Cause you gotta eat

July starts tomorrow... Hopefully, if you are following along with me, you have gone to Costco or Sams and stocked up for the next 3 months! My total for Costco came to $302. Although I didn't buy all the meat there (because we have deer), I did get diapers and Benadryl, which more than covered the cost of the hamburger and roasts. At any rate, you hopefully didn't spend more than $400.

Now, I like to do my small weekly shopping on Mondays. No big reason why, it just works well in my schedule. So, here is my weekly shopping list, hopefully it won't cost more then $40.

Watermelon
garlic
grapefruit (at least 5)
egg noodles (didn't find these at Costco :( )
sour cream
bacon
milk (0%, 2%, whole)
eggs
powder sugar
bread
miffin mix
yogurt

I am getting plenty of veggies from my garden, and that is saving me money!! I will do a post on gardens soon.

I remember summers in KC at my grandparents. Well, actually what I remember most is my grandpa's waffles. He made them from scratch, no waffle mix at his house. For a long time I used his buttermilk waffle recipe... That is until I wanted waffles and didn't have any buttermilk. I know you can "make" your own with milk and vinegar, but it just doesn't taste the same. So I went on a search for waffles that were just as good... And I found one!! My whole family absolutely LOVE these waffles. I still will make Grandpa's buttermilk ones, but most of the time I make these.

Best Waffles

Ingredients:
1 1/3 c flour
4 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 t sugar
2 eggs, separated
1/2 c butter, melted
1 3/4 cups milk

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients.
Separate the eggs, adding the yolks to the dry ingredients, and place the whites in a small mixing bowl. Beat whites until moderately stiff; set aside.
Add milk and melted butter to the dry ingredients and blend (you want this a little lumpy). Fold in stiff egg whites. Ladle mixture into hot waffle iron. ENJOY!

Ok. So after going though and writing down everything I need for the next three months, I then make my "Buy Ahead" shopping list. Most of these things I try to buy at Costco (you can go to Sam's Club if you prefer). Remember this is for breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinners for the next 3 months, so expect to pay for that much (it will be more than $100). These are all at least amounts, I never buy less than I need, but sometimes buy more.

16 lb ground beef (however, I have some deer so I won't be buying this time)
8 pork chops
6 8-packs hot dogs
2 whole chickens
pork shoulder
6-8 lb chuck roast (I have some deer so I won't be buying this time)
brisket
16-20 spare ribs
frozen berries
frozen veggies
4 frozen pizza
meatballs
10 frozen chicken breasts (it is a better deal to buy the package of already frozen chicken breasts, you are going to freeze them anyway)
egg noodles
American cheese
cheddar cheese
Parmesan cheese
Peanut butter
flour (I always buy this in bulk 25 lb bags)
cinnamon
can corn
apple cider vinegar
tuna
Chips
4 bottles BBQ sauce
canned diced tomatoes
tomato sauce
can soup
salsa
granola bars (2 boxes)
String Cheese
crackers
diapers

Here is the list for things I buy at King Soopers:
sour cream
cream cheese
13 muffin mixes
cereal (I find better deals at Kings then Costco)
onion soup mix
Italian dressing mix
AuJus mix
rosemary
thyme
bay leaf
5 cans spaghetti sauce
Skim milk
2% milk
bread

I should come out pretty good, seeing as I don't need to buy the ground beef or the roasts because we have some deer left from hubby's last hunting trip. I will make the post later this week, so keep a watch out!

OK, so just because I plan my meals out for 3 months and do a big shopping trip once every 3 months does not mean that I don't have to go shopping every week. I still need to buy the fresh fruits and veggies, not to mention cheese, yogurt, milk and butter. I know that these are all things that you can buy frozen, but, well I don't. I will buy a bulk bag of frozen berries for smoothies, and a bulk bag of mixed veggies that I can boil up for a quick addition to dinners, but that is about all I do.  I have heard of some people stocking up on dairy items, even milk. They store them in their freezer. But I never know how much my family will drink from one week to the next, and even though we have a chest freezer, space is valuable (seeing as I need to stock it with meat for 3 months).

The hardest thing about this weekly shopping trip is to stick to a list. I am forever going and buying things that aren't on my list (yes I am human). And those $1 items sure do add up fast. One thing that really helps me (although some call me nuts) is on these little weekly trips I take my kids. Why??? Well, it is simple, I have a list of 5-10 items, it should only take me about 10 minutes to get them, which is about that same amount of time my kids behave in the store. So, by taking my kids I am forcing myself to stick to the list and get in and out as fast as I can. For those lucky times when I am kidless, don't go to the store hungry (that is the worst thing you can do) and go when you are in a bit of a hurry so you don't dilly dally in the snack section.

So this weeks list consisted of the following, all bought at King Soopers (I prefer Kings because it usually has decent prices on the things I need, and their quality on the fruit and veggies is so much better then Wally World)...

cheddar cheese - $2.18
2% milk (for the hubs) - $2.79
Whole milk (for the boys) - $2.79
2 bricks of cream cheese - $1 each
2 lbs butter - $2.50 each
2 packs margarine - $0.97 each
tortillas - $0.99
18 eggs - $2.98
4 mangos - $0.88 each
bunch of bananas - $1.55
watermelon - $5.99

Total coming to $31.73, not too bad for a weeks worth of food (remember that I am on my last week of food from the previous quarterly plan, so that is why I get away with this. Obviously these items don't make up all the meals). It took me a little longer this time, because a certain 4 year old decided to walk off on my while I was picking out some bananas. I was still out within 15 minutes, and it only took me 5 min to make up the list, no coupons either.

I love BBQ! I grew up on KC BBQ, specifically Jack Stack and Smoke Stack. I love that stuff, I think I could eat it every day! I like the smokey, sweet KC BBQ has. I know that there are many, my husband included, that would rather have Texas BBQ, but when I cook, it is KC all the way.

For years I would try to imitate KC BBQ using the oven, crock pot, and grill. Of course nothing would work. Then last year the hubby went out and bought a Traeger Smoker. My life was changed. If you are going to get a smoker, this is the one to get. Before I got a smoker, I thought smoking would be hard and stinky. But I just fill up the pellet hopper with my favorite Traeger pellets (apple, cheery, or pecan) and smoke the meat for a day or so. It comes out so tender and delicious. My mouth is watering right now...  So there are many ways to smoke, and many recipes, here is mine, feel free to tweek it as you want.

Smoked Pork Shoulder

Ingredients:
7-15 lb pork shoulder
Grill Mates Pork Rub
1-2 bottles of your favorite BBQ sauce

Directions:
Start your smoker, and get to temp of between 180 and 225. I like to use either apple, cherry or pecan wood for smoking pork, it gives it a mild sweet smokey flavor, which is what I really like. Generously rub pork with Grill Mates rub. Make sure you really rub it in, give the poor pork a good massage. The better you rub the better it will taste. Then put it in the smoker for 10-23 hours (1.5 hours per pound). After half the time has passed completely cover the pork with foil (this will make it extremely tender) and put back in the smoker for the rest of the time.

Now you have a couple of choices. I like to pull my pork when it is done, then throw it in the crock pot for another hour or so covered in my favorite BBQ sauce. But I have also just sliced it or pulled it and skipped the crock pot. It is up to you, and how much time you have. But let me tell you this is WONDERFUL stuff.

Crock pots are AWESOME! If you don't have one get one! You spend a few minutes in the morning throwing some stuff into the pot, turn it on low, and go about your business for the day. When you finish work and it is time for dinner, you will have an amazing meal, not to mention a house that smells like you slaved all day over a hot stove.

I am not sure when or where I got this recipe. It was a long time ago, when I was in college. I would start the pot in the morning before my classes, and when I got home after spending all day on campus, I would have a perfect and delicious meal. Much better then what most of my friends were eating.

So here it is, the 3 Envelope Crock Pot Roast Beef

Ingredients:
1 3-4 lb beef roast (your choice on cut)
1 c water
1 c salsa
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 envelope Italian dressing mix
1 envelope Au Jus mix

Directions:
Whisk together water, salasa and seasoning packets. Place roast in crock pot. Pour seasoning mixture over roast. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.

I have also put in some cubed potatoes. They were delicious too!

Enjoy!

I found this recipe as while ago on Recipe Lion. I was looking for cheap, quick and easy meals using ground beef (cause I can only handle so many hamburgers and tacos). All of these ingredients are staples in the pantry and fridge, so we always have them on hand. It is a super easy dish, and all the boys actually eat it... Most of the time anyway, I do have a stubborn 4 year old, one day he loves it the next he hates it, I can't keep up. This post is done in red, to keep in time with the color coding for my meals, this meal is a beef meal, thus the red color. So here it is... Poor Man Husband Casserole...

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef 
garlic to taste (we like our garlic, but some of you may not)
1 t salt
1 t sugar (or you can use truvia if you are trying to cut back on the sugar)
2 cans (8 oz) tomato sauce  
8 oz egg noodles
8 oz sour cream
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1.5 c cheddar cheese, shredded

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350F. 
Brown and drain ground beef. Then mix with garlic, salt, sugar, and tomato sauce. Cover and let simmer for 15 minutes. 
Cook and drain egg noodles.
Mix sour cream and cream cheese together in a small bowl. 
Layer, in order twice - noodles, sour cream mixture, meat. Then sprinkle cheddar cheese on top, and bake for 20 minutes.

Enjoy, and have your kids do the dishes. Super easy and delicious dish!