Menu Monday

Today (err... yesterday) is the day! The last Menu Monday! For one year we have been eating for $10 dollars a week between the two of us. For one year we have been matching our own food budget with donations to food and water organizations for others. For one year we have learned some of what it means to sacrifice what we could have for what people should have.

The hardest part was getting used to not being able to drive through and pick up something to eat. We would do that almost every Friday on our way to San Antonio, it was easy, it was fast. But now we had to plan ahead and pack food to eat on the road.

One of the best things that we took from this experience is the time we spent together working on this project. Planning our menu, shopping together, working as a team to score some deals. Also, how blessed we truly were with people who wanted to bless us with food and how God always always took care of our needs.

So it was a good year, and we felt it was well worth it and it will definitely change how we eat in the future.

This week's Menu Monday is a short one. Taylor is going to San Antonio to spend some time with her family as her brothers come to visit. So I just need a few things to eat till Thursday- pizza sounds good! So I just need some tomato sauce, cheese, and a few tomatoes (to make my new Margarita creation!)

Thanks for following along on our adventure! We will begin with a new one next year! We have been preparing and are excited to be able to join in something that so many are doing already. Just another way to share how God has blessed us in our lives. :)

*Update

Well we won't need to buy sauce, cheese, and tomatoes.  Frankie decided that because he is working late Tuesday and Wednesday that he didn't need food because the office covers dinner.  And Thursday we have a  coupon for a free Whataburger!  So it will be eggs and for lunch and peanut butter and crackers.  Guess we get to save our $20 these two weeks for another day.  :)

Menu Monday

Two more cycles and we are done for the year. It is so hard to believe that!

This is what we picked up for the next few weeks.
Turkey-loaf, Spaghetti, and Pizza are a few things on the menu.
We picked up some breakfast things, and a few snacks. :)
Taylor will be in San Antonio next week so this should be more then enough to last me.

Menu Monday

This week we made our list and only picked up items for one week and a few days, because we will be home enjoying turkey with family this week! So here is what we got...

The cereal said FREE so we got it, and after a mail in rebate we hope that the box isn't lying... :)

Menu Monday

We have had a couple people asking us lately how we eat off of $10 a week. So in this Menu Monday we thought that we would share with you our process in addition to the next two week's menu!

We always make a list before we go shopping. This week we made ours while driving back to Houston. We talk about what we have coming up (lunch meetings or parties) and if we will be at home (driving to San Antonio) to figure out how many meals we need to plan for.
Then we remember what we already have. We made a batch of beans last week that needs to be eaten and we have half a bag of rice. So we decided that tacos and enchiladas were good choices. We can make tortillas so we just need to add cheese, a tomato, tomato sauce, and some meat to our list. We know that we can make this last us for four dinners.
Because we are buying meat we also know that we can get by with just half of the package for tacos and we can use the other half for spaghetti. So we add pasta, and pasta sauce to our list. This should last us another 4 dinners.
We add items that always stay on our list, things like bread, fresh fruit, and peanut butter and jelly (if we don't have any but at this time we do).
We also like to get some kind of snacks or chips because we're munchy like that.
Breakfasts are kind of random and since milk costs so much we really haven't been buying cereal much lately. For now we have some oatmeal that we bought for around $.10 at CVS on clearance. There's eggs, bread, and the occasional chocolate chip cookie from the lobby. ;)
Lunch is almost always PB&J, with fruit, and some chips or pretzels.

So here's our list!

Next we look to see if we know we can find coupons for our items (we know what items often offer coupons but you can check for all your items on sites like coupons.com) but we almost always buy store brands because they beat even the coupon prices. We look for combo deals in paper ads but most of the time those cost too much. Sometimes we find promotions like 10 items for $10 and match some items with coupons to get super low prices and stock up!

Another rule we use is: Shop with your calculator! We add everything together as we put in items in the cart so we know we are staying within budget. Often times we have to put things back to even out the total.

This week we grabbed everything on our list with some extra money left over, so we bought butter (we have been out for awhile) and yeast (just finished our last bit last week!) and our total came out to $16 even! We had to add $1.17 for flour that we bought at SuperS with a coupon, so a total of $17.17! That leaves us with $2.83 to save for a rainy day. :)

This is what it take to feed us for two weeks.

Day one (and two)!

And it's so good!!!!



October Giving ~ SA Food Bank

Since I am in San Antonio for the rest of the week our giving for October will go to San Antonio Food Bank.


"The San Antonio Food Bank is committed not only to providing emergency support, but also to working to address the systemic issues that cause hunger and poverty. We strive each and everyday to do our part in feeding the hungry and providing support to the many families that live throughout our sixteen county service area, but... we cannot do it alone."

We love San Antonio, and Food Banks are great resources in desperate times. Not only will we be donating and helping feed families, but we get to do it in a fun way! Our friends over at Bless Your Heart are hosting a food drive from Nov 2nd to Nov 20th and if you bring in 5 items to donate you get a $5 giftcard and if you bring in 10 items to donate you get a $10 giftcard! So, I'm super excited about giving for October! ;)

Menu Monday

On our way back to Houston Sunday night we stopped at the store and picked up a few things...

We will try to update with photos of what we make this week.

Monday Night - Yum!Tuesday and Wednesday Night

Tuesday and Wednesday Night

Thursay and weekend!!!!

Menu Monday and Lots of Updates!

Back in Houston after a wonderful weekend of friends and family... for a few days anyway! I feel like we are in our car more then in our apartment this month. First a parade, then a camping/girls night, CHF Banquet, and this weekend is our second yard sale for water, then the 5K walk for ALS. All in San Antonio or around there - kind of makes you wonder what in the world are we doing in Houston. We have been wondering and praying about the same thing...

But today we must focus on today and not worry about tomorrow. And today we need food! So we came up with a list last night and I will be headed to the store on my way home. Here is our list:

Bread - 2 loafs

Eggs

Some fresh Fruit

Tomatoes

Corn

Ground Beef

Pork Chops

Pasta

Pasta Sauce

Beans

Peanut Butter

Jelly

Snacks

We don't normally buy meat, let alone two different types, but we think we might be able to fit it in. :)


We have so much to post this week! Like I said earlier we are having a Yard Sale this weekend to raise more money for out water well in Africa though charity:water. This is our second since the first went so well- we raised over $500! Saturday's sale will be in Pleasonton, TX and we are starting to become overwhelmed with items! We have been pricing things for awhile and we are still looking for more! In fact I am taking the whole day off on Friday and we are going to be driving around San Antonio, Devine, and Pleasenton collecting items from family and friends. We are even working on a few projects at home to start selling this weekend.

Next weekend is the ALS walk and if you want to help with that, the post is below this one! There is a link on how to give. We even talked about offering ad space here on Taylor Frankie to anyone who makes a donation to that cause. So if you have a product, business, or blog and have a picture, logo, or ad let us know. And we will be posting a little more on that in the next few days.

We will also be posting about the banquet this past weekend, because if you follow us on twitter you know something that we haven't announced here on the blog yet! ;) That will also be coming in the next few days.

So hold on tight because we are about to hit warp speed!!!

Sunny Saturdays and Menu Monday on Tardy Tuesday

Well our internet is still out at the house, and we are way behind on our posts... And life is BUSY right now- Taylor is about to make a weekend trip to San Antonio to go to Chosen with her Mom at Summit Church, and I am retaking the first two sections of the NCIDQ this Friday and then I am hiking out to Enchanted Rock with a friend for the weekend!

More updates.... my car broke, and was fixed, then broke again, and I fixed it again to get it to the shop and it is getting fixed for the last time (I hope). And we were blessed with another camera! The boss replaced his and gave me the old one- a touch screen Sony Cyber Shot (Score!) plus a new case and cord to go along with it! I also had a job site in San Antonio this past Friday so we had a jump start to our weekend and filled it to the max! Check out what we did on our Sunny (with a few showers) Saturday!

Thanks, Father-in-Law, for the fun outing! :D

This week's Menu Monday is pretty short. We planned on going camping last weekend so we bought food for that and didn't eat it so that what we are going to using this week. Just had to pick up a few things to supplement...

Bread

Eggs

Carrots

Tomato Sauce

Cheese

Bananas

We will try to update photos of what we make, probably in the form of TwitPics. You can find our tweets and twitpics on our Twitter App on the side of our blog. And if your on Twitter, follow us and let us know so we can follow you. :)

Thank you Lord for your many blessings this weekend! Please guide us through our week and help us to show your love to everyone we meet!

Also, wanted to give a quick shout out to our friend Amy! We met her through CHF in SA and she has been so cool to follow on facebook and on her blog. She just helped out with a Habitat for Humanity home and posted all about it. :)

July Giving - Kids' Meals & August Giving - CHF

"Texas ranks 3rd in the nation for food insecurity, meaning one in five adults and one in four children in our state are hungry, and that is simply unacceptable."
- Texas Department of Agriculture Commissioner, Todd Staples

Simply unacceptable - we agree! That's why this month we are matching our food budget with a donation to Kids' Meals - Houston's only meals on wheels for kids, striving to be the first city with no hungry children. What a mission!

Kids' Meals delivers nutritious meals directly to the homes of 1,200 hungry pre-school aged children living in poverty. The meals come Monday through Friday, year-round and are free of cost to the families.

A big thanks to our friend, Janie, who sent out an email making us aware of this great organization and bringing to our attention the real need for nutrition for children in our city. Also, our local Christian radio station, KSBJ has recently partnered with this organization to bring snacks and school supplies to these children! They also brought us these facts from Kids' Meals:

One in four children in Harris County (our county!) go to bed hungry each night. 24% of children ages 0-5 in the Greater Houston Area live in poverty, and approximately 60,000 preschoolers do not receive free meals in schools through the breakfast and lunch assistance programs.

So here's to you, Kids' Meals! Keep up the good work!

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For August, we decided that we were going to donate a Food Pak® since we celebrated the 1 year anniversary of our Food Pak® Challenge! Even though we didn't make it all the way through our recreation of the challenge, we still owe it to CHF to donate a Food Pak®! One for one! ;)

We love you, CHF! :) And we'll try that Food Pak® Challenge again, soon!

Menu Monday on Tardy Thursday...

Sorry for our tardiness, our internet is down at home. :(

Here is what we bought Monday night.

One of our first finds was a rotisserie chicken for only $1.99! Score! And next was the doughnuts for $1.99, again! (We didn't grab these until the end, when we were sure we could fit them within our budget! ;) We knew we wanted to go camping this weekend so we grabbed some food for that- potatoes, carrots, sausage, and eggs. Grandma sent us home with two loaves of leftover bread this weekend so we got to skip on that this time. We also still have some food leftover from when Taylor's parents were to here to supplement the rest of what we bought. And we picked up a few items to make pizzas! It is going to be a sweet week! ;) And we plan on trying out a tortilla recipe! :)

Pushing Pause

Well, here we are more then half way through our adventure and we have come to the realization that this isn't working... :( No excuses, no ones fault, things just aren't working.  So after talking about it over lunch we decided that it would be best to put aside our challenge for now and start fresh in a few weeks when we are a bit more organized.

So just to share the little bit of how our eating was going here are a few pictures. :)

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday and Thursday and Friday

Tuesday

Like I said today at lunch is when we decided that things were not turning out as planned so that was our last meal, so to speak. 

For dinner we had all the food that somehow found it's way to our kitchen...

And for dessert we made a real treat!  Dulce de leche!

Our friend Talia shared a recipe on her blog and we had to try it!  

Thanks Talia!!! It was delicious!!!

We still plan on matching our goal to CHF this week.  :)  And we still invite you to join us if you feel moved to give. The fact is others don't have the luxury of deciding when they need the Food Pak and when they don't.

Time to Celebrate! ~ Menu Monday - Food Pak® Challenge

Not only is today our Bloggie Birthday and our 100th post, but it is also our Food Pak® Challenge Anniversary! For those of you who don't know, the Food Pak® is something that the Children's Hunger Fund distributes to struggling families in our cities and around the world. Through the Food Pak® they offer support and love to our neighbors, and hope through relationships with volunteers and our Savior!

When we first heard about CHF and the Food Pak® we weren't really sure we were going to donate anything, but something stirred within me and I had the idea of getting one of these boxes and eating out of it ourselves to see if it really had what it took to feed a family for weeks, like it claimed. I told Taylor my idea, and like I learned in Church this weekend- by vocalizing what I felt, I was in a way, committing to do it. Taylor was on board and she was there to make sure that we stayed on track... I couldn't have done without her. Together we went shopping, we cooked, we blogged, and at the end of week God planted an idea that then grew into what you are seeing today. We could simplify and change our eating habits and provide multiple families with a good, sustainable amount of food at the same cost. How can you argue with that? We can eat and be healthy and be happy and help others. We may not be eating our favorite foods, and it may take longer then driving through, but we do it for the love of our brothers and sisters. Our first Food Pak® experience went so well that we did it again, and at the end of our two weeks we had saved enough money to make 10 Food Paks®! God really blessed us and allowed us to greatly bless others. :)

Since then, we decided that we wouldn't be able to go back to eating normally... well, not right away. We knew we wanted to do something and we wanted to do something big, so we set our sights on 2010 and we set a goal to eat for $10 a week for a whole year. At the end of the month we take the same amount that we spent on groceries and we donate it to food and water organizations. It has been a good year so far, and it's hard to believe that we have come such a long way. But we would like to go back to where it started, and we would really love for you come along with us.

For the next two weeks Taylor and I will be taking the Food Pak® Challenge again, and we want to encourage you to try it for a week, as well. The items in the box are really common items and can be bought for around $25. If you decided to try this, we would also like to encourage you to make the same $25 donation to CHF to help feed other families through the Food Pak®. So please consider it, pray about it, and let us know! We would love to have someone to share stories, recopies, and pictures with; we would even love to offer you a chance to share with us what you learned and experienced here on our blog.

Here is the list that comes with the Food Pak®.

Here are our groceries!

And our first dinner!

Look like fun? Give it a try!

To learn about the Food Pak® Challenge visually, check out the video CHF put together on our "Media" tab!

Let the challenge begin!!!

Menu Monday & Campbell's Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo!

Now back to our regular scheduled blogging...

We had a pretty great shopping trip yesterday! Kroger is having a sale right now- if you buy 8 participating items, you receive $4 off! So we checked out our ad and scrounged for coupons and this is what we came up with-


We were right on Target with a total of $19.98! But check out how much more food we got!!! We purchased 30 items with a total of $24.04 in coupons savings, that's 54%! The only things we paid more than $1 for were the canned chicken, flour, and bag of cheese. We actually received some Kroger coupons in the mail last week and we're very excited to find a coupon for free eggs! Thanks, Kroger! Most of the other coupons came from coupons.com and we found some others by searching on Google. And since Kroger doubles and triples coupons, as well as accepts one manufacturer and Kroger coupon per item, we actually got some things for free like the Gardettos and potatoes! We haven't coupon shopped like this for groceries in a long time so it was pretty exciting!

We also still have some food leftover from the last two weeks- rice, pasta, peanut butter, jelly, and some cereal. We're going to make the Campbell's Broccoli Chicken Alfredo again, because that was really good! And this time we might even share the recipe! ;) And it's been too long since we've had pizza and our leftover sausage needs used up. Yum! Another classic for this week is our Rice Chicken Veggie casserole but we're substituting tuna this time for a change.

Looking forward to this next two week's and all our snacky goodness! :)

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Now, something that we've been really excited about...

Two weeks from now, marks one year since we started our original Food Pak challenge and the beginning of our blog! We'd like to celebrate by doing something big and we want you to be a part of it! We've decided to relive this experience for our upcoming two week grocery cycle! We wanted to let you all know ahead of time so that you can prepare because we want you, dear readers, to come along with us on this adventure! We invite you to participate with us for either the first or second week as we again eat from these boxes that are a crucial element at CHF. Our wish would be that at the end of your Food Pak challenge you would want to give another Pak to a family who truly needs it with the money you saved. We originally started with trying to raise enough money for one Food Pak and we ended up making 10! We are setting our goal this time, as a team, for 10 boxes, but we have a big God so our number doesn't really matter! With Him we could double or even triple our goal! This is a big deal, and it will change your life if you let it, so take some time, think about, and let us know if you'll be joining us! We're so excited!!

Not sure what the Food Pak Challenge is? Check out the button on the top right of our blog, it will take you to CHF's website and a video. You can also click on the Food Pak Challenge Categories on the left and they will bring up all of our tagged post. (Thanks again to Fred, Christy, and Jesse for all your hard work and sharing it with us.)

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Recipe Update

Campbell's Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo

1/2 of a 16 oz. pkg. linguine
1 cup fresh or frozen broccoli flowerets
2 tbsp. butter
1 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1 1/2" pieces
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) Campbell's Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

1. Prepare linguine according to package directions in 3-qt saucepan. Add broccoli during last 4 min. of cooking time. Drain well.

2. Heat butter in 10" skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until well browned, stirring often.

3. Stir soup, milk, cheese, black pepper and linguine mixture in skillet. Cook until mixture is hot and bubbling, stirring occasionally. Serve with additional Parmesan cheese.

Thank you Campbell's for this great recipe! We had actually bought the soup sometime last year when Kroger was having a great 10 for $10 sale. It was a cheap item and I think we had coupons so it was probably close to free. It just happened to have this recipe on the back of it when I pulled it out to brainstorm what we could use it for!

We did use a can of chicken in place of the chicken breasts and condensed milk the second time we made it (also from the 10 for $10 sale, probably free). And the Parmesan is something we've had in our fridge for awhile since my mom sent it home with us one weekend. It was a great way to use it up and it really made the pasta! It was delicious!

Our Trip to Connecticut ~ Food Edition

So we headed to Connecticut with the monies we had saved up since January- a total of $61! We were pretty confident in our abilities to use only this money for our food budget while on our trip, and in the end we did really well! We ate some meals at the Larson's home, shared when eating out, and grabbed some delightful treats and snacks along the way! (As well as eating at the airports- of which we traveled through a total of 9!) Here's some of what we ate:

First stop: The USS Chowder III, where we enjoyed Parmesan encrusted tilapia, with rice, and [amazing] lobster bisque!

A delicious bacon cheeseburger with Caesar side salad and fries at Hard Rock, NYC!


Beating the heat with a Banana Pineapple smoothie at Frutation, by Edible Arrangements!

A little snack stop at Dunkin Donuts! Thanks, Tia!

THE MOST DELICIOUS frozen yogurt I have ever tasted IN MY LIFE! Seriously this I have again, in Heaven! Frankie's was a Black Tea frozen yogurt smoothie and mine was Pomegranate frozen yogurt with fresh raspberries and blueberries! SO GOOD!

And you can't make a trip to NY without having a pretzel! ;)

Menu Monday

Well, we shopped at HEB on Saturday! It was a nice HEB with lots of samples! ;) We had fun finding deals different than Kroger, like really cheap oranges! :) Yum! We also took advantage of a yellow coupon deal- free cheese with sausage purchase! It was a great trip, with $.44 left over!

Menu Items for these next two weeks include:

Enchiladas (we had lots of leftover corn tortillas from last week!)

PB&J as always!

Eggs (breakfast for dinner is wonderful!)

and we're trying something new- an actual recipe! lol! We've had a can of Cream of Mushroom soup for the longest time and I picked it up for inspiration while making the grocery list and on the back was a recipe! Imagine that! ;) Campbell's Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo! Mmm! All it calls for is the soup, noodles, broccoli, chicken, butter, milk, Parmesan cheese, and pepper! Simple and hopefully tasty!

Other meals include a FREE Whataburger! tomorrow as well as a FREE Chicken Fajita Taco from Taco Cabana! Also, Thursday, our Pastor is hosting a Children's Ministry's Volunteer Appreciation Dinner and Pool Party! Fun stuff! For the weekend we'll be in SA, and we always enjoy sharing meals with our families. ;)

Stay tuned for an update on what we ate in CT with our saved up $61!

Menu Monday

Upon returning from Connecticut last Monday (update of our trip soon!) this is about all the food that was left in our apt...

Not bad right?? :)

We didn't get around to grocery shopping until mid-week, and we went to SA for the weekend so we shopped for just the last few weekdays...

PB&J all the way. (And we made pizza! I think it's our fav.)

We also picked up this incredibly delish burger on the way outta town for frees from Sonic! :D

And then tonight we bought for this week...

For dinner tonight...enchiladas!!!!!! They were sooooo good!!!!!

More pizza is on the menu for the rest of the week as well as good ol' chicken/rice/veggie casserole! It's good to be home! :)