Meal Plan 11.19.11

This week started with a relaxing sleeping in Sunday and I'll be out two nights for hockey, but one of those nights Hubs in joining me.  Saturday we're out most of the day as we're helping some friends move and taking advantage of an away Saturday night hockey game to spend some time together.  Also when this week is over we'll be on vacation for the week.  I'm particularly excited to share the recipe for Italian Meat Gravy...it's one of my favorite for the crockpot.


This week's meal plan & ingredient list


Sunday:
Breakfast: Turkey Bacon & Eggs
Lunch: Turkey Burgers & Tuna fish Sandwiches (leftovers)
Dinner: Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes & Green Beans

Monday:
Breakfast: Cereal & Coffee
Lunch: Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes & Green Beans
Dinner: Italian Meat Gravy over Ziti

Tuesday:

Breakfast: Coffee & Cereal

Lunch: Italian Meat Gravy over Ziti

Dinner: Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, & Green Beans

Wednesday:

Breakfast: Coffee & Cereal

Lunch: Chicken & Rice

Dinner: Cilantro Lime Chickpea Salad over Brown Rice

Thursday:

Breakfast: Coffee & Cereal

Lunch: Italian Meat Gravy over Ziti

Dinner: Out

Friday:

Breakfast: Cereal & Coffee

Lunch: Grilled Chicken & Rice

Dinner: Turkey Tacos & Rice

Saturday: 

Breakfast: Out

Lunch: Out

Dinner: Out

Sorry for my absence...

I've been traveling and baking so much, I've not been doing a good job sticking to the meal planning.  The good news is, we've been primarily eating from what's on hand in the kitchen.  We haven't done a big grocery shop since my last post.  It's been sending Hubs to the store to grab an off item here and there.

So now that the travel is over for now - we're getting ready for the holidays and I'm super excited about them.  I've been working on my meal plan for Thanksgiving and my holiday gathering at our home.  I'm looking forward to sharing more recipes and fun stuff going forward.

Thanks!

Spicy Honey Pork Medallions

Yields: 8 Servings

Printable Recipe

This is a great comes together quickly meal, but doesn't feel like it.  This is definitely something I can do after work, but I would definitely make for company too.  Pork Tenderloin is another really versatile meat and is pretty quick cooking.  Slicing the tenderloin into medallions give it even more surface area to take on flavor.  This is a variation on a recipe in America's Test Kitchen's Healthy family cookbook.

Ingredients:

• 2 pork tenderloins 
• 1 Cup Honey
• 1/2 Cup fresh lime juice (about 4 limes)
• 4 Teaspoons minced chipotle in adobo sauce
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons ground cumin
• Salt & Pepper 
• Olive Oil

Slice pork into medallions and season with salt & pepper.

Heat olive oil in pan over medium heat.  When pan is heated, place pork medallions in pan and brown on each side 2-3 minutes.  Just enough to get a bit of a crust on it.  If all medallions don't fit, brown in batches. 

Remove browned medallions from pan.  Combine honey, lime juice, chipotle & cumin in same pan and let it cook down, scraping up brown bits.  After 1-2 minutes when the mixture is more of a glaze consistency, add the pork medallions back to pan and reduce heat to low.

Yum!

We had this as a roasted pork tenderloin with a glaze.  I decided to try it this way and it did not disappoint.  I enjoyed it more and it came together fast!  I would definitely mince the chipotles finer than we did, especially if you do not like heat.  This is one of Hubs favorite meals.

Meal Plan 10.15.11

We started off the week with an overnight guest from the Saturday night and I wanted to make my pal a good breakfast to start her week off right! This week is mostly at home nights, the Bruins are on the road, but I'm going to Chicago at the end of the week to see the Bruins on the road.  Hubs is staying behind for this trip, giving him an opportunity to have some fish and help my sister move (he's kind of great like that)
Also, since every new recipe I made last week was not to my satisfaction, I hope that there is better luck this week so I can share some recipes with you.

It's worth noting that I had every ingredient on hand this week - so there was no need to grocery shop - also worth noting that I was wasn't wowed by coupons or the grocery flyer - so this week's food bill is $0.00! Stocking up can really pay off!

This week's meal plan & ingredient list

Sunday:
Breakfast: Pumpkin Pancakes
Lunch: Meatballs & Sauce
Dinner: Soy Ginger London Broil, Quinoa & Peas

Monday:
Breakfast: Antioxidant Smoothie
Lunch: Soy Ginger London Broil, Quinoa & Peas
Dinner: Spicy Honey Pork Medallions, Brown Rice & Corn

Tuesday:

Breakfast: Coffee & Cereal

Lunch: Spicy Honey Pork Medallions, Brown Rice & Corn

Dinner: Turkey Cutlets & Israeli Coucous with Spinach

Wednesday:

Breakfast: Raspberry Oat Smoothie

Lunch: Turkey Cutlets & Israel Couscous with Spinach

Dinner: Pasta & Meatballs

Thursday:

Breakfast: Coffee & Cereal

Lunch: Pasta & Meatballs

Dinner: Turkey Burgers & Sweet Potato Fries

Friday:

Breakfast: Vitamin C Smoothie

Lunch: Out

Dinner: Tilapia, Quinoa w/Spinach

Saturday: 

Breakfast: Pumpkin Pancakes

Lunch: Out

Dinner: Out

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast

So usually when boneless skinless chicken breast is on sale for $1.99, I jump at it.  $1.99/lb is the price for packages of 3 lbs or more.  Again it's just the two of us, so it's a great opportunity to stock up.  When we were looking through our freezer to see what we had on hand, I realized we were low on chicken.  We had NONE!  That's not a situation I like to be in.  Chicken cooks up quickly and is versatile and it's a lean protein.   I always buy at least 1 package at that price....this week I bought three.
It's worth noting that this is never a price I would get at BJ's and I just need to stock up when it's on sale at Stop & Shop

What was I thinking?

I was thinking - you can't beat that price and there's room in my freezer.

The first thing I did when I got these home was to get out my freezer bags and my kitchen sharpie marker.  But I'm from the Boston Area...so you can just imagine how I say "SHAHPEE" Also my trusty kitchen scale.  I love this thing and use it often, but moreso on days I stock up on meat.

I had nearly 10lbs of chicken.

I diced 1.5 lbs for the dinner I was making in the crockpot on Sunday.
I diced 1.5 lbs and marinated it for Tuesday's dinner
I cut up 2 lbs into 8 portions of chicken breast and bagged them in portions of 4 each (great for grilling, marinating or baking)
I sliced up 1 lb into small strips for an appetizer I intend to make soon
I sliced up 1 lb into 4 cutlets (great for chicken parmesan or any breaded cutlet)
I diced the remaining 3 lbs and bagged them in 3 1lb portions (great for simmer sauce meals or casseroles)

It looked a little something like this:

And for $21.66 and about 30 minute with a knife, cutting board, my freezer bags, sharpie marker & my trusty kitchen scale....I have 18 meals worth of chicken portioned out along with portion for a fun app next time I have friends over.

Totally worth it.

Saturday Shopping 10/1

So this week, not bad 36% savings

My sale list:

Sorrento Ricotta Cheese 2/$6.00
Baby Peeled Carrots 3/$5.00

Ricotta Cheese - with winter coming, it'll be more lasagnas or skillet pasta dishes
Baby Peeled Carrots - I will eat these as a snack, obviously healthier than any cookies or other snacks I bring along to work

My meal plan list:
Boneless Skinless Chicken $1.99/lb
Fat Free Plain Yogurt 2/$3.00
Limes 2/$1.50 (not on sale)
Bananas .47 (not on sale)
White Bread .99
Fiber One Hamburger Rolls $3.29 (.50 in store self scan savings)
Tomato Sauce .30
Chickpeas .67
5 lb Russet Potatoes $3.99(not on sale)
2 lb Yellow Onion $2.49 (should have been free, missed that at checkout)
Spinach (10oz) $1.99 (not on sale)
Cilantro $2.49 (not on sale)
Sweet Onion $1.49/lb

Bigger list, with more produce, which is harder to get on sale

Just while I was in the neighborhood items (all on sale or on sale paired with coupon)
Al Fresco Chicken Sausage $3.99
Ghirdelli Chocolate Chips $2.99
Nestle Dark Chocolate Chips 2/$5.00 ($1.00 off 2)
Bumblee Bee Tuna .80
Center Cut Bacon 3/$10.00
Del Monte Superfruit Cups 10/$10.00

Chicken Sausage - love this stuff, its great to cook into pasta for a quick meal
Ghirdelli Chocolate Chips - I don't skimp on ingredients for baking, so if I see that these are on sale I pick some up.
Nestle Dark Chocolate Chips - picked up 2 bags, these are new and I have another coupon and they're on sale through the holidays, so I will likely be getting more after I try them out
Tuna - Hubs enjoys tunafish, I hate it and I require to be out of the house when it's made (I know, makes me sound high maintenance, but I really hate it) since I'll be traveling soon, it'll be good for him to have around
Bacon - I normally buy turkey bacon and typically at BJ's since it's usually below the regular price at the grocery store and typically I find a coupon for it.  However I'm looking for the good stuff for an appetizer I'm making soon, so I picked this up on sale and into the freezer it goes
Del Monte Superfruit Cups - again in an effort to eat healthier, we decided to give these a try since the price was good a BJ's but it was a better deal at the grocery store.

All and all, not bad, but I'm still impressed at how much I had on hand for my list.  Also I had a $1.00 off my grocery bill from a checkout coupon (don't leave those behind) And always take the credit for the reusable bag!

October Trip to BJ's

So typically I try to make a trip to BJ's at the beginning of the month, so I can straddle the previous month coupon book and the current month.  Just helps to maximize the savings.  Sometimes anyway, this month I did notice a man double fisting his coupon books as well, so I'm guessing I'm not crazy.

We pay $40.00 a year for our BJ's membership, it's totally worth it for us, because we know what we're buying there and what's a better deal somewhere else.

So typically once a month we go and pick up items we use on a regular basis.

Some items of note this month

3 pk of Swanson's Chicken Broth (boxes) $6.99 - $2.00 off BJ's coupon - brings it down to about $1.67/box.  I usually try to get chicken broth in the box (easier to use & store in fridge) and typically pay about $2.00, if I can get it lower I stock up.  Unfortunately I haven't seen it lower - but with the holidays coming, there should be good coupons.

Frozen Tilapia Filets  $10.99 - I don't eat fish, but Hubs enjoys it and with me going out of town for the weekend, it's a perfect time for him to get his fish on and it's something he can prepare easily and it's frozen individually, we figured we'd give this a shot.

Skim Milk $2.75 - Gas isn't the only thing that's gotten more expensive by the gallon.  We always pick up a gallon of milk at BJ's, it's much cheaper than the grocery store and then typically the rest of the month we pick up half gallons to get us through with coupons & sale match ups

Pork Tenderloin $2.99/lb - This is my buy price if it's on sale at the grocery store, but it rarely has been lately for that price, so I typically just pick up a couple and they go straight to the freezer.

Meal Plan Week Ending 10.08.10

The plan for this week is full of awesome.  I'll be out of the house Monday to have my picture taken with the Stanley Cup. Wednesday we have friends coming over to watch hockey related stuff on TV to celebrate the beginning of hockey season.  Thursday is the Bruins home opener and they play Saturday.  Hubs is home alone Monday and Saturday but is coming with me on Thursday night.  So as I typically do when hockey starts, I try to prep to have some stuff made or easy to make for Hubs on the nights I leave him home alone for hockey.

This week's meal plan & ingredient list

Sunday:
Breakfast: Pumpkin Pancakes (leftovers) & Turkey Bacon
Lunch: Turkey Burgers & Sweet Potato Fries
Dinner: Chinese Lemon Chicken over Oriental Style Rice & Broccoli

Monday:
Breakfast: Antioxidant Smoothie
Lunch: Chinese Lemon Chicken over Oriental Style Rice & Broccoli
Dinner: Tequila Lime Turkey Chili

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Pumpkin Pancakes
Lunch: Spaghetti & Meatballs
Dinner: Garlic Parmesan Chicken & Noodles

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Cran Raspberry Smoothie
Lunch: Garlic Parmesan Chicken & Noodles
Dinner: Spaghetti & Meatballs

Thursday:
Breakfast: Pumpkin Pancakes
Lunch: Out
Dinner: Out

Friday:
Breakfast: Cran Raspberry Smoothie
Lunch: Chinese Lemon Chicken over Oriental Style Rice & Broccoli
Dinner: Hamburgers & Sweet Potato Fries

Saturday:
Breakfast: Bacon & Eggs
Lunch: Cilantro Lime Chickpea Salad & Baked Brown Rice
Dinner: Tequila Lime Turkey Chili

Sunday: I do a lot of planning & meal prep for the week, so a lot of times a crock-pot dinner is the way to go, I had planned to make this a LONG time ago and had bought frozen lemonade concentrate in anticipation of making it, so when I tripped over this recipe again I decided it was time. Chicken was at my buy price ($1.99/lb) , so chicken makes two appearances this week!

Monday: Out for the evening, Hubs love chili and this can sit in the crock-pot all day and be used for another game later in the week

Tuesday: I found a recipe online that used a rotisserie chicken in it, but I thought I could do better, so we'll see what it comes out like.

Wednesday: We're having company and keeping it simple but also tying in to a line in the movie I'm looking forward to watching Slap Shot

Thursday: We are off work and out all day, meeting up with other Bruins fans for lunch and enjoying the end of the summer long celebration

Friday: We are off, anticipating sleeping in and relaxing!

Saturday: Hockey game for me, Hubs will be on his own for dinner, but he's looking forward to having some more of that chili.

End of week update: I was less than impressed with most of the meals I tried new recipes for this week, so there won't be a lot of sharing of recipes from this past week, not till I go back to the drawing board.  We also wound up off plan on Friday because we just wanted to enjoy a lazy day after a late night celebrating the raising of the Stanley Cup Champion banner.  :)

Pumpkin Pancakes

Pumpkin Pancakes

Yields: 20 pancakes (5-6 servings)

Printable Recipe

Who doesn't love fall?  I'll tell you...jerks.  Fall is great, so many delicious flavors.  Anyone who doesn't like fall should have their head examined.

This is one of our fall favorites, Pumpkin Pancakes.  We usually stock up on canned pumpkin when it's on sale, but I couldn't wait to have some pumpkin pancakes and to try a recipe for pumpkin spiced latte that everyone of my pintrest peeps have been pinning.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Cups milk
• 1 Cup pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 Tablespoons vinegar
• 2 Cups all purpose flour
• 3 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 Teaspoon baking soda
• 1 Tablespoon Pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

In a bowl, mix together milk, pumpkin, egg, oil & vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt in a separate bowl.  Stir dry ingredients into wet until just combined.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat.  Pour or scoop batter on the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake.  Brown on both sides and serve hot.

The verdict:  We've made these before, we'll be making them again, because they are awesome.  On Saturdays if possible we make a big breakfast and typically have the same thing on Sunday, because we can just reheat it.  This weekend we made a big tray of turkey bacon and then just reheated enough pancakes for breakfast along with the rest of the turkey bacon, far less work on a Sunday morning suite for reading the paper and drinking coffee.

The leftover pancakes (if you have any!) can be frozen, but we will use them during the following work week

Vitamin C Smoothie

Vitamin C Smoothie
Adapted from America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cook Book
Yields: 2 Servings

Printable Recipe

This is another of my favorite cookbooks.  Again ATK.  They have bunch of good smoothie recipes.  Super easy and quick in the morning to help us stop heading to the Dunkin' Donuts drive through.  I don't eat enough fruits and vegetables, mainly due to texture.  So this is away to get some of that in.
I wait until frozen fruit is on sale to stock up.  This week I got most of my fruit 2/$4.00 a bag.  This will be multiple smoothies.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Cups orange juice
• 1 Cup frozen mango
• 1/2 Cup frozen strawberries
• 1 Tablespoon sugar, plus extra to taste
• Pinch salt

Combing all ingredients in a blender, with juice on bottom.  Blend on low speed until mixture is combined but still coarse in texture, about 10 seconds. Increase blender to high speed and puree until it is completely smooth, 20 to 40 seconds longer.  Season with additional sugar to taste and serve immediately

This is one of our favorites and if I ever have extra storage, I would like to pre-measure the ingredients in an effort to speed up the process in the morning.  But that's likely a ways off for us.

BBQ Pulled Pork

BBQ Pulled Pork

Adapted by America's Test Kitchen - Slow Cooker Revolution

Printable Recipe

I love this cookbook and if you are from the school of thought that all crock-pot meals taste the same (I was) or don't like that a lot of crock-pot recipes have a lot of ready made or processed ingredients (I did) but want to use your crock-pot, this is worth picking up.  I love ATK, I know some people have hard time with it because their tends to be a lot of steps, but I find the show & cookbooks fascinating.  The adjustments I made to this recipe were to use boneless pork loin (the recipe calls for boneless pork butt) and less of it (recipe calls for 5lbs and I used 2.5) 

Ingredients:

• Barbecue Rub (see below)
• 1 (2.5 lb) boneless pork loin roast
• 1 cup Barbecue  sauce
• Cider Vinegar (to taste)
• Salt (to taste)
• Pepper (to taste)
• Brown Sugar (to taste)

BBQ Rub (makes enough for 5lbs pork)

• 1/4 Cup packed brown sugar (I used light brown)
• 1/4 Cup sweet paprika (I used regular)
• 1 Tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 Tablespoon onion powder
• 1 Teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 Teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 Teaspoon salt

Using a fork, prick pork all over. Rub the pork loin with 1/2 the rub noted.  Save the rest of that rub for another time.  Wrap pork loin in plastic wrap and refrigerated from 8 to 24 hours.  Unwrap pork and place in crock-pot.  

Spread barbeque sauce evenly over pork, cover and cooke until pork is tender, 9 to 11 hours on low or 5 to 7 hours on high.

Transfer pork to bowl, let cool slightly, then shred into bite size pieces.  Discard excess fat; cover to keep warm.  Let braising liquid settle for 5 minutes, then remove fat from surface using large spoon.  Season with salt, pepper, sugar & vinegar to taste.

Toss shredded pork with 1 cup of braising liquid, add more liquid as needed to keep meat moist.  Serve with barbecue sauce

The verdict:

We'll be using this recipe for years to come.  It's great for prepping the night before we have it (10 minutes tops) and while the coffee is brewing in the morning the prep is super easy (maybe 3 minutes)  Getting home from work to the smell is priceless and in less than 10 minutes its on the table.  As noted, we used this in a variety of ways, we had it on the night we made it as a sandwich, we brought it to work with a side salad for lunch, and it arrived in pizza form later in the week.  What other ways can you use this dish?   

Sunday Shopping 9/25

So this week, I did pretty well. 39% Savings.

My list from what was on sale was pretty slim

Country Style Bone In Pork Ribs $1.99/lb (3lbs or more) - $6.00

I use these for an amazing recipe for Italian Meat Gravy and the recipe calls for 1.5lbs, so these guys were going to be packaged in 1.5 lb portions and headed straight to the freezer.

From my meal plan list also fairly slim as I had so many of my ingredients on hand

Pomegranate Juice - on sale 2/$3.00 (POM)
Frozen Mango - on sale 2/$4.00 (Stop & Shop)
Mixed Green Salad - on sale $2/$5.00 (Stop & Shop)
Tortillas - on sale $2.57 (Mission)
Basmati Rice - on sale 3/$5.00 (Uncle Ben's) - Pair up with coupon buy 3 Ready Rices, get 1 Whole Grain Rice free (ended up being 4/$5.00)
Sweet Potato Fries - not on sale, but we love them (Alexia)
Onion - no sale on onions
Broccoli Crowns - on sale .99/lb

Not a big list at all and pretty much most of it was on sale!

Just while I was in the neighborhood items:

Kettle Chips 2/$5.00 - Matched up with 2 coupons for $1.00 off each.
Bertolli Sauce 2/$4.00 - Picked up two.
Pantene Shampoo 2/$7.00 - Matched up with a coupon for $3.00 off 2

Chips will be great for snacking & entertaining... it's football season and hockey is only about 11 days away (not that I'm counting!)
Bertolli Sauce - keeping sauces on hand for either make ahead meals or quick meals afterwork, it's a great stock up items. I got 2 Vodka Sauces (great with chicken sausage)
Pantene Shampoo - normally don't pick up health & beauty at the grocery store, but these were in the bargain aisle and the coupon match up was fabulous.

Meal Plan Week Ending 10.01.2011

The plan for the week was to keep it fairly simple. My sister was coming for a visit from NYC for the weekend and this work week with end of month and end of quarter is always a challenge for the two of us.

I will work to get a printable version up and running on this thing

Sunday:

Breakfast: Out

Lunch: Balsamic Soy Hamburgers

Dinner: Beef Tacos with Mexican Rice

Monday:

Breakfast: Antioxidant Smoothie

Lunch: Penne with Chicken Sausage & Vodka Sauce (leftovers)

Dinner: Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Mixed Green Salad

Tuesday:

Breakfast: Cereal & Coffee

Lunch: Pulled Pork & Mixed Green Salad

Dinner: Baked Ziti in Marinara Sauce with Chicken Sausage

Wednesday

Breakfast: Vitamin C Smoothie

Lunch: Baked Ziti in Marinara Sauce with Chicken Sausage

Dinner: Chicken in Masala Simmer Sauce over Basmati Rice

Thursday

Breakfast: Cereal & Coffee

Lunch: Chicken in Masala Simmer Sauce over Basmati Rice

Dinner: Pulled Pork Pizza

Friday

Breakfast: Chocolate Protein Smoothie

Lunch: Baked Ziti in Marinara Sauce with Chicken Sausage

Dinner: Turkey Burgers & Sweet Potato Fries

Saturday

Breakfast: Pumpkin Pancakes

Lunch: Out

Dinner: Spicy Honey Pork Tenderloin, Baked Brown Rice & Roasted Broccoli

So some very simple pull together meals here.

Sunday, I pulled out some ground beef to make burgers and since I freeze typically by the pound, we had burgers for lunch and tacos for dinner, so there would be no waste.

Monday, I had bought 7.5 lb Boneless Pork Loin roast at my buy price of $1.99/lb a few weeks back. I had cut it down into a few crockpot sized roasts (about 2.5lbs) so I put some homemade BBQ rub on the roast and let it sit in the fridge on Sunday night, Monday morning threw it in the crockpot with some BBQ sauce and we had BBQ Pulled Pork, which would be dinner, one lunch and it would reappear later in the week in pizza form

Tuesday, I found that I had large mostly full bottle of marinara sauce we had bought at BJS and weren't in love with, I always have pasta on hand and I had amassed several flavors/brands of chicken sausage in the freezer. My buy price for chicken sausage is typically $3.99/pkg, but recently I matched up a couple of $1.00 off each coupons with a 2/$7.00 sale on the new Johnsonville chicken sausage. So we gave the Italian three cheese a shot and topped this little make ahead meal with some remaining shredded parmesan cheese. I actually put this together on Sunday and put it right in the fridge in a covered pyrex baking dish. Threw it in the oven at 350 while I did the lunch dishes and we changed into loungewear for the evening.

Wednesday, despite the fact that the Trader Joe's simmer sauces haven't ever been on sale that I've ever notices (that's pretty much the only item I get at Trader Joes) I like to keep them on hand. I always buy boneless skinless chicken when it's at my buy price of $1.99/lb. I typically trim the breasts down and freeze in 1lb portions, but I always dice 1-1.5 lbs and freeze for use later. This works great. Brown up some chicken, dump in some sauce and let it simmer. I typically pair it up with microwavable rice. This meal is something my husband can put together easy and works great for end of month when I'm usually not sure what time I'll be home, I call him from the road and he whips this up and we are in business.

Thursday, hey pulled pork...just so we don't get too sick of you, let's have you in pizza form. I picked up some frozen pizza dough for use of leftover (taco meat, sausage) to put in a pizza or calzone. I have some jarred pizza sauce in the cabinet, but since canned tomatoes are always on hand, pizza sauce is never far away.

Friday, we typically do something quick on Fridays especially on payday so we can eat and go over the bills and budgeting for the next couple weeks as well as put together the following week's meal plan...burgers, homemade pizzas are perfect for these nights. I typically pick up ground turkey at BJ's during our monthly trip, and I freeze it in 1lb portions. Since, that will leave some leftovers, it sure you'll see the other 1/2 lb in use on sunday in some form.

Saturday, we'll be out doing errands (likely BJs, Target & general deal seeking for the current home project) so we'll plan to go out to lunch together, when we get home we'll take the time to cook together. My husband is trying to sharpen his cooking skills and putting together a nicer meal for us to eat will be nice after what will be a busy busy week. I typically pick up pork tenderloin at BJ's because their everyday price (around $2.99/lb) can't typically be beat. That's not something that goes on sale often and when it does, it's around $2.99/lb. I pick it up at BJ's during our monthly trip and then it's in the freezer.

Not a bad plan for what is typically a pretty hectic week in our house, but we're set up for success. The best part is, I had most of the items needed on hand, so I only had to pick up 8 items at the grocery store, of which 6 were on sale and one I matched up with a coupon and stocked up.

Have a great week!

End of week update: We got a last minute invite to go out with our friends that I sit with at the Bruins to  head over to Weymouth to have dinner at Fore River Grille, which recently was opened by one of the guys that worked at our pre-game hang out (The Fours)  Since they have Shipyard Pumpkin on tap and my favorite Red Sox manager had been fired/let go...we figured, let's head out and have lunch at home prior to running errands on Saturday.  Good food, good beer, great company, seriously how can you go wrong?  You can't.  Easy decision.

Meal Planning & Grocery Strategy

So I can be a bit of a nerd when it comes to this stuff, but honestly when I think of how much money & aggravation it saves me, it's worth it. It's how I pay to do things I enjoy doing like paying for my Boston Bruins tickets or going to visit my nephew in Maryland. So it's worth it and once I'm in the routine of doing it and keeping up with it, it doesn't take very long at all. There are fewer nights that the local pizza guy has to come out to our place because we don't feel like we have anything to eat (we always do) or we don't feel like putting anything together (there's a decent mix of easy to prep ingredients in my pantry most times) The grocery thing, well that's mostly just practice. It depends a lot on where you live to determine what a good price is for items, but I've got it down to the point where I routinely save 35-40% weekly at the store. I stock up when items are on sale, I won't buy meat unless it's at my "buy" price. I don't stack coupons, I don't clear shelves and I don't buy a lot of processed food. I match up sales and coupons and keep myself organized enough that it's not a part time job by any means. First and foremost - my circulars come on Wednesday or Thursday night. I have two local grocery stores that I get the flyers in the mail (Stop & Shop and Shaw's) and I get Roche Bros through my email. Since Stop & Shop is typically the store I have the most consistent pricing in for the items that I buy, I typically do my primary grocery shopping there. I check out deals at Shaw's & Roche Bros for good sales & match ups. I start my planning for the week when I receive my flyers. I typically just take a few minutes to run through them and see if anything pops out at me. For example, this week I noticed that Stop & Shop was having a sale on bone in country style pork ribs for $1.99/lb (3lbs or more) I put them on my list because I use them to make an amazing Italian Meat Gravy recipe. On Fridays I start a loose meal plan by looking at what I have in my freezer for meat and keeping in mind what's on sale for the week. What I have or will buy drives the meal plan always. If we are having people over and I just have to have something, I will just buy it for that occasion, but since I always stock up, my freezer is often full of portioned meat to start from. I usually take a peek Friday night or Saturday mornings to see what the coupon fairy will be bringing me on Sunday in the paper by checking out Sunday Coupon Preview and also I browse mygrocerydeals.com for any unadvertised sales or to compare grocery store pricing along with some local drug store chains (CVS, Walgreens & Rite-Aid) You would be surprised how many items I'm able to just match up coupons and sales with in a drug store. For example, I was able to get Special K for $1.67 a box a couple weeks ago, between matching sales & coupons and rewards programs. Meal plan is finalized over the weekend. When I make a meal plan, I also make an ingredient list. I check my pantry & my refrigerator and I check off what I have to get the weekly meal plan completed. The ingredient list goes in the front of my coupon binder and then I know what I'll need and that's paired up with my "sale" list from the flyer. In a typical week, I have 75% of my ingredients on hand, and the rest is typically on sale or produce.

If I need to wait for my coupons to come in, which I prefer to do, we go grocery shopping on Sunday. Guess what, so does everyone else....guess what else, everyone else is also trying to go before Pats kick off.

We bring the coupon binder & the lists into the grocery store along with our reusable bags (with .05 coupon for each used!) and head to Stop & Shop. We always get a coffee and just take our time. We also scan and bag at Stop & Shop as we go, which helps us keep an eye on the running total and gives us the opportunity to take advantage of additional savings. For example, Stop & Shop Butter is typically .35 off when we use a scanner. If the butter is 2/$5.00, I'll typically pick up a pound, because these days you can't get a pound of butter for less that $2.15/lb. So we take our time, check out all the sales & since my coupons are organized by category pretty close in the order the aisles are at the grocery store, it makes for an easy chance to see if there's any great match ups. If fresh produce is needed for later in the week - typically one of us will stop off after work to get it so that we don't waste any produce. Also, depending on what the day/week looks like we might head out to any secondary stores which we typically stick to what is on the list, while keeping an eye out for unadvertised sales and good match ups. I also keep an eye out for stuff we use all the time that we might have to pick up from time to time when it's not on sale. For example, the store brand of dijon mustard is at three different prices at each of my local stores. It's something I use a lot in my recipes, so it's good to know that if I'm running low and haven't been able to stock up on a sale or coupon I can pick up the store brand at Shaw's - because that's where I will get the best price (.20-.30 less than the other stores) We bring the groceries home and immediately start breaking down the meat for freezing and put away the rest of the groceries. Then I try to pull together some meal prep for the week. I try to plan one crockpot meal and one make ahead meal (think casserole) for the week, so I do any prep I can for that. Eventually I make Sunday's dinner and portion out lunch for the following week and we're good to start our week of working and commuting. Hopefully some of the tips and recipes will help someone else out there, it seems an awful shame to spend time on this to only keep it for myself.

Welcome to My Blog (maybe welcome back)

I haven't done a great job in the past with keeping up with this blog, I was working a million hours a week and commuting.  I'm still working, but things seems to have evened out into a more predictable workload, so I thought...let's pick this back up.  I enjoy cooking and baking immensely.  So I'm looking forward to sharing some recipes.  I'm also pretty good at saving money at the grocery store and couponing (though I wouldn't consider myself an "extreme couponer!" So I'll be looking to share some tips there.

I live just south of Boston, MA.  I just celebrated my three year anniversary with my husband Pete.  We don't have kids at this time.  We both work and commute.  We are both big sports fans, so a lot of our meal planning is around having people over for the Pats or making sure if one or the other is at a game (Sox & Bruins) then we have a meal plan.  

Looking forward to keeping on track with this blog again as it always made me a little more accountable to stick with the meal planning, couponing & cooking.