What I Spent, What We Ate | So, I went to Costco....
What I Spent
I ran out of frozen fruit for morning smoothies, so I stopped at Costco for that and a few other things. I spent $119.41 there.
I spent $37.55 at the regular grocery store, and $33 on my produce box delivery.
So my total is $189.96 for the first week of July. That's a little on the high side for my average so far this year, but it's totally not surprising because of the Costco trip.
What We Ate
Monday
Since it was the 4th of July, I grilled some well-done (but juicy!) hamburgers. We also had applesauce and veggie chips.
Tuesday
I made Chipotle Chicken kebabs. Plus guacamole and chips, because I had ripe avocados to use.
You know I don't miss a chance to use avocados. 😉
Wednesday
As you Instagram people already know, I pressed the easy button by buying a ham at Costco.
We also had rice, corn from my produce box, and strawberries from Costco.
Thursday
Some of us had chicken tacos, and some of us had rice pudding, made from Wednesday's leftover rice.
Friday
I'm not quite sure how my afternoon is going to be shaping up, but if I have time, I'll make pizza.
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AS usual I cannot remember it all. There was roast pork and vegetables on Monday, a left over veg risotto, pork again, steak and veg and whatever else has happened. Tonight was sushi.
Do you feel that the hams at Costco are a better price than hams elsewhere?
This week's dinner was:
-Margherita pizza
-Buffalo chicken wraps
-Corn and poblano soup with grilled cheese (our new favorite soup!)
-Pulled pork on corn bread and a cauliflower puree.
-Skirtsteak with baked potatoes and broccoli
Rice pudding for dinner sounds perfect! Especially on a hot night.
The holiday meal was ribs, corn and salad with home grown tomatoes.
We had a LOT of ribs, so we had them again on Tuesday, with baked beans and corn this time.
Wednesday night was hamburgers with a chopped salad and choice of homemade dressings, a red wine vinaigrette or ranch.
Thursday night was eggplant parmesan, with eggplant from our garden and tomato sauce I had made from our tomatoes.
Tonight, I suspect I will cut up and cook the rutabaga my husband bought -- he loves rutabaga, I don't, but I can eat it. He'll want a little cornbread, too, and maybe some summer squash or acre peas to go with it. I might thaw out the Christmas ham meat I froze after the holiday or we might eat no meat at all.
My food bill has been lower for the last two or three months, as we concentrate on eating out of our freezer and container garden. It will grow again this fall as I stock back up, though.
For one reason and another, there's been a lot of eating out this week. At home:
- Mon: raid the fridge, including a lot of guac.
- Tues: restaurant
- Wed: burgers, as I came too late to make Beef & Broc stir fry
- Thu: neighborhood grill out picnic
- Fri: Beef & Broc stir fry
- Sat: dinner with visiting friend, not sure of venue or menu
- Sun: I think Breakfast for Dinner is in order, but we'll see
Mon: leftover from Sundays party. Pasta salad , hamburger. Strawberry shortcake.
Tues: Leftover ribeye steak and salad.
Wed: Since we run out of leftover. I made fried chicken, tomatoe rice and corn.
Thursday: Leftover fried chicken .Friday: chicken vegetable fried rice..
Saturday evening turned into quite the event, formulated as a potluck at my house. It's a great example of how, with luck and preparation, you can have a luxurious event for little cost out of pocket. While I contributed a great deal of food and drink, most of it was items I had on hand already. $8.25 out of pocket, maybe $75 in food value (mostly wine, see below).
- Cauliflower w panko and bacon. The cauliflower was about $3 from the farmer's market, the rest I had on hand. The box of panko was about $1 on sale last year. The bacon itself is from the bulk pastured pork I buy, then smoke. No more than 1/4 lb at $7/lb cost. The bacon grease I save from cooking bacon, I consider that free.
- Homemade banana ice cream. Light cream for $1.25, the rest I had on hand. The last 6 bananas from the $.02/lb batch of unsellables from the store 2 years ago. Corn syrup & vanilla bought on sale, about $.20's worth total.
- Homemade brownies. No out of pocket costs. 1/4 lb butter at $2/lb on sale. 1 bag choc chips on light sale around Christmas, about $2.50. 1 c. King Arthur flour on deep sale + coupon around Christmas, about $1.50/5 lb bag. 2 c. sugar on light sale around Christmas, about $2/5 lb bag. 1 c. cocoa powder on light sale around Christmas, about $2/container.
- 1 qt farmer's market blueberries, $4.50.
- Olive oil; butter; REAL balsamic (the stuff you use by the dribble, over fruit; not what we put into salad dressing or marinades) that was a gift; herbs. My 4 guests contributed steaks and CSA potatoes, zucchini, and corn on the cob.
- 2 bottles of wine and 1 bottle of port. We broke open the nice stuff, all of which were gifts. Perhaps $65 worth, were I to buy it myself ... but I wouldn't, especially the port.
Nice! I bet you're happy to have gotten through all the bananas finally.
Your meal recap made me realize I have a ham in the freezer I've been waiting to cook. I think that will be Sunday's dinner, and then I'll have leftovers for salad and sandwiches throughout the week. Yay!
As for this week:
-Monday we had a Fourth of July feast: hamburgers with corn and potato salad, plus a flag poke cake for dessert.
-Tuesday was chef salad night--a great way to use up any fresh veggies we have.
-Wednesday my mother treated everyone to dinner out, so I didn't have to cook! Yay!
-Thursday was tacos.
-Tonight will either be salmon patties or pineapple coconut chicken--both are easy and tasty.
Hubby and I were on a mini vacay when Sunday rolled around. We had take-out pizza and calzone with vino. Monday we were on the road thru New Mexico - dinner was at Caprock Canyon in West Texas. We had pan fried salmon, one of those bagged chopped salads, and skillet potatoes with bacon and red pepper. (then we basically passed out and slept thru a torrential thunderstorm!) Tuesday we ate at DQ for lunch on the road, then that night was leftover pulled pork I had in the freezer at home, plus another bagged chopped salad. Wednesday was pre-seasoned garlic herb chicken breasts from Wal-Mart with fresh squash and the rest of the chopped salad. Thursday was pork chops in ranch gravy, veggie rice, and broccoli. Tonight will be skillet tilapia, salad with homemade jalapeno ranch dressing, and corn. On Saturday Hubby will grill chops, make dutch oven potatoes, and a big salad. I am trying to get my grocery budget to around $100 a week for four people. I think it can be done, but wish me luck anyway!
With the holiday this week Monday consisted of a family BBQ and my contribution was homemade potato salad and homemade coleslaw.
Tuesday - London Broil on the grill with mashed potato and fresh green beans from the garden.
Wednesday - Shredded Chicken with BBQ Sauce on toasted rolls with grilled corn on the cob.
Thursday - Take-out a piazza! Night with the girls catching up
Friday - Pasta with stewed tomatoes & zuchinni
So here is where I tend to slip up on the frugality side. I am not the cook of our family and it just so happens that this week he has worked late each night. Regardless, I will admit to what we ate for dinner.
Monday: 4th of July picnic leftovers from lunchtime. We celebrated at lunch with hamburgers and sausage.
Tuesday: Leftover meatloaf from Monday. We needed to use up some ground beef from our weekend camping trip, so hubby made hamburgers and meatloaf on Monday.
Wednesday: Chick fil A, Wednesday evening is church evening and it makes no sense for us to go home between work/school and church. Not frugal, but it does allow the kids to burn a bit of energy off in the play area!
Thursday: Frozen pizza
Friday: I think we are going out as a family tonight. hubby is able to leave a bit early today and frankly, there isn't much food in our house.
Awesome right? Ugg
Hey, those are the exact same strawberries & blueberries that I get for my smoothies too. I make a very simple smoothie, a banana, some berries, half water or ice cubes, half orange juice, & some ground flax seeds.
I don't have a vehicle but live a couple blocks from a Safeway & just this morning on the "Just for you" site I found a coupon for $10.00 off a $50.00 purchase. I use a "roller" bag to get stuff home in & paid $37.00 something & saved over $40.00 on stuff on sale & stuff I had a rain check for. It'll last me a long time. Good post today. Except I can barely remember what I ate yesterday much less the past week! And I live alone!
Monday: Holiday barbecue at my daughter's, which was also her birthday party. So much food it was mind boggling; burgers and hotdogs, confetti cream corn with bacon, beans, marinated cucumbers, green beans, queso and chips, pull apart bread with guacamole, fruit salad, veggie tray...and dessert was the birthday cake I made my daughter, a red white and blue cheesecake cake. Plus 4th of July Rice Krispie treats.
Tuesday: chicken Parmesan casserole with pasta and garlic ciabatta bread
Wednesday: Every man for himself, I had a sandwich, hubby had leftover casserole from Tuesday
Thursday: pizza from the grocery store and bagged salad
Tonight: don't know yet!
Monday we were at a picnic & our contribution was chicken with firehouse sauce & we supplied the charcoal too (not too frugal as we served 20 people), Tuesday was leftover firehouse chicken with rice & green beans, Wednesday was BBQ ribs with corn on the cob & butter crescent rolls, Thursday was french toast & tonight we will be eating free at a baseball game. Saturday will most likely be chicken & broccoli alfredo with fresh strawberries for dessert or i will make wedding soup if it's wet & rainy. Sunday will be whatever i don't make on Saturday.
Monday - Chocolate chip pancakes (not very 4th of July-ish but oh well)
Tuesday - Turkey Chili, salad, fruit (despite the crazy heat here)
Wednesday - Lasagna, fruit
Thursday - Marinated grilled chicken, cauliflower, foil wrapped potatoes with chese, bacon, and onions (I just winged this recipe since my original plan was scalloped potatoes but it was too hot to use the oven so I thought I would try the grill. They turned out awesome!)
Friday - Pizza
Monday - pork roast, mashed potatoes
Tuesday - frozen marinated chicken and surely a vegetable
Wednesday - leftovers
Thursday - Indian takeout. I make awful Indian food!
Friday - a gardening friend just gave us a bunch of tomatoes, and I'm craving pasta anyway....
We are on vacation in Montana but rented a vacation home. But to keep food cost down we ate in most of the week. Still way over budget as we did eat out for lunch twice and had special ice cream treats throughout the week. Ate all our breakfasts in.
Sunday- was Rodeo night so we made something easy Turkey Chili in the crockpot recipe by America's Test kitchen with rice, cheese, cheese cornbread, etc..
Monday- we had burgers with potato salad, and corn on the cob
Tuesday- leftover chili and burger and salad
Wednesday - beef fajitas with homemade refried beans, guac, homemade salsa, chips, etc...
Thursday - marinated chicken using up the leftovers we had and made marinate with tequila, cilantro, limes, cumin, etc.., served with green salad with homemade olive and vingar dressing, and leftover refried beans.
Friday-- going out to dinner
Monday- We picked up a bake-your-own pizza with fruit and leftover chicke salad.
Tueday- big storms came through at dinner time and I had planned in tacos. We brought down all the fixings to our basement, which was an adventure! We thankfully did not lose power (our neighbor is on a different grid and lost power for over 2 days), but we did lose a 10 foot branch off our maple tree.
Wednesday- chicken nuggets, chips, dip, lots of veggies and fruit
Thursday- my kids and husband had taco casserole at my in-laws' house and I had turkey Havarti salad with grapes and almonds.
Friday- Costco rotisserie chicken with gravy made from the drippings, mashed potatoes, green and wax beans from our CSA box.
Monday- Out to eat.. we traveled home from out of state and no real meal plan when we came home.
Tuesday- Chicken Cordon Blu casserole, using up deli ham before it went bad
Wednesday- pancakes and sausage with maple syrup made from Grandma and Pap's trees!
Thursday - spaghetti and meatballs. Using the homemade sauce we made last year before this years tomatoes ripen
Friday- Tacos! We used fresh lettuce, jalapenos and banana peppers from the garden
Veggie and fruit for each meal too but,I do not remember what we had each day.
Definitely an off week here but on budget so far. I spent about $115 for the regular weekly trip and then another $18 yesterday for a few essentials. My goal is to keep our total this month to about $600, so we stepdad to a good start!
Sunday- homemade chicken fingers, captese salad, green salad with back onion vinaigrette, bread
Monday- left overs
Tuesday- seared salmon with maple Dijon sauce, couscous, and salad, plus strawberry shortcakes
Wednesday- assorted take-out appetizers with gift card, salad and more shortcake
Thursday- We spent the morning and early afternoon in the ER with my son due to asthma but fortunately I had put beans in the crockpot so we had good old beanie weenies with brown bread and coleslaw (we were all just so glad to be home from the hospital the food was irrelevant!)
Friday- homemade pepperoni pizza and coleslaw
Tonight we will be eating a chicken pot pie I made to share with my parents, and probably a salad as well...
Forgot, I also spent $16 at the farm stand on berries and carrots...total for he week is about $150
I had a very lazy cooking week....
Mon - Burgers and Dogs on the grill with watermelon and chips
Tues - chicken and cheese quesadillas
Wed - crock pot chicken with onions and peppers on rolls
Thurs - take out pizza
Fri - breakfast for dinner
Kristen - obviously your family eats a lot of fruit like our family does. Can I ask if you worry about some of the issues with the amount of non-organic produce you purchase? I'm sorry to be nosy but its something that worries me here. I almost always opt for the organic option if it's available and not ridiculously pricey but I would love your take on it. Thank you!
Monday - Fried chicken, broasted potatoes and coleslaw
Tuesday - Grilled cheese & cream of mushroom soup
Wednesday - Cube Steaks, diced potatoes with onions and pineapple
Thursday - Fried egg sandwiches and applesauce
Friday - Dined out at Bob Evans
There were only three of us this week, so it felt like we ate the same thing over and over. 🙂