What I Spent, What We Ate | + a 10-month spending roundup
What I Spent
Last Friday, I made an unpictured $69 shopping trip.
It was a produce box week:
And lastly, I bought $90.13 of groceries:
(Including a $6 jar of almond butter and a $6.50 bottle of maple syrup. And that's at Aldi prices!)
So, it was a $193 week, and that was even without a Costco trip. Geez.
October Totals ($161.50/week avg.)
Week 1: $135.31
Week 2: $199.42
Week 3: $119.74
Week 4: $193
And since it's the end of a month, here's my 2016 grocery spending totals.
Spending Year To Date (avg. $163/week)
January: $681
February: $650
March: $823
April: $623
May: $656
June: $682
July: $706
August: $589
September: $954
October: $646
What We Ate
Monday
I made a batch of chicken broth and then turned around and promptly used it to make Broccoli-Cheese Noodle Soup.
We had garlic breadsticks with the soup, and I called it good at that due to the broccoli in the soup.
Also, this was the night I had both my small visitors here for dinner, so simple was the name of the game. 😉
Tuesday
We were a bit split here. I thawed some homemade French bread, and Joshua made a panini with it, while the rest of us had French Toast.
Wednesday
We had BBQ chicken legs, homemade crescent rolls from my new ATK bread cookbook, and this curried cauliflower.
(Which is, I realize, an odd side for BBQ chicken, but when your produce box gives you cauliflower, you work with it.)
Thursday
I made a pot of Slow Cooker Japanese Pork Ramen soup. We also had homemade applesauce, and toasted (not-homemade) bagels.
Friday
I'm planning on pizza, and I'm considering going the deep dish route.
The only thing is, the crust requires potatoes, and I have Yukon gold, not the Russets the recipe calls for. I'm wondering if that will affect the crust negatively or not.
I could try it in the name of research, I suppose...
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What did you eat this week? Do share!
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P.S. Here's a main dish recipe index in case you need some ideas for next week.
P.P.S. While we're talking about indexes, here's one full of yeast baking recipes.
My week in food is pretty amusingly obviously delineated by meals when my husband is here, and meals when he isn't. So he was gone S/M/T nights, which meant popcorn and ice cream for dinner Sunday (we had our big meal in the late afternoon before he had to leave), pizza sandwiches Monday (like grilled cheese, but with pizza sauce and mozzarella), and quesadillas with some leftover duck enchilada filling Tuesday. When he got back home? Meatloaf Wed., pot roast Thursday, and we're off and running with the meat-heavy meals again!
I can't tell you how thrilled I was to discover that the wealth of maple syrup producers here at the Canadian border means very affordable syrup. I buy ours from a family nearby that sells it for $43 a gallon. We go through that in about three months, so it's a good thing it's so affordable . . .
Coincidentally, I made a pasta dish that called for a full head of cauliflower this week. The key was to caramelize the cauliflower first before adding it to the pasta. Delish!
M- Turkey pot pie, salad
T- Pasta with lemon, pine nuts and roasted cauliflower, salad
W- BBQ baby back ribs, maple glazed sweet potatoes, salad
Th - Lemon & arugula ravioli (Trader Joes), crook neck squash, arugula salad
F - Turkey pot pie leftovers, salad
I'm also baking an apricot pound cake this afternoon, which I'll slice and freeze so that we can enjoy it slowly in the weeks to come.
And finally, not sure what is happening in other parts of the country, but our prices for avocado have jumped some threefold here (California) in the last month. I normally pick up 2-3 a week for around $1.50, and now same would run me about $5.00. Miss having them around, so hoping prices come down soon.
Yes! I saw avocados for $1.50 EACH here in upstate New York yesterday. I was bummed, because I really wanted an avocado, but not for $1.50.
Oh my gosh! Ours are 1.88 each right now! In September they were .98!
Was your avocado from California? In the San Francisco area, avocados were $2.99! And I hear they were half that for CA avocados on the east coast. Doesn't make sense!
I love near avocado farms and in Australia 2 for $4 is good value at present. For some reason our local fruits are never lower in price.
I haven't bought maple syrup in ages. Here in S.A. it costs upwards of R110 for a small bottle.
That makes me kind of sad. Ha! Maple syrup is a favorite around here. That is doable in our part of the US, though. I can get a sizable jug for ~$14. I separate it into two jugs and water it down a tad because I buy the darker, richer version, which is usually slightly cheaper or the same price.
I received an overabundance of cauliflower in our CSA box this year so I turned it into cauliflower rice. I shredded the cauliflower in my food processor and put it into bags in the freezer. When I need rice I pull out a bag and sautée away.
Once again I haven't kept track of what we have had this week. We have had BLT's, roast chicken twice, chicken stir fry and tonight we went out for sushi. I have had to top up the vegetables. Food is expensive here as well. Beef was an Aussie staple and I rarely buy it now.
Good luck with the shopping everyone.
I buy maple syrup at SAM'S Club or COSTCO, it's about $10/quart. I believe it was much more than that at Aldi when I saw it there.
Ooh, I'll have to check that out. Thanks for the tip!
I saw maple syrup at our local Home Goods Store for $49.99 a gallon, which is a great price around here (Washington state).
Yes, last time I was at Sam's it was roughly $10 a quart. Aldi was more affordable but they went up on maple syrup last year.
Meatballs, shrimp, butternut squash soup, pizza...speaking of pizza, I've used all types of potatoes for the deep dish pizza and it has turned out fine.
I'm thinking leftovers tonight and fresh zucchini bread since Aldi had zucchini on sale.
Just my two cents: russets are starchy and yukons are waxy. I don't think that bodes well for your crust!
I agree-- I think the russets would lend to the production of gases that the yeast works on. Since gold and red potatoes have less starch I don't think they would work well at all.
We are so glad it is Friday here. My husband worked late several evenings, had to go in early one morning, and last night was on the verge of a cold and lost a filling. Wah!
Monday - stir fry with peppers and baby corn and tofu, rice
Tuesday - pasta with tomatoes and eggplant and chickpeas, broccoli
Wednesday - pork and black beans with peppers, rice, cut up raw veg
Thursday - pasta with carrots and onions, green beans
The pasta with carrots and onions is a Florentine dish that I learned from a friend. Finely chopped onions and grated carrots are slowly sauted in olive oil with salt. They both get very sweet and soft. I make it with rotini so the bits of veg get stuck in the curls of the pasta and lots of grated cheese.
Well, this was kind of a leftovers week.
I had made a pot of pumpkin soup and we ate it again this week, finishing it off.
I made a big pot of chili and we ate it twice. With one of those meals, we had free crackers someone left at a grocery store's deli cafe, after they'd paid for them. They had too many and left an unopened package for whoever wanted them. I brought them home.
We had store-bought organic tomato basil soup with cheese and bacon sandwiches on homemade bread. I'm not a fan of tomato soup, so I'll buy a carton now and then for my husband, who likes it, rather than make a pot of it.
We got a little fancier last night and thawed out two small grass-fed steaks from a local farm, then baked small potatoes and made salads with ingredients on hand and homemade dressing. We only ate one steak between us, although they were good, so we'll have surf and turf tonight with the leftover steak and some shrimp from the freezer.
I'm going to end up maybe $75 over budget on groceries this month, but since I stocked up the freezer with grass-fed beef at a local farm this month -- hence the steaks -- I'm okay with it; I paid $185 for the beef.
Cheese and bacon sandwiches sound tasty, and I happen to have everything I need for that on hand.
This week the menu included:
- taco night
- breakfast for dinner (overnight french toast, home cured bacon, riced cauliflower) (gotta have something for the veg)
- unexpected dinner out
- sausages
I also made 2 dishes of pasta rustica, one for dinner and one for the freezer. It's like lasagna but with a different pasta and not in layers; much easier to make.
There will be ribs, pasta rustica, and shrimp iceberg stirfry in the next week.
I love seeing what's in your produce box each week! We plan on starting up a garden this winter to (hopefully) have fruits/veggies in the spring. Woop!
This week was a little wonky for food for us.
Monday: We had minestrone soup, which is always heavenly and filling.
Tuesday: Asian lettuce wraps. I fiiiinally got around to documenting my recipe for the Asian yogurt sauce that I put on top of the wraps. So now I'll always have consistency, which is great. 🙂
Wednesday: We were supposed to have meatloaf, but I had to clean our old apartment and forgot that meatloaf takes 1 hour + to cook. So instead we picked up Taco Bell. Oh well!
Thursday: I got out of a doctor's appointment early, so I actually had time to make meatloaf, garlic herb potatoes, and corn for dinner. Unfortunately the meatloaf was "off" so it just wasn't our thing. Boo.
Friday: Tonight Mr. Picky Pincher is commanding the kitchen. He's grilling steaks and serving them with baked beans and corn. I think he's also barbecuing some chicken leg quarters to use the shredded chicken meat for soups.
If you don't have time to cook a large meatloaf, scoop the mixture into muffin tins. Takes a fraction of the time to cook, and just as good!
I remembered to pay attention this week as to what we ate, so here's the run down......
Sunday we ate pizza and salad at my niece's birthday party for lunch & we had half a sub each for dinner (out), Monday we had a huge sub (italian bread loaf size) that we cut into pieces & had with onion rings and a few french fries left from the freezer, Tuesday i cooked a whole chicken in the crockpot with carrots, onions & celery & made homemade mashed potatoes & gravy & served also with homemade applesauce that we canned, Wednesday we had breakfast for dinner- french toast & bacon, Thursday was sub night at the club (really inexpensive & very tasty) as we had lots of errands to run. Snack was homemade roasted pumpkin seeds, yum! Tonight will be steaks that I had thawed for yesterdays dinner (from our cow we bought) along with baked sweet potatoes & salad.
I forgot to post my total for the week.... $93.39. This month I still have a few things to get, so hopefully it won't be too bad. So far, I'm $126.61 under budget for the month & I'd like to still be under budget when done buying items. Feels good when I can come in under $600/month!!
It's so interesting, as a Canadian reader living in a very expensive city, to hear how much you all spend on groceries south of the border. What size bottle of maple syrup did you buy? I spend $12-13 on a litre at Costco, and that's the best price around here.
I was thinking the same thing. I live close to the border and when the dollar was good I was at Aldi's every two weeks.
I look at your grocery picture and think that I couldn't buy 1/2 of that for $90. I think we pay far too much for food up here - even at discount stores.
Best meal of the week was DH's discovery of a recipe for chorizo and sweet potato enchiladas (with green enchilada sauce). Delish!
Also had BBQ chicken one night (with salad, roasted rosemary cauliflower, and FG roasted carrots) and breakfast tacos with sliced apples one night.
OMGosh - Would love a link to the recipe - that sounds so good!
ATK has updated the deep dish recipe on their website. It no longer calls for potatoes (it uses milk), but it tastes exactly the same!
We've been given a lot of leftovers because of various things (my daughter's birthday, my birthday, my mom's birthday etc.) so this entire week, with the exception of Wednesday when we had breakfast for dinner, we had some form of leftovers. It was kind of nice to have no real cooking to do outside of baking a potato or making a tossed salad.
I hate to admit it - but my husband and I eat like toddlers 🙁 . My boys are grown and don't live at home any longer - so we just don't do much with food. I've got to get better about this!
You don't look old enough to be married, and your kids are grown ???
Pizza sandwiches sound good and I know the littles here would love them! Thanks for the idea!
I have found the price for Maple Syrup at Sam's to be the best in my area, we do not have an Aldi.
Monday - Baked chicken breasts with basil pesto, sliced tomato and fresh mozzarella (all baked together), brown rice, roasted broccoli, fruit
Tuesday - Homemade pizza, salad
Wednesday - Hubby out of town so: Fake chicken nuggets (chix tenderloins chopped and seasoned and then baked), potato wedges, applesauce
Thursday - Hubby still gone: Grilled turkey dogs, baked beans, brown bread with raisins, green beans
Friday - Dinner out, though no idea where! lol
Happy Weekend!
Monday - Jambalaya and mandarin oranges.
Tuesday - Tacos.
Wednesday - We rarely ever do breakfast for dinner, but I made a quiche (for the first time and it was good), hashbrowns, and sausage.
Thursday - My husband worked late so I just had to feed myself and my 2yo. The night fell apart and our visit to see my grandma got pushed later, so we each had a kid's meal from Wendy's on the way there.
Friday - Pollock, sweet potatoes, and broccoli bites. Followed by candy at a Fall Fest. 😉
Chiming in on the map,e syrup conversation...,
My husband has a customer who sugars so he paid us with eight gallons of beautiful Vermont syrup. I open a gallon and put one quart in the fridge and then quick seal the other three quarts so I can store them at room temp with other preserved goods. We use map,e syrup as our sweetener in baking and cooking most of the time and I feel really fortunate to have been paid in the liquid!!
As for food spending and eating around here... I spent roughly $190 this week on regular groceries and then about eleventy-million through Amazon. I usually get a subscribe and save box each month and this time around we were in need of several more spendy items. I also splurged and bought a try-it box of four organic bread variety flours and a 25 pound bag of organic wheat pastry flour. Guess it's time to bake!
The menu included spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread plus peaches, cock-a-leekie soup with cheesy breads, seared coconut fish with FFand coleslaw, grilledcheese with tomato soup, tortellini with sausage and butternut squash sauce with maple vinaigrette topped salad, and I can't recall the sixth meal...but tonight is pizza with Caesar salad and ice cream for dessert .
Costco sells maple syrup for a really good price.
Costco does have the best price by far on maple syrup. They also have their own brand of almond butter that is a larger size jar for the best price anywhere. Check out your Costco next time if that is a regular item.
We have a hyperactive toddler who doesn't leave us much time for cooking so everything we eat at the moment is very simple. This week's dinners went a bit like this:
Mon: Pasta & Pesto (sauce from a jar)
Tues: Egg and sweet potato salad and a baguette
Weds: Grilled chicken with roast potatoes and salad
Thurs: Cous Cous with roasted vegetables and tuna (canned)
Fri: Pasta with chicken and lentil tomato sauce
Hopefully as our daughter grows and we have more time we can get back to cooking more adventurous meals!
We spent way to much on take out and quick food last week due to some health issues so I needed to reign it in this week and hit the kitchen hard. The whole crew seemed pleased for the first time ever that I cooked every night 😉 I spent about 190 but really stocked up on a lot of our regular stuff due to a store grand opening sale and some amazing prices.
I'm feeding 4 (20 and 13 yr old boys as well as the hubby and I)
M - Hash made with potatoes, green and red pepper, onion, and smoked sausage. We topped it with poached eggs and had salad on the side.
T - Reuben sandwiches with fruit and chips
W - Lemon roasted chicken breast with roasted potatoes and salad
T - Crock pot Pasta e. fagioli with rolls
F - BBQ chicken pizza with veggies and dip
Today looks like pork fried rice for dinner and using up leftovers at lunch time.
Avocados were 6/$5.98 at SAM'S Club this morning, in the Mid-Atlantic region. I bought them because I figure they might be the last cheap ones I see for a while (thus contributing to the shortage).
How much did you pay for the avocados? There is supposedly a shortage and the prices are rising. I'm in Socal and most restaurants have signage stating they might be out of avocado.
Mine were $1.69 apiece at Aldi this week.
I make bone broth every week. I buy either a raw chicken or a rotisserre chicken from Sam's. Cook. Eat meat,make broth. Then we can have broth every week!
My broth recipe is delicious, and my son and I drink it plain (just adding salt after it's cooked, so it's just salted to taste/to particular recipe)
Bones from one chicken
Into crock pot, 10 cups water
dash apple cider vinegar
3 bay leaves (Sam's has huge container of them, so no need to be stingy)
3 carrots, cut tiny
1 onion, cut small
3-4 celery stalks, cut small *I read this was key
if I'm in the mood, a few garlic cloves
cook overnight or during the day (I happen to love the smell)
I also make in my Instant Pot in two hours if I'm in a pinch.
Mine tastes absolutely divine, and it's much less fussy than yours. And we have it more often!!! 🙂
Hey, Kristen, I ordered 6 bottles of Mrs. Meyers Hand Soap from Grove ,but I didn't get me free stuff. I had problems with its website and maybe the connection for the free stuff and my order didn't go there. Who can help me get this resolved? Thanks. LCD
Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that! I just emailed my contact at Grove, and I'm sure they'll look into it once the work week starts up again on Monday. Thanks for letting me know so that we can get you taken care of.
After years of reading about Aldi on your blog, I finally got to go to one today (it just opened in our town)!! I was so excited! And I was thrilled to find many items I regularly buy at fantastic prices. Yay, Aldi!!!
Yay! So excited for you.
It is late autumn here so out with the salads and in with the stews. Having said that, you can make remarkably tasty salads with cabbage.
Yesterday was sunny and bright and perfect for pizza from homemade frozen dough and ditto sugo sauce.
I'll be making pea soup soon on a regular basis, in big eat some/freeze some batches.
Have a great Sunday!
I had some time to get to Sam's club last week and be able to really look around. I live smack in the middle of the midwest so our prices are very reasonable. Everything I bought was $1-3 less than Aldi's. I added up the difference that I saved and it was significant. We are a family of 3 and have the space to store extra food. Produce is top quality all the time,milk was 65 cents cheaper,butter was $2.50/lb. We love cereal and 2 large boxes of Cheerios were $5.25. A box of cereal at Aldi's is around $1.99. I spent $200 and we are set for quite awhile. G beef 90/10 was $2.68/lb and chix tenderloins $1.50/lb. It pays to shop around. I think Sam's is my new store.
Hi,
I can't believe how expensive food is in the states. We pay about 80 pence for individual advocado's. We holidayed this summer on the east coast including Williamsburg and Cape Cod and were very surprised by your food costs even for basic goods like cheese and salad veg like peppers. Budgeting definitely makes sense.