What I Spent, What We Ate |
What I Spent
I got my Hungry Harvest box ($25).
and then I spent $79 at the grocery store.
Plus, I had to stop at Costco, where I spent $52 on frozen fruit and laundry detergent.
So, I'm at $156 for the week. Which is not under, but at least it's not over like last week!
March Spending
Week 1: $245
Week 2: $156
What We Ate
Since I was recovering from being sick, it was a pretty simple week of eats around here.
Monday
On Saturday, before I got sick, I'd mostly put together a pot of chicken tortilla soup. So on Monday, Zoe finished that up and also made some guacamole. Yay, Zoe!
We had applesauce from the freezer with our soup.
Tuesday
I was feeling quite a bit better, so I poked around in the freezer and found a BBQ-marinated pork tenderloin and some chicken sausages in the freezer.
I grilled those, while enjoying the fact that it wasn't dark outside. Yay, Daylight Saving Time!
I also thawed a loaf of homemade French bread and used it to make garlic bread.
And we had some raw fruits and veggies on the side.
Wednesday
We had a lot of random bread odds and ends lying around, so I rounded them up and made French toast for dinner.
We had some weird French toast (I even used up an English muffin!), but our bread stash is so much more cleaned out now.
Thursday
I got out two bags of frozen shredded cheese (given to me by a friend before she moved), and a partial bag of tortillas from the freezer. I used those to make quesadillas, and I cooked some broccoli from my Hungry Harvest box.
Friday
I bought some King Arthur bread flour this week, and I have some mozzarella in my freezer that needs to be used. So, I'll probably make some pizza.
I spent $126 this week, which makes up for last week’s expensive week.
Monday - rice with chick peas and mushrooms and kale
Tuesday- spaghetti with tomatoe sauce, farinata
Wednesday- pasta with eggplant sauce and almonds, turnips
Thursday- quesadillas, black beans, mango and cuke salad
I have a butternut squash, so I think I am going to make pasta with roasted squash and almonds tonight. Then tomorrow I will take the leftover squash and leftover turnips and make a pureed soup for lunch.
Sunday: Roast chicken with baked potatoes and vegetables
Monday: Leftovers from the night before.
Tuesday: Pork chops, vegetables and rice
Wednesday: Tacos made with ground turkey meat with lettuce, rice etc.
Thursday: Curried fried rice (leftover chicken, rice, vegetables etc. made into one big stir fry with stuff like curry powder and soy sauce added.) It's a nice way to get rid of a ton of leftovers at once.
Friday: Leftover taco meat so I'll either do tacos again or mix it up and have burritos.
I didn't really spend all that much this week. I did buy some oats at Whole Paycheck (bulk bin shopping is fun) and did have a small produce and milk run at Aldi. Walmart wasn't so much this week as I'm trying to cut back on soda purchasing and that's where I tend to buy it the most. I did take advantage of a 30% off coupon to get some laundry detergent at CVS. We had no stockpile left but now we're back up to normal levels.
Saturday- My SIL for pizza/cake for my nephews 18th Birthday!
Sunday- son had Soccer tournament, we got out of there late, stopped at the diner for a quick bite, I had a French dip (wasn't great) son had Belgium waffle, dh has some panni..
Monday- chicken cutlet, Pasta w/garlic and oil, and a veggie
Tuesday- Daughter has soccer practice her and dh grabbed something, I had a cheese omlet, son had waffles.
Wednesday- chicken cordon blue/chicken stuffed with broccoli/cheese, mashed, corn and salad for me
Thursday- Hot dogs and mac and cheese (salad for me, and beans) after daughters Soccer practice.
Friday- might be breakfast for dinner... or pizza.
I've found those excess bread pieces made into bread crumbs make a good bread pudding, and it uses up a lot of bread at a time. Not really an actual meal, though, like french toast.
Monday: Peanut stir fry with leftover steak, rice
Tuesday: Pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, potato soup for the sick one, stewed rhubarb from the last of a bag I froze last spring
Wednesday: Leftover pork, rice, coleslaw, broccoli
Thursday: Ribeye steaks (again, yes, because a whole 14-pound ribeye lasts quite awhile even in our carnivorous household), roasted garlic mashed potatoes, frozen peas, sauerkraut
Tonight: Depends if my husband can get to the store for me today. It's snowing and drifting again. If he can't, I have one can of tuna, three eggs, cheese, and potatoes with which to make a meatless Lenten meal. My vegetable choice is frozen peas. Other than that, I'm down to a single carrot.
Winter sure is fun here on the Canadian border. Especially since spring is still winter. 🙂
We were pretty close to our budget this week too! Yay for good budget weeks.
Monday: Chicken noodle soup
Tuesday: Tacos!!
Wednesday: Scrambled eggs and toast
Thursday: Baked pasta
Tonight I’m using up some dino shaped nuggets and salmon fillets - nuggets for the kids and salmon for the grown ups. 😉
Do you buy the Kirkland Laundry detergent? If so what do you think? I've always thought about trying it but am never sure.
I buy the eco friendly one. It seems to work fine (I'm not super particular).
I bought the Kirkland detergent two years ago and hated it. It didn't smell nice, and the liquid wasn't thick enough so we'd had to use a lot of detergent for a load.
Hubby recently bought it again. I was a bit upset but ended up using it anyway. I can tell the quality is now SO MUCH better. It's almost the same as Tide now I think. We will just start using Kirkland detergent from now on.
Hey, Kristen, I just wanted to mention that KAF now has a pizza flour. We tried it last week and it was GREAT. My daughter bought it for me, (she was at KAF!) so I don't know how much it cost, but since a pizza in Boston is $20, whatever it costs would still be a savings!
Oh, interesting! I haven't seen it in the grocery stores yet, but I'll keep an eye out.
They frequently offer free shipping. They carry a few items that I have trouble finding elsewhere.
I notice you buy laundry detergent. I do, too, but many frugalists seem to push homemade. It doesn't do as good a job for me, and I about ruined my food processor grating up a bar of soap. The lye or something in the soap etched the plastic in the bowl part. A lot of the homemade cleaning products don't seem to be any less expensive to me either, especially when the manufactured products are purchased at a dollar store. The point may be that the homemade version uses safer products. Well, to each his own.
Homemade definitely did NOT work for me. At all. I gave it a super good try, and my clothes just got so stinky. If you do some googling, you can read all about why soap (which is what homemade detergent is made of) leaves a residue on fabric, and doesn't clean.
Totally not worth it to me!
I used homemade laundry detergent (Fels Naptha+borax+washing soda+water) for years with no problems, including cloth diaper washing. But when we moved to a new house with very hard well water, it wasn't working anymore. Also, light clothes looked terrible because the yellowish iron water makes them yellow without the blueing agents in commercial detergents to whiten them. Now I use no detergent at all for dark loads, which is totally fine for anything not greasy, as it's the agitation that actually removes dirt. I read about this in a book by Ruth Goodman, who is kind of a hero of mine. For light clothing and greasy things (I'm looking at you, peanut-butter-covered cloth napkins), I use some kind of "free and clear" Tide or whatever (can't stand scented stuff), and very little of it for a load. It lasts forever because I use so little. If I didn't have hard water, I probably wouldn't use detergent at all, except the occasional greasy load.
I tried the homemade laundry detergent but it did not work for me either. It did not completely rinse off leaving spots on my clothes. It also didn't smell very good. We happily went back to buying detergent on sale.
I use homemade (washing soda + Borax + bar soap), it works fine for me. I grate the soap on a hand grater and - for added green and frugality - use soap leftover from hotel stays.[1]
That said, it doesn't save that much money. IIRC I posted the calculations on FG's blog some time ago. Homemade saves about $55/year over brand name such as Tide.
One reason I make my own is to avoid the messy job of comparing brands, sales, and coupons, all the while mentally calculating the price per load (because # loads is different than # ounces).
[1] Did you know that most hotels throw out the leftover toiletries? Not just the itty-bitty bottles of shampoo[2] but the soap as well?
[2] Why don't hotels install shampoo and conditioner dispeners in showers? Those little bottles are grossly unecological, wasteful of shampoo because so much gets stuck in the bottle, and consume hotel resources because they need to be replaced so often.
YES! I've stayed in a hotel or two with the dispensers in the shower, and I've always thought it's a brilliant idea. So much less waste.
My last grocery shopping was well under budget so the trick will be to see if I can avoid blowing the budget this week.
Let's see, this week, in random order.... we had steak one night with salad and roasted asparagus, onions and mushrooms.
We had tomato-free spaghetti squash and "sauce" that was a huge fail for the husband.
We had hog jowl fried in the skillet, with roasted turnips, sweet potatoes and apples. I found I can just manage turnip roots if they are roasted.
We had fried chicken with some veggies I can't remember, chicken soup, and chicken tenders with my husband's new fav, parsnip fries. I also made sweet potato fries, because I love them.
As you can tell, I cut up a whole chicken for 3 meals this week. Tonight is dinner out, provided by a dear friend, but I'm not sure what I will do about the fact that I'm still on the early re-introduction phase of the AIP diet. I'll find something to eat, I hope, but I'd better take something as a snack.
Even with you being sick, you menu for the week sounds good! I love using up old bread for French toast - must do that soon! Here's what we ate:
Monday - Meatloaf Sammie on Texas Garlic Toast with muenster, curly fries (SO GOOD) Leftover meatloaf is the bomb diggity
Tuesday - Chicken and Veggie Pot Pie
Wednesday - Hubby was out of town and I had a $15 GC for BBQ, so I took my boys out to eat!
Thursday - Crockpot Beef soup and saltines - so simple, so good
Friday - Beef Lo Mein with some leftover beef roast, some fresh veggies, and ramen (:
I have stuff in the freezer for a lunch today - I'm off! - and I've been taking a lunch all week.
You are right about the meatloaf. My family loves it when we have leftovers.
French toast sounds delicious and it's been awhile since I made it. I may put that in my plan for the weekend. My family is used to me serving all kinds of somewhat bizarre bread remakes. They are mostly good, but I have some fails, too. Hmmm, this is always so hard for me to remember. I have to start at Friday and go backwards!
Monday-Creamy chicken noodle soup. I added spinach to mine. I needed some greens!
Tuesday- Tortillas chips with shredded chicken and veggies over top
Wednesday- I didn't eat because I didn't feel well(headache and I think I may have a slight stomach bug) but I made jalapeño burgers and pistachio pie. I posted a recipe if anyone is interested in a green pie for St. Patrick's day.
Thursday-BLT's and fruit
Friday- I'm not sure yet. Everyone will probably be eating something different. My stomach is still bothering me. I will probably eat chicken noodles again and my family will want something else.
Loving the weird French toast. The English muffin sounds delish.
Monday- stuffed peppers
Tuesday - Shepard's Pie. I didn't have quite enough ground meat, so I extended it with a can of beans. I also used up a jar of leftover mashed potatoes! I thought the beans might have been weird, but my family liked it and I thought it was yummy!
Wednesday - Venison steaks, brown rice, steamed carrots and green beans from last year's garden.
Thursday- spaghetti with broccoli (my fav)
Friday - I think I have some leftover venison in the fridge, so probably grill those with brown rice and some broccoli and carrots.
This was a crazy week for us. I've been sick (but am getting better) and my new rescue dog passed his kennel cough to our other dog. Some of my planned meals kind of went out the window but I improvised as frugally as possible:
Sunday - made Chicken Lemon Rice soup in my instant pot and it turned out horribly. Texture and taste was off so I ended up dumping it and we had a box of mac & cheese instead.
Monday - Turkey sausage with couscous & carrots. Turkey sausage was from Aldi and discounted because it was near expiration.
Tuesday - I have class so I took advantage of a McDonald's app deal and got any sandwich for $1. My husband took advantage of a local restaurant week and went to dinner with his brother.
Wednesday - Leftover turkey sausage & couscous. I was really, really not in the mood for this so I am proud of myself that we ate it anyway 🙂
Thursday - Spent the evening at the emergency vet so I stopped at McDonald's on the way and picked up a Quarter Pounder with a free sandwich coupon I had from a previous issue I had had.
Friday - Who knows, honestly!? I am tired and have schoolwork so tonight will be all about easy and relaxing.
I can't believe I ate McDonald's once, let alone twice this week but it was better than sitting at the vet or in class starving! Everyone have a great weekend.
Ugh, I've been sick too. I just have to keep saying I will do better next week, lol. My meals have not been takeout but sadly lacking in vegetables. It's just tough to balance it all especially when feeling like poo!
I know! Who feels like putting together a salad when they're sick?
Saturday - I remember getting take-out but have forgotten what, specifically, I ate.
Sunday - I made a (sadly overcooked) roast chicken and had it with asparagus and mashed potatoes.
Monday - I needed something easy because I was busy scrubbing and baking 20 potatoes for a potato bar potluck at work so I just made a sandwich with the leftover chicken.
Tuesday - Can't remember.
Wednesday/Thursday - velvet porkchops, mashed potatoes and asparagus.
Friday - well we were expecting 3" of snow last night but I woke up to 13" so not sure if I will get to the store. If I do, then tacos. If I don't, its looking an awful lot like grilled cheese or scrambled eggs.
Wow your family seems to eat lots of strawberries! Baby FAF loves them, but we don't buy strawberries often since they're a bit expensive and go bad really fast. We might freeze them, but they no longer taste the same after being frozen.
We eat lots of apples, mandarins, and bananas though. Those are cheap and can last a while.
Well, the frozen ones are for smoothies. I make a green smoothie every morning for Mr. FG and me, so that's why we use all the frozen berries.
I spent about $130 which is on the high side for my hubby and I (no kids). I think I may just go the rest of the month without grocery shopping.
Monday - Homemade falafels in pitas with a side salad
Tuesday - Went out to eat to celebrate my brother's birthday!
Wednesday - Homemade chili I made on Sunday
Thursday - Giant salads and fresh fruit
Friday - I've got another batch of chili going in the slowcooker to bring over to a March Madness viewing party.
I started the week off feeling sick and working full days(usually work part-time) so I relied on some easy freezer meals for the first part of the week.
Monday- Crockpot General Tso's Chicken, rice
Tuesday- BBQ meatballs, mashed sweet potatoes, sauteed zucchini
Wednesday- Spaghetti & meatballs using last of jar of sauce in fridge, green beans (DH didn't mind having meatballs 2 days in a row; I was too tired and worn down to come up with something else.)
Thursday- Crockpot jambalaya with sausage and shrimp
Friday- Bunless burgers with lettuce and tomato, spicy roasted cauliflower, sweet potato chips
Only spent $17.29 this week, mostly on fresh produce, since we have a lot of meats and basic supplies.
I'm not sick, but I'm definitely done being pregnant. My energy and motivation tanked this week, and you can see it in my grocery bill/food choices!
Monday: Brought dinner to a friend last-minute (which means I picked something up to take to her. We ended up staying and eating with her while visiting).
Tuesday: Chicken enchilada casserole
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Freddy's (steakburgers/fries/shakes)
Friday: Odds and ends from our fridge is the plan.
I wasted so much food this week: the majority of a head of romaine, one serving of roasted chicken, about a cup of gyro sauce, some diced tomatoes, some leftover scrambled eggs, fresh-squeezed lemon juice, and some cooked peas. Like I said above, it's been a bad week motivation- and energy-wise.
Also, I purchased a lemon meringue pie for pie day at my work and ate out 3 times (twice at McDonalds and once at Freddy's).
Next week will be better!!
Hey, when you're growing a precious new human you do what you have to do. You ate and you survived so that's a win in my book!!! Blessings on you and your little one.
Serious question! What are the giant bags of frozen strawberries for? My coworker buys pounds of frozen mangos and I have no idea what she does with them.
We found asparagus for 1.49/lb!! I don't think that's amazing for those with Aldi's near but in our area that's amazing!
Smoothies! I make a fruit+greens smoothie every morning for Mr. FG and me, and that uses up a powerful amount of frozen fruit. Now I'm curious if your co-worker makes smoothies too!
Although mangoes do thaw fairly well...they don't turn into mush like a lot of frozen fruit does once thawed. So maybe she just eats them.
Oh that's what I suspected! I saw frozen fruits at the store yesterday and my goodness they're pricey! It was $10 on sale for 2 lbs! I only bought one small bag. I'm still tempted to try them, sounds delicious in a smoothie.
Whoa! That's expensive. At Costco, frozen strawberries are less than $2/pound. Which is why I make the trek there to keep my freezer stocked with frozen fruit.
It was a mixed bag this week.
Monday - I went to the Intro to 7th Grade Math meeting so the kids had macaroni & cheese with broccoli while the adults had homemade pizza late.
Tuesday - Snow day so we had chicken noodle soup and homemade bread.
Wednesday - Another snow day: braised pork, mashed potatoes, and green beans.
Thursday - I went to the Kindergarten Orientation meeting and my oldest was at baseball until late. So, the rest of the kids had chicken nuggets and spinach salad while the three of us had homemade pizza.
Friday - Three of us will be eating late again - tuna noodle casserole. The remaining kids will probably have pancakes.
I managed to get to BJ's, Target, and Wegman's on Monday between the snow storms. That came in at $263 which is just over our budget. But, over half was my once-a-month trip to BJ's so that should balance out over the next few weeks.
Happy Friday everyone
Monday - Turkey roast (crockpot), macaroni salad (do ahead item), baked beans (do ahead item), rolls. Thank goodness dinner was all done ahead of time, after 3 hours in the ER the last thing I wanted to do was brainstorm a quick dinner.
Tuesday - Turkey bean soup (crockpot), cucumber, crackers, cheese
Wednesday - Husband out of town and I needed a break from all the beans and I felt I deserved a treat for all the goat wrestling I did...so daughter and I splurged and had: Bagels and cream cheese topped with smoked salmon, some way overpriced strawberries. All that was worth every penny, no regrets
Thursday - Green chili, bean and sour cream enchiladas (do ahead item), corn chips with guacamole
Friday - I'm making sweet potato and bean taco soup, avocados, rest of corn chips
Saturday - Intend on making twice stuffed baked potatoes with some salad
Have a good weekend everyone!
We did manage to eat at home all week, though I felt like it took me an unusual amount of time each day to get dinner put together! Foggy brain I guess. 😉
Mon-Ground beef tacos (I made fish tacos for me and my MIL)
Tues- Rotisserie Chicken, Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans
Wed-Hamburgers and Tater tots with cut up raw veggies
Thurs- BBQ Chicken in the crock pot, rice and asparagus
Fri- Planning to have hotdogs/frozen chicken breast for kids, hubby gets take out for us!
Sat- Planning Spaghetti
Sun-should be nice enough to grill so hoping to grill a London Broil Steak I just bought marked down! I will decide on sides that day.
Monday - Vegetable beef soup
Tuesday - Hot dogs, asparagus, sweet potato fries
Wednesday - Spaghetti squash with meat sauce, salad
Thursday - Just me and the kids, so we had mac and cheese with tuna and veggies mixed in (I've convinced my 4yo that mac and cheese with veggies mixed in is "fancy mac and cheese") and smoothies
Friday - Pork chops, broccoli/cauliflower with cheese, salad
And I'm pretty much off from cooking for the weekend!!! Attending a workshop for the first half of tomorrow and a baby shower in the evening. My family is coming over for lunch on Sunday (I think we're doing takeout rather than taking my 1yo and 4yo to a restaurant during their normal naptime) and my hubby is grilling steaks Sunday night since he has to work the night of my actual birthday (Monday). It's like a mini vacation!!!
Ate at home all week knowing tomorrow will likely be lots of eating out at a volley ball tourney!
Sun- Keilbasa, broccoli and homemade mac and cheese
Mon- Homemade chili, baked potatos and cornbread muffins
Tues- frozen chicken patties and all the leftovers in the fridge, plus frozen mac and cheese and spiced apples
Weds-Homemade meatballs in sauce over pasta with garlic bread
Thurs- I poached chicken breasts in the crock pot and we shredded them for BBQ sammies.. served with tater tots and baked beans....
I asked daughter for her meal idea and she demanded NO CHICKEN b/c we ate it almost every night this week! lololol.. OK? I did not listen...
Fri- homemade chicken pot pie with leftover shredded chicken and fresh and frozen veggs...
That was me last week, with all the chicken in a row!
Sunday - turkey maple spinach salad
Monday - mushroom stroganoff, roasted red peppers with goat cheese (leftover from husband's recipe last week)
Tuesday - leftovers
Wednesday - turkey, couscous, carrots, cranberry sauce, cinnamon apples
Thursday - went out before the theater
Friday - ravioli, green salad, broccoli
Saturday - black bean quesadillas, rice, pineapple
Monday- Spaghetti with marinara sauce
Tuesday- Salmon, white rice, corn
Wednesday- Lettuce salad with black olives, grated carrots and grated cheese, broccoli cheese soup, chocolate chip cookies
Thursday- Tortilla pizza with pepperoni and grated cheese
Friday- Birthday celebration at a steak Restaurant with 16 people present.
I want to thank you for your chicken tortilla soup recipe. It was a hit with both my easy going husband and picky me. My resolution for this year was to try one new recipe a week, and your soup was it for this past week. A real winner so thanks for the trouble you go to, especially the step-by-step recipes.
Ooh, wonderful! I'm so glad you guys liked it.