Saturday: Costco Restock, Church Festival & An Unplanned Takeout Night
This morning was wonderfully easy because yesterday’s breakfast did a lot of the work for me.
The kids had leftover waffles and bacon, and I made my husband his usual breakfast scramble with three eggs and some of the cooked pork sausage I always keep prepped in the refrigerator.
Then my 11-year-old and 7-year-old came with me for our weekly Costco trip.
We were in and out in about 30 minutes since we got there before it was busy.
Costco Restock
This week I only bought three proteins:
- Organic chicken thighs
- Ground beef (my weekly staple)
- Teeton’s Polish Sausage
Someone recently asked why I always buy the organic chicken at Costco instead of the regular Kirkland chicken.
For me, it’s simply the texture. I find the regular chicken has an almost grainy texture that I don’t enjoy. Since we eat so much chicken, I’m happy to spend a little more on something I know our family will actually love eating.
The Teeton’s Polish sausage is another staple around here. I usually buy it every few weeks because it has a long refrigerator life and makes an easy, fast lunch for the kids.
Of course we also stocked up on plenty of fruits and vegetables.
I finally bought another box of salad after taking a little break because of the cyclospora concerns. Hopefully we’re in the clear because we definitely miss our salads around here.
The peaches looked beautiful this week, so I grabbed both white peaches (or nectarines) and regular peaches.
One disappointment…
The Good Foods Avocado Salsa had the dreaded Costco Star of Death on the price tag.
If you’ve never noticed it before, that little asterisk in the upper corner usually means Costco isn’t planning to reorder the item.
I bought three containers.
In hindsight…maybe I should’ve bought five.
We’re going to miss that avocado salsa. People also ask me often about the gloves I wear when I’m prepping raw meat in my kitchen. I get them at Costco and buy a size medium.
Lunch
Lunch was almost entirely leftovers.
We reheated yesterday’s chili and served it with side salads.
I also warmed the last of the grilled chicken and sliced it over the salads with barbecue sauce.
A couple of the kids wanted hot dogs, so I finished off an open package from earlier in the week, and we also reheated the last of the cheese pizza my mom had sent home.
It was definitely one of those “everyone builds their own lunch” kind of meals, and it worked really well.
A Hearty Snack Before Church
Since we knew we’d be eating dinner later because of church and the parish festival afterward, I wanted everyone to have a substantial snack.
I pulled one of my flat bags of cooked ground beef from the freezer, broke off a couple of frozen pieces (one of the reasons I freeze it flat), warmed it up, and made burger bowls for a few of the kids and for my husband. Since it wasn’t a ton of meat, I just threw it in the microwave, but if I was heating up for a larger group I’d put it in a pot on the stove with a splash of water.
I also packed Daphne’s church snack.
If you have a child under five, I think it’s perfectly acceptable to quietly feed them during Mass if it helps everyone make it through peacefully.
Today’s snack box included:
- Cucumbers
- Bell peppers
- An orange
- Drinkable yogurt
- Pretzels
- A string cheese…which she politely declined.
Parish Festival
After Mass we headed to our church festival.
Rain was in the forecast, so we made a beeline for the Kid Zone first. The kids played games, won prizes, and proudly collected their lollipops before the weather turned.
Then we wandered through the Treasure Mart, where donated items are sold to raise money for the parish.
We found several fun little treasures, including a tabletop foosball game that I think will be perfect for the basement once our project is farther along.
Everything together was only about $15.
Just as we were checking out, the skies absolutely opened up.
Thankfully we were inside a tent, but poor Daphne had officially reached her limit. Between the heat and humidity, and now the rain, she kept telling us she was “sticky.”
Anyone with a three-year-old knows exactly what that means.
So we loaded everything into the car and changed our dinner plans.
Takeout Night
Our original plan had been to eat festival food, but with the rain we decided to grab takeout instead.
There was both a CAVA and a Chick-fil-A nearby.
My husband took the younger kids to Chick-fil-A while Fiona and I picked up CAVA for the three of us.
It ended up costing somewhere around $70–80 for everyone.
The food was good, and it was fun because Fiona had never tried CAVA before.
But it also reminded me why we don’t do takeout very often.
Even though we weren’t cooking, it still wasn’t especially fast. Between waiting, driving, and coordinating two different restaurants, it took quite a while—and it cost significantly more than eating at home.
It made me appreciate our normal routine.
I don’t mind grabbing takeout once in a while because it’s fun, but most days I’d still rather cook at home. That’s where I know we’ll eat well, save money, and it’s just easier most of the time!