Squeezing in a July menu plan!
Every month, I post a week's worth of meals + an update on our grocery spending.
It's almost August (sob!), so I figured I'd better get this posted.
Here's what I bought on a grocery shopping trip this month. There's not a whole lot in the way of vegetables here because my bi-weekly produce box has been more than meeting our vegetable needs.
(Which is good for us...it's making me prepare more vegetables than I would otherwise. But I definitely do not need to buy many veggies from the grocery store!)
(Notice the hydrogen peroxide? I'm planning to give some clothes the homemade oxi-clean treatment!)
So far this year, my weekly grocery spending has averaged out to a little less than $150 per week. This feeds six of us and includes toiletries and cleaning supplies.
This reminds me what a great bargain it is to eat at home. The six of us can quickly spend $40 for a "cheap" meal out, and yet I can buy groceries for an entire week for $150.
On to the meals!
My blog loaded the food pictures in sort of backwards chronological order, but I'm just gonna roll with it.
1. Steak and Potato Salad | Fruit Salad
Instagrammers: You know the mustard vinaigrette I posted? It was for this salad.
It's from the ATK Quick Family Cookbook, and this is the second time I've made it. You cook the steaks in a skillet and brown the (pre-cooked in the microwave) potatoes in the fat left in the pan.
I've never had super good luck with pan-fried potatoes before, but these are delicious. I think the pre-cooking helps a lot, and I'm sure the steak fat/browned bits don't hurt either.
2. Chicken Pizzaiola | Watermelon
This is also from the ATK quick cookbook, and I'd never made it before. It was a decent super-fast dish, but I think I prefer breaded and browned chicken more. It wasn't bad...just a little bit boring.
It would have been awesome to serve a salad with this instead of watermelon, but I was in kind of a hurry. 😉
3. Swedish Meatballs | Strawberry Orange Salad
The salad was a variation on the strawberry pear salad we frequently eat.
And the Swedish Meatballs are from Cook's Illustrated's big cookbook.
(My full review of that book seems to have gotten eaten in my blog migration, but that link will give you a mini-review.)
5. Pancakes | Apple Pfannekuchen
Mr. FG and Joshua went to a concert that night, so they picked up some dinner on the way. The girls and their friend wanted pancakes, so I made buttermilk pancakes for them.
But Apple Pfannekuchen sounded better to me, so I made one for myself. I've been trying to cut way back on added sugar in my diet, and I was pleased to discover that this tastes pretty delicious with only a fraction of the sugar called for in the recipe.
Although, that could be because I haven't eaten much added sugar in the last few months...maybe my taste buds are adjusting??
I used local eggs when I made this, which is why it's such a shocking shade of yellow.
6. BLT Salad
Not to sound like a broken record, but...this is from the ATK quick cookbook too. 😉
The photo doesn't show it, but the salad has chicken in it too, so it's hearty enough for a summer main dish. I'm pretty sure we had fruit with this, but I can't remember!
7. Date Night
We had a takeout night, but we cheated a bit. The weather was so beautiful, instead of eating at home we drove down to a sweet little spot in our neighborhood and sat on a bench in front of the water to eat our food.
It was like a waterfront restaurant on the cheap. 😉
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I really didn't plan to feature almost nothing but Cook's/ATK recipes (and they certainly didn't pay me to do that), but honestly, most weeks at least 75% of my menu includes their recipes, just because they rock.
If you're struggling for dinner inspiration, do yourself a favor and get one of their books.
The quick cookbook might be especially helpful if you, like most of us, are trying to get dinner on the table in a hurry.
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What about you? Cooked up anything great lately? Share!
I have couple quick cookbooks but I barely use them,so we have our meals over and over again and I should start checking on it more often. By the way,your BLT salad looks so delicious!
Wow, thanks for chronicling your food budget and its results for us! That's a big job! I think you once mentioned that you shop at ALDI. Is that still your grocery store of choice? Also, have you ever considered gardening? I know you have a bi-weekly food box, but having a garden does save a lot on the grocery bill and seems like an activity your children would enjoy too. 🙂
Well, our yard is sort of poorly-situated for gardening. We have 7 oak trees in our yard alone, and so bright sunlight is hard to come by. I've tried in the past, but things just do not grow well in such shade. I can grow a few things in pots, which I can situate in sunny spots (mint and basil, mostly), but I've decided that at least while we live in this house, gardening isn't going to be my thing.
And yep, most of my non-local groceries still do come from Aldi.
What kind of dressing is on your BLT salad?
It's mayo with a little bit of red wine vinegar...to make it taste like a BLT!
We fix potato logs often closely the same way you fixed your pan-roasted potatoes: microwave then quarter length-wise and brown in the cast iron skillet with a little olive oil and various spices (usually to include red pepper 'cause we like'm spicey). It's a very quick and easy side dish. Also, we do sweet potatoes this way as well which I like even better than the Irish potatoes.
Do let us know how the* Hydrogen Peroxide* clothing treatment went! 😉
Oh, I know it works great! Click on the link to see a before and after.
I just ordered the ATK Quick cookbook. Seems like a lot of people really like it, so I might give it a whirl...
I hope you do. 🙂 Their definition of quick is 35 minutes or so, though, which is definitely longer than your ten-minute meals! So maybe this will be a weekend cookbook for you.
We've been kinda Hooked on GreenBeans & Grilled Chicken w-Egg & Parmesan Cheese
I bought a Bag of the Foster Farms Precooked Grilled Chicken Slices
Cleaned & Cut some Fresh GreenBeans Cooked then about 1/2 way ( as I like Soft Veggies not crunchy ) then I heated the Chicken in a little Olive Oil, added the GreenBeans, & I scrambled about 2 eggs then made a well to cook the eggs w- chicken & GreenBeans then added Parmesan Cheese 😉
This is really good !!! We have also used CANNED green beans too but rinsed a few times & drained 🙂 This is really good too 🙂
Next time we are gonna make Fried Rice or get a Bag of Fried Rice from Trader Joe's to eat with this 🙂
Anyways really fast & pretty cheap too. 😉
I like these recipes. I will have to look into that book.
The secret to awesome pan-fried potatoes is to use red or yellow-skinned potatoes (not baking potatoes) and parboil them at least 12 hours in advance. Boil until fork tender but not falling apart, drain well, and store in the fridge for up to 4 days. Slice and fry with fat, salt, pepper, and whatever spices you like (sesame seeds are also fun). The parboiling and chilling gives the potatoes a much better texture (plus they fry really quickly). You can also toss them in oil and oven-roast them instead of frying.
I agree about the cost of eating out. I love to eat out so that I get a break from not only cooking, but the cleanup. However, when I consider how many groceries I can buy for the same cost as one meal out, it makes it much less enjoyable. I just came up with this salad and it is my new favorite. http://myoverflowingcup.com/easy-healthy-chickpea-salad/
I just checked out the ATK pressure cooker cookbook and love it. It makes me understand how to use the pressure cooker and all the recipes have been great.
I laughed a little when you posted about the sugar content/tasted sweet enough. I think there is something to a bit of a reset to your taste buds when you change your eating habits. I can't stand super sweet stuff anymore and they used to be my favourite. My son is a Type 1 diabetic so I changed my baking and cooking almost 4 years ago (no, not a lot of sweeteners) to recipes with a lot less sugar, more fruits as sweeteners, etc. and the entire family prefers it these days. Can't go back now even if we didn't have to eat this way!
ALERT!!!! ATK Quick family cookbook is on clearance for TEN DOLLARS!!!!
https://americastestkitchen.buysub.com/microsite/index/load/id/228/?___store=microsite
I cook a lot from ATK and I tried the Chicken Pizzaiola recipe a while back. I agree that it was really bland. I thought it was just me but I'm glad to hear that someone else thought it was a bit of a dud.