Holding the line, spending $50 a week for 2 people, or $200 a month

When I went to the store this month, I went over by $33!  And I was not best pleased.  When I got home I looked at the receipts and added and subtracted.  In fact, non-food items totaled about $30.  So I still spent $203 on the month's food.  But I have never done that before, separated the food from the non-food.  So it feels like cheating.  Some things that increased sharply in price were soft drinks, bathroom necessities, and dairy products.  It is also true that I bought all our meat at a local butcher shop.  Their meat was much better quality and I deemed it not excessively more expensive, but it was slightly more.  I spent $24 on 2 # bacon, 3 # ground sirloin, 1 # sweet Italian sausage and 1 # beef stew meat.  I still have chicken breasts in the freezer from two months ago.  That amounts to about 25 meals.  Some canned salmon and soup will round it out for a month.
  It is also true that last month was our midnight foray and while I kept the budget then, I elected not to buy some items that were more expensive at that store.  So you could say we were at an all time low as far as our pantry went.

Empty

 There are still some potatoes but only one sprouting onion.  On the bottom shelf are empty canning jars, which are starting to mount up since we have eaten more than half of our home canned goods.

Full

Empty

Full

Some very successful mini cupcakes on a vintage serving tray.  The icing is flavored with my vanilla bean in vodka home-made flavoring.  Very strong!

Here are my stuffed chicken breasts, using left-over dressing, butter, sage and dehydrated onion on top.  Bake for about 1 hour at 350 degrees.

And here is the finished meal, with whipped potatoes and edible pod peas, a little gravy, tea for me and soft drink for Hubby

When I got home from the store yesterday I processed all the meat.  Divided the 3 pounds of ground sirloin  ($3.00 a pound) into meal sized patties and put them up in sandwich bags.  The last 10 ounces I made into little meat loaves.  These are intended to be sliced longways providing properly sized slices for both our plates.  After they are baked the two we don't eat immediately are frozen and can be heated in the microwave for a quick supper.

These are small individual loaf pans.

Today I went with a friend to Spring Mill Park to look at Nature in the early spring.  We go several times a year.  They have a wonderful Inn with a buffet that features fabulous desserts.  I am afraid I had more than one dessert!  Here we are visiting  the Hamer  Cemetery afterward  which I had never visited before.

A veteran of the War of 1812!

A weeping willow expresses sorrow.

A child's grave

Hubby is restoring a box for an early Dremel tool.  Note the tiny clamps.

Almost done!  I am sure the sugar canister has been used to hold something down.

    
Menus for the week:
Tomato soup made with tomato paste and canned milk, a little water to thin, some dill, dehydrated onion, salt and sugar.  Roast beef sandwiches with Swiss cheese and home-made Aioli on dark rye. Tossed salad
.
Quarter pounders on whole wheat rolls, roasted potato wedges, tossed salad.

Fried Chicken strips, baked potatoes, home-canned green beans.

Beef stew, biscuits with slivers of cheese, salad.

Shepard's pie made with the left-over beef stew, flavored with a tablespoon of tomato paste and some extra frozen vegetables and surrounded with whipped potatoes, salad.

Pasta Carbonara, that is, with bacon, dried tomatoes etc, salad.

Pork fried rice, salad, bread and butter.

For desserts, I want to make a Pineapple-upside-down Cake with the fresh pineapple I bought, 4 for $5.  The rest of the pineapple will be cut up in chunks and frozen in sandwich bags for desserts of "fresh" fruit.  We like it very much, half frozen and with a dusting of sugar.  It can also be made into fruit salad as the freezing doesn't alter the texture as it does with strawberries.  I have the sponge for bagels resting on the counter in the kitchen.  I'll finish them tomorrow.  I am already thinking about the Easter dinner, which falls in this month so will be made with things I have already bought.  Here is the proposed menu:

Tingmo (steamed bread dumplings) with 2 dipping sauces
African peanut and pumpkin soup
Pork sesame noodles with shredded cabbage
Home frozen corn on the cob
Salad, my daughter-in-law is bringing
Baklava
 Mini cupcakes overbalanced with Peeps on top, a traditional Easter dessert here.

 I admit it is um, eclectic!