Saturday, January 18, 2014

Freezer/Pantry Challenge Update #3

We're at week three of this pantry challenge, and things are going smoothly.  This week I felt a lot better than I did last week.  Tired in the afternoons, but overall I had a lot more energy.  Joe and I worked on the nursery a good bit, and we were able to get a lot accomplished.  I have an update post planned for next week.  We were able to eat a lot out of the freezers and pantry, and things are starting to look more manageable.  We also ate pretty good this week...

Sunday: Today I got a jump start on my cleaning by washing the bed linens.  I also did another load of laundry.  Joe worked in his work room on some sewing he had to do.  I tried to rest most of the afternoon since I had spent the morning making the strawberry bread and pecan pie for the week.  It was a good day, and we ate good too :)
Breakfast - Leftover Sticky Buns
Lunch - Cheese Steak Egg Rolls, Baked Onion Rings
Dinner - Crock-pot Lasagne, Garlic Bread, Steamed Vegetable
Snacks -  Pecan Pie, Strawberry Bread (*New Recipe), String Cheese, Veggies and Dip, and Tortilla Chips with Salsa

Monday: Today was cleaning day.  I did a quick pick up this morning, and then got the kitchen swept and mopped before lunch.  My Dad came to visit a little while, and then we had lunch.  After lunch Joe vacuumed the house while I cleaned the bathroom.  Once the cleaning was done, I took a nice long soak in the tub before moving onto laundry.  Joe grilled up dinner, and I threw some fries in the oven.  We spent the evening relaxing watching Netflix and clipping coupons.  A very good day!
Breakfast - Leftover Stick Buns
Lunch - Tuna Salad Sandwich for Me, Leftover Cheese Steak Egg Rolls for Joe
Dinner - Bacon Cheese Burgers, Baked French Fries
Snacks -  Pecan Pie, Strawberry Bread, String Cheese, Veggies and Dip, and Tortilla Chips with Salsa

Tuesday: Today Joe and I ran errands after I had my glucose test this morning.  The things a pregnant woman has to do - oh, you're pregnant and feel like crap, why don't we have you fast, and then drink this sugary crap that hops up your glucose, and then see how you feel?  Uh, I feel bad, duh!  Anyway, after the blood test was over, and Joe fed me, we ran to Wal-mart, CVS, and Giant to pick up a few things.  I went over on my weekly budget this week, but I am still under for the month, so I'm okay with that.  It will all work out in the end.
Breakfast -Strawberry Bread for Joe, None for me since I had to go for my glucose test today - boo!
Lunch - Wendy's - I had a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger and a FREE Jr. Frosty, thanks to the key tag, Joe had a Baconator Meal, and we shared his fries and coke
Dinner - Leftover Lasagne, Garlic Bread
Snacks -  Pecan Pie, String Cheese, Veggies and Dip, and Tortilla Chips with Salsa

Wednesday: Today I got caught up on some blog posts, which is always fun work to accomplish.  I also made garlic bread for the freezer, 4 more meals worth, and got onions diced/sliced and frozen, since we were out.  Joe continued to work on a project in his work room for most of the day.  It was a quiet day, but for being 27 weeks pregnant, I felt very accomplished :)  We also ate pretty well too...
Breakfast - Strawberry Bread for Joe, Bagel for Me
Lunch - Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Chips
Dinner - Potato Soup, Homemade Foccacia Bread
Snacks -  Pecan Pie, String Cheese, Veggies and Dip, and Tortilla Chips with Salsa

Thursday: Today I did a LOT of computer work and filing, in an effort to get the desk situation a little more under control.  It helped a LOT.  The nursery is really coming together, I can't wait to post an update soon!  Joe continue to work on his projects today as well.  For dinner we went up to Gettysburg to eat a later anniversary dinner at Dobbing House; it was amazingly delicious!  We shared a meal which helped to keep our cost down, and we had some gift cards from Christmas to use.  Afterwards we stopped at the thrift store in Hanover to drop off a few things, and we perused a little while we were there.  I used some of my Christmas money to but a pair of jeans to turn into maternity pants, and two shirts, and a 'coming-home' outfit if baby Rogers is a girl.
Breakfast - Strawberry Bread for Joe, Bagel for Me
Lunch - Leftover Potato Soup and Foccacia Bread
Dinner - Dinner at Dobbin - We used a gift card and some Christmas money to pay for dinner.  We shared the scallops, with each of us having french onion soup and salad to start.  I paired my portion with a baked sweet potato, and Joe had a baked white potato with sour cream and chives - yummy!  We also indulged in a piece of double chocolate pecan pie with vanilla ice cream for dessert.  It was good, but very rich for me, and Joe said he liked my pecan pie better - smart man ;)
Snacks -  Pecan Pie, String Cheese, Veggies and Dip, and Tortilla Chips with Salsa

Friday: Today we went to Joe's grandfather's house.  We did some work for him, like handling his cell phone issue with Verizon, paying some bills, and bringing up some kindling.  We had my dad follow us down with his truck so we could bring the baby's chest of drawers back, and we could load the suburban we took down for the flea market in two weeks.  It was a full day, but it ended with dinner at Chili's which Pap treated us to, so that was okay with the tired pregnant lady :)
Breakfast - Zone Perfect bar for Joe, Bagel for Me
Lunch - Soft Pretzels from the Amish Market
Dinner - Pap treated us to Chili's again.  It was so yummy, Joe and I got a 2 for $20 deal.  He got ribs, french fries, and apples, and I got the chicken fajitas.  But we both shared with each other, so yummy!  We also definitely ate our share of chips and salsa! 
Snacks -  Pecan Pie, String Cheese, Veggies and Dip, and Tortilla Chips with Salsa

Saturday: We awoke to snow on the ground, so Joe had to go out and clear a path to get to the Dollar Store for my newspapers - such a great husband!  I spent the day working on computer work and filing from last year.  I also steam cleaned another section of the nursery so we can hopefully get the chest of drawers in place tomorrow, and I can start washing baby clothes!  Joe worked on several projects today. including finish-feeding the baby's chest of drawers.  It's a family heirloom, which is wonderful, but it needed some serious TLC.  Our meals were fairly simple today, but tasty none the less.
Breakfast - Zone Perfect Bar for Joe, Bagel for Me
Lunch - Cheese Quesadillas with Chips and Salsa
Dinner - Pregnancy craving for a Pizza Hut salad, Joe got a $10 pizza too, but at least there was a deal going on ;)
Snacks - Pecan Pie, String Cheese, Veggies and Dip, and Tortilla Chips with Salsa

How is your pantry challenge going?  
Are you using up the tid-bits and getting things back in order too?

Weekly Spending Report: 01/12-18/2013

This week I went over budget, but we are still doing okay for the month.  We were out of freezer garlic bread and snack foods, so I'm okay with the amount I spent this week.  I was able to get those things, plus a few good deals, and I continued to stock up on diapers.  There are two weeks left in the pantry challenge, and our budget, but I think we can squeak by with only having to purchase few things.  Here's what I picked up this week...
  • Sunday's Shopper's Trip: $12.37 oop
  • Tuesday's Wal-mart Trip (no picture, 2 boxes of Generic Sudafed, 1 Hand Soap Refill): Zero oop (used gift card to pay)
  • Tuesday's CVS Trip: $13.78 oop, Earned $10.79 ECB's
  • Tuesday's Giant Trip: $20.34 oop 
  • Thursday's Thrift Store Trip (I bought a coming home outfit for the baby if it's a girl, a pair of jeans for myself that I'm going to cut up for maternity pants, and two looser shirts for my growing belly, total was $20.97) : Zero oop from budget, used Christmas Money
  • Saturday's Dollar Tree Trip (just 2 newspapers): $2.12 oop
Total OOP: $48.61 - $10.79 Earned Rewards = Net OOP: $37.82
Total Remaining for January: $56.08

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