It’s time for the weekly report!
What I Spent
I mentioned last week that I was going to shoot for a more minimal spending week, and I think I did accomplish that.
I managed to go just to Aldi, because I only needed pretty basic stuff. I spent $87.13 there.
And I got my produce box, which was $33.
I blended the kale up to make frozen kale cubes to add to smoothies.
And I used the beans and peppers up pretty fast too…more on that in a sec.
January weekly totals:
Week one: $195.93
Week two: $189.22
Week three: $120.13
What We Ate
Monday
I made baked salmon, plus a green salad, plus braided cheese bread.
I hadn’t made cheese bread in eons, but Mr. FG had mentioned the other day how much he loved it.
So, I made two loaves, using a rather random assortment of cheese odds and ends from my cheese drawer. I think Swiss, cheddar, and mozzarella all ended up in there. And it was delicious.
Tuesday
We made subs and sauteed green beans, which arrived in my produce box that very day. Look at me, using my veggies promptly!
(Kristen gives herself a gold star. And pats herself on the back.)
Wednesday
I made a shrimp and veggie stir-fry, because my produce box gave me two big red peppers. I threw some broccoli in too, from a previous produce box.
I also cut up the rest of the broccoli and put it out on the counter with ranch dressing in a bowl. I’m always amazed at how fast we manage to use up veggies when I put them out like that.
And I always wonder why I don’t do that more often.
Thursday
I had a lot of bread odds and ends in the freezer that needed to be used up, so I decided a French toast night was quite in order. I also thawed some local sausage and cooked that up on the griddle.
And I made some strawberry syrup, since my girls had mentioned it recently.
Friday
So, tonight is a pizza night. But I just remembered that I did not buy any King Arthur bread flour to make pizza dough, and honestly, homemade pizza dough isn’t worth the effort without it.
I don’t know what it is, but that flour makes a ridiculously large difference in the texture and flavor of the dough.
This means I’ll have to decide whether I want to run out and get some flour or whether I want to just order some pizza.
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Anne
Monday 25th of January 2016
I will third the vital wheat gluten tip! My Costco sells 25# of KAF flour (all purpose) so I just add the gluten for recipes that call for bread flour. I often add it when using whole wheat flour to recipes as well, to help give it that structure. A friend got Bob's Red Mill bags for cheap on Amazon, I think a 4-pack, and split it with me. Win-win.
Kelly in Oregon
Monday 25th of January 2016
Couple of comments: 1. I enjoy how seemingly in your house, your family just mentions a food and it puts it in your mind and you make it! ;-) 2. You can get pizza dough from almost any pizza shop (I have never had one turn me down), including the large national chains. So wherever you like the pizza, just pop in there and they will most likely sell you the dough. It's usually about $2-3 for a large size pizza. I consider that pretty reasonable and we do that often when we want homemade pizza but haven't made the time to make the dough! We have a local pizza shop that we REALLY like the crust from, but I have done it at other places as well. Papa Murphy's is a good one because they will give it to you already rolled out if you want!
Kristen
Monday 25th of January 2016
You know, I think I remember reading that pizza tip in the Tightwad Gazette, but I'd quite forgotten about it.
Christine
Sunday 24th of January 2016
That stir fry looks great! Monday we had chicken sausage cacciatore over linguini with salad Tuesday was chicken enchiladas I had already made over the weekend Wednesday was calzone made over the weekend Thursday was beef stroganoff over the left over linguini from Monday Friday was pizza with dough from the store. I had food shopped after work and bought the premade dough as a short cut. Still cheaper than take out:).
Bobi
Sunday 24th of January 2016
I love Aldi too and I couldn't tell from your pic, but I hope you heard Aldi was part of Listeria/Dole recall. Dole makes Aldi brand. We just ate two bags of Aldi salad and I had already thrown away the bags so I don't know if I had a recalled bag...scary!
Kristen
Sunday 24th of January 2016
Ooh, thanks for the heads up. Fortunately, I've never bought a bagged salad from Aldi, so we are good.
Stephanie L
Saturday 23rd of January 2016
We ate out of the freezer all week! That's why I make sure I have a stash for this busy time of our professional year. Spaghetti with frozen meat sauce one night, frozen green salsa pork and leftover rice another, frozen ham became croque monsieurs. Lots of carrot sticks, green beans since that's what we had. The hubs worked from home yesterday and made homemade turkey chili, God bless him. I made a crockpot batch of steel-cut oats with blueberries & flax last weekend, so that was my breakfast most of the week.
To harken back to a previous post, since we had little fresh food in the house and no time to shop, DH ordered Blue Apron. Since our roads are pretty clear I'm running out to get some produce, but we're good for a few meals next week!