Holy cannolis March turned out to be a very expensive month for groceries. I don’t know how we did it but we spent a whopping $433.46. WOW!
With stock up trips to Costco and Trader Joe’s apparently all those salad kits and avocados added up!! And there was that birthday dinner of beef bourguignon too.
At least we ate well and seem to be loading up on the fruits and veggies… So that’s good, right?
We tried the garden vegetable soup I picked up a few weeks ago from Trader Joe’s and it was EXCELLENT! We’d totally get it again. It tasted very fresh and light and a total winner in our book.
We finished the 24 pound box of Pixie oranges. I had the last one yesterday. I didn’t think we’d be able to eat them all but we did. The most I ate in 1 day was 15.
I’m pretty sure I won’t have to worry about scurvy for a while. HA HA HA.
Market Basket Shopping Trip $26.33
I was craving blueberry pancakes the other day so the HH bought a bag of pancake mix and made me {and Lucy} breakfast in bed.
Lucy loves pancakes!
He also made chicken curry. {2 meals in 1 week. I couldn’t believe it.}
We also had chicken nachos. I thought I put too much cheese on them but oh well.
I also cooked a Jennie-O turkey breast {from the freezer} in the Crock Pot and made a box of Stove Top and some asparagus too.
Have you cooked turkey breast in the Crock Pot before? It’s so easy!!
I don’t think I’d cook a giant turkey again unless I had a houseful of people to feed.
Costco Shopping Trip $39.44
More salad mix from Costco. We can’t get enough of the stuff! I think I’ll make a batch or two of morning glory muffins with some of those carrots this week.
And maybe some maple glazed carrots too. I think I might have a pot roast in the freezer, I’ll have to check. Pot roast and carrots are always a winning combination.
Big salads rule.
And big salads with bacon are even better.
Rye Flour $9.99
Why is it that Hannaford sells King Arthur Rye flour for $9.99 a bag and the King Arthur site is selling it for $10.99 a bag? It doesn’t make sense. Stuff like this makes me crazy.
And last but not least avocado toast. You can never have enough avocado toast. 😉
We’ve been pretty much eating avocados every other day for the past three months and neither one of us is tired of them yet.
Although my husband is tired of the way I put things in the dishwasher. He firmly believes everything should be cleaned off BEFORE it goes into the dishwasher.
I firmly believe the word DISH WASHER means the machine is meant to wash the dishes.
Who’s with me on this one?
~Mavis
Total Spent This Past Week: $75.76
January $229.38
February $260.86
March $433.46
Kelly says
How long do you cook the turkey in the crock pot?
Mavis Butterfield says
For the turkey breast it was 4 hours on high {from frozen}.
Heather in Nevada says
Thanks. I was just going to ask.
Sam says
March was atrocious for my spending too, but I managed to shave about 10% from my H and G Budget And working very hard the rest of the spring to keep spending low. I’m approaching early retirement and have no income for about 6 weeks.
Anna Himes says
Sorry but I am totally with your husband on this one! I also think there is a right way to put dishes in the dishwasher. My husband sometimes puts glasses in sideways. Arrrgggh! lol
Andrea says
RE: chicken nachos
The 2nd rule of Cheese Club is there’s no such thing as too much cheese.
Lindsey says
I agree, that is the second rule.
Wendy Steele says
What’s the first rule? Inquiring minds want to know!!!
Lynn from NC Outer Banks says
My March spending was out of sight too! I typically keep a running total of grocery expenses, but didn’t this month. I knew I was spending more, but it was only when I added all the trips up that I realized I DOUBLED my food budget. Won’t make that mistake again. Back to keeping tabs on my spending!
Peg says
Totally with you! A dishwasher is meant to wash dishes. Work smarter not harder.
Lana says
Somehow we only spent half our grocery budget but I am sure we will make up for it in April.
Katie M. says
Having just watched an entire video about how dishwashers work (my social media algorithms are very quirky), you’ll be pleased to know that you’re loading dishes correctly. Did you know dishwashers have sensors that set their cleaning power based on how much dirt they detect in the initial rinse? Me neither! But that’s why you should put dishes in dirty.
Kathy says
I use to be team HH but I’ve seen the logic in scrub it if it comes out dirty, not before. It does depend on the efficiency of your dishwasher but it saves water.
maureen detmer says
i used to buy a lot of stuff on the king arthur flour site, this was before a lot of stores were buying more specialty items. now i never buy anything on them, they are super expensive and charge a fortune in shipping to boot. you can find just about everything for half the price on amazon and get in a day or 2 days tops. i was looking for pumpernickle flour to make a sourdough starter. king arthur wanted some ridiculous price and then i got in through amazon, could not find it in any of my local stores. they do have good recipes though, that you can always tweak. they always suggeat items in the recipes that they sell on their website for a gazillion dollars, either i omit it or substitute. ok, good day……loving the new whale rug by the way
Laura Z says
I rinse first. Unless you have a fancy dishwasher with a disposal built in, all those food bits are going to get caught in the dishwasher filters and cause problems later. I clean out my dishwasher filter monthly and it’s still gross. I can’t imagine what it would be like if I didn’t rinse.
Look at all those veggies and all the delicious meals. I wouldn’t be hard on yourselves about the grocery money. They are expensive and you ate well.
Sue says
I am SO with the HH on this one: I clean dishes before they go in the dishwasher.
– Glasses that have held iced coffee/milk for hours? Don’t come clean unless pre-scrubbed. I pre-wash/rinse all glasses every time.
– Forks/plates with runny-yolked eggs & cheese? Don’t come clean unless pre-scrubbed.
– Plates with dried canned cat food? Don’t come clean unless soaked AND pre-scrubbed. Is it cat food or just chunky glue? I honestly can’t tell.
Why? Because my dishwasher is not as capable as it should be. It only excels at rinsing and drying.
Diana says
We don’t use the dishwasher! With just two people there aren’t many dishes and my husband does them since I do the cooking. We use handmade pottery for all of our dishes and have about six of each type of dish. We would run out of dishes if we had to fill the whole dishwasher before running it!
I do keep extra dishes in our backstock area to use if we have a lot of people over for a big meal.
KC says
Really depends on your dishwasher; some can clean, some can’t. (well. There are also things that no dishwasher is likely going to be able to get off unless you presoak it, like dried-on raw egg.)
Another factor is whether your dishwasher has a cleanable filter and how easy/not it is to clean. Ours, if it gets gunked up, is a *BEAR* to get at and it’s not removable, so you’re reaching into the back of the dishwasher and poking around to try to scrape things up/scoop them up and… anyway. That was not fun.
So: it depends on both the efficacy of your dishwasher and how clogged up it gets if you don’t pre-clean…
Rosemary says
We went way over budget on groceries for March also – but it was because there were some good sales and I stocked up. Hopefully in April we will be on budget (or less . . . ha ha ha). We don’t have a dishwasher . . . oh wait, yes we do, it’s ME! If I had one, I would probably rinse but not clean the dishes. And one more thing . . . there is never too much cheese!
Tamara says
We used to have four dishwashers but two of them grew up and moved out.
Beth says
Mavis…ok regarding the dishwasher…I’m with HH…
As for grocery spending I was doing well until I decided to sign up for a CSA and it was $475…but May 7-Oct 17, we will get a basket of farm fresh produce which works out to about $21 per week so not too bad. Each basket will contain 7 to 10 varieties of vegetables per week. I signed up for the smaller size (intended for 1 to 2 people) but we’ll see how it goes…we are a 2 person household but we eat quite a lot of veggies. I’m looking forward to supporting a local farmer and I love that they will send out the selection the week before so I know what to plan for. This farmer allows for substitution requests (so for example if you hate beets, they will substitute something else). I’m so excited!
Sue in SoCal says
I used to be team HH but I had a cheapo dishwasher. Now that I have a good one I do what they recommend. Scrape but do not rinse. Every once in a while I might have to scrub a bit of something on a pan but otherwise everything comes out just fine. Plus I like to try and save water which is an issue here in CA. And I don’t run it every day either. With only 2 of us I run it a couple times a week. Everything comes out clean.
Linda Sand says
Our dishwasher is so good it even washes off dried egg yolk. We don’t prep anything beyond scraping off big bits of leftovers. Our machine drains through the garbage disposal so it takes care of any bits left behind.
Mel says
Our dishwasher is pretty fancy and has bottle jets and things for glasses. I used to baby it, clean the filter daily, etc. But it doesn’t actually keep it from breaking. We still have to replace them every 2-3 years. So, now I remove food that absolutely will not come off without help, but otherwise I load it up and wish it luck.
Lori says
When we bought our new dishwasher the employee said scrap your dishes don’t rinse. He said the food that isn’t scraped off helps wash of the food on other dishes. I guess it whirls around and acts like an abrasive for the food. Who knew?
Brianna says
I wash everything in the dishwasher as is and I am not good at scrapping either. Rarely do I have a dirty dish come out after washing and drying. I always wipe the seals around my door and edges every week and clean the filter monthly, but it does grind and dispose of most of the food bits. I don’t even put the detergent pod in the door holder, I just toss it in the bottom. I run my dishwasher 2x daily with mostly a full load. One containing breakfast/lunch and one containing dinner/random dishes.
Sue S. says
After 2 years of 2x weekly use, my new(2 years ago) GE Profile dishwasher stopped working. Had to unload, hand wash and use the dishwasher as a drying rack before I could troubleshoot and figure out what was wrong. What a messy job it was to clean the filters!! Older dishwashers didn’t have them. In the end I was so proud of myself to be able to fix it and avoid an expensive service call. I resolved to clean the filters monthly and I do scrape and rinse in the sink. Better to capture tidbits of food and dispose of them instead of filling up the septic tank I say. By the way has anyone tried or used dishwasher and/or washing machine cleaning tabs?
SueD says
I’m with you and don’t pre-wash dishes going into the dishwasher. Unless you count the puppies ‘helping’. It took a while before the OH was seeing the logic how the dishwasher needs to be loaded.
debbie in alaska says
Our dogs clean most of the items before they go in the dishwasher — otherwise I usually rinse so there is less build up in the filters of the dishwasher.
Julie says
I’m on team Mavis!!! DishWASHER! . I too have read in the manual to scrape the big hard chunks off, but don’t rinse. I helps clean the dishes. But even aside from that, it is supposed to be a time saver… not a “lets do the dishes twice” deal!!
LoriSA says
I have a 25yr old dishwasher and we have always just lightly scraped- no pre rinsing. We use the “eco”, “air dry” settings and have great results. A plumber told us to use a teaspoon of DW detergent (we use generic powdered) in the pre wash and wash dispensers and not to use the pods (too much detergent in them!) and that should extend the life of the machine. It sure has worked well for us!
Marcia says
So: turkey breast. Never tried in crockpot, but I bought a frozen one that goes right in the oven in a bag, and it was GREAT. We also buy the precooked ones from Costco sometimes.
Dishwasher is supposed to clean the dishes. No precleaning here, unless it’s avocado, which turns to clay and doesn’t come off.
There is no such thing as too much cheese on nachos.
Julie V says
My dishwasher has to have stuff rinsed first, otherwise I get food particles in random places (gross, seems unclean still). Yes, I clean the filters. Frankly, I just handwash and forget the dishwasher most of the time.
I recently didn’t pay attention to my grocery shopping and was up in the $400 range too….oops! With higher prices, if you want to keep things low, you have to pay attention and work for it. I had done well previously so just lollied along to my $400 suprise. I am now back to paying attention.
Andrea L Johnson says
I suppose it all depends on who takes care of the filters and plumbing connected with the dishwasher!?!
Amber says
Fun fact: modern dishwashers, and the cleaning agents, are actually made to work better WITH dirty dishes, not rinsed off ones.