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so we gerbickians love food. both wes & i enjoy cooking & i also like to bake, meaning there's usually something fairly tasty to eat here as far as leftovers go. & we gerbickians are on a tight budget. it's not like we're headed to the poor house or anything, but with one income we can't be extravagant & thoughtless with our spending. we often scrutinize what we are buying each month to keep ourselves in check, but not in a bad way, right? just to make sure we aren't over spending.
these two things cause great distress in our home, the love of good food plus the need to stay on a budget. since food costs are rising & annual raises aren't necessarily keeping up with inflation...well, let's just say we are trying to find ways to buy less of some things. over the past year we've done well in other areas, except food! & i'm not talking about eating out, we are consistently stay within our budgeted amount for that--which i find amazing. the problem is that we're sort of food snobs; we just really enjoy eating yummy food. ya know?! what's wrong with that, right? unfortunately, friends, there is something wrong with that & it's the cost of that yummy food.
so the past month wes & i have been toying around with cutting our grocery bill, again--somehow! i'm just going to put it out there for everyone to judge, we spend about $150 a week (that is from adding all the food purchases including costco, grocery stores, toiletries from target/costco, trader joe's, farmer's markets, etc & then dividing by 52). {btw: this does include formula, folks!} we think this is a lot to spend on groceries & toiletries...but we have tried to cut this down & have discovered that it means lowering our food quality. plain & simple, it means eating more processed foods & less made-at-home or more natural food yumminess.
& i can't do it. i just can't eat fake mac n cheese from a box when i know what real mac n cheese taste like made with scrumptious emmentaler swiss & white sharp cheddar. or it means having noodles & marinara sauce at least once a week...ya know, i did that in college for 5 years, i'm not ready to return to that monotonous cycle!
now some things are cheaper to make, such as marinara sauce & even chicken broth & desserts for sure (bread pudding, come on! very cheap. strawberry shortcakes, cheap for sure) & on good weeks, we are really great about making the dinners & planning the meal out throughout the day {ie: making pizza dough at 2:30 for dinner that night, or defrosting some of our beef or chicken & marinating, or making noodles/pasta--which is wes' specialty). but we try to incorporate fresh produce into every meal & this is what skyrockets our bill (& i'm defining fresh produce as purchased at the grocer during the winter & early spring, then if we don't grow it in the summer, at a farmer's market). so where is the subsided for that? yea, we get frozen veggies & they're great & it works for some things like peas & green beans & corn...but when i taste steamed broccoli from the produce section & compare it to steamed frozen broccoli, there's a difference to me. so, really, is there a substitute? is there a way to lower our budget line?
but what would the girls eat if they didn't have that apple or bowl of berries or pear? fruit snacks? i just can't make that decision for them...i mean, i prefer fresh fruit over fruit snacks (although they do have their place in my mouth at times, don't think i have banished them or anything). & i feel it to be my duty to provide my kids with healthy options that are available to us...i don't want to force them into bad eating, basically. & now that they know what a fresh strawberry tastes like, will they even want fruit snacks? (addy says no).
i'm telling you folks, we are food snobs...& just this week wes & i have decided to embrace that. i don't mean go overboard & insist that our girls have organic everything & never let a pre-packaged food choice pass their lips! i just mean embracing that we enjoy a nice dinner that we took the time to prepare. good food takes time & it is the one thing that i place above cleaning, exercising, & sometimes socializing...if we are on a time crunch & it's the choice between making a dessert for a special dinner or just someone i think needs it (or dinner for my family), i will nearly always choose to cook or bake.
i'm not sure if wes & i get this from our own parents & families or whether this is something that we both happen to enjoy. really, both of our families have excellent cooks throughout...we both grew up eating canned food from the backyard garden (i guess me more than wes, but he has experienced it whereas some folks our age haven't) & then having dinner with our family each night (well, for my family, if it was basketball season, this wasn't so much the case, lol). i dunno, we are foodies, as one of our friends put it...& i think i am done trying to make excuses to myself & just accept that we will have very high grocery bills, meaning i might not get to take that trip to europe or venezuela or hawaii--or anywhere out of ohio--as soon as i wanted to, but it does mean that we spend time together as a family preparing & eating & even shopping for the food, which makes things very exciting (i do NOT recommend taking two kids 2 years & under to a grocery store with you. do not).
as usual, i'm not sure if this all makes sense to everyone else reading it. but its my blog & i'll ramble when i see fit, *smile*
so, you many wonder, what's on the menu for the gerbickians this week? well, today for lunch we had grilled chicken with lemon-pepper seasoning, sided with gorgonzola-spinach (trader joe's frozen) gnocchi & peas (b/c our girls love peas...i force them down my throat my hiding them in the gnocchi. i gag at peas usually, but i have to eat them if i expect my kids to, eh?). then tonight for dinner it was grilled italian sausages with (home canned) heirloom tomatoes, a green pepper & a vadalia onion & also sweet corn (& stone ground mustard on the side, yumminy yumminy). tomorrow is a 'breakfast-for-dinner night' & we are having a sausage-egg-potato skillet scramble that also includes onion & garlic & a wee bit of gravy-cheese mix (the gravy being made by yours truly & the cheese being probably a sharp white cheddar that is amazing & even more amazingly cheap from trader joe's). i also plan on making strawberry shortcakes & if i get around to it, i'll post this recipe i have that will make you--if you like bread--eat the shortcakes even without strawberries or cream. i am very guilty of this. then tuesday night is wes' night to shine by making a cheese & mushroom ravioli & marinara sauce from scratch (i love this man). wednesday is an easy night: frozen (trader joe's ...i love this store!) honey glazed asian chicken stir fry w/ jasmine rice. thursday has the cheeseburgers on tap (when made with this beef we have, it is a sublime burger, i tell ya) & if we get crazy, some home made french fries. if we don't get crazy, purchased & frozen fries & steamed broccoli (smothered in cheese if you are addy & okay, me too). friday is usually pizza night, but since wes & i will be gone (christine's bachelorette party! yea!!!!!! & wes is a designated driver for the ladies), so my mother in law will be here with the girlies for the evening, so we are putting a roast in the crock pot & then sweet potatoes in the oven for them to enjoy. saturday will be goat cheese, caramelized onion, & roasted red pepper pizzas on the grill (pizzas rock on the grill, folks). sunday dinner will be sirloin steaks & baked potatoes with fresh garden chives & broccoli. i just think we like food, lol.
what do you think? really, is this a normal menu for a week? or are we really over the top? i mean, we don't know, we've only cooked together. do other people have pbj's 3 times a week? as you can gather, there is a reason we spend $150 a week. i just can't eat pbj's that often.
on a sidenote: the ENTIRE time i've been typing this i have listened to an ice cream truck's music in our neighborhood. come one, dude, it's almost 9:30pm. give it a rest! do you know how annoying that music is after, oh 1 minute? ggggaaaahhhhhh! (yea, just shut the window, heidi, doi!)
these two things cause great distress in our home, the love of good food plus the need to stay on a budget. since food costs are rising & annual raises aren't necessarily keeping up with inflation...well, let's just say we are trying to find ways to buy less of some things. over the past year we've done well in other areas, except food! & i'm not talking about eating out, we are consistently stay within our budgeted amount for that--which i find amazing. the problem is that we're sort of food snobs; we just really enjoy eating yummy food. ya know?! what's wrong with that, right? unfortunately, friends, there is something wrong with that & it's the cost of that yummy food.
so the past month wes & i have been toying around with cutting our grocery bill, again--somehow! i'm just going to put it out there for everyone to judge, we spend about $150 a week (that is from adding all the food purchases including costco, grocery stores, toiletries from target/costco, trader joe's, farmer's markets, etc & then dividing by 52). {btw: this does include formula, folks!} we think this is a lot to spend on groceries & toiletries...but we have tried to cut this down & have discovered that it means lowering our food quality. plain & simple, it means eating more processed foods & less made-at-home or more natural food yumminess.
& i can't do it. i just can't eat fake mac n cheese from a box when i know what real mac n cheese taste like made with scrumptious emmentaler swiss & white sharp cheddar. or it means having noodles & marinara sauce at least once a week...ya know, i did that in college for 5 years, i'm not ready to return to that monotonous cycle!
now some things are cheaper to make, such as marinara sauce & even chicken broth & desserts for sure (bread pudding, come on! very cheap. strawberry shortcakes, cheap for sure) & on good weeks, we are really great about making the dinners & planning the meal out throughout the day {ie: making pizza dough at 2:30 for dinner that night, or defrosting some of our beef or chicken & marinating, or making noodles/pasta--which is wes' specialty). but we try to incorporate fresh produce into every meal & this is what skyrockets our bill (& i'm defining fresh produce as purchased at the grocer during the winter & early spring, then if we don't grow it in the summer, at a farmer's market). so where is the subsided for that? yea, we get frozen veggies & they're great & it works for some things like peas & green beans & corn...but when i taste steamed broccoli from the produce section & compare it to steamed frozen broccoli, there's a difference to me. so, really, is there a substitute? is there a way to lower our budget line?
but what would the girls eat if they didn't have that apple or bowl of berries or pear? fruit snacks? i just can't make that decision for them...i mean, i prefer fresh fruit over fruit snacks (although they do have their place in my mouth at times, don't think i have banished them or anything). & i feel it to be my duty to provide my kids with healthy options that are available to us...i don't want to force them into bad eating, basically. & now that they know what a fresh strawberry tastes like, will they even want fruit snacks? (addy says no).
i'm telling you folks, we are food snobs...& just this week wes & i have decided to embrace that. i don't mean go overboard & insist that our girls have organic everything & never let a pre-packaged food choice pass their lips! i just mean embracing that we enjoy a nice dinner that we took the time to prepare. good food takes time & it is the one thing that i place above cleaning, exercising, & sometimes socializing...if we are on a time crunch & it's the choice between making a dessert for a special dinner or just someone i think needs it (or dinner for my family), i will nearly always choose to cook or bake.
i'm not sure if wes & i get this from our own parents & families or whether this is something that we both happen to enjoy. really, both of our families have excellent cooks throughout...we both grew up eating canned food from the backyard garden (i guess me more than wes, but he has experienced it whereas some folks our age haven't) & then having dinner with our family each night (well, for my family, if it was basketball season, this wasn't so much the case, lol). i dunno, we are foodies, as one of our friends put it...& i think i am done trying to make excuses to myself & just accept that we will have very high grocery bills, meaning i might not get to take that trip to europe or venezuela or hawaii--or anywhere out of ohio--as soon as i wanted to, but it does mean that we spend time together as a family preparing & eating & even shopping for the food, which makes things very exciting (i do NOT recommend taking two kids 2 years & under to a grocery store with you. do not).
as usual, i'm not sure if this all makes sense to everyone else reading it. but its my blog & i'll ramble when i see fit, *smile*
so, you many wonder, what's on the menu for the gerbickians this week? well, today for lunch we had grilled chicken with lemon-pepper seasoning, sided with gorgonzola-spinach (trader joe's frozen) gnocchi & peas (b/c our girls love peas...i force them down my throat my hiding them in the gnocchi. i gag at peas usually, but i have to eat them if i expect my kids to, eh?). then tonight for dinner it was grilled italian sausages with (home canned) heirloom tomatoes, a green pepper & a vadalia onion & also sweet corn (& stone ground mustard on the side, yumminy yumminy). tomorrow is a 'breakfast-for-dinner night' & we are having a sausage-egg-potato skillet scramble that also includes onion & garlic & a wee bit of gravy-cheese mix (the gravy being made by yours truly & the cheese being probably a sharp white cheddar that is amazing & even more amazingly cheap from trader joe's). i also plan on making strawberry shortcakes & if i get around to it, i'll post this recipe i have that will make you--if you like bread--eat the shortcakes even without strawberries or cream. i am very guilty of this. then tuesday night is wes' night to shine by making a cheese & mushroom ravioli & marinara sauce from scratch (i love this man). wednesday is an easy night: frozen (trader joe's ...i love this store!) honey glazed asian chicken stir fry w/ jasmine rice. thursday has the cheeseburgers on tap (when made with this beef we have, it is a sublime burger, i tell ya) & if we get crazy, some home made french fries. if we don't get crazy, purchased & frozen fries & steamed broccoli (smothered in cheese if you are addy & okay, me too). friday is usually pizza night, but since wes & i will be gone (christine's bachelorette party! yea!!!!!! & wes is a designated driver for the ladies), so my mother in law will be here with the girlies for the evening, so we are putting a roast in the crock pot & then sweet potatoes in the oven for them to enjoy. saturday will be goat cheese, caramelized onion, & roasted red pepper pizzas on the grill (pizzas rock on the grill, folks). sunday dinner will be sirloin steaks & baked potatoes with fresh garden chives & broccoli. i just think we like food, lol.
what do you think? really, is this a normal menu for a week? or are we really over the top? i mean, we don't know, we've only cooked together. do other people have pbj's 3 times a week? as you can gather, there is a reason we spend $150 a week. i just can't eat pbj's that often.
on a sidenote: the ENTIRE time i've been typing this i have listened to an ice cream truck's music in our neighborhood. come one, dude, it's almost 9:30pm. give it a rest! do you know how annoying that music is after, oh 1 minute? ggggaaaahhhhhh! (yea, just shut the window, heidi, doi!)
3 comments:
yes, over the top for sure. but, hey - anytime you want me to come over and take care of some leftovers... or even a cooking lesson - I'M THERE! :-) food snobs... that may be taking it a bit far... but you'll always be Sally to me, Heidi. xo
hmmm. The menu sounds good, good, good. You are very fortunate Addy and Amelia have great taste "bugs" as Owen would say. I have started a menu in hopes to stay within our budget. FYI, we spend about 130.00per week on groceries. That is with 35$ savings in coupons per week. We have a seperate funding for Formula and Diapers. I think you are about on target girl. We all would love to spend less, but there is a price to that ya know. It is hard to cut the bill! Besides, kidos to you guys not eating out 4 times per week and THEN spending $150 in groceries and making healthy eating a priority for your family. To me, that is a good trade for spending a bit more in it self.
You are probably spending less on feeding four people than we do on feeding two....... SADLY!! By the time it is all said and done, we are spending an average of that per week, and I cannot blame that all on your dad's LOVE affair with Buehlers -- I am guilty also. Plus, eating healthy = higher cost.
If you were to talk to someone in agriculture, you would be told we actually don't even pay honest amounts for our food to begin with, which may be a future factor.....
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