love the box of 80 beef hotdogs from Sam’s. They are so good!

Frozen Chicken Nuggets

These are a GREAT price at Costco and they taste better than any others we’ve tried.

Applesauce Pouches

If you buy these (with all of our littles, they are a great convenience food for us!) I highly recommend that you pick them up at Sam’s or Costco. They cost much less per pouch at these warehouses. Plus Costco has a Kirkland brand that is priced even better!

Caesar Salad Packs

I actually don’t know or even care how much these cost, ha. There’s something about these that just taste so very good! I always grab a couple from the produce department and we enjoy them with our meals during the next couple of days. Brayden and Keith eat thirds and fourths of this salad!

Frozen Pizza

I used to think of these as a splurge, but as it turns out, buying frozen pizza is actually a frugal option if you think of them this way. In our opinion, the Kirkland frozen pizzas at Costco are the best tasting compared to other brands.

Grass Fed Hamburger Meat

Currently, the best price I’ve found for Organic Ground Beef (Costco) or Grass Fed Ground Beef (Sam’s) is at these warehouses. Occasionally, Sam’s even has some marked down for quick sale, and I grab it up!

What to avoid

Here’s a list of items I typically find for a better price elsewhere…

Hotdog and Hamburger Buns

In the big scheme of things, this isn’t a super big deal or even a big waste of money. But I’ve found that it saves money to pick up hamburger and hotdog buns at Walmart or Aldi instead of at Costco or Sam’s.

Bagels

The same goes for bagels. I can get them at Aldi for much cheaper than those at Sam’s and Costco.

Salsa

We really like the Aldi organic salsa, and it is much cheaper than what I find at the warehouses. I buy a case of salsa at Aldi every time I go in.

Spaghetti Sauce

The Aldi Simple Nature organic spaghetti sauce is a great price and tastes great.

Hamburger Meat and Sausage

I watch other store ads to check for big hamburger meat discounts. And usually, I find sausage at Aldi for just $1.99/pound. So I don’t ever buy these two meat varieties at Sam’s or Costco unless I happen to catch a meat markdown at Sam’s that matches my price point.

Canned Veggies 

I’ve found that canned beans, tomatoes, green beans, and corn are usually more expensive at Sam’s and Costco compared to Aldi. So I typically buy a flat of of 12 cans of black beans, baked beans, and corn when I go to Aldi instead of getting them at the warehouses.

Wow, is that it?

Overall, prices at Costco and Sam’s really are the best, especially for the high-quality foods that they offer. There are just those few items that I tend to look for elsewhere, and sometimes it isn’t worth making an extra trip to another store.

What are your buy and don’t buy suggestions from Costco and Sam’s?

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Big Family Food and Fun: July 16-22, 2023

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Ready for our Big Family Food and Fun post for this week?

Big Family Food and Fun July 16-22, 2023

Our week began with a big birthday meal for Eva on Sunday. She requested Lasagna and no one complained. :)

Her parents and a dear friend joined us (it’s so fun to do life with them in Lincoln too!).

That evening we got to join many of the youth and families from church at a swimming pool for a big event. Before heading out we ate a quick meal of chicken nuggets, fries, strawberries, and carrots.

Keeping everyone alive at the pool is a full time effort, so I got no pictures of our fun. :) Everyone was starving when we got home so we devoured two frozen pizzas before bed. (I had baked them before we left and I was so glad I did!)

The kids had been requesting “Eggs in a Nest” for breakfast so that’s what we enjoyed on Monday morning.

I FINALLY made Matt’s Father’s Day Cobbler. The question remains: did I make it a month late – or 11 months early? I feel like I’m ahead for Father’s Day 2024. Heh?

While the little girls were eating breakfast that morning I blended up this smoothie for Matt and me. When the blender was running, the girls all started laughing hysterically for some reason, which was incredibly fun and made up for at least three tantrums each.

At lunchtime, we loaded up and took advantage of our zoo membership. It was this day that I discovered this “salad in a bag for a picnic” trick. With our salad, we ate applesauce, avocado cups, cheese, sliced meat, crackers, and juice boxes.

That night we warmed up leftover Lasagna and corn and cooked fresh green beans friends from church had given us. NOTHING beats fresh green beans!

Tuesday morning Matt and Elias headed to York to work on our house there. I sent them with Sausage and Egg Breakfast Sandwiches and bottles of juice.

The rest of us ate eggs (we went through 15 that morning), sausage patties, plus an entire container of yogurt.

I browned 5-pounds of hamburger meat that morning so I could make Burritos. But I scooped out about a pound of cooked meat and mixed it with corn, beans, and white queso from the fridge. It heated in our small crock pot for a couple hours while Kelsey and I took the kids to the library for a fun “Magic” Show.

The magic show was super fun! It was rainy that morning so this was a perfect outing for us that day.

That afternoon I got hungry for these Peanut Butter Flourless Brownies. These can be great or these can be dry. The key is to pull them out of the oven before they seem to be done. I actually only baked these for 10-minutes and it worked great!

Keith agreed by eating three of these and licking his plate!

I made these Frozen Yogurt Cups, except that I used this Smoothie recipe so that I could “hide” spinach in there. The color turned out….special.

And then, since the four littlest were still sleeping, I used the rest of the hamburger meat I’d cooked earlier in the day plus a pan of this Stick of Butter Rice I’d made to make a huge batch of Burritos for the freezer. We’ll enjoy these on busy days, or I’ll pass them on to others who need them. (Fun Fact: I’ve stopped putting butter in my Stick of Butter Rice as a way to save money. The recipe minus the butter is still delicious and well, butter can be up to almost $1/stick now so….)

I had thawed 4 packages of our favorite tortillas from Azure Standard. So we ended up with 32 Burritos!

Matt and Elias were still in York working on our house so Justus came over after work to help me feed the kids dinner. I browned up some sliced ham, Justus made mac and cheese, then we gave the kids the frozen smoothie cups and flourless brownies. They thought we were sooooo silly for giving them “desserts” with their dinner. Little do they know that they got lots of nourishment in these treats!

We ate outside (of course), and boy did those smoothie cups melt everywhere. They are pretty messy. Tasty, but messy. I won’t make them like this very often. :)

After dinner, Justus played Walnut Baseball in the yard with the kids. It was the best! What is Walnut Baseball, you ask? It’s where you pick up all the walnuts off the ground that fell off of the walnut tree, and you use them as baseballs.

Bases loaded. The three-year-old up to bat. It was intense. 

Wednesday morning for breakfast Anna helped me make a triple batch of Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Treats. We ate them with bananas. (These bars firm up after they sit a while. But if you serve it right after making them, you have to serve it in bowls with spoons.)

Matt and I loaded up the kids after breakfast to go to Library Story Hour. Today was Butterfly Day, featuring the Hungry Caterpillar book. So sweet and fun!

Apparently it was National Hotdog Day. So obviously, lunch had to be hotdogs. Pineapple Fluff Salad sounded good so we ate that as a side dish along with a jar of pickles.

I am astounded by how quickly we accumulate recycling items. Matt emptied this container into our recycle dumpster two days ago but here it was overflowing again. (We eat a lot I guess.)

The Lincoln Zoo stays open until 8pm on Wednesdays so we decided to have dinner there that night. I made a big container of Tuna Salad, which we ate with crackers. We also enjoyed Havarti cheese with crackers, mandarin orange cups, and juice pouches.

And check it out! Since we’d enjoyed Butterfly Day at the library that morning, we made a point to enjoy the Butterfly Garden at the zoo after we ate our dinner.

 

Thursday we needed milk and a few other items so we decided that our morning outing would be a family trip to Aldi. Oy. I braced myself for the craziness of it, and grabbed not one but two quarters for carts. :)

Acacia and Josie held hands on the way there. I LOVE IT when they are sweet together like this.

Matt had the cart full of babes and I had one for food.

We spent $135 on chicken thighs, ground sausage, milk, yogurt, cream cheese, strawberries, blueberries, watermelon, salad kits, juice, and buns. I was so glad I checked for sales on meat because their boneless skinless chicken thighs were just $1.99/pound. Amazing and well below my price point! I bought five packages.

By the time we checked out, loaded up, and made it home it was far past lunchtime. Thankfully I had blended up this Bean and Cheese Salsa Dip before we left so we got it out of the fridge and ate it with tortilla chips before naptime.

That evening was incredibly special as dear friends from York came to visit. We made this grilled chicken with baked potatoes in the crock pot, watermelon, green beans, and these gluten free, dairy free Banana Muffins. <— I hadn’t made those muffins in a very long time but wanted to accommodate our friends’ food sensitivity needs. I thought they were only sort-of good, ha. I’m not sure what our guests thought. But our six littles ate them like they were magic muffins. We started the night with 24 muffins and ended the night with only 2. So yay for that!

After eating, all the kids discovered that they could fit inside our dining room cabinets. :) We took a walk together to the Sunken Gardens, then came home and enjoyed popsicles. The night was perfect. Their visit and hugs were just what we all needed.

Friday morning Matt and Elias went to York to work all day so Eva came over to help me. I had a meeting with a case worker, so Eva entertained the girls by making a Sister Sandwich in our playroom.

A friend and her baby joined us all for lunch so I opened up some salad kits from Aldi and cut up last night’s leftover grilled chicken to toss in.

Dinner that night was a bit crazy because Matt and Elias hadn’t made it home yet and I was on my own with all seven kids. I was quickly scrambling eggs and frying last night’s leftover baked potatoes when someone who shall remain nameless got mad and threw a pound of strawberries on the floor. She very unhappily picked them back up.

We survived the evening and were very happy to see Daddy and Elias get home soon after we ate.

 

Saturday after a quick breakfast of yogurt, berries, and Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Treats Matt and I decided to check out Pioneers Park Nature Center with the kids. I made Ham and Spinach wraps to take with us.

And I packed sliced cheese, mandarin oranges, tomatoes, raisins, pistachios, and juice. Plus a Spindrift for Mom. ;) Meanwhile, I was thawing a ten pound chunk of meat to use later in the day.

Pioneers Park was soooooo much fun. We saw bison, walked some trails, explored the Herb Garden, and experienced hands-on learning inside the Chet Ager Building. I had read that the park had a place for kids to dig, so Keith took his excavator and carried it around the entire time, hahaha.

We found a shady spot to eat our lunch.

Then the kids used the buckets, cups, and the beloved excavator to dig in the sand. (I’m not sure that this is the digging area the park website was talking about, but it worked!)

Everyone was dirty, sweaty, and tired on our drive home. But here these two are again, holding hands and singing as we traveled.

Remember the 10-pound hunk of meat I was thawing? I turned a bunch of it into Burgers for dinner, then browned the rest of it to have on hand for meals like this. Our across-the-street neighbor, John, was outside gardening so I hollered over to see if he’d like a hamburger and he came and joined us. It was awesome!

It’s going to be extra hot in the upcoming days so we picked up two little pools for the kids to splash around in. They enjoyed these after eating their burgers.

They got in and out so many times that the water turned disgusting and made bath time a bigger ordeal than it already usually is. OY. Worth the effort? 100%. :)

P.S. July’s grocery spending total so far is $1069 with one week left to go. Can I say within our budget this month? We’ll find out. :)

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How to Take a Salad for a Family Picnic

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Who takes a salad for a family picnic?! We do. When you go out for as many picnics as we do, you start to get creative. :)

Now that we are living in Lincoln, we’ve been taking our seven little kids out for almost daily “adventures.” The weather has been beautiful and the outings are sooooo good for our kids’ mental health (and for mine, actually). Plus this has been a good way to help us all become familiar with our new surroundings.

So many family picnics

I’m telling you, we pack food a lot for our crew to eat while we’re out. They love it, it’s not hard to do, and the best part: THERE ARE NO DISHES TO WASH AFTERWARD.

We live a few blocks from the zoo, so we bought a membership and go there for an hour or two whenever we can. Here’s our picnic last week: meat, cheese, applesauce, carrots, crackers, and juice. We had lunch with the giraffes.

Another day Eva, Kelsey, and I took the kids to a splash park and enjoyed sandwiches, chips (wow, what an actual normal picnic), mandarin oranges, and juice.

One Saturday we took the kids to “Discovery Day” at a UNL campus where they featured all kinds of science-based, hands-on learning booths for the kids. We enjoyed doing experiments at many booths before sitting down under a tree to eat nuts, cheese sticks, and fruit.

A couple weeks ago Eva and I took the kids to play at a huge park all morning, then ate hotdogs that I’d heated and “bunned” ahead of time for us to eat at lunchtime.

And yes, we also enjoy a lot of picnics in our backyard. This one was pizza and fruit. But it all tastes better outside. :)

Other picnic ideas we’ve enjoyed:

  • Quesadillas
  • Hamburgers
  • Chicken Sandwiches
  • Burritos
  • Summer Sausage
  • Tortilla Roll-Ups

How to Take a Salad for a Family Picnic

So now let’s talk about salad.

This idea came to me as I was quickly searching my refrigerators to see what I could throw together for my kids to eat at the zoo this week. I had already grabbed some sliced meat and cheese, but we needed a veggie that could easily be transported and eaten at a picnic table. I was out of carrots, but aha! There was a Salad Kit I’d bought for Elias sitting in my veggie drawer. We could make that work at the zoo!

(This is the photo I sent Elias from Aldi asking if he wanted me to get it for him. And then I bought it for him. And then we ate it without him. Sorry Elias. I’ll get you a new one.)

I threw the kit into a gallon-sized ziploc bag along with avocado cups for our toddlers, applesauce cups and muffins for everyone, and juice boxes. We got to the zoo just in time to sit down for a Baby Cheetah “show.” We settled everyone in with an applesauce cup and spoon, then I dumped the salad kit into my ziploc bag.

I added all the extras included in the kit, closed up the ziploc, and shook it up. This took 5 minutes and it was brilliant! (I did wish I had scissors. That would have made the process only take only 4 minutes.)

I then dumped salad out for Brayden, Keith, Kiya, Matt, and me, handed out forks, and we learned about baby cheetahs while we chomped on salad. Truly, this idea is genius.

These kits are around $3 at Aldi, which is a GREAT PRICE for a lunch on the go. Plus they have several varieties to choose from. I will definitely be grabbing more next time I’m shopping so that I’ll have these on hand for outings as needed!

Meanwhile, Acacia ate her avocado cup with a spoon. She loves those!

Want to make your own salad to take along on a picnic? Here are some great recipes:

How about fruit salad?

Ever tried taking salad for a family picnic?

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Big Family Food and Fun: July 9-15, 2023

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Ready for Food and Fun: July 9-15? We are on week three of Castle living. Each day we make a little bit more progress as we settle in. Of course, each day we make lots of messes, eat lots of food, and throw lots of tantrums so unpacking boxes is a bit of a challenge between dealing with normal day needs. :) We’ll get there!

Unrelated to food (unless we’re talking about formula), suddenly none of his clothes fit this little chunkers. (BabyBoy#11, not Matt. Matt’s clothes still fit.) Good thing I found some clearance items this week!

I’d say we ate pretty well this week as we have been well cared for by others and I am getting settled into our new kitchen. Every day I tell Matt, “I LOVE this kitchen!” Hopefully he doesn’t get tired of hearing it. Truly, it is an amazing kitchen and I’m so thankful God gifted it to us.

(This was the real estate photo.
The kitchen is no longer this clean because we live here and make food here.
But pretend that it is still this shiny.)

Food and Fun July 9-15

Sunday morning we sliced the Sourdough Pumpkin Bread our friend Barbara had made for us and enjoyed it with grapes before loading the kids into the van for church.

Before we left I had put potatoes into the crock pot for a Bake Potato Bar for lunch. When we got home, I realized that I had only set the crock pot to “low” instead of “high” so the potatoes were still not done. Oops. SO, I switched our lunch plan with our dinner plan and we warmed up more of Barbara’s food! What a gift that she had taken care of us so well!

We enjoyed her Turkey Alfredo, finishing off the first pan and half of the second. YUM.

That evening, we had our baked potatoes with bacon, cheese, peas, sour cream, and butter.

Monday morning I realized our need for quick-to-grab foods so I stirred together these No-Bake Cookie Cups. They are made with just a little bit of honey so they’re perfect for breakfast or snacks.

The rest of the day was borderline nuts. (What else is new?!) We had foster care specialists come in the morning to tour our home and approve it for foster care. We warmed up leftovers for lunch, then took the kids on a walk to the Sunken Gardens before naptime.

That afternoon, BabyBoy#11 had a well-baby check up with his new doctor. I filled out tons of paperwork to get all of our kids in the system and to authorize their medical records to be transferred over. Then we ran to Costco because it was close by. I rushed through grabbing a few essentials because Matt’s truck was in the shop and we needed to pick it up by 5:30.

I got home and we threw all of the kids into the van with a snack to hold them over (which it did not). We picked up Matt’s truck and went into Sam’s because it was two minutes away. Elias was with us, thankfully, so we had three adults with seven (hungry) littles in Sam’s. This was not my most relaxing shopping hour, ha. We filled two carts with more essentials. Meanwhile Keith screamed through half of the store because I wouldn’t buy him boots that he didn’t need. Oy.

We grabbed the beautiful $5 Rotisserie Chicken on our way out of the store, got home and tore it off the bone to quickly feed everyone before bed. Zero out of ten, do not recommend executing a plan like this in the future. But that chicken sure did taste good.

There was a mess of chicken skin, bones, smashed grapes, and apple cores all over the dining room when we were done and we managed to get the kids in bed – only thirty minutes late.

The good news is that I am now stocked up on groceries again, woohoo! I spent $216 on food at Sam’s and $286 at Costco. I’ve been avoiding the stores in an effort to use up what we have, and I’m so thankful for the savings as we’ve had other moving expenses. Making meals and snacks will be much easier now!

The next morning Matt and Elias needed to leave early to get to York for a meeting and to work on our house there. So I made them Sausage and Egg Breakfast Sandwiches for the road. We had a lot of strawberries that I’d picked up over the weekend so I made another batch of this Cheesecake Parfait to enjoy with them.

Then Kiya got up and the kids finished off the No-Bake Cookie Cups I’d made the day before.

Kelsey and Eva arrived to help me manage the kids all morning since Matt and Elias were going to be gone all day. (Malachi is gone for three weeks for work and church camp.) We decided to take the kids to the splash park I packed a loaf of bread worth of turkey sandwiches, juice boxes, and mandarin orange cups to eat there.

The kids LOVED this outing and took great naps when we got back. When everyone got up, I was on my own with all seven kids so dinner consisted of air fried Orange Chicken (boxed, from Sam’s), rice, and broccoli. OH WAIT. I burned the broccoli. So our veggie turned into spinach dipped in ranch. OH WAIT. Kiya eats her spinach with ketchup. Hey, whatever gets the nutrients in, I say.

Wednesday morning we ate yogurt with granola for breakfast before heading to our “new library” to check out story hour.

Silly as it sounds, when we got there and the story hour lady was soooo nice, it made me teary-eyed. We had loved story hour in York and I miss it already. I miss a lot about York and it’s all starting to hit me. So I cried a bit through Llama Llama Red Pajama. Tired much, Laura? :)

See Kelsey there? She had picked up a 2-year-old buddy to help out a friend
and they were at the library when we got there!

We came home and warmed up leftover Turkey Alfredo and made quesadillas with the leftover Rotisserie chicken from Monday.

I also sliced apples with this cheese, which is SO GOOD. Unless you don’t like it, and then it’s not so good. But most of us think it’s SO GOOD.

I had a lot of spinach in the fridge, and there’s only one solution to dealing with that: Make a cake. Obviously. I knew my kids would love the treat, and they were only fascinated that I could bake a cake in a crock pot. They didn’t care about the spinach. Big score!

That afternoon during naps, Kiya and I had a “date” at Aldi to pick up everything I hadn’t gotten at Sam’s and Costco. Highlights: whole milk yogurt, salad kits, protein snacks for Elias, cheese and meat trays for picnics, juice, and whole milk cottage cheese. Also macaroni salad because I have been hungry for it but didn’t need a Costco-sized container. :)

I spent $115 at Aldi that day, bringing our July total up to $884 so far. (Keep in mind that our four youngest kids are on WIC so that provides us with around $210 in food – a huge blessing. You can see what WIC provided for us this month in this post. Plus lovely people have showered us with food blessings since we arrived in Lincoln.)

My plan was to smoke Pork Loin for dinner, but wow I am learning that I need to budget my time differently now that we are in a city. Driving places takes longer, but also just getting out the door to go shopping takes longer because I’m not organized enough yet to efficiently find my purse and shoes. One day at a time.

Anyway, by the time we got home, there was no way I was going to start smoking pork loin. Matt had the smoker going so we quickly threw on Smoked Sausage I’d gotten at Sam’s. While that cooked, Elias put together the Caesar salad kits, I steamed corn on the cob, frosted the crock pot cake, and worked really hard to open the container of mac salad. ;)

We were so hungry and this feast tasted so good!! With cake for dessert – woohoo!

Inspired by my Crock Pot Cake, I decided the next morning to use the big bunch of brown bananas in my kitchen to try baking this Banana Bread recipe in the crock pot. It worked well enough that I’ll write a post about it so you can try too if you’d like to bake without heating up your oven!

While it was “baking” I cut two cantaloupe, a watermelon, and two pounds of strawberries to have in the fridge for easy side dishes.

Matt was working on fixing one of our air conditioners all morning (always fun when things break right after you move in). But we were able to all steal way late morning to have lunch at the zoo. We are amazed that we can “walk to the zoo for lunch” whenever we want! It’s just a few blocks away and we have a year family pass. Lunch with tigers and pandas. YES!

That evening our next door neighbors joined us in our backyard for dinner. They have been so good to welcome us and help with various needs. Our kids and their kids are becoming great friends and spending time together that evening was fantastic. We smoked three of the Pork Loin that I’d gotten BOGO last week and enjoyed it with green beans, banana bread, plus watermelon and mac and cheese brought by our neighbors.

Lunch on Friday was delicious soup Barbara had made plus Matt made grilled cheese sandwiches and set out pears.

Elias baked frozen pizzas that night and we enjoyed them with cold melon outside.

Matt spent time cleaning our smoker while the kids and I picked up sticks so the guys could mow. Afterward, the kids all lined up like this and started singing “The Wheels on the Bus.” It was kind of amazing because it is so rare that all the kids cooperate and play together like that. I had to document it! :)

The next morning we ate a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs and yogurt before heading to the Farmer’s Market to meet friends.

I also made a double batch of Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies because our friends were coming over for lunch after the Farmer’s Market. It was fun to bake cookies for the first time in my “new” oven!

Lunch with our friends was a Nacho Bar with chips, taco meat, white queso, salsa, sour cream, cheese, tomatoes, corn, black beans, and avocado.

That afternoon I put together a huge Lasagna for our Sunday lunch so that we could celebrate Eva’s birthday together. We pulled out leftover to clean out the fridge at dinnertime, gave all the kids baths (no easy task), and cleaned the kitchen.

Hope your new week is off to a great start!

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Big Family Food and Fun: July 2-8, 2023

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We are slowly but surely getting settled in at our Castle. We are amazed at and grateful for the care people are showing us here!

Our moving truck got unloaded last Friday, leaving every room of our house looking something like this:

Picture toddlers climbing over that and rearranging boxes as I try to sort and organize. That’s been interesting – but as I share our Food and Fun photos of this week, take note at all God is providing for us so that we can survive these crazy days!

Food and Fun – July 2-8

My friend Cindy, whom I’ve known for a few years but rarely get to spend time with, came by on Saturday with two of her girls. They brought us this huge box of cherries!!!! She and her girls helped me unpack and clean and play with kids for several hours. How lovely that we will all live in the same town and are able to do life together now. :)

Sunday morning I cooked two pounds of meat from my freezer so we could have a quick meal of tacos when we got home from church. This felt so normal!! Which felt so good in the middle of everything that is not normal right now.

Someone at church gave us these beauties from their garden as we were leaving. What a gift!

Sam’s is a mile from church, so Matt gave all the kids a snack while Elias and I ran into the store to grab a few essentials for our 4th of July celebration plus fresh produce we needed. We grabbed hotdogs and buns, guacamole, queso, grapes, greens, apples, bananas, nectarines, sweet peppers, and strawberries. Oh, and Spindrift drinks were on sale – Elias’ and my fav sparkling water! ;) We got home and ate our tacos then got littles down for naps.

That evening I made a plate full of small turkey sandwiches and took them outside for a picnic with pickles, watermelon, and cheese.

I had a package of English muffins in the freezer, so I made scrambled egg sandwiches for breakfast the next day. I was itching to make something (my kitchen is amazing, who cares if it wasn’t fully unpacked yet?!). So I blended up our favorite Cheesecake Parfait recipe to enjoy with our strawberries.

Mid-morning was already very hot so we enjoyed popsicles to help us cool off.

Lunchtime got super exciting because we got word that our custom-built dining room table was on its way!! I had thawed chicken legs to smoke for our meal because Asa and Eva were planning to join us for the day. Plus I’d sliced up all the squash we’d been given to stir fry and enjoy with our chicken.

Our table was built by Sola Woodshed Designs, friends of ours whom I’d messaged several weeks ago to see if they’d want to tackle my huge table project. :) They did a marvelous job and joined us for lunch too. Check out this beauty of a table!! Even better is the people all around the table…

I asked for a 12-feet long farmhouse table, not fancy, just big. :) I requested long benches for seeing instead of chairs so we could fit more people around our table. It’s perfect! We went with four 6-feet benches instead of two 12-feet long benches. It’s amazing.

After such a full morning and a big lunch, we made frozen pizza for dinner.

That evening, more neighbors stopped by to welcome us to the neighborhood and they came with four pounds of strawberries for us. Perfect!

Tuesday’s breakfast was peanut butter honey toast with bananas and yogurt.

Our fridge looked so delicious, full of cherries, nectarines, and strawberries!

Tuesday afternoon, friends stopped by for a visit and they brought several boxes of food – a gift from the Helping Hands ministry at church. This was all so perfect so that we had easy foods to throw out as snacks and side dishes.

Our 4th of July celebration day was as busy as the other days have been with more unpacking and sorting. But that night we put hotdogs on our smoker and had a feast with Asa and Eva joining us. (Justus and Kelsey have been in Montana visiting her family.)

I snapped this photo of our oldest with our youngest. THIS is why we moved to Lincoln.

While were were outside celebrating, our friend Rebecca stopped by with food that her mom, Barbara, had made for us. They have been so intentional about helping us settle in, and it is remarkable. They had taken the turkey we had in our freezer so they could roast it for us. AMAZING and so very helpful. The delicious cooked bird was delivered along with a big bag of banana pancakes, prepared salad, a bag of kid-sized apples, baby carrots with homemade ranch dip, and a bag of ready-to-eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. This was so thoughtful and has been so helpful!

Our girls dug right into the pancakes the next morning!

Matt and I decided that the kids needed an outing so we packed everyone into strollers and headed out to explore our new surroundings. We made our way to our closest library to check it out!

Everyone had good naps (or rest times) that afternoon, then we warmed up the turkey Barbara had made us along with green beans, strawberries and cream, and salad.

The next morning, Matt and Brayden headed to York to do some work on our house there. I packed them a feast to get them through their day.

While they were gone, Eva and I took the other six on a long walk to play at a park. We enjoyed capri suns with raisins and veggie straws mid-morning.

I’d warmed up leftover 4th of July hotdogs before we left and they were still hot at lunchtime. We ate them before heading home!

That night I made Turkey Cheese Melts with more of Barbara’s turkey. We ate them with fries and watermelon.

Friday morning we took the kids to visit another library all morning. We came home and made pancakes and eggs.

A dear friend sent us a gift of flamingo paper goods and a Dominos gift card from Arkansas, so we enjoyed a fun pizza meal that night!

Saturday morning, Anna and I made Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins before everyone else slept. It was my first time baking anything and it was so nice!

We went to “Discovery Days” that morning on the UNL campus where the kids enjoyed fun science activities at each booth. We took a snacky lunch to enjoy late morning before coming home in time for naps.

While the kids were napping and resting, I went to the grocery store for the first time since moving. Our three littlest girls plus Baby Boy#11 are all on WIC, so I focused on getting all of those qualifying items.

While I was there, I took advantage of a buy-one-get-one-free pork loin sale. Plus I picked up a few other things we needed. Out of pocket I paid $78.

 

Before leaving for the store, I had put this Taco Pasta in the crock pot for dinner. Justus and Kelsey were on their way home from Montana so I told them to stop by for dinner if they wanted. Then I texted Asa to come (Eva was out of town). Asa invited our friends Seth and Corrie. Malachi’s friend Max came over. Elias’ friend Emma came to see the house and accepted our invite to stay and eat.

There ended up being 18 of us, all at the last minute. I LOVE THIS. The Taco Pasta turned out great, and we pulled out lots of sides to round out the meal: watermelon, black beans, corn, cherries, veggie tray, chips and guac, brownies, and rice krispie treat. Our table was full and it was fantastic.

Stay tuned for lots of pictures of what the past week and a half have looked like for us as we settle in!

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Big Family Food and Fun: June 11-17, 2023

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Only 1.5 weeks until our big move. Here’s a look at what we ate this week as we clean out freezers and pantries and try to survive!

Food We’re Working With

I’ve put in a couple of Walmart pickup orders for fruits and veggies (we are going through fruit like crazy!). Otherwise, we are working our way through our freezers and pantry in an effort to use up food before we move. You can compare these pictures to last week’s shelves to see how we’re doing. This shelf doesn’t look like it’s emptying out much, but we used quite a bit from our stores this week.

You can tell a big difference in our freezers compared to last week!

I don’t have time to bake that turkey, so he’s likely going to make the move to Lincoln with us. ;)

And now on to the meals we ate last week!

Our Big Family Food and Fun

I had a Breakfast Casserole in the freezer, which was GREAT to have on Sunday for lunch. I slid it into the oven frozen, turned on the oven to 225, and let it bake while we were at church. It was done the minute we walked in the door and we ate it with fruit. SO EASY. I highly recommend putting some of these in your freezer!

Kelsey (Justus’ wife) had come to help us over the weekend and brought frozen Sloppy Joe meat with her. I warmed it for our Sunday evening meal and served it with green beans and watermelon. What would I do without my wonderful daughters-in-law? :)

Monday I had to take BabyBoy#11 in for a medical procedure, so I appreciated having lots of ready-made foods to pull out and serve for breakfast. I set out last week’s Mudballs and Pumpkin Muffins then warmed up leftover Breakfast Casserole to go with those. (Our air fryer warms food up so nicely!) Everyone ate well as Baby and I headed out.

Our fella was a trooper through his morning. I was glad he fell asleep on our way home to take a well-deserved nap! :)

Knowing I’d be gone all morning, I had mixed up Chicken Salad and put it in the fridge before I left. We made quick sandwiches when I got home and ate them with carrots, tomatoes, and watermelon.

For the record, chicken salad sandwiches taste better when cut into triangles. :) Also, this little girl LOVES peanut butter on her carrots. If you struggle to get your kids to eat carrots with other dips, try peanut butter. It works for Kiya!

After lunch, we played outside before naptime. Anna chose her own outfit today: shorts and a swim cover-up. Oh, and moccasins. :)

All three little girls crawled into the wagon, so I took them for a short ride. Then it was naptime – one of my favorite parts of the day after a long morning!

For dinner that night I baked a Meatloaf that I’d made a few weeks ago and frozen. Brayden and Kiya scrubbed potatoes so I could make these amazing Mashed Potatoes, plus I stir-fried some veggies and warmed up leftover corn and beans. Justus and Kelsey came from Lincoln for a church event so they joined us for dinner.

For breakfast on Tuesday I made scrambled egg sandwiches and served them with canned peaches.

I cooked three pounds of hamburger one night, seasoned it like this, then we put together tostadas with some shells someone had given us. I made this Cream Cheese Salsa Dip as a topping option.

This week at the YU campus is a camp called Soul Quest. Malachi is there as a camper for his final year with this amazing group of friends. (Malachi is second from the right.)

On the Wednesday of Soul Quest, they send out their hundreds of campers and staff out into our community for service projects. OUR FAMILY was blessed to receive one of these groups this year! They sent 26 high schoolers and adults over and we handed them all paint brushes!

It was a great, but full, morning. Thankfully, earlier I’d put lunch in the crock pot so it was ready to serve our family as soon as the crew left. This casserole doesn’t look pretty, but it truly was tasty! What do I call it? I have no idea. “Clean out the Fridge Casserole?” Yes, that’s it. I used last night’s taco meat stirred into frozen hashbrowns with the leftover Cream Cheese Salsa Dip, shredded cheese, sour cream, and salt. I cooked it on low all morning and it was delicious with steamed green beans on the side.

I left that afternoon to work for several hours while sitters came to stay with our kids (and Matt kept painting the house). Elias picked up pizza on his way home, using the gift cash we decided to enjoy for our Wednesday pizza night until after we’ve settled into our new home.

We sent the kids outside to eat their pizza because the sitters also did some cleaning while they were here. We always hope to keep the floor clean for at least five minutes after our sitters have worked so hard. :)

I went all out the next morning by getting out cereal and oatmeal packets for breakfast. ;)

In an effort to clean out our freezers, I pulled out this super discounted pork roasts I’d gotten marked down for $1.49/pound.

I put them in my large electric roaster, seasoned them, and poured barbecue sauce over the top. Then I slow cooked them all day to shred and freeze in meal-sized portions.

All day these pork roasts smelled AMAZING!! That evening, I shredded all the meat and scooped up some for us to eat for dinner before bagging up the rest for the fridge and freezer. This made five meal-sized portions for us.

I had two pounds of strawberries so I sliced them and made this Cheesecake Parfait to eat with them.

For lunch on Thursday I made grilled cheese and tomato soup – a funny meal on a 90 degree day but a great way to use up soup from the pantry!

Elias was home on his lunch break from work so he grabbed some grilled cheese to take back to work with him, plus chips and guac.

Friday we had a family of eight coming to help us get our house ready to sell. So in preparation, I had thawed two of these big packages of chicken legs. (Remember how I got these for around $0.75/pound?!?!) What a great way to feed 17 people!

I dumped on some sauce and put these in the fridge to marinate all day while we worked.

Meanwhile, Eva (Asa’s wife) came to help us all morning and early afternoon. We took all the littles to the library for the morning so Matt could paint. For lunch we invited our friend Tori to join us and headed to the backyard. We had a lot of sticks we wanted to burn up in our firepit so we thawed the hotdogs we had left in our freezer for the kids to enjoy. We grown-ups enjoyed the pork roast I had cooked the day before.

Our other friends arrived after lunch and they were a powerhouse, working so hard on our house with us all afternoon. I got the chicken on the smoker and we pulled out some easy side dishes. It tasted so good after working in the heat all day!

We were marveling at our two tribes of kids filling up the kitchen and spilling into the living room. :) We are so thankful for our precious friendship with this family.

Matt and I are feeling pretty worn out (but also very grateful). But this might explain why I said “yes” the next morning when Keith and Anna requested butter for breakfast. Nothing else. Just butter. Here’s a slice of butter, and here’s another slice of butter…

So this is where I’m at right now. Thank goodness I do have plenty of butter in our freezer! :) :) :) I did manage to pull off some Father’s Day treats today, which I’ll share about next week. Hope your week is off to a great start!

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How I Shop for Meat For Our Big Family

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How do I shop for meat for our big family? The larger our family gets, the more creative I have to be. Here’s what works for me…

So long, free range chicken

If you’ve been reading my blog for a long time, you’ve watched my evolution from everything free-range, grass-fed, and organically raised to well, surviving. And being at peace over it. As I’ve shared before:

  1. I used to care deeply about the free-range chicken. (2004)
  2. I began to question if I should care so much about the free-range chicken. (2010)
  3. I started to care quite a bit less about the free-range chicken. (2018)
  4. I couldn’t care less about the free-range chicken. (2021)
  5. I have completely run out of chicken. (Real-time update)

There are currently 11 of us in our household: 4 adults and 7 kids. We go through a lot of chicken. Also beef. Also everything. We eat a lot of food.

2026 UPDATE: 14 in our household: 7 adults and 7 kids

As our family grows and grocery prices rise, I’ve had to find ways to cut back and save – just like everyone has. I’m determined to keep our budget at $1,200/month as long as I can and I’ve been encouraged to find that it really is possible! What I’ve found that has made the biggest difference?

Take advantage of sales and markdowns on meat.

When I find a good deal, I grab it – whether it’s free-range, grass-fed, or just regular ol’ meat from a regular ol’ store.

Yes, I’ve done the research. Yes, I know that grass-fed and free-range is better. But I also know that God is bigger, and I trust Him to nourish and protect us as we do the best we can with what we have. We also focus on eating a lot of fruits and vegetables, because I love the nourishment we get from a satisfying meal filled with meat, veggie, and fruit! (And no, most of our produce is no longer organic either.)

I’ve settled on a $3.50/pound price point for meat.

After having to re-learn how to shop for meat as I adjust to feeding so many people three meals every day, I’ve discovered that I can fill my freezer when I search for meat that is $3.50/pound or less. I’m amazed at how doable this is!

  • I can often find pork loin, pork roast, and pork butt on sale or marked down for around $2.49 or even $1.99/pound. They are usually nearing expiration so I either cook them that night or freeze them for later.
  • Costco usually has boneless chicken thighs for $3.49/pound. I love how delicious these are!
  • I buy ground sausage and smoked sausage at Aldi, stocking up when I’m there, especially when it is a featured sale item. Their sausage is usually around $2.99/pound and can take the place of ground beef in some recipes like spaghetti, lasagna, or other pasta dishes.
  • Sam’s and Costco’s prepared, hot Rotisserie Chicken is hanging in there at $4.98. It’s a great treat to pick one up when I’m grocery shopping and then turn them into an inexpensive and delicious meal in one of these ways.
  • Costco and Sam’s currently have chicken legs for $0.98/pound. We can turn these into delicious meals with no effort, either on the grill or in the oven. A big package like this feeds my entire family when I stretch it like this.

My Beef Exception

2026 UPDATE:

For several months, I stopped buying grass-fed beef and settled for “regular” ground beef so that I could hit the $3.50 or less price-point. But I just can’t feel good about it. The quality of this meat is just not the same. The taste is different. The texture is different. I just don’t like it.

I can find Grass-Fed Hamburger meat at Sam’s and Aldi for $5.98/pound which is a very good price for high quality beef. Roasts are harder to find, but I look for them at mark-down prices. Overall, we don’t eat as much beef as other meats so that we continue to save money. But grass-fed hamburger meat wins the price-point battle. :)

Ask the meat manager

Once recently at a local grocery store, I ran into the meat manager and asked about an item they had on sale. He did me one better and told me that he had meat in the back that he’d frozen because it was reaching its expiration date. He sold it to me for half price and told me to come back any time and check with him to see what he had in the back! Check with your local meat managers to see what they might offer.

Look at this huge package of chicken breasts that he gave me for just $4.00! There are two packages under that one that marked down to $3.00 each. That divided down to just $1.00/pound for boneless chicken breasts – incredible! And all the ground beef in the box was just $2.49/pound.

What doesn’t work for me as I shop for meat

I attempted to buy and use ground turkey instead of ground beef as a way to save money. Not one of us liked this substitution. So I stopped doing that and went back to looking for great sales on ground beef. When the price is right, ground beef can be less expensive than ground turkey. :)

What’s your price point per pound of meat? What is working for you these days?

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Big Family Food and Fun: June 4-10, 2023

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Two and a half weeks until our big move! Here’s what we ate all week as we’re getting ready…

Food we’re working with

I’m dwindling down our food supply, only buying fresh produce and dairy products as needed so that we hopefully have fewer boxes/coolers of food to move later this month. Here’s a picture of my pantry shelf at the beginning of this week. I’ll share a new picture each week as it empties out!

You can see our freezers last week here, and compare them to this week’s pictures:

What we ate all week

My goal at the beginning of the week was to clean out the fridge. I used leftover spaghetti/meat sauce to make Lasagna Casserole on the stovetop. Then I warmed up leftover green beans and that was that.

While Matt was scraping and painting our house one evening, I pulled out lots of random tidbits from the fridge. It was only 4:30 but everyone was hungry, so I decided on an early dinner/snack.

I plated it up, then carried it all out to the porch for the kids to eat “free-for-all-style.” THIS WAS NOT A GOOD IDEA. There were too many little hands dipping into the ranch, too many kids who didn’t want to share a plate, too many people screaming – and by the end of our meal, I might have been one of them. Blech. From now on, I’ll continue to make individual plates for each kid so we can avoid so many food messes and fights. :/

Since we’d eaten so early, around 7 I made some buttered toast from Jaimie’s leftover homemade sourdough (SO YUM) and carried it outside for the kids to eat before getting ready for bed. There were no food fights this time as I simply handed each kid a piece and they munched as they played. (Yes, we ate with dirty hands. I might be tired.)

The next day, I pulled these two packages of chicken breast from my freezer to thaw. LOOK at what a great price I got on these! It pays to ask the meat manager at your local grocery store if he has anything he needs to get rid of. :) I got these chicken breasts for $1.00/pound!!!

I put the chicken into the crock pot to make Chicken Tacos for dinner.

This was our first watermelon of the year so everyone gobbled it up! Josie ate five pieces, even trying to eat the rind. :)

There was a lot of salsa chicken left over because I’d cooked 6 pounds of meat in order to save time later. So I divided the leftovers into bags for the fridge and freezer to use for other quick meals.

I shared last week that Kelsey and I took the kids to a playground one day and had a picnic. Here are some photos Kelsey got of the kids playing. SO FUN!

Acacia and Josie often grab hands as they walk. I pray they are always the best of friends.

Not to be left out, here’s our Baby Boy#11. I wish you could see his huge smile! We were being silly in the mirror one morning and his smiles were so big that I snapped a picture!

Back to the food. :) I made quesadillas for lunch one day with leftover salsa chicken and spinach.

Keith has been asking for Mudballs for weeks and I was finally able to make a big batch with him one morning before everyone else got up. (Ugh, he wakes up EARLY! But I try to appreciate the one-on-one time it gives us.)

We also made a big pan of brownies to take to Asa’s birthday party later in the week.

One day for lunch I made 5 cans worth of tuna salad. We made it into sandwiches and we ate it with chips and guac.

I’m working on a post that shares fun ways that I save money on meat. But here’s another example of a great deal I got. These chicken thighs just cost $2.84/pound, which is fantastic for this high-quality meat. I marinated it to smoke that night.

This chicken is seriously the best ever. I made cream cheese corn, baked beans, and steamed broccoli and carrots as sides. After a long day of packing and chasing kids, this tasted incredible.

I’ve tried to get some baking done in the mornings before all the babies get up. My goal is to put some muffins and bread into the freezer so that we can enjoy them after I pack my baking pans and mixer. I made 2 dozen Pumpkin Muffins one morning (and forgot to take a picture). The next morning I made 2 loaves of Banana Bread and 2 dozen Bran Muffins.

For lunch, I had thawed two packages of Brats that I’d gotten marked down for just $1.92/package. How amazing to feed 11 of us (5 adults and 6 kids that day) meat for just $3.84!! Our smoker was giving me fits so the brats took a while to finish cooking. We ate leftover watermelon and carrot sticks while we (im)patiently waited for them to be ready to eat. :)

We were blessed to go to Lincoln at the end of the week for Asa’s big birthday bash that he and Eva hosted in their yard. Many of these people will become part of our new community after we move. It was great to become more acquainted with some of them!

Saturday we did lots of yard work at our house, so hamburgers really hit the spot at lunchtime.

Half of our family was gone at dinnertime, so I just made two quick frozen pizzas and served them with grapes.

I’ll leave you with this gem: We’ve been cleaning out our basement and came across Matt’s boom box from the 80s. The kids have enjoyed trying to figure out how it works. :) :) :)

We’re ready to start a new week! As the days go on, I’ll have to get more creative as I use up the food we have on hand. I’ll share those pictures next week. :)

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Big Family Food and Fun: May 27-June 3, 2023

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Here’s a look at the food and fun at our house during the last few days!

We’ve been working this week to finalize getting our house on the market, so the busy level has gone from insane to whatever is BEYOND INSANE. There’s been very little time to cook or to even think about food. Thanks to so many coming over to help us in so many ways, we’ve survived and been so very well loved and cared for.

Food we have to work with right now

I took a look at both of our big freezers to see what all we had to work with to make meals before we move. Both freezers are still very full, which is great because I can avoid going to the store between now and the end of the month. (Our closing date on “the Castle” is in just a few weeks!) My goal is to only buy fresh produce and dairy until after we settle into our new place. Meanwhile, we have a lot of meat and frozen veggies to work with. This freezer is full of hamburger meat, green beans, peas, corn, cheese, flour, pork butt, hashbrowns, pizza crust, tortillas, french fries, and a couple of ready-made casseroles.

This looks like a lot of food (because it is!). But making three meals a day for 10 people will clear this out pretty quickly! This freezer features a lot of chicken, hotdogs, frozen pizza, a turkey, and some pasta.

And now for the meals we ate!

Big Family Food and Fun

Our breakfast one morning consisted of the last of the Bran Muffins I had baked last week. I cut them in half, buttered them, and warmed them in our air fryer. The kids LOVE them this way. We drank some of our fun Azure Standard kefir with the muffins. Fun treat!

Trying to pack while feeding 10 people (plus a baby) is a bit of a challenge. :) It would help if I could ever finish what I start. This is what the kitchen looked like at lunchtime after I’d started packing a few cabinets after breakfast. I got derailed by the kids’ needs and never came back to it. Then we were hungry and I tried making quesadillas in this mess. Oy.

Keith decided to use safety scissors to cut up a box while I made lunch.

For our smoothies that evening with dinner, I used some of the Azure Standard Kefir instead of using yogurt like I usually do. I used an entire 5-ounce container of fresh spinach in these and I just love that the kids get so many greens into their bellies this way!

I made a pot of Cheeseburger Macaroni, steamed green beans, and sliced oranges for a quick dinner one night.

The kids ate outside again, which is so great but so distracting. Josie isn’t pictured here because she took a few bites and then ran off to ride her little scooter. :)

I grilled burgers one night and we ate them with chips and guac.

Anna woke up from a nap one afternoon and enjoyed a cheese stick while she was still just half awake, precious little sweetheart. :)

One morning, Malachi and I took the kids on a LONG walk so that Matt could do work on our house without kids underfoot. When we got home, I made some fast scrambled egg sandwiches and got out peach cups for lunch.

For dinner that night, I put some beef smoked sausage on our grill. While they cooked, I made baked beans, green beans, corn, and fresh strawberries. I pulled some Banana Muffins from the freezer to round out the meal.

Appetites have been pretty big around here because we are all working/playing outside for hours and hours every day! Keith and Josie “helped” Matt clean up the garden one afternoon. :)

The kids took advantage of Matt watering our lawn. I’m not sure how many times that day we had to put dry clothes on toddlers who kept wandering into the sprinkler.

I captured this rare moment when ALL seven littles were in one spot as we wrapped up our day and joined together in our living room for our nightly “Singing and Prayer Time.” Notice Brayden and Josie pretending to talk to each other on the phone from across the room. :)

I love it when the girls sit down to enjoy a book together. SO CUTE!

I had pizza crusts in the freezer so I quickly added sauce, cheese, and meat (some leftover grilled burgers chopped up!) to bake for dinner one night. I grabbed spinach from the fridge as a side dish and that was that.

Brayden and Kiya sat on the porch to eat their pizza. They’d gone to the pool that day so they were extra hungry!

The others ate their pizza at our picnic tables. Pizza sauce mess x4!

Our friend Tasha (you know her because she’s an awesome writer!) came and worked on our walls one day while her husband helped Matt with our porch and other jobs. We are so thankful for friends who are servant-hearted!

Meanwhile, Asa and Eva were also visiting and spent several hours helping us with the house and with childcare.

While everyone was either working on our house or chasing our kids for us, I put together these amazing Bacon and Potato Foil Packs for the grill. (I actually used leftover taco meat instead of bacon and highly recommend it!) I served them with canned peaches and boo, no veggies because goodness I am not keeping up very well right now! :)

I threw together a quick meal of spaghetti with green beans one night. I’ve found that using elbow noodles instead of regular spaghetti noodles makes it much easier for our toddlers to eat this meal!

At the end of the week, we had a photographer coming to take pictures of our house for the realtor’s site since we were soon to get it on the market. Matt and I were exhausted from all the work it had taken to get the house to this point, so I declared it to be a poptart morning. I’d gotten these with Azure Standard credit and saved them for a time like this. It was perfect – the kids were so excited!

That day for lunch, our dear friend Phyllis brought us lunch (because I asked her to, because I was worn out, and because she’s awesome). She brought two of her delicious hashbrown casseroles, veggies, and muffins. It was an incredible blessing to enjoy her food, and even more, her company. She spent some time after lunch reading with Brayden and Kiya, which is just what they needed. Everyone needs a Phyllis in their life. :)

I caught three of the littles (even Acacia!) trying to do Elias’ workout with him one afternoon. :)

We took the kids on an outing to the opening night of our Farmer’s Market and took advantage of their free-will donation hotdog meal deal. Magically, the kids lined up along the wall to eat their dinner and they actually stayed there for at least five solid minutes. :)

Amidst all we had going on with getting our house ready to go on the market, on Friday we also had a huge crew of roofers come to replace our roof after last summer’s hail storm. So there were nails and shingles and people EVERYWHERE outside of our house that day. We decided to take the kids to the library for Story Hour for the morning so they could play without getting hurt in our yard. At lunchtime, we ran home and I went inside to fill a bag with food for us to eat at a park that has a brand-new splash park!

Our lunch that day was turkey lunch meat, cheese sticks, pistachios, peanuts, applesauce, raisins, chips, and juice. By the time we got home, the roofing crew was finished, loaded up, and gone. Phew!

That night, a sweet friend, Jaimie, brought us a most amazing meal of chicken-bacon-tomato-ranch salad fixings with this homemade ranch dressing (that ironically, I haven’t made in forever because of our crazy life!). Plus she supplied us with grapes, applesauce, and made us two super tasty loaves of sourdough bread and chocolate peanut butter bars. We felt so loved and spoiled!

Here’s Matt’s creation – isn’t his bowl pretty!

Keith ate his food before I could feature it, as did Brayden.

But of course, they all got seconds and if I remember correctly, Brayden got fifths. :) :) :)

Kiya is as beautiful as her salad.

The next morning, I scrambled eggs to go with our leftover sourdough bread/toast.


Our daughter-in-law, Kelsey, was able to spend the day with us Saturday so she and I took the kids on a walk to a playground so Matt could work on painting our house. I packed lunch again to buy us time at the park, plus because eating lunch on our outings is just a lot of fun! We ate cheese and crackers, blueberries, applesauce, grapes, and pistachios, and I surprised the kids with cookies. :)

Malachi has in Ecuador on a mission trip all week. WE MISS HIM!! We’re looking forward to having him home next week to learn all about God’s work there.

What a week!! We are so thankful for all the people who have come to our rescue this week with meals and help with home repairs, cleaning, yard work, and child care. It takes a village, and we have an amazing one!

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