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Big Family Food and Fun: August 27-September 2, 2023

September 3, 2023 by Laura Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Our Big Family Food and Fun this week included weekend company, a birthday celebration, and a church party…

Big Family Food and Fun: August 27-September 2, 2023

Sunday morning as I was getting the three little girls dressed, they suddenly started to be twirly and dancy and huggy. I started snapping pictures and they started posing and I got so many cute and giggly photos!

Breakfast that morning – before they were dressed so that we didn’t destroy clean outfits – was leftover goodies I’d made last week: Banana Bread and Chewy Granola Bars.

We planned to stay at church for lunch that day, so I packed up grapes, nacho dip/chips, and brownies to share. (I also took a loaf of banana bread I’d made in hopes that our friend who just had a new baby might be there. She was there! New Baby is precious, and I stuck the loaf of bread into her stroller for her to take home and enjoy.)

Lunch that day was a crazy fun Parking Lot Party after church. There were 150+ who stuck around after church to eat, visit, and play.

We’d taken our Shaved Ice Machine and Elias filled cup after cup for everyone at the party. Take a look below at the precious baby in the yellow dress standing by her brother’s leg. She stood there for the longest time, just being with him while he worked. Josie sure does love her brother. :)

That evening we met up with friends at a park. I packed a picnic (cheese, crackers, mandarin oranges, pistachios, and juice) but only got one picture the entire night! We were having too much fun visiting and playing.

Monday morning we ate more of the same (I had made a HUGE batch of the granola bars), plus apples with this special cheese.

Lunch was leftover 3-Cheese Spaghetti. Dinner was a dish I’d made ahead of time here. I dumped it into the crock pot at lunch time, turned it on low, and it was bubbly at dinnertime. We ate it as a chip dip with watermelon.

Tuesday morning Brayden had tests at school so he informed me that he needed “good sleep and a good breakfast.” I made cheese eggs and sausage (while an unnamed toddler was tantruming on the floor – part of her typical morning routine as we try to help her learn to regulate her emotions).

I got out strawberries and Orange Muffins that I had frozen and thawed.

After we walked Brayden and Kiya to school, we came home and did some cleaning. Anna and Josie “helped” by getting a hand broom and dust pan. The effectively spread around everything I’d swept up and made me do the work twice. ;) But I love that they want to help and that they are learning.

Meanwhile, Matt was upstairs using a power sander in one of our third floor suites that we are getting ready to rent out.

Elias and Malachi helped me with the five littlest all morning since Matt was upstairs working. I actually got quite a bit done in the kitchen that morning since the two guys were chasing kids for me. I made these 3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies (multiplying the recipe x6) so that we can eat some now and have cookies in the freezer to use as needed later.

At lunchtime, I cleaned leftovers out of the fridge for all of us to eat. Unfortunately, I left the corn cooking too long and all the water steamed off so the bottoms got blackened. The kids were not impressed. ;)

I had to take BabyBoy#11 to a doctor appointment that afternoon, so before we left I put everything for this recipe into a crock pot (I even managed to plug it in AND turn it on. Go me.)

That evening I plated and bagged all the cookies I had made so now we have four bags of frozen 3-Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies ready to pull out and use as needed.

Wednesday was a bit of a blur. But for dinner that night I made two griddles full of grilled ham and cheese sandwiches with an air fryer full of French fries. I also made a bowl full of Strawberry Fluff which the kids loved.

After we got the kitchen cleaned up that night, we drove to the zoo and walked around the garden they feature just outside the zoo. We hadn’t had a chance to do that yet so it was extra special to do this just before bedtime.

Thursday morning after we walked Brayden and Kiya to school, we loaded up the youngest five kids and headed to Aldi. Phew, we filled two carts and that was just with children, ha. Somehow we managed to also put food into our carts, getting our Aldi favorites: whole milk yogurt, whole milk cottage cheese, whole milk, three varieties of bagels, hoagie buns, apple juice, pear cups in 100% juice, and three varieties of cheese slices.

I don’t always like to buy produce at Aldi, but they had really good prices that day and the quality looked better than usual. I bought bananas, cantaloupe, watermelon, pears, two varieties of organic apples, grapes, blueberries, and four bags of salad mixes. I also found a 5-pound roast for $1.99/pound so I grabbed it. Chips were on sale for $0.99/bag so I got six bags.

This is what it looks like when the Coppingers “run into Aldi for a few things.”

I ended August with a whopping $1,780 grocery spending total – more than I’ve ever spent that I can remember. I’d feel bad about it except that I don’t – not even a little bit. We went under budget for several months in a row before this month and we had a lot of extra food needs this month. God provides, we make the wisest choices that we can, and we feed a lot of people. Praise God for His provision!

—> This is the grocery budget number I shoot for, but as always, I realize that I may need to make adjustments and increase the number. Stay tuned. <—

It felt so good to have so much fresh fruit on hand again!

I snapped this photo of the third floor room Matt’s been working on all week. Here’s the floor, half-way finished. So gorgeous!

Thursday afternoon our sweet friends, Steven and Barbara, dropped off two lovely loaves of banana bread for us – all sliced and ready to eat!

It was Acacia’s birthday so I put 12 burgers on the grill plus 14 brats.

I made a birthday cake, poking holes into it and pouring pudding into the holes, then topping it with whipped cream. The only thing I made from scratch was the whipped cream. Boxed cake mix and pudding mix for the win this time. :)

She may have turned three, but she’s already mother hen to this baby chick as we try to help him gain strength to sit on his own.

Some of our big kids were able to join us for dinner so I set out a spread of brats and burgers, chips, and fruit.

She figured out how to blow out the candles. :)

Keith was so excited to hand Acacia her gift – a little purse I’d found on clearance for $3.00. She loved it and has been carrying it around everywhere!

Friday morning we enjoyed Ms. Barbara’s banana bread with yogurt and blueberries.

After we got the kids off to school, Matt and Elias headed to York to work and Malachi helped me take the kids to Costco. I didn’t need to shop, I just needed customer service as I had noticed that the last time I was there they rang up four cases of diapers when, in fact, I had only purchased three. Since it was a $45 discrepancy, I felt it was worth getting credit back. Thus, going to Costco became our morning outing. :)

The boys started to get restless so Malachi walked around with Keith and BabyBoy#11 while I got the bill figured out with Customer Service.

Then we had a special treat of Costco Pizza. It was mostly a mess (like, a 12-15 wet wipes to clean up the pizza sauce mess). But it was fun for everyone and $6 took care of that day’s lunch!

As we were loading everyone back into the cart to head out to the van, Little-Mama-Acacia started to rub BabyBoy#11’s back. Goodness, the sweetness.

That night Malachi threw Sam’s Orange Chicken into the air fryer, and I got out cold watermelon and two bags of salad mix from Aldi. It was easy and hit the spot!

When Matt and Elias arrived back at home, they had our former foster son, age 4, with them to spend the weekend. Everyone was overjoyed to be back together!

The kids played and played outside that evening. I thought they might need a little something to eat to fill their bellies before bed, so I took grapes and cheese outside. They all thought that was a good plan. :)

Some dear friends arrived Friday night to visit for the weekend! For breakfast on Saturday, I set out banana bread and muffins, yogurt, blueberries, bananas, and made sausage and tator tots. Brayden had requested hashbrowns but I was out so we decided that tator tots were the same thing. ;)

The kids asked to play cards that morning, and this was the result. Ugh.

We packed up a big picnic for lunch and headed out to the Splash Park for one last hoorah before it closed for the season.

I wasn’t sure I had enough lunch meat left in my packages, so I threw together a container of tuna salad real quickly.

I smoked two pork loin for dinner that evening and served them with green beans, watermelon, buttered and toasted hoagies leftover from lunch, and Cream Cheese Corn. Meals like these are my favorite!!

After dinner, we took our friends on a walk to our beloved Sunken Gardens. Aww, there’s our Kellie with her baby boy. We became friends with Kellie and Ben while they were students at YU. They spent a lot of time at our house during those days and became a part of our family. Now here they are with a baby of their own. It was amazing to have a weekend with them!

Here we are in September, heading from summer into fall. We’re going to soak up every last bit of nice weather while it’s here!

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Big Family Food and Fun: July 23-29, 2023

July 30, 2023 by Laura 6 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

This week was a hot one! We still had a lot of fun and we enjoyed a lot of great food. Here’s what our big family enjoyed and ate this week…

Big Family Food and Fun July 23-29

For Sunday’s lunch I followed this Crock Pot Pizza Casserole somewhat loosely. I dumped 16-ounces of dry pasta into each of my large crock pots. I cut pepperoni into one, and added cooked ground sausage to the other. I then added two cans of pizza sauce to each along with some salt and water. This was so fast and easy! The casseroles cooked while we were at church.

When we got home I sautéed sliced sweet peppers and made buttered corn for side dishes. We all sprinkled shredded cheese on our Pizza Pasta – super tasty!

We were blessed to have Justus and Kelsey, Eva, and three more friends join us for our meal that day.

For dessert I had baked a cake in the crock pot. I made a vanilla cake this time, but here’s how to bake a cake in a crock pot – so cool! After it cooled, I poked holes in the cake and dumped vanilla pudding into the holes. Then I Whipped Cream and spread it over the cake. It was fun and delicious! (I used a boxed pudding mix this time but here’s my Homemade Vanilla Pudding recipe that’s extra good.)

Sunday evening I pulled out leftover Burrito Filling and Bean and Cheese Salsa Dip that I’d made last week. I mixed them together, warmed it up, and served it with chips.

I was up super early (4:00) with BabyBoy#11 Monday morning so after getting him back to bed and enjoying a nice long “Coffee with Jesus” time I got some work done in the kitchen before any of the other littles got up. I started by making a triple batch of Snickerdoodle Bites.

I was hungry by 6:30 for my second breakfast, haha, so I made our not-so-famous Salad Smoothie to drink while I worked. :)

Then I washed out our Blendtec and made Peanut Butter Cup Whipped Cream for later.

Some of the kids were up by then and starting to get hungry so I made everyone Scrambled Egg Sandwiches.

Matt and I have decided that outings in the mornings are much better for everyone than trying to wrangle everyone around the house. But it was super hot this week. So we decided to take the kids to the Splash Park. For lunch, I warmed up leftover hotdogs from the fridge and cut them in half because there were only 7 dogs left.

I packed them in an insulated bag to keep them warm. Then in a separate bag I packed peach cups, chips and salsa, cucumbers, Snickerdoodle Bites, and juice.

Long live the Snickerdoodle Bites. Hahaha, here’s what they looked like when we got to the park and pulled them out to serve. Poor little warm, squished bites. We all got a good chuckle over how the heat didn’t let these hold their shape. Then I grabbed a spoon and served blobs to everyone. No harm no foul.

The splash park is the best. Everyone was super hungry after playing. Then after eating, they went back into the water for more play.

Last week I had browned several pounds of hamburger meat, so for dinner on Monday I used some of it to make Sloppy Joes. I sliced home grown squash and zucchini our friends had given us at church and sautéed it. SUCH A TREAT. I warmed up leftover green beans for the non-squash lovers to eat. Plus I got out pickles and mac salad to fill everyone’s bellies.

Then I surprised everyone with Peanut Butter Cup Whipped Cream that I had made earlier in the day. I scooped it out into small bowls and topped it with a few animal crackers. The kids thought it was soooo much fun! The cream treat by itself is super good (and low in sugar) – but the animal crackers with it made it extra good. The crunch maybe? Or maybe eating monkeys and hippos tastes better than any of us realized?

After dinner, we loaded everyone up and went to Scheels for an outing. Why did we go there? Two reasons:

  1. Air
  2. Conditioning

We needed an outing but phew, the heat. Scheels made for a perfect fun outing with its play area, aquarium, animal display, and $1 Ferris wheel! Only three of the littles were tall enough to go and two of the three had to ride with an adult. Rock, paper, scissors – Mom won. Or lost. No one is sure. (Neither Elias or Matt like heights so…)

Brave Brayden rode in a seat by himself.

Mom sat with Kiya and Keith. I think Matt captured this picture when I was screaming with glee. But my face looks like I’m about to eat my young.

It was truly a fantastic way to spend our evening. We spent $5 on some needed badminton birdies and $3.99 on the Ferris wheel for the four riders. Not too shabby for a not-quite-free night out! Oh, and then we walked over to Trader Joe’s since it was next door. I love this store but it’s pricier than other stores I have access to now since I need to buy such large quantities. So we just got lemons and mixed greens. I’ll likely not shop here much, but I will go back for stocking stuffers at Christmas time. :)

Tuesday morning Kelsey came over so that Matt could get some work done on the Castle. (It’s an amazing home for us, but it is over a hundred years old and does require some maintenance. Plus he’s getting some of our top floor bedrooms ready to rent out in the upcoming months. More on that later.)

Kelsey helped me take all the kids to a library for a fun Sparks Fly event (all about static electricity). It was shorter than we realized it would be and we wanted to keep the kids out of the house longer so Matt could work longer. So we ran back home and left the kids buckled and sitting in the van with Kelsey while I ran into the house and filled a picnic bag to take to the park.

I wasn’t even very sure what I grabbed until we unpacked the bag at the park, haha. It wasn’t too bad actually – we discovered cheese and crackers, avocado cups (found at Costco and Sam’s), applesauce pouches, juice boxes, and leftover Peanut Butter Cup Whipped Cream  with animal crackers.

We played until the heat got to us, then headed home for lots of drinks of water and then naps.

That night we loaded up and drove 30 minutes to Mahoney State Park to meet some York friends who were camping there all week. What a blast! They served us burgers, brats, and hotdogs with chips. We contributed grapes, mandarins, and juice pouches.

The kids made smores…

Watching Keith eat his was the best form of entertainment.

After we cleaned up the food, we loaded the girls in the wagon and all of us walked over to the marina to see the fish. It was a lovely visit with our friends – so lovely that I didn’t take many pictures. :)

We got home late and went to bed dirty. The next morning we had showers! Then three of our kids had appointments with their therapist. We had an early lunch then took the kids to play in the play area of one of the Lincoln malls before naptime. (Again, we were looking for an outing that involved air conditioning.) Lunch was leftovers with fresh green beans. <—our gardening friends are spoiling us and we love it!

Since we’d already eaten lunch, the only picnic food I packed to take to the mall was a bottle for BabyBoy#11. :)

We came home for naptime, and I headed out with my computer to work in the quiet for a couple of hours at Panera. Before coming home I ran to Aldi because as usual, we were low on fresh produce and milk. I also picked up some bagels and buns while I was there. Later I sent Elias to pick up meat on sale at a different store. My July Grocery Total: $1185 <— Surprisingly (barely) under budget as the month ends!

Dinner that night was BLT Wraps and clementines. I’d already mixed up the filling so Matt and Elias put together the wraps and fed everyone before I made it home. Meanwhile, Justus and Kelsey ran over to do a load of laundry and hadn’t eaten yet. I love impromptu get-togethers like this. I mixed up more BLT filling (the Costco bacon bits made it possible) so that everyone could have their fill.

Matt and I took the kids outside to play in the water after dinner while Kelsey cut up the watermelon I’d picked up. Good thing she did! Playing in the water made them hungry again so they ate an entire half of the melon!

(Not pictured: kids’ behavior issues during, before, and after all of our fun. I always share about the fun we have. You don’t want to see the fits. I don’t want to dwell on them here. But we sure do appreciate your prayers. Our kids’ needs are high, multiplied by the trauma they’ve experienced. It keeps us on our knees as we are constantly in prayer about how to love them through their hurt and work toward healing.)

Thursday morning we planned to go to a “Learn to Do Magic Tricks” Class at a library. Since we’d already be loaded into the van (it’s kind of a big deal), we decided to pack a picnic to take to the zoo afterward. Then we could eat and let the kids play in the water area there since it was so hot!

For breakfast, I offered bagels, strawberries, and blueberries. Kiya and Keith opted for the remaining smooshed  Snickerdoodle Bites. Keith used a spoon and mashed his like playdough before eating it. Whatever. :) Meanwhile, I made Turkey and Spinach Subs for our picnic lunch.

The magic tricks class was fun (but hectic with all of our littles). I’d forgotten our zoo pass so we ran home to get it and Elias hopped in to join us at the zoo. We enjoyed our subs with applesauce and water or juice.

Then we let the kids get soaked in the water area – the real reason we’d gone to the zoo that day!

We visited the spider monkeys before heading home for naps. These outings are awesome and fun, but let me tell you, by naptime Matt and I are WORN OUT. We usually have an iced coffee “date” at the beginning of naptime so that we can recover before getting work done and tackling the evening with the kids. :)

For dinner I had thawed three packages of chicken from the freezer: one of boneless thighs, one of boneless breasts, and one of drumsticks. I had marinated them in Italian dressing all afternoon, then we smoked them. We got out watermelon and tossed together one of the Aldi’s salad kits we’d bought last week. It all tasted amazing!

Friday morning we enjoyed Cheesy Scrambled eggs, sausage, and strawberries. I used some of the eggs and sausage to make to-go Breakfast Sandwiches for Matt and Elias who were headed to York for the day to work on our properties there.

Mid-morning, Keith discovered our Apple Peeler-Corer-Slicer so I washed it and showed the kids how it worked.

Apples taste so much better when you cut them this way!! This is how you go through five apples in five minutes. :) Hooray for Eva coming over to spend the morning with us so that I wasn’t on my own with eight kids. (Our former foster son, a 4-year-old half-sib to several of our kids, came to visit for the weekend!)

We decided to brave the heat to let the kids go play at the Splash Park again so I packed a meal for us to eat at a picnic table there for lunch. Our visiting Bonus Boy has a pretty limited list of foods he’ll eat so I made our meal based on what I knew he would enjoy. (This post shares ideas for what to feed picky kids, and #5 on that list details what he likes to eat.)

We ate Banana Bread and Butter sandwiches, yogurt, clementines, blueberries, cheese, and juice. (This was the Banana Bread that I’d baked in the crock pot a couple of weeks ago. I had frozen half of it so it was great to pull out and enjoy.)

Late in the afternoon before kids got up from naps, I made a double batch of No Bake Cookies. Why? Because it’s always nice to have goodies on hand to share with people who come over. And because I needed “kitchen therapy.” Praying and breathing while I’m cooking or baking always helps me find peace and calm when I’m feeling a bit out of sorts.

We warmed up leftover hamburgers for dinner and ate them outside with carrots and pickles. We survived the heat that night with water guns and our little splash pools.

Saturday morning we planned to meet friends at the Farmer’s Market but it started to rain heavily so we switched to Plan B and loaded up for the Children’s Museum instead. We have a year-long family pass so this was perfect.

The Surprise

Little did I know that Matt had been cooking up big plans for several weeks and that rain or not, he really just needed to get me out of the house for the morning. :) I thought it was odd that he didn’t want to make any lunch plans for the day, insisting that he and the kids should make lunch at home instead. “It’s good for them to take ownership in what we eat,” he said. “They’ll appreciate your work more this way.”

Ok. But???

We had our Bonus Boy with us so we took all eight kids to the Children’s Museum. Phew. Overall it went well. And look at this sweet picture. They are SO RARELY all easily managed but here we are heading back to our van after playing all morning:

We arrived back home to a HOUSE FULL OF PEOPLE. What had my husband been up to??

Well. Next week I’m turning the big 5.0. So he surprised me a few days early with a sweet party to celebrate. It was everything incredible and I can’t get over it!!

Throughout the afternoon, people kept showing up!!! Every time I turned around, someone else was at the door with a hug, with flowers, with a balloon, or with a card. Truly, what a precious, lovely surprise. I feel so very loved. Matt and the bigs are so amazing to do this for me.

Eva and Kelsey had helped arrange for people to bring dips, then “we” supplied the chips, crackers, and drinks. It was a meal of many of my favorite foods.

Ah, there he is. The guy who pulled this off in the midst of our huge move.

One of the best surprises?? Malachi had been at church camp for two weeks and away for work the week before that. We have missed him!!! I wasn’t expecting him to be home until later in the afternoon. But there he was, after getting up early to drive three hours back to be on time for my surprise. My sweet Malachi.

All said and done, there were 62 of us celebrating together that day. 62!!!!! Many hadn’t seen the Castle yet so we gave lots of tours. This provided much opportunity for us to all praise God together for the gift He gave us when He provided us with this home.

Old friends met new friends. York met Lincoln. I’m still marveling about the beauty of it all.

The party ended at 1:00 but with all the people continuing to come and go, we didn’t say our final goodbyes until after 5:00. That’s when Matt and I realized that we’d hardly eaten all day and we were starving, hahaha.

We cut up the leftover smoked chicken from Thursday and Kelsey made a Caesar salad kit. We tossed it together, got out watermelon, and chowed down.

What a fantastic week!

Now, to be clear, I’m still 49. I won’t be 50 until next week, so I’m going to hold on to my 40’s for four more days, hehehe. Meh, whatever. Looks like the 50’s are going to be pretty great!!

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The Easiest No-Bake Cheesecake

March 19, 2023 by Laura 5 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Ready for the Easiest No-Bake Cheesecake recipe?

This cheesecake is always a hit when I serve it and since it’s so easy to make, I can serve it to guests often.

Ingredient Info

I buy cream cheese at Aldi by the case because it is a great price for great cream cheese (not all off-brand cream cheese is good). So there’s my cream cheese recommendation. :)

Meanwhile, I have learned the hard way that higher-quality whipping cream does not work as well in this recipe. :(  When I used Horizon Organic Whipping Cream, I couldn’t get this mixture to thicken and set up. But when I used regular whipping cream from Walmart, it worked like a charm. So there you go. For this recipe, use low-quality whipping cream. Ugh, who even am I anyway??

The Easiest No-Bake CheesecakeYum

The Easiest No-Bake Cheescake
 
Save Print
Author: Laura
Serves: 15
Ingredients
  • 2 sleeves honey graham crackers
  • 2 sticks butter
  • 2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup raw sugar
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
  1. In a gallon sized Ziploc bag, crush graham crackers with a rolling pin.
  2. Melt butter in a small saucepan.
  3. Pour crushed graham crackers and melted butter into a 9 x 13 inch pan.
  4. Stir ingredients together and pat it down to create crust. Set aside.
  5. In a high power blender or using a hand mixer, blend together cream cheese, sugar, whipping cream and vanilla until mixture is combined and thick.
  6. Smooth mixture over the crust. Chill for at least two hours before serving.
3.5.3251

This cheesecake is great as-is, but you can also add fresh berries to make it fancier. Or, you can top it with candy bars for a fun treat! (One week, I had a package of a variety of candy bars that I wanted to get rid of so I used them up for a college student lunch. It was a huge hit!)

If you study the above picture, you’ll see that on the left, I used the cheapo whipping cream that actually thickened. On the right, I used good whipping cream and the mixture remained runny. I served it to our guests anyway and it all tasted great. But now you can see what I was talking about regarding whipping cream above. :)

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Big Family Food Shopping Trip: I Spent HOW MUCH?!

January 26, 2022 by Laura 22 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

If you’ve been following our Big Family Food series, you’ve only just begun to see how food works at our house right now. I am having so much fun sharing and can’t wait to keep adding to this series. Today I’m going to tell you about a big food shopping trip I had in January!

Where I shop for groceries:

First, let me detail a little bit for you where we buy food for our family.

  • I try to sneak away to Lincoln (about an hour away from home) once each month for a big grocery shopping day. At the very least I hit Costco. Sometimes I’ll also go to Aldi. And I just signed up for a Sam’s membership (which I’ll talk about below).
  • I usually place 2-3 local Walmart pick-up orders each month. This fills in the gaps before I can go to Costco again, and keeps us supplied with fresh produce. As you’ll see below, WE GO THROUGH A LOT OF FRESH PRODUCE. Oy!
  • We get two gallons of fresh milk from a local farm once each week. Of course, that isn’t enough for our family, so I also grab a few gallons each month from the store too.
  • This leads me to share that we get WIC benefits for our foster babes, which is a huge blessing because it provides milk, eggs, cheese, cereal, and my favorite: FRESH PRODUCE! ;) Typically, I go pick up our WIC food items at a local grocery store that is close to our house.
  • I order several staples every couple of months from Azure Standard, which is a food co-op that delivers groceries right into town for us to pick up! My favorites from them are big bags of frozen veggies, cases of tortillas, and either fresh flour or grain to grind into flour. (Currently, I’m just buying flour because I don’t have time to grind it right now.) You can read here to learn more about the items I often buy from Azure.

The day I spent HOW MUCH?!

So now let me tell you about my great big food shopping trip day back in January. I needed to take our littlest babe to Lincoln for an appointment, so she and I headed out with cooler bags and boxes to get our groceries stocked up! It’s not often I get one-on-one time with our kids, so this was special, even if it was ridiculously cold outside that day!

Oh wait – this first!

Since I was going to be shopping by myself with a six-month-old, and I know that I usually need at least two big Costco carts, which isn’t possible with a baby in tow, I tried out a new idea and I super love it!

I sat down at my computer one day and ordered all of the dry-good staples I like to pick up at Costco. I tell you what, I am going to do this every time from now on! There’s no way all of these items plus all of the fresh and frozen items would have fit into one cart (which you’ll see below). So in just a few days after ordering, and with free shipping right to my porch, here’s my online Costco order:

I know it’s hard to see everything in these boxes, but here’s the rundown:

  • 2 Cases of applesauce pouches
  • Box of peach cups
  • Box of mandarin orange cups
  • Box of packs of nuts
  • Case of olives
  • Case of black beans
  • Case of baked beans
  • Box of quinoa and rice mix (such a wonderful convenience food to have on hand!)
  • Bag of coffee
  • Several big containers of spices we use regularly
  • Brown sugar
  • Pack of canned chicken
  • Bag of dried blueberries
  • French fried onions

January Costco Online Order $267

Then, I went into Costco with the babe and filled our cart with everything else we needed!

I’m all about grocery shopping, but one of my favorite things about Costco is the clothing they offer! I found really nice coats for three of our kids for just $7 each. Our littlest just moved up a size in clothing, so I found a few outfits and jammies for her. I grabbed a case of diapers. And what about food? Oh joy, all the good food!

  • Strawberries
  • Blueberries
  • Boneless Chicken Thighs
  • Flautas (we love these for a quick meal in our Air Fryer!)
  • Tilapia
  • Grapes
  • Mixed Greens
  • Sparkling Water (a fun treat for all the bigs at our house, including me) ;)
  • Tortilla Chips
  • French Fries
  • Chicken Nuggets
  • Pizzas
  • 2 cases of Naked (because it never gets old to say “I got Naked at Costco.”)
  • Ham
  • Turkey
  • Croissants
  • Bananas
  • Apples
  • Blackberries
  • Pears

January In-Store Costco Trip $256

Sam’s too?

Well, shucks if I didn’t get sucked into an offer for “Spend $45, get a $45 eGiftCard.” But a free Sam’s membership, just to try and see if I like it for a year? Why not?

—- > Pssst, here’s a link for you to take advantage of this also if you want!) Spend $45, get a $45 eGiftCard. Online only. <——

The biggest pull for me is that there is a Sam’s in Grand Island (45 minutes west of us) but not a Costco (which is in Lincoln, an hour to the east). So I think it will be nice to have this Sams membership when I am in GI. Plus, I wanted to compare Sam’s to Costco and see what might meet our needs better.

So after our Costco shopping was complete, Baby and I headed to Sam’s to check it out before her appointment.

I like it!

I feel like I’m going to like Costco better, but at the same time, Sam’s had some fun sales and clearance that I really appreciated! I got a couple of birthday gifts for our littles for super cheap since it was right after Christmas. Awesome fun! Plus they had some really neat food clearance items too.

I filled my cart here too, which I wasn’t expecting to do. But it doesn’t take much to fill a cart when you’re buying in bulk!

  • Frozen fruit for smoothies
  • Pepperoni
  • Rice Cake snacks (for one of our college kids to take to his apartment)
  • Clementines
  • Salad Mix
  • Cheese Slices (x2)
  • Canned Pineapple
  • Fresh Pineapple
  • Instant Oatmeal Pouches (for a special treat for the kids)
  • Box of Spaghetti Noodles
  • Tub of Whole Milk Yogurt
  • Whatever else is buried under there that I can see. I lost my receipt. :)

January Sams Food Purchase $117

Then we had to take it all in and put it all away. :/

This is a huge job, not just because of the big food shopping trip and how it filled the back of our van, but also because there are so many babies who need to be held, especially after Mommy has been gone all day! So while I juggled baby snuggles, Matt, Malachi, Brayden, and our 6yo Girlie trudged in and out bringing everything in. :)

Food piled up all over the living room and kitchen, and we slowly got it put away.

Hmmm. I need to show you my freezers and food storage spaces huh?! Sounds like a good upcoming post in our Big Family Food series!

Big Family Food Shopping Trip: I Spent HOW MUCH?!

Between my online Costco order, my in-store Costco purchase, and my Sams purchase, my total was $640. I was expecting it to be much more, actually. (It was more with the clothes, coats, toys, paper towels, and diapers. But I only count actual food in our food budget.)

I feel like $640 isn’t bad for a great big, once-a-month Costco and Sam’s shopping trip. But here’s something that I am both giggling at and trying to re-evaluate:

Much of this food was gone after a week and a half.

A WEEK AND A HALF!

We still have plenty of pasta, rice, beans, fries, and fruit cups left. There’s a little chicken left in the freezer plus half the flautas. We haven’t finished all of the ‘Pellegrinos, ha.

But did you see all the fresh produce in those pictures? I’m talking six pounds of grapes, eight pounds of strawberries, two tubs of blueberries, seven pounds of apples, five pounds of clementines, eight pounds of pears, two containers of greens, a tub of pineapple, and whatever else I missed. Ten days later, we were left with 3 apples and a small bowl of shriveled grapes. Whoa, baby. Where does it all go?

Truly, feeding this tribe and watching the food disappear fills me with joy!! My college-age niece, who drops by frequently, opened my fridge just after the ten days had passed since my shopping trip and was like, “Whoa, your fridge is so empty!” Hahaha, I know, Kailey. I know.

Not to worry, because we really do have plenty of food in the house at all times. It’s the fresh food that’s hard to keep up with.

I’m chewing on this:

I think it’s time to re-think our grocery budget and my shopping practices. The budget might need to increase or shift in some places. Also, I don’t know how I’d make it happen (because I have to move a few mountains to be able to go out of town for these big shopping trips), but I might need more than a once-a-month Costco or Sam’s trip.

So stay tuned to our Big Family Food series. I’ll share as I figure all of this out. I hope you’re having as much fun with this series as I am!

Where are your favorite places to grocery shop?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

P.S. I finished this post and scheduled it. Then I went back to Sam’s a few days later because I was in Lincoln for an event and there was a Sam’s a mile away. I spent another $250 on produce and meat. Yes. It’s time to take another look at our grocery budget. Oy! But hey, at least I’m getting the most out of my free Sam’s membership!

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Real Food Groceries I Buy at Aldi

August 31, 2017 by Laura 16 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I am often asked what groceries I buy and where I buy them. Obviously we do not all have the same grocery store options because we all live on different parts of the globe! (And how fun is it that we all connect here in one community!)

aldi1161

I decided to write a small series of posts to share what groceries I purchase from each of my favorite stores – either online, co-op, or from an brick and mortar grocery store where I actually have to wear clothes and shoes to do my shopping. Not that I shop online without clothes on. I think that might have come out wrong. Well, anyway…

First stop: Aldi

Real Food Groceries I Buy at Aldi

We live just over an hour away from the nearest Aldi. We live ten minutes from Aldi now!! It doesn’t make sense for me to drive there often, even though I love many of the groceries they offer! I make it there only once every three months now, and as you can imagine, I stock up on my favorites while I’m there!

groceries feb 172

I’ve definitely found that not all of the food Aldi offers is of the highest quality. But they do carry many real food items that I trust, so I skip their processed junk food aisles and grab their good food options for great prices!

Real Food Groceries I Buy At Aldi

  • Simply Nature Organic Salsa – We go through loads of salsa at our house!
  • Rotel Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies (knock off) – So I can always and forever make this Real Food “Velveeta” and Rotel Dip. :)
  • Simply Nature Organic Black Beans
  • Simply Nature Pasta Sauce
  • Cream Cheese – They carry this for the best price I’ve seen and their brand tastes as good as the name brand.
  • Butter
  • Half and Half and Heavy Whipping Cream
  • Salad Kits – so that we can have easy meals like this.
  • Full Fat Yogurt – I’ve been very happy to find Whole Milk Yogurt options at Aldi. We like to eat it with granola for breakfast, so I usually buy a few containers each time I’m there.
  • Whole Milk – Now that we don’t live close to the farm that used to supply our milk, I pick up several gallons at Aldi each time I go. I miss farm milk!

Real Food Groceries I Buy at Aldi…sometimes

  • Granola – we like to eat this in our yogurt
  • Meat – I always check to see what meat is on sale when I’m there and I snatch up whatever I need that is within my price point.
  • Bagels – My kid loved toasted and buttered bagels, and they are the least expensive at Aldi compared to anywhere else I’ve seen so far.
  • Brown Sugar – I keep brown sugar on hand at home for baking (since it’s cheaper than sucanat and as far as our bodies are concerned, sugar is sugar!). Aldi almost always has the lowest price.
  • A special treat to take home to the kids – Sometimes I’ll grab a pouch of granola, coffee creamer, or another special feature item that I know my kids will like.

Real Food Groceries I Buy at Aldi

Do you shop at Aldi? What groceries do you frequently buy there?

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All the Groceries I Bought for the Beginning of the School Year (Brace Yourself)

August 20, 2017 by Laura 10 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Stocking up is one thing. This time I think I might have gone just a tiny bit crazy. Are you ready to see all the groceries I thought I surely must have to help us survive the beginning of the school year?

groceries august2

Oh, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

I have decided that I got into this crazy BUY ALL THE FOOD mode for three reasons:

  1. My boys had been at church camps or mission trips a good part of the summer and I had not purchased many groceries for the past three months. I was making up for lost time, perhaps? Or maybe I had gone through withdrawal and needed a bulk grocery fix.
  2. I had a chance to go to Lincoln where there is an Aldi. I had to stock up on all my Aldi favorites to help get me through until the next time I have a chance to go there.
  3. I seem to think that if I can have every single food item in stock at my house, I can more easily get through the first couple of weeks of school. Apparently Geometry is more fun when there is plenty of spaghetti sauce in the house.

groceries august4

Most of my thinking is logical, I believe. I have been doing this Fall Semester thing for how many years now? Sixteen? The fall doesn’t just bring the start of school. It also brings soccer season in which my husband is gone much of the time because he is assistant coach of our local college team. The older boys ref games, and our youngest plays on two teams. The fall is simply BUSY and if I can just have enough tuna on hand, then all of life will be easier.

Sure, I live five minutes from a grocery store. But I live three seconds from my storage room that houses all the tuna, so I’d rather go there on a busy day.

Well, speaking of tuna, I bought 24 cans. But after all the buying and loading and unloading, I found myself not particularly excited about setting up a tuna photo-shoot. I think we can all agree that tuna stacked on a table is not terribly thrilling to see. So I left them in the bags under the bagels. Be amazed.

groceries august5

If you think 24 cans of tuna is excessive (it’s not), you might be even more impressed that I got 24 packages of cream cheese. Dude, I was at Aldi and they were only $0.79 each. I will likely not make it back to Aldi for a couple of months, so I filled a cooler. With cream cheese. Who wants to be my best friend now?

groceries august3

The most fun grocery event of this month was definitely the day my Amazon Subscribe and Save order arrived. The bill for this order was not pretty, though I did get good deals on each case I ordered.

groceries august8

groceries august9

Pasta for days. And also Kleenex.

Here’s what I got this time around:

  • Bearitos Organic Tortilla Chips
  • Individual Nut Pouches
  • Muir Glen Pizza Sauce
  • Stubbs BBQ Sauce
  • Delallo Whole Wheat Pasta – Gemelli, Spaghetti noodles, and Elbows
  • Walnut Acres Baked Beans
  • Nature’s Gate Natural Toothpaste
  • 2 Cases of Kleenex (there’s a coupon!)
  • Case of Quilted Northern TP

TIP! If you want to be kept up to date on great Amazon deals I find, sign up to be a member of our Savings Club. It’s free!

groceries august17

If you’re hungry and you know it, clap your hands. I think it is clear that no one will starve at our house during the next few weeks, though you can be sure that we will go through this food faster than one thinks should be reasonable.

Your Turn! Tell me about the crazy things you do before a school year starts!

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Real Food “Processed Food” I Buy Regularly (What Brand and Where I Get Them)

August 15, 2017 by Laura 13 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Remember when I used to make all my food from scratch? Those were the days I thought we ate a lot but we really didn’t (compared to now). Those were the days I thought we were busy but we really weren’t (except that we were). Those were the days I thought all processed food was evil (and some of it is). Those were the days.

family_7_sm

family1sm

Nowadays I’m doing everything I can to simplify so that I can enjoy every last minute with these kids while they are under my roof. Seeing as we’ll graduate Boy #2 this school year, it is becoming more and more apparent that these truly are our last minutes.

Senior pictures, here we come…

justus31

Every new recipe I come up with to share takes very little time to make. I want to nurture my family and build on my marriage – not stand at the kitchen counter rolling out tortillas.

I still make wonderful homemade food. But every meal I put on the table consists of something very basic that is quick to put together and offers a few simple fruits and veggies on the side. My menu plans are created to make great use of my minimal efforts in the kitchen while still putting real food on the table. (Thank you, God, for Simple Meals Plans that take away all the thinking and planning and hard work each day!)

simple meals feb3

My choice to slide back into purchasing more convenience foods hasn’t compromised our great food options. Our meals and snacks are still incredibly delicious! I am still spending our grocery budget wisely. I still use real butter, freshly ground flour, and whole milk. I still avoid high fructose corn syrup, margarine, and MSG.

Choosing to use some processed foods in my cooking doesn’t mean I’m back to buying cans cream-of-whatever-soup and boxes of poptarts. It means I’m buying canned beans instead of soaking and cooking them from dry. It means I’m buying jarred tomato sauce instead of spending hours and hours every fall canning my own. It means I’m buying pre-made pizza crust from Azure Standard so my kids can quickly throw together some pizzas for lunch or dinner (which is healthier and saves money compared to ordering pizza).

It means so many things. It means I can survive this busy season of raising teenagers and continue to be their biggest cheerleader and support in all their activities and preparation for adulthood.

It means love. This is how I’m loving my family now.

family-sillysm

I recently shared that I definitely have started buying processed food more than I used to. But I also shared that processed food is nothing to fear – so long as it’s real food and nourishing. I check ingredients, I find brands that I feel good about, and I save myself an amazing amount of time in the kitchen.

Many of you have asked about the specific brands of “processed foods” I buy and feel good about. I absolutely avoid many bottles and jars and cans that have junk in them that will hurt our insides. But there are brands I trust and feel good about – even if they aren’t organic, top-of-the-line options.

Real Food Processed Food I Buy - what brands and where I get them

Real Food “Processed Food” Brands I Buy and Where I Get Them

groceries feb 172

~ Canned Beans

The Simply Nature brand at Aldi is an awesome choice for canned black beans (at only $0.85/can!). I buy them by the case since I don’t live close to an Aldi or get to shop there often.

I will say that now that I’m a proud owner of an Instant Pot I may start making them again because of how easy it is. But in a pinch, I’ll get cans from Aldi to keep on hand for fast meals!

~ Canned Baked Beans

The Walnut Acre brand is a little more expensive compared to Bush’s or Van Camps, but I feel good about the ingredients, plus we like how they taste. (I can tell a big difference in quality, which is why I’m sticking with the Walnut Acre brand for now.) If I have Vitacost credit, I get a few cans of Walnut Acre, or sometimes I buy a case with subscribe and save at Amazon.

~ Beef Hotdogs

I buy a variety of brands of hotdogs depending on which store I’m able to go to and what is available at each store. Any brand that is 100% beef and free of nitrites I feel okay about. We use these for quick meals on the grill in the spring/summer and for Beanie Weanies all year long.

groceries-11-2

~ Turkey Sausage

I know, I know! Homemade Turkey Sausage was one of my first great recipes I shared here at Heavenly Homemakers. It’s awesome stuff…stuff that I don’t have time to make right now. So I buy cases of Diestel brand turkey sausage from Azure Standard to keep in my freezer whenever it goes on sale.

~ Tortillas

While I miss the taste of homemade tortillas, I love the convenience of these that I get at Azure Standard. The Stacey’s brand has ingredients I’m okay with (which is very difficult to find in a packaged tortilla!). Plus they freeze well and taste great, so I just pull them out to use for tacos, burritos, and quesadillas as needed. What a life saver!

~ Pizza Crust

I recently discovered Sprout California Frozen Pizza Bread at Azure Standard and buy a case every couple of months to help get my family through busy school days. They don’t beat this recipe for homemade pizza crust, but they sure are handy to have in the freezer!

~ Pizza Sauce

Lately I’ve been buying Muir Glen Pizza Sauce by the case with Subscribe and Save through Amazon. It’s tasty and reasonably priced! (I recently got it for $1.45/can.)

aldi1162

~ Salsa

Each time I go to Aldi, I buy a case or two of their Simply Organic Salsa. We love how it tastes, and it’s usually about $1.85/jar.

~ BBQ Sauce

I’ve had a more difficult time finding a quality BBQ Sauce. (Aldi used to carry a Simply Organic variety and now I can’t find it!!) I finally found Stubbs brand at Walmart, which has all real food ingredients. After we tried it and liked it, I bought a case from Amazon! :)

~ Ketchup

I’ve been buying cases of Muir Glen Ketchup through Amazon for several years and it is, hands down, our favorite brand. But I do always watch for it to go on sale because it’s pricey otherwise.

~ Cream Cheese

I’m all over the place with cream cheese. Every brand I have available to me has a few ingredients I don’t love, but it’s also not something I stress over. I don’t like the Walmart off-brand because it never softens nicely! The Aldi brand is great and inexpensive (when they actually have some in stock!). Whenever there’s a price-match for Philadelphia Cream Cheese, I stock up at Walmart.

groceries april 221

~ Mayo

The only mayonnaise I’ve found that I feel good about is Hain Safflower Mayo. It is absolutely not cheap, no matter where I find it. I usually buy it by the case from Azure Standard because expensive as it is, it is at least less expensive there.

~ Spaghetti Sauce

Once again, Aldi comes through with their Simple Nature brand. And once again, I buy the sauce by the case. Since I’ve been pleased with this brand and can afford it ($1.89/jar), I haven’t checked other non-organic brands to see if there are some that contain trustworthy ingredients.

groceries june 17

~ Frozen Hashbrowns

I recently discovered that the Mr. Dells brand of frozen hashbrowns contains only “potatoes” in their ingredient list. Score! I find these at Walmart.

What healthy brands of convenience foods have you found to work for your family? I’ll add to this list as I think of more foods that are worth buying “for the convenience!”

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Fresh Thyme Farmer’s Market – My New Favorite Grocery Store and Pics of This Week’s Food

March 20, 2016 by Laura 24 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

First let me say that sometimes, but not always, when I take pictures on my phone, they upload upside-down to my computer. I edit them to turn them right-side-up, and they appear as such here on my blog. But if you are a subscriber, you will see that they still appear upside-down in the newsletter. This is because I am a professional and always do things professionally.

Some of you are seeing this first picture right-side-up. Others of you are like, “Why are the peppers and avocados spilling out all over the grocery store? Who is going to clean that up? Why did Laura do that? This is not okay.”

groceries 3183

That right-side-up-upside-down picture was taken on Friday when I was introduced to what may now be my favorite grocery store. A brand new Fresh Thyme Farmer’s Market just opened up in Lincoln. Since Elias and I had doctor appointments there last week, we stopped in. I decided that this store is a cross between Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, with prices that beat both places. I filled my cart in a way that made the cashier question my sanity (what’s new?) and I left super pumped up.

“Elias!! Wasn’t that so much fun! That is my new favorite store! Didn’t you just love that!?!?!?”

He was like, “It was a store.”

Ok fine. Not everyone geeks out when grocery shopping. But 88¢ for huge and beautiful red peppers, people!!! Chicken for $1.57 a pound! Strawberries for $1.50!

The beauty of this is that while I don’t go to Lincoln very often, I can price-match this store’s produce prices weekly at my local Walmart. I am going to save so much money!

Elias and I hit Aldi while we were in Lincoln, then went to Fresh Thyme, then ran into Walmart when we got back into town. We are well stocked up now. Here’s the breakdown, but as you can see…

Fresh Thyme Farmer’s Market was the most fun.

  • Aldi – a case of organic salsa, 4 packages of brown sugar, 1 cantaloupe, and 8 cans of knock-off rotel
  • Fresh Thyme – tons of butter, lots of chicken breasts and thighs, a beef roast, full-fat yogurt (a great treat I can’t find locally), 12 pounds of strawberries, 2 bunches of asparagus, 5 huge red peppers, 4 packages of organic prepped hashbrowns (because they were a great price and will be a fun treat), and 6 kiwi (for a dollar!)
  • Walmart – 5 bottles of 100% apple juice (because I could Price-match them for 98¢ and like to have juice on hand for company/treats), 2 huge blocks of cheese, half-and-half, and 3 buckets of ice cream (not pictured) for our homeschool basketball banquet dinner.

groceries 318

Saturday I was actually home for the entire day – something that hasn’t happened in quite a while! I baked bread and got caught up on some work, made a menu plan, and had my kids help me grate one of those huge hunks of cheese in our food processor. Not that you were asking, but my two favorite ways to use my food processor are:

  • Grate Cheese (It took about 10 minutes from start to clean-up to grate a 5-pound block.)
  • Make Peanut Butter (I also make it this way sometimes to make it more spreadable.)

grated cheese

My kids do not miss grating cheese by hand.

This week we’ll be eating:

  • Roast with carrots, potatoes, and gravy
  • Real Food “Velveeta” Rotel Dip
  • Spicy Mac-and-Cheese
  • Homemade chicken strips and fries
  • Easy Noodle Stir Fry with asparagus, carrots, broccoli, and zucchini
  • Italian Grilled Chicken with grilled veggies
  • BLT Chopped Salad

With all of this, we will be eating lots of strawberries and other fruit. I have plenty of different veggies and greens on hand. It’s shaping up to be a very tasty week!

Do you have a Fresh Thyme Farmer’s Market close-by? I think they are fairly new, and I’m not sure where they build their stores. What is your favorite grocery store?

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

December 6, 2014 by Laura 20 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

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

  • Applesauce Bread
  • Crepes with fruit and Cream Cheese Filling
  • Pumpkin Pancakes
  • Warm Chocolate Soother
  • Raspberry Oatmeal Bars
  • Poptarts
  • Quick Mix Biscuits

Lunch

  • Bacon, Egg, and Avocado Salad
  • Baked Potatoes in the Crock Pot with cheese and sour cream
  • Beef Summer Sausage with Crispy Cheese Crackers
  • Calico Beans
  • Cheeseburger Soup
  • Potato Soup
  • Pizza Boats

Dinner

  • Tuna Casserole
  • Spanish Rice with Chicken
  • Salmon Patties
  • Orange Chicken
  • Italian Pasta Bake
  • Chili
  • Cheesy Salsa Enchiladas

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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