We went to our usual store on Saturday, took the chance it wasn't as crowded and for the most part it was good. Watched what we were putting in the cart and what was on my list, turned down a few things that would have been 'extra', another bag of frozen shrimp that went up 2 dollars from last week, forgot the ice cream and decided not to get bacon or smoked sausage. Those were all extra things I wanted to get but not in the budget this week. Smoked sausage was not the horseshoe shape but sausage type in casings for a specific recipe (the Galaxy's Edge Ronto Wrap).
Anyway, food shopping is done, fridge and freezer are packed! Top picture is before I divvied up the beef. Six pounds of hamburger in lag baggies but divided in two, chicken packs stacked. Two packs of hot dogs (third one is opened already in the fridge), bag of fish sticks, two bags of frozen veggies (chow mein and stir fry), way at the back behind everything is asian chicken rice bowls Jon likes to have in the evening. Could we have gotten less food and make our money stretch? Maybe, but that's a fallacy really. We would run out of food, have to go to the store and get more and use gas and time. Stock up when you have the money and it helps coast you through the rest of the month. Oh, white bag in the right corner is the french fries, lower right white bag is an ice pack from the chemo pills I will be taking soon that need to be kept in the fridge. Jon kind of insisted on keeping them in the freezer and fridge.
Ground beef 88/12 and a little over six pounds at 5.49 a pound. Stew meat, more expensive at 6.99 and almost 4 and a third pounds. So yeah, $60 worth of meat in just two packages, broken down that is roughly 10 meals. I use my little kitchen scale I originally got for weighing yarn and weigh out portions. For whatever reason I used to get a large zip baggie and put the scale in that, zero it out and then do my weighing, one time I used plastic wrap but that was awkward as well. Then it hit me, if I'm zeroing out... use a bowl. So much easier especially when portioning out the meat in various forms. Another trick I learned, was to use a rolling pin or my hands to flatten out the hamburger when I put it in the bag so it thaws faster and takes up less space. I remember seeing a huge lump of frozen hamburger sitting in a frying pan because my mom forgot to take it out of the freezer the night before (I made the same mistake years ago). With the meat flattened, it takes up less space and it thaws in almost 24 hours in the fridge. Brilliant!
But no ice cream. Sad face. Next trip we'll get it because we have about $60 left in food money for making the weekly milk and bread runs to the store. You know what makes me happy? Seeing all that food and planning meals or new recipes to try. I bought a small jar of horseradish to make some Alabama White Sauce, that stuff is good on almost anything. Oh and some chipotles in adobo for making chipotle ranch sauce and also thinking about a crock pot chili/stew. So I don't usually get a lot of chips or cookies for myself, never have been that kind of a snacking kind of person. On the other hand not really into celery and peanut butter and carrot sticks. Somewhere in between. Homemade cookies most definitely, a small bowl of my favorite ice cream once in a while yesssir. For the holidays our go to is the cordial cherries but almost any chocolate will do. So happy I found a partner that loves food and treats as much as I do.
Okay enough about food. Due to the wonderful kindness of a very good friend I will be getting new tires tomorrow! YAY! That will facilitate going up to see said friend next weekend. Tuesday and Thursday is two different doctor visits, then two more visits the following week. At the rate I'm healing probably looking at December for final reconstruction surgery. That's it for today, probably will do a midweek update unless something monumental happens between now and then.
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