In which I shop like a grown-up
This week, I went on a real grocery shopping trip! Like, for the week! With a list!
I was so responsible.
Here's what I bought:
Somehow, it always looks like not-very-much food when it's out on the floor like this, but when it's time to put it away, I feel like the food multiplies.
I spent $165.17 on this trip, $115 of which was at Aldi.
Since I still have some produce left from last week's produce box, I didn't need to buy a whole lot from the store, which was nice.
And I also stopped at Target, as mentioned yesterday, and spent $18, $10 of which was a bag of frozen berries for smoothies.
How's my spending going in November?
$183-this week
$177.73-second week of November (in which I was totally disorganized)
So, I'm coming in around $126/week this month, which means I'm still way under my average of $200/week.
Go, me!
Monday
This day ended up being kind of nutso, so I was glad that I'd put something easy on the menu!
We had a salad (a riff on this strawberry pear salad), pan-cooked tilapia, and cornbread.
Why yes, that IS my Amani Ya Juu towel wrapped around the cornbread.
Tuesday
We had Parmesan-Crusted Chicken, the Brussels sprouts salad with the warm bacon dressing (I think this is the third post this week where I've mentioned it. Sorry!), and scalloped potatoes.
(photo from another time when we had Parmesan-Crusted chicken, obv. Also from before daylight savings time ended, obv. I miss my daylight for photos!)
Wednesday
I'd planned to make BBQ beef sandwiches, but I sort of forgot to thaw the chuck roast in time, and BBQ isn't really something you can rush.
So I thawed some ground beef instead and made tacos.
And I thawed some applesauce from my massive collection for us to eat with our tacos.
I made guacamole too.
But you probably assumed that. 😉
Thursday
Mr. FG, Joshua, and Lisey went to a concert, so it was just Sonia and Zoe and me left at home. I made French toast for them:
And I made a taco salad for myself to use up the taco leftovers from Wednesday night.
Friday
It's a pizza night, and I think I might opt for making regular ol' pizza.
And that wraps up a week of eats at my house!
What did you eat this week?
I love your Friday posts---I love seeing what groceries other people buy (is that crazy???). Just wanted to say that we had an Aldi open here in town this week. I had never heard of it until your blog so I'm anxious to shop there. I'm in Roanoke, VA. Thanks for all the hard work you put into your posts each day. I really enjoy your blog :0)
I LOVE Aldi so much and each week they are getting better and better. They have really good organic meat and produce. I would love to feed my family as much organic as possible, but we are a family of 5. The kids eat sooooo much food, so this is the only way I am able to afford feeding them. LOL
I just recently found this blog and am loving everything I read. I try hard to stick to a budget and eat as healthy as possible, but our family loves to eat out (me included). You are giving me some great ideas though. Thanks!
The theme Chez WilliamB is still simple, simple, simple. Many meals have been a protein, a veggie, and some fruit. Over the weekend the protein was a salt-rubbed roast pork loin; later in the week I pan-fried the less-cooked leftovers which, to my surprise, made it taste rather different. I also tried egg cups[1] using wonton wrappers and leftover restaurant Tex-Mex.
My smart saves all went into a lunch: sauteed mushrooms that had started to go slimy (I have a cast-iron stomach, a bit of mushroom slime isn't going to make me ill), egg whites leftover from a recipe, served with toast from slightly-too-old homemade bread from the previous week.
Clementine season just started around here. The bags are disappearing at a rate of two a week. Yum.
Same here. They're so good!!
I have 3 clementines on my desk right now for snacking. LOVE this time of year!
Whoops - forgot the footnote.
[1] Egg cups: line a muffin tin with some sort of starch (shredded potatoes, rolled out biscuit, etc), fill with eggs (beaten or whole), and flavorings such as bacon or spinach. Bake.
Our week was very boring (repetitive) food wise...
Cooked 2 chickens on sunday, added a sweet and sour sauce, and cooked carrots/onions/ potatoes on the side. This made for 2 suppers and we still have leftovers. Same with a big batch of spaghetti sauce, good for 2 suppers. And a friend gave me a chicken pot pie, which we used for 2 suppers for the kids (+ carrots). We had leftovers those nights. Yesterday hubby and I went out for Shawarma. My lunchs mostly consisted of corn chips, cheeses and some sort of nuts and fruits. Tonight is stuffed peppers. So, yeah, boring week....
This week's meal planning went really well - I think we're finally hitting our stride as a couple, now that we're *both* employed full-time and have had a few months to figure things out.
--Shallot pasta (a Rachael Ray recipe, halved) with ham and cheese stuffed mushrooms
--Leftover chili for him, and an egg burrito for me
--Naan pizzas: one pepperoni and cheese, and one that used the leftover stuffed mushrooms
--A team-effort pancake dinner with breakfast sausage and applesauce
--Tonight: no idea! probably salad (basic lettuce, homemade peppercorn parmesan dressing), but not a clue what to put with it. pancakes don't seem like the best pairing 😛
I'm pretty excited about next week's meals. I realized that I only really have to buy the meat and heat (peppers) for chili, and a whole chicken if I don't feel like using the boneless, skinless breasts in the freezer. And then we've got everything covered up to Thanksgiving!
What about biscuits with your salad? Or corn muffins? Those are both pretty fast, and are a little more salad-friendly than pancakes.
Ah - biscuits! My husband used to swear by Miracle Whip, but since he started eating better he completely lost his taste for it. I've been meaning to try it out in a quick biscuit dough. Thanks! 🙂
This week was bonkers! But we still managed to eat. Whew. 🙂 We had roast chicken with mashed potatoes, gravy, Brussels sprouts and carrots on Sunday. While we cleaned up that night my husband prepared a chicken cottage pie from the leftovers and tucked it into the freezer for Wednesday night when I'd be solo parenting with all four kiddos. Other meals this week included spaghetti with sauce from the freezer, potato tacos with roasted broccoli on the side (roasted potatoes topped with taco meat, onions, cheddar, sour cream and tomatoes), and sausages with squash, corn, and snap peas. Tonight is our regular pizza night too. We have plenty of toppings on hand this week... Bell peppers, mushrooms, onions, pepperoni, cheese, etc. 🙂
Doesn't that feel like a huge accomplishment, when you have a crazy week and still manage to feed everybody at home?
I'm giving you a medal for that. 😉
What a great post...and blog! Love your photos. Thank you so much for sharing, and warm greetings from Montreal, Canada. 🙂
I wish we had an Aldi here in Denver!
Saturday: Gyros with chicken and garbanzo beans/tzatziki sauce/lettuce/tomatoes
Sunday: random leftovers from our fridge
Monday: Gyro salads with leftovers from Saturday
Tuesday: Indian Tacos
Wednesday: Cabbage Soup with sausage and potatoes/bread
Thursday: Make-ahead chicken enchilada tacos (the make-ahead enchilada recipe was amazing-thanks Kristen! BUT, I was too lazy to fill/roll/bake the tortillas, so I mixed the extra sauce into the filling and we ate it as taco filling, on tortillas with avocado and sour cream).
Friday: Tonight we're having leftover chicken enchilada filling over rice, with avocado/cheese/sour cream toppings.
Ooh, that modification sounds great.
And now I feel like I want to put enchiladas on next week's plan.
I really want to get back to eating normal dinner again. It's really getting to me and I plan on remembering this every time someone suggests we have another kid.
Twice this week we had homemade chicken soup that my wife made, we had toast, eggs and bacon another night and then just leftovers another night. I have no idea on tonight.
Though I am hoping we can do some actual grocery shopping tonight and this weekend.
Oh gosh, you just had one! What is it that makes people insist on growing your family before you adjust to number 1? 🙂 Just hang in there -- it IS such a big adjustment but wow, you guys made soup! and eggs! and plan to grocery shop -- give yourselves a pat on the back right now and congratulations!
Hang in there...it DOES get better! You will one day sleep all night again and cook regular meals and feel like something approaching normal. Promise!
Love reading (and seeing!) what you all are doing!
Sunday, Mon, Tuesday -- turkey chili made using meat and potatoes intended for shepherd's pie -- will still try that soon -- and discount cans of beans, tomatoes, etc. With it: green salad and/or broccoli each night.
Wednesday: Yummy potato soup! Supposed to be vegan but used chicken broth. Roasted 2 heads of garlic and caramelized onions -- so much flavor! took time but not hard. Big Green salad and broccoli. Pom seeds and a square of dark chocolate for dessert.
Thursday: Me, leftover soup, broccoli (with Cholula hot sauce, husband's invention and surprisingly good, and pomegranate seeds (2 big, lovely poms from the discount bin for a dollar) and square dark choc. Husband had soup, last of salad, broccoli, and frozen veggie tamales.
Breakfasts: cereal, milk, and tea
Lunches: Me -- veggies, peanuts in the shell (from discount), cheddar slices, red grapes, apples, clementines. Husband -- little half sandwiches of chicken and cheese.
Tonight: Treat night! so all bets are off. There is talk of a coconut cream pie bought on sale with coupon that came with free whipped cream (gotta love the Thanksgiving sales 🙂 and other forbidden delights that lurk in the freezer. Kvelling just thinking of it . . .
I'm coming over for dessert!
Good eats this week, with lots of leftovers (just husband and I in our empty nest 🙂 ). My rule for leftovers is one dinner repeat, then as lunches after that. Seems to keep my husband satisfied (I query him from time to time to make sure).
Mon- Leftover Italian sausage/kale/white bean soup from earlier (so good!), salad, broiled bagels with pesto (my homemade pesto, which I freeze in small batches.)
Tue- Eggplant parmesan, salad, pesto garlic bread
Wed - Honey sesame chicken, green beans, brown rice
Thur - Pollo asada, tortillas, pinto beans, cilantro salad
Fri - Leftovers from Tuesday. I'll reheat the eggplant parmesan in the oven to bring it back to crunchy goodness, and make a fresh salad and fresh batch of garlic bread.
I've been trying to have two vegetables at dinner, which is easy when I'm cooking meatless, but something I have to give more thought to when I'm not. I now see I failed to do this on my two non-vegetarian nights, so I'll work to do better going forward.
It's my week to cook at our house.
Sunday-basil pork chops with butter-lettuce salad and leftover mashed potatoes
Monday-went out with family
Tuesday-black bean chili, broccoli, and mixed-greens salad
Wednesday-chili leftovers and quinoa spinach salad
Thursday-squash ravioli in a brown-butter sauce, butter-lettuce salad, and broccoli
Friday-some sort of chicken dish, orange cauliflower, and of course a salad!
Saturday-some other sort of chicken dish, plus whatever leftovers are around
Can you tell we have lots and lots of salad greens this week. 🙂
Perhaps I missed this when you began posting your purchases, but does that budget include non-food items, toilet paper, laundry detergent, etc? If so, you are being wonderfully frugal, miraculously frugal! If not, still impressive.
Yep-toiletries and paper products are included. I don't use a lot of paper products, though...a few paper towels here and there, plus napkins and toilet paper.
And yep, laundry detergent and such are included too. Right now I'm working through a big container of detergent from Costco, so you won't see detergent show up for a little while!
Kristen, do you design your menus around sale items from the stores?
I did that more before I started shopping at Aldi. Since Aldi's prices are low every day and they don't run sales, I can pretty much make whatever I want and still pay low prices. I love Aldi!
If I didn't have an Aldi, though, I'd definitely plan around sales.
I have two Aldis "near" me, meaning that one is an hour north and the other, an hour south. I have never wrapped my head around unnecessarily driving an hour one way to save on groceries. I do need to do better about planning around sales as much as possible.
Love your Friday posts, the photography is great, thank you for sharing with us & for all your hard work
Aww, thank you for your encouragement! I so appreciate it.
This post is so helpful, lots of ideas for future menus! This week for us:
Monday: crock pot cranberry chicken, almond rice pilaf (Paula Deen recipe), acorn squash
Tuesday: Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole, roasted red potatoes, brocolli
Wednesday: leftovers from both above meals!
Thursday: meatloaf, baked sweet potato, coleslaw
Friday: pizza
Every single grocery item in the above menus was purchased at Aldi.
I love your blog, but why, oh, why, do you put all of your groceries on the floor? It makes me so tired think of you coming home with all of the groceries and then having to stage a photo before putting them away.
But your floor is pretty 🙂
Well, it's because it's hard to see what I've bought otherwise. And people like to see everything. Believe me, I'd much prefer to just photograph my bags of groceries!
Different food week here as my sister and brother-in-law were here Tuesday through Thursday dinners. Monday was breakfast for dinner, Tuesday my mom made toutiet and I made French onion soup plus a salad, Wednesday I made spaghetti with meat sauce for a crowd, garlic bread and salad, and then Thursday was our Thanksgiving meal with turkey and fixings plus fancy dessert. Last night was pizza here and tonight is turkey and bean tacos.
Now my fridge is bare so I will pick CSA up and hit the grocery store too...Thanksgiving round two at my in laws this week with 20+ people...they usually count on me to bring vegetable somethibg
I ALWAYS throw my roasts frozen into my crock pot for pulled pork/shredded beef sandwiches! Yesterday I tossed a Pork butt into the crock with a few heavy shakes of 21 Seasoning Salute, some grinds of Pink salt and a few shakes of Worchestershire Sauce. I start on high to get it going then turned to low and it cooks all day. Husband works from home so if I am not here he will flip it a few times to make sure no areas dry out. I ended up bringing an extra kid home from the school hoedown so while they played I defatted and shredded the meat, heated up a bag of frozen corn and a bag of parmesean seasoned potatoes and green beans for sides. I had a few bags of frozen rolls from a great coupon find that were bought for last minute additions like this! I warmed hawaiian rolls and mini bagettes and everyone got to sauce their meat as desired!
Also this week we had salads, homemade meatballs and sauce over penne, and leftovers. One night I divided a pack of chicken breast and did ritz and cheese crust baked for the kids and cubed the rest and used a Dinner kit from ALDI for Chicken Tiki Masala! Also made the box of Naan for it. SO good, did not have a fake box taste.. wish I would have bought more!
Edit- if I know I will have it in the crock a really long time I flip to low.. if I put it in a little later I keep on high and it is always tender and perfect!
I wouldn't have minded throwing it in frozen, but I didn't remember until midday, so then there was definitely no time to get it properly cooked in the crockpot.
But I'll just bump that meal to this week and all will be well!
(As long as I'm more mindful this go-round. Ha.)
Kristen I like your menu posts and have tried several dishes. However, your Monday dinner still has me wondering if you left something out! That looks more like a summer lunch around here. Was your family happy with that or want a bit more? Thanks
No...we were all good! I made lots of the tilapia and plenty of cornbread, so there was enough to go around for all of us.
(No one in my family has enormous appetites as we're all a fairly small build. If I were feeding football player teenagers, the story might be different.)
Glad everyone for their fill! Thanks for responding!