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Big Family Grocery Spending for May, 2025

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Here’s our Big Family Grocery Spending for May, 2025 post!

Big Family Grocery Spending for May, 2025

Curious how much we spent during the month of May and what groceries we bought? Here’s the breakdown!

1. Aldi

On May 5, I was close to Aldi so I ran in to see if there were any meat markdowns. They didn’t have any – but I did get strawberries for $1.99/pound.

Total at Aldi: $22.12

2. Sam’s

On May 5, Auggie and I went to Sam’s after his speech therapy appointment. We got pork chops (marked down!), ground beef, frozen hamburger patties, bacon, beef smoked sausages, cheddar franks, beef hotdogs, orange chicken, avocado mash, heavy whipping cream, milk, eggs, shredded cheese, yogurt, peanut butter, honey, rotel, minced onion, pistachios, pickles, spring mix, two kinds of apples, broccoli, bananas, and sweet peppers.

Total for groceries at Sam’s: $347.25

3. Aldi

The Saturday before Mother’s Day, I ran into Aldi to get strawberries and Caesar salad to go with our family meal that Sunday. While there, I grabbed mandarins because we’ve been eating them like crazy! Plus I bought sausage patties so that I’d have them on hand for the Breakfast Sandwiches we like so much. Ah, and I also bought Gelatto. No reason. Only because it’s fun and delicious. :)

Total at Aldi: $46.80

4. McDonald’s

I took three of the kids to a wedding in Omaha on Saturday, May 10. I forgot to take any pictures while there because I was visiting with so many friends. But back at home, Matt, Elias, Malorie, and Malachi were holding down the fort with the other four kids. Matt splurged on McDonalds’ for their dinner that night. I don’t know what deals they found, but it must have been good!

Total for McDonald’s: $20.22

5. Sam’s

For Mother’s Day, we had a lovely, simple meal that included two Rotisserie Chickens from Sam’s. Elias, Malorie, and Malachi picked them up on their way home from church.

Total for two Sam’s Rotisserie Chickens: $10.88

6. The Mill

Also on Mother’s Day, we girls made plans to go out for coffee together after lunch. Kelsey wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t join us. :( But Eva, Malorie, and I had a lovely time enjoying the break together.

Total at The Mill: $17.75

7. Wal-Mart

Mid-month, I picked up a few WIC items at Wal-Mart. I also got two gallons of milk and a few fun treats/splurges for the kids’ upcoming track meet and field trips. I couldn’t pass up the Yoda crackers. :)

Total out of pocket at Wal-Mart: $25.00

8. Hy-Vee

Saturday, May 17, I picked up our May WIC items that I’d ordered from Hy-Vee. As of right now, Hy-Vee is the only store in our area that partners with WIC to allow for online ordering and pick-up. It is super helpful to shop like this for these items, so I take advantage! I got cereal, cheese, yogurt, pasta, rice, beans, and produce.

Total out of pocket: $4.18

9. Sam’s

On May 20, Auggie and I went to Sam’s after his speech therapy. We loaded up on greens, pears, apples, oranges, grapes, strawberries, raspberries, pineapple, watermelon, sweet peppers, cucumbers, cream, half and half, chicken (marked down), hotdogs, steak (marked down), smoked sausage, bacon, nuts, sliced cheese, turkey lunchmeat, sour cream, white queso, peanut butter, oats, applesauce, yogurt, pepperoni, mac and cheese, chocolate chips, coconut rolls, crackers, meat sticks, granola bars, and some snack bars to take on our summer outings.

Total for groceries at Sam’s: $552.59

10. Wal-Mart

After I left Sam’s, I went into Wal-Mart to grab milk and oatmeal.

Total at Wal-Mart: $19.10

11. Amazon

I didn’t get a picture, but we got a few boxes of Go-Go Squeeze pouches in our Amazon subscribe and save order.

Total from Amazon: $33.77

12. Sam’s

On Saturday, May 24, I ran into Sam’s to grab a few produce items for our Sunday Lunch (we were having BLTs). On a whim, I decided to check for meat markdowns, assuming there wouldn’t be any because it was a Saturday afternoon and a very busy shopping day for people. I was SO GLAD I checked! I found multiple packages of grass-fed hamburger meat marked down!! Twenty-one pounds of good beef? Yes, please.

Total at Sam’s: $138.52

13. Aldi

On May 28, we needed milk so I took a couple kids to Aldi with me. Besides milk, I got several other Aldi favorites plus more fresh produce to get us through the next few days.

Total at Aldi: $133.84

Total for groceries in May, 2025: $1,374

NOTE: Our WIC benefits provide our littles with around $180 worth of groceries each month. You can read here to learn our 2025 Grocery Budget plus look over ways I’m able to keep our budget at this level.

Running Totals for 2025

January spending: $679
February spending: $1,459
March spending: $1,346
April spending: $1,364
May spending: $1374

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How I Keep our Big Family Grocery Budget Low

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This is how I keep our big family grocery budget low…

Perhaps when you see our large grocery budget number, you don’t see it as a low number. It’s all relative, right? It is large for a regular-sized family. But for our big family? I think we do a pretty good job of keeping it as low as we can.

So first: Who are we feeding?

  • Right now there are 12 people living in our house. But in a few weeks, we’ll be back up to 13 people living in our house – 6 adults, 7 kids. (Our household number fluctuates depending on who is living on our third floor or which of our adult children are living here.)
  • Some of the adults in our house grab fast food (on their own dime) from time to time, but in general, we are feeding all 13 people three meals a day.
  • All the adults who work outside the home, plus our school-age kids, pack lunches for work/school.
  • We have extras at our house for meals frequently. We love getting together with our adult children when we can. Our biggest meal is usually our Sunday Lunch in which we often have around 30 people here including our adult kids plus friends from church. Sometimes people bring food to add to our feast on these days.

Aww, a look at our beloved 19:

We are so grateful to live close to Asa, Eva, and Arrow and Justus, Kelsey, and Little Sweetheart!

What is my projected grocery budget for 2025?

Our budget for 2024 was $1,400/month. You can see the total numbers here sharing what each month looked like. You might notice if you divide my total 2024 spending amount by 12 months that I actually averaged a bit lower per-month amount than I budgeted.

As I look ahead to 2025, I’m looking at how it worked to maintain that budget plus I’m considering these…

  • Anna will age out of the WIC program (her benefits gave us about $50/month worth of food).
  • Malachi will move back in at the end of January (yay!) so we’re adding one more adult, putting us back up at 13 household members. So with these two changes:

I still plan to keep our grocery budget at $1,400/month right now and see how long that works for us.

I will make adjustments during the year if this doesn’t work or if it is causing stress. Our energy and mental space needs to be used to care for our family and others – not for crunching numbers and worrying over nickels and dimes.

How I Keep our Big Family Grocery Budget Low

I’ve been thinking about all that is working for me as I try to stick to a healthy grocery budget for our household and I came up with a lot of details to share!

After settling into our new Lincoln home and finding my way with new-to-me grocery stores and a new shopping system that works for our needs, this is what I’ve found that works to feed 13 of us with a $1,400/month budget.

1. I always look for meat markdowns.

Buying discounted meat is probably what saves our family the most money on groceries. I settled on this price point for meat, and I am determined to almost never go over. See the exception here.

But with this in mind, I have found that if I look for meat that has been marked down for quick sale – specifically at Aldi, Walmart, or Sam’s – I can almost always buy meat for our family marked down to $2.50/pound or less. This is even less than my price point, and the savings are huge!

These yellow stickers are my favorite! And I’ve found that if I shop in the mornings, that’s when there are the most yellow stickers as the stores clear out their packages of meat that are nearing the “best by” date. I grab them up and freeze them to use as needed. HUGE SAVINGS.

The best mark down I’ve found: for two years in a row, we’ve scored $0.50/pound ham after Christmas. We fill our freezers. One ham goes a long way, even for a large family!

Every once in a while, other stores in town (that I don’t frequent regularly) will offer a big meat sale. If the deals are good, I find it worth it to make an extra stop to take advantage.

2. We shop in bulk.

Having a Sam’s or Costco membership may not pay for itself for some families. But for us? The savings are big and very worth it. I now know which items are priced best at Sam’s, which are best at Costco, and which are better at other stores. Buying large quantities of many of our staples cuts down our cost and is also helpful for my planning needs. It takes a lot of mental pressure off my brain if I know that I have twelve of something in my pantry ready to grab as needed.

It usually takes two carts to get everything we need at Costco or Sam’s each month.

3. I have learned what items are cheapest at which stores.

After living in Lincoln for a year-and-a-half, I’ve learned which prices are best at which store for the products we use and need. My favorite places to shop are Sam’s, Costco, and Aldi with a little Walmart thrown in for those awesome meat markdowns!

Typically, I keep running lists on my phone of what I need at each store. I shop once each week, but go to a different store each time. So usually we hit Costco and Sam’s just once in a month, Aldi twice and Walmart twice. This works well for our budget and plans!

4. We eat as many fruits and veggies as we can.

People don’t believe me when I say that fruits and veggies save money because everyone thinks “healthy food is expensive.” I disagree when it comes to fruits and veggies. Where we shop, apples, bananas, carrots, pears, grapes, fresh spinach, mixed greens, and potatoes are all consistently low in price per pound. Frozen fruits and veggies cost the same all year round. And we buy everything else in season when their prices are the lowest and featured in a sale.

Kids need something to hold them over until lunch? Here’s an apple:

Also, I’ve found that it’s easiest to feed a large crowd of people (which for us is 13 to 30 or more people per meal) when I set out the main dish and a variety of fruit and/or veggie side dish options. This stretches the meal to feed a lot of people, plus offers variety, gives people choices, and overall saves money.

5. I say yes to offers of free food that would otherwise go to waste.

Say what? Well, we stand out as a large family with “a lot of mouths to feed.” Therefore, people often think of us when there is extra food that will get thrown away after an event at church or at people’s places of work. Our neighbor is often stopping by with something from his work’s break room that is perfectly good to eat but is about to get tossed because no one wants it. “Wait! I’ll take it to the Coppingers!” says he, and he does.

After a potluck or church event? People hand us leftovers. “Here, use this for your next Sunday lunch,” they’ll say. Or, “Will your family eat this? We hate to throw it away.” YEP. We say yes to most offers like this because we don’t like food going in the trash and because I can make a meal with just about anything if I get creative.

In addition, we bring home food from the Food Distribution site where we volunteer each week. All the food there is donated by grocery stores and restaurants if it is an item close to its expiration date or otherwise unable to be sold. This food is going to be thrown away if not given to the community! I can’t tell you how grateful we are that Lincoln has the FoodNet program to cut down on food waste and to provide for the community instead.

Typically each week at the location where we serve, over 100 families go through the line to get food. We, as volunteers, get to pick out some of the food too if there is enough. And at the end of the hour when all of the clients have gone through the line, if there is anything left, volunteers can go through the line again.

We bring home a random assortment of food each week – sometimes just a little and sometimes several bags worth. I usually need to find ways to use up this food or freeze it pretty quickly because it’s food that is on its last leg. But it was free and it’s fun and it didn’t go into a grocery store dumpster.

Worth noting: sometimes I say yes to food handouts even if I know our family won’t eat it because I know people who will eat it. We regularly buy extra or stockpile food we’ve been given to take to our church’s Little Free Pantry. It’s so good for our kids to be a part of the ministry of caring for others and loving people in our neighborhood. Almost every time we are at the pantry filling it up, we meet up with someone who is coming there to check for food to use for their next meal. It’s amazing and we love visiting with these new friends.

6. WIC

Our three youngest kids qualify for WIC through their adoption subsidy (and will until they turn five). This gives them fresh produce, cheese, eggs, milk, rice/pasta/bread, and beans and totals around $150/month in benefits. This is a lovely resource we are thankful to enjoy for our kids.

7. I only buy organic if it fits into the budget.

I used to overthink this and feel guilty. But God has taken this guilt away though because He’s taught me that loving people is much more important than obsessing over food.

Yes, I want to take good care of our bodies. I absolutely try to fill us all with nourishing foods every day. But my focus is more on meeting our kids’ emotional needs than worrying over an organic label on our food.

We also want to continue to fill our home and tables with dear friends who join us for meals frequently. We want to feed our guests well, but spending extra to be sure everything is organic would not work for our budget. I won’t trade an organic label for inviting people into our home to share our food.

I’m thankful that many organic foods DON’T cost more – like apples, spinach, mixed greens, salsa, pasta sauce, and carrots. I get them regularly and other organic items if I can. But if I buy pears that aren’t organic, I’m no longer worried. We’re still eating pears. Pears are healthy. God takes care of the rest.

8. We always eat at home or pack food if we’re on the road.

Buying restaurant food is not an option for us right now, and we are very ok with that. ( Think eating out would double our grocery budget. Plus can you imagine taking this many high-need kids into a restaurant? Phew.)

Instead, we’ve found all kinds of other ways to make food fun, to offer all of us treats, and to even pretend we are having fast food. (Bulk bags of chicken nuggets and fries from Costco are crazy cheap compared to feeding 13 people at Wendy’s – and they taste better too.)

I’ve found so many ways to make food prep simple that I never feel like I want to order take-out. If I ever need a night off from cooking (which, of course, I do), we bake Costco frozen pizzas. They are super cheap compared to ordering pizza and we love how they taste.

Costco or Sam’s $5 Rotisserie Chicken is also a great fast food option that goes a long way!

Exception to never eating out: There are a few times each year that we find ourselves on the road with the need to stop and get a bunch of McDonald’s nuggets or something like this. We aren’t legalistic about not eating out. We just choose not to most of the time and enjoy coming up with all kinds of other fun options to eat or pack instead!

9. We eat leftovers.

I mentioned above that we don’t like it when food goes to waste. Therefore, we put all of our leftovers from meals into our fridge to warm up another time. Matt and I are stay at home /work from home parents, and we almost always warm up leftovers for our lunch. Elias often packs leftovers to take to work for lunch. And whenever our fridge starts to get over full, instead of cooking something new, we have a meal in which we pull out all the leftovers and warm them up for people to help themselves to whatever sounds good.

I’ve also found creative ways to turn leftover food into a brand new meal: like turning a Taco Bar into a casserole or a bunch of burritos for the freezer, taking leftover ham to make Ham and Potato Casserole or Breakfast Casserole. It’s pretty easy to turn leftovers into something new.

10. I make good use of our freezers.

If there’s a good sale (or a good deal on meat, as if I haven’t talked about that enough, ha), I stock up and fill the freezer. If I’m making one casserole or batch of muffins, I often make two or three while I’m at it to get more meals prepped for the same amount of work. I put the extras into the freezer for a convenient fast food another day. Frozen casseroles/muffins/breads also give me the option of providing others with meals if I find out of a need – a sick friend, a new mama, or a hurting friend.

11. I use credit for Azure Standard purchases.

This is only worth a tiny mention as it doesn’t affect our budget much. But I do accrue a small amount of referral credit to Azure Standard when any of you sign up for an account and/or take advantage of what Azure has to offer. About twice a year, the credit number adds up to enough for me to put in an order that is mostly covered by the credit. Their food is great and some of it I can only find through Azure, so these are the items I stock up on when I can!

Our grocery spending for 2025

Stay tuned for our weekly posts to see what we’re eating and who we’re feeding. And watch for our monthly posts sharing what we buy and how much we spend. We’ll see if our monthly $1,400/month budget holds!

What are the best ways you’ve found to save money at the grocery stores where you live?

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Big Family Food and Fun: October 13-19, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: October 13-19, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: October 13-19, 2024

Matt and I are prayerfully trying to take a Sabbath rest each week, starting Saturday evening and into most of the day on Sunday. Read more about this here.

As we learn about this ourselves, and try to teach our kids about taking time to refresh our souls, we planned a special evening Saturday to kick off our Sabbath. I ordered these rechargeable candles from Amazon to help communicate: This is a time set apart for something special. We had fruit cups and chicken strips on paper plates, and the kids all got to drink sparkling water with dinner.

Then we popped corn in our popcorn machine. We prayed, involving all the kids in sharing something they were thankful for that week.

Was this kick-off restful? Ultimately, Mom and Dad still have to work pretty hard to meet the needs of this many kids. But it’s a Sabbath mind-set we’re going for. So no, it wasn’t particularly restful. But it was joyful. So that’s a win.

To give me the day off from cooking on Sunday, I’d planned these Breakfast Cookie Bars that I’d made ahead and frozen for our morning meal.

Saturday morning, I’d made a huge Italian Pasta Bake with three different kinds of cheese and simply baked it Sunday morning on low while we were at church. I’d also made a bowl of Caramel Apple Dip for our dessert.

Along with some of our regular Sunday guests, the Nabb family joined us as they are also seeking to learn to Sabbath. They brought rolls, salad, and a Rotisserie chicken to add to our meal and together we enjoyed precious community. When our kitchen and dining room are full, this is my favorite. There were 25 of us gathered that day.

We transitioned back into “normal life” when late in the afternoon, we headed to Keith’s final soccer game of the season.

Auggie was wearing his new jeans and jacket, and I couldn’t stop loving how CUTE he is.

I had Burritos in the freezer so we warmed those up for dinner and got out cans of fruit as a simple side.

Most of us smothered our burritos with White Queso that I’d picked up at Sam’s. We also had fresh tomatoes our friends had given us, which made these burritos incredible.

Malorie and Elias experimented with making Fried Rice for part of their dinner and for Elias’ upcoming packed school lunches.

Monday morning, Acacia and Josie helped Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins.

This is the best kind of helping.

I scrambled 18 eggs to go with our muffins that morning.

Anna had a dentist appointment and Acacia went with us for moral support.

When we got home, we were blessed with a visit from our former housemate, Sarah. As you can see, the kids were VERY excited to see her.

We ate leftovers for lunch, then I put together a pot of Chicken Noodle Soup for us to eat for our dinner that night.

After Auggie’s nap, we loaded up eight bikes and eight kids and headed to our favorite Tierra Park to ride their trails. I knew we’d need a snack, so I packed the leftover Chocolate Banana Blender Muffins from breakfast plus clementines, pears, and applesauce.

As we were getting ready to leave, I realized how hungry I was. So I grabbed a to-go coffee cup and filled it with soup so that I could eat on the way.

Loading up that many kids and bikes is a huge effort, but it’s always worth it once we get there and the kids have so much fun playing and riding in the sunshine.

They ate all the snacks, then we gobbled down the entire pot of soup when we got home. They’d worked up an appetite!

Tuesday was the final day of our kids’ Fall Break from school. That morning, I started a big pot of Beef Broth to use in our soup for dinner that evening.

I also baked a Lemon Pound Cake just for fun since it was chilly outside and a good day for baking.

It wasn’t warm enough to play outside comfortably that morning, so I got out a fall craft for the kids to work on at the table.

When the broth had been simmering for several hours, I blended up the veggies to stir back in. This is such a great way to add veggies to our meals.

At lunchtime, I made several cans worth of Tomato Soup plus Chicken Salad Melts.

Little Sweetheart had been with us all morning and Acacia had fun playing with her after I finished changing her diaper.

I started a crock pot full of Spicy Ham and Potato Soup in the early afternoon, then took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to our weekly Food Distribution.

This Spicy Ham and Potato Soup is my very favorite and with the rich broth I’d made earlier in the day, it was extra good.

Wednesday morning, the kids ate Oatmeal and I baked a double batch of Breakfast Cookies turned into bars to put into the freezer for upcoming needs.

We had intentions of taking all four of our littlest to Costco that morning, but by the time we had everyone ready, there was no way we’d make it there and back in time for the preschool bus. So I grabbed Auggie and headed there while Matt stayed back to get the girls off to school.

Auggie and I had some lovely one-on-one time as we stocked up on fruit, veggies, and many Costco needs/favorites.

Arrow came to hang out for the afternoon, so he bundled up with Auggie and me to go pick up kids from school.

Eva arrived as we were getting home and stayed and helped with kids. Then Asa and Eva joined us for dinner! We’d been given a Rack of Ribs at Food Distribution (a rare and wonderful bonus item they were handing out that day and had plenty of) so I smoked it for dinner. I also Baked Potatoes – in the oven like normal people do, ha! I’ve done it in the crock pot for so long, that I almost forgot that baked potatoes can be baked in an actual oven. We also had Baked Beans, Peas, Grapes, and Raspberries.

Kiya’s birthday was Thursday! She requested Pancakes for breakfast. Happy 9th Kiya!

Anna and Josie set up a Costco box from my grocery run the day before to use as a table for their applesauce that morning.

Mid-morning I quickly put together 12 Breakfast Sandwiches to have on hand through the upcoming days.

I’ve been working on and off for the past several days to get all of our kids’ summer clothes switched out to fall/winter clothes. This is a HUGE job, and thanks to Malorie’s help with the kids, I got our final bin sorted Thursday morning.

Auggie had an appointment with his eating specialist that day. After so many months of frustration and hard work, it was so great to walk in and report how well he is doing with eating and chewing. We praise God for this!

Several of the family were coming over for Kiya’s birthday dinner that night, so that afternoon I worked on her cake request. She asked for a cake in the shape of a Z for her name (her full name is Zakiya). I had baked a sheet cake that morning and attempted to cut it into a Z…not to shabby!

The final result was cute and I was excited to show her when she got home from school that day.

We had her birthday requested meal for dinner that night: Chicken Nuggets, Fries, Pickles – and I threw in Strawberries and Grapes for good measure. The older kids trickled in all evening for the celebration so I just kept putting in more rounds of chicken and fries. If you’re curious, we fed 18 people (10 adults and 8 kids)  and went through 5 pounds of chicken, 4 pounds of fries, and 3 pounds of strawberries that night.

Zakiya was very excited about her cake!

After dinner and cake (<— that was a two hour ordeal, ha), we gathered in the living room (<—also very eventful) for present time.

As we transitioned to bedtime, Josie was excited that the color of her jammies matched Malachi’s hoodie, but she would not be still for a picture. She kept giggling and squirming out of his arms, then asking to see the picture. These are a no-go, girl.

Matt left early Friday morning to head to the airport to be with his family in California for a funeral. We had a detailed schedule for all of our older kids/wives/girlfriend to come help throughout the weekend so that I would survive. Malorie was my all-day-Friday help and truly, she made the day go so smoothly.

We were pleased to make it all the way to 11:00 am without any screaming meltdowns. Score.

At that point, we headed outside to play. The girls had found and grabbed Auggie’s unused baby food puree to snack on. Sure, why not?

I loved that I was able to capture this while the kids were playing on the slide.

We ate Meatballs, Buttered Noodles, Salad, and Fruit for dinner that night.

Malachi came over to help with kids and we took a walk to Sunken Gardens. Kelsey and Little Sweetheart came later that evening and everyone worked together to get all eight little kids to bed (a process that took about an hour and a half).

Kelsey swept and mopped our kitchen and did dishes while Malachi held Little Sweetheart. Elias helped manage the 5-year-old boys as they had a hard time settling. Auggie wasn’t ready for bed yet so he enjoyed time in the kitchen learning how to be an awesome grown-up. I felt incredibly grateful for and supported by all of our precious adult kids.

Saturday morning, Elias and Malorie helped me get the kids to Heartlands for a Color Run with their friends from church. Kelsey met us there to help too. I packed a bunch of Peanut Butter Honey Sandwiches with Cheese Sticks and Apples for them to eat on the way home.

Kelsey, Asa, Eva, and Arrow came for the afternoon and evening to help out. Elias and Malorie helped a good part of the time too. Our adult children amaze me and I am so grateful for them.

As of Saturday morning, I decided to focus on surviving and didn’t upload pictures or write any more about our week. :) I’ll share photos next week of our weekend fun!

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Big Family Food and Fun: October 6-12, 2024

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Here’s our Big Family Food and Fun: October 6-12, 2024 post!

Big Family Food and Fun: October 6-12, 2024

I mentioned in last week’s post that Matt and I were experimenting with how to have a day of rest once each week. You can read more about our intention here. We began our Sabbath on Saturday afternoon/evening at our friends’ house, spending time in community.

There were enough older kids and adults there that helped with our littles that Matt and I did, from time to time, get to just sit and enjoy some downtime.

Keith latched on to Sam that evening, and Sam was so sweet to pour into him.

My goal on Saturday morning had been to make all of our Sunday breakfast and lunch food so that all I had to do on Sunday was set it out or warm it up. This worked perfectly and I hope to do it this way every week!

We ate Breakfast Cookies turned into bars for breakfast. Lunch was Smoked Chicken, Party Potatoes, Cream Cheese Corn, Green Beans, Rolls, and  Pumpkin Bars.

We had a small crowd join us that day, but we enjoyed visiting with Asa and Eva about Sabbath and some of their ideas for practicing rest also. There’s still plenty of “work” to do while caring for eight small children all day long, but I tried to keep a mindset of rest throughout the day. After lunch, while we visited, I was able to sit and thoroughly enjoy a cup of coffee with a Pumpkin Bar.

At about 2:45, we needed to make a transition to get all the kids in the van to head to Keith’s soccer game. THIS was not a restful thing, mostly because kids did not want to cooperate to go potty, get shoes, etc. Oy. But we made it to the game (late), and truly, did we expect the entire day to be restful with this many little ones? No, we did not. ;)

From the game, we headed to the Heartlands church parking lot for a wonderful Harvest Festival. There was a meal, face painting, pumpkin painting station, smores, and archery with Heart Shot Ministry.

Brayden, Kiya, Keith, and Bonus Buddy all lined up for archery and it was great. But when Tiny-but-Mighty Acacia got in line like a big kid? Well now. She was one determined kitty cat.

She listened very closely to the instructor and actually hit a few marks on the target. It was the cutest thing we all saw all night.

Keith’s new bestie, Sam, and Sam’s dad, Jason, had worked on this football helmet when we’d been at their house Saturday night to turn it into a Husker hat. Keith slept with it in his bed, got mad when I wouldn’t let him wear it to church, put it on before and after his soccer game, and of course, wore it to the Harvest Festival. Hotdogs taste better and pumpkins paint up nicer when you’re wearing a helmet.

Auggie was fascinated with the music coming from the giant black box in the parking lot. He hosted a small dance party with some of his sisters and our friend Christina.

All of our kids were very proud of their face paint. Washing it off before bed that night was a little bit less sad because we got pictures. :)

All in all, our Sunday was wonderful and full of good friends. So was our Sabbath restful??

Well, part of it. But there’s nothing that takes away the work of caring for eight high need littles, no matter how much we did ahead of time. I didn’t sleep great Sunday night (Auggie still doesn’t sleep through the night consistently, though at least he’s the only one who got up that particular night). So Monday, after attempting to Sabbath on Sunday, I woke up very tired.

Therefore, I decided to also rest on Monday as much as I could while kids were in school. The four at home in the morning played pretty quietly in the playroom (and then fought for an hour before their bus came with hair, clothes, and shoes, oy). But look at the sweetness of their play before the fighting:

I took a nap when Auggie went down for a nap and felt refreshed when I got up. Dinner that night was super simple: Mac and Cheese (with Bacon Bits stirred in for the grown-ups), Green Beans, and Grapes.

Tuesday morning I scrambled a dozen Cheesy Eggs to eat with Mudballs or Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Bars an Applesauce. About every other day, I make a batch of this Smoothie for Matt and me to drink as needed throughout our days.

We are working very hard to completely wean Auggie off his Pediasure supplement drinks as he finally learns to eat regular meals and snacks. Eating is still an extra effort for him, but he’s making incredible progress. Here he is, mid-morning on Wednesday, eating an avocado cup.

Little Sweetheart came for the day. She and Auggie are fascinated with each other, but Auggie doesn’t always understand that she is tiny and we have to be careful not to clobber her.

After school, I took Brayden, Kiya, and Keith to hand out food and clean at our weekly Food Distribution.

I was glad we didn’t come home to any broken windows this week. ;) Before leaving that afternoon, I’d put Sunday’s leftover Party Potatoes into a crock pot with some chopped up ham and prepped Broccoli to be steamed for dinner.

Wednesday morning, I got out Breakfast Sandwiches that I’d made last week for us to warm up and eat with a side of yogurt. Anna practiced her cutting skills at the counter while kids trickled into the kitchen for breakfast.

I’m always a bit frazzled by the time we manage to get eight kids out the door and walk to school to drop off four of them. Have you ever told a kindergarten boy to “hurry up” or “go as fast as you can!”??? These words are pointless. But. All frustration melts away when Acacia insists on hugging her brothers goodbye when they head to their line to go inside. This particular day, they enjoyed a group hug.

Back at home, we enjoyed the risk of giving the three little girls a container of markers with paper. Oy. It all went well until it didn’t, and then I steered them toward a different project. :)

Arrow came to hang out that afternoon. He and Uncle Auggie took a walk with Lolli to pick up Keith and Bonus Buddy after school. Brayden and Kiya got to stay after school that day for a Craft Club.

The kindergarten classes had enjoyed a field trip to a pumpkin patch that day. They were excited about the pumpkins they chose and got right to work decorating them when we got home. If I felt uneasy earlier that morning with three little girls and a container of markers, ask me how I felt about two kindergarten boys with a container of sharpies?? Auggie and I watched them closely, and we got the sharpies put away before the three little girls got off their preschool bus. Phew.

It was a warm day, it’s been very dry, and our little car needed to be washed. So Matt pulled it onto our grass to spray it off before heading to school to pick up Brayden and Kiya. The kids were fascinated by this as Daddy had never driven the car onto the grass before. :)

Dinner that night was super simple and a big hit. I smoked 24 Brats (that I’d picked up marked down to just $1.84/pound at Walmart!). We rewarmed leftover Mac and Cheese, got out Potato Salad and Pickles, and I cut up a bunch of Apples that the boys had brought home from the pumpkin patch. The apples were almost gone by the time dinner started because everyone ate them as I cut them. :)

Thursday morning, the weather was beautiful once again so we spent time outside after getting the four elementary kids off to school. Auggie decided he was big enough to pull his sisters in the wagon. He wasn’t wrong, as he was able to move them at least a solid inch before giving up.

Matt had a lot on his plate as he was helping with a funeral on Friday and preaching on Sunday. So Malorie and I took the four littlest to Hobby Lobby and Aldi so that Matt could have a quiet house to work in. It was a win-win because we got stocked up on groceries that we needed, plus brought home fun fall-themed craft supplies for our upcoming Fall Break.

Here’s what $207 worth of groceries looked like at Aldi that day. This included 12-pounds of grass fed ground beef, two big packages of sausage, a small ham, fresh fruit, a case of organic salsa, four gallons of milk, two tubs of organic yogurt, a huge pile of organic fruit/veggie pouches for Auggie, two packages of granola, eight cans of fruit in 100% juice, and several other items. We’re thankful to be able to stretch our grocery budget this way!

We got home and unloaded just in time to send the girls to school on the bus. As we were unloading the van, I discovered these additional passengers who were safely buckled in with us on our outing.

After girls were sent off to preschool, Auggie was down for a nap, and the groceries were put away – I got out some leftover Homemade Ice Cream and blended it with cold coffee to make this gem for myself.

Justus dropped off Little Sweetheart for the afternoon and she hung out with me in the kitchen while I made a few surprises for our kids’ weekend. Friday through Tuesday was to be their Fall Break and while we didn’t have anything big planned, I did want to make it special.

We had a zoo trip planned for Friday morning, so I made some special Fall Food for a picnic.

I cut two loaves of bread with a pumpkin cookie cutter to make sandwiches. Will I ever do this again? No I probably will not, haha. (Unless I forget by this time next year how much extra work it takes to make sandwiches cute.) I saved all the scraps in hopes to make either Bread Pudding or Pumpkin Spice French Toast Casserole.

My favorite fall picnic project was this: cutting little cheese leaves and acorns with small cookie cutters. THIS was worth the effort. :)

I got all the fun-fall-food hidden away before picking up kids from school. When we got home, a few neighborhood kids joined us and one of them opened up his violin to show us his skills. This, of course, meant that Brayden needed to go get out his trumpet because – well – do I even need to explain this? The concert was loud and special. :/

Meanwhile, Keith ran to his backpack to get out the certificate he’d been given that day. He was SO PROUD of this, as he should be. He’s been in speech therapy since he was 1.5 years old. If you would have told me then that he’d graduate by age 5.5, I would not have believed it. He’s worked so hard and come so far. He put this graduation certificate on the pantry fridge and asked for a picture. You bet, buddy.

All of my fall picnic shenanigans and the after school orchestra/band had set me back on dinner prep. But somehow, we were able to get 20 burgers on the grill and some bacon in the oven to make Bacon Cheeseburgers for dinner. We made two packages of fries in the air fryer, sliced up apples, washed blackberries, and got out pickles and potato salad. It was a feast!

Friday morning, we kicked off the kids’ Fall Break with attempted pumpkin-shaped Pancakes. As it turns out, putting a stem on a circle to make it look like a pumpkin isn’t as easy as it sounds. ;)

Matt headed to Heartlands for the funeral, so Elias and Malorie helped me with kids. We’ve been reading Little House in the Big Woods (slowly but surely), so I found Little House on the Prairie on YouTube for the kids to watch and experience. They were fascinated and had so many questions. Our plan is for all eight kids to dress like characters from this book/time period for Halloween. So we all took note of the hats, dresses, and bonnets. :)

The zoo was to open at 10, so our plan was to wrap up our morning at home and pack up to get to the zoo for an outing. When we got there at 10:04, we discovered that every person in the state of Nebraska had the same idea for their day.

I handed out apples as we stood in line waiting to get to the gate.

Once we made it in, the crowd dispersed and we were able to enjoy animals and play areas.

Everyone was very hungry by lunchtime, and as we sat to eat, I told the kids that all I’d brought for our Fall Break lunch was “pumpkins and leaves.” Most of the kids could tell I was being silly, but Bonus Buddy was NOT IMPRESSED with my announcement. He did not want to eat leaves. Once I pulled out the leaf-shaped-cheese, pumpkin-shaped sandwiches, and jack-o-lantern fruit cups, he realized that Mom was actually not crazy. All the kids enjoyed this surprise lunch very much!

We had some therapy appointments that afternoon, and I was pretty worn out by dinner time. That’s what Costco frozen pizza is for. :)

That evening, we loaded everyone up and took a walk to our church’s Free Little Pantry. As you can see, Keith had traded his Husker helmet that day for a Little House on the Prairie hat. He goes ALL IN with just about everything he does.

We filled the pantry with food for people to come take as needed. Then we headed home for bed time.

Saturday morning, I did some prep work to get ready to take a Sabbath rest starting that evening and through Sunday. I made a large pan of Italian Pasta Bake to put in the oven for Sunday lunch. Check out how I used the scraps of cheese leftover from using cookie cutters to make cheese shapes on Thursday!

We’d been given some fancy mozzarella so I used that too.

I made a batch of Caramel Apple Dip for our Sunday lunch dessert.

We gave the kids their baths, hosted our Small Group, and did some cleaning. And that was our week!

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6 Meals I Made with Two Whole Chickens

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I made six family-friendly meals with two whole chickens. THIS is such a money-saving method of cooking!

Full Disclosure: The two chickens I used were extra large. But so is the size of our family – extra large. There are 11 of our family at home right now (four adults and seven kids). Plus we currently have five housemates (three adults and two kids). We feed a lot of people each day (11-20 per meal). If you know me very well, you know that I love this. Feeding people is one of my favorite things to do.

Finding ways to stretch the food and creatively use what we have is also a lot of fun for me. :) Here’s how I made two whole chickens stretch into some wonderful meals for all of us.

6 Meals I Made with Two Whole Chickens

First, I thawed, then seasoned and smoked the chickens all afternoon.

Both chickens easily fit in our smoker, so I made good use of the space and the pellets to smoke both chickens at once.

We enjoyed chicken straight off of the smoker that night. SO GOOD. We ate it with these sides:

Matt is our designated chicken de-boner. He turns on an audio book, listens, and works to get all the meat off the bones for me. It’s one of my least favorite jobs but he does it happily.

We ended up with two 9×13 inch dishes full of meat after we ate all we wanted the first night!

Time for Broth

We put the bones into a pot of water to turn into broth the next day. I added several pounds of carrots and onions to make it extra nourishing. After several hours, I strained it and blended the veggies to pour back in.

The next day, I used some of the chicken to make a bunch of Chicken Cheese Melts on croissants. Half of them were just chicken and Colby jack cheese – for the kids. The other half was chicken with pepper jack cheese and ranch – for the adults who wanted a little spice. These sandwiches were perfect with Tomato Soup! And we got out canned fruit to help spread out the meal (because I was out of fresh fruit).

Note: I cut the twelve sandwiches in half for kids who needed smaller portions. This was the only way to make this meal stretch far enough for all of us.

The day after that, I used more of the chicken to make a large pan plus a small dish of Creamy Chicken Enchiladas.

The weather turned cold, so the next day we were very excited to use the broth I’d made a few days earlier and more of the chicken to make Chicken and Noodles. Wow, did that hit the spot!


Two days later, we pulled out the leftover Creamy Chicken Enchiladas to warm up for dinner.

Finally, we used the last of the chicken to make The Simplest White Chicken Chili in the crock pot.

So let’s review.

Two large chickens made these meals:

  1. Smoked chicken with sides (16 people)
  2. Chicken Cheese Melts on Croissants (13 people)
  3. Creamy Chicken Enchiladas (11 people)
  4. Chicken and Noodles (16 people)
  5. Creamy Chicken Enchilada leftovers (10 people)
  6. The Simplest White Chicken Chili (14 people)

Using whole chickens like this can really help stretch a food budget! And when you stretch the meal even further, pulling out easy side dishes like this, you can feed a lot of people these great meals! <— this is my favorite way to make a meal fill many people at once – add plenty of fruit and veggie side dishes to make the meal go as far as needed!

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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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