What I Spent, What We Ate | $216
What I Spent
I started out with a $25 Hungry Harvest box.
(Get $5 off your first Hungry Harvest order when you sign up through this referral link!)
Then I spent $45.89 at Costco.
And I spent $118 at Aldi.
Finally, I spent $5.89 on toothpaste at Target, and $22 at a regular grocery store.
That adds up to a high-for-me $216. But that's no biggie because my first two weeks in January were below my $150/week budget.
January Grocery Spending
Week 1: $115
Week 2: $92
Week 3: $216
What We Ate
Saturday
The girls all ate elsewhere, so it was just Mr. FG and me. We went to Mod Pizza for a date night (pizza is always an affordable date night option!)
Incidentally, I always feel like I put a lot of veggies on my pizza, but I was put to shame by the girl in front of me this time!
She asked for broccoli and brussels sprouts on her pizza and she had to ask the guy behind the counter to add more. and more. and more.
I love peppers, onions, tomatoes and such on my pizza, but I cannot get behind putting cruciferous veggies on pizza.
So much nope for me.
Sunday
Mr. FG and Sonia made ramen bowls with chicken, broccoli, and orange pepper.
I thought I'd shared the recipe here, but apparently not! It's from a Cook's Country magazine.
Monday
I tried a new recipe for a shrimp orecchiette dish and it was 1) very yummy and 2) very easy.
YES.
I'll definitely make it again sometime.
(it's from the February/March 2019 issue of Cook's Country, on the recipe card section in the middle.)
I was surprised at how good it was, given the fairly short list of ingredients, and I'm glad I put it on my menu plan.
I also made a bok choy salad, not because Asian and Italian flavors marry well, but because bok choy is what I had from my Hungry Harvest box.
You do what you gotta do. 😉
Tuesday
I made hibachi chicken and rice (with yum yum sauce, OF COURSE.)
Wednesday
I tried a Cook's Country recipe for Greek baked chicken, and we had orange slices and homemade potato rolls on the side.
I instagrammed my roll making and part of my chicken making on Instagram stories, so if you want more peeks into my kitchen, go follow me over there! I'm thefrugalgirl on Instagram.
Thursday
I made polenta and chicken sausage with tomato sauce, and we had fresh fruit with that.
Friday
I'm trying a recipe for pork meatball bahn mi sandwiches from the Feb/Mar 2019 Cook's Country magazine. Hopefully they'll be good!
I love the variety of recipes you use! Our library offers digital access to Cook’s magazines, so I’ll look for those recipes. Making Korean Marinated Beef next week.
Never tried cruciferous on my pizza, though I probably wouldn't mind it. Broccoli, anyway. My dad always put it on his, along with all kinds of other weird things, but then, he was vegan and used to eating vegetables in any combination possible.
Anyway. I am not vegan (neither is he anymore, incidentally), as my menu clearly reflects . . .
Monday: Pot roast, garlic bread--I've started making a loaf of sourdough bread into garlic bread by just baking a round loaf in a cast iron pan with butter, salt, and garlic powder on top anytime I'm making regular bread so I can steal the dough, and it is way better than it has any right to be--zucchini (diced and frozen in the summer) with tomato sauce, pureed squash because I cooked an ENORMOUS squash and ended up with 12 cups of it. Good thing it was a tasty one because I am now eating it literally every day.
Tuesday: Bacon and scrambled eggs, leftover boiled potatoes, leftover squash, raw grape tomatoes. This is the sort of meal we have when I have a feverish baby plastered to my front and I have to send my husband into the kitchen to pinch-hit for me. I had squash, too. 🙂
Wednesday: Oven-fried chicken thighs, rice, sauteed cauliflower with garlic, green peas, and . . wait for it . . . squash
Thursday: T-bone steaks, mashed potatoes, fried mushrooms and onions, raw carrots and grape tomatoes, and don't forget the squash
Friday: My plan is to make spaghetti and meatballs. I already have tomato sauce made from earlier in the week. I somewhat frequently plan to make meatballs and then punk out with meat sauce, however, so I'm not promising my children anything until the meatballs are actually formed and ready to cook. Oh, and you know what's in the tomato sauce? Squash. Because I pureed the roasted tomatoes in my food processor after I pureed the squash and I didn't try very hard to scrape the bowl clean in between. Sneaky squash tomato sauce.
I would fall over in shock if you became vegan. Heh.
This week, I made spiced eggplant with lentils on rice, and a vegan cabbage roll soup. Those alone made 374893274982 gallons of leftovers (I *still* have eggplant leftovers. I will be eating these until the world ends and possibly beyond). My daughter finished the soup for lunch yesterday. As I figured my husband would possibly leave me if I served the eggplant dish a third night in row, last night I made black bean burgers and potatoes on the side. 🙂
I love broccoli, cauliflower and chicken pizza with an alfredo sauce base! Although I love brussel sprouts.. they don't love me so I would have to skip them!
Hmmm... This week I made a pork loin roast and made a sauce for it with some chicken broth, worchestershire and homemade apricot jam( a gift from my mom but I don't like it and neither does the husband... so sauce it became! ) served with kraut and rye for sandwich making.. and oven roasted potatoes
pasta with meat and tomato sauce and garlic bread...
beef roast and carrots in the crock pot served with boxed mashed taters or baked sweet...
I cooked a lb of diced chicken.. some left unsauced the rest with a jar if Tika Masala.. served with Naan and jasmine rice...
Then the super busy night where I served steakums and oven fries...
Lots of fresh fruit and veggies... used the last 2 mushy bananas to make a loaf of bread last night... waiting on the * snowmageddon* to arrive this weekend...
I don't think I could do cruciferous veggies on a pizza. I prefer to stick to tomato, mushroom, herbs etc.
I went shopping yesterday and spent around $180 (Australian) for two. I will have to top up bread, milk and some fruit but I hope to stretch the food to last a fortnight. I am recovering from hand surgery so meals have been so very basic to make and eat. We have had pizza, steak burgers, savoury minced beef and mashed potato, BLT's and soy sauce chicken and rice.
The fact that you are cooking at all with only one hand is worthy of several gold stars. I did that once for about a week after I accidentally mutilated my thumb with a hammer, and it was really, really hard. I can only imagine how much harder it is when your whole hand is the problem. Good for you.
I also am impressed at your use of one hand. I don't enjoy cutting up tomatoes for BLT's with both hands. I wish for you a speedy recovery.
I hope your hand is feeling 100% soon! It must be pretty tough to manage with only one hand available for use.
Thank you everyone. I attempted a more traditional meal within my limits and my mother was furious. I was not making gravy with one hand.
We stopped getting cooks country years ago because the recipes were getting repetitive and were all new American. It sounds like they’re doing more variety now! Maybe we should reup (especially since penzys no longer sends recipes in the mail).
Not sure about cruciferous veggies on the pizza but what about cauliflower hidden in the pizza? After starting a vegan diet a few months ago, I learned that I may have a gluten intolerance. I had to re-evaluate the way I make everything in our rotation. I started making pizza crust out of cauliflower and I love it! There are lots of simple recipes online. I make a few ahead of time, then freeze them so I can have a pizza when the rest of my family eats regular pizza. I just add whatever toppings I want to the frozen crust and bake like any other frozen pizza. Honestly, I can't tell it's cauliflower and it's delicious.
Monday- eggplant Parmesan
Tuesday- veggie burgers
Wednesday- my family had chicken, I basically just snacked on slaw and some cashews before bed.
Thursday- pizza with cauliflower crust and my family had the regular pizza. I put up leftover for lunch today
Friday-hmmm, no idea
I need to try making ramen bowls at home!
Sunday - ham and bean soup
Monday - Italian chicken thighs over polenta, broccoli
Tuesday - pork loin, roasted carrots, mashed potatoes
Wednesday- chicken tikka masala and roasted cauliflower
Thursday - my husband had a late meeting, so kiddo and I had frozen pizza
Friday - turkey meatloaf, mashed cauliflower, and I think son roasted potatoes
No! No broccoli or brussel sprouts on pizza. I am not opposed to other veggies though. I love mushrooms, peppers, spinach, tomatoes and zucchini on pizza. And I love to do green onions instead of yellow or white. I had an eggplant pizza one time. It wasn't bad but I probably would not order it again.
I'm with you Lorraine - I like all the ones you listed but broccoli, sprouts or eggplant - ah no
- I have made pizza with leftover Bolognese sauce, roasted chickpeas & roast cauli & I really liked that though
I might be able to have broccoli or cauliflower on a pizza if they were chopped really small, but normally, nothing cruciferous makes it onto a pizza at my house. I don't like Brussels sprouts, so they aren't making it on there in any form.
I had a large farm order this week, so I'm definitely going over budget this week. I was also a little under budget up until this weekend, so maybe I can pull it out in the end!
We had:
Monday - stir fry using ground pork from the freezer
Tuesday - Ham/bean soup from the freezer, using the Christmas ham
Wednesday - Corn chowder. I allow myself small amounts of grains, so I will eat corn now and then.
Thursday - homemade beef pot pie with cassava flour crust
Tonight remains to be seen since I am grocery shopping after work. I'll usually have a couple of easy ideas, but what I find at the stores determines my final choices.
I finally decided to keep my meals in a planner, which is how I now know what I had day by day. If I have a month's menus written down, it will help me plan next month. Or so I hope.
I also started writing our meals in my planner. I think it helps me in trying to incorporate a variety of meat/veggie/fruit options into our diet.
I didn't spend much on food this week, as I haven't started to restock my clean, empty, and frost-free freezer. Next week it'll be a lot because I'm stocking up on sale meat: 100% grass fed, pastured, 90% lean ground beef; and this month's box from my Happy Meat purveyor (I'm getting three of 'em, because it has only stuff I love). That's $420 right there.
Sunday: ??
Monday: out for steak frite, which is a traditional french dish of thinly sliced seared hangers steak and very thin, very crisp french fries. The restaurant has great bread, too.
Tuesday: burgers, lettuce, blueberries, strawberries.
Wednesday: smorgesborg - tofu-chix burgers, beef burgers, sausage, chix fingers, yogurt, fruit smoothies, tomatoes, cukes, carrots.
Thursday: taco night, including carrots for the guac.
Friday: no idea
Agreed. I love broccoli, and I love veggies on pizza, but the twain shall never meet!
I spent $79.47 this week at Aldi, Meijer & Kroger; YTD 158.05 for the 2 of us. This year I’m separating food purchases from household, health & beauty, etc.
(Time will tell if it lasts.)
Saturday - tuna salad, French fries
Sunday - chicken & broccoli Alfredo, cheddar garlic biscuits
Monday - chili
Tuesday - country ham slices, baked potato, crescent rolls
Wednesday - sushi special from grocery for hubby, peanut butter sandwich & chips for me
Thursday - vegetable soup, fried cornbread
Friday - probably homemade pizza
Fried cornbread??? So whats that like?
It’s cornmeal & milk mixed together, then poured onto a griddle or frying pan & cooked like a pancake. It’s more dense than baked cornbread.
That chicken ramen bowl looks great!
This week has been chaos. Our toddler has RSV and I just haven't been up to the normal level of meal planning and cooking.
Saturday: pizza from Hungry Howies
Sunday: homemade soup and grilled cheese
Monday: chicken stir fry
Tuesday: frozen pizza
Wednesday: takeout dropped off by my MIL
Thursday: french bread pizza
Friday: bratwurst probably
There might be a pattern to our meals when I'm under the weather...
Ohh, I hope your little one is well soon!
Marius doesnt like veggies on pizza at all because he likes cold leftover pizza but does not like cold cooked vegetables. I never serve fruit with dinner because my kids eat enough fruit during the day but last night we had a use up stuff meal of salmon patties, cucumbers, orange slices and pomegranate. Marius said that sounded like a good dinner (hes away right now) and i realized he doesnt eat a lot of fruit during the day so maybe serving fruit at dinner would be a good way for him to eat more fruit...he loved a raw veg plate, will sit there and slowly eat most of it! I thought of you and your fruit with dinner as i was making dinner last night and maybe i need to change my ways...
Fruit works great when you happen to not have any veggies to serve with dinner! And fresh fruit works well with some raw veggies too. Easy sides!
I always serve some of both, even though my usual daily snacks include fruits and veggies.
Seriously NEVER thought about eating bok choy raw, so I'll have to try the boy choy salad. My husband likes boy choy sautéed with a little miso added in, but I'm not a fan (I eat an obscene amount of raw greens every week, but cooked greens just remind me of the spinach my mother used to boil to death for dinner -- yuck!).
Also, I wish I liked eggplant -- I keep buying it, because I think it's probably good for me, but then I shove it to the back of the fridge until it starts looking like someone's science experiment. Maybe I just need to give up on it. There's just something about the texture....
Monday-leftover pizza
Tuesday and Wednesday- chicken mole and cilantro-lime rice and beans
Thursday and Friday- cashew chicken over brown rice
We spent $68 on groceries this week but another $70 for pizza and wings for my son's 5th birthday party.
I love broccoli on pizza! I use pesto instead of sauce and add sundried tomatoes, kalamata olives, and artichokes. So yummy!
We put broccoli on our veggie pizza... but ONLY when the broccoli has already been roasted. Yum!
Last night we had pizza, today we had tacos. Tomorrow we will have beef kebabs & rice. The rest of the week will likely be leftovers (I'll be out of town for work). I'll make dinner again on Friday. I was working my freezer down, but it is crazy full again, so I need to give it another go.
Sunday- at moms eye round roast, mashed, corn, peas.
Monday- meatballs in brown gravy, mashed, and corn
tues-chicken alfredo, salad
weds-Raviolis, salad, bread
Thursday- Chicken culet, stuffing and corn
Friday- breakfast for dinner- French toast, pork roll, sliced apples
Sat- Chicken parm, pasta, salad.