Meal Plan Options: October Week 4 Review and November Week 1

Tuesday Brunch: Omelet, Fried Diced Potatoes, Bacon

These were my meal plan options for the last week in October:

Brunches:  Scrambled eggs and toast or fried potatoes; Waffles, Hot pockets; Boiled mung beans, milkrice (on Sunday, November 1st); Fried rice; leftovers

Dinners:  Chicken curry with vegetable rice (rice cooked with mixed vegetables and chicken bouillon); Tortillas and chicken curry; Breakfast for Dinner (scrambled eggs, bacon, fried potatoes or toast); Chicken and vegetable soup; leftovers

Snacks/Desserts: Fresh fruit; Yogurt; Ice cream; Chips, crackers, popcorn, cookies, etc.

Here's how that worked out:

Monday:

Brunch: Leftover Chinese food

Dinner: Vegetable Rice and Chicken Curry

Snacks/Dessert:  Popcorn, dates

Tuesday:

Brunch:  Omelet, fried diced potatoes, bacon, calamondin-ade 

Dinner: Hot pockets baked in the air fryer

Snacks/Dessert: Graham crackers, dates

Wednesday Brunch:Tortilla with Eggs and Lunu Miris

Wednesday:

Brunch: Tortillas coated with with beaten eggs and lunu miris stirred into the eggs; calamondin-ade

Dinner: Leftovers: Rice, chicken curry, breadfruit curry, stir-fried kale, peach chutney

Snacks/Dessert:  Strawberries with chocolate hazelnut spread; dates

Wednesday Dinner: Leftover Rice and Curries

Thursday Dinner: Rice, Hot Dogs, Cucumber Salad

Thursday:

Brunch: Leftover Chinese food (me); I think daughter skipped brunch as she was having back to back meetings all day

Dinner: Rice, hot dogs, cucumber salad

Snacks/Dessert: Apple slices sauteed with butter, sugar, and ground cinnamon

Sauteed Apple Slices

Friday:

Brunch: Cold cuts sandwich (me), leftover Chinese food and cucumber salad (daughter)

Dinner: "Breakfast for Dinner": Scrambled eggs, toast, bacon

Snacks/Dessert:  Hot cheetos (daughter), chocolate covered dried cherries

Saturday Brunch: Waffles and Seeni Sambol

Saturday:

Brunch: Waffles with seeni sambol and/or bacon and syrup

Dinner: Fried rice

Snacks/Dessert:  Popcorn, chocolate covered cherries

Saturday Dinner: Fried Rice

Sunday: November 1

Brunch: Milkrice with seeni sambol and jaggery

Dinner: Rice, teriyaki chicken, and sauteed broccoli (me); Rice, chicken curry, and broccoli (daughter)

Snacks/Dessert: Chocolate covered cherries, dates, cereal

Sunday Dinner: Rice, Teriyaki Chicken, Broccoli

I didn't quite stay on plan, but, it worked out well enough.  

Moving on to November, I cooked a tray of chicken drumsticks, last night, in two different ways; half was sauteed with onions and teriyaki sauce, ginger, garlic, etc., and the other half was made into a chicken curry.  I'm calling it my weekly meal prep!  A good number of our dinners this week will be based on these chicken dishes with the addition of rice and vegetables.  

Here are the meal plan options for the 1st week of November:

Brunches:  Scrambled eggs and toast or fried potatoes; Bagels; Sandwiches (cold cuts and/or egg salad); Pancakes or French toast (or both!); Leftovers

Dinners:  Rice, chicken curry, and vegetables; Rice, teriyaki chicken, and vegetables; Tortillas and chicken curry; Breakfast for Dinner (scrambled eggs, bacon or sausage, fried potatoes or toast);  Fried rice; Hot pockets; leftovers

Snacks/Desserts: Fresh fruit/fruit salad; Yogurt/cottage cheese; Pumpkin cinnamon rolls (compliments of daughter's friend A)

I am hoping to keep to my meal plan options, this week.  

As always, I am grateful for:

- Having the option of planning what to eat
- Having access to a variety of food
- Fresh eggs from our two hens
- Fresh produce from our garden
- Generous friends who share what they bake with us

How about you?  Will you be making a meal plan this week?

Starting November

 

Selfie with Chickens!

November started with a time change, with daylight savings time ending and the sun setting at 5:00 p.m,

As usual, I made milkrice in the morning and we had it with seeni sambol and jaggery.  

We didn't have any trick or treaters on Halloween.  In any case, I had stopped handing out candy several years ago.  I took down all the Halloween decorations this morning and put them back in the bin in the garage.  Then, I dusted and polished the furniture in the living room and dining room.  I really need to get back to my weekly cleaning routines so I can keep the house maintained between now and the almsgiving.  

I had more bottled water delivered this afternoon.  While I had the minimum of one gallon a day per person for 10 days, per the County's recommendations, I wasn't sure if that would be enough.  What happens on Day 11?  Will all services be restored by then?  So, I went ahead and ordered a few more bottles of water.  One grocery store was limiting bottled water to 3 gallons to a customer.  But, the store I usually order from didn't put any limits.  I'm considering it as emergency preparedness and it is not coming from my grocery budget.  

I did some meal prep in the evening and cooked a tray of chicken drumsticks in two different ways.  I sauteed half of the chicken with onions and teriyaki sauce and made a curry with the other half.  This week's meal plan will have chicken made two ways in addition to whatever else I decide to make.

After dinner, I did the dishes, wiped down the stove and the counter tops and wiped the inside of the microwave.

On the first day of November, I was grateful for:

- The rain we received the night before; I didn't have to water the garden
- The start of a new month
- The delivery of more bottled water
- Fresh eggs from the chickens
- Spending time in the garden with the chickens and my daughter

Today's joyful activities included making milkrice on the first of the month and spending time in the garden.

Plans for Monday include:

- Going to the pharmacy to pick up another refill that is ready
- Vacuuming the living room and dining area
- Taking the trash cans to the curb

How was your day?  What are your plans for Monday?

October Monthly Photo Challenge: Stationery

 Eileen at A Bracelet of Days hosts the monthly photo challenge and the theme for October was "Stationery".  

Here are my photos for this month:

A Display of Greeting Cards at the Store

Notebooks and Folders

Journals and Planners

Pens, Markers, Index Cards, Sticky Notes, etc.

Halloween Cards

Thanksgiving Cards

Even More Thanksgiving Cards

Christmas Cards

Some Notepaper and Cards 
(Purchased at a neighbor's yard sale)

Homemade Pressed Flower Notepaper

The pressed flowers are buttercups and violets I picked when I was at university in Wisconsin, back in the 1970s!  I used one of them to make a birthday card for my sister, earlier this year.

Thank you for hosting the monthly photo challenge, Eileen.  I had fun joining in.  

October Grocery Shopping - Part 6

October Groceries - Part 5

I ordered groceries yesterday evening and had them delivered this morning.  This is the sixth (and final) grocery shop for the month of October!

I needed half and half for our coffee (I've started drinking the occasional cup of coffee, myself, recently, after going off of coffee for years) and daughter wanted a container of cottage cheese.

In addition, there were a few things, such as Miracle Whip, that I've been wanting to get for some time and had been waiting until they went on sale to buy (my current jar is nearing the end).  Well, Miracle Whip was on a "buy 3 or more participating items and get $2 off each" sale.  So, I bought a jar of it, a bottle of ketchup and a box of cereal qualify for the deal.  I also chose to get a bottle of apple juice, too, as a fourth item, just in case they were out of one of the other three items and I get charged the full price for the remaining two (which has happened before).  The cost of the apple juice was less than paying full price for two of the sale items.  As things turned out, however, everything I ordered was in stock and delivered.

Other than the half and half and the cottage cheese, everything I bought was on sale or had coupons that I used.  I also redeemed $8 in store loyalty card points accumulated during previous grocery purchases.  

Here's the receipt:

Order Summary

Original Item Total$73.89

Item Coupons/Sales-$23.95

Order Coupons-$8.00

Fulfillment Fee+$0.00

Other Fees+$0.40

Sales Tax$0.00

Order Total$42.34

---

Item Details

12 Items

BOOST Original Ready to Drink Chocolate Protein Shake Multipack, 12 pk / 8 fl oz

$19.99

1 x $19.99 $22.99 each

Item Coupon/Sale: -$3.00

CA Redem Val

$0.10

1 x $0.10 each

General Mills® Honey Nut Cheerios™ Cereal, 10.8 oz

$1.79

1 x $1.79 $4.49 each

Item Coupon/Sale: -$0.70

Item Coupon/Sale: -$2.00

Heinz Tomato Ketchup, 32 oz

$3.99

1 x $3.99 $6.29 each

Item Coupon/Sale: -$0.30

Item Coupon/Sale: -$2.00

Kroger® 4% Milkfat Small Curd Cottage Cheese, 16 oz

$2.59

1 x $2.59 each

Kroger® Half and Half Half Gallon, 1/2 gal

$5.49

1 x $5.49 each

Kroger® Onion Bagels, 6 ct / 18 oz

$1.54

1 x $1.54 $2.79 each

Item Coupon/Sale: -$0.80

Item Coupon/Sale: -$0.45

Miracle Whip Mayo-Like Dressing, 30 fo

$3.99

1 x $3.99 $6.79 each

Item Coupon/Sale: -$0.80

Item Coupon/Sale: -$2.00

Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels Chocolate Chips, 12 oz

$3.49

1 x $3.49 $6.29 each

Item Coupon/Sale: -$1.80

Item Coupon/Sale: -$1.00

Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Oven Roasted Turkey Breast & Smoked Uncured Ham Thin Sliced Lunchmeat, 9 oz

$2.99

1 x $2.99 $5.79 each

Item Coupon/Sale: -$1.80

Item Coupon/Sale: -$1.00

PLANTERS Whole Dry Roasted Lightly Salted Peanuts, net wt 16 oz (453g)

$1.99

1 x $1.99 $5.29 each

Item Coupon/Sale: -$1.80

Item Coupon/Sale: -$1.50

Tree Top® 100% Apple Juice, 64 fl oz

$1.99

1 x $1.99 $4.99 each

Item Coupon/Sale: -$1.00

Item Coupon/Sale: -$2.00

---

Order Coupons

-$8.00

Store Coupon-$1.00

Store Coupon-$7.00

---

Other Fees

$0.40

Bag Fee$0.40

4 x $0.10 each

My total came to $42.34

My October grocery budget = $250.

Spent to date:  $43.94 + $68.71+ $19.31 + $29.78 + $42.89 + $42.34 = $246.97

Balance left/carried over to November: $3.03

Yay!  I stayed under budget this month!  I am very happy about that!

As always, I am grateful for:

- Being able to order the groceries online
- Being able to have them delivered
- The availability of groceries
- Coupons and sales
- Keeping to my budget

My November grocery budget will be $250 (plus $3 carried over from October!) 

How did you do with your October grocery spending?  I know that not everyone has a set budget, but, even so, were you happy with the amount you spent?  Or, do you feel that you spent too much?  

On Thursday

 

More Halloween Decorations

The mantelpiece is decorated for Halloween.  Almost all the items have a memory associated with them.  I made the wreath featuring the witch my mother had bought for my daughter when my daughter was little; my mother also bought the scarecrow that is standing in the jack-o-lantern mug my sister gave my daughter.  Daughter's collection of Hamtaro and friends all dressed in their Halloween costumes were bought when a fast food hamburger chain was giving them out as toys in their children's meal deals one year, when daughter was in middle school; she and neighbor S's daughters were really into Hamtaro and we'd buy the hamburgers specifically to get the toys.  Daughter made the two felt Pikachu jack-o-lanterns and the little windchime was a gift from my mother.  Daughter stores the Hamtaro toys in a special case in her room, but, the rest of the decorations are stored in a bin in the garage.  

Today, I went to the pharmacy in the morning to pick up the two medication refills that were ready and I also got my flu vaccination.  

Afterwards, I went to the dollar store that is next to the pharmacy to buy a few household items I wanted - a large 2027 calendar/monthly planner to put on the fridge door and paper plates, paper cups (two sizes), and a packet of paper napkins.  I don't normally use paper plates, etc., however, I like to have them as part of my emergency preparedness.  If there is a major earthquake and our water mains break and we don't have water on tap, I am not going to use my precious bottled drinking water to wash plates and cups! I spent $11.68 at the dollar store as everything I bought was more than one dollar each!   

Later in the evening, I ordered more groceries to be delivered, tomorrow.  When I tried to order the groceries yesterday (Wednesday), the store was out of the store brand half and half that we needed, but, they had bread.  Today, the store had the half and half (and I'm very thankful for that), but, they were out of store brand bread!  Oh, well; I still have some bread in the fridge and I ordered bagels, instead (for brunches).  

Today, I am grateful for:

- The availability of vaccines
- The availability of medications
- Health insurance to cover the costs
- Safe drives to the stores and back
- Being able to order groceries online

Today's joyful activities included spending time in the garden watching the hens enjoy themselves.

Plans for tomorrow (Friday) include having the groceries delivered, taking daughter to get her vaccinations, and tending to the garden with M in the evening.

How was your Thursday?  What are your plans for Friday?    

Mid-Week on Wednesday

 

Halloween Decor

I decorated for Halloween on Sunday.  On the dining table, I set out a table runner I had sewn many years ago, the plastic jack-o-lantern trick-or-treat container I bought for my daughter's 1st Halloween, and the plastic bucket I bought when she was 5 and we were on our way to her piano teacher's house to trick-or-treat and realized that we had forgotten to bring her jack-o-lantern bucket!  I suppose I could declutter the bucket...

On Monday, I went to the pharmacy and got my Covid vaccination.  I declined to get the flu vaccine at the same time because I prefer to get my vaccines one at a time.

Afterwards, I went to the bank.  I prefer to go to the teller for my bank transactions; there's almost always a line because they seem to have only one teller these days, but, I don't mind standing in line for my turn.  Usually, one of the bank employees will come around and ask the people standing in line what they are there for and offer to help them use the ATM if needed.  For some reason, they seem to assume that I am Spanish speaking and address me in Spanish.  Monday was no different.  As usual, I answered that I didn't speak Spanish and they repeated the question in English.  I used to be quite amused by these incidents (it happens when I am shopping in a store, too), but, these days, I am starting to feel less amused and more concerned.  Why are people assuming that I am Hispanic and don't speak English?  Based on what?  My appearance? Am I being racially profiled?   

On Monday evening, friend R stopped by to pick up her packages.  Her visit had been postponed several times due to the weather and our schedules, etc.  She declined the cup of tea I offered and didn't want to eat anything, either, but, I gave her some blueberry muffins that I had made, earlier, to take home with her.  

Later in the evening, I took the trash cans to the curb to be collected on Tuesday morning and filled out my ballot for the midterm elections.

On Tuesday, daughter and I dropped off our ballots in the ballot box at the library, after she got off from work.

Damaged Sari

I spent most of the day on Tuesday mending one of my saris, which seems to have developed a series of holes on the part that falls over the shoulder, where it has been embroidered:

Holes in the Sari

Some of the holes are small, but, others are larger.  I am darning them with embroidery thread that I already had on hand that is very close in color:

Mended Holes

Some of the embroidery is also coming undone, as can be seen in the photo above, but, I am not going to mend that.  I will know, next time, not to buy machine embroidered saris (as opposed to those with woven designs)!

Today, Wednesday, M was here to tend to the garden in the early afternoon.  He watered the garden and started to prune some of the overgrown shrubs along the back garden wall.  There's a lot of clearing up to be done.

Midweek, on this last Wednesday of October, I am grateful for:

- The availability of vaccines for those of us who want them
- Health insurance to pay for vaccines
- Weekly trash pick up

- M's help with the garden
- A visit from friend R

Today, I received a notification from the pharmacy that two of my medication refills were ready for pick up.  So, my plans for Thursday include going back to the pharmacy to pick up the medications.

How is your week coming along?  What are your plans for the rest of this week?

October Week 3 Meal Plan Options Review and Week 4 Options

Raisin Bun from the Japanese Bakery

These were the options for the third week of October:

Brunches:  Blueberry pancakes with sausages and syrup; Scrambled eggs and toast or fried potatoes, Egg salad or tuna salad sandwiches, Tortillas with eggs and lunu miris;  leftovers

Dinners:  Smoked sausage and kale stir fry with rice; Chicken curry with rice and cucumber salad; Tortillas and chicken curry; Breakfast for Dinner (scrambled eggs, bacon, fried potatoes or toast); Fried rice; leftovers

Snacks/Desserts: Fresh fruit; Raisin buns that daughter bought from the Japanese bakery for me; Melon pan that daughter bought from the Japanese bakery for herself; Yogurt; Ice cream; Chips, crackers, popcorn, etc.

And this is how that worked out:

Monday:

Brunch: Raisin buns and banana (me), melon pan (daughter)

Dinner: Assorted leftovers from the fridge

Snacks/Dessert: One of the tuna salad kits I had bought (me); Fuyu persimmons (daughter)

Smoked Sausage Stir Fry with Carrots and Kale

Tuesday:

Brunch: Raisin bun, banana, and peanut butter (me); banana and peanut butter (daughter)

Dinner: Smoked sausage stir fry and rice

Snacks/Dessert:  Hot cheetos, pomegranate, ice cream

Fried Rice

Wednesday:

Breakfast: Raisin bun (me)
Lunch: Fried rice

Dinner: Egg salad sandwiches

Snacks/Dessert: Pomegranates

Thursday Dinner: Rice & Smoked Sausage Stir-fry

Thursday:

Brunch:  Raisin buns (me)

Dinner:  Rice and smoked sausage stir fry

Snacks/Dessert:  Bananas, crackers with peanut butter

Daughter's Friday Night Dinner: Rice, Fried Eggs,
Stir-fried Kale, Chili Crisps

Friday:

Brunch: Hot pockets 

Dinner:  Scrambled eggs and toast (me); rice, fried eggs, stir-fried kale (daughter)

Snacks/Dessert: Strawberries, cookies, ice cream

Saturday:

Brunch: Scrambled eggs, fried diced potatoes, calamondin-ade to drink

Dinner:  Chicken curry and tortillas

Snacks/Dessert: Cookies and ice cream

Sunday:

Brunch:  Chinese take out

Dinner:  Leftover Chinese take out (daughter); microwave "baked" potato (me)

Snacks/Dessert: Dates, graham crackers

Well, I didn't follow the meal plan options that closely, but, I didn't veer too much from them, either.  I'm fine with all the little adjustments I made.  

Moving forward, here's are the meal plan options for the last week in October:

Brunches:  Scrambled eggs and toast or fried potatoes; Waffles, Hot pockets; Boiled mung beans, milkrice (on Sunday, November 1st); Fried rice; leftovers

Dinners:  Chicken curry with vegetable rice (rice cooked with mixed vegetables and chicken bouillon); Tortillas and chicken curry; Breakfast for Dinner (scrambled eggs, bacon, fried potatoes or toast); Chicken and vegetable soup; leftovers

Snacks/Desserts: Fresh fruit; Yogurt; Ice cream; Chips, crackers, popcorn, cookies, etc.

At least, that's the plan.  Unless I go off plan and make something different.  

As always, I am grateful for:

- Having enough to eat
- Being able to have a variety of meals

Are you making a meal plan this week?