2014 Groceries Week 39 - $141.24

Hooray!  Our internet is back up! 

After our cruise, we spent some time in California with extended family on my husband's side.  We wanted the girls (and me) to see my father-in-law while he's still feeling good. 

My mother-in-law has the kitchen basics, but we needed to plan a few GF meals.  DH went to the store the first day for milk, tortilla chips, cheese and sour cream.  This was $19.76!  Ouch!

 

I went to the store next for additional things we needed for the week. I was really excited to find GF corndogs and was only slightly disappointed in myself for being so happy.  lol.  Corn dogs are yummy and our GF lunch options for the kids are sooo boring.  I also bought better chicken thighs, creamer, lettuce, turkey lunch meat ($2.50 for the pound) and organic bananas. I spent $27.99.

 

 

 

One more quick run to the store for milk for $3.49.

While I was out of town my friend Jaymie was gracious enough to pick up 3 lugs of organic Bartlett pears for me at a bulk buy event.  They were $90.00. 

No milk delivery since we were out of town.
No eggs

Total for Week 39: $141.24
Total Groceries Year-to-Date: $3,239.21
Weekly Average: $83.06

Katie

No Internet!

Just a quick note from the library to say that this is DAY 16 of no internet at my house.  Yes 16 DAYS AGO, a construction crew mistakenly cut through some copper and fiber-optic cables that disrupted internet service for half of my city.  Service restoration has in progress on a priority basis since then so 911 was up the next day followed by schools, city offices, and banks.  Residences have been decidedly slower, including ours. 

I've been taking pictures of the happenings at our house and will post when I have internet again. 

Love, Katie

Wonder Woman Failed Me!

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I spilled coffee onto my laptop.  I should have mentioned that I didn't really spill it so much as the mug I was using broke in my hand and the contents spilled all over my keyboard. 

When I posted this photo on Facebook my sweet friend, Krista, said, "Wonder Woman let you down."  I thought that was pretty hilarious!

I was so sad to lose this awesome mug.  It was vintage and I bet I won't find another like it. 

Katie

2014 Groceries Week 38 - $3.39

Yep you read that right - just $3.39.

We were on a cruise ship all week and our food was included in the purchase price.  Our on board spending was a whopping $29.60 for 4 lattes and 6 games in the arcade.  I felt pretty proud of us when I saw my brother's total of over $1,300!  And another brother spent over $800.  Yay for DH and me!

The $3.39 was to try and reduce our eating out cost when the cruise was over.  I bought a $2.00 bag of chips and a 2 liter of soda at Walgreen's in Puerto Rico that we ate with leftover pizza - just 1 slice each - for lunch. 

I should mention that I brought along a lot of snacks for our air travel. We didn't have to buy anything to eat at the airport or on the planes.  I also packed extra GF snacks just in case, but Praise the Lord - there was 24 hour ice cream on the cruise ship so our GF kiddo was soooooo happy to have dessert every night. 

I didn't have milk delivered or buy eggs because we were gone.

Hooray for a much lower weekly average: $81.53!

Katie

2014 Groceries Week 37 - $64.22

We have been travelling and unfortunately posting our groceries didn't make the cut on the to-do list as I rushed around finishing many tasks.  Sorry about that - it's catch up time.

Did I mention I dropped a full cup of coffee on my laptop keyboard?  That was 2 weeks ago and while the data was salvaged I had to have a new hard drive installed.  I also have to get a new keyboard installed and am not currently using that computer - *sniff*  I have been using 2 other computers since then and one of them isn't here today so I am missing a photo.

I went to QFC on Monday because I saw they were having a General Mills cereal sale and I was hoping some Chex would be included.  No luck, but I picked up 5 boxes of Cheerios for just $1.50 and 4 boxes of Barbara's Puffin cereals (GF) for $2.00 each. I also got clearance organic bananas, clearance sour cream and Cheetos.  Total at QFC that visit $21.22. 

I went to QFC again on Wednesday, but this time it was for Nabisco Crackers.  I saw they had a GF option (finally!) and they were on sale.  It was a buy 5/save $5 sale so I bought 4 regular boxes and the rice option for my GF kiddo to try for $1.49 each.   I also found clearance GF pizza dough for $2.49 so I bought 2, and some dye-free candies for $2.29 each.  I plan to give these to DD#2's Classical Conversations tutor.  She likes to give out candy as a prize, but I'm hoping she'll use these.  DD#2 just does better without dyes.  Total for this visit: $17.01  See photo below.

I went to QFC later that night because I had a few minutes and it was a different location.  The photo combines both Wednesday trips.  I like to visit different Kroger stores for their clearance markdowns.  No luck this trip, but I bought more of the Rice Thins Nabisco crackers since my GF kiddo gave them the thumbs up.  I also picked up a dozen eggs to hard-boil for our trip.  Eggs are a cheap and healthy snack, but I have to buy at the store for hard-boiling.  The eggs from my friend are too fresh and don't peel well.  #firstworldproblems, right?  I spent just $9.12 on this visit to QFC.

Finally, I dashed off to Fred Meyer on Thursday to pick up the $2.00 Coffeemate that was on sale.  We were nearly out and I just wanted some in reserve for when we got home from our trip.  I really dislike coming home tired with a ton of laundry and unpacking to do . . . and then I have to run to the store because we're out of milk or creamer or something else essential.  I spent $4.00.

Our milk was $12.87 (I saved a half gallon for our return)
No eggs since I was leaving town.

Week 37 Total: $64.22
Total 2014 year -to-date: $3,094.58
Weekly Average: $83.64

Love, Katie

Applesauce

The girls and I made applesauce yesterday. 

I had about 12 pounds of organic golden delicious, 25-30 pounds of store bought clearance apples, and a grocery bag full of Gravensteins my friend gave me.  Usually a brown paper bag is 20+ pounds so I figure it was about 60 pounds of apples altogether. 

Here's our starting apples:

We only had one mishap with a jar breaking as soon as it settled into the hot water.  I took the jar out after the batch was done and fished the disc out of the water.

Altogether 34 quarts.  Yay!

Katie

2014 Week 36 Groceries - $152.78

I am spending significantly more in my weekly shopping than I did last year.  I recognize that it's because we are buying more organic and gluten-free items, but it's still hard to have to record spending over $100 so often.

We went to Costco early in the week.  DH was out of town so I had all the girls in tow.  Seriously, Costco with 4 kids is rough, but it's worse when the kids have been stomping your last nerve for days while your husband's out of town.  The good news is we survived.  The bad news is the organic tortilla chips were nowhere to be found and the gluten-free flour was only available in organic so it cost an extra $4.00.   Total spent at Costco: $86.09

Midweek I popped into Fred Meyer to order a decorated birthday cake and picked up a couple things while there.  No photo, but it was a gallon of vegetable oil, milk, and clearance GF pizza crust & frosting.  I spent $16.03

I ran to Fred Meyer yesterday to pick up a birthday cake and a few snacks for the party, and grabbed all this while I was there.  I REALLY scored on the apples.  Each $1.00 bag had 5 or 6 apples in it.  Most of the apples were Honeycrisp and Gala.  Maybe 10% were Granny Smith, Delicious varieties, and even a couple Pink Ladies.  Yes!  Not pictured: 2 little bags of goldfish and a bag of baby carrots that we ate at the party.  I spent $ 31.79.

My laptop still has a broken keyboard from a coffee spill last week so I don't have access to my many and varied delightful spreadsheets.  So I don't know my weekly average. 

I can tell you this week's total including milk delivery and 3 dozen eggs is: $152.78

Katie

Thrift Store Finds from last weekend

DH was out of town last weekend but I still dragged (drug?) my kids last weekend to a couple of thrift stores. 

My favorite is Children's Hospital Thrift Store in Bellevue.  I found lots of great stuff:

$3.50 - Hoop skirt for kids' dress up box
$6.00 - nice, long tee for me
$2.00 - long sleeved rash guard for DD#1
$2.00 - yellow Land's End cardigan for DD#1
$1.75 - white Justice long sleeve tee for DD#2
$1.75 - Ravensburger 300 piece puzzle
$2.00 - new board book for a niece's Christmas gift ($5.00 limit)
$3.85 - each pair of silver shoes in different sizes for whichever kid is coming up
$3.75 - blue 'flower' dress for DD#2
$1.50 - yellow jeans
$3.00 - Justice blue jeans


 I found these items at Jubilee Heart & Home in Bellevue:

$1.79 - Large metal bowl
$1.79 - Keen sandals
$2.39 - Dress shoes
$2.39 - Boots

I wish I could have shopped longer at Jubilee as they were having a 50% off sale on Sunday, but my kids were just spent and I didn't have the patience to make them toe the line. 

Katie