It's the What We Spent, What We Ate feature!
I missed two weeks of food reports due to the holidays, but I'm baaaack!
(Hi.)
Just in case you all were sitting on the edges of your seats waiting to hear my year-end grocery totals...I ran a report in Quicken, and my grocery spending for 2015 averaged out to $199.987453 (no lie!) per week.
We can just round that up to $200, wouldn't you say?
I had a lot of weeks in November and December where I spent less than $200, but I did buy a quarter of a cow earlier in the year, so that bumped up my average.
I think I probably will not need to buy another quarter until 2017, so I may end up at less than $200/week this year. Stay tuned to see!
To start off the new year, I did an unusual thing and went grocery shopping on a Saturday! with Mr. FG!
In other news, I was too lazy to take my groceries out of the bag for a photo.
That's 6 exclamation points so far. Sorry. I'll try to refrain for the rest of the post.
I spent $195.93 this week, which includes my $33 produce box, $10 of chicken from the organic store, a $7 mid-week milk run, and my initial Saturday shopping trip.
(not shown: the sugar snap peas that Lisey and I immediately ate, dipped in ranch.)
So, that was my spending, and here's what we ate.
Monday
I made hibachi chicken and shrimp, with yum yum sauce. And rice.
Since that dish has veggies, protein, and carbs in one dish, well, that's all I made for dinner.
Can we talk about how much better hibachi is with yum yum sauce?? It's like a whole new meal.
Funny thing...a while back I saw a bottle of yum yum sauce in the store and was about to buy it, and Mr. FG said, "Hmm. I bet you could make that at home. It can't be that complicated." And he was right.
This is the recipe I use for yum yum sauce.
It is easy and it is marvelous.
I will never look back.
Tuesday
So, I'm starting this new thing where I'm cooking with one kid each Tuesday. It was Joshua's turn and we'd planned to make gyros, but he didn't get going early enough in the morning to marinate the chicken.
(teenagers and growing, you know.)
We scrapped that plan and made buttermilk waffles instead.
Wednesday
This was our barely-home day that I mentioned yesterday, and we had clam chowder, English muffin bread, and a green salad similar to this one.
Thursday
I seasoned and roasted a turkey breast from Aldi, made gravy, sauteed the green beans from my produce box, and threw together two pans of no-knead rolls.
Interesting note about those...I was short on time, so I totally skipped the first rise and instead spooned the dough right into the muffin tins to rise and then bake. They were a little more dense this way, but I actually kind of liked 'em like that.
Anyway, this is good to know because I may possibly be in a hurry again at some point in my lifetime. 😉
(Without the first rise time, these rolls are on the table in about an hour. Speedy!)
Friday
It's Friday! Pizza night!
(I like exclamation points and I cannot lie.)
(sorrynotsorry.)
My crew has consistently been requesting regular ol' pizza, so we shall see if that's the case again this week.
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How were the eats at your house this week? Are you back to normal life after the holidays now?
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Just a reminder before I close: Today is the last day of the Mrs. Meyer's ePantry offer.
(It's gone at 6pm, actually.)
To recap, ePantry newbies get a free cleaning set with the purchase of some other products from ePantry. Total out of pocket is $26.24, which averages out to $2.38 per item. And shipping is free!
ePantry is a subscription service, but you are never obligated to purchase anything else, you can cancel after your introductory offer, and if you do stay an ePantry member, it is totally ok to skip deliveries for as long as you'd like. You can easily order only when you need more items.
After a big 'ol round of awful stomach flu last week, we are finally back to our usual meals. In fact, my normally "good" eaters had huge appetites!
I'm an Aldi fan like you. When I go to the regular grocery stores for fill-in type items, I'm always shocked by the price of things. Yay, Aldi!
It's been a leftovers/pantry cooking week here. I'm not back to "normal" cooking yet, but I'm also trying to do simpler things and get my husband more involved.
Lunches: leftovers from dinner and/or pea soup served sometimes with vegetables for me; hubs likes sandwiches.
Dinners were a mix:
(1) I actually made a little 2-lb Sunday roast beef, tag-teamed with the hubs so the "baked potatoes" we were supposed to have ended up being roasted cubes because he misunderstood me when I asked him to put the potatoes in the oven. It was pretty funny, because I also undercooked the roast by mis-reading the directions, so it had to be cooked twice. At least I didn't throw it out! lol
(2) I made eggs to go with leftover potatoes.
(3) I made a "tartiflette pizza" (from Good Cheap Eats) with leftover potatoes, bacon, and bits of cheese (brie and Jarlsberg) that needed using, put onto naan that I keep in my freezer for the purpose of mid-week pizzas.
(4) I reheated leftover roast beef with fresh cooked rice for hubs, and ate more eggs and potatoes myself.
(5) By divine intervention, on a day both of us were too tired to cook, a shipment of bacon and bread (Christmas present subscription services) arrived. Guess what we had for dinner, with the last of the pea soup?
And I've been eating a cherry variation on your chocolate cake recipe all week, using cherries I'd frozen this summer. Yum! 🙂
Happy New Year, Kristen!!!
(Three exclamation marks from another exclamation mark lover!)
Though I often shop st Aldi I never tried their turkey breast- until this past Sunday-delicious!
Initially we had it with homemade mashed potstoes and carrots.
Later in the week I used leftovers to make turkey tetrazzini and a salad.
It made its final appearance last night as hot open faced turkey sandwiches with sautéed string beans.
We also enjoyed roasted salmon, butternut squash, and a salad as well as vegetarian fajitas.
I made your hibachi chicken (no shrimp due to picky children!) for the first time this week, and while we enjoyed it, it turned out really watery and not all lovely brown like your picture. I think my onions were extra juicy. Next time I am going to cook them before the chicken so if there is a lot of liquid I can drain it off before the tasty marinaded chicken hits the pan. It was definitely a good meal for pre-prep. Made the Yum Yum sauce and marinade the night before, chopped the veggies and chicken in the a.m. so I just had to throw the rice in and cook the meal in the evening.. Just had two pots to clean after dinner! Thanks for the inspiration!
On New Year's Day we cooked a *giant* pastured turkey, which we served with mashed potatoes, homemade gravy, corn and sautéed snap peas. From that turkey we made a 9x13 cottage pie for the freezer, and froze 2 portions of chopped turkey with gravy for cottage pie/pot pie/hot sandwiches, plus 2 containers of plain chopped turkey for soup. And we made huge lots of stock to freeze. 🙂
We also made pasta sauce to use up some sad bell peppers and mushrooms, a pot of turkey noodle soup, roasted beef sausages with a pan of roasted beets/carrots/radishes, and a homemade Mac n cheese with peas and tuna mixed in. Oh, and we enjoyed chili from the freezer, served over rice, with sour cream and cheddar on top. Hooray for freezer cooking! Tonight is pizza night in our house too. Delish.
Saturday: Beef and Potato Tacos
Sunday: Leftovers from Saturday and the week before
Monday: Tuna Salad sandwiches
Tuesday: Chicken Tacos
Wednesday: Leftovers for me, Taco Bell for my husband (he was helping a friend with some work that ended up taking way longer than planned, so he just picked up some food on the way home-but he kept it cheap!)
Thursday: Free meal out for me (company event), no idea what my husband ate
Friday: Um, I don't know yet-I have nothing in my fridge and all my meat is frozen. I'm thinking goulash or something simple that I can just throw together-and with hamburger meat, I can cook it and defrost it all at the same time.
That Kitchen Aid mixer looks like a little kitchen toy with Joshua standing next to it! I had to do a double take. I was using mine last night and it seemed so big and bulky, but it looks like Joshua could just throw it around.
We used your hibachi recipe this past week and added some carrots and broccoli and it was divine! My husband says the yum yum sauce is better than the restaurant's!
Buying beef in bulk is by far that best way to go, and my favorite! My family owns a beef farm so we tend to get a whole cow for Christmas each year, can't complain about that! 🙂
Other than the eleventy-billion treats we received as Christmas gifts (mmmm, fudge!) we are pretty much back to eating "normally". Great tip about the bread! I would never think to skip a rise, and I'm always pressed for time by the time I even think about making bread, so maybe I'll try this!
We always do a turkey breast in the crock pot for Christmas(small family here). I just wanted to mention that I saw on a cooking show to sprinkle a ranch dip packet on your turkey before baking. It has all the normal spices you would use anyway and you can add butter or whatever you normally would do. We did this and it is SO delicious. I'm sure you could do the same thing with the whole turkey. I just couldn't believe the flavor! You don't need to add salt/pepper or anything really.
My week was part chickeny and part lazy.
Sunday & Monday - Sweet and Sour chicken (from Cooking Light)
Tuesday - Grilled cheese
Wednesday - 1/2 a peanut butter sandwich and some popcorn (which is a pretty random meal even for me).
Thursday - Chicken tacos
Friday - Not sure yet, but my Blue Apron came yesterday so it will be one of those meals- either chicken udon soup, kale and cheese calzones, or Juicy Lucy burgers.
My menu planning has been approximately off for weeks now. I decide what to cook, but the days - and sometimes the meals - get put off. I still haven't made the tofu and cabbage dish I planned (ahem) before Christmas. Fortunately both items last a long time and either has turned into food waste.
I was going to make overnight french toast for Monday, just getting around to having it today.
Roasted the most amazing chicken (raised entirely outside, on a combo of feed and pecking) on Wed, just had some today.
Still haven't ground the fresh hams, not to mention making the taco filling I had in mind, will have to grind it soon but probably will freeze the meat.
But, oh man, that chicken. I wish my friends lived closer - 8 hrs each was is just too far.
Ooh, that does sound delicious.
I'm headed out on vacation tomorrow...and it's my first road trip vacation in...ever. I've been trying to use up things that will go bad while I'm gone. And will just take with some other things (like cherry tomatoes? Yum!).
It's difficult to find healthy food that is portable to eat in the car (aside from fresh fruit). So I think I found a few healthy options to test out. I'm also packing a small cooler to hold fixin's for lunch. Cause ain't nobody got time for expensive restaurant prices! If we ate out for every meal...my goodness I couldn't afford it.
Looking forward to a week of frugalmindedness. 🙂 Thanks for the inspiration!
$200 a week for a family of 6 that eats healthy is really good. Congratulations on that.
Early in the week I made soup with local veg that I froze last summer. It was a huge pot, but I ate it every day for lunch. At the end I even pureed it to trick myself into thinking it was something different. 🙂
We ate vegetarian three days this week, which is one of my goals for this year. We had all-bean chilli and rice one night, and pasta with goat cheese and veg on the side the other two nights. The pasta has become one of our favorites. The sauce doesn't need to be cooked, so the amount of time it takes to boil water is the amount of time it takes to make dinner.
I made a three bean chili. We ate it for leftovers for lunch for a few days. One day we added corn, anther extra canned tomatoes so it seemed like a different meal each time.
I had shredded cabbage that needed used so I sauteed it in a little olive oil and added a can of water chestnuts and a can of bamboo shoots. I served it with soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and cashews.
I cooked chickpeas, put a couple cups in a pan with leftover canned tomatoes, and some Italian seasonings. I served it with bread.
I used the leftover chickpeas in chicken salad sandwiches instead of chicken. Everyone's favorite.
I roasted red potatoes with onions, mushrooms and seasonings. Quick easy and delicious.
My husband roasted a head of cauliflower that needed to be used. Yum! 🙂
We got a new Aldi in our neighborhood right before Christmas! Very exciting!
What we ate in the past couple of days :
lasagna with cesar salad and garlic bread
pot roast with vegetables soup
chicken with mashed potatoes/sweet potatoes
omelets
Lentils Shepard's pie
Just posted my menu. I am going to try and get in that habit again...
Recipes posted with it.. cocoa powder rolls, naan, chicken curry and ham jambalaya.
Your average weekly spending for four people is super impressive! Great job.
I made the hibachi chicken( with a few shrimp on the side because my wife hates them) tonight. Excellent. I used fresh ginger instead of powdered, low sodium soy and left out the salt and cayenne. I also added a few dashes of chinese rice wine and some sesame oil instead of all veg oil. I grilled the chicken in my scanpan grill pan and tossed it with the veggies afterwards. I used mushrooms and some bias sliced carrots too. My wife who is a very, very picky eater loved it. I marinated the chicken in one of our many saved cereal bags( thanks for the tip on that too). My wife goes thru a box of cereal every 4 days so we have a ton of bags. We have a hibachi restaurant in our town and the same dish is 25 and change for one serving. It comes with all of the above plus rice and salad and miso soup( we never eat that) so this was a very frugal meal. I even got my favorite chicken( BARE) from Target on markdown( normally 6.99, 3.00 coupon attached because of a too soon expiration date). We have enough for probably 4 more servings too. I also made the yum yum sauce, just a small amount of it since its only the two of us. I loved it, my wife skipped as I predicted.
Yay! So glad you guys liked it. Pleasing a picky eater is a triumph indeed!