What I Spent, What We Ate | Did I stick to $51?
What I Spent
Here's my Hungry Harvest box.
That melon was CRAZY good. It looked like a honeydew but was orange in the inside, and it was so sweet.
I tried to stay out of the stores as much as possible this week, given my crazy spending the prior week.
I spent $11 on tea at Target (their tea prices are hard to beat!)
Then I spent $1.41 on bananas when I picked up Lisey up from work.
I spent $27.35 on this trip from Aldi.
And I spent $32.39 on another Aldi trip.
So.
I spent $97.15.
I only had $51 left in my August budget, so I'm over by $46.15.
Oh well...not an enormous deal in the grand scheme of things. And September is a fresh new month!
August Spending
Week 1: $176
Week 2: $110
Week 3: $143
Week 4: $255
Week 4: $97
What We Ate
Monday
I made the grilled mahi-mahi that I told you about earlier this week.
I used up some Hungry Harvest potatoes by making potato cubes.
And we had watermelon too.
Tuesday
We had the new Moroccan chicken salad this night.
Plus, I made two loaves of braided cheese bread.
I think we had more watermelon as well, but I can't quite remember!
Wednesday
I made Shrimp Viennese, a salad similar to this one, and a pan of buttery bubble bread.
I forgot how tasty that bread is. The browned, buttery crust....oh so good!
Thursday
I made these well-done grilled hamburgers, plus I grilled a few sausages I found in the freezer.
I also cut up Asian pears from my Hungry Harvest box, AND I tried an ATK braised cauliflower recipe to use up my Hungry Harvest cauliflower.
(It was pretty good, which is about as strong as cauliflower praise goes around here. 😉 )
Friday
I think we might end up buying pizza tonight, due to some varied schedule conflicts.
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I love Asian pears! They're so sweet and juicy. We don't buy them a lot because they tend to be more expensive than other fruits (i.e. apples, bananas).
I just finished writing our Aug food expense report. It was a whopping $844 for 3 adults and 1 toddler. I was a bit embarrassed to even publish it. >_<
Monday: Braised pork loin in a random sauce of tomatoes, garlic, and basil. Bread and butter for kids, and . . . some kind of vegetable. Probably carrots, since our carrots are plotting world domination from the garden. Oh, and sliced tomato with mayonnaise. I think this was also the night I made an apple crisp for the children.
Tuesday: Roasted sweet Italian sausage, peppers and onions, pureed cauliflower with cheese topped with roasted tomato sauce, pasta with roasted tomato sauce for kids, green salad with ranch dressing.
Wednesday: Pork chops, steamed carrots, leftover coleslaw, rice.
Thursday: The day the first lamb went to its reward. Or rather, our reward in the form of meat for the freezer. The actual carcass hangs for a few days to tenderize, but I seared the tenderloin last night so we could see what it might taste like. We also had leftover sausage and pork, and various leftover vegetables and pasta.
Tonight: You may be sorry you asked . . . tonight is the liver and testicles--ahem, "rocky mountain oysters"--from the lamb. My husband is in charge of them. I don't do organs much. My kids loved them the one time they had them before, though. The heart I decided to give to the dog. I prepared a deer heart once, and while it wasn't bad, it also wasn't worth the preparation, which included a lot of trimming of ventricles and actually pumping the blood out of the heart before cooking. Kind of takes the appetite away for actually eating the meat.
I'm going to try that bubble bread recipe - looks yummy!!
Oooh I love the idea of making cheesy braided bread! Does that freeze and reheat well?
We kept food simple this week since Hurricane Harvey meant grocery shopping wasn't happening. It was great getting to cook from our pantry and freezer though. 🙂 I was able to make spicy curry lentils from the pantry and they were good!
Yep, it freezes fine! And we always eat it sliced and toasted.
I can't specify which days, but I do remember some of the meals, at least:
Marinated, grilled chicken with potato patties (from leftover mashed potatoes) and cut up celery and carrots
Taco soup with cornmeal tortillas
One night was leftovers.
Lima beans, mashed potatoes and sausages
And tonight is up in the air, because we have to take our car to the dealership to get it looked at this afternoon under warranty, and the dealer is over an hour's drive from us.
My groceries so far this week are in the range of $110. I won't know for real until I get my farm order -- the meat packages always vary a bit in size, so when they pack it is when I find out how much I'll pay. Next week will be a wowza bill, because I just ordered a re-stock of pork.
Kristin (not Kristen) I grew up on a hog farm. A lot of folks had Rocky Mountain Oysters from pigs, but my mom refused to cook it so we never did! Country folk eat all of the pig but the squeal, my dad used to say.
I suppose the reason I can leave behind more than the squeal is because I grew up in the suburbs on boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I consider that I do pretty well just helping out with all the butchering and cooking the actual meat without dealing with the, ahem, variety meats. 🙂
I am TOTALLY impressed by you, Kristin (as a fellow suburb kid. And a suburb adult too!)
I think you are doing great! I don't think I will ever recover from walking into a kitchen to see my aunt carving up the pig's head to make head cheese. She gave me the eyeballs to carry outside to the garbage. I'm still scarred by those memories to this day :). (I did eat the pigs' feet, though)
Monday- I left a container of salsa chicken in the fridge for the guys, I took Subway to the girl to make up for the fact that I had to work the night of her first VB match..No one ate the chicken because mama wasn't there to enforce! (I went out with the girls after work)
Tuesday- that fore-mentioned salsa chicken went into quesadillas...
Wednesday- chicken, carrot and zucchini lo-mein ! quick to make before the girls VB match!
Thursday- pulled out a freezer meal I prepped last week! Chicken and stuffing casserole served with canned fruit b/c that is all I had to give energy wise! lol
Friday- weather is cool and not rainy yet! I have chicken breasts marinating for grilling later.. frozen veggies? Thinking of going out to get some potatoes for baking... need to use up the chopped salad...
My husband has been out of town, so we ate at my parents one night and I packed food for the kids and went to chikfila for my dinner one night. They shoveled in food and ran off to play, so this single mom for a week got a break
We did sloppy Joe's last night, and to welcome Hubs back we're doing his favorite tonight, homemade calzones!
I keep checking on that hungry harvest box, hoping they have expanded to our area. Still no luck maybe one day soon!!
Looks like a great week--way to cook at home over there!! Also, I know it is probably a "simple" recipe, but might you consider sharing your recipe for the potato cubes on the blog sometime? If you thought that would be too basic, perhaps it could be a part of a "simple sides to share" post or series. The potato cubes DO seem like they would be a fairly easy recipe to replicate, but I've made them before and didn't like how they came out for me, so I'm very curious as to your method and any tips you might have regarding seasoning, etc.
Same here!
Monday- Baked mustard chicken, coleslaw, fruit, and garlic bread
Tuesday- Chili, saltine crackers, and tuna sandwiches
Wednesday- Frozen turkey sausage pizza
Thursday- Hamburger, baked beans, pickle, and potato chips
Friday- Salmon and lettuce salad
Don't recall which nights were which...
Cucumber salads every night & some cheese we got from a local dairy farmer in NC.
Fresh caught fried fish and fried potatoes & leftover hash browns
Chicken legs, corn on the cob & fried bread
Aldis frozen Chicken Alfredo...not sure I will buy again but it was quick and easy. Had it with Aldi's Naan bread.
Sliders with sour dough bread, acorn squash
Tonight is chili with tomatoes from the garden. Kind of an odd recipe that has celery...it's pretty good though.
I need to make a trip to my local market to get some Michigan grown cauliflower. Super yummy this time of the year.
If you have a Christmas Tree Shop nearby, they have great prices on tea as well!
We have had a real mix of meals this week. On Sunday and Monday we had roasted chicken. We have had a fish called sweetlip and I didn't like that. We had Taco Tuesday. Wednesday was leftovers. Thursday I had a Japanese curry and last night we went out for Sushi.
I love reading how organised everyone is.
This week I have made stock and roasted down tomatoes for future use.
Do you make your potato cubes in the oven, or on the stovetop? I never make potatoes like that but I think my girls would like them.
I do 'em on the stove top. I parcook them in the microwave with a little oil and then brown them in bacon fat in my cast iron pan. And then I salt them. I'll take pictures next time and do a post about it.
I should try and remember to write down what we ate, because my memory seems to be bad! I think this is what we ate:
Monday: Chili & hot dogs/sausages, fries
Tuesday:Chick-fil-a (gymnastics late night)
Wednesday: Beef enchiladas, salad, spanish rice and refried beans
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Chilis (2 for $22) special
This weekend...picking up my daughter from college (haven't seen her in two whole weeks!) and spending the weekend at my parents. They've promised vegetable beef soup, chicken pot pie and whatever else we want to eat. Can't wait!
M: Fake-Thai chicken stir-fry
T: Butternut soup and croutons
W: Steak and stir fried green beans
T: Butter chicken and rice, roasted beets and sweet potato, chocolate brownies (we had guests)
F: Leftover butter chicken and rice
S: tonight will be beef stew from the freezer (thank you, last-week-Caroline!)
Been a pretty boring meal week here, I pretty make the same things every week but no one's complaining yet.
M-bbq pulled pork salads
T-tacos, I think
W-pan seared turkey breast tenderloin with oven roasted kohlrabi
Th- Italian chicken sausage with tomatoes and peppers over pasta.
F-pork chops with roasted broccoli and carrots and acorn squash
S-smorgasbord/snacky...had persian take out for lunch with in laws (their treat for birthday)
Su-hopefully turkey burgers on the grill.
Did you figure out what type of melon you had? Was is a Crenshaw melon?
I'm still not sure! But it was fabulous.
It sounds like a Honeyloupe. They are just delightful.