Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Menu Plan for the Week – and What is Up With All the Strawberries?

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Never, ever, ever have strawberries been available in our grocery stores this time of year that are both tasty and reasonably priced. Typically between the months of October and April, we go strawberry-less.

Somehow though, the past few weeks have brought very tasty strawberries to our stores at a very good price – in January and February. What in the world? Seriously, does anyone know how this can be possible? These particular strawberries are coming from Florida. Are you able to find good strawberries in your area at a good price right now? Shocked as I am, this Nebraska girl is thrilled.

feb 5 groceries

I price-matched (more on that tomorrow!) and got strawberries for just $1.29 per pound. That price is amazing. The strawberries are super tasty, too. As you can see from my huge haul from the store, it was a great price matching week. I loaded up on produce even more than normal. All of the above cost under $100, so I’m very grateful. We will have a great week of delicious food!

Here’s what this week’s menu options look like:

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Fruit and Veggie Side Dishes (I serve 1-4 with every meal)

  • Strawberries
  • Blueberries
  • Apples
  • Pears
  • Cantaloupe
  • Mixed Greens
  • Spinach
  • Romaine Lettuce
  • Green Beans
  • Asparagus
  • Peas
  • Cheesy Cauliflower Cakes
  • Grape Tomatoes
  • Carrot Sticks
  • Clementines

Thanking God for such abundance of wonderful food. How blessed we are.

What’s on your menu this week?

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The Groceries I Bought This Week and Why I Bought Some Junk

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Well, I can’t really say that I blew the grocery budget plan that I had this month – but I did end up spending over the $400 I thought I’d spend this month during my freezer/pantry challenge. It’s food, and we need it, so all is well. Since I stayed right around $500 for the month, this is still huge savings for our big family. My hope is to get back at it and continue through the month of February with this challenge. We have plenty of meat to work with and plenty of pantry items. Sticking with purchasing only produce and dairy should work for one more month just fine!

Here’s a peek at what that extra spending went into:

Our Azure Standard order came in, which is always fun. I ordered sweet potatoes, frozen peas, carrots, chicken thighs (love these!), and roasted peanuts.

azure order jan

I filled my cart at the grocery store – mostly with produce. But as you can see, I also bought some junk. Be glad you can’t see the frozen pizzas hiding behind the chips.

jan 28 groceries

 

Why did I buy junk, you ask? Our church hosted a big youth rally this weekend, and our family signed up to host several of the boys for two nights. Many of the boys who came to town (from 5 different states) are good friends with our boys, having become acquainted at church camp the past few years. Youth rally weekends like this are like reunions for them! All that to say, we housed 17 teenage boys Friday and Saturday nights. There is no shortage of great friends for our boys, that is for sure!

Their meals were all taken care of at the church building, but once at our house for the night – they  needed snacks. I laid out huge bowls of fruit for the boys to help themselves to, and I also provided chips and a little bit of pizza. Homemade food was out of the question this time as Matt and I have been teaching classes at the youth rally all weekend.

Surely you’re wondering:  How was it housing so many extra teenage boys? Oh my, it was so much fun. We know most of the teens at the rally. So having the boys in our home was awesome. It always sounds like a lot – having so many extra teens. But truly, they are so nice, so polite, and so enjoyable.

I will say, with much affection and a bit of a cringe:  My entire house smells like a 3,000 square foot sock. Whoahoho. I love these boys and will gladly fill my home with them. But 34 teenage boy feet is something else. There are no words.

I should also let you know about the um…interesting situation with our bathroom remodel. All is well really – but as is typical of home improvement projects, this one is taking longer than expected. Matt had been working and working to at least get a working shower in before all the boys (and their feet) showed up. He was up until 4:30 this morning finishing it. (And then he taught Bible classes all day today at the rally. He is a Rock Star.)

bathroom 3

 

Everything else looks pretty disgusting in the bathroom right now, but hey, how about that pretty shower?!!!

Fun as all this is, I am one tired mom. Sleep isn’t on the agenda much during youth rally weekends. I’ll nap after they all go home on Sunday afternoon, you can bet on it. Writing out a menu plan for this weekend to share with you isn’t within my physical or mental capability. Maybe you can leave some yummy meal ideas in the comments for me this time? Aw, aren’t you sweet. :)

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Menu Plan for This Week and a Freezer/Pantry Challenge Update

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Well, with my huge stock-pile of food, we are still doing just fine with only purchasing fresh produce, eggs, and dairy. Confession:  You will see a little package of Hormel’s Naturals lunch meat in this grocery shopping picture from this week. I needed some slivered ham for a fun breakfast idea my friend Brenda told me about at Bunco. I had to have it, yes I did. You’ll be thankful she told me about this and that I veered off course just enough to buy it. Just wait until I share the recipe. :)

jan 22

This isn’t everything, by the way. I had to make a mid-week run to the store since we were almost out of everything fresh.
I got cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, and I can’t remember what else because it’s gone already.

Can you believe I bought strawberries in January?? I can’t even believe it. Somehow, they were a great price and actually looked good. This never happens in Nebraska, but seeing as we are having 50° weather, it does sort of feel like spring. Even if these strawberries aren’t as delicious as they are in the summertime, I figure that at the very least we can choke them down with some Chocolate Whipped Cream. Yes, that shouldn’t be a problem.

I bought three packages of blueberries this week – woohoo for price matching! I also price-matched broccoli, cauliflower, and apples. This price-matching thing has been saving me a bundle.

Speaking of which, I am excited to share that our family has seen some significant grocery budget savings this month since I’ve bought only fresh food and have avoided buying anything for our freezers or pantry. We will be ending the month with spending at just a tad over $400. This number is fantastic for my family in this season of life. (Oh my, I remember the days I spent less than that for everything including meat and pantry staples. Hello, teenage appetites.)

I have also found it interesting to note that it takes between $100-$130 per week to keep us in fresh produce, eggs, and milk. Seem like a lot? I beg to differ. That amount goes a long way toward awesome nutrition so it is very, very worth it. I also love thinking about how our preserved garden produce helps keep that amount as low as it is. I also (how many times can I use also in the same paragraph?) realize how blessed we are that our fresh milk and eggs are priced so very reasonably.

And now, here is our list of menu items for this week. What a blessing to have so much variety and so much good food!

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Fruit and Veggie Sides (I serve 1-4 with each meal)

If you are also taking an “Eat from the Pantry and Freezer” Challenge, I’d love to hear how it is going for you!

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Menu Plan for the Week, a Freezer/Pantry Clean Out Challenge Update, and How I Got Ahead This Weekend

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It would appear that my “only buy produce, eggs, and dairy” challenge has also turned into a “see how deep you can dig down into the pantry and freezer to surprise your family with random food choices” challenge. I’m having a lot of fun. My family? I don’t even think they’ve actually noticed.

It’s just food to them. As long as there is plenty and as long as it is tasty, there doesn’t seem to be any argument to eating muffins made with freeze dried strawberries (this recipe, only with almost expired freeze dried strawberries) or an un-named casserole that used up the rest of our turkey and some odds and ends of pasta.

Kids: Mmm, what’s this casserole called, Mom?
Me: Dinner.
Kids shrug and get seconds

I have not made a dent in our store of food, though I am panicking a little bit as it appears we are completely out of the vital ingredient dried cranberries. I’m not sure how we will survive.

I had fun doing some price matching and buying our fresh produce for the week. Actually, most of what you see in the picture is gone already. We plow through it. I’ll probably head back to the store on Wednesday if we can wait that long.

groceries 116

Yes, that is one big sour cream tub.
I like that this brand contains only one ingredient, “cultured cream.”
We go through it pretty quickly, and as a side note:
When I use up the sour cream, the container is perfect for soup when I take meals to other families.

Regarding my plans to get ahead, can I just confess (again) how much I dislike cleaning? I was very willing to spend hours in the kitchen, but finding the motivation to go upstairs to tackle some filth? That is not nearly as much fun. Let’s focus on the fun food, shall we?

First thing, I grabbed out my Oh, For Real book and all spices needed to make Turkey Sausage and Ranch Salad Dressing Mix. Two full jars of spice mixes later, I put 12 pounds of ground turkey with spices on the stove to cook.

weekend 1

While the meat was cooking, I went to work on muffins. I had already put together and frozen Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins the night before, so I started on Banana Muffins and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins. Super easy!

Realizing I was hungry and about to faint (not really, but I thought I should add some drama), I pulled out tuna salad and a bunch of fruits and veggies. The boys had slept in and weren’t hungry yet for lunch, so I munched alone while jotting notes in my Menu Planning Notebook.

weekend 2

After working on menu ideas for this week, I turned over to the Freezer Section of printables. I decided to start jotting down what I have left in my freezers since I’m working on getting them cleaned. Having a running list will be helpful. I didn’t finish the list, because the turkey sausage was finished cooking and I was done eating. I’ll take my list out to my freezers later to take final inventory.

weekend 3

Yes, I know. Corn isn’t a vegetable. 

Last, I took a few minutes (yep, that’s all it took) to make a double batch of Instant Oatmeal. It filled three half-gallon jars, so we should be set on that for a while. I love having that on hand!

 weekend 4

After the meat cooled, I separated it into freezer bags for easy “almost ready” meals. We’ll be using some for Sausage Gravy this week!

Here’s what our menu choices look like for this week:

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Fruit and Veggie Sides and Snacks (I serve 1-4 with every meal)

By the way, this Easy Veggie Dip continues to be a big hit as we work our way through lots of raw vegetables!

How has your weekend been?

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Menu Plan for the Week and My Grocery Budget Goals for January

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Now that we’re back from our holiday travels, I have felt the need to clean out some of our pantry and freezer items. Buying in bulk and buying ahead really works well for our family, but I’m thinking it may be a good idea to dig down to the bottom of my storage containers and freezers to see what random items I’ve kept pushing to the side for the last few months. I have plenty of meat, plenty of frozen vegetables and fruit, plenty of pasta, plenty of so many food items!

So I thought to myself, “What if? What if each week during January (and maybe February?) I only buy fresh produce from the store, eggs and milk from our local sources, and (wait for it)…nothing else? What if I forced myself to think simply, to use what we have, and to be creative?”

I’m really not sure if this little experiment is going to work for me. The beauty of buying in bulk when I come across a sale is that I pretty much never run out of anything we need and pretty much never have to pay full price for anything. One or two months of eating from our food storage and not taking advantage of deals might set me back a little bit. Plus, whatever shall I do if I run out of applesauce?!?!??!?!

Right. I am not going to run out of applesauce.

applesauce_2

There are dozens more jars where this came from. We had a great apple year.

Recovering from my bulk-food-obsession-panic, I realized that there will likely be good deals to be found in February and March when I’m ready to stock up again. Duh.  In the meantime, I think we’ll see some big grocery budget savings. Sweet!

Our menu this week reflects all the food I have ingredients to make without having to shop. Because this is the beginning of our experiment, I have plenty to work with. And who am I kidding? My family could probably eat well for more than three or four months with all the food I have stored away. It’s like a Coppinger Family Grocery Store in my back room. I’d show you a picture, but it’s freezing in that room and therefore a terrible mess because it’s too cold to organize, and I’m not humble enough to share the insanity all over the internet.

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

 Fruit and Veggie Sides (I serve 1-4 with every meal)

  • Spicy Avocado Dip
  • Sliced Cucumbers
  • Baby Carrots
  • Broccoli
  • Mixed Greens
  • Spinach
  • Apples
  • Pears
  • Oranges
  • Blackberries
  • Applesauce
  • Spaghetti Squash
  • Pineapple
  • Zucchini

Have you ever done an “Eat from the Pantry and Freezer” Challenge? Anybody care to join me in this little experiment? That way, on January 31 at the end of this challenge, together we can enjoy eclectic meals of whatever is left of our rice, tuna, and of course, applesauce. Don’t forget the applesauce.

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Menu Plan for the Week

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We’ve been on the road for many days. My husband’s family is from California, so once every two years we make the long journey to visit them. Flying and renting a car would be super expensive for the six of us, so a three day road trip (one way) it is! Phew, what a trek.

We are en route right now, getting hungrier and hungrier for home cooked meals as we go. Once we arrive at home, here are the meals we look forward to (depending on what fresh produce I’ll be able to pick up at the store):

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Fruit and Veggie Side Dishes (I serve 1-4 per meal)

  • Fresh Pineapple
  • Apples
  • Pears
  • Clementines
  • Carrots
  • Broccoli
  • Applesauce
  • Asparagus
  • Spinach
  • Mixed Greens
  • Green Beans
  • Peas
  • Pomegranates
  • Blueberries
  • Sweet Potatoes
  • Sweet Peppers
  • Cucumbers

Did you do any traveling this holiday season?

Be sure to get your free shipping and BOGO coconut oil this weekend!

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Menu Plan for the Week With Four Different Shopping Trips – Phew!

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I think I was out of town more than I was home this week. Between basketball games and appointments, I traveled 5 out of the last 8 days. I am a wee bit tired. Thankfully, we were still able to eat fairly well thanks to how easy it is to grab and pack fruits and vegetables for the road.

With all my comings and goings, how did I have time to actually go grocery shopping four times this week? It was a little crazy, but also kind of necessary. There were amazing sale prices to be had, plus – my family eats tons and tons of food. I’ve found that if I put out the fruit – the people will eat it. Pounds and pounds of it, I tell you. #lifewithteenageboys

Here’s a little grocery run-down of my week. And by the way, we also eat meat, grains, and dairy – I just get them from our food co-op or local sources in bulk, so rarely take pictures of those. Next time I get a big meat order, I’ll snap a shot of all the frozen packages, since I know you’re dying to see them.

On Monday, we were out of almost all fresh fruits and veggies. I went to our local grocery store, which is just a few blocks away. I took advantage of their sale price on cream cheese (Pumpkin Cheesecake, here I come), plus picked up some fresh produce to get us through for a few days. I found a fun deal while I was there which gave me a FREE bag of clementines with my $25 purchase. Sweet!!!

groceries 12-8-14-1

See that fresh coconut up there? My 12 year old was with me and was very interested in trying it. This week, I’ll be assigning him the task of learning how to crack that open and use the insides. :)

Tuesday I went to Walmart to try my hand at price matching. I got avocados for just 29¢ each, honey crisp apples for 99¢ per pound, and pomegranates for 49¢ each. I made Easy Cream Cheese Fruit Dip when I got home, and the entire bag of honey crisp apples disappeared. #toldyoutheycaneat

groceries dec 10

On Wednesday, the boys and I were in Lincoln for appointments. This also happened to be the grand opening day of a new Aldi store a few blocks from our appointments. All five of us walked the very busy aisles grabbing butter for only $1.89/pound, sweet potatoes for 33¢/pound, and many more goodies for very low prices. What a fun shopping trip! I won’t be able to go to Aldi often, but I will continue to use their prices on produce for price matching at our local Walmart.

aldi shopping

By Friday, we were already out of mixed greens, pears, clementines, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries. I decided to run to our local store for deli meat and cheese for our basketball travels, so picked up more fruit and greens while I was there.

groceries 12-12

Now here’s hoping I can stay out of the store for several days and instead work with all the deliciousness we have on hand. Hope you don’t get tired of my grocery store pictures. You like looking at pictures of food, right?!

Here’s what our menu choices will look like for this week:

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Fruit and Veggie Side Dishes (I serve 1-4 with each meal)

I’m so thankful for all the wonderful options! I’m also thankful I get to stay home most of this week. I like home best. :)

Don’t miss the BOGO Coconut Oil with Free Shipping this weekend!

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Menu Plan for the Week, Using Fresh Cranberries, and Price Matching at Wal-Mart?

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I bought a few groceries at the beginning of the week:  broccoli, pears, cantaloupe, spinach, cottage cheese, cucumber, raspberries, clementines, blackberries, and petite carrots. All but the cottage cheese and half the cranberries are gone already.  Time to go back to the store.  This is a good “problem” to have. I am so thankful for all the delicious variety of produce available.

dec 6 groceries

By the way, that cantaloupe was the sweetest we’ve eaten in a long time. That’s amazing to me, seeing as it’s December. We devoured that melon.

I came up with a fantastic Cranberry Almond Orange Bread recipe this weekend, which I’ll share with you during our 5th Annual Heavenly Homemakers Christmas Brunch. But regarding cranberries – I’m curious what you make with fresh cranberries? Leave a comment to let us know how you like to eat them and what you like to make with them. I’d love to hear your ideas.

You might remember the Orange Cranberry Scone recipe I shared two years ago. I rarely make this, but the Christmas season is definitely the perfect time to treat my family to this. :)

Orange Cranberry Scones

Here’s what our menu includes this week:

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Fruits and Veggies (I serve 1-4 per meal)

  • Mixed Greens
  • Green Beans
  • Peas
  • Broccoli
  • Applesauce
  • The rest depends on what I get at the store – spinach, pears, apples, clementines, carrots…

Oh! And we have an Aldi in Lincoln now, so I’ve heard I can start price-matching at Walmart since it’s 50ish miles away. I’m excited to learn more about how this will work. Any expert price matchers out there with tips for me?!

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Menu Plan for the Week – and a Peek Into Our Thanksmas

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I hope you have had a wonderful holiday weekend! We had a great time with family in Kansas, bringing back Asa’s “new” 20-year-old car on our way home. So exciting for him!

Here’s a picture of my beautiful (quiet, well-put-together) family:

thanksmas 2014 3

Nice, huh? But God bless my sister-in-law for snapping the following picture on my phone as we were posing for the one you see above.

thanksmas 2014 2

If that’s not the real Coppinger family, I don’t know what is.
I had a nice giggle when I discovered that jewel on my phone. 

After individual family shots, we attempted to get 13 grandkids – ages 3-weeks to 17-years – all in one picture. I’ve decided that photos like this are so much better than perfectly posed shots.

thanksmas 2014 1

We had a great time together, you can bet on it. :)

Not a single one of us got up early to go Black Friday shopping. But here’s something fun to share:  When we got back to Nebraska, the weather had turned beautiful! Malachi and I took a walk to the dollar store to look for something I needed for a quick project. I didn’t find what I needed, but I did happen upon a 75% off clearance section. I grabbed a few potholders and dish rags, thinking they would be about 25¢ each after the discount. When they rang up, it turns out they were already discounted to around 30¢ each – then I got 75% off that price! I ran back and grabbed more, of course. My total for all you see below was less than $3.00 total. Amazing and fun!

groceries november 14 4

I didn’t get any steals when I made a produce run later, but hey – it’s food. Good food at that. :)

groceries november 14 5

I picked up mixed greens, avocados, sweet peppers,
oranges, carrots, pineapple, and mushrooms.

Since it was such a nice day on Saturday, and since we were hungry for lots of veggies, I put together a big pasta salad. It was so pretty, I had to take a picture. By the way, adding spinach to pasta salad works very, very well.

pasta salad

A cold front is moving back in, but a couple days of warm weather sure was a treat! Now we’ll be getting back to soups and hot drinks. I’m still loading us up with pumpkin. I have plenty, and all the recipes are delicious and healthy – so why not?

Here’s what our menu options will be this week:

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Fruits and Veggies (I serve 1-4 with each meal)

  • Peas
  • Green Beans
  • Mixed Greens
  • Spinach
  • Broccoli
  • Carrots
  • Asparagus
  • Spaghetti Squash
  • Spicy Avocado Dip
  • Clementines
  • Fresh Pineapple
  • Pears
  • Apples
  • Applesauce
  • Sweet Peppers

notebook 2

Did you brave the crowds and go shopping on Friday? What’s your menu looking like this week?

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