What I spent, What We Ate (double birthday edition)

This week, we celebrated Zoe’s and Mr. FG’s birthdays, which happen to fall on the same day.

(Zoe was a surprise birthday present 10 years ago.   She showed up a little early and postponed Mr. FG’s birthday party.)

Before we get to the menu, let’s talk about grocery shopping.   I never did end up going last week at all, and then I planned to go on Monday.   Except it snowed, and I didn’t end up going that day either.

Finally on Tuesday, I managed to get to the store.

It was getting pretty bare around here, especially in the fruit drawer.

We were all happy to have some fresh produce back in the house.

And my produce box came too, so, our fridge is nice and stocked again.

I spent $192 at the store, and then $32 on my produce box.

So I spent a grand total of $224.36.

Let’s see how that’s averaging out for the month.

February Spending

Week One $242

Week Two $18

Week Three $224

So, I’m at $161 per week, which is slightly over my usual $150.

I’ll need to keep my spending at $116 next week in order to come in at budget for the month.   I think that’s pretty do-able, especially since my produce box doesn’t come next week.

Monday

Since I hadn’t gotten to the grocery store yet, I turned to the freezer.

We ate Swedish meatballs from the freezer (I’d frozen the meatballs, so I just needed to make a batch of sauce), and we had them over mashed potatoes, which I made from a somewhat random conglomeration of potatoes.

Yay for using up odds and ends!   They weren’t exactly award-winning mashed potatoes, but they got the job done.

We had applesauce (also from the freezer) with our meatballs.

Tuesday

The roads were a lot clearer so I made it out to the grocery store.   Yay for some fresh food!

It was also warm enough to grill, so I brined the chicken legs I bought at a markdown a few weeks ago, and then grilled them and brushed them with BBQ sauce.

Along with that, we had broccoli and toasted whole wheat bread.

Wednesday

I made a new panini recipe from my Cook’s Country magazine (the kids got me a subscription for Christmas and I love it!).   The recipe called for “hearty white bread”, so I made a couple of loaves of egg bread, and that worked pretty well.

We had a green salad with our paninis, using romaine from our produce box.

Thursday

Birthday night!   The birthday people chose pulled chicken sandwiches on fluffy homemade buns.   Zoe also wanted Pringles and Jello.

(On birthdays, we do not stress about nutrition.)

We let our kids pick a special drink for birthday meals, and the other kids usually choose soda.

But Zoe hates carbonation, so she always opts for juice boxes, and it’s become sort of a tradition for her to have the Ssips brand of juice boxes.

It wouldn’t be a birthday without them.   😉

I pretty much never buy juice boxes, so that’s why these feel like quite a treat for her.

For dessert, we had a homemade ice cream cake, made with moose tracks ice cream because that is Mr. FG’s favorite.

Friday

Pizza night!   Last week I opted to get some takeout pizza, so tonight I probably should make it myself.

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How’s the grocery budget going at your house?   And what did you eat this week?