The paper plan on our fridge this week has more sticky notes on it than dinners. Two class parties, a Little League game on Thursday, Wyatt's birthday party on Saturday, and five dinners squeezed in around all of it. The shopping is done, the receipts are in the spreadsheet, and the week's total is $259.18. Here's every dollar of it.
The dinners
- Monday: chicken spaghetti, a double batch so the second pan could go in the freezer. Eli had buttered noodles from the same pot, pulled out before the sauce went in.
- Tuesday (office day): pork carnitas in the Crock-Pot. A 4-pound pork shoulder went in at 7:45 with orange juice, garlic, cumin and oregano, and it was ready to crisp in the cast iron at 5:30.
- Wednesday (tonight): hamburger steaks with onion gravy, mashed potatoes and green beans.
- Thursday (office day, first pitch at 5:30): carnitas burritos from Tuesday's pork, eaten out of a cooler bag at the field around 6:30.
- Friday: homemade pizza. The dough gets made Thursday night and rises slowly in the fridge.
The double pan of chicken spaghetti was on purpose. The week after Wyatt's party is the last week of school, and I already know I won't want to cook.
Thursday is the night I worry about most. I'm at the office until 2:30, Rosie is with me at Mother's Day Out, and Wyatt has to be at the field by 5:00 for warmups with Eli and Rosie tagging along. So the burritos get rolled Wednesday night after the dishes and stacked in the fridge in foil. Thursday all I do is warm them in the oven at 350°F for 20 minutes, wrap the whole stack in a towel and set it in the cooler bag. They stay warm until about the third inning.
Lunches and two class parties
Wyatt and Eli take packed lunches Monday through Thursday, and Wyatt buys on Friday because it's pizza day. That's nine packed lunches at about $1.60 each: a sandwich or tortilla roll-up, fruit, a cheese stick or yogurt, and something crunchy. Eli's dinosaur lunchbox gets the same thing every day, cold cheese quesadilla triangles, apple slices and Goldfish, and he'd like to keep it that way until college.
Then the parties. Eli's kindergarten party is Thursday morning, and I signed up for fruit and juice pouches, which I'll drop off on my way to the office. Wyatt's fourth-grade party is Friday afternoon, and his class asked for chips and store-bought cookies. The school wants packaged food with labels because of allergies, and I understand completely. Party shopping came to $38.29, and it's the whole reason we went over budget.
Every dollar of the $259.18
By store:
- Aldi, Monday morning with Rosie in the cart: $168.73
- Kroger pickup, Tuesday on the way home from the office: $46.18, with no pickup fee this time thanks to a promo
- Tom Thumb, Tuesday, about five minutes later: $12.65
- Walmart Neighborhood Market, Wednesday morning, party supplies: $31.62
By what it's for:
- Five dinners, including the extra pan of chicken spaghetti: $72.40
- Nine packed lunches: $15.85
- Breakfast, three gallons of milk, eggs, bread and coffee: $51.36
- Snacks and fruit for the house: $41.12
- Drinks and snacks for Thursday's ballgame cooler: $12.30
- Two class parties: $38.29
- Paper towels, dish soap, trash bags and zip bags: $27.86
The dinners look a little pricey for five nights, about $2.90 a plate, but $72.40 actually covers six dinners once the frozen chicken spaghetti gets eaten. Breakfast is still heavier than it was a year ago because of eggs, though they're finally creeping down.
What went sideways
The Kroger pickup order came without the sour cream and one of the two packs of tortillas, and I didn't check the bags until I got home. I'd been sitting in the pickup spot for four minutes. I could have looked. Instead I drove to Tom Thumb, which is the closest store and the priciest, and paid more for both, plus a bunch of bananas I didn't strictly need because I was standing next to them. That's the $12.65. Kroger refunded the missing items, so the real cost of not checking my bags came to about $3.40. I'm writing "check the bags" on next week's plan in red.
The other thing is the budget itself. We're $9.18 over our $250, and every bit of it is the class parties. I'm fine with that. It's the end of the school year, and those teachers have earned their cookies.
Receipt check: $259.18. Saturday's taco bar for Wyatt's tenth birthday has its own list and its own post coming, so it isn't in this number.
