Five Things We Ate (Ok, really, it's WIS, WWA!)
You know I had to do a title in keeping with the five things for this week. 😉
What I Spent
I spent $114 which is on the low side, but that's because I got a free Dinnerly box this week in prep for a giveaway post I'm doing for them this coming week.
Stay tuned for that!
August Spending
Week 1: $166
Week 2: $100.89
Week 3: $118
Week 3: $114
2018 Monthly Averages
(goal is $150/week)
January: $544
February: $588
March: $641
April: $728
May: $535
June: $749
July: $578
August: $498
Average so far is $139/week.
What We Ate
Monday
We went grocery shopping right before dinner and I knew I wasn't going to feel like starting on dinner when we got home. So, we got frozen pizza from Aldi.
Cheaper than takeout, you know?
Tuesday
We started our Dinnerly meals. Our first was a pasta dish with a creamy Mascarpone sauce. We're still working through our box of bruised peaches, so we had those on the side.
Wednesday
We had a beef and green bean stir-fry from our Dinnerly box. Plus peaches (OF COURSE) and cucumber slices.
Thursday
It was our last Dinnerly meal...a sheet pan meal with potatoes, onions, zucchini, and sausage meatballs.
Friday
We're having dinner with my parents again this Friday. Yay for a night off for me!
__________
Those meals look tasty!
This week my best dinner was a stir fry of "ends" in the fridge. I started with frozen veggies, added some udon noodles and then some black beans, spinach and an egg which poached quietly in the liquid I added to cook the noodles. I seasoned with garlic salt, soy sauce and sriracha. Finally, I topped it off with the last of a block of cheese. Don't look at me funny: lots of ramen places feature cheese on their menu!
I also made a "magic cake" to address a hankering for sweets I had. You know: one of those depression era cakes that don't require milk or eggs. It made for a nice breakfast for the next two days as well.
Ooh how do you make your cake without eggs?
One thing I didn't like about Dinnerly was that all the beef is ground, which doesn't really work in some of their menus. I liked getting a big box of food I didn't have to shop for (I hate shopping) or meals I didn't have to plan (I also hate planning meals). I might try it again some time.
Monday: The chicken I had taken out to thaw didn't thaw in time, so I made eggs instead--scrambled with chorizo for my husband, fried with bacon for me and the kids. Plus bread and butter and a green salad.
Tuesday: I meant to make the now-thawed chicken into an enchilada casserole, but was pretty sick of the kitchen after making and canning peach jam in the morning. So instead I made bunless cheeseburgers, rice, sauteed zucchini/tomato/onion, and steamed carrots.
Wednesday: Finally the chicken! I cooked thighs and drumsticks and shredded the meat to make a creamy enchilada casserole with corn tortillas. I used a lot of sour cream and cheese, because I was trying to use up and tame some of the mild salsa I have on hand. Tip for you if you ever buy a New Mexican brand of salsa: The labels lie. "Mild" is not mild at all (at least, for a non-New Mexican). Mild burns. I shudder to think what the "hot" stuff is like. Even with all the dairy, the casserole was still a little spicy, though edible for me and my tender-mouthed children.
I also made baked zucchini and a green salad with ranch dressing.
Thursday: Cubes of pork loin chops with mushrooms and onions in a dry vermouth and cream sauce, mashed potatoes, cucumber salad
Tonight: Uh. Well. Beef, probably. I have one more package of thin-sliced, tenderized steaks that make good tacos (what doesn't make good tacos, right?). So maybe we'll have soft tacos. Or maybe I'll end up pulling something else out of the freezer entirely. Not being a meal planner is so exciting.
On the menu this week: homemade Chipotle-style bowls, spaghetti with bean balls, and pulled jackfruit sandwiches! And now, leftovers.
I took some homemade spaghetti sauce out of the freezer and instructed my husband to warm it up, as I had to go pick up my son. He texted me as I was on the road. "Um...Isn't that applesauce?" (I was *not* texting and driving, so no worries there!) Indeed, it was applesauce that I had made earlier in the year and frozen. Whoops. Looked the same in the dark garage. Fortunately, I had some emergency jars of pasta sauce on the shelf, so we had that instead. We also had applesauce. 😉
We are Keto so our dinners are a little different...
Monday: Burger steaks w/creamy mushroom gravy and a side salad
Tuesday: House viewing so it was snack-y dinner of random fridge items when we got home
Wednesday: Breakfast for dinner - coconut flour pancakes, bacon from my dad's farm, and eggs
Thursday: Another house viewing so I made up a quick batch of spicy breakfast sausage w/cream cheese and green chiles. I used it as a dip with celery sticks, my husband just ate it for what it was. Men are so easy to please 🙂
Friday: Tonight we are going to clean out the fridge and use up leftovers because we have a busy Labor Day weekend planned.
I came in well under budget this last week and hope to end this month under budget (I go shopping on Fridays after work).
So, what did we have?
- Meatloaf, summer squash n' onions, AIP-compliant carrot halwa
- Tacos on cassava tortillas and with shredded homegrown spinach subbing for lettuce.
- Pork chops that were supposed to be stuffed with peaches, onion, garlic and ginger, but the stuffing kept falling out, so instead we had pork chops smothered in peaches, onion, garlic and ginger. They were still good. We had gingered beets and green beans on the side.
- We had homemade veggie soup with no meat, but cooked in a very rich bone broth.
- Potato chips. Uh, yeah, let me explain that one. A bad storm knocked out our power around 5 p.m., and the power truck didn't show up until four hours after it went out. The automated outage line kept telling us that "one customer is affected" and that they'd received "one call about the outage" when our whole road was out of power at the very least, and we knew we'd called, our neighbor had called, and my daughter had helped by reporting it online for our account as well, not to mention we are sure others had to have called. So it was around midnight when we got power back. We live in the country and have a well, so no water when no power, and as long as it was taking to get a response, we were afraid to open the refrigerator or freezer to get food out -- which we couldn't heat, anyway, as our house is all electric. It's still hot here, and our house was getting pretty warm, so I really, really didn't want to open the fridge. Our portable generator failed us for the first time ever, so there we sat, with a half-bag of potato chips to split, hoping our power would be back on. And the generator is going to the shop.
This week has been a little odd. If we had a big meal out then dinner was toast and beans or a sandwich. I made a huge pot of Moroccan style lamb stew which did two meals and there is still some left.
Monday-Pizza casserole with hidden spinach in the sauce.
Tuesday-bratwurst and onions with spicy mustard on hot dog buns. I'm proud to say this meal only cost around $2.80 for my family of 7! I cut my bratwurst lengthwise to stretch it a bit and used a lot of onions to stretch it even further. I got the brats reduced for $1.80.
Wednesday- meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and English peas
Thursday- a sheet pan meal of spiralized zucchini, butternut squash, bell peppers, and chicken thighs. My husband went on-and-on about how good this was. Never know what is going to be a hit around here sometimes.
Friday-no idea
Monday was FendForYourself with Sunday chicken fajita leftovers.. and random foods.. before Mom and kid #1 went to work and others went to watch the girl play VB...
Tuesday Beef roast and carrots in the crockpot with a nasty flavored pack of instant potatoes...Leftover meat and gravy tossed into the freezer for future meal.. taters thrown away! lol
Weds- FFY before the girl had a VB game.... Popcorn afterwards...
Thursday- homemade burgers on the grill with tater tots, and fresh fruit
Friday- ?? Husband on his own.. I am going to late lunch with my mom.. inlaws taking kids...
Your weekly average is pretty awesome! Our go-to meals when all of us are hungry but don't have food at home are noodles and fried rice. It helps fill us up with little prep time and minimal costs! 😀
I'm not great at keeping tabs weekly on what I spend, but I do keep a running idea of what things should cost (like a lowest price notebook in my brain). I buy when things are low and my freezer stays stocked when I find sales. This week I found sliced Kraft cheeses (provolone/swiss/cheddar) for $.30 each after a sale and coupon so I stocked up. I pay $1 for cereal. I really stock up when I find proteins on sale.
I just checked Quicken and right now my weekly average for 2018 is $112. It was $98 for 2017 and $122 for 216.
I do the majority of my shopping on a military base at a commissary so that is why it is low. My fruits/veggies come from Aldi mostly. If not, I would probably average around $150-$175.
I've never tried a service like Dinnerley - we have a few similar in Aust but I think it would be great to try when I'm in a cooking/planning rut, those meals sound good - I love the Aldi pizza idea a great standby- one of my workmates told me he keeps a frozen pizza in the freezer & when there's nothing else to eat he knows it's time to go food shopping
Just curious - what do WIS and WWA stand for?
What I Spent / What We Ate
Thanks!
Very odd week for us, but lots of fun and relaxation
Monday: On vacation - Dinner Buffet
Tuesday: On vacation - Microwavable soup
Wednesday: Burgers on the grill
Thursday: Burgers on the grill
Friday: Burgers on the grill
I had a burger for lunch and for dinner on Sunday...but that's still fewer burgers than you guys ate! 🙂