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What I Spent, What We Ate | Nearing the end of the freezer challenge…

What I Spent

Well…I’m happy to say that the freezer challenge was helpful for my grocery budget this week.

I did get my $25 Hungry Harvest box, of course.

And on Sunday, I made a $33.68 stop at the grocery store to buy a bunch of snacky items for our Sunday night dinner (before the freezer challenge started!)

Also, we were out of dishwasher detergent, and Mr. FG picked some up for me at $5.49.

I needed spaghetti for the noodle cake, and also some chicken for ramen (because Zoe can’t eat shrimp). And garlic. So, I stopped and bought only those three things for $10.92.

(I only needed a small bit of the chicken I bought, so I halved and froze the other breasts, which makes them easy to thaw and use in the future.   That way they won’t end up in a freezer challenge!)

Joshua picked up a $3 gallon of milk for me.

And I stopped at the produce stand to see if they had any bruised apples. They did! And they were $12.

So, I’m at $90 for the week. Whee!

October Spending

Week 1: $208

Week 2: $188

Week 3: $90

That leaves me with $114 for next week.

I do have all the frozen chicken left from this week. Plus, I have local beef in my chest freezer. So, $114 is in the realm of possibility if I plan it right.

What We Ate

I feel like you already know a lot about what we ate this week due to my previous posts.   But here you go!

Monday

I thawed the half pork loin from the freezer, cut it into chops, and cooked them using this glazed pork recipe from Budget Bytes.

(I cooked them to the appropriate temperature, using my newfound knowledge!)

I also made mashed sweet potatoes (hey, hey, Hungry Harvest!) and these garlic breadsticks.

Tuesday

To use up the bone-in chicken breast from the freezer, I made the spicy chicken stir fry with the noodle cake.

stir fry with noodle cake

Wednesday

To use up the chicken bones from the freezer, Joshua volunteered to make ramen and I volunteered to be his sous chef.

(I peeled shrimp, made the broth, grated ginger, peeled eggs, and washed dishes. All the not-glorious things. Ha.)

I cut up some random fruit from the fridge and set it on the table with our ramen, and it all got eaten.

Yay for cleaning out the fridge!

Oh, and the ramen and the stir-fry both used green onions from my HH box.

Thursday

I thawed the ground beef and also the two premade (homemade) hamburgers, and grilled them all up for dinner.

I was babysitting for three boys that we know from church, so I made a fire in our fire pit.

Because fire is very entertaining for pretty much every child alive.

So, of course we ate our burgers around the fire.

 

Friday

I’m thawing the jar of tomato sauce and I’ll either make pizza or we’ll have tortellini topped with tomato sauce. I’ll poll the troops to see what the preference will be.

Although, you know…if I make pizza tonight, then I can save the tortellini for another meal next week, like tortellini soup.   Which would be pretty helpful for my limited budget…so maybe I’ll skip polling my crew. 😉

What did you eat this week? And how’s your grocery budget going in October?

(hopefully better than mine!)

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BooksNCooks

Saturday 21st of October 2017

A friend gave us a small ham and a turkey that I couldn't fit into my full freezer, so I cooked them both over the weekend. Between dinners and lunchtime sandwiches, it was a very turkey-and-ham-errific week for us! The last of it will get diced and bagged up for the freezer today.

Sat: Smorgasbord

Sun: Ham, mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli

Mon: Shredded turkey in gravy, rice, carrots

Tues: Oven fried chicken, balsamic and feta roasted zucchini and red pepper, homemade applesauce

Wed: Turkey tetrazinni, Parmesan and pesto roasted zucchini

Thurs: impromptu dinner at McDonald's (our son's chosen reward for good work at school)

Fri: Chicken cordon bleu pasta

Cindy

Saturday 21st of October 2017

Monday- Beef tacos

Tuesday- salmon, corn, lettuce salad

Wednesday- chicken, sweet potato, mixed veggies

Thursday- Lasagna, applesauce, breadsticks

Friday- salami, lettuce, cheese wrapped in a tortilla

Deidre

Friday 20th of October 2017

M - beef chow mein with large pasta shells, cabbage, celery, zucchini, carrot, onion, garlic mixed in T - got really motivated to do heaps of stuff I've been putting off - such a good feeling - and snacked on fruit and a nut bar during the afternoon. Trying to and getting better at stopping eating when I'm full and wasn't hungry at dinner so didn't eat. W - Curried sausages with vegies from freezer I pre-made and too much chocolate before making a marsbar slice to take to work to share Thurs for our biggest day of the week. T - Vegie/egg/bacon slice from freezer F - lunch at work we had bring a plate as a colleague is leaving so I took chocolate cake, we had an awesome range of homemade treats like fried rice, indian deep fried bunda with chilli and lentil dips, pita bread with tzatziki & hommus, marinated chicken wings, tabouli, spanakopita, all kinds of cakes and slices, donuts, and popcorn, and we all ate waaay too much but was a lovely time. F - dinner; tired after a long week & splurged and treated me and my sis to pan-fried dumplings from down the road. This weekend - haven't decided yet. I paid some big bills this month but all expected; tax, new car tyres, and car having major car service this Tues. I have been looking out for more tops to rotate through that go with most of my pants/skirts and found a lovely one 30% off for $38 that washes well so really pleased. And I did really well with healthy homemade lunches for work and eating at least 2 serves of fruit a day and my yoghurt.

Lorraine

Friday 20th of October 2017

I actually came in way under my $60 budget last week. Mostly because I avoided buying any junk food and purchased very little meat last week. We also had a potluck at work and instead of going overboard like I usually do, I just signed up for deviled eggs which was a super-affordable contribution.

Saturday & Sunday - Borracho beans, green salad and beer cheese bread. Monday - Omelet, toast and fruit Tuesday - leftover beans Wednesday - pork chop, green beans and stuffing Thursday - chicken taco and a delicious lemon bar someone bought for me at a bakery. Friday - Baked potato and something for protein (probably just cottage cheese). Weird meal but I don't feel like cooking for realsies.

Priscilla

Friday 20th of October 2017

Ugh, we're over budget by 21 dollars. I had 130 to spend on groceries yesterday and spent 151. You know those every few weeks items on the list? For us it's dog food, cat food, cat litter, dental floss, stuff like that. Well yesterday somehow all the every few weeks stuff ended up on the same day. But I'm confident we can whack 21 dollars off of next week's groceries and come in within budget. I mean, we don't have to buy cat food and all that again next week, right?!

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