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What I Spent, What We Ate | Starting off October

What I Spent

I spent $44.57 at the grocery store where Lisey works.

I spent $44 (exactly!) at Aldi.

And I spent $49 at another grocery store.

So, I was at $137, which is great.

Buuuut, then I really needed to go to Costco for frozen fruit. I spent $71 there (on frozen fruit, pistachios, two loaves of bread, and a pack of floss).

So, I ended up at $208 to start off October, which is $58 over my weekly goal.

If I want to end October on budget, I’ll just need to spend $130 each week instead of $150.   We’ll see if I can do it!

What We Ate

Monday

I made these chicken tacos, and I made some homemade corn tortillas to go with them.

grilled chicken tacos

(This photo is obviously not of the corn tortillas!)

We had chips and salsa as well, and some fresh fruit.

Tuesday

When I asked you all for suggestions to help me use up my surplus of celery, someone suggested beans and rice, which reminded me of jambalaya, which also uses celery.

So, I made a batch of this jambalaya.

Homemade Jambalaya Recipe | The Frugal Girl

We also had a green salad.

Wednesday

I made a spatchcocked, salted, and roasted chicken.   I didn’t salt it the full 24 hours ahead of time (I forgot!) and I have to say, it wasn’t quite as good.

So, if you ever make that recipe, remember to salt it the night before.

I also roasted some carrots because I had a lot of them in my fridge.

Really though, these roasted carrots are so good, you totally do not need a surplus for an excuse to make them.

And I made a greens+fruit salad (kinda like this one).

Thursday

I threw together a chicken noodle soup with leftover chicken, broth from my freezer (this kind), and carrots and celery from my fridge.

leftover roasted chicken in soup

This had the happy effect of using up some carrots AND some celery.   Whee!

We also had fresh pineapple and some homemade applesauce from the freezer.

Friday

I’m think I’m gonna make thin crust pizzas tonight.

What did you eat this week?

(My goodness, isn’t it so hard to remember? Especially side dishes. I often sit here at my keyboard for a while before they come to me. And sometimes they don’t come to me at all!)

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Geeka

Sunday 8th of October 2017

So, I don't have kids, so pardon me if this is a stupid question, but: Don't your kids eat more as they grow older/bigger? I've been noticing that you've been struggling to keep under budget, and since you have a teenage boy (which if I remember anything from my brother, was that they vaporize food) and your young ones are getting older, doesn't it stand to reason they'd eat more, thus needing more food and consequently making you go over budget more frequently?

Julia

Saturday 7th of October 2017

My son and I were out of state this week at a national rabbit Show/convention. Our hotel didn't have a mini fridge or microwave so we brought our own!! We were able to eat most of our meals in our room this way. Lunches were PBJ or cheese and crackers with fruit and raw veggies. For dinners I brought frozen burger so 2 nights we had sloppy joes with salad and steam in a bag veggies. We made mug mac and cheese with noodles shredded cheese and milk. Tuna and crackers with fruit and veggies. And one night was the banquet. Breakfast was mostly cereal and oatmeal. We ate breakfast out once. We did eat out two nights that the convention ran late but over all I think we ate pretty healthy. My husband didn't go with us, he had to work, but he went over to his moms for dinner every night.

Petey

Friday 6th of October 2017

.....I could have done better with a "5 frugal things" list than a "what we ate". But I worked hard AND had some fun!

M- Salads at our locally owned bar and grill ..we wanted to enjoy the Fall Season and go out and watch some football!..gotta support your friends and neighbors with small businesses... how is that for spin on just want to have fun to lazy to cook and do dishes! : )

T- Grilled Burgers...no buns... no side..easy and ....yeah!...I took advantage of his being " not so hungry"

W- Chicken grilled..on day old bread, ...saved it by toasting ..with last of the leftover shredded mozerella ...dipped in red pepper jelly ( I enjoyed a low carb contents of this meal)

Th- A Long but very , very good and productive day!...Up at 4am. working by 5am and not home until 8pm...stopped and picked up a pizza at a local place..but on special for $10...it worked perfect for a relaxing evening, vegging on the couch and watching football with my husband .

Fri- An Super Early start to work on this beautiful day...took my husband up on an offer to go out for dinner...We Split an Entree and healthy sides ...delicious!

Maybe better next week?

Cindy

Friday 6th of October 2017

Monday- Salmon, Sweet potatoes, & mixed veggies

Tuesday- Baked chicken, white rice, & carrots

Wednesday- Grilled cheese sandwiches, baked chips, & fruit

Thursday- Beef stew made in the crockpot: included stew meat, frozen peas, onions, tomatoes and beef broth. Served it over noodles

Friday: Lettuce salad, olives, toast and strawberries

Angela

Friday 6th of October 2017

We got our first Dinnerly box this week so this what we had: Monday: Beef & Barley stew & pasta Tuesday: Leftovers Wednesday: Pork chops Thursday: Ginger Chicken and rice Friday: Italian take out

We didn't care for the pasta dish too much this week. It was very bland, but everyone seemed to like the other two dishes so we're going to keep getting Dinnerly for now at least.

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