Being prepared

This morning as I am wandering through the house doing laundry and getting the Sunday newspapers cleaned up my mind is going a hundred miles per minute thinking about what I need to do to prepare for the next couple of months. Those of you who know me, I know, are thinking, "there she goes again on food storage." For those of you who don't know me, I am normal enough. I don't think constantly about grim situations and morbid outcomes. Hear me out. Please. I can't help lately but to ponder about all of the reports I'm hearing on the news about the predictions that they have for the swine flu in the next couple of months. Have you heard the numbers? They are staggering. Half the nation will be sick and 90,000 will not outlast it. I don't know how they can know all of this, but I am not pooh-poohing the reports and thinking that it won't be a serious national crisis either. These are not the mindless rants of a housewife, I am concerned for all of you out there. So, I have been asking myself the last couple of days, "what do we need?" What would we need to have in the house that is extra in case no one would be able to get to the store for a month (or longer)? Or what if so many people are sick that the stores are not staffed well enough to be open? What if we are quarantined to our homes? What then? What kind of comfort foods does my family need or want when they are sick? Do we need medicine? What do we need?!?! The $50 Stockpile is an excellent resource for this, her blogsite is listed on my sidebar. Also Wendy Dewitt's youtube seminar, which is also listed on my sidebar as well as her blog, the everythingunderthesunblog. It goes in depth as to food storage, so if you're not ready for it, take baby steps. So far, in MY mind this is what I am going to start buying extra of, maybe one or two, when I go to the store. Keep in mind that I am in a grocery store at least every other day. If you only go once a week, step it up and buy more of anything at a time. Buy what your family likes and will eat.

Toilet paper

Feminine needs

Hygiene needs(shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, extra toothbrushes if they are free with a coup)
Diapers, pull ups and wipes, if applicable

Formula and baby food if applicable

canned soup

canned broth

canned vegs

canned fruit

canned meat if your family will eat it

Dry soup mixes, boullion or Ramen noodles or dry side dish mixes

Rice, pasta and beans are cheap

Orange juice concentrate or other juices you like to freeze

Bottled juices (and on it I'm writing, Do not drink this unless you are sick, dying or desperate! Bottle juice gets inhaled down quickly in this house. Juice could also be used to make popsicles or slushies if someone has a sore throat when they're ill)

7 Up or Sprite or Gingerale(same note written on the soda)

Pudding, jello or foods that could be soothing if someone had a sore throat

Pet food, if applicable, a month supply, which is a big bag for us (so you'll be rotating it, you're just going to be a month ahead or more at all times) Remember fish food also! Or bird food! Or food for whatever you're keeping alive in your house.

Powdered or evaporated or shelf stable milk if you don't have a freezer

Meat, frozen vegs., bread, milk, butter/margerine if you have a freezer

Cleaning supplies, bleach(one or two bottles ahead)

Dishsoap or dishwasher detergent(one or two bottles ahead)

laundry detergent(one or two bottles ahead)

Possibly flu medicine and fever reducer such as tylenol (acetomenophine(sp?)

Now some of you are thinking, "I am not going to be fanatical and do this. This is crazy thinking. Even if something does happen, the government or Red Cross or someone will be there to help." Really? To come house to house giving aid, food and support to people? Really? In a perfect world, yes. But in this world? Really? Think about it. Tons of relief workers, who have not gotten sick themselves, will be out in force throughout the nation going door to door to hand out supplies that they've gotten from.... where? Give yourself some peace of mind and buy an extra pack of toilet paper, some soup or juice and bag of rice today. If I've missed something crucial, write it on my comments below.

Scroll down to my entry on the $20 Fry's GC contest and enter today.

Announcing.....

My first contest ever. First ever. It's so exciting, don't you think? I'm excited and kind of nervous all at the same time. Here's all you have to do. Go to the comments section at the end of this post and post a comment with your name and email address. Or just your name and email address. Alright, so those of you now hyperventillating because you want that $20 gift card and I wrote, "post a comment", just relax. I am one of you and I have a live in technical advisor who can't drive yet that I have to almost daily ask, "What's my user name again?". It's not hard and if you still think that you can't do it, grab a ten or eleven or twelve year old and they will be able to help you.

There's only a couple of rules. Rule number one-You have to be 18 yrs. of age to enter. Or a mom. To be fair to everyone. Rule number two-You can only enter once. I was going to state that you had to be in the U.S. to enter but these stores are probably only in the U.S. so why would anyone out of the U.S. enter? I just don't want to have to pay postage to somewhere halfway across the world. And just for fun, if you feel like it, write down your city and state, where you are from. I'd love to see where this blog is reaching throughout the land.

Deadline for all comments/entries will be midnight, Monday, September 14, 2009. Winner will be announced Wednesday, September 16, 2009.

Prize is the coveted $20 gift card to Fry's grocery store. Oooooooooooooo----Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. If you live outside of Arizona and have never heard of Fry's and don't know what I'm talking/writing about, it's also good at other Kroger owned stores such as Kroger, Fred Meyer, Ralph's, King Sooper, Baker's, Smith's, Jay C, QFC and some other Kroger owned stores.

Okay, so post your comments and stay tuned into this blog as I have some other fabulous things in the works for the next couple of months.

Menus for what's on sale Aug. 26-Sept. 2

$68.82

Breakfast
1-Egg biscuit
2-Cold cereal
3-Cinnamon or orange rolls
4-Cold cereal
5-Cinnamon toast
6-Orange or cinnamon rolls
7-Cold cereal

Lunch
1-Green salad, apple, brownie
2-Lunch meat sandwich, celery sticks, cookie
3-Lunch meat sandwich, apple, cookie
4-Chicken salad, leftover from dinner idea #3, cookie
5-Lunch meat sandwich, orange
6-Mac & Cheese, plum
7-Mac & Cheese, 7 Up

Dinner
1-Mac & cheese, sliced tomatoes, broccoli salad, see recipe below (save some bacon crumbles for baked potatoes in dinner idea #2.)

2-Baked potato with sour cream, sliced scallions, shredded cheese and bacon crumbles, canned vegetable

3-Chicken salad, see recipe below, cantaloupe wedges, crescent rolls, brownie for dessert

4-Tacos made with ground beef, shredded cheese, some lettuce left from Lunch idea #1, shredded cheese, some tomato dices left from tomatoes used in Dinner idea #1, sour cream. If you don't have any taco seasoning mix, but you do have some little packets of taco sauce from Mexican take out in your fridge, use those to season the cooked ground beef. Or use garlic salt or garlic powder, cumin, chili powder to taste.

5-London Broil, cauliflower gratin, grilled corn on the cob. see http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sara-moulton/grilled-marinated-london-broil-recipe/index.html or http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1726,154168-232205,00.html
for London Broil recipes and http://www.recipezaar.com/Barefoot-Contessas-Cauliflower-Gratin-208626 for the Barefoot Contessa's recipe for Cauliflower Gratin. I would use regular cheese instead of Gruyere if it were me.

6-Try Chicken Squares at http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1839,146187-227194,00.html You hopefully have a can of cream of chicken soup in the pantry. If you'd rather have plain chicken, then bake and have the crescent rolls on the side. You'll have to add a canned vegetable to the grocery list or eat leftover sides.

7-Beef and Cheese Crescent Pie and mashed potatoes. See http://www.kitchentips.org/recipes/a-tasty-beef-and-cheese-crescent-pie-recipe




Polynesian Chicken Salad (Stacey C.)
2 C. cooked chicken breast, diced
1/4 C. pineapple chunks, drained
halved green grapes (red ones are the ones on sale this week)
small can of drained mandarin oranges
1/2 C. celery, diced
1/4 C. slivered almonds
4 green onions, sliced
1/2 C. low-fat vanilla yogurt (can substitute plain non-fat yogurt)
1/4 C. regular mayonnaise (can substitute fat-free mayo)

Combine chicken, pineapple, celery, almonds, and onion; set aside. Blend together yogurt and mayonnaise; stir into chicken mixture. Serve on bed of lettuce.

NOTE: I did not put almonds on the shopping list, you may want to do that. I was trying to keep costs down. Also, you may want to double this recipe since it is for a main dish. Or just double the chicken, celery, pineapple amounts.


Broccoli Salad
2-3 bunches broccoli, cut into florets
4-6 slices of bacon, fried and crumbled
1/2 C. of grated cheddar

Dressing:
1 C. Miracle Whip salad dressing
1/2 C. white or cider vinegar
4 Tablespoons sugar

Wash the broccoli and trim into florets. Make the dressing and add the other ingredients, gently toss.


Grocery List:
Albertson's
Corn, 6/$1, buy 6
Fresh Express salad, $1, buy 1
Libby's vegetables, 5/$3, buy 3, one veg needs to be green beans for the Beef and cheese crescent pie. Whether you buy a third canned veg for a side to the chicken squares is up to you.
Green onions/scallions, 2/$1, buy 1
Boneless/skinless chicken breast, $1.57 lb., buy 3 lbs. at aprox. $4.71

Bashas'
Bashas' 1/2 gallon milk, .88, buy 4 at $3.52
Food Club Mac & cheese, 3/$1, buy 3
London Broil, $1.67 lb. It will be aprox. $8-$9 for 2 pieces of London Broil, have one ground into hamburger for Tacos and Beef and cheese crescent pie, leave the other one whole for grilled London Broil
Bashas sour cream .88
7 up, .89
Land O'Frost deli shaved meat, $1.99, buy 2
Valu Time Eggs, .98
Prune Plums, .99 lb.
Canned pineapple, $1.38
Valu Time mandarin oranges, .50

Fry's
Mega buy 10 event
1-Gen Mills or quaker cereal, $1.39
2-Gen Mills or Quaker cereal, $1.39
3-Grands! biscuits, .88
4-Pillsbury cinnamon rolls, .88 (.38 if you have a coupon)
5-Pillsbury cinnamon or orange rolls, .88 (.38 if you have a coupon)
6-Pillsbury crescent rolls, .88
7-Pillsbury crescent rolls, .88
8-Pillsbury crescent rolls, .88
9-Betty Crocker Brownie mix, $1.49
10-Old El Paso Taco shells, .99

Organic red seedless grapes, .67 lb., buy 1
Navel oranges, .77 lb, buy 2 lbs. at $1.54
Kroger shredded cheese, $1.99, buy four package
Kroger Value cookies, $1.19
Celery, allowed for $1.00
Vanilla yogurt, buy 2 small containers, allowed for $1.50
Tomato sauce, allowed for .50
Apples, 3 lb. bag, $2.77
Potatoes, $2.97 for 10 lb. bag
Kroger Value bacon, $1.77 lb., buy 1
Kroger Value bread, .88, buy 2

Sprouts
Snow White Cauliflower, .99 ea
Large cantaloupe, .77 ea
Broccoli crowns, .77, buy 2 at $1.54
Hot House tomatoes, .99, buy 2 lbs.


Items not on list:
Miracle Whip
sugar
soy sauce
honey
vinegar

Other great deals:
93% lean gr. beef, $1.77/lb.-Bashas
Bashas cottage cheese, .88-Bashas
dole mushrooms, .99-Bashas
Valu Time sugar, $1.88-Bashas
Red or green cabbage, 2 lbs/$1-Albertsons
Fresh carrots, $1/2 lbs.-Albertsons
Yellow onions, 3 lbs./$1
Raspberries, .99-Sprouts
hass Avocado, .77 ea-sprouts
Carne Asada, $3.99/lb-sprouts
Reeses King size peanut butter cups or Reeses pieces theater candy, free with coupon-Fry's, see http://www.couponsense.com/ to find out how

A thought

I had a thought this morning. Let me start with a quick background to it. The past two weeks I have been approached two different times in two different grocery store parking lots by people asking for money to either buy food or to help pay the mortgage/bills. At the beginning of the summer my friend helped her daughter, who is 15 and who wanted to get together some food kits for people they might randomly see who might need it. So, my friend helped her buy the needed food and water and assemble the kits. They put a can of chili, a bottle of water, a plastic spoon, and I'm not sure what else, a granola bar or two, whatever they felt could be used, and put them in bags. Hard candy, gum, trail mix, nuts, it would all work. Now when they see someone who looks like they could use it, they hand them a bag. So my thought is that we can all help in little ways and that turns into something big. I was thinking that if everyone bought a dollar or two worth of Ramen noodles this week(Albertson's, 10/$1), or whatever is non perishable and cheap and kept them in their car, heat permitting, along with some water(when it gets cooler), then when someone asks you if you have $ for food, you have something to give them. Or make some "help" bags like my friend's daughter did. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Now you can take that statement a couple of different ways. I say that we help before desperate people resort to desperate measures. Just a thought.

Menu for what's on sale Aug. 18-Aug. 25

You can save a couple of dollars on this plan this week if you use coupons. If you want to know more, see http://www.couponsense.com/

$59.04

Breakfast

1-Cold Cereal
2-Egg biscuit
3-Cold Cereal
4-French toast
5-Eggs, sausage
6-Muffins
7-French toast

Lunch

1-Tuna sandwich, grapes, Flavor Aid
2-Bologna sandwich, apple
3-Tuna sandwich, leftover macaroni salad if any, juice box
4-Chicken salad sandwich, fruit gel bowl, celery/gr. pepper strips, Flavor Aid
5-Bologna sandwich, apple, celery, juice box
6-Ramen Noodles, scallion slices on top, Flavor Aid
7-Ramen Noodles
If you home school you can save $ this week by having lots of Ramen noodles and Mac & Cheese for lunch

Dinner

1-Mac & Cheese and hot dog slices, canned vegetable

2-Chinese Chicken coleslaw, muffins. Use half of this chicken package for this meal and half for the chicken salad sandwiches for lunch idea #4. Recipe for Cabbage Ramen Salad is below

3-Hamburgers, macaroni salad. Use a package of the mac & cheese minus the cheese sauce to make the macaroni salad, with celery dices and whatever else you like and mayonnaise. Nectarine Tart for dessert, see http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1694204 for a recipe

4-Bean/cheese burrito, green salad

5-Baked chicken, mashed potatoes, steamed fresh green beans

6-Hamburger Helper, canned vegetable, ice cream for dessert

7-Scalloped potatoes with cooked sausage crumbles, canned vegetable



Cabbage Ramen Salad

From Cooks.com



Dressing:

1/4 C. sugar

1/2 C. white wine vinegar (I use white, cider or rice vinegar)

1 C. oil

2 seasoning packets from ramen package (I never use these)



Salad:

1 med. head cabbage, sliced thin or packaged cole slaw, not sure how many packages equal a head though

4 stalks green onion, sliced

1 C. almonds, sliced

2 pkgs., Ramen noodles, chicken flavor

1 C. sesame seeds



Combine dressing ingredients; mix well and chill. Combine cabbage and green onions. Roast almonds and sesame seeds at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool. Crumble dry ramen. Sprinkle ramen, almonds and sesame seeds over cabbage mixture. Before serving, pour dressing over salad and toss to coat.



Variation: Add shredded cooked chicken or turkey. Or add thinly sliced char siu.



OK, so I do things a little differently when I make this but couldn't find my handwritten recipe and this was close. I crumble the ramen noodles and then on low to med heat in some butter or margarine slowly cook in a fry pan until they are golden. Then cool. And hide them until you are ready to use them, because the family will figure out quickly that these are yummy this way and they will disappear, much like croutons that never make it onto the salad. I never put sesame seeds or almonds in mine anymore so therefore I don't roast them and I probably wouldn't roast them if I did put them in, I would just dump them in the salad. But that's just me. Also, if you want to add nuts but don't have almonds, think peanuts, or chopped macadamias or cashews, or pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds, or pistachios, Almond Accents would be fabulous. You could even pick out the sunflower seeds and peanuts and raisins out of the trail mix if you wanted to for it(raise your hand if you've ever picked out all of the m&m's out of the trail mix when no one else was home! Hand being raised right now.) Whatever you have that you like and your little salad eaters will eat.



Here's the grocery list for the week:

Albertson's
Albertson's Mac & Cheese, 4/$1, buy 4
Chicken of the Sea chunk light tuna, 2/$1, buy two unless you like more tuna on your sandwiches
Maruchan Ramen Noodles, 10/$1, buy six
Albertson's shredded cheese, .97, buy one
Betty Crocker muffin mix, 3/$1, buy 3
Fresh picked green beans, .99 lb., buy one lb

Bashas'
Yellow Nectarines, .79 lb., buy 2 lbs. at $1.58, you actually need 3 nectarines for the recipe if you are making the nectarine almond tart.
Gala Apples, .88 lb, buy 8 apples, at aprox. $2.16
Green bell pepper, .33 ea., buy one
Bashas milk, $1.39, buy 2
Food Club vegetables, .48, buy 3
Breyer's pints ice cream, $1, buy 2
Fresh ground beef, 90% lean, $1.77 for 4# or more, pkg. aprox. $5.56, a little over 3#
Bashas fresh split chicken breasts, .77 lb. Buy two pkgs. at aprox. $2.80 per package, 4 breasts in each
Bar S meat bologna, $1.25
Bar S jumbo meat franks, $1.25
Tree top 3 pack juice boxes, .99, buy 3
Flavor Aid drink mix, .11, buy 3 at .33
Hamburger buns, $1.49 or $1.29 in the Bakery
Bashas lg. eggs, dozen .99, buy 3

Fry's
Fry's mega 10 event
1-Hamburger Helper .77
2-Betty Crocker Augratin or Scalloped potatoes, .77 (2/3 C. prepared, 5 servings
3-Betty Crocker Augratin or Scalloped potatoes, .77
4-Betty Crocker mashed potatoes, .77 (8 servings)
5-Pillsbury Grands! biscuits , .88
6-Quaker or General Mills cereals, $1.39
7-Quaker or General Mills cereals, $1.39
8-Pillsbury Pie crust, $1.99
9-Old El Paso refried beans, .49
10-Old El Paso refried beans, .49
Green onions, 2/$1, buy one bunch at .50
Dole classic iceberg salad, $1
Dole classic cole slaw, $1
Celery, $1
Farmer John pork links, $1, buy 2
Four tortillas, I allowed for $2.90
Kroger Value bread, .88, buy 4 at $3.52

Sprouts
Green, red, or black grapes, .69 lb, buy 2 lbs. at $1.38


Items I have left out:

Mayo, mustard, sugar, flour, honey, taco sauce, almonds, butter

Other great buys this week:

Extra Lean ground beef, $1.99 lb. at Sprouts
Green Giant canned vegetables, .49 on the mega 10 event at Fry's
Cross rib steak, $1.88 lb. at Fry's
Gorton's fish fillets, 2/$7 at Bashas
Iceberg lettuce, .88 ea at Bashas
Beef tenderloin, $4.99 lb., aprox. $34.73 per bag, a savings of $48.72 at Bashas. WOW.
Chicken thighs, drumsticks or quarters, .88 lb. at Safeway
Broccoli crowns, .79 lb. at Safeway
Walla Walla sweet onions, .69 lb. at Safeway
93 % lean gr. beef, $1.77 lb. at Albertsons

Menu for what's on sale Aug. 12-Aug. 18

I intended on getting this done on Wednesday. HA! With running to the stores to check out prices, taking the car in to have the A/C fixed, monitoring the house A/C which decides intermittantly to pop off lately, attending to children who have started school and now have a whacko schedule again and emotions flyin, feeling the need to can four pork loins, and a large package of hamburger, enjoying the rain yesterday morning, it just didn't get done before now.

So....when I first started creating budget menus, just mainly to see if I could do it, and posting them on CouponSense, I usually came in under $50 for a week's worth of meals. And I was inspired and touched by posts on the CouponSense message boards of women asking how to feed their family on $20 or $40 for a week or two weeks or until the next payday. I come nowhere close to those figures. Can it be done? Most probably. The Hillbilly Housewife says that you can. Well, she says that you can do it for $45/week. But you'll be eating alot of beans and lentils and hot rice with milk. If that's your thing or if that's what you need to do, http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/ . Actually, in checking out her website for this post, I noticed that she now has a $70/week menu. And note that I don't think that her prices on foods are all consistent with Arizona prices, but it's a good website. She is very "granola", you can learn a lot of self sufficient living from her and other fine blogs or websites out there.

The first budget meal menu I worked out was $36-something for that week(it was a great coupon shopping week). They have consistently gone up in price and I don't think that food prices have changed that drastically, but I do throw a cookie in for lunch now and again or a soda here and there whereas before the menus were bare bones, survival food. Oats for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, mostly vegetarian main dishes. And you can do it cheaper yourself if you use coupons, cut out a few things that might be unnecessary or veer towards the cheaper foods this week. This is just a guide or inspiration or a pat on the back that YOU CAN live within a food budget and not die from lack of creativity. I am not an expert at anything, this is just for fun. This week's menu is a little over $65....AGAIN. Feel free to pull anything frivolous out to make it cheaper.

$67.68

Here are the Menus for the week:

Breakfast
1-Breakfast Tacos (flour tortilla, scrambled eggs, cooked sausage. If you want cheese, you will have to spend .99 extra or pull something else from the grocery list and replace it with cheese as in trying to keep costs down, I didn't allow for cheese for this dish)

2-Cold Cereal, apple juice

3-Cold Cereal or Corn pancakes or waffles (use the recipe on the side of the Jiffy corn muffin mix for corn pancakes or waffles)

4-Cold Cereal

5-French Toast, bacon if any is left

6-Cold Cereal

7-Cold Cereal, apple juice

Lunch
1-Ham or turkey Sandwich, celery sticks

2-PB&J sandwich, pretzels, cookie (there are 32 cookies in the Kroger Value cookie package)

3-Ham or turkey sandwich, grapes

4-PB&J sandwich, pretzels, cookie

5-Ham or turkey sandwich, grapes (Serving size on the package of ham or turkey states one slice per serving with 14 servings per package)

6-Chicken Noodle soup

7-Tomato or Chicken Noodle soup, carrot sticks if any carrots are left

Dinner
1-Swiss steak, canned vegetable, jello, corn muffins. For a swiss steak recipe see http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Cooker-Swiss-Steak/Detail.aspx

2-So, two options here. You can either have the leftover swiss steak and corn on the cob and french bread stick, or you can freeze the leftover Swiss Steak for dinner sometime next week and make a pot of Cheddar Corn Chowder http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/cheddar-corn-chowder-recipe/index.html (Barefoot Contessa version)
You should know that I did not put potatoes or half and half on the grocery list. Or chicken stock, but....I figure if you wanted to you could buy six extra cans of Campbell's chicken noodle soup at .50/can, strain out the noodles and chunk of chicken, yes the one chunk of chicken and that would probably work? Don't you think? You may have to add water, so maybe six cans is excessive, you'll know better than I. If you don't like guessing games, then buy some chicken stock. Serve the soup with the french bread stick. This sounds like it makes a lot of soup, you may want to halve the recipe, then again, you'll know better than me. Using milk in place of half and half would be lighter. If you choose not to buy potatoes, I think that it could still be a great soup.

3-Food Club Skillet Classics, their version of Hamburger Helper, green salad, pudding for dessert. Food club Skillet Classics offers these flavors: Stroganoff, Zesty Italian Pasta, Chili Mac, Salisbury Pasta, 3 Cheese Pasta, Beef Taco. They make 5 cups and suggest one cup servings to serve five people.

4-Grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup

5-Baked chicken, Knorr side dish, steamed carrots

6-Several options here also. Spaghetti and red sauce. Or Spaghetti and Alfredo sauce, with broccoli in it. Or...if you wanted to spend $1.79 for a package of Food Club lasagne and another .99 for a package of cheese, you could make a delicious vegetable lasagne. I would cook up half of the lasagne noodles and then layer with Alfredo sauce, some steamed broccoli and sauteed onion and continue layering, then top with cheese and bake. Kind of an italian inspired mac and cheese with broccoli thrown in.. Serve with a green salad.

7-Stuffed green peppers, four halves stuffed with a Knorr rice side dish and any leftover cooked ground beef, canned vegetable.


Here's the grocery list:

Albertson's
Whole fryer, .57 lb., aprox. 3 lbs. at $1.71
If you choose not to get the grapes at Bashas, you can get them here at .77 lb.
Corn on the cob, 6/$1, buy 6
Calidad flour tortillas, 10/$10, buy one
Brown n serve sausage or Farmland sausage at 10/$10, buy one
Kraft American singles, 2/$4, buy one
Carrots, .99 for 2 lb. bag

Bashas
Boneless Round steak, $1.37 lb., package I got was $5.86 (and enough steak to feed some third world countries. You're saving over $13 on a package this size!). Aprox. 4 lbs.
Green seedless grapes, .79 lb, package I weighed was $1.64, a tinge more than 2 lbs.
Large slicing tomatoes, .88 lb., one .36
Food Club shredded cheese, .99, buy one (if you don't make the Cheddar Corn Chowder, you can use the one bag of cheese for the breakfast Tacos, if you do make the chowder then you will need at least one other bag of cheese and if you make the Vegetable Lasagne you will need another bag. Totally confused? Me too.)
Bar S Extra lean sliced turkey or ham, $2.88. Package states 14 servings at one slice per serving. Campbell's tomato or chicken noodle soup, 20/$10, buy 6 cans
Jiffy corn muffin mix, .50, buy 2
Food Club gelatin or pudding mix, 2/$1, buy one of each
Hunt's diced tomatoes, $1, buy 2 cans
Food Club strawberry preserves or grape jelly, 2/$4, buy 1
Food Club canned vegetables, 5/$3, buy 2 cans
Food Club Skillet Classics, $1.25, buy 1
Green bell pepper, .49 ea, buy 2(use four halves)
Bashas medium eggs, $1.49, buy 1
French bread stick, $1.49, buy 1

Fry's
Milk---milk, milk, shmmmmilk. .77 for a 1/2 gallon. It's going to be cheaper for you this week at a 4 limit to pick up four 1/2 gallons of Fry's milks than it is to buy 2 gallons at $1.99 ea. Buy 4 at $3.08
Super lean gr. beef, $1.77 lb. in a 2 lb. chub at $3.54 [If you have a problem with chub meat, some people do and I am one of them, ask your butcher nicely and with a smile on your face, at Bashas to grind up some round steak into hamburger for you(Bashas)]
Knorr sides, .88, buy 4 pkgs. These have 2.5 servings in them with 1/2 cup being a serving.
Kellogg's cereals, buy four, save $4, soooooooo buy four, $1.37 each, $5.48 total
Broccoli, $1 lb., the bunch I weighed came to 1-1/2 lbs. which means, $1.50
Kroger Value cookies, $1.19, buy one. I counted out 32 cookies in one pkg. They have about four kinds to choose from
Fry's apple juice, $1.25
Yellow onion, .69 lb., the onion I weighed was a 1/2 lb., so .34 (If you make the Cheddar Corn Chowder, you may want more onions than just one.)
Kroger peanut butter, .99 (18 oz.)
Kroger Value Bacon, $1.77
Kroger Value bread, .88, buy 4 at $3.52(a loaf of KV bread has 20 slices in it counting the heals. If you make four sandwiches six times and make french toast with 8 slices, you will use 56 slices of bread. So you decide whether you get the fourth loaf of bread or not. You may need to have some toast with cereal on some mornings?)
Fry's pretzels, $1.29
Ragu Alfredo sauce or red sauce, $1.50 (Kroger Value red sauce is $1.15)
Kroger Value spaghetti, .88
Iceberg lettuce, $1
Celery, $1

Other good values this week which are not on the grocery list:
Chunk light tuna, .69-Fry's
Kroger Value animal crackers, .99-Fry's
Kroger Value vanilla wafers, $1.27-Fry's
Fry's pasta, .99-Fry's
Fry's spaghetti, 10/$10-Fry's
Fry's rice, $2.49 for 2 lbs.-Fry's
Big K soda .77-Fry's
Fry's chocolate milk, .77/1/2 gal.-Fry's (NOTE: that there is a four limit on the milk, so you can't buy four regular milks and then a choc. milk in one transaction, just be aware.)
Youplait yogurt, 10/$5-Bashas
Hillshire Farms Deli Selects, $2.88-Bashas, there's bound to be a coupon for this, knocking it down to $1.88, check your coupons
Chorizo, $1, -Albertsons

Items not on the grocery list you might already have:
Mayo, coffee, flour, sugar, condiments

See how you can save more on groceries, at http://www.couponsense.com/

Oven Fried Chicken

Jean Anderson's Oven-Fried chicken
taken from "Sara Moulton Cooks at Home", pgs. 72, 73

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups fresh bread crumbs
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
2 teaspoons kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
One 3-1/2 lb. chicken, cut into 10 pieces (or all thighs, wings, or breasts if desired) {*or boneless chicken breasts or tenders}

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the butter and garlic in a small saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat until the butter has melted. Pour into a large bowl and cool to room temperature.

Mix the bread crumbs, cheese, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Dip each chicken piece, one at a time, into the melted garlic butter. Transfer to the bread crumb mixture and turn until coated on all sides.

Arrange the chicken in one flat layer on a large baking sheet. Drizzle on any of the remaining melted butter. Bake until lightly browned and just cooked through, 50-60 minutes.

*My comment

Cute, cute, cute, Vinyl white boards

You may be wanting to organize your life with school starting and need something to keep track of all of the activities that will be going on. Let's face it, your life is going to get crazier. Check out these blackboard and vinyl white board products at one of my favorite blogs, http://siodesigns.blogspot.com/

Chicken Update

Just went to Fry's and the chicken is no longer .69 for Tyson boneless skinless breasts or tenders. The price is now $1.67 per pound, which is still good.