A Bittersweet Existence » groceries

Shortcut Cooking

Dawana — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:31:05 +0000

So at some point last year, I told y’all about the things that I have to have in my pantry. I’d like to add an addendum to that post and go further and talk about the things that I have added to my kitchen’s repertoire due to ease-of-use and how much time I am saved when cooking.

First of all, for Pea. She is a picky eater and her eating habits consist of:

Hot Dogs
Chicken Nuggets
Fish Sticks
Pizza
Macaroni & Cheese
Corn
Broccoli
and French Fries

if she feels like it and not necessarily in that order. She will, on any given day, refuse to eat whatever it is that I’ve cooked. For that, I have perfected making Pea something to eat in about 15 minutes or less thanks to:

Fish sticks and chicken nuggets, frozen and ready to be thrown into the toaster oven for less than ten minutes are always on hand- always. I never run low. If they even look like they are running low, I restock. Also on hand for Pea- Easy Mac and turkey hot dogs.

Moving on.

I am all about shortcuts in the kitchen. I love to cook and I really love to eat, but I love sitting in my sweatpants in the evening watching tv with my family even more. Therefore, the less time that I have to spend cooking on the weekdays, the better. So, I shop with convenience in mind- what is going to take the least amount of time possible to cook?

When I need something to accompany my meats I may reach for one of the three items pictured above.

Suddenly Salad- I mean the name says it all. Suddenly… there’s salad! And Hallelujah for that.
Boil in a Bag rice- I love it more than my rice cooker. The rice cooker takes about 25 minutes. Boil in a Bag rice? Ten minutes. Easy choice.
Instant Mashed Potatoes- Do I even need to give a reason?

Individually wrapped chicken breast is the new next best thing. Am I going to pay maybe 1 or 2 dollars more to have that extra plastic? The answer is yes. That extra plastic, already wrapped around the chicken saves me slave labor after battling it out at Walmart for an hour. I no longer need to separate fresh meat, bag and freeze it. Cause some genius already did it for me. The grilled filets, I don’t eat, but my husband does. And on days that I don’t want to cook at all? I pop those bad boys in the microwave and bam! Dinner.

Judge all you want, but any and all froze and canned vegetables are welcome in my home. They are especially welcome on the days that I ~~make love to~~ use my slow cooker to produce dinner- I toss in my canned or frozen veggies along with other assorted items, cover and go to work.

More things that make my life easy. I love the McCormick seasoning packs. I just do. Especially the ones that you throw in a bag and then throw the bag into the oven. I also use these in the slow cooker to create magnificent concoctions. For example, the White Chicken Chili should be cooked on the stove top, but tomorrow I will put the white beans, diced tomatoes, corn (all from a can), chicken breasts and the McCormick seasoning in my slow cooker and watch the magic happen.

Did I mention my love for canned goods? I live in the canned goods aisle.

I love meatballs. I really do. More importantly, I love Fosters Farms turkey meatballs. No one else makes this deliciousness in a frozen bag. On weekends, I may make meatballs from scratch. During the week? These awesome meatballs can be thrown in a slow cookers, popped in the microwave, or put on the stove top in your favorite pasta sauce- they are pre-cooked, so they don’t take all that long to heat up. LOVE. THESE. When Costco started selling these in bulk, I think I wet my pants a little.

While I’d love to come home from work (usually after 5 or 6 pm), throw on my apron and throw down in the kitchen like Betty Crocker, it’s just not reasonable for me. If I want to hang out with Pea, the husband and watch tv and decompress and grade papers? I need to cut corners while still producing a delicious meal.

I’ll save my inner Paula Deen for summertime when school is out and I have more time on my hands.

What shortcuts do you use? I’m always looking for more.

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Bad Produce

Dawana — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 19:30:47 +0000

I really, really like shopping at WalMart.

First, it’s the cheapest grocery store in our town.

Second, it’s my one-stop shop. No longer do I need to go to the grocery store, then go to the pharmacy, then go ____ (fill in other store here).

I can buy milk and a new shower curtain liner. Cereal and ink for my printer. Bread and new pants for Pea to wear to school (because I will NOT pay more than $2 for pants she will wear to daycare and ruin!)

What I have a hard time buying at WalMart is fruit.

The oranges are in these ginormous boxes on the floor and a large majority of them are covered in mold.

The strawberries are in the cooler, but when you look in the boxes, most of the strawberries are moldy.

And this week, I wanted to buy Pea some blueberries?

Not even like some mold here or there… I think I see Chewbacca growing on the blueberries in both of those cases.

The same goes for the grapes and other produce.

I’ve told the produce manager- even brought bad fruit to them and I get an “oh, thanks, I’ll go look over there”… How can you MISS IT?!? There is hair growing on the fruit!!! It’s insane. And I know… it’s Walmart and they are packing the fruit like this is Costco or Sam’s Club so what is to be expected but rotten fruit, but still. It pisses me off because you should give a shit about your customers and your fruit aisle… at least care enough to get rid of the bad fruit. Who is this helping? Because do you really think anyone will buy it?!

I’m going to start taking a picture every time I see bad fruit at WalMart.

Just for fun…

Let’s see how many photos I get.

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Cooking With Momma: Pantry Must-Haves

Dawana — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:33:40 +0000

Although I try to make a menu every week, sometimes, it just doesn’t happen. I wanted to list a few things that I believe are must-haves in the pantry. With these things in my pantry and freezer, I will always have a meal to make.

Pantry Must-Haves:

Diced tomatoes- there is ALWAYS a meal that can use diced tomatoes, so I always have at least two cans of these in the pantry.
Black beans- I can give you three recipes that I have right now that call for black beans and one of those recipes takes about 20 minutes to make- fast. easy. That’s my thing. So I always have about two cans of these.
Rice- Do I even need to say why? You should never run low on rice, or the next three items:
- Macaroni
- Spaghetti
- Mashed Potato Mix
With those, you always have a side for whatever meat you are cooking or you have a meal (with the spaghetti).
Corn- This is my go-to veggie. Hubby and I are pretty bad about cooking vegetables, but I’ve always got a can of corn that I can throw in.

Freezer Must-Haves:

I buy my meat in large packages, this way, I don’t have to buy it every week. We don’t eat too much beef in here (as I am an ex-vegetarian, I still limit my beef intake) so when I do want to cook beef, I just go buy it. Here are my must-haves for the freezer:

Diced Onions- Since there are only 3 of us in this house and I don’t necessarily use onions unless it’s called for, when I do buy a whole onion, sometimes it goes bad and I get pissed. If I have a bag of frozen onions ALREADY DICED a) I cut back on prep time because I don’t have to cut it and b) I can use it when necessary and therefore don’t have to throw away an onion that’s gone bad.
Peppers- I always. always have a bag of pre-cut peppers in the freezer. Red, yellow & green peppers and I actually have one bag of diced green peppers in there too (so if a recipe calls for green peppers, I don’t have to pick them out one-by-one in the mixed bag). I have a ton of recipes that call for peppers, but just like onions, sometimes they go bad and I hate wasting stuff.
Frozen carrots- Same excuse. Carrots come in a really large bag and we won’t usually eat ‘em all.
Ground Turkey
Chicken Breasts- I usually buy these at Costco, but sometimes if you go to the grocery store you can find a large tray of breasts on sale because they are set to expire in a day or two. The prices are drastically cut and if you know you are going to take it home and freeze it right away- you just saved a bunch of money. I bought two trays on sale at WalMart about one month ago and just replenished that supply today.

Now, if you don’t own a Crock-Pot/slow cooker- you better ask somebody. Hubby got me one for Christmas about three years ago- best. investment. ever. Seriously, on those very lazy days when you know you don’t even FEEL like slaving over a hot stove- the slow cooker is your friend.

I had an issue few weeks ago:

To which my Tweep, The Renegade Mom replied:

Ya, I put frozen chicken, a can of diced tomatoes and frozen red peppers with a little water into the slow cooker and BAM! Hubby came home and said “Mmm watcha cookin’ honey?”

That’s right… don’t hate. That’s how we do things around here.

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Milk, Eggs, Bread… Puppy

Dawana — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:59:51 +0000

What? That’s not your average grocery list?

We took a family trip to Wal-Mart to buy groceries, like we usually do on Sundays.

Right outside of Wal-Mart are two guys, each holding one of these:

Image taken from OLX.com

If you don’t know much about dog breeds, this, friends is a “blue nosed Pitbull” aka one of the cutest dogs EVER. Besides my bad ass dog, of course.

I asked the guy how much and without even blinking he said $600.

HA! Are you smoking crack bald guy standing outside of Wal-Mart trying to sell pitbulls which I’m sure is illegal but maybe it’s not in this crazy ass state of California. (yup, that’s one sentence)

I pet the dogs and whispered sweet nothings in their ears, then proceeded into Wal-Mart to buy my groceries… Six Hundred Dollars. Yeah right! We only paid $350 for our defective ass dog. Probably cause he was the only one left from the litter. Probably because as a pup he had every medical problem a puppy could have…. and he’s a little slow on the uptake. Maybe that’s why he was on sale.

Image taken from Brooklyn Blue Pitbulls

Look at that face, though. Don’t you just wanna kiss and cuddle it? So cute. So cute. I know that pitbulls have a reputation that precedes them, but like Cesar Milan says, it’s not the dog with the issue, it’s the owner. Kingston belongs to the same family as pitbulls and bulldogs are just sweetie pies.

I know I don’t want another dog. Maybe not until the one we have dies, not that I’m wishing him dead or anything. But they were just so cute!!!

Don’t those idiots know that people shop at Wal-Mart for the cheap prices? Who do they think is walking around with $600 cash in their wallet? I don’t even have 600 pennies in my wallet. Shit, I don’t think I have one penny. It’s all debit. I never have cash.

Oh but those little guys were so cute. I may be adding that to my list of possible dogs to own in the future along with rottweiler and doberman.

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Cheaper is NOT always Better

Dawana — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 01:09:18 +0000

While out at my favorite store Wal-Mart and buying some supplementary meals for the baby girl, I thought I’d try the Wal-Mart equivalent to Gerber’s Graduates meals. Ugh. HUGE mistake. I open the pack and it looks like a tray of mush. I am literally fishing through the “cheese” to find the meat and veggies. Yeah, I couldn’t bring myself to let the baby girl eat it. The Gerber meals on the other hand? I was tearin’ those up and would’ve ate the whole thing myself- especially the turkey and mashed potatoes. Yum.

My husband has a motto that he lives by: “You get what you pay for.” I think, in this instance, he’s right. But don’t tell him I said so.

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Gettin’ My Betty Crocker On

Dawana — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 23:19:06 +0000

Sometimes… I get these waves… and I feel the need to bake. A lot.

It usually hits me in the grocery store. Probably because I see the boxes of baked goods on the shelf and my mouth waters at the thought- so I pick it up. I guess I could bake from scratch, but what’s the fun in that? I’m a boom-bang chef. I want it done- now or yesterday, whichever. So on this particular trip to Wal-Mart, I was wandering down the baked good aisle looking for something that I could make the husband for breakfast to take to work. He usually leaves in such a hurry that he only grabs a bar on the way out of the door.

Have you seen these?

Betty Crocker now makes Fiber One Muffins. You know Fiber One, they make the good-for-you but still tastes good stuff. Hubby is a HUGE fan of their bars, but they are super expensive. So I went to Costco- wholesale extraordinaire- and bought him a box of like 90. Problem solved.

So back to the muffins. They are banana nut muffins and supposedly super good for you. Now, I don’t eat banana anything. Not banana bread, not banana candy- nothing. I only like bananas right out of the peel. So I knew in making these muffins that only Hubby would be eating them. But I also know how much he likes banana goodness and so I figured he’d appreciate these. So, I bought it and threw those bad boys in the oven when I got home. Now, I must admit they smelled amazing! But never would these teeth sink into those- ever.

The other thing Hubby loves is oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. His absolute favorite. One of my favorite people on Earth and pastry chef extraordinaire (sorry, but I like that word), Val made Hubby a batch a while back before we moved. Since I’m not trained in the kitchen like she is, I scooped up a bag of this:

Did I see the part on the bottom of the bag that says “Makes 3 Dozen 2-Inch cookies”? Uhh no. If you can multiply, 12 x 3 is 36 and who the hell is eating 36 cookies? Especially since I don’t eat oatmeal chocolate chip cookies? Not my husband. Oh well, commence “make hubby’s favorite cookies.” I did lick my fingers at every chance while making these (only because I knew only my husband would be eating them, of course) and while the batter was yummy, I didn’t eat any cookies. My husband later professed that I am “trying to kill him” (because I made him stuff that I wouldn’t eat).

Oh ye of little faith, if I wanted to kill you, I wouldn’t spend all of this damn time slaving over a hot ass oven to do it. I’d just be straight up about it. I’m sure there are easier ways to kill your husband.

Anyway. The end result- was some good looking baked goods. I got the step ladder and dusted off my cake thingy (I don’t know what you call these things) cake dish? Whatever. I put the cookies and muffins in there. Felt like a real housewife for a second… only a second. Then it passed.

Take that Betty Crocker, you ain’t got shit on me… Oh wait, you’re the reason these came to be… never mind.

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Shopping In Style

Dawana — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 18:57:51 +0000

I received my gift from the Twitter Momma Gift Exchange:

Fabulous, fabulous personalized shopping totes from The Preppy Poppy.

I try not to use plastic bags when I shop, so my girl Trish hooked me up with these… don’t be jealous.

@ me!

Seriously? Too cute.

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My Menu & Grocery List-Making Skills

Dawana — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:51:40 +0000

As crazy as life is in this house, if I had to take the time to decide what was for dinner, we would never eat. Here’s to my menu for keeping us fed & on task and Here’s to my grocery list for helping us save money. Though, this grocery list is longer than usual because I didn’t shop the week before.

These hang right on the fridge so Hubby doesn’t have to ask what’s for dinner, though, he sometimes asks me that question anyway. Hmmm

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Hubby Humor: Kirkland Brand

Dawana — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:25:56 +0000

Now remember, I said before that Chris has these rules about grocery shopping and there are some things you “can’t skimp on.” On our last trip to Costco…

Me: “Oh look, honey, you can get Kirkland brand fabric softener sheets for waay less- and it’s a two-pack.”

Hubby: “Ehhh”

Me: (Hearing the apprehension) “But look how many sheets we’d get for the price.”

Hubby: “We can either get Kirkland brand dryer sheets and name brand laundry detergent OR Kirkland brand laundry detergent and name brand dryer sheets. You can’t get Kirkland AND Kirkland for both, so take your pick.”

Ahh yes. I love his rationale.

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$64.32

Dawana — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:03:16 +0000

That, my friends, is how much I spent on groceries for this week’s menu. This, is a milestone. I don’t think I’ve ever spent less than $75.00 before.

After much conversation with some of my Twitter Mommas regarding how they save money while doing the (sometimes) daunting household task of grocery shopping, one lesson that I learned and feel the need to share with you is that when planning your menu, plan for foods that use similar ingredients. This avoids buying lots of different types of food, which in turn, will hike up your grocery bill.

I know many of you don’t like Walmart, but as I’ve said before, this store is my savior. It is my one-stop shop, literally. The only thing we could not find on our trip to Walmart yesterday was a football tee, for Chris obviously, and I’d just like to think that they were out of stock.

My grocery shopping process usually goes something like this:
1. Scan our pantry and refrigerator. I look to see what items we have and what I can make for dinner using these items.

2. Create the menu- this sometimes takes forEVER. I try not to bore Hubby by making the same thing every week, but it can be difficult when you and your Hubs don’t really eat the same things. Hubs loves steak, I don’t. Hubs LOVES sushi, I don’t. Hubs LOVES, LOVES a good pulled pork sandwich- I don’t eat pork. So we usually end up eating things like pasta and chicken often.

3. Make the grocery list. I add whatever items I need to make this weeks dinner and any staple kitchen items (such as condiments, milk, WAFFLES) that may be missing or running low. It is VERY important to stick to your list.

4. Go shopping!

My shopping plan really revolves around buying store brand whenever possible. I realize that cheaper is not always better, but my philosophy is: I can try the store brand and if it’s not a quality product- then I know for next time. The store brand usually runs anywhere from a few cents to a few dollars less than the name brand items- why wouldn’t I want to save that money.

Of course, the hubs has his items that you “just can’t skimp on.” Some of these items include:
- Cheese. Cheese must always be Kraft- no exceptions.
- Pasta Sauce. Pasta Sauce has to be Ragu, preferably Mama’s Special Garden Sauce.
- BBQ Sauce. This is tricky, because bbq sauce can be store brand IF they have the spicy honey flavor, which they do not. Therefore, we buy Kraft.
- Bread. The Hubs likes Nature’s Own White Wheat bread- period.
- Golden Oreos. These are really my favorite and I bought Walmart brand last month. The Hubs said uh-uh, they don’t taste the same.

I get teased by Hubby for always buying store brand. He said to me that my Walmart coffee probably tastes like water, but he’s wrong. It tastes just like Colombian coffee, thank you very much. It’s $1 less than Folgers! That’s a lot!

When we were at checkout, I was very excited because I knew that I had done good. I had stuck to my list, I only picked up 2 things that weren’t on my list. One was a luxury item and one was a new sippy cup for the baby. I rationalize the sippy cup because she just recently learned how to drink out of a straw, of course she needs a sippy cup with a straw attached, duh!

Hubs proclaimed that he wouldn’t be impressed unless the bill was under $90. I began my victory dance prematurely (the cashier probably thought I was out of my mind) because I knew that we would come in WAY below $90. I turned the register screen so he couldn’t see and told him to guess. “$92″ he said. Ehhhhh- wrong! $64.32. ::Continue victory dance:: Yay, me.

Name Brand vs. Store Brand

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