What I Spent, What We Ate | It's a Costco week.
What I Spent
Let's see. I got a $25 Hungry Harvest box.
That's a big bag of kale up there at the top peeking into the photo. Needless to say, we've been having kale smoothies all week!
I had a $10/$50 purchase coupon for a local grocery store, so I went there and spent $42.59 (my total before the coupon was $52, so I was pretty pleased with how close I got to hitting the $50 minimum.)
And I made a Costco trip, where I spent $104 (mainly on frozen fruit, butter, and nuts).
So, my total for this week is $172.13. That's higher than my $150 average, but that's what usually happens on Costco weeks!
What We Ate
Monday
Some friends were visiting from Florida, and we grilled hamburgers (here's how I make mine) and brats. Plus we had chips and watermelon.
And ice cream floats for dessert.
Tuesday
This is the night I tried some bland noodle bowls.
We ate fresh cantaloupe with those, and I'm pleased to say that at least the cantaloupe was flavorful!
Wednesday
It was a mish-mash of a night. Joshua and Lisey were gone at work and I had music rehearsal. The girls made themselves some tortellini with Alfredo sauce, and Mr. FG picked up a sandwich for himself on the way home from work.
Thursday
I made a shrimp cobb salad.
I also cooked up some corn from my Hungry Harvest box, and made a couple of loaves of homemade French bread.
Friday
Normally we do pizza on Friday nights, but I have some potatoes that need to be used up, so I'm thinking of veering off course a bit and making something that can have roasted potatoes as a side dish.
How about you?
What's been on the dinner table at your house? And how are things with your grocery budget?
Sounds like a good week! Sorry about the pork dish; I hate when that happens.
This week we ate:
Monday: Chicken biryani. I used an Americanized recipe for this, but I think it needed more garam masala. Other than that, this recipe was dynamite and came together fast. We even got two extra servings for our freezer backstock.
Tuesday: Cornbread taco bake. I was nervous about this meal, but man, it was really good! It was easy to cook, tasted great the next day, and gave us a few extra portions to freeze.
Wednesday: Chicken waldorf pitas. The recipe I used wasn't a traditional waldorf chicken recipe. It was the weirdest combination of flavors (Italian dressing, yogurt, curry, etc.). I really didn't think it was going to be good, but it was! I've never tasted that flavor combination before, but it was still a good one.
Thursday: Umm, Chikfila. This was Mr. Picky PIncher's night to cook and he had to work late, so we indulged in some fast food goodness.
Friday: We're supposed to have asopao de pollo (a Puerto Rico version of paella) today, but I think we'll have carnitas tacos instead. I don't feel like cooking anything elaborate today.
Wow I LOVE all the food photos that you post. They just look so pretty and artistic, especially the shrimp dish!
Our May food budget exploded, and I'm still embarrassed about it. But since we bought so much food last month ($777 for 2 people), I haven't gone grocery shopping in almost two weeks. I just spent $7 on milk and fruit last weekend. There's so much food in the fridge and the pantry that I want to finish before Mr. FAF comes visit next week. ^.^
We've been sticking to our menus pretty well the last few months! I go to work four-five dinners a week now, so having the menu on the calendar and having the ingredients ready for my hubby to cook makes the nights away go smoothly!
Sunday- grilled at the state park
Monday- breakfast junk
Tuesday- sub sandwiches
Wednesday- leftovers
Thursday- chicken patty sandwiches, mac & cheese
Friday- last day of school treat- local hot dog truck and a local ice cream shop
Saturday- sloppy joes
It is so wonderful to see a meal plan like mine!!
Watermelon is such a natural accompaniment for burgers. Inexpensive and easy to prep, too. As an additional benefit you can take it outside and have watermelon seed fights.
I was on vacation last week, so my fridge is barer than bare...as you'll see, this impacted our eating.
Monday: traveling, so breakfast at Grandmas, lunch at the airport (expensive and sub-par), take-out Chinese food for dinner.
Tuesday: Went to the grocery store on my lunch and made chicken-cauliflower fried rice for dinner.
Wednesday: Chipotle (because I still hadn't done an actual grocery shop)
Thursday: Qdoba (because we had a coupon and also, still hadn't shopped)
Friday: I really need to shop, but I'm on my own tonight so I also might just eat out somewhere.
Next week I'll be back on track!
This was a weird week and I can't seem to recall the order to what we had, but....
One night I made chili using dried beans I'd cooked the day before.
One night we had burgers and a salad, to use some of the pack of the ground beef I needed for chili.
One night we had brats, potatoes and beans, because the husband requested it.
One night was purely leftovers.
Tonight will be Olive Garden, not because we wanted it, but because of a family get-together.
I'm going to be under budget for the two weeks, counting the end of May in with the first week of June as week one. I think I'll be about $40 under my budget amount, which suits me! I hope some last minute "I forgot!" purchases don't mess me up.
Monday- baked chicken, potato salad, and corn casserole
Tuesday- grilled hamburgers, fruit, and baked potato chips
Wed.- spaghetti and meatballs
Thursday- Veggie sandwich at Subway
Friday- Salmon, baked potato, and mixed veggies
We had lamb last night, because I'm going to be working through the after-Easter on-sale boneless legs of lamb I bought in April forever. I bought eight of them, because they were $1.99 a pound, which is pretty much the cheapest red meat available. Everyone in my family except me loves lamb. And what did my husband bring home today? Five ACTUAL lambs that he's going to pasture this summer on our property and then slaughter in the fall for our winter meat.
Guess I'd better get used to eating a lot of lamb again. (We had sheep for years, but sold off our flock and took a break from them when we moved, and I did not miss them.)
I did an experiment this month and tried to buy enough for a full month last time I went to the grocery store in the bigger village. HAHA. That did not work. I totally underestimated our food consumption and made it all of a week and half before I realized I was out of flour--without which our sourdough-bread-devouring household does not function--oats, and fruit. The reason I tried this is we're considering moving to an even MORE remote area where the nearest grocery store is a three-hour roundtrip. That is not a distance I will be driving weekly for bananas. I need more practice at the monthly trip, but I do like the idea of it. I'm a little stymied by milk, though. We got through many gallons a week, and short of getting a dairy cow (not inconceivable, but SO MUCH WORK), I'm not sure how one manages to get enough milk for a month in one go.
By the way, I was so pleased to read that little throwaway line, "The girls made themselves tortellini . . ." It immediately set me to daydreaming about the day when my children (currently 7, 4, 2, and in utero) make anything for themselves other than crumbling bread slices heaped with peanut butter. Hope for the future.
The common answer re milk is to freeze it or use powder.
Can you freeze whole milk successfully, though? I feel like the higher fat content might cause separation or something. That's something I've meant to try to see what it's like thawed.
Just shake it up and use like normal. I love the fact that I never run out of milk because I always have some in the freezer. It needs to be completely thawed before you use it, then just give it a shake.
Do those bones make a decent broth? I've only had lamb a few times, and it seems as if there's lots of bone left. I make broth/stock out of everything!
Sure, you can make broth out of lamb bones, just like with any bones. If you like lamb, that is. I'm not such a fan of lamb, myself, which is too bad considering my husband's interests. But my MiL used to make lamb stock to use in lamb stew and so on.
Oh my gracious. I can't imagine living three hours from a grocery store. I think you're right, though...if you're going to make that work, you have to make at least a multi-week plan and do a big, big shopping trip.
This is going to sound odd, but when we lived in several Alaskan bush villages that didn’t have a store larger than a 7-11, we notified family and friends that we would like our gifts to be useful items that we would not have to take with us when we moved back to Fairbanks. (There were not roads in or out, so everything was brought in by plane or a once-a-year summer barge, so prices were high and quality of anything fresh was poor) For Christmas one year family members coordinated and we got a case of toilet paper (which was $1.50 PER ROLL) at the village store, a case of shredded wheat, a box with several bags of pancake mix that required only water, and an Amazon box of freeze dried fruits. And the few times people came to visit, I offered to wash their clothes every day if they would wear an outfit but fill their suitcases with food we needed (we’d pay them and Alaska Air did not charge for baggage for Alaskans). Doing something like that won’t fix your grocery store being 3 hours away but every little bit helps.
Funny story: A fundraiser for the church group in the village was to have McDonalds in Fairbanks put cases of Big Macs on the plane. The kids cut them in half, and sold them for $5 a half. They went like the proverbial hotcakes!
I only shop every 9-12 weeks for many years now. I even stretch it further if I can. Over time you can add an extra week or three between trips. It gets easier as you learn your needs.
For milk between fresh, shelf stable, dry, canned and freezing it works out fine. We ration the fresh too. No guzzling just because you are thirsty! Other dairy options store longer (homemade yogurt (6 weeks at least), block cheese (months to years)). Instead of relying on only the grocery for milk, I scoped out all the gas stations. Costs a little more sometimes, cost less other times, but it gets us through to the next time I go grocery shopping.
Well, it's Friday and I find myself with a mostly empty fridge so I am about to head out to buy some fillers for the weekend! I've been trying to stick to my dinner plans and I'm doing pretty well, I think! Last night was some leftover crock pot turkey, with fresh mashed potatoes and some green beans I found in the freezer. The night before was a big dinner salad with buttermilk fried chicken strips and granny smith apple, sprinkled with pumpkin seeds. Tuesday was a crock pot roast that was delightful! I mixed cream of mushroom soup with dry onion soup mix and slathered it over the meat. Added tiny tomatoes and a chunked onion and ran out of the house to work. They ate it it ALL. Monday I chopped up a rotisserie chicken and made chicken salad for some leftover hamburger buns. Tonight I will prep some chicken, and the boys will make a box of mac and cheese and a green veggie to go with. I want to get them to cook more often, but I will leave guidelines. Looking at your photos reminds me I want to buy some fresh fruit, too!
Waaaaaaah, our CSA has gone out of business. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH.
*tears*
Oh, that stinks. Was it the only one in the area?
Maybe Hungry Harvest will expand to your neck of the woods soon. It's a little different than a CSA, but it's still the kind of thing that plays an important role in improving our food system.
It was. It is the fourth CSA we've had come and go in our decade+ years here. Hungry harvest is not in our area. We're kind of isolated and rural. Of course my mil gets a produce box and they live in a town of 3k people in the rural Midwest, so it's not impossible. Our state's branch of Feeding America does get a lot of the second run produce in the state, so at least it isn't being completely wasted.
How about pizza potatoes for supper and have the best of both recipes? 🙂
Our week's been a little weird. There's just my husband and me. I went through the freezer over the weekend (uh-oh), and pulled out the oldest hambone, a big container of cooked hamburger, some pumpkin. The crockpot held the hambone, and made a lentil soup (along with some wilted green onions, scary looking carrots, celery, half a red onion - after digging through the fridge's produce drawer). The husband doesn't like lentil soup. The hamburger: part went to make a big pot of "goulash" (hoping my son would take some, which he didn't). Part went into "souping up" a frozen pizza, along with a bit of cheese. Part went into spiced up "rice-a-roni" last night, and the balance was mixed with Miss Bonnie's kibble this morning. We have various meals throughout the week - my husband works out of the house. Sometimes he takes a lunch, some days he's home for lunch. I do always keep fresh veggies (better ones than previously mentioned) and fruit available, and jars of yogurt. I did make a trip to Aldi yesterday, so now there's fresh milk & eggs. There may be a quiche for breakfast tomorrow. We'll see.
Your box looks amazing.
You could make potato latkes and add some finely chopped kale, grated carrots and onions. I add everything to those things.
Thanks for sharing.
Besos Sarah.
Monday: I tried out a new dish, taco bites. They were a big hit. We had theses with beans and applesauce.
Tuesday: We ate smothered pork chops, cheesy potatoes, and finished off the applesauce.
Wednesday: This was our mish mash night. I heated up our leftovers and everyone helped themselves.
Thursday: I fixed spaghetti, garlic bread, and green onions fresh from the garden. I also made a pineapple upside-down cake that we ate with whipped cream.
Friday: We are eating pizza this evening. We haven't had one in a couple of weeks.
What about a baked potato pizza?!
Last Friday I hit the local flea market and loaded up on fruit and veg.. that helped get us through a lot this week.. my 3 kids are HUGE eaters so they have bee killing food!
Mon- 12y old son grilled a 4 pack of steaks for supper, baked sweet potatoes for the side and I cut the corn off leftover ears and fried it up with butter, salt and pepper.
Tuesday- I worked 6 hours and had not planned supper b/c I thought I was only going to work 3...so that recent groceries store pizza freebie went into the oven before TKD class....
Wed- I was going to be gone and older son was at a birthday party. 12 y daughter wanted to cook supper for dad and brother so she made breakfast hash with hashbrown, turkey sausage and eggs...
Thur- super fancy, need to hit the grocery store, supper of hot dogs and macaroni and cheese... I ate the last tiny links of sausage fried up with the last leftover sweet potato. Topped this with 2 over medium eggs.. odd combo but so tasty!
Fri- I grocery shopped thursday night and this morning so it only makes sense that I have evening plans with the kids and we will be getting pizza! lol
Monday-tacos
Tuesday-i met friends @ Panera for my birthday, and they treated. I used the gift card I got for the kids. Husband ate leftovers.
Wednesday-middle eastern meatballs
Thursday- roasted chicken thighs and veg
Friday-salmon and edemame
We are having a crazy week. One of my kiddos is done with school and the other has two weeks to go, and I'm trying to finish some vounteer work before they are both done. So there were lots of easy-prep dinners.
Monday - pasta with spinach and goat cheese, tomato salad
Tuesday - black beans and rice, broccoli
Wednesday - pasta with goat cheese and basil, green beans dressed with pickled beets
Thursday - gluck over rice (my mom used the term gluck for bits of this and that cooked in tomato sauce over rice, Thursday's gluck had kale, mushrooms, and chick peas)
Friday - pasta with oil and grated cheese, chickpea and tomato salad with chopped herbs and black olives
My younger daughter can only have goat's milk dairy and I love creamy pasta dishes. So I've invented a couple of pasta dishes using creamy goat cheese. The simplest involves creaming goat cheese with olive oil and then adding a little of the pasta water to loosen it. Only slightly more complicated are the recipes that involve sauteing a little garlic in oil, cooking spinach or mushrooms or basil in the oil, and then adding goat cheese and turning off the heat to let the cheese melt.
1. Crockpot chicken, baked sweet potatoes, broccoli
2. Penne Pasta with sausage, zucchini and tomato sauce, garlic bread, salad
3. Jambalay, salad
4. Stir fry ground beef, cabbage and carrots with soy sauce
5. Leftover cold cuts, cheese and potato salad
6. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, baked beans, salad
7. Beef stew, salad
We like our salad here...and lettuce is now in abundance in the garden.
Let's see. I know one night was hot dogs and one night was tacos. A friend gave me some mango salsa and I served it over porkchops for two nights and also ate broccoli those nights. One night I just grazed on this and that from the fridge. Oh! And one night I made veggie pizza. It was pretty simple week with no new recipes but it was tasty enough and I ate every night at home and brought my lunch to work. With $1700 in (4 different) car repairs in the last month, eating out is not an option right now.
Love the idea of the Harvest Box. Cant wait until it makes it to our area.
I absolutely love shopping at costco. We go there once a month for all of our proteins and then go to our neighborhood grocery store for specific produce that we need for meals. It works great and has cut our monthly grocery budget by about $150
Costso is amazing! Saves me so much money. Thanks for sharing!