What I Spent, What We Ate | 0% fancy this week
What I Spent
I only spent $69 at the store this week, plus $25 on my Hungry Harvest box. So, a pretty cheap week!
September Grocery Spending
Week 1: $123
Week 2: $182
Week 3: $94
What We Ate
It was not a heavy kitchen week for me this go-round. No one will nominate me for a chef award, but none of us went hungry, which is what matters!
Saturday
I had book club, and Mr. FG took care of dinner with the girls. I think they got Chick-Fil-A, if my memory serves me properly.
Sunday
We had tacos at a gathering where all I had to bring was a watermelon. Which makes me feel a bit like a slacker! 😉
Monday
We had breakfast for dinner: sausage, Orange Julius, and buttermilk waffles.
I was going to make strawberry syrup too, but my motivation ran low. 😉
Tuesday
Mr. FG and I were both not home at dinnertime and the girls ate pigs in a blanket plus some fruit.
They are on a very happy pigs-in-a-blanket tear lately, which is fine with me. It's something easy for them to have when I'm not going to be home at dinnertime.
Wednesday
I made a batch of piadine (an Italian flatbread), which we filled with salami, provolone, veggies, and roasted pepper/basil mayo.
We had broccoli with our piadine.
Thursday
I was pretty tired, because I'd been up since 4:30 am.
Lisey and I were supposed to go take a hot air balloon ride, so my alarm was set super early. Sadly, the winds ended up being too high, so we couldn't go.
But at that point, I couldn't really go back to sleep (I tried!)
So by the time dinner rolled around, I wasn't feeling very energetic.
Which meant that grilled cheese sandwiches and canned soup are what we had for dinner, along with some melon.
Friday
Corn and cheese quesadillas are the plan for tonight. Nice and easy!
Although hopefully I will feel much less tired at dinnertime tonight, since my alarm was not set for 4:30 am.
This week has been an off week for me. I have had my third bout of conjunctivitis and cold number four since the beginning of July. It has been pure survival mode. I have made meals but I don't remember anything but steak and vegetables, potato pancakes and vegetables and stuff mushroom with asparagus.
Feel better Suzan! Sounds like you made some great stuff for feeling so blah!
Still focused on using up stuff in the freezers since I was getting a portion of a cow this week.. Never done this and had no idea how much it would be so I thought it would be most frugal and wise to freezer eat!
Sunday- we went out for husbands birthday- not the best meals so bummer.. but my homemade chocolate cake with Peanut butter frosting was divine for supper!
Monday- used a 3lb flat of ground beef from the freezer to make a massive meatloaf. Baked the rest of a bag of potatoes and frozen peas for supper.. made some cornbread muffins from scratch too... This meal left us with a lot of leftovers which was my intention!
Tuesday- husband made a quick pan of fried potatoes, diced breakfast sausage patties and backyard eggs. We and the boys ate that quickly before we went to watch the girl play volleyball. She had a Subway delivery afterschool before she had to jump on the bus!
Wednesday- found a bag of cooked ground beef so I made a pan of taco meat! Added seasoned black beans and a pot of rice.. everyone was home and there were leftovers!
Thursday- Everyone ate leftover of choice before they went to work or to the volleyball game...
Friday- I just pulled 2 packages of burger patties out ( from our meat portion) and will grill those tonight.. NO idea on sides yet!
Oh, no! Eye problems make life feel just impossible. And add a cold to that...I'm impressed you cooked!
Ha. "0% fancy" describes our meals every week. Maybe it's because I routinely wake up at 4:30. Definitely not good for ambitious cooking.
Our unfancy week . . .
Saturday: A skillet meal of leftover chicken and pork taco meat mixed with leftover rice and grated cheese. Plus cucumber.
Sunday: Bunless hamburgers, pasta with leftover pizza sauce, tomato and cucumber salad with mozzarella, sauteed mushrooms, peaches and cream
Monday: Pork roast, baked potatoes, carrots cooked with the pork, raw tomatoes
Tuesday: Two beef chuck roasts. Not even browned, just cooked in tomato juice, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Lazy. And garlic bread, baked sweet potato, and roasted green beans and tomatoes.
Wednesday: First day of work, so I went with something asy: leftover chuck roast, chunked up and fried in tallow with lots of garlic. Plus rice and cucumbers.
Thursday: I actually managed to roast some of the ten pounds of green chilies my dad brought me, so I made ground beef taco meat with the green chilies. And there were more cucumbers. Forever and ever (or at least until the killing frost).
4:30 is just TOO far on the early side for me. At least, if I'm not used to it! I used to get up at 5:00 every morning when I was a teenager, but since I was doing it every day, it wasn't so terrible.
Things in our house are odd these days, as we have my brother and sister in law living with us for a while as they save up for a new home. That means 5 adults and a toddler for dinner every night! But it also means a sister in law who cooks and does dishes every other night. Hallelujah! We’ve been trying to keep groceries at $600/month, and so far we’ve been doing rather well. We also started a produce box called Misfits, and it’s been fun to receive unconventional veggies. They seem to be the only ones who deliver to our rural zip code. Hooray!
Sunday: grilled salmon and peanut rice
Monday: chicken tacos
Tuesday: sweet and sour stir fry
Wednesday: mushroom pasta and kale Caesar salad
Thursday: pretzel dogs and roasted asparagus
Friday: Pulled pork and slaw is the plan!
An every-other-night live in chef sounds FANTASTIC. And it's so nice of you guys to help your brother and his wife out.
I've been eyeing Misfits for us. How unconventional is the produce?
DH was gone so... I think we have you beat on 0% fancy
Mon: Baron individual microwaved frozen pizzas (I had leftover chickpea salad)
Tue: TJ's thai veggie burgers with bread (also microwaved) (I had leftover hummus and WW pita bread)
Wed: Spaghetti with meat sauce (there was much rejoicing)
Thurs: sandwiches taken from a 4pm work function that I had to leave early to pick up DC2 and leftover spaghetti
I know exactly how that is! If you have young kids and home and the other adult is gone, it feels pointless to put much effort into cooking. Heck, Sonia and Zoe are teenagers and they were pretty overjoyed about eating pigs in a blanket. 😉
Mostly there just wasn't time! With two adults one can do after-school pick-up or take a kid to an evening lesson while the other cooks.
Saturday - Arthur Treacher's (fish & chips) for the hubs and me. I got the kids Arby's
Sunday - homemade pizzas (pepperoni & cheese, BBQ chicken with pineapple)
Monday - Orange Teriyaki beef with rice, broccoli, & water chestnuts. This was a new recipe I tried & I was not crazy about the sauce.
Tuesday - sloppy Joes with garlic noodles
Wednesday - ham slices, broccoli & cheese rice, green beans
Thursday - Five Guys
Friday - Tailgate party at son's elementary school
Eating out 2x in one week is a lot for us....we may even end up getting pizza tonight since I'm not sure my son still wants to go to the tailgate party at his school. Hoping I won't be as lazy next week making dinner!
We are under budget so far for September and I have a reasonable meal plan for the rest of the month, so we should only need to restock vegetables and milk hopefully.
We went camping over the weekend and ended up picking up some groceries I forgot (hot dogs and buns for example).
Saturday - sandwiches and hot dogs
Sunday - chicken nuggets, peas and green beans
Monday - Maple soy glazed salmon, terriyaki cauliflower rice, and cucumber slices
Tuesday - pasta with Italian sausage and red sauce, carrots, and corn
Wednesday - frozen pizza and zucchini (Kroger had screaming sicillian pizzas for $3 over the weekend)
Thursday - rotisserie chicken, Mac and cheese, leftover vegetables
Friday - BBQ chicken, spinach pie, zucchini and mushrooms
My mother-in-law flew in Monday night and my husband didn't have any games during the week (not planned, just a gift from God that the timing worked that way) so it's been fun this week!
Monday: Made a new recipe from a Rachel Ray cookbook... Ricotta pasta with sausage and a side of peas and peach bread for dessert. Everyone enjoyed it! It's a keeper! And it traveled well for those who ate it in the van on the way to or from the airport.
Tuesday: Everyone took the day off school/work and we went to the zoo, followed by dinner at Chick-fil-A.
Wednesday: Cheeseburgers, corn on the cob, green beans
Thursday: Tacos and applesauce. My MIL and I canned 28 quarts of applesauce yesterday!!! I could never have gotten that done in one day on my own with 3 little kids.
Friday: Crock-Pot lasagna... Which I guess I'd better get started!! We're eating that before we go to a festival so we don't spend so much on food once we get there.
I love that life interferes with your dinner and you are able to roll with it! I think as your kids are getting older, you can be more flexible and let them eat pigs-in-a-blanket or whatever they can fix at the last minute. Pigs-in-a-blanket was a weekly staple at my house while my son was still at home. We also eat breakfast for dinner at least once a week and quesadillas. Now that my son is in college, my husband wants to move towards a diabetes diet since he is prediabetic. So that means food with lower carbs. I am still still trying to figure this one out because we are eliminating sandwiches, pasta, mashed potatoes, and even rice (my Japanese husband’s favorite food.). We are trying brown rice & pasta but has to be limited. Any suggestions?
Rolling with it seems to be more and more important as the kids get older, as I'm sure you understand! Life was a lot simpler in some ways when they all were small...we were all pretty much home for dinner every night and life was just more predictable.
Susan, have you looked at keto or paleo recipes, or Mark Bittman's Vegan Before 6? While I have my doubts about the first two as long-term eating plans, all three avoid starches and Bittman's leans heavily plant-based. I think all will be good sources of ideas for you.
I'm diabetic and follow a paleo/keto diet exclusively. Its very restrictive but considering the side effects of unchecked diabetes it felt more important to cut out some favorites. I wish you guys luck, its a heck of an adjustment but you can do it!
The New Laurel’s Kitchen cookbook has some good stuff (mostly california/new american style vegetarian), especially for making whole wheat bread (it is thirstier than white bread).
There are some brown rice mixes that I like better than plain brown rice (they tend to have a few different kinds of brown rice of different textures and sometimes some wild rice). If you don't like the first brown rice you try, don't give up-- they vary a lot.
Another thing to think about is how the insulin resistance works-- he may be able to eat some of the "forbidden" foods if he balances them with things that slow his digestion. So apple cider vinegar, meat, etc. can be used in conjunction with foods that are faster digesting. Fat is your friend-- full fat ice cream will have a better glycemic index than lowfat.
Also different people react to different things differently-- what may spike one person's insulin doesn't necessarily spike another. For example, back when I was on a PCOS forum there were women who had to check their blood regularly and some of them would react to milk as if it were a sugar while others wouldn't. The Glycemic Index is an average across many people. Some people have no problem at all with sushi rice because it has enough vinegar in it for them. If he's not regularly testing his blood, he may be able to pay more attention to his body and how he feels after eating different things.
When I've had to really cut back on foods that are bad for my insulin resistance (mostly when pregnant or ttc, which your husband won't be having a problem with), I always found it more enjoyable to look for new things rather than to think about how I had to cut out things I loved. Some "super foods" and south american root plants have good glycemic indexes and can be substituted for grains or potatoes.
Not for immediate use but this summer I read an article and grew these new low carb potatoes. They are sort of halfway between russets and waxy potatoes. My husband did not seem to get the blood sugar spikes when I used them. Of course, he still had to practice moderation...If you don't have a garden, they may soon be appearing in grocery stores in the U.S., as they have been in some places in England.
"Huckleberry Gold. High in antioxidants with a low glycemic index, purple on the outside and yellow on the inside, they are also resistant to cracking and hollow heart, as well as scab and Verticillium wilt. Montana State University researchers…analyzed existing varieties and used traditional breeding methods to select for desirable traits."
So not GMO if that concerns you.
I don't enjoy regular brown rice but I love aged brown basmati, I think it would be important to see a dietitian or doctor & source info from govt/diabetes association sites. Portion control is key & to do that you need to eat more sustaining foods like oats. And take heart taste buds will change over a matter of weeks & you will start to enjoy less fat/sugar/salt.
I had very frugal dinners this week
Chicken Divan w/ garden broccoli
BLT with garden tomatoes
Tomato soup & grilled cheese (White sauce with home-canned Oven-roasted tomato sauce is a delicious alternative to canned soup)
Pot Roast with 30% marked down chuck roast plus garden carrots & potatoes
left overs
My memory is not good this week. Here's what I think we had:
Mon- smoked chicken, mixed veg
Tue- chick-fil-a (free with gift cards)
Wed- crockpot chicken soup
Thur- freezer fried chicken/steamed veg dumplings, ham sandwiches (using leftovers)
Fri- either egg/potato/ham/pepper burritos or chicken enchiladas (not sure yet)
We eat a lot of chicken since my cholesterol was creeping up. Now, that could've been due to other factors, so I'll figure that out next week. I don't partake in fried foods, so anything fried on the list above didn't make it to my plate.
Isn't it crazy how hard it is to remember what you ate? I usually have to start with the end of the week and then work backwards!
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday- smoked, bone-in chicken thighs with baked potatoes, spicy carrots, and corn on the cob
Thursday and Friday- Italian sausage, sweet potato, black bean soup
Meals were easy and quite frugal this week.
There was a lot of sickness in my household this past week, which upended my usual processes. Meals included:
- CI's Weeknight Roast Chicken. This yields a roast chicken in about an hour, mine (made with a happy chicken) come out tender and juicy.
- Free cheeseburger for National Cheeseburger Day.
- Nothing.
- Pork chops & pan-browned asparagus.
- Smorgesborg.
- Frozen dimsum and steamed broccoli.
Sides included berries, watermelon, carrots, broccoli, lettuce, cauliflower, tomatoes.
Sadly, also because of sickness, this week included the waste of some watermelon, half a honeydew, and all of a cantaloupe. Good for my compost pile, bad for everything else.
I hope your household has a healthier week coming up!
Monday: pancakes with strawberries
Tuesday: pasta with green beans
Wednesday: baked beans, brown rice and sauteed collard greens
Thursday: Ham and cheese paninis with oven baked fries
Friday: likely burgers on the grill
un-gourmet must be the theme of the week.
A friend and I made 73 pints of roasted tomato sauce and 13 pints of pickled beets so the weekend the last thing that I wanted to do was cook more.
Sunday: Korean tacos
Monday: made a pan of roasted cauliflower and black bean enchiladas which I ate for dinner all week.
Friday: flounder in lemon-caper sauce with green beans and rice.
Whoa, that's a lot of canning. Good job!
I roasted vegetables in my oven twice this week and had them as leftovers the rest of the week. I bought all these vegetables at the West Side Market in Cleveland and I had to use them. What made them fancy? I used pink Himakayan Salt from Aldi on them.
I’ve been doing so great with my menu planning lately; it’s making my weeks go so much better!!
Monday- Baked French Toast, fruit, applesauce
Tuesday- Chicken Parisienne over rice, assorted raw veggies (my kiddos eat veggies way more willingly if they’re raw!)
Wednesday- Rigatoni with meat sauce, salad, assorted veggies with dip
Thursday- Leftovers/Smorgåsbord
Friday- Pizza Night! I’m using up a package of pizza dough mix for this.
This week we ate:
Saturday - hot turkey sandwiches with baked potatoes.
Sunday- I made homemade stock from a turkey and added tons of veggies, cannelloni beans and spinach
Monday - Leftover soup
Tuesday - Vcnison Tacos
Wednesday - French toast and sausage links
Thursday - Friends took us out to dinner for our birthdays (yes, still celebrating) at Longhorn Steakhouse. We had ribyeyes, potatoes, salad and bread. We took home half because the portions were so huge.
Friday - Leftover half of dinner from Longhorn Steakhouse
4:30am is my normal wake-up 🙂
Saturday: grilled chicken, roast potatoes, broccoli, roasted marshmallows (over a small charcoal grill in the driveway!)
Sunday: @ my neice’s 1st birthday, I brought a veggie tray
Monday: sandwiches w/ leftover chicken, fresh fruit
Tuesday: fried rice w/ ground turkey & veggies
Wednesday: I was at a PTO meeting & had leftover soup. B & the kids made pancakes
Thursday: leftover night!
Friday: pizza night (we make pizza from scratch every Friday night)
Sunday: Grilled chicken and vegetable kabobs
Monday: Stir fried noodle bowls, edamame
Tuesday: Lemon chicken with angel hair, salad
Wednesday: Crunch wraps
Thursday: Pork chops, egg noodles, green beans, roasted squash
Friday: Kid/teens had English muffin pizzas, adults had take out sushi
Sinday-baked chicken, potatoes, broccoli, strawberry blueberry pecan salad
Monday-leftovers
Tuesday-Asian pork lettuce wraps, leftover rice and broccoli, corn on the cob
Wednesday-zucchini and black bean veggie tacos, corn on the cob, garden salad
Thursday-went out
Friday-lamb burgers, grilled red onions, potatoes, peas
Saturday-leftovers aplenty!
Your zucchini tacos sound great. I’m going to try that next week.
Maybe this is just one of those weeks for a lot of folks...I feel like we are eating out more, but I think it can't be helped most of the time. I'm still making out menus, tho! We ate:
Monday - Brown Sugar Chicken, basmati rice, carrots - Big Trash Day so we get to empty the garage of a few things - HOORAY
Tuesday - Crock Pot Ribs, 1/2 a twice baked potato, broccoli
Wednesday - Turkey Pesto Meatballs, garlic toast, green beans
Thursday - Honey Sriracha grilled chicken salads
Friday - a grilled cheese sammie at home while Hubby goes to some fancy dinner thing...
Saturday - Wine club pick-up in Burnet, so we will eat there
Sunday - Dr. Martin's Mix {an easy meal and we will have leftovers for lunch the next day}
Sunday: Spaghetti Carbonara
Monday: Rye bread fresh from our local bakery and cheese. Tomatoes and cucumber as snacks.
Tuesday: Aubergine „asia style“ with rice
Wednesday: easy but delicious stew with potatoes, bacon, green beans and pears
Thursday: Leftovers and cauliflower
Friday: we were at the climate strike in our town and had a late lunch out, so we had a small dinner of bread and some vegetable spreads.
This is the first time I recall creating a menu and sticking with it for a whole week! All of us have different food limitations due to allergies, sensitivities, so we don’t always eat exactly the same thing.
Sunday: Bunless burgers w/ pickles, cheese, etc; Greek salad w/ cucumbers, tomatoes, kalamata olives, feta; roasted spicy potato and sweet potato wedges
Monday: Salmon, green beans, blackberries; chicken tenders & applesauce for kid who dislikes fish
Tuesday: Soft tacos w/ homemade GF tortillas (cheese, chicken, lettuce, tomato), Tricolor Slaw and red bell pepper slices on the side
Wednesday: Pasta (everyone had different mix-ins: chicken, cheese, olives, veggies)
Thursday: Roast Chicken, green salad
Friday: Chana Masala (chickpea curry) over brown rice
Wooohoo! Good job, you.
Thanks! I probably made approximately the same things I normally would have, but it did take the whole guesswork brain drain out of it, which I really appreciated. And it was helpful in planning for our huge weather changes--from highs in the 90s to highs in the 50s--it was up and down all week.
-I had two nights of grilled sausages with mashed potato & steamed vegies - carrot/cukes/peppers/broccoli
- one night at sis' she made marinated roast chicken with roast potato/sweet potato/peppers/mushrooms/tomatoes & steamed broccolini
- a can of beef & chunky veg soup & I added a cup of mixed fresh cut vegies
- beef & vegie flatbread sandwich toasted
- takeaway pan-fried dumplings with chilli & soy sauce
- tonight I think I will do rice with sautéed mixed vegies
-woops forgot was naughty on fri & had takeaway fish n chips
I agree that the weather has been hot & cold. Hard to decide what to make! But, I decided it's a no-spend freezer challenge. I'll be using whatever is in the freezer for the next 2 weeks. Here's the menu for the past week:
- Stuffed cabbage
- Breakfast burritos
- Chicken enchiladas
-Chicken soup
- Pizza
I took a quick look at freezer items and will thaw things for this week's menu. It will have me making breaded pork chops, rotisserie chicken, salsa beef over rice, chicken & rice, and breakfast burritos. I hope to make a pumpkin pie and cookies. If I run out of time, we have some gift cards to use (Subway, Olive Garden, Red Lobster).