Happy Labor Day, Friends!

Wishing you a restful holiday today. Do you have anything special planned for the day or evening? We'll be having a cook-out with our son and daughter-in-law. Plus, I'll be using my Mother's Day gift for the first time -- a smoker. (I know, all you ladies are so jealous of my Mother's Day gift, ha ha.)

Here's our menu:

hot dogs cooked over the fire ring

buns and all of the fixings

smoked beef short ribs

rosemary and Parmesan mashed potatoes 

kale, apple, and bacon salad in a sweet and tangy dressing

fresh figs and plums

steamed, buttered sweet peas

s'mores

blackberry pie

The hot dogs are all-beef and uncured. The brand is Marketside, bought at Walmart for $4.98. This is a great price for all-beef and uncured hot dogs. The package size is 16 oz ,and there are 8 in the package.  Here's the link to see what they are. For comparison, Nathan's are $5.96 per pound (package size 12 oz), and Hebrew National are $7.69 per pound (package size 10.3 oz). Although the Marketside hot dogs are not kosher. Nathan's are not kosher, either. But Hebrew Nationals are kosher, if that's a consideration for anyone.

The buns were the only thing that I bought especially for today. I picked them up at Fred Meyer on the way to church yesterday, $1.67 for the package of 8 buns.

I am smoking the beef short ribs along with some chicken breasts (to use later in the week). The aroma is a wonderful mix of meaty with the sweet smell of applewood. The short ribs came in my recent box of beef from the rancher, and the chicken breasts I picked up at WinCo in July or August.

I'm using boxed mashed potatoes as our garden potatoes aren't ready to harvest just yet. I use olive oil in place of butter, and soy milk in place of dairy milk, along with the potatoes, chopped fresh rosemary, shaved Parmesan cheese, and garlic powder. I made these earlier this one night, and the three of us who were home really enjoyed them -- savory, cheesy, and herby combined with silky potatoes.

The kale and apples are from our garden. These apples are sweet with a bit of tang. The bacon bits were from the marked down bacon that I bought in July? at Grocery Outlet, $1.99 per package. I chopped both packages, cooked and froze the bits to add to salads and other dishes. So handy to have at the ready. I will blend together some blackberry jam, vinegar, salt, and oil for a sweet and tangy vinaigrette.

The figs are from our trees, and the plums came from a neighbor's tree. Our neighbor very kindly brought a box of plums to us the other afternoon. She lives alone and hates to see the fruit wasted. So she gifts boxes or bags of plums to neighbors when her tree produces a lot.

The peas are just frozen peas that I bought on sale at WinCo. WinCo uses a green price tag on shelves to indicate temporary markdowns. Their sweet peas are so delicate and small. I bought 10 bags that day. While I like Walmart for a lot of their store brand products, their peas are mealy and overly starchy. WinCo's are the best!

The s'mores are just s'mores. I bought the graham crackers on sale at Grocery Outlet earlier in summer, and the marshmallows and chocolate bars at Walmart recently. The Great Value brand chocolate bars (milk and dark) and really pretty good. They're priced at $1.12 for 3.52 oz bars.

One of my daughters baked 2 blackberry pies last night after dinner. She was taking slices of one pie to a friend for while they watch a movie together today, and left an entire pie for us. I think she's also planning on gifting a few slices of pie to neighbors.

That's it for our menu. Enjoy the rest of your day and evening. I'll be back tomorrow afternoon!

What was in my grocery cart for August 2024? I spent a lot

August was a very expensive month here.

I started the month with an order of powdered soy milk. In order to get the lowest unit price, free shipping, and a free 3-pair pack of socks, I purchased enough for 6-8 months. I spent $103.92.

August 1.  The trifecta of grocery shopping, a run to WinCo, Walmart, and Grocery Outlet, all along the same highway in the town next to me. I spent $84.05 at WinCo, $2.50 at Grocery Outlet, and $7.44 at Walmart, for a total of $93.99. I bought 1 pack of bacon, 2 packs of turkey snack sticks, 2 frozen peas, 2 frozen broccoli, 2 butter, 3 lb onions, large pack chicken breasts, gal milk, 24-ct string cheese, 2 lb cheddar, 2 liquid soy milk, 10 tuna, mustard, lemon juice, bread flour, mayo, peanuts, 5 lbs carrots, bananas, iodized salt, garlic powder, baking powder, natural peanut butter, sea salt, Himalayan salt. This was for the most part a week to 2 weeks worth of groceries for us.

August 2.  We were wanting some summer-y treats. So we bought a carton of ice cream and 2-liter of root beer at Walmart to make root beer floats at home. We spent $4.56, which may sound like a lot for those treats, but compared to getting similar summer treats out, this was a bargain for 4 people. And the ice cream would also be used the next week when we made peanut buster parfaits, using. homemade fudge sauce and peanuts we had at home.

August 10.  This was my off-week from running all the way down the highway to WinCo. So I just did a quick shop at Walmart and Grocery Outlet. I bought bananas, turkey snack sticks, and milk at Walmart and non-dairy vanilla ice cream at Grocery Outlet. I spent $14.56 total.

August 12.  Out running errands and I stopped by World Market to get some whole cardamom pods. I spent $3.99.

August 18.  After church we swung by Fred Meyer to pick up something for my daughter. While there I bought a jar of instant decaf coffee. I spent $6.49. I'm down to a half-cup of coffee/decaf per day, most days. Occasionally I have a second half-cup of decaf only. So this jar should last a while.

August 21.  Went only to WinCo this day. I bought 2 frozen broccoli, 10 frozen peas, frozen turkey breakfast sausage, 24-ct string cheese, 2 lbs Italian sausage, 1 pack pepperoni, 4 butter, gal milk, mayo, bananas, 2 natural peanut butter, bread flour, 3 10 lb all-purpose flour, peanuts. I spent $109.16. Our car will be in the shop for 10 days beginning next Tuesday to repair damage done in daughter's accident. So, I shopped for 4 weeks of the foods I normally buy at WinCo.

August 29.  Maybe the last grocery shopping for a bit. I may be able to get a bus to Walmart or Fred Meyer to pick up milk and bananas in a week. Today I went to Chef'Store (a restaurant supply) and Walmart. I bought 1 lb yeast, 6 lbs mozzarella, 5 lbs sharp cheddar, 1 lb shaved Parmesan, 50 lbs onions, 50 lbs, whole wheat flour, 50 lbs sugar, gal milk, turkey breakfast sausage, ketchup, 2 doz eggs, bananas, jalapeño peppers. I spent a total of $136.77. Some of these items were stock-up foods, such as the whole wheat flour, the yeast, the sugar, and the onions. The cheese will also last us a couple of months. Prices were up on everything I bought today. It's shocking to pay $4 for a dozen eggs and feel like that's the best price around. Sugar has doubled in price since 2020. Cheese is up by about 50%. It's just all shocking.

Our next delivery of beef will be arriving in a week. It's been charged to my card already, so I'll include it in August's total. The charge is $359.00.

The only not-totally-necessary treat foods this month were the root beer and ice cream. We enjoyed those a lot, though. And a bargain compared to going out to Dairy Queen for similar treats. Thankfully we have a large garden to supplement the groceries. Otherwise it would look like the only produce we eat are onions, carrots, and bananas. We bake often using the fruits that we harvest and forage. So no deprivation around here. I do buy some "healthier" snacks, like the string cheese, turkey snack sticks, and roasted peanuts. We all enjoy having an easy-to-grab protein snack, even if those are kind of pricey per pound. I expect that a fair amount of what I bought will last for several months. September's grocery shopping should be on the light side.

The grand total for this August's food-only groceries comes to $832.44.

How did you do with grocery spending this month?