Days I Stuck To My Plan: O
It was a wonky week.
What I Spent
I needed to pick up some things for Sonia's birthday celebration at the end of last week, and while I knew these things would be cheaper elsewhere, I was having an overwhelmed-feeling kind of day and I opted just to stop at the more-expensive grocery store that was on the way home from our martial arts class.
I bought ice cream, sugary drinks, salty snacks, and two gallons of milk there and spent $22.
Then there's this week. It's been kind of an odd one, where out-of-the-ordinary things have popped up every day, and so I haven't properly gone grocery shopping.
I did have a menu planned, but it was a menu that didn't account for my odd schedule or for the unseasonably warm weather.
(Who wants to eat soup when it's 79 degrees out??)
So, I ended up flying by the seat of my pants all week.
This reminded me that I hate flying by the seat of my pants.
I am not a person who thinks well under pressure, so I have a dreadful time coming up with workable dinner ideas at the last moment. I usually manage, but it puts an unreasonably large amount of stress on me.
Random grocery shopping....a small trip to Costco, ($25), a small trip to Aldi ($28) and a small trip to a local store ($12).
So, I only spent $87, which is a bit of an upside.
March Spending
Week one: $220
Week two: $87
What We Ate
Monday
This is the day I stopped at Costco, where I picked up some chicken sausage, buns, and popped chips.
I grilled the sausages, served them on buns with BBQ sauce, and cut up some fruits and veggies to serve alongside.
Tuesday
We ended up going to the park after school, which left right about zero time for dinner prep. Luckily, earlier that day I'd written about about 10 Foods to DIY, and that reminded me that pizza subs are a super easy dinner.
So, that's what we ate.
I made a Caesar salad to go with our subs.
Wednesday
I made a shrimp and red pepper stir fry, which I served on top of rice. And that was that.
Thursday
I grilled kebabs (peppers, onions, mushrooms, kielbasa, chicken), and spread garlic butter on toasted whole wheat sandwich bread.
Friday
Since I've had a nutso week, and also since I spent very little on groceries, I am totally ordering pizza tonight instead of making it.
Here's to a less crazy upcoming week (I hope!)
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How were the eats at your house this week? Did you have a plan? Did you actually use your plan? 😉
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P.S. My post, 10 Tasty Foods You Should Definitely DIY is up over at DealsPlus today.
Everyone has an off week. I blew my budget today. But there is always tomorrow.
Even your "thrown-together" meals look delicious and awesome! And I feel like one of the reasons I am frugal is so that I *can* choose the convenient but pricey option when things get hectic... It's just important to keep that from becoming a regular thing.
To that end, I came home for lunch a couple of time this week (that I had set aside to go the gym, which is another story), and was able to tidy up the house and get dinners started those days. It made all the difference.
I'm still learning to navigate full-time work outside the home. My husband has a little more time at home than I do, and is happy to do what needs to be done, but homemaking doesn't make his heart sing the way it does for me, so some things just go better when I am able to find the time and energy to do them.
Your weekly posts inspire and motivate me to keep trying, though, so thank you!
I actually had a plan for the first time in a very long time. Am trying to keep to a strict budget from now on. I was able to use what I had on hand to make 4 delicious meals, but today am opting for a take out for myself. Then on to a new menu plan for next week.
Thanks, as always, for your inspiration even when your week goes awry.
Do you ever try the pizzas from Aldi's? The pretty good, huge, and cheap as far as those things go. We always have one in the freezer for the days when we need something quick. Otherwise, I'm quite impressed with your last minute throw together meals.
I've never tried them! I should, though...a number of you have said they're tasty.
I have tried the pizzas from Aldi, and though they do taste good, you may not want to turn the box over to read the ingredient list! Ouch!
I did have a plan but had deviated by Tuesday. I'm guessing maybe it was one of those weeks all round? It turned out okay though as I rustled up a 15 minute pasta dish - which tasted pretty good. Hope Sonia had a lovely birthday 🙂
Some weeks I have a meal plan and stick to it. Other weeks I find meal planning completely overwhelming, and so I just buy vegetables I know we like, and then make it up all week. This was one of those weeks.
Pasta with chick peas, broccoli
Pasta with chicken and mushrooms, green beans
Pasta fazool, broccoli (broccoli is one of the few cooked vegetables both of my kids will eat so we eat it alot)
Pork and veg stir fry with rice
Soup with homemade gf bread and bread toppings
It probably seems like a lot of pasta meals, but I'm Italian. We're working on getting the kids to eat a wider variety of vegetables.
Whenever I work overtime at work I totally justify ordering take-out Chinese. No one here complains, of course. So that was Tuesday. I can't even remember Monday. Wednesday was a super easy skillet meal of tortellini and sausage. Thursday I rolled raw chicken tenders in bread crumbs and parmesan and baked alongside green bean casserole. Tonight is Hubby's going away Happy Hour, so pizza might as well be ordered for the boys. And Saturdays are all about Hubby grilling, so I guess I will also add at HEB to my Friday list...
Your dinners look so healthy, btw!
I can very much relate to your week, as I had a bit of the same, feeding my poor husband the same 'in a pinch' meal two times this week on nights I felt utterly exhausted and thus too tired too cook. (He's such a good sport about doing the things he's tagged to do in our household, I wouldn't feel good about dumping cooking dinner on him. He'd likely happily make do with PB&J, but I'd feel bad. 🙁 )
And similar to what Elizabeth V expressed, I had to bring refreshments to a meeting that upwards of 40 people attend, and after stressing over making or baking for that many people, I opted to combine a $9.99 offer for a dozen bagels and two containers of cream cheese at a local place, with their weekly Wednesday $6.99 bakers dozen deal. That, along with strawberries being on sale for $1.50 a pound meant I spent just under $20 for 25 fresh bagels (50 after splitting them), cream cheese and a bowl of hulled strawberries. It was a hit, and I stayed on budget, having been under budget quite a few weeks in a row.
Also, I'm entertaining tonight and pulled out all the stops, but again stayed on budget by working my menu around seasonal items and things I already had on hand (like the canned pumpkin for the lasagna).
Mon - Eggplant burgers with marinara & mozarella cheese, green salad, sweet potato wedges
Tue - Lentil soup, green salad, naan bread
Wed - Repeat of Monday
Thur- Honey and lime glazed salmon, brown rice, roasted asparagus
Fri - Pumpkin, mushroom & sage lasagna, Caesar salad, roasted crookneck squash, garlic bread and yum, balsamic-marinated strawberries over vanilla ice cream
We were also totally thrown by the weather, but ended up having some good stuff:
1- A riff on shrimp viennese
2- Breakfast for dinner, featuring breakfast links, cheese scrambled eggs, and pepper-onion-potato home fries
3- Al fresco dinner, featuring a frozen spinach-artichoke dip from my mom, baguette, cheese, blanched broccoli, leftover steamed shrimp, and hickory-grilled steaks
4- Spinach-basil pesto with linguine, served with broccoli and some leftover fingerling potatoes
5- The steak and potatoes became breakfast for dinner redux for hubs, and I had leftover pesto pasta
6- Tonight is probably something with chicken, since it needs to be cooked now that it's finally defrosted (three days later!)
We did grocery shopping at the end of last week and may go tomorrow if there are any sales worth seeking out. Strangely, this week I have only bought a couple things, namely deli meat and baby formula. I did also buy a bag of flour because I was running low on unbleached AP and I'm working on a sourdough starter.
This week has been a bread baking week for me. I made a couple loaves of rustic no-knead bread on Monday one of which I ended up giving to a woman at work because I love being praised (hey, at least I'm honest!) Plus I also wanted to thank her for giving me some hand me downs for my daughter. Then I made some more on Tuesday and regular sandwich bread on Wednesday.
This week dinners have been sort of hodgepodge lately as well and a lot of times we have resorted to sandwiches or eggs.
We all have weeks like that! Enjoy a pizza you didn't have to make!
My week.
Monday: I can't remember...oh yeah Shrimp Stir Fry. Or was that Sunday night? No it was Mon.
Tuesday: Pizza. I made stew but it was no where close to done at dinner time so we ordered pizza
Monday: Stew!
Thursday: Yeast risen WW waffles, Bacon
Friday: Leftovers (I have more stew & waffle batter)or those sub pizzas look good. We were a bit light on veggies this week so maybe some green beans.
I've heard of chicken and waffles... stew and waffles sounds intriguing! (In a good way!)
LOL. It's more like grownups eat the stew and the kids eat the waffles. I was thinking I may try a savory application of the yeast risen waffles but I don't think I'll put the stew on them.
been there done that 🙂 this week not to bad. I am curious though you never post what you eat on weekends thats when I struggle the most so would be fun to see.
Husband was gone Saturday-Thursday so I made it my project to eat things up and not go to the grocery store. Had plenty of greens for salads all week. Leftovers from last week (including lamb shepherd's pie and mushroom stroganoff) got me through the weekend. Monday was gnocchi with alfredo sauce and green peas; Tuesday beans on toast; Wednesday green chili with pork and your awesome roasted carrots; Thursday a pasta bake. Tonight will be leftovers from Wednesday and Thursday, and we have a whole chicken thawing in the fridge for Saturday. Whew! I'm glad he's back so he can take over cooking next week!
I think my week went like yours! Everything was just sorta off. I had no plan and it did hurt me some.It made me have to come up with something on the fly, which was not always that great.
Monday-I wanted to have leftover pizza so I wouldn't have to cook but my husband wanted grilled burgers so we had a little of both.
Tuesday-This night was a blend of whatever was in the fridge. Some had leftover grilled hamburgers/hot dogs, some had pizza, and some had grilled cheese.
Wednesday-Chicken fajitas
Thursday-Breakfast burritos and pancakes. Original plan was the breakfast burritos but I forgot that my husband wanted pancakes so I whipped up a few of those too.
Friday-I have no idea! I am going to try to focus on having something healthier. Maybe a grilled chicken salad.
I hope next week is a little better. We have a vacation planned the end of the week so I am going to try to get off to a good start at least.
I never plan very far ahead, because the planning stresses me out -- I'm clearly a little wonky about that sort of thing. However, I will plan a meal that will leave me leftovers to make other meals, which I did this week. We had pork roast with roasted root veggies, then I made an Italian dish from Elizabeth David's classic Italian cook book which uses pork roast, substituting broccoli, which I already had, for the cabbage and adding in a lone piece of sausage I'd kept in my freezer in place of the real Italian sausages. I think it's called casuela or something like that. We'll finish the roast by adding barbecue sauce and making "pulled" pork sandwiches. In between those meals we used a pound of ground beef to have sloppy joes and veggies one night and plain burgers with chips and raw veggies another night. With just two of us, a pound can go that far.
My biggest problem is that after 37 years of marriage, I'm tired of thinking up meals! Once in a while, though, I get a good inspiration and then I'm off again, coming up with great ideas -- for a while.
I'm kinda in a slump of not wanting to come up with meal ideas right now, also. Could also be laziness for me though, lol!
Monday: leftover lentil curry with homemade garlic naan, Tuesday: homemade pizza with side salads for adults and veggies w/dip for kids, Wednesday: hamburgers and watermelon, Thursday: menestra de lenteja (an Ecuadorian dish) with rice and a fried egg, today: biscuts and gravy to use up leftover sausage (probably served with peas, watermelon, and apple slices).
We've been good at sticking to the menu plan recently, but to get to this point I always menu plan with the Weather Chanel app and my calendar handy. That way I can leave something simple (like the burgers) for my husband to make on the warm day I had an OB appointment and save the menestra for a rainy morning when I'd be home.
Sunday night we had a collection of leftovers.
Monday I was sick in the bed, and I think my husband made sandwiches for the boys.
Tuesday my husband made asparagus carbonara. It was as delicious as you are picturing.
Wednesday he made tuna salad sandwiches and broccoli.
Thursday I made orange beef with string beans and carrots over rice. I'm on spring break, so I had a little more time this week to experiment with a new dish. I never, ever make beef that isn't ground. But the results were amazing. It might have to become a regular.
Tonight my mama will pick up a pizza for us. Saturday night will be homemade pizza.
I wish we had an Aldi's near us....none in Los Angeles. I would like to buy their organic food. How much organic food do you buy? I saw you were using BBQ sauce on your sausages. Do you make your own or buy it? I hear that there is lots of bad chemicals in most bottled BBQ sauce including high fructose corn syrup. I don't buy everything organic but I try to get organic milk, dairy, eggs, meat & the dirty dozen.
Yup, I use bottled BBQ sauce. There are options out there without high fructose corn syrup, thankfully.
I, too, was concerned about HFCS so I've been monitoring the research. Turns out HFCS no worse than many other forms of sugar (such as granulated sugar). However, often it is found with ingredients that are legitimately concerning. IOW, it can be a marker.
So I no longer avoid HFCS but I do keep an eye out for other ingredients.
If you want to make your own healthier version, I suggest researching for "paleo BBQ sauce recipes".
I make my own simple BBQ sauce. It's really easy and I just use ingredients I usually have on hand. There are tons of recipes out there that are simple to very elaborate. My family prefers homemade to the bottled type that I also buy occasionally if it is rock bottom priced. You can whip some up in just a few short minutes. If you are concerned with the ingredients of the bottle I highly recommend giving it a try so you can control what goes in.
So excited that Aldi is opening in SoCal very soon. Depending on where you are in LA, you could be in luck. We live in NorCal, but travel to the Palm Springs area often. I'm so looking forward to including a shop at Aldi on our next trip. We always bring our cooler, so even perishales will survive the 8 hr. drive home. There's a Winco nearby, so it will be a double treat. Such a thrilling frugal life!
Oh, that is awesome! I didn't know they'd made it that far west yet.
Your week sounds like mine last week with the exception of spending on groceries. I did not meal plan. Idk, for some reason, I just didn't feel like it. Guess it was an off week! I paid for it though, literally! My goal for groceries is around 113.00......when all was said and done, I was at 200.00! That to me was proof that, for me, meal planning is everything! This week (my grocery/meal planning weeks go Wed-Tues), I was more on target. 117.44! I've got a good amount of leftovers so far, and another couple meals to cook too for the weekend. This also includes breakfast, lunch and snacks as well as the dreaded dinner!!!!! I love it!
I agree that some weeks just don't go as planned. I had asked my daughter to put a small turkey in the crock pot one day while I was at work because I had run out of time to get in on before I had to leave. She did but had neglected to turn on the crock pot. I switched to the oven and prepared something else for us that night. I made sloppy joes and French fries. This was on Tuesday evening. I can't remember what I fixed Monday night.
For Wednesday's night dinner I made mashed potatoes, turkey and noodles, and rolls.
Thursday: We were in a rush so dinner had to be quick. The kids had a variety show we had to get ready for. I also had some extra mouths to feed. I fried sausages for sandwiches and a pasta salad.
Tonight's dinner is homemade mac and cheese, Brussel sprouts, applesauce, and garlic bread.
These meals feed anywhere from 6 to 10. I always have a houseful of people to feed, but that is another story.
It was a not-so-great week for me because I injured my hand on monday, and could not use it, so no lifting heavy pots, no chopping veggies, etc. Hubby did the cooking.
We ate :
- macaroni with "Alfredo sauce" mostly made of cooked cauliflower + turkey
- rice and beans
- beef stew - beef cubes, carrots, potatoes and onion
Can't think of what else...
Also, pulled pork.
And tonight is a store-bought salmon pie + broccoli. Ok, I'm done!
I hope your hand feels better soon!
I hear you Kristen, had a very busy week and definitely at times felt overwhelmed..
As regards meals & budget did ok
Mon: roast chicken veg & potatoes
Tues: same as above, love roast chicken as we always make sandwiches out of it for lunch
Wed: chicken stir fry with noodles
Thurs: veg soup & toastie
Fri: homemade beef burgers & oven fries
Meal planning has always helped me from being overwhelmed, but you have to have the attitude that " life happens". And boy, does it. I promise you, as a mom of four, and now Grammie of six, I can look back and say that the Pinterst Police never yet has come to get me. You do your best, that's all that matters, and believe me, when I had to drop back and punt ( order pizza) my kids were THRILLED. That was such a treat in those one-income, stay at home mom years. It's funny what the kids remember. I seriously doubt than any of them noticed or cared that I spent a few hours each week planning menus and shopping frugally. But the pizza they remember!
Love, love, love your blog!
Monday-Crockpot beef, stir fry veggies & rice
Tuesday- Shake & Bake chicken breasts, edamame & green beans, rice
Wednesday- out for a late supper at the Keg
Thursday-spaghettini & pasta sauce with shredded cheese and raw carrots and cucumbers on side
Friday-out for supper again ???
Made & brought my lunch to work all week though...so there's that....:)
HAPPY FRIDAY!
Happy Friday to you too! So glad you are enjoying my blog.
Ok, I had to comment this week as I did actually plan and shop for my menu, and had soup on it ... then it was 80 degrees! Well, I did not have time/energy to think up something else, and the meat was already thawed...so I went ahead and made the soup. It's a really yummy soup with bits of stew meat and two kinds of potatoes, only I did not cook it on a high enough setting so the potatoes took far longer to cook that I had planned... thus we had steak soup and I had to pick out all the potatoes ... my children affectionally called it "stone soup." Thus we have a new name for the soup.
Monday: grilled chicken, rice, cantaloupe, broccoli
Tuesday: "Stone" Soup, hawaiian rolls
Wednesday: Tacos
Thursday: Subs from Subway with gift card (I ate soup!) chips, raw veggies, Lemonade... eating outside at the picnic table
Friday: chicken fajitas and rice
Those pizza subs look beyond-delicious. And an "off week" for you is still way better than most folks'.
We had some family members down with a stomach bug and it ended being a fly by the seat of my pants kind of week. My goal was to make it to today without going grocery shopping and mission accomplished.
Monday: I had leftover pizza dough and was sick of pizza so I wrapped the dough around turkey dogs, boiled them quickly in baking soda water and then baked them for a sort of pretzel dog. They were pretty good, and saved dough that I would have tossed.
Tuesday: breakfast for dinner - eggs, waffles, bacon, fruit and cheese grits
Wednesday: I made an alfredo sauce and combined leftover bacon (uncooked) and a bunch of leftover veggies - peas, broccoli, mushrooms, onions. Served with spaghetti.
Thursday: Parmesan crusted pork chops with parmesan couscous and apple sauce from the freezer
Friday: hot ham and cheese subs with chips and fruit.
We made it through the week!
Can you share your shrimp and red pepper stir fry recipe?
Much Thanks!
Yes-it's on my to-share list, but I need to take some photos of the recipe. Now that Daylight Saving time is upon us, I'll have available light at dinnertime again. Yay!
Monday afternoon - invited to business dinner, then told there were two competing business dinners, then told I was expected at both. I went home, got in my comfies and made vegetable/cheese omlettes for dinner.
Tuesday - absolutely don't recall.
Wednesday - pasta w/homemade sauce from the freezer, spinach salad
Thursday - soup from the freezer
Friday - I was exhausted and slept through dinner!
Tonight - I wanted to do something especially for DH. He eats red meat so I got a half-pound of ground beef, some sandwich buns (he eats gluten), and adapted a recipe for 2.5 pounds of homemade sloppy joe to .5 pound. He said he liked it! I had a turkey/confetti burger from the freezer, and we had cut-up raw veggies.
I think you did great with your wacky week.
Here's our menu from the week:
Sun-smoked turkey, mashed potatoes
Mon-pizza
Tue-leftovers with turkey (sandwiches, open faced turkey, etc)
Wed-ham, baked potatoes & spinach
Thurs-steak & oven fries (I had canned soup)
Fri-fried fish from a British diner. (I had pancakes and made more for freezing))
Sat- ham & eggs
Sun- Scalloped potatoes with ham
I loved your sub pizzas! I work full time and like to go to the gym after work, so I try to make several meals on Sunday
M-Meatballs(made sunday), pasta and salad
T-Beef(extra flank steak cooked Sunday) and Broccoli over rice with Tomato, Cucumber & avocado salad
W-Pizza (homemade with left over meatballs on one)
Thursday-turkey meatloaf(made Sunday), baked potatoes and roasted asparagus, green salad
Friday-Leftover Pizza for the kids, omelets for the adults 🙂
Saturday-Costco rotisserie chicken with salad and rolls (long day...)