ALL of October in one fell swoop!

[DohDohBird]

I have been transitioning into monthly grocery shopping, and this month, I did it! I got everything we need for the entire month. We will run out of fresh foods, but I planned frozen and canned for the last part of the month. I’m ready for October.

I didn’t save much this month. I spent close to $550 on a month’s groceries and cleaning supplies. That includes tons of Halloween candy, though. Probably $50 in candy alone, plus I bought $20 worth of Thanksgiving foods.

Everything is from scratch this month. Here is my dinner plan:

Yesterday was soft tacos

10-2 crock pot roast with potatoes and carrots & yeast bread
10-3 beef stew & corn bread with fresh pumpkin pie (from scratch) for dessert
10-4 tuna casserole, salad, and dinner rolls with more pumpkin pie
10-5 chicken BLT sandwiches & chips
10-6 meatball subs & fries
10-7 Big Mac Knock-Offs & fries
10-8 Bacon-Onion Quiche
:055:10-9 My Anniversary :055: Steak Alfredo, Garlic Bread, and Chocolate-covered Marachino Cherries
10-10 Crock Pot Broccoli-Beef over brown rice; Milk Shakes for snack
10-11Grilled Cheese and Ramen Noodle Soup; Crockpot Tapioca for snack
10-12 Crock Pot Italian Chicken & Potatoes; green beans; dinner rolls
10-13 hot dogs & baked beans
10-14 homemade chili & corn muffins
10-15 Leftovers from the freezer (Mid-Month Clear Out!)
10-16 Creamy Beef over Pasta; Green Beans
10/17 Pasta with Broccoli Romana; green beans; Ritz Mock Apple Pie
10/18 Wonton Soup & Orange Chicken over rice; more pie
10/19 Crock Pot BBQ Chicken & Cornbread Casserole
10/20 Pepperoni Bread & Pasta tossed with butter & parmesan cheese
10/21 Steak, Mashed Potatoes & Green Beans
10/22 Fall Festival at the kids’ school (hot dogs)
10/23 Chicken Parmesan over Pasta & Garlic Bread
10/24 Baked Sloppy Joe; Caramel Apples
10/25 Cream Cheese Chicken, green beans, & bread
10/26 Baked Chicken, stuffing, and green beans
10/27 HANDburgers & fries
10/28 Black Bean Soup & cornbread
10/29 Egg Salad Sandwiches
10/30 Feet of Meat (foot-shaped meatloaf) and Candy Corn By the Slice (pizza bread)
10/31 Tuna Melts & Chips (and candy. lots and lots of candy.)

[FruGal]

I have occasionally planned out a whole month of meals at one time, but I have never shopped for the whole month! Great job! By the way, what is Cream Cheese Chicken? It sounds wonderful. Care to share the recipe? =)

[JoAnn]

Michelle,
Sounds and looks like you really have this one down. Ritz Mock Apple Pie ?? Hope you get a chance to share so of your recipes..Yumm

:occasion16: Happy early Anniversary to you and yours.. How many? :occasion16:

[DohDohBird]

Cream Cheese Chicken from Crockpot 365

–1 can cream-of-something soup
–1/2 cup chicken broth
–frozen chicken pieces
–packet of Italian salad dressing mix
–2 cloves minced garlic
–block of cream cheese (to add later)

Put everything except for the cream cheese into the crockpot. Cook on low for 6 hours, or until the chicken is cooked through and begins to shred. Shred the chicken with two large forks, and mix in the block of cream cheese. Switch the crock to high and cook for another 30 minutes, or until the cream cheese is fully melted.
Serve over pasta.

[DohDohBird]

Hubs and I will be married 11 years. :o)

Ritz Mock Apple Pie

pastry for 2-crust 9-inch pie
36 RITZ Crackers, coarsely broken (about 1-3/4 cups crumbs)
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. cream of tartar
Grated peel of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

PREHEAT oven to 425°F. Roll out half of the pastry and place in 9-inch pie plate. Place cracker crumbs in crust; set aside.

MIX sugar and cream of tartar in medium saucepan. Gradually stir in 1-3/4 cups water until well blended. Bring to boil on high heat. Reduce heat to low; simmer 15 minutes. Add lemon peel and juice; cool. Pour syrup over cracker crumbs. Dot with butter; sprinkle with cinnamon. Roll out remaining pastry; place over pie. Trim; seal and flute edges. Slit top crust to allow steam to escape.

BAKE 30 to 35 minutes or until crust is crisp and golden. Cool completely.

[tmacchic]

The “Ritz Mock Apple Pie” really does taste like apple pie. I remember when I was younger we made this in 4 H. Pretty cool not to have one single apple in it. I eally like the idea of the crock pot use in this, I work 12 hr days and it should would be nice to have supper ready when I got home. Where did you get all the recipes? Please share!!!

[DohDohBird]

All over, really. I like [URL=”https://crockpot365./”%5DCrockpot 365[/URL], [URL=”https://cheaphealthygood./”%5DCheap Healthy Good[/URL], and [URL=”https://kalynskitchen./”%5DKalyn’s Kitchen[/URL] blogs lately.

[brchbell]

I’ve planned the whole month out and only shop once a month for over 20 years until June when our finances went down the drain. DH has now been placed back on active duty and is now stationed in Houston at a guard base down there so we have some hope of pulling us back above water soon. The experience has been good as we have lived full time on our food storage and survived very well. We are in process of making up menus to cover 91 days and then we’ll just rotate through them and that will help us get exactly everything we need. I made a very brief commissary run Thursday and did a food storage run to help replace much of what we’ve used most these last few months. We’re trying to see how much stuff we can process in bottles. We want to try stew, Spanish rice, lasagna sauce and spaghetti sauce. We’ll do up a pint jar of each and see how they taste afterward. I’ve canned straight meats before but never meat sauces. So guess we’ll see! I’m trying to see how much I can get out of my freezer. I’d much rather have things dried or canned so don’t have to worry about when electricity goes out. Thanks for telling us about crock pot 365! I’ve been to Kalyn’s blogs off & on. I love having most of a years supply on hand! It helps in hard times but even in god times it helps save you so very much money!! Before I was spending $500 a month for groceries for our family of 7. Now I’m spending $150 for groceries and then spending $200 to $300 on food storage depending on how prices are. This month I got 300 pounds of Oat Groats for $70 and 6 cans of Yoder canned bacon at $11 per can (#10 cans= 50 full slices) and some other odds & ends.

[rtebalt]

DohDohBird, this menu sounds great! Can I come stay at your house this month? LOL! 🙂

[m11andrade]

Happy Anniversary early!!

[mos]

I shop once a month as well, but will soon change that — not because I want to;- back in August, I knew that I was going to be out of money soon if I didn’t get a job. so I ‘agonized’ over the sales and shopped for September and October. I still haven’t gone to the store…the only ‘fresh’ items I have left are carrots, celery, potatoes, and onions. I still have frozen veggies and a good variety of dried beans. plenty of pasta and rice, too. I’ll finish the month, but after that, I’m not sure how I’ll be shopping. it worries me that I’m draining my pantry and not replacing anything. of course, eating at friends and family two or three times a week helps;-)

[rtebalt]

Ok, I have to know. Can I have these recipes?

Big Mac Knock-Offs

Bacon-Onion Quiche

Crock Pot Italian Chicken & Potatoes

Crock Pot BBQ Chicken & Cornbread Casserole

HANDburgers (And I have to know what these are. 🙂 )

[diakun2]

I would love to know how to make tapioca in the crockpot. I just love homemade pudding of any type 🙂

[mbabb29340]

You have some good ideas! Thanks for sharing!

[Author]

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