OAMC - Once A Month Cooking

Someday I will remember to take a photo of my fantabulous spread, and you will all be duly impressed. (No heckling please!) Part of the belt tightening around here is that I have to cook more. While we've pretty well curtailed restaurant eating, we tend to have a problem with eating chicken nuggets, frozen pizzas, and other assorted "food" out of boxes. Not glamorous, but definitely less of a burden to me. Except it isn't very healthy. Or cheap. I mean green! No, frugal! Yes, that's the one. So. To make it easier on myself, I have got on the OAMC bandwagon. That's Once A Month Cooking for the uninitiated. I only have so much energy in me though, so usually it's more like cooking enough for 2 weeks or so. My littles are growing up, and they are eating a lot! Well, one of them anyway. It is becoming more and more food for less and less time. Le sigh. Anywho. This week the right sales came along (more on that here) so I was able to stock up on some things and make them on my cooking day. I won't burden you with the gory details (for once). Except it took most of the daytime, my feet were throbbing, and I pretty much vegged out in a couch potato funk for the rest of the evening. Here is the outline of the finished products, hold your applause till the end:


I started the session with homemade white bread. Recipe straight out of the owner's manual for my bread machine. Yum!

Indian Chicken Drums - 10 drums, yogurt, spices, all marinating together. A mild dish that even my mom will eat. Not dissing my momma, just saying one tablespoon of chili powder in the whole thing, and she thought it was 'HOT'. And it was the cheap not-good-quality chili powder to boot! These are sposed to be deep fried, but baking works just as well, plus its faster and healthier.

Sausage Is The New Hamburger - I used to make "hamburger mix" which is simply cooked burger with or without basic seasoning. This is much faster and easier than thawing out and browning the raw stuff, mainly because I pack them flat in gallon size zipper bags when done cooking. I'm being cheap frugal this week, so I packed them in quart size zip bags. Our required amount for one meal has expanded, so it was 2 Lbs. in there. They are fat, but it all fit. I cooked 9 Lbs. Yes you heard it right. 9 Lbs. Be impressed people! So I had an odd number, but this was okay since I had two 'flavors' of sausage. One had bacon in it, oooooohhh. (sarcasm - DH LOVES his bacon) Two of the bags are only 1.5 Lbs, but I think I can make it work. At least one of these packages is destined to become Stuffed Shells at some point. The rest will be good no matter what I do to it.

3 Bean Chicken Chili x2 - I don't know where I got this recipe anymore. All I know is that I made it the first time and it got gobbled up. I made it slightly more spicy this time, which may be why kids turned up noses and didn't eat much. Win some, lose some. Very good with a dollop of sour cream, sprinkle of shredded cheese, and a side of homemade bread. DH and I had full bellies, and since I made a double batch, there will be another round of chili goodness in the near future. I did have trouble containing it after cooking. It overflowed a 5 Gal ice cream bucket. So I had to find something else to put the surplus in.

Lasagna - 10 noodles, 5 brats, 1 Lb. bulk sausage, cheese, and sauce. Skip the cottage cheese or DH will not even look at it. Grr! The brats would have been enough I think, but DH didn't agree. They were leftover from the summer grilling season, pineapple in them. Excellent on the grill, I thought they were a little too sweet for this recipe. They were already thawed the hard way (in the fridge), and I couldn't find any more in the freezer (I'm sure there in there somewhere). Still, good stuff. There were even leftovers the next day, though I didn't get any of them.

And that was it for this time. So now, when dinner rolls around, I got options! I am very proud of myself. And wish I had a bigger budget to make it get farther down the calendar. Oh well. Next time!

This week in groceries

I suck at taking pics. Once again, I've got nothing to show. BUT, I got a ton done this week. Hyvee is having $1 sales this week. I have been waiting for MONTHS for some of these things to get to my price range. In another fit of blatant single mindedness I threw the receipts right in the recycle bin. But I can tell you I spent about $52 and change at 2 different Hyvee's (the closest one was out of some things already). I remember the highlights as follows:

Farmland bulk sausage $1/Lb. I decided as soon as my eyes landed on the ad that sausage is the new hamburg in our house. If I had more of a budget to work with I would totally have bought more. The $52 was stretching it already, and I put one thing back to get to that total anyway. Le sigh. Next time!
Next item. French bread $1 each. They were small. I have a bread maker (and I'm using it regularly so far). Passed that one up.
Eggs $1/doz. I have 3 dozen in my fridge so that one also got a pass.
Jumbo hot dogs $1/Lb. I gave that a pass too because they aren't very healthy and we have some in the freezer already.
Carrots (the whole kind without the leafy bits) $1/2Lbs. I snatched up 2 of these bad boys. Carrots keep almost forever and my produce bin was mighty bare.
Green onions $1/2 bunches. This pin explains it all. I only got one but I used it all up right away.
Bell peppers - green ones $1/2, colored ones ... I've forgotten but they were on sale too. More expensive though. My tip: spend a tad extra for Roasted Bell Pepper Strips in a jar. There is no waste and if you get the strips (as opposed to the ones that are cut into chunks) there is no cutting involved either. Most stores around here carry Mezzetta brand (16 oz), but Aldi has a smaller jar (12 oz) that they carry as a regular item. This is a good trade off IMO, as long as colored peppers remain high enough (you be the judge).
Spaghetti sauce $1/24oz. Hyvee actually had a better price than Aldi ($1.19/24oz). I was shocked! It doesn't happen often, particularly on pantry staples. I stocked up on these bad boys - 8 bottles. They had five or six of different flavors too. I am too used to only choosing between Aldi's 3 flavors.
Chicken parts $1/Lb - sometimes this is a good price, but mostly not. I bit on the drums anyway, and also a manager's special package of wings $6.xx/3ish Lbs.
Aspirin $1/100 count - when I got to the store it was marked at 88 cents. Bonus!
Boneless pork shoulder roast $1.77/Lb. I am hard pressed to find any kind of meat under $3/Lb - even hamburger (80% or leaner only). So this was a pretty good deal. Apparently this is the same thing as a "butt roast". Change the name for marketing I guess, it was marked on the package "Hormel Butt Roast". Anyhow, it is in the crock pot as I am writing (typing?) along with some potatoes and carrots also from this sale run.
Lasagna noodles $1.89/Lb - I haven't been keeping track. It seemed like a good deal at the time because DH requested it for supper and it was less than the name brands. A little.

There were some other good deals, and some deals on junk. (It's still junk even if it's cheap.) I don't know how it all adds up, this is just what I remember. Most of it got cooked up the next day. I'll be posting shortly about that. Until then, hasta la vista grocery budget! :D

This week in groceries

Keeping track of how much I spent, and on what. Would your grocery bill be higher? Do you buy things that are only for you? Do you end up eating healthier? What was I thinking when I bought that? You be the judge. Here is a pic of the booty.

From Aldi:
Milk (Skim) $2.70/Gal.
Iceburg Lettuce $0.89/head
Shred CoJack Cheese $2.99/12oz.
Bananas ($0.44/Lb?) $0.96
Turkey Lunchmeat $3.49/16oz.
Apple Juice $1.69/64oz.
Russet Potatoes $1.99/10Lbs.
Pineapple Chunks (Canned) $0.89/?oz.
TOTAL
$15.60

This week in groceries

Since home-ec is a subject that is close to my heart these days, I thought I would do a post about my grocery budget. I have been trying to do Once-A-Month-Cooking (OAMC). For those that haven't heard, this is a system of cooking that involves one very intensive all-day-long cooking marathon. You cook a whole month's worth of meals in one day, and don't have to cook (much) again for a whole month. While this may sound like a mountain of work, it is actually a much more efficient way to cook. You chop all your vegetables, once. There are more, but it's less time than dragging out your cutting board or food chopper every night for supper. You can cook all your meats at once, (all your hamburger or all your chicken for instance). Not only do you save energy by not having to heat up your oven or stovetop multiple times, it's also less mess to clean up, since you only use one or two pans for several meals at once. OAMC encompasses all the positive aspects of homemade cooking as well. You can tailor your menu to include or exclude anything you want. This means you can make your meals as healthy as you want or need them to be. There are many many reasons why this system can work well, if you need more convincing than my meager arguing skills can wrangle up, do a Google search for OAMC. There are many many blogs and sites dedicated to this subject. This post will just scratch the surface of one aspect: planning/shopping.

My budget for groceries has been... adversely affected recently. Let's just say J's income is variable. Since it is our only income right now, we have to be vigilant about what groceries get spent on. Yes, that is, which groceries can be afforded at the moment.  :[  So here I am posting for all the world to see: did I spend well? Did I get a deal? (Don't tell me if I didn't.) Could I have done better? Probably. I am not a mega coupon diva. I've seen TV shows where those gals go shopping and get hundreds of dollars worth of stuff for cents on the dollar. I'm told those same gals spent MONTHS planning such a trip, and that it isn't something you can do every time. Even so, I would LOVE to be learn to pull off such a trip every so often. Maybe in a later post. Meanwhile, back at the "ranch"...

So, yesterday's shopping saga: I had spent several hours pouring over grocery fliers from the Sunday paper and online. I had come up with a list of spectacular deals. J and I narrowed it down to things we could really use. Then I was off, towing along #2 and #3 (he hadn't gotten out of the house in a while due to our sub-zero wind chills, I thought it would be good for him). I didn't have a paper flyer for Fareway, since they decided not to put it in my local Sunday Gazette. So, no price-matching cause they need the ad to do that. I think. I'm pretty sure. I wasn't going to waste my time finding out the hard way anyhow. So I went to Hyvee Drugstore first, because they are only a couple blocks from our house. They had an AWESOME coupon booklet in the Gazette. Then I was going to go to a store that we call the shrine of evil (hint: you Always walk out having spent more than you planned). But, on the way there we came up to Theison's, and they also had an awesome coupon book in the Sunday paper. So we stopped in and got the awesome stuff (and free popcorn which made #3 immensely happy) and headed to Fareway to pick up the flyer I *was* going to price match. Only once we got there I just went and got the stuff. It's hard to price match stuff from their meat counter anyway. Then a quick side detour to Goodwill to check out their inventory: I'm shopping for a bread maker for my sister and a "new" dresser for my daughter. Struck out. At least it was quick. On to Aldi which is practically next door. If you don't have one of these in your neck of the woods, you should get one! They are a discount grocery, emphasis on the discount. They only carry select items, though they have a very wide selection IMO. It's all the little details that make it stand out. Maybe a separate post on that sometime. By this time everyone was in a rotten mood. We argued about who had to strap the baby in every time, baby had a meltdown just after checkout, and it was still subzero outside. But we got 'er done, by gummy. I was so grateful not to have to put away all the groceries that I didn't snap a pic of them. Oh well. Here's the official breakdown anyway.

HYVEE (Drugstore)
Eggs $1.99/1 Doz - $1.00 coupon = $0.99
Milk (Skim) $3.19/Gal - $0.42 coupon = $2.77
Ground Beef (80% Lean) $3.79/Lb. - $1.80/Lb. coupon = $1.99
Hyvee Nacho Chips $1.88/13.5oz.
V05 Shampoo $0.68/15oz. x 3 = $2.04
V05 Conditioner $0.68/15oz.
HYVEE TOTAL (w/out tax)$10.35

THEISEN'S
Ice Melt $5.79/20Lb - $1.50 = $4.29
Washing Soda $3.49/55oz. - $0.50 = $2.99
Hawkeye Magnet (J's Bday) $1.88
THEISEN'S TOTAL (w/out tax)
$9.16
* Also got a raincheck for Fels Naptha Soap and Borax (for making dry laundry detergent).

FAREWAY
Fastco Tater Tots $2.00/32oz.
Fastco Crinkle Fries $2.00/32oz.
Fastco Shred Cheese $1.50/8oz. x 2 = $3.00
Pork Steak $1.49/Lb. x 2.92Lbs. = $4.35
Cabbage $0.39/head
FAREWAY TOTAL
$11.74

ALDI
Fresh Whole Pineapple $1.99 ea.
Navel Oranges $1.99/4 Lbs.
Mac N Cheese $0.45 x 2 = $0.90
ALDI TOTAL
$4.88

GRAND TOTAL $36.13

Not too shabby. Let's see if we can make it till next week!