I'm late posting our meal plan because I've taken more of a backseat for a week or two, to rest up before I take the lead again when NT goes back to school. AS has really stepped up and with NT's help has done most of the cooking and meal planning! It's been really nice.

I think we'll have gone over budget on groceries (I still need to add it up after we buy canola oil), but we did stock up a bit on rice, flour, veggie "meats" that we had coupons for, and laundry detergent. Next week we should have to buy very little, since we have all the staples we need to build meals for the CSA veggies.

MENU:
Friday
Veggie burgers, cole slaw, green beans

Saturday lunch
Vegan Thai Lettuce Wraps and Stir-Fried Bok Choy with Roasted Peanuts

Saturday dinner
Breadcrumb pasta with cherry tomatoes
make baba for lunches, make seitan for mock duck sandwiches

Sunday lunch
Southern fried tofu, Succotash with edamame

Sunday dinner
Enchiladas

Monday
Pasta with sauteed zucchini, garlic, lemon and parsley


Tuesday
Barbecue mock duck sandwiches with corn on the cob and crosshatched squash


Wednesday
Pancakes, hash (bacon bits/garlic/potato/bell pepper/tomato/parsley)
defrost pizza dough

Thursday
Pizza

GROCERY LISTS:

Rainbow:
potatoes
apples
berries
pluots
bananas
garlic
lettuce
veggie burgers & facon (c)
Gardein burgers or chik strips (c)
bread (C)
panko breadcrumbs
coffee filters #4 (c)
pasta (c)
salsa
crushed tomatoes*
Ziploc bags (c)
degree deodorant (c)
hash browns (c)
frozen peas (c)
orange cheddar
muffins
bagels

Wedge:
sandwich fillings
firm tofu
6 eggs
peanuts (1/2 cup)
chickpeas
flour
rice
loo rolls
laundry detergent
1C black beans
chick peas
chili powder
paprika
oregano
sesame seeds
cheese strings
Australian cheddar

Hai Nguyen
rice vinegar

Target
veg/canola oil

***

Had a very good weigh-in last night; I lost over 3 lbs.! Back to 134 with 5 lbs. to go to reach my 2012 goal weight. I'm excited, because my goal is to lose those pounds before Thanksgiving and then hopefully just maintain through the food-happy winter holidays.

We do have some parties and other things planned, but I'm really going to try and behave so I don't stall or lose ground. One positive thing I'm doing is skipping the State Fair this year. For me, the reason to go is to eat fair food, and I always go overboard. I'm going to stay home with the kids (who are really too young to get much out of it) and send NT and AS with some tupperware and one or two food requests (versus the 5 or 10 things I'd normally eat while there).

I'll miss the fair, but it's the right thing to do this year.

Anyway, fitness tracking for the past couple days:

Aug. 16
10-min. workout: No. 3/16
Calorie counting: Yes, estimated 1,447. 16/16
No night snacks: Success (just had fruit). 14/16

Aug. 17
10-min. workout: No. 3/17
Calorie counting: Yes, estimated 1,705. 17/17
No night snacks: Success. 15/17

Aug. 18
10-min. workout: YES! 25 min. 4/18
Calorie counting: Yes, estimated 1,752. 18/18
No night snacks: Fail, had 7 peanut M&Ms. 15/18

Aug. 19
10-min. workout: No. 4/19
Calorie counting: Yes, estimated 1,433. 19/19
No night snacks: Success (just had fruit). 16/19

So overall, yay! I did notice less definition in my tummy last night; was actually afraid I'd gained weight. So I do need to get back into working out, even if it's just strength-training and crunches.

***

I got a nice little freelance proofing assignment from a co-worker doing some side work of her own; $130 for a little over three hours of light proofing. Yay! I'm going to put it to the house/moving fund if we don't need it for anything. That's a bit up in the air because:

On Saturday I came home from grocery shopping to see the bathroom sink half full of black, stinky liquid. NT (by far the handiest in our house) valiantly spent most of the day removing sections of pipe, cleaning, attempting to find clogs, calling the building management and Roto Rooter, etc. But we still have no bathroom sink. Now the Roto Rooter guy said it was due to a clog somewhere below us, and that they'd need to cut into a section of pipe somewhere else. This sounds like something our condo should be responsible for, not us, costwise. So I'm hoping my freelance money will go to the house fund, but it might have to go toward helping cover these costs if there are any.

AS hasn't gotten any more freelance offers since she just missed the last one, but she tends to get bigger-scope, higher-paying freelance jobs, so if she gets any this year it will be a big boost to the house/moving fund.

***

I liked the recent "frugal things I did today" topic, so let me try and think of the frugal things we did this weekend:

Did another big re-org of the kids' clothes, discarding a TON and rearranging the others. This is frugal because it unearths the usable clothing so we don't have to buy any. 99.9% of these clothes are gifts or hand-me-downs. So far we haven't had to buy winter boots or snowsuits for the girls, so accepting clothes from anyone and everyone who offers is a frugal deed, even if it leads to these big archaeological digs every couple months. We'll be giving the extras (4 big boxes!) away on Freecycle, helping someone else be frugal too. We're also getting rid of a crib bumper (now that AA's in a "big girl bed"), thermal cover for small stroller (we'll just use the big stroller if we need to take the girls out in one--NT's going to try and get some money for the cover) and some baby-carrying slings. NT listed the unused pacifiers on eBay, so hopefully we get something for those.

AS decided to cease pumping, and just nurse in the mornings and evenings for a little while longer. Breast pumps are called "single use" by the manufacturer, but AS used the one I used and it worked fine. I don't know if we could sell it, but we might try to get a few bucks on Craiglist. It was $250-$300 new and is still in good condition. If we can't sell it I'll try to Freecycle it, because as long as the user sterilizes the cups and tubes and/or gets new ones, I can't think of any reason why it shouldn't get another life.

SL has made great progress learning to eat rice cereal so is going to start on pureed vegetables tonight. Rather than get the expensive and wasteful little jars of baby food, I'll be cooking, pureeing and straining her veggies as I did with AA. This week we try peas!

I made homemade mock duck (aka seitan or wheat meat) last night; a double batch so we have some for next week too. We figured out that buying the vital wheat gluten and having me make it is about a quarter of the cost of buying canned mock duck.

I made a big batch of baba ganoush (eggplant-tahini puree) for NT and me to use for lunches this week. We had a lot of eggplant from the CSA and had plenty of other veggies to use for dinners, so it would have gone to waste. It will also taste good with CSA tomatoes, which we have way too many to use up with just dinners.

We got more curly parsley from the CSA than we could use, so I hung it upside down to see if it would dry as well as the oregano did. We don't have to buy dried parsley very often, but this would help us avoid it even longer!

I think that's it. I'll try to note the frugal things I do from now on; this is fun!