4 Under $40 September 23, 2012

If you remember from last week's post my meal plans are based on what the Ingles supermarkets have listed in their sale paper. I am an Ingles' shopper out of convenience. Other than the Walmart, a Piggly Wiggly (lacking in produce) and a discount grocery our rural community is not a shopping mecca for foodies. Thus, out of necessity, Ingles is our grocery of choice. So, here's my plan for the week of September 23, 2012. Their prices are not necessarily always lower than a store like Walmart, but if you watch the sale papers you can do pretty well sans coupons.

Monday

Chicken Pasta Salad

If you picked up extra pasta last week, you are going to do even better, but don't despair because Barilla pasta is still on sale at 4/$5. I prefer the tri-color rotini for this dish, but any pasta will do, just cook according to package directions, drain and put into large bowl. Cook your boneless, skinless chicken breast ($1.98 lb) as preferred and chop into bite sized pieces and add it to the bowl. (If you buy extra, boil it, chop it and freeze a couple of breasts and broth for next week you have the start of chicken noodle soup.) Grab a bag of Fresh Express (2/$4) baby spinach and add it to the pasta. Now you can have fun and add whatever you desire. If you like it more savory add Italian dressing (Kraft 8 oz dressings $1.97 ea), black olives and artichoke hearts. Prefer a sweeter salad? Try chopped apples ($2.98/3 lb), grapes ($2.48 lb), dried cranberries and a sweeter dressing. Depending on what you already have on-hand you are looking at a family meal for under $6.

 

Tuesday

Taco Soup

Check out yesterday's post for this easy, delicious Taco Soup recipe. If you don't keep many canned goods around tonight's meal could be the most expensive of the week. But, if you use what you have then you could come away with a meal for merely pennies. The total here is coming from purchasing everything at the store; ground beef and all canned goods. Notice on the grocery list that I just added the Luck's Chili Beans that were on sale and the LL Red Kidney Beans. Either will work and chose the one you'd rather have. I'll also just use a can of RoTel or another can of tomatoes rather than tomato sauce. Getting creative is the BEST part about soup making! Instead of chips (which are becoming outrageously expensive) think about using the tortillas that you got on sale last week or pick some up this week (still on sale) and don't miss the Old El Paso bonus. The same goes for the canned DelMonte veggies. Total if you purchase everything new this week $15.

 

Wednesday

Dinner at church!

 

Thursday

Cube Steak (Country Fried Steak)

Cube steak (country fried steak) is the biggie this week. (Recipe here.) Trust me; you are going to want to try this at least once. It is totally worth the effort, I give you my word! Cube steak ($2.98 lb) and new (red) potatoes ($1.98/5 lbs) are the heart of this meal. Even better - you could use some of the 10 lbs worth of potatoes you bought last week and do them mashed. You can go for a side salad and use the remaining lettuce (Fresh Express 2/$4) or try a new veggie. I love asparagus ($2.98 lb) and it happens to be on sale this week too. I usually give it a quick steam in a sauce pan and salt it when finished, but they're nice roasted in the oven too. Bakery French bread is BOGO ($1.88/2) or, if you prefer, Pilsbury Crescent rolls (2/$5). Meal total here is anywhere from $8 - $12.

 

Friday

Pintos and Cornbread

Pintos and cornbread is probably the cheapest, most filling dinner we eat around here. This week you can get dried beans for $1 lb (Note: the sale is on 2 lb bags). I recommend you stock-up. Does anyone need a recipe for pintos? Let me know and I'll post that as well. If you have to buy cornmeal ($2.88/5 lb) then you're per-meal price will rise above $1, but if not your entire family will eat for $1 today! (Also, if you season your beans with side meat or bacon your price will go up. There are ways to get great flavor without the pork!)

 

Conclusion

If you purchase every single ingredient listed for this week's meals, then your total is going to be nearly $70. However, you will get some pantry stockers and freezer meat for this price. I chose these meals because I have many of these items already in my pantry (some from last week's sale) that I won't have to purchase again. In fact, I'm looking at these meals costing me under $20! Figure out how exactly this works for you and let me know.

 

~Megan

 

Grocery List

MEAT	PRICE/EST	QTY	TOTAL
Boneless/Skinless Breast	$1.98/lb	2-3 lb	$5.94
Ground Beef	$3/lb	3 lb	$9.00
Cube Steak	$2.98/lb	2 lb	$5.96
PRODUCE
Gala Apples (bag)	$2.98/3 lb	3 lb	$2.98
Grapes	$1.28/lb		$2.00
Fresh Express Bag Salad	$2 ea	2	$4.00
Red Potatoes	$1.98/5 lb	5 lb	$1.98
Asparagus	$2.98/lb	1 lb	$3.00
Bakery French Bread	$1.88	1	$1.88
GROCERY
Barilla Pasta	$0.80	1 or 2	$1.60
White Lily Buttermilk Cornmeal	$2.88/5 lb	1	$2.88
Taco Seasoning	$0.80/free	1	$0.80
LL Pinto Beans	$1/lb (2lb bags)	1	$2.00
LL Cream of . . . Soup	$1.08	1 or 2	$2.16
Ranch Drsg Packet	$1.00	1	$1.00
Kraft 8oz Salad Drsg	$1.97 ea	1 or 2	$3.94
DelMonte Can Veggies	$0.80 WYB 10	10	$10.00
Luck's Beans (Chili Beans)	$0.60 ea	2	$1.20
LL Kidney Beans	$0.78	2	$1.56
LL Evaporated Milk (sm)	$0.73	1 or 2	$1.46
GRAND TOTAL	----	---	$65.34

Recipes for this Week's Meal Plan

As I am preparing my 4 Under $40 meal plan for this week I wanted to send out a head’s up. Here are a couple of recipes that you are going to need before I post the grocery list. The Taco Soup recipe came from my sweet cousin, Marcy. It’s one you can probably find most anywhere and I love to give it some variety with what I have in my pantry (and what’s on sale this week). The other is hands down the BEST Cubed Steak recipe ever. Now, this one won’t be done in 30min, but the slow cook time makes it absolutely worth the trouble. If you feed a family of meat-lovers then this recipe should be a go-to in your repertoire.

TACO SOUP

1.5 lb ground beef

1 med onion – chopped

15 oz can tomato sauce

28 oz can diced tomatoes

(2) 15 oz cans kidney beans – drained and rinsed

(2) 15 oz cans yellow corn – keep juice

1 pkg taco seasoning

1 pkg ranch dressing seasoning

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp chili powder

Brown ground beef and onions. Drain. Return to pot and add all other ingredients. Bring to a boil then simmer for 1h. (Mine usually doesn’t make it an hour once it’s warm through!)

CUBE STEAK/Country Fried Steak

Let me give props to former Carrollton Mayor, Gerald Pilgrim, for a country fried steak recipe so good it gets “Slap Yo’ Mama” status.  If you are local and don’t have one of the Recipe Bouquet cookbooks created by the Tallapoosa Garden Club in the 90’s (I think), then you must find a copy. It is a fabulous cookbook and one of the most often used at the Hatchett house. This particular recipe from Mr. Pilgrim can be found on pp. 87-88.

1.5 lbs cube steak

1 can mushroom soup

3 evaporated milk cans water

2 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp Carnation milk (evaporated milk)

3 Tbsp Crisco

Salt & pepper

*Note: I substitute most of the water for the rest of the small can of evaporated milk that I use as it is unlikely I’ll need a small can minus 1T of evaporated milk for anything else. And I also find that 3 cans of water make too much gravy to fit into the cooking dish I use.

Preheat oven to 300°F. Salt and pepper steak generously and then batter in flour. Heat Crisco to high in skillet and brown steak quickly. Place steak in an oven safe, covered dish. Put 2 Tbsp flour in grease and brown. Add soup to mixture and evaporated milk and more water (as desires). Pour gravy mixture over steak and bake at 300° for 1 hour. Decrease heat to warm (175 - 200°) and continue baking for 2 hours. This will be the most tender cube steak you will EVER eat and it also works great on cube vineson - you won't even know it's not beef!

~Megan

This week at Ingles . . .

Dinner time is a stressor for me. I find that as 4:30 rolls around around every day, I am in a panic, searching my kitchen for something "appropriate" to feed my family. If I am not prepared then I succumb to the delicacies of corn dogs and peanut butter sandwiches. In my effort to become more disciplined I am undertaking renovations of family dinner time. Now, I used to be a couponer, but since my coupon buddy went back to work full-time over a year ago, couponing has lost it's joy and become a burden for me. However, I am still a money-saving-mama and find that if I spend some quality time on Sunday night with the Ingles' sale paper I am in a great position to save money AND provide my family a much more healthy dinner than would otherwise be the case.

So, here's the Hatchett Family Meal Plan for this week:

Monday - Spaghetti 

You know how to do this. Shake it up by using pasta in a fun or different shape.
Barilla pasta = 4/$5
Classico Sauce = 2/$4
Fresh Express Salad = 2/$4
-without bread your total meal for a family of 4 or 5 is $5.25. That's barely a dollar per person!

Tuesday - Mexican Chicken 

Pop your chicken breasts in the your crock, cover them with the Rotel and cook until done. Just make sure you carefully remove the chicken when complete to make sure there are no small bones that come dislodged and remain in your chicken.
Bone-in-Breast = $0.98/lb or about $2.94 for 3 lbs.
Rotel Tomatoes = 10/$10
Zatarain's Rice (Spanish) = 10/$10
-before adding in tortillas this meal comes to $4.94!

Wednesday - 

Thank Goodness for Wednesday night meals at church. This is a blessing to Mom's everywhere. If your kiddos are not involved in a Wednesday night children's program then the mere fact that most serve dinner is reason enough to get them there!! One day I will write "An Ode to the Wednesday Night Meal." Thank you.

Thursday - Pork Chops

This one is the budget buster for the week, but in my house Thursday is usually the night I can go all-out in the kitchen. I try to do my Beloved a big favor and fix him something really nice. I'll most likely do this one in the crock as well. Dust chops with a mesquite seasoning and put into the crock. Add potatoes and onions and cook until done. Fresh veggies on the side and VOILA!
Chops = $2.98/lb or $8.94 for 3 lbs.
McCormick Seasoning Packets = 10/$10
Potatoes = 10 lbs for $2.98 is about $0.90 for this meal
Onions = $0.78 per lb and about $1.56 for this meal
Bird's Eye Steam Fresh Veggie = 5/$10
Total for this meal is $14.40. A bit more than I like to spend for the other meals during the week, but still a good sight less than what we'd get a heart-attack in a bag for elsewhere. And even though you can steam these veggies in the bag, I generally opt for a glass bowl in the microwave or a quick spin on the stove-top. Fewer creepy plastic parts sealed into my otherwise healthy veggies that way.

Friday - Football Night Manwich

My crew likes to go to the local high school football games (and pray) so I try to have something quick and easy to clean. Thankfully, my Beloved likes Manwich so this is a super easy choice for us.
Manwich = 10/$10
LL Pretzles = 10/$10
Grapes = $1.68/lb so about $3.36
Buns and ground beef were not listed in the paper this week so I'll have to price them in a bit, but thus far you're looking at $5.36. Choose a fruit other than grapes and you may be looking at less. Either way, this price still won't be near Thursday night's total.

If you go into Ingles with only this plan today, you'll spend less than $40 for 4 nights of food for your family. Not too shabby on the pocket book and you aren't slacking in the substance of meals here either. 

LUNCHES

I am looking at the Progresso 10/$10 soups and deli turkey on sale for $4.98/lb as likely lunch candidates this week along with left overs. With an extra bag of salad you can turn Tuesday's chicken into a spicy lunch salad for Wednesday. There are also good deals on cheese sticks and apples (both organic and non) to keep on hand for snack time.

OTHER
There are some GREAT 10/$10 deals at Ingles this week so also look at stocking up while there. I like to keep a stash of the McCormick seasoning packets for chili and pot roast and whatever else I see they are offering. (I love little helps that make my job easy.) My baseball players are always in need of sunflower seeds and at 10/$10 I'll be stocking up on those this week too. It's a good time to add extra spaghetti fixings to the pantry stash for a quick meal in another week or so. And I always look for the family deals in the meat department. It's often much cheaper to buy several pounds of ground beef or a big package of chicken legs (organic is on sale too and I will be buying to freeze until next week) than smaller servings. Better to divide and freeze than spend your extra money on something as unexciting as dead animals. ;o)

Have a Wonderful Week!
Megan
*Follow the Ingles link to their weekly sale page and make/print your list from there.

UPDATE: Including the $11 worth of ground beef, my meal total this week was $40.95 (including tax - even though I'm still not sure how grocery tax works). That just leaves one problem - the other $100 I spent NOT on meals for this week! How on earth did that happen?!?! LOL The story of my life.

Work While you Work . . . .

I set out this week to write about the new school year and how all our school books came in and we’re ready to begin. But, while working around the house this morning another thought struck me . . . as I reflect on the past year I am amazed by how much I’ve learned. Oh yes, my babies learned and learned and learned some more and it is awesome to watch those little sponges soak in everything this marvelous creation has to reveal to them, but truly I am amazed by what I learn as their teacher. 

Last Friday I scrubbed the house down well and we’ve managed to keep the chaos to a low roar so I didn’t think I needed to do the cleaning job I did last week. I thought, “Well, I’ll just wipe down a few things and be done.” And you know what I discovered? This little poem we learned in school last year (and that I quote to my babies probably too often) is correct about life in so many ways. 

                                Work while you work.

                                Play while you play;

                                This is the way to be happy each day.

                                All that you do, do with your might.

                                Things done by halves

                                Are never done right.

The best part is that if you just do the work, often the job is easier and takes less time. In my morning wipe down I realized that the “easy” cleaning wipes were causing me to work twice as hard as if I’d just cleaned the bathrooms the way I normally do.

The Preacher working very hard!

I suppose that, yes, I should know this life lesson. I suppose that I should have learned at least this easy one by now. But, no. I am finding that it’s only been in the last few years that I am really learning and growing and acting like the adult I’m supposed to be. Too much of my life I’ve spent playing . . . I’ve played because playing is more fun, because it’s what I wanted to do, and because I wanted to avoid work. But the truth is - work is the life, the real life in which we all want to live and find joy. We forget that it’s only when we’ve exhausted ourselves in work that true play and relaxation and refreshment can take place. Without the work all is hedonism and there is no joy in hedonism.

I am reminded that God, in his graciousness, has set work before us; to both empty and fill. There are few areas in life that bring more genuine satisfaction than a job well done. The Bible reminds us in 2 Thessalonians that if a man doesn’t work, then he shouldn’t eat, but also shows us again and again the precept that hard work is an acceptable gift to the Lord. I am thankful that my Heavenly Father has seen fit to teach me and given me a spirit of willingness to learn so I’ll not waste more years on seeking the futility that is pleasure for pleasure’s purpose. And next time I am tempted to take the easy route, I’ll remember the poem I taught my children, the one that is teaching my own spirit the importance of working well.

~Megan

Why I ate Chick-fil-A Today

The recent political and moral outcry over the Biblically sound words of Chick-fil-A president, Dan Cathey, has weighed heavily on my heart. As a Christian, I find that I am both encouraged and appalled by the responses from both ends of the spectrum. I feel that most professing Christ have missed an amazing opportunity to share the true gospel with a world absorbed completely in its own sin.

  Christians taking a stand on biblical marriage must do so on the strong foundation of scripture that demands purity and holiness in every aspect of sexual life – not just the area pertaining to same-sex acts. If you choose to stand for Biblical marriage then you are choosing to make a statement about the appointed place of divinely created sexual activity and the recognized responsibility that sexuality bears. The resounding call for recognition of biblical marriage is first and foremost a call to Christians, to those who actually claim to be followers of Christ, to flee sexual impurity and to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy  of the gospel of Christ. We cannot afford to adopt the “Que sera’ sera’” attitude that seems to be pervading the Facebook posts and blogs. We cannot say, “You’re free to sleep with whomever you want to as long as you don’t tell me I can’t say what I want.” That is utter foolishness and is certainly not what taking a Biblical stand on marriage means.

 I am saddened that many of you are angered more because your freedom of speech has been questioned rather than realizing that the true, effectual stand to be holy and righteous in ALL our actions has been woefully neglected by the church as a whole these last hundred years or more. Beloved ones, this is tragedy in its truest form. I see that many of you are willing to trade this opportunity to repent and scrub your lives clean of sexual immorality because you would rather “speak your mind” and have no one find fault with your personal actions. Why in the world are we acting as though an angry response to a Biblical stand is surprising? We should expect the world to have something unfriendly to say about righteousness. As Christians, persecution is our lot in life. Jesus himself reminded us that the world hated him and it will love us no more. (John 15:18&19 explains this explicitly.) I find that not only are we surprised by any amount of negativity (I’ll not call angry posts on Facebook persecution), but our response is little better. We want to whine and cry that our freedom to speak our minds is being squashed. Beware of believing your freedom to speak is more important than your freedom to be a slave to Christ and of not using this opportunity to become more like Him.

 

My dear family, let us not forget that it wasn’t so long ago that we were the ones practicing sexual misconduct and any number of depraved and vile acts. We were separated from God by our sin, but thanks be to God for the glorious life, death and resurrection of his son, Jesus, by which we are free from all practices that separate us from Him. Are you born homosexual? I believe it’s probable seeing that we are all born in sin and not one of us is righteous. I was probably born angry with a terrible temper. Oh yes, we all have our struggles, and most of us, if honest, will confess to having some kind of struggle with sexuality. Guess what? As children of the King we are all called to the same righteous and holy standard of purity, regardless of our sin of choice. This is glory of salvation through Jesus that, in-spite of our pasts and who we were born to be, in Him we are NEW CREATIONS and we are made Remarkably Whole.

~Megan

Not-So-Sucessful Adventures in Homemade

Thanks to my friend, Mindy, and this blog she posted to me on Facebook, I had the genius idea today to make my own lotion and shaving lotion. I have had great success with homemade washing powders (the Fels-Naptha/Borax one). I also love the vinegar/blue Dawn bathroom and counter cleaner (it makes all things shiny and sparkly and doesn't require a trip to see my favorite physician for respiratory meds.) So when Mindy recommended homemade lotion and shaving lotion - even though I am UBER picky about my lotions - I decided I'd give it a shot.

One of the things I like about making my own stuff at home is I am better able to monitor the cruddy/chemically things that find their way into the products we use regularly. I know, I know, they're not all bad, but some of them are just not great and if I can avoid them I try to do that. I knew first off that the coconut oil was the only item on the ingredient list that was organic. Thankfully I had plenty at home and didn't have to spend anything for it (very nice) and I headed out to the Wally to grab the others. I am sure you can sub other organic products in for the ones Jillee recommends, but I figured I go the cheaper route this time.

Shampoo, conditioner, vitamin E cream, baby lotion, and 2 lotion pumps (I don't keep extra ones of these around - I call that clutter) later I have spent $13.33 (not including tax). I get to my table, find my bowls and mixer and funnel and bowl-scraping-utensil-whose-name-escapes-me and mix up a batch of lotion at roughly $1.60 per 8oz and shaving lotion at roughly $.75 per about 10oz. Clean-up was easy (always a plus) and I have plenty of products left over to make another 3 batches of lotion and umpteen more batches of shaving lotion. (NOTE: These prices do NOT include the coconut oil as I already had that on hand.)

Assessment:

The lotion has already made me sneeze. It is nice and thick, but a little on the greasy side for 97 degree summer weather that one expects in July. I think it will be GREAT on heels that need some extra TLC after too many days in sandals so I'll try it before I go to bed tonight. The results of this very scientific foot test will determine whether I will make other batches.

I haven't shaved with the shaving lotion yet. It does smell nice and it hasn't made me sneeze. If The Preacher will use it then it's a go, if not . . . who knows?

The Moral of the Story:

I should have bought the bottle of conditioner ($1.46) and shaved my legs with that and spend the rest on the $10 tube of my favorite-I-use-it-all-the-time-daily Naked Bee lotion and been done with the whole ordeal. (Although it's not really her fault, I may blame this little endeavor on Mindy. She's been getting away with too much lately anyway!)

From the Mom who spent too much to save too little . . . . Megan

Why Remarkably Whole?

Obviously I am no great blogger. Rhonda is certainly the more well-written and frequent author of our team, but I have been thinking for several weeks that if I am going to do this then it's time to get on board and work this out.

I have tried blogging before and I noticed that most of what I would write came across as rather angry. I did not consider myself an angry person, but as our Heavenly Father in his infinite wisdom often does, he revealed to me some areas of significant anger in my life and some places that, together, we need to clean up and make whole.

And there it was, did you catch it? The name for our blog is REMARKABLY WHOLE! We are not remarkably whole because of anything that we have done or who we are. Sure we are pretty neat Southern gals with a penchant for health and wellness inside and out, but we are remarkably whole because of what HE has done in our lives and in our hearts. Do we have this life all figured out? Certainly not. Are our homes always clean and our meals always homemade and our laundry always done. Um, no. Do we get our quiet times done daily and always make wise choices in our speech and child rearing and diets? Not quite. But, we are on this journey that is changing the things in our lives that aren't like the One we follow.

And we are discovering that this walk is a two-way one-way street of graciousness from the Giver of all Good Things. He gives us the desire to be Remarkably Whole and also provides for us the ability to be Remarkably Whole. It's all rather amazing and it's never dull. He is gracious and true and is doing as he has promised as we give over to him everything we are.

Megan