What I Spent, What We Ate | Costco. Again!
What I Spent
I ended up having to go to Costco for the second time this month because I needed to return the light bulbs that I hated.
I also picked up English muffins, a ham, pistachios, and tea, for a total of $65.67.
Pistachios are pretty expensive ($20 for a 3 pound bag!), but Mr. FG dearly loves them and eats a handful every day in his lunch. And really, if you consider that a junky snack from the vending machine costs a couple of dollars, $20 for two month's worth of pistachios is not all that bad.
I did a quick Aldi trip for $22.51.
And I also made a midweek stop at the regular grocery store and spent $31.56.
That makes for a total of $119.74.
October Totals
Week 1: $135.31
Week 2: $199.42
Week 3: $119.74
What We Ate
(This covers weekdays. Usually on weekends, Mr. FG and I have a date night once, and we all have an easy, snacky meal the other night.)
Monday
It was the beginning of a heat wave here, so I opted to make a green salad with grilled chicken. We also had French bread and some sliced pears.
Tuesday
I got home right at dinner time and we decided it would be fun to hit up a Greek food truck.
So, we did. Not frugal, but definitely fun.
Wednesday
We had cold ham, toasted English muffins, applesauce, and raw veggies.
(Yup, still hot. Almost 90!)
Thursday
I grilled some bratwurst, made a green salad, and we also ate a bag of chips.
Friday
The heat wave promises to be on its way out today, so homemade pizza is on the menu.
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Here is Australia we are rapidly heading for the heat of summer. I hope your hot weather ends soon.
This week I know I have spent well over $180 on food for three adults. Mum came with me on one trip and our fridge is now stuffed with pickle fish, quince paste and all kinds of very weird preserves. I have however, reigned in on cooking for meal times and meals out. On Monday we had a Moroccan chicken tagine. Some of us at this on Wednesday night too. Tuesday was a lamb curry. Thursday saw a chicken salad for me and some curry for others. Tonight we have had a beef stew. I still have plenty of basic veg and meat to see us into next week. Weekends see us eating at home more times as well.
Love to see your pictures- so inspiring! You had good meals for minimal shopping, well done!
Falafels with spicy sauce
Spinach, ricotta and bacon quiche with pea salad
Fish tacos with salad
Panko crusted chicken schnitzel and salad
Vietnamese caramel beef and rice in lettuce cups
There are two adults and two small dogs in my little family. Trying hard to keep the groceries budget down to $85 or less per week. Next week we are going vegetarian all the way and we're both looking forward to it. I ran out of ideas for dinners after 6 meals and so I have ended up planning apple crumble and custard for dinner next Friday and I think it might be the meal I am most anticipating! Yummo.
Our food spending has been mixed between me being too sick to do much of anything, and beginning to see the good sales on meat.
Sunday - I made hubs chili from a variety of leftovers including Turkish meat sauce, some cooked and frozen bone-in pork chops, and some kidney beans I cooked from dry. He thought it was tasty but the beans were not "cooked" (read: mushy), so he ended up giving most of it to a coworker friend.
Mostly I survived this two-week cold eating pumpkin chocolate chip muffins from FG's recipe. 😀
Weekdays -
1) I made a delicious pureed fall soup (poor timing with the heat wave, perfect for being sick) from leftover vegetables hubs had grilled, including onion, pepper, acorn squash, potato, and carrot. I added some bacon to it so he would think it was edible. 😛
2) At hubs' request, I turned the leftover grilled chicken breast into a skillet dish of onion, mushroom, chicken, and rice. He ate this in two sittings (feeds 4-6 people!).
3) For my first grownup meal in the recuperation process, I turned grilled asparagus into a creamy spaghetti dish with white sauce.
4) TONIGHT I think I'll use the last of the rejected chili into a junky supper on top of Alexia (frozen) french fries with cheese sauce. I might make a frozen pizza for hubs, as well, unless he wants to save it for Sunday afternoon.
My plan for the month has definitely gone out the window. All four do sick this week which of course induced an awful asthma attack in my little guy. So our eating has been off...
Pizza tonight with salad and cantaloupe
Last night we ate barley with sausage and sautéed veggies, corn muffins and applesauce
Wednesday chicken pot pie made with leftover roasted chicken and veggies
Tuesday chicken noodle soup from the freezer with biscuits, oatmeal cookies too
Monday I think was leftovers??
Sunday was roasted chicken with carrots and potatoes, beets on the side too...
Saturday feels like a hundred years ago and I can't remember
I did a small "sick foods" run Wednesday for popsicles, oj, fruit, mozzarella, mango smoothie, butter (that's a sick food right?) and Advil for about $65. I will need to do a real shopping early next week but we are set through the weekend. Despite the low spend week I'm still about average for the month due to a Vitacost order early on and a huge regular shopping haul two weeks ago. So on target for about $800 for the month...
Aww, I hope you guys are healthier soon!
Let's see, pork chops with acre peas and roasted butternut squash.
Bacon with fried corn and fresh cut up cucumbers.
Black beans, rice, salsa, with sides of cut up veggies and my husband's favorite, cottage cheese and fruit.
I cut up a big red winter squash -- I think it's called kobucha-- that was very tasty, and made "pumpkin" soup out of it, with "sausage" I made out of plain ground pork and spices. I also used homemade chicken broth from the freezer for the soup. It was good. We each had a slice of homemade bread, too. The weather is trying to cool a bit again here, so although it was still in the 80's in the house, the breeze coming in the windows was nice enough to make soup feasible. The squash is organic, and we saved the seeds. We'll try planting them in the spring. I had enough squash puree left to freeze for "pumpkin" pie this November.
Tonight I don't know yet. It will be simple, whatever it is.
Tomorrow is the start of the annual food co-op farm tour, and I've reserved a number of beef cuts from one of the grass-fed beef farms I buy from. We'll pick it up while we tour their farm -- it will be frozen solid and we'll take a cooler with ice packs. This way I can stock up without a special trip.
Oh, I got the ice packs for free, from a lady whose daughter is a vet. Many medications have to be shipped chilled so she was overloaded with ice packs and happy to give some away. I also get a few free ones when my husband's insulin is shipped, so if one splits, I always have more.
another person who uses squash puree for "pumpkin" pie! I grew up that way & that's the only way i make "pumpkin" pie. it's so good! you can't tell the difference once all the spices are added anyways!
I'm back on track with meal planning - hurrah! I'm particularly pleased that my plan included ways to use foods I have trouble using up when I buy: cilantro, iceberg, and scallions.
Over the weekend I advanced prepped 2.5 meals: two different meatball recipes (both variants of CI's Turkey Meatballs) and bread for French Toast.
Monday: Asian meatballs, braised bok choi
Tuesday: sausages, tomatoes, carrots
Wednesday: shrimp and tofu stir fry
Thursday: Thai beef salad (seared beef on top of lettuce + cilantro + cukes)
Friday: Tex-Mex with a friend in from out of town
Saturday: maybe the French Toast and homemade bacon, maybe shrimp and iceberg stir fry
My store sells in-shell and shelled pistachios from the same company, so I bought a bag of each to see which is cheaper per oz. After "having" to eat 10 oz of pistachios and saving the shells, I can reported that despite their higher apparent price, shelled pistachios are the better bargain. Unless you'd eat shelled pistachios too quickly and need the process of shelling to slow you down. Ahem.
Wow, that is so weird! Not what I'd have expected.
I'll have to check that at Costco, as I do believe they sell a shelled version. I supposed I should also ask Mr. FG if shelling the pistachios is a part of his routine that he'd miss!
I had also put those horrid light bulbs in my kitchen...ugh! The price was right but it made my kitchen look like a hospital operating room! Another gal I know bought them and hates them as well. I bought a different 4 pack at Costco for $10 and they are a warm color and the lighting is back to what I like. So I am going to return them to Costco today too-gotta love their return policy!!
Yes! I bought a small warm pack and they are so much better.
Monday - Bbq sandwiches on wheat buns, coleslaw, pickles, fruit
Tuesday - Littles had spaghetti, Bigs had salads
Wednesday - Homemade pizza, cut veggies
Thursday - Chicken breasts baked with pesto, tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, smashed potatoes, salad
Friday - Dinner out
Saturday - Leftover night
Sunday - Undecided as of now
I hear ya about the pistachios. I try to remind myself that paying more for good snacks/food keeps us from eating out or eating junk food, which costs way more per serving.
Glad to hear you occasionally throw caution to the wind and use a random food truck. Lots of fun but they are not cheap (I thought food trucks started as a cheap alternative to a restaurant?)
Yeah, I wouldn't say they end up being a whole lot cheaper! I mean, you don't have to tip anyone, but they're just as expensive as going to, say, Five Guys.
The earliest food trucks (we're talking centuries if not millennia) were for people who didn't have kitchens at all. In the past century or so, for people working where there the only other option was brown bagging (construction sites). In the recent past, they've appeared where the local options weren't very good or numerous. Now one of the reasons often cited is that office workers don't have time to go to a quick restaurant like Cosi or Potbelly- how sad is that?
I'm currently eating a bunch of raw broccoli and some ranch dressing and calling it lunch, and it's healthy and easy and delicious.
Smoothies for breakfast, well smoothies for my breakfast, I haven't been able to convince the Z Man into it yet.
Right now I'm also enjoying a mushroom scramble and a apple on the side for breakfast too.
We had a Somma night which is what the Z Man calls some of this and some of that. Basically it's what ever veggies I have on hand sauted then I add bow tie pasta and grated parm cheese or pesto.
We also had a enchilada night, which was venison and black bean with salsa, guacamole, and yogurt. We always use yogurt instead of sour cream.
I roasted some veggies and put a chicken in a pot this week too.
Lunches were leftovers of these meals.
I did not buy any groceries this week, so that keeps my total at $89.84 for the month. YYAAYY! 🙂
This week we ate:
Monday: Pho. We got this recipe from Mr. Tako and it was amaaaazing!
Tuesday: Pancetta pasta with asparagus. We usually make this meal with brussels sprouts, but asparagus was cheap at the store this week!
Wednesday: Spaghetti squash chow mein was the plan, but we ended up eating Taco Cabana instead. Oops!
Thursday: We planned to make the Thai cauliflower tonight, but we got Taco Cabana again. Graahhhh! We were working on the house frantically and fast food was what we craved!
Friday: We took today off to move into the house (!!). So today we had Raising Cane's chicken for dinner.
Womp womp! We weren't very frugal with our dinners this week, so I hope that next week is better for us!