Cheap & Cheerful Meals: Trending Toward Cozy Autumn Suppers

We're in this in-between-the-seasons period where one day it feels like summer still, then the next day it's definitely fall-like. Our meals are reflecting this transition period, with meals increasingly autumnal such as meatloaf, roasted whole chicken, chicken and vegetable soup, and  chicken and gravy over biscuits. Of course, there are a few summer-like meals thrown in the mix, like main dish salads, sandwich meals, and lots of fresh tomatoes, green beans, and cucumbers.

After each meal entry, I've tried to provide info on which items were virtually free for us, due to our garden, orchard, and foraging.

Friday

Friday
pepperoni pizza, scratch crust, scratch sauce, packaged pepperoni, sale-priced cheese
garden turnip greens and onions, sautéed (mostly free, store-bought onions and oil)
garden turnip roots and onions, oven-roasted (mostly free, store onions and oil)
blackberry and rhubarb jello (mostly free, store gelatin and sugar)
sliced tomatoes (free)

Saturday

Saturday
meatloaf and gravy
steamed garden green beans (free)
sautéed garden squash (mostly free, unripe winter squash that was knocked off the vine plus store oil)
rice

scratch apple crisp (using our apples)

Sunday

Sunday
tuna salad sandwiches on homemade bread
garden tomato and cucumber salad (mostly free, dressing made from store ingredients)
garden cabbage and lentil sprout slaw (mostly free, dressing made from store ingredients)

leftover apple crisp

Monday

Monday
roasted chicken with gravy (sale-priced whole chicken bought in early September)
stuffing, I used various frozen bread bits, including a biscuit, a square of cornbread, a dried tortilla, and a couple of slices of sandwich bread, plus garden celery and sage, plus store onion
oven-roasted garden carrots and onions (mostly free, store onions and oil)
garden plums and apples in dressing made from leftover jello (Friday)
pan-seared garlic green beans (mostly free, store oil, soy sauce, sesame oil)

Tuesday

Tuesday
chicken (leftover from roasted whole chicken), garden apple, garden celery, garden cabbage, and raisin salad 
cream of sorrel soup (mostly free, store flour, salt, and butter)
garden tomato and cheese salad
whole grain pasta

Wednesday

Wednesday
chicken (leftover roasted chicken) in gravy, over
scratch biscuits
garden tomatoes and basil in vinaigrette (mostly free, store ingredients for dressing)
pan-seared garlic green beans (mostly free)

Thursday

Thursday
Italian chicken and garden vegetable soup (chicken carcass simmered in crock pot overnight, meat picked off, garden Swiss chard, zucchini, patty pan squash, green beans, garlic, basil, oregano and tomatoes added to stock for soup)
scratch scones 

garden tomatoes in scratch vinaigrette

These supper menus typify our menus for other meals in that we try to bulk up breakfast, lunch, and snacks with garden produce and scratch-baked goodies. Breakfasts this week included, blackberries, apples, tomatoes, homemade yogurt, milk, homemade blackberry granola, oatmeal, toasted homemade bread, peanut butter, eggs, raisins, orange juice, coffee, tea. Lunches included our fruits such as apples, blackberries, and raspberries, garden veggies such as cabbage, kale, lettuce, sorrel, Swiss chard, green beans, beet greens, tomatoes, carrot greens, celery and lentil sprouts, homemade bread, rice, peanut butter,  raisins, cheese, leftover roasted chicken, boiled and fried eggs, blackberry lemonade, scratch cookies, scratch banana muffins, scratch apple crisp, scratch cinnamon rolls, and quasi-scratch chocolate covered peanut clusters (melted chocolate chips combined with peanuts). Snacks are generally any of the breakfast or lunch foods. 

We had some freebie coupons to stores in the mall to use over the weekend. We got a free pair of underwear at Pink, a free 3-wick candle at Bath & Body Works, and a free tube of hand cream at Bath & Body Works. For all of these freebies, the only purchase that was made was a hand sanitizer at B&BW by one of my daughters (free candle with any purchase). She intended to buy a single Pocketbac hand sanitizer, then I showed her the coupons. I've never seen B&BW give away these $26 candles before. (Going with the fall trend, we chose the Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin 3-wick candle for our cozy autumn evenings.) The hand cream and underwear were free, no-purchase necessary. While at the mall, we walked around a bit. It was before lunch and I was hungry. One of my daughters offered to buy us all a Cinnabon to share. I suggested we head home and I would bake a batch of cinnamon rolls instead. Which we did. We also passed a pricey candy store, which made me think about chocolate covered nuts. Instead of buying any candy, once we got home, I made a batch of chocolate covered peanuts for the family while the cinnamon roll dough was rising.

So when yesterday's post on September's grocery spending indicated a low $ amount spent for the month, our garden, scratch-cooking/baking and simple eating habits contributed greatly. This next month, as the garden winds down and we need to stock up on more costly foods like meat again, we'll spend more. But I'll try to offset that extra spending by cooking and baking as much from scratch as I can and limiting processed food purchases.

Those were our meals this past week. What was on your menu? Are you trending toward more fall meals, also? (If you're in the So. Hemisphere, I guess your meals would be trending toward summer ones.) What's your absolute favorite fall meal?

Grocery Shopping Journal, September 2022

September 5. My daughter was at Walmart picking up some lunch and snack foods for herself. I asked her to pick up a container of vegetable shortening (Crisco type) for pie making. She bought Great Value brand, 48 oz, for $5.18, up $2.06 in one year (August 2, 2021-- I bought 2 containers of shortening for $3.12 each). I had thought to buy 2 containers, but changed my mind when I saw the price. I'll try using part vegetable oil and part shortening in my pie crust recipe and see what we think of such a blend and make this container last longer. Vegetable oil is still cheaper than this price on shortening here. And I forgot to ask her to pick up mayonnaise. So that will go on my next list.

September 7. My other daughter has to drive south right by WinCo every late afternoon/evening for rehearsals this month and next. She was planning a stop at WinCo on the way this day, so I asked her to check the price on mayonnaise and give me a call from the store. She did, and mayo was about $1 cheaper at WinCo than at Walmart. I asked her to pick up 3 jars for me, and I reimbursed her when she got home. Total spent $7.44.

I'm almost fully stocked for winter. I'd rather have my stock and not need it, than need it and not have it.

For the month so far, I've spent $12.62. I'll be needing milk early next week. That's when I've got a Fred Meyer shopping planned. I've been adding to my list. I also need eggs and pepperoni for pizzas. I would normally buy a few bananas, but I've been slicing and freezing the bananas as they get too ripe. We mostly use bananas for smoothies, which is what I'd planned for the frozen banana slices. No need for new bananas right now. The other item I want is some instant decaf coffee. I ran out a couple of weeks ago and have been missing it. I think I'll hit up Fred Meyer Tuesday early morning, in hopes of scoring markdowns.

I used a gift card to Five Guys on Thursday, Sept. 8. This was a Christmas gift from 2020. I finally got around to using it for a "Little" burger. Little in quotes because it was huge. I opted for bacon, too. $10 deducted from the gift card. Five Guys still has the free peanuts, but you now have to ask for them instead of helping yourself. The cashier was very generous with the peanuts and I still have a bunch left. I'd rather have roasted peanuts as a side than French fries any day. I asked for a cup for water. I don't drink soda or milkshakes. I said the burger was huge. I was hardly hungry at dinner after the Five Guys lunch. It was a beautiful sunny day with a warm wind. I ate outside on Five Guys' patio. Out of pocket -- $0.00

I went to the Farmer's Market to pick up a birthday gift for a friend. I no longer do food samples -- a side effect of hyper awareness of contagions these past couple of years. Too bad. I passed up some yummy looking samples. I had thought to buy some produce while there, but I couldn't bring myself to spend $4/lb on peaches. I had a great time anyway. Some good music, lots to look at, and I did get the gift -- locally made. Wow! Two outings in one week. I may have to forfeit my Hermits of America membership card.

September 13. We needed milk and jalapeño peppers (for salsa), so I planned to go to Fred Meyer this morning. I got out early, hoping to catch some markdowns. My first stop is always the dairy cooler to check for milk. Nothing marked down today. I bought 2 gallons of 2% (for drinking/cereal) and 1 gallon of whole milk (for yogurt). This is a much lesser amount of milk than what I usually buy. It was $3.39/gallon which is on the high side for my budget. I do have some frozen milk I can use for baking and cooking, which will stretch what I bought. But also, I've noticed my family isn't going through milk as quickly as they used to. So, maybe this purchase will last 2 or 3 weeks. I also bought bacon (marked down to $3.79/12-oz, bought 3), chopped pecans (marked down $3.99/16-oz, bought 2), Nathan's kosher hot dogs (marked down $5.49/28-oz, bought 1), bottled salad dressing (marked down 79 cents, bought 1), dried lima beans (marked down 89 cents/16-oz, bought 1), 5 dozen eggs ($8.29), instant decaf coffee ($4.99), pepperoni for pizzas ($2.79/6-oz, bought 2), 3 bananas (49 cents/lb), jalapeños ($1.39/lb), and a whole chicken at 99cents/lb. Total spent --$63.65

Spent so far this month on food -- $76.27

September 20. One daughter has the car for several days, cat-sitting. She earns money while also working on her next book. I can't go to a store, so we use what we have on hand and I save money. It's a win for both of us. I will need milk around the end of September or very beginning of October and will shop again then.

September 28. I'm making my list for the next time I shop. I have some coupons (eggs, frozen veggies, cheese) specific to Fred Meyer to use before the 4th of October. So my next shopping will happen between now and then. I'll also need milk for drinking at that point. I've been mixing up powdered milk this week. I don't like to use too much of our powdered milk supply, as it works out to be about $5/gallon. But it's handy to keep in the pantry for weeks like these, when shopping is delayed for a few days. For produce, I'll wait until I drive south to the produce stand on the highway. I'll make that trip in early to mid-October to pick up some long-keeping items like squash and pumpkin and a 25-lb bag of carrots, if they have some in stock.

Total spent on food in September -- $76.27

bought in September

3 lbs vegetable shortening
3 30-oz jars mayonnaise

3 gallons milk

2 lbs pecans

36 ounces bacon

28-oz pack kosher hotdogs

1 bottle Ranch dressing

16-oz dried lima beans

5 dozen eggs

1 jar instant decaf coffee

12 ounces pepperoni

3 bananas

about 1 lb jalapeño peppers

whole chicken

Right now, it looks like we don't buy much food. I stocked up on basics during summer, plus our garden has produced well for us this season, beginning in April. We may not have every vegetable growing in our garden, but we have enough variety to satisfy us. If I had to name a couple of veggies that I wish we had, corn and eggplant would top my list. But otherwise, I think we're all pretty happy with what we do have from our garden.