This Week's Update - Charts and Graphs

Things are CRAZY at my house, as I'm sure they are at yours.  We have work, school, commuting to and from, home business, home school, school board meetings, lots to do at church, Christmas concerts, Christmas parties, Christmas plays, Christmas shopping, birthday parties, birthday dinners, birthday gifts to devise.  Not a lot of down time.  Almost no time for meal planning and prep.  Still, we've chosen a pretty austere budget for groceries and we're sticking to it. This is what we've done since Friday last week. 

Let's talk money first:

Maybe you'll remember, on 12/2 we were down to $101.
12/3 - Deli counter chicken parts for kids (popcorn chicken and chicken strips)- $8
12/6 - Dairy days at Costco - Milk, cheeses, cream, egg nog, chocolate milk - $47
12/10 - With 10 days, and 2 birthday dinners to go..........................................$46

The biggest spend this week was on dairy items at Costco.  I am aghast at how the price of cheese has SKYROCKETED.  At least it seems that way to me.  In fact, I was so curious about just how much prices have risen, I went on a search for a chart.  Here's what I found.  Note these are wholesale prices:

http://future.aae.wisc.edu/data/monthly_values/by_area/816?area=WI&tab=prices&yoy=true

Needless to say, this chart is VERY disappointing to a family of cheese snobs.  Even though this one only shows mozzerella, the picture is the same for every kind of cheese.  So, I am now devising ways to economize our cheese consumption.  More on that later. 

Another thing I've been watching creep up and up is cereal.  I've stopped buying it, to my family's somewhat chagrin.  Here are some interesting charts, one about food in general, followed by one that shows what happened with sugar this year.  Even though it's come down, it is still WAY higher than all f our other commodity prices.

http://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/wfs-home/foodpricesindex/en/

For time's sake, this has been a week of running the simplified menu plan. Soup, rice and sauces were a theme.  Remember, breakfasts are always the same: hot chocolate and hot cereal or toast or eggs. And, lunches are fruit, nuts, yogurt and a treat.  Here's what we ate for dinner:

This Week’s Menu
Friday – Cousins Night – Personal pizzas and sandwiches
Saturday – French Onion Soup (our first and very successful attempt)
Sunday – Turkey, Bacon Cheddar Soup (an awesome use for leftover turkey and stock)
Monday – Spinach Curry with Rice
Tuesday – Tacos with homemade salsa
Wednesday – Dinner with Grandma and Grandpa, Mom and Dad’s date night
Thursday – Fried Rice with Stir Fried Veggies

I hope to include some recipes later, especially for the soups and curry.  The thing is, every recipe has a story and I get hung up on needing to tell it.  So, if you want a certain recipe, pray that I have time to write it down and send me an email or comment. 

Even though the fare was simple, and often prepared by younger hands than mine, it was delicious, nutritious and filling.  I don't think the kids even realize we are still living our experiment.  Maybe we need to talk about it some more.