I have not given up!

No I did not decide this was too much work. No I did not fall off the wagon.  I wish that was the case.
I have not cooked since "Dogs and Tots"

My grandmother has been "at Death's door" for a week now.  She is 94 years old and is dying of cancer. The Hospice nurse is at a loss of words. She said that she has never had a patient that has held on for so long.  She won't give us anymore timelines because she just isn't ready. This woman was one of the best cooks. And her cakes! Oh my God!

I spent the day at my aunt's (that is where she is) yesterday and will be going back tomorrow. (Geaux Saints!) My dad and my sister will each be making a gumbo and we will be eating it there (lately we just make plans and "wait and see" what happens) I'll take pics and post.

Day 10-- "Dogs and Tots"

The only "after" picture I took did not come out too good.

So here is the only picture that did come out ok...

Hot dogs: $1

Buns: $1.18

Chili: FFP $1.45

Tater tots: FFP I'm guessing but...$3.00?

Total: $6.63  Per serving: $0.95  (split into 7 servings)

Short tonight but American Idol was on tonight so....

Day 9-- "Alexis Sloppy Joes"

Uh. Where are the pictures? Well....I didn't get to take any tonight. But I can tell you that it was really tasty!

Buns: left over from last Monday $0.57
Hamburger: left over from last Monday $2.25
Ketchup: $0.25
Onions & peppers: $0.15
Mustard (don't tell Nicolas): $0.08

Total: $3.30
Per Serving: $0.66

Day 8-- ???

Sunday was to be Day 8. The first day of week 2.

We woke up at 6am to find that we had forgotten to leave the water running Saturday night and we had frozen pipes.  That made the day pretty much shot.  We needed to stay home so that when the pipes thawed we would know right away if any pipe had busted.  Thankfully we made it through without a broken pipe.  One of our friends invited us to his house for dinner and we decided to go.  So dinner was pretty much free.

1st Week Wrap Up

Sunday: "My daddy's spaghetti"---Total $12.20    $1.37 per serving
Monday: Hamburgers and Fries---Total $8.21   $2.05 per serving
Tuesday: Oven Fried Pork Chops, Mac & Cheese, Roasted Carrots---Total $9.06   $2.01 per serving
Wednesday: Chicken Fricassee---Total $2.21   $0.55 per serving
Thursday: Tacos---Total $6.18  $1.24 per serving
Friday: White Beans & Sausage---Total $5.38 $0.92 per serving and $.80 for Nick's Nuggets
Saturday: Buffalo's ---Total $37.00 per serving $9.25 if divided evenly by all four of us

Weekly total $43.24 PLUS SATURDAY $37 = $80.24
Per serving $ 8.94 PLUS SATURDAY $9.25 = $18.19
So for under $20.00 I can feed you for a week! And that is going out one night. Had we stayed home and eaten hot dogs, the dinner would have been roughly $6 including chips. That is 1/6 the cost of Saturday's meal.

The total would have been: $49.24
Per serving would have been $10.44

Multiply that by 52 weeks in a year and that is $2560.48
then divide that by 12 months in the year and I should be at $213.37 a month.
WHAT?!?!?!?
So at the end of the year I should be rolling in the dough!

Day 7--"Hot Dogs w/chips and S'mores" Scratch THAT! :(

Family Game Night!

Ok so remember how on Sunday I said I had forgotten to get the hot dogs and buns? Well since it is sooooo cold here right now, I decided to NOT go to the store and just heat up some gumbo my daddy gave me.

THEN I got a call from Andy saying that our friend's daughter wanted to know if she could come sleep and that gumbo just would not work because that's what he ate for lunch (well we didn't eat gumbo and I think majority rules! But then again Nicolas would be on his side because he doesn't like gumbo so it was a moot point).

When Andy got home he said, "uh Robert said maybe we could go eat at Buffalo's, watch half the game, and then come home. What do you think?"  Hmmmmm.....well that is not in my plans for the week, month, or year. So what do YOU think I think? I'm not too happy about it. Besides I'm trying to plan out my menu and grocery list for next week. Then again, that would give me another example of why you should not eat out. I can get a price listing and compare the cost of eating out to making it at home. I find it quite sickening how much money restaurants make off of us just because its "convenient" to eat out. And I do have 3 extra meals of meat PLUS a night of "My daddy's spaghetti" in the fridge. Besides, its HIS money, not mine. LOL

Day 6-- "White Beans & Sausage"

One summer I was a weekday "live in" nanny for my mom's friend. She would fix white beans & sausage and I loved it! I have never liked red beans & rice so I was shocked that I like it so much. Many many years later I saw a box at the store of seasoning mix. I tried it and I liked it. More importantly Andy liked it. So I kept making it.

Although the box mix is a bit expensive, I use only 2 tbsp and so the box lasts me a long time.

No..I don't use cajun sausage.  If I wasn't on a tight budget I would. But since this brand is more than half the cost of the cajun brands, it works for me.

Well I went to the pantry for my box and cornbread mix and realized I used it last week! So I am very glad I had corn meal! I think I just may start making it from scratch from now on. It was a little dry (or so said Andy...I think its because I never measure my milk when I use the blue box kind and this time I measured it). Wasn't dificult at all and tastes just as good!

Nick's dinner








Sausage: regularly $3.97 on sale for $2.27
2 cans white beans: FFP $0.75 each so $1.50
Seasoning: $0.60
Rice: FFP. maybe $0.20 (see Wednesday's post about the BOGOF rice)
Cornbread: $0.40 + 1 egg ($0.11)and 1 cup of milk($0.10)=$0.61

Of course since the main ingredient is beans, Nick does not eat this. So he ate the pizza that Andy had bought for new year's ever.
Pizza: $2.00(?)
Total meal: $7.18   Per serving: $0.87 for the white beans and sausage and $2.00 for Nick's. There is enough white beans for lunch leftovers.

Now someone pass the Beano! It's gonna be a wild night!