Not-So-Super Target

We did make it to Target to finish up our grocery shopping for the week. I spent $33.28 pre-tax and saved $18.22. I was once again kind of underwhelmed. I guess my complaints are sort of the same as when we went to Wal-Mart -- fewer sales, no circular, not able to pre-plan coupons. Lesson learned - better to shop the sales at higher priced grocery store than a national chain "super store."

Our menu plan for this week won't be very elaborate. For some reason I've been feeling overwhelmingly busy. The nature of being a working mom, I suppose, is that I just don't have the time for food preparation or even "real meals" like I would like to. Believe me, I have some serious guilt over it. Anyway, we'll be eating brown bag lunches all week, except for when the girls are home with my husband on Mon and Tues. They'll eat the meatloaf and sweet potatoes on Mon. and probably fish sticks and fries on Tuesday. They usually will eat some fresh fruit while daddy prepares lunch. He actually does a great job of not just throwing them in front of a plate of junk. It takes some guidance, but he can totally manage. For dinner, aside from Monday night at Alpha, we'll probably eat frozen enchiladas, shells and cheese with added frozen broccoli and a side of apple sauce and cheese quesadillas with black beans. Friday nights always end up having to be something really fast on the way to dance -- bagels and cream cheese or PB&J. It sure isn't fancy, but my family doesn't mind!

I'm also working on altering my mom's pumpkin muffin recipe. I made them on Halloween for a Halloween open house we had at my house. I substituted 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour for the all purpose, and you could not tell AT ALL. I also used 1/2 cup of Canola oil with DHA for half a cup of the regular canola. Next order of business is to try a higher percentage of whole wheat flour and switch the other half of a cup of regular Canola oil for unsweetened applesauce. I figure if I can pass off those switches, we'll have a much healthier snack. I'll make sure to post a final recipe once I think it's in tip-top shape.

See this week's other grocery trip here.

See also Life as Mom and Menu Planning Monday.