What I Spent, What We Ate | Nearing the end of the freezer challenge...
What I Spent
Well...I'm happy to say that the freezer challenge was helpful for my grocery budget this week.
I did get my $25 Hungry Harvest box, of course.
And on Sunday, I made a $33.68 stop at the grocery store to buy a bunch of snacky items for our Sunday night dinner (before the freezer challenge started!)
Also, we were out of dishwasher detergent, and Mr. FG picked some up for me at $5.49.
I needed spaghetti for the noodle cake, and also some chicken for ramen (because Zoe can't eat shrimp). And garlic. So, I stopped and bought only those three things for $10.92.
(I only needed a small bit of the chicken I bought, so I halved and froze the other breasts, which makes them easy to thaw and use in the future. That way they won't end up in a freezer challenge!)
Joshua picked up a $3 gallon of milk for me.
And I stopped at the produce stand to see if they had any bruised apples. They did! And they were $12.
So, I'm at $90 for the week. Whee!
October Spending
Week 1: $208
Week 2: $188
Week 3: $90
That leaves me with $114 for next week.
I do have all the frozen chicken left from this week. Plus, I have local beef in my chest freezer. So, $114 is in the realm of possibility if I plan it right.
What We Ate
I feel like you already know a lot about what we ate this week due to my previous posts. But here you go!
Monday
I thawed the half pork loin from the freezer, cut it into chops, and cooked them using this glazed pork recipe from Budget Bytes.
(I cooked them to the appropriate temperature, using my newfound knowledge!)
I also made mashed sweet potatoes (hey, hey, Hungry Harvest!) and these garlic breadsticks.
Tuesday
To use up the bone-in chicken breast from the freezer, I made the spicy chicken stir fry with the noodle cake.
Wednesday
To use up the chicken bones from the freezer, Joshua volunteered to make ramen and I volunteered to be his sous chef.
(I peeled shrimp, made the broth, grated ginger, peeled eggs, and washed dishes. All the not-glorious things. Ha.)
I cut up some random fruit from the fridge and set it on the table with our ramen, and it all got eaten.
Yay for cleaning out the fridge!
Oh, and the ramen and the stir-fry both used green onions from my HH box.
Thursday
I thawed the ground beef and also the two premade (homemade) hamburgers, and grilled them all up for dinner.
I was babysitting for three boys that we know from church, so I made a fire in our fire pit.
Because fire is very entertaining for pretty much every child alive.
So, of course we ate our burgers around the fire.
Friday
I'm thawing the jar of tomato sauce and I'll either make pizza or we'll have tortellini topped with tomato sauce. I'll poll the troops to see what the preference will be.
Although, you know...if I make pizza tonight, then I can save the tortellini for another meal next week, like tortellini soup. Which would be pretty helpful for my limited budget...so maybe I'll skip polling my crew. 😉
What did you eat this week? And how's your grocery budget going in October?
(hopefully better than mine!)
We've stuck to our budget pretty well. My husband has been out of town more lately, and when he's gone, I lose all desire to cook. So we end up eating random meals of things out of the fridge. This helps clean out the fridge and saves time since I don't want to actually cook those nights.
With hubs home this week though, cooking returned.
M- sloppy joes
T- pizza
W- Stir fry
T- sandwiches (rush night for a game)
F- not entirely sure yet
Sloppy Joes were a meal from last month that had leftovers, so froze that. Kids loved it just as much the second time! Win!!
Monday was a long time ago . . .
Monday: Lamb kebabs on the grill and a lemon/garlic yogurt sauce; cauliflower with olive oil, garlic, and lemon; sauteed mushrooms (more garlic--at least no vampire worries that day); and a green salad. Oh, and rice for the kids.
Tuesday: Soft tacos with ground beef taco meat from the freezer, Mexican slaw, and black beans.
Wednesday: The home troops ate scrambled eggs and roasted vegetables, courtesy of my mom. I was at the hospital and had just had baby #4 (surprise!), so I had a very mediocre ham and cheese sandwich and below-mediocre tomato soup. Mmmm, hospital food . . .
Thursday: The hospital sends up a celebratory new parents meal of steak (that should probably be in quotes, because I'm not sure what cut it was, but it wasn't much of a steak), baked potato, sad iceberg salad, and cream pie. I ate that, but my husband was dealing with a stomach bug at our house, so he didn't get his. I ate the lonely cucumber and tomato from his salad in his honor. And in an attempt to get some vegetables.
Tonight: My family is having Italian sausage and pasta with roasted tomato sauce. If I'm lucky, I'll be home to eat with them. If I'm not lucky, I'll be choosing my meal from the hospital menu.
On second thought, given the stomach bug issue, maybe I should see if they'll let me stay here another day. Even hospital food is preferable to three sick kids and a newborn.
Congratulations on the new baby! Boy or girl?
Thanks. It's a girl. First one after three boys. The adventure begins . . .
Congratulations!!! I'd been wondering if your small person had made an appearance yet.
And so fun to have a girl now! My sister had three boys and then a girl. And then another boy. Heh.
Oh congrats on your new little one!
Yeah...hospital food can be the pits...
And I don't blame you...three sick kiddos and a newborn...Yikes!
Good job and congrats again...baby cuddles are the best.
Take care!
Thank you. I made it home and therefore no longer have to eat the hospital food. Homemade yogurt with blueberries never tasted so good.
Congratulations!!!!!
We stuck to the menus:
Monday - Hamburger Helper (don't judge! this is my first night on my new shift...), veggie
Tuesday - Pot of pintos with pork, corn muffins
Wednesday - Clean out the freezer night (pre-cooked burger patties, chips)
Thursday - Cobb Salads
Friday - Take-out!
Saturday - Mon and Dad grill at HIghlands
and Sunday - Freezer meal leftovers - Weeknight Lasagna Toss
I have a procedure today so i'm doing my usual Friday run to the store for weekend food. And, we decided that a big ole pot of beans was something we would like to do regularly. Cheap and delish.
I love your reasonable good budget and the freezer challenge. I'm so excited about the before and after photos of the challenge!
We spent more than $1,000 on food last month, but this month is going to be less (I hope!). I really, really like the ramen!!!
Yum! Now I'm craving ramen! We spent $18 so far at the grocery store this week, but I'm headed out later today, so I'm thinking I'll spend $50 more.
This week I made:
Monday - Veggie Sushi
Tuesday - Baked Sweet Potato and Mushroom Wild Rice
Wednesday - I went out to eat with my mom before going to a play. (I have no clue what my hubby at at home!)
Thursday - Homemade spent grain flat bread
Friday - I'm thinking I'll make the first butternut squash soup of the year today!
Thanks as always for the inspiration! My garden is winding down, but I should be able to squeeze a couple more weeks out of it!
Fantastic meals as always - and made even more spectacular in that it was a 'use it up' week. Very impressed (love the look of the garlic breadsticks)!
Thank you!
M Barbecue Chicken on Grill
T Rotisserie Chicken and Salad from Sam's (leftover chicken went to freezer)
W Homemade Pasta Fagioli Soup (Olive Garden knockoff)
Th Dinner at Friends' house
F Creamy Chicken Marsala (husband's request for his birthday)
S Birthday meal at Bonefish with my parents for birthday
Su Brats on the grill
I think I got to press the easy button a lot this week!
Let's see, we started out with the spatchcocked chicken and gravy from the drippings, and had it again as leftovers. We had veggies, but don't ask me what they were. At some point we had roasted beets and boiled cabbage with it.
I made a huge pan of sloppy joes, so we ate that twice this week. This is the recipe I altered to include the Ro-tel style tomatoes, and it's good. We had sautéed okra and maybe corn with it one time, and something else the other time. I swear, I really do cook veggies.
Oh, I made homemade applesauce from some apples about to go downhill. It's really good and sweet. We had that at a couple of meals.
Last night was blackened fish with a big chopped salad. I made a flourless chocolate cake in honor of our sponsored child's birthday yesterday and iced happy birthday in Spanish on it with his name and age, then took a picture. There's no way to share the cake, but I can certainly share the picture with him. He told me chocolate was his favorite flavor -- it's mine, too!
I have $148 left in my grocery budget, and my aim is to keep it under that.
I still adore the idea of making a noodle cake! I'm tempted to give it a whirl. 🙂
This week we ate:
Monday: Jambalaya with sliced sausage and a side salad
Tuesday: Roasted cheesy spaghetti squash
Wednesday: Italian pasta salad
Thursday: Patty melts with tater tots
Friday: Tonight we're grabbing Chikfila on our way out of town. I have a coupon for a free cookie. 🙂
Monday - cabbage stir fry with tofu, rice
Tuesday - pasta fazool, broccoli
Wednesday - cheese quesadillas, black beans with peppers, tomato and avocado salad
Thursday - homemade bread, hummus, broccoli, salad
Friday - homemade bread, cheese, salad, and whatever veg needs eating up
Last week I made a parmesan substitute for my daughter who can't have cow's milk. The ingredients were almond flour, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and salt. She loved it. It also made her so congested after falling asleep that her breathing was labored, which was kind of scary. She's had almonds before, so I am really hoping it wasn't the almonds. Nutritional yeast is easy enough to avoid and was the only new ingredient. It's frustrating though. This poor peanut likes to try new things and likes interesting food, but I guess I still have to think of any new food as a possible problem. (And she's five, so it isn't like she is a little baby.)
Interesting that you made a non-dairy cheese. One of my kids is super allergic to all dairy and the one alt cheese we know he can have was discontinued at Whole Foods (the only store still carrying it) So, wouldn't you know, he was invited to a friend's birthday party and they were serving pizza. I tried making an alternative mozzarella, but it didn't set up. Came out more like cheese sauce. He was willing to try it, though. Said it was OK, but not the same as melty "cheese." I was nervous about the nutritional yeast, so I left it out and flavored the "cheese" with other things. Always a culinary adventure, huh?
You forgot to mention that your apples are honeycrisps! I feel like $12 is a screaming deal for honeycrisp apples!
Ugh, we're over budget by 21 dollars. I had 130 to spend on groceries yesterday and spent 151. You know those every few weeks items on the list? For us it's dog food, cat food, cat litter, dental floss, stuff like that. Well yesterday somehow all the every few weeks stuff ended up on the same day. But I'm confident we can whack 21 dollars off of next week's groceries and come in within budget. I mean, we don't have to buy cat food and all that again next week, right?!
I actually came in way under my $60 budget last week. Mostly because I avoided buying any junk food and purchased very little meat last week. We also had a potluck at work and instead of going overboard like I usually do, I just signed up for deviled eggs which was a super-affordable contribution.
Saturday & Sunday - Borracho beans, green salad and beer cheese bread.
Monday - Omelet, toast and fruit
Tuesday - leftover beans
Wednesday - pork chop, green beans and stuffing
Thursday - chicken taco and a delicious lemon bar someone bought for me at a bakery.
Friday - Baked potato and something for protein (probably just cottage cheese). Weird meal but I don't feel like cooking for realsies.
M - beef chow mein with large pasta shells, cabbage, celery, zucchini, carrot, onion, garlic mixed in
T - got really motivated to do heaps of stuff I've been putting off - such a good feeling - and snacked on fruit and a nut bar during the afternoon. Trying to and getting better at stopping eating when I'm full and wasn't hungry at dinner so didn't eat.
W - Curried sausages with vegies from freezer I pre-made and too much chocolate before making a marsbar slice to take to work to share Thurs for our biggest day of the week.
T - Vegie/egg/bacon slice from freezer
F - lunch at work we had bring a plate as a colleague is leaving so I took chocolate cake, we had an awesome range of homemade treats like fried rice, indian deep fried bunda with chilli and lentil dips, pita bread with tzatziki & hommus, marinated chicken wings, tabouli, spanakopita, all kinds of cakes and slices, donuts, and popcorn, and we all ate waaay too much but was a lovely time.
F - dinner; tired after a long week & splurged and treated me and my sis to pan-fried dumplings from down the road.
This weekend - haven't decided yet.
I paid some big bills this month but all expected; tax, new car tyres, and car having major car service this Tues. I have been looking out for more tops to rotate through that go with most of my pants/skirts and found a lovely one 30% off for $38 that washes well so really pleased.
And I did really well with healthy homemade lunches for work and eating at least 2 serves of fruit a day and my yoghurt.
Monday- Beef tacos
Tuesday- salmon, corn, lettuce salad
Wednesday- chicken, sweet potato, mixed veggies
Thursday- Lasagna, applesauce, breadsticks
Friday- salami, lettuce, cheese wrapped in a tortilla
A friend gave us a small ham and a turkey that I couldn't fit into my full freezer, so I cooked them both over the weekend. Between dinners and lunchtime sandwiches, it was a very turkey-and-ham-errific week for us! The last of it will get diced and bagged up for the freezer today.
Sat: Smorgasbord
Sun: Ham, mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli
Mon: Shredded turkey in gravy, rice, carrots
Tues: Oven fried chicken, balsamic and feta roasted zucchini and red pepper, homemade applesauce
Wed: Turkey tetrazinni, Parmesan and pesto roasted zucchini
Thurs: impromptu dinner at McDonald's (our son's chosen reward for good work at school)
Fri: Chicken cordon bleu pasta