What I Spent, What We Ate | Tonsillectomy Week
What I Spent
This was kind of a weird shopping week, partly because Mr. FG and I were gone last weekend, and partly because Lisey got her tonsils out on Wednesday.
The first shopping I did was a trip with Lisey to buy all sorts of tonsillectomy-friendly foods before her surgery (plus a few normal groceries for the rest of us. I spent $75.69.
We bought a unusual number of individually packaged soft foods and drinks (pudding, applesauce, yogurt, drinks, etc.)
Normally I avoid that kind of thing like the plague, but the individual packages are working out well for Lisey, since she can't eat much at one time. Even a single little package of pudding is several servings for her.
And it's not like I have a recovering tonsillectomy patient at my house every week, either, so we shopped with abandon. 😉 We'll be back to our less-packaged shopping in a week or two.
Let's see...I also bought chicken from the organic market ($12.74), plus I made a small stop at the local store ($6.89.)
And lastly, I made a trip today which was mostly to buy food to bring to a baby shower. Does that fall under my own personal grocery budget? I'm not sure!
Anyway, I spent $48.64, ($39.26 of which was supplies to make fruit skewers and a big cheese/cracker tray).
That puts me at $143.96 for the week, so I'm in good shape.
May Spending
Week 1: $104.66
Week 2: $276.89
Week 3: $143.96
What We Ate
Monday
I made sloppy joes and we ate them on store-bought buns. We also had steamed broccoli (topped with cheese), and I feel like we had some kind of fruit too, but memory escapes me.
Tuesday
This was the night before Lisey's surgery, so we took the family out to eat at a sandwich shop, for one last not-soft-food meal.
And we had the thin mint cookies from Aldi for dessert.
(It clearly wouldn't make sense to go out for ice cream! You can have all the smooth, frozen desserts you want after a tonsillectomy.)
Wednesday
This was Lisey's surgery day. We were only gone for half the day, and I made a pot of clam chowder for the five of us (Lisey was doing well to sip water.)
I had a small stash of very wrinkly red potatoes to use, so I peeled and cubed them, soaked them in water for a bit to rehydrate them, and then followed the recipe as usual. Perfect!
We had purchased bagels with our soup, and also sliced oranges.
Thursday
I grilled some bratwurst from the freezer because I seriously needed an easy meal. I'm not the one who had my tonsils out, but I am tired from giving medicine doses in the middle of the night. 😉
I made guacamole too, which we ate with tortilla chips, and we had a fruit salad.
Friday
Status: still tired. Not making pizza. Definitely ordering it instead.
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So. That's the update from tonsillectomy central.
This sounds like the week we have had! I'm a teacher and it is the last full week of school....I am exhausted! I pressed the easy button for dinner quite a few times this week. There were fish sandwiches, chicken tacos, frozen pizza, and Subway sandwiches. I'm actually making homemade spaghetti tonight, though. Mainly out of guilt for the sub par menu this week.
We mostly finished with school this week too. Yay!
I hope your patient has a quick recovery!
The last few weeks I have been keeping things super simple since I am trying to work out after work every night, plus get in some time each evening taming the wildness that is my yard. Not a lot of time left for cooking and cleaning up after. So . . . easy stuff only for a while. Next week I hope to eat healthier, but still simple and fast.
Saturday - I was at a conference all day and had not gone shopping, but I was able to pull fish, potatoes, and veggies out of the freezer for a quick dinner.
Sun/Mon/Tues - Hamburger gravy on toast with zucchini and/or salad.
Wednesday - Steak salad
Thursday - hot dogs
Friday - remains to be seen. Possibly freezer foods again.
Not too exciting but I had a yummy Thai lunch with co-workers today which perked things up considerably.
Wishing Lisey a very speedy recovery. I still remember my my tonsillectomy 25 years ago - mostly because of the treats I ate that were not normal fare - like jello pudding pops. Yum! I hope Lisey that in a quarter century, the treats are what Lisey remembers too!
Monday - FG pizza and fruit
Tuesday - just my 3 year old and me. I made chili for the next day. We had some of that and finished off a few leftovers.
Wednesday - chili with fruit and Fritos.
Thursday - hot dogs on the grill, chips, quinoa veggie salad and a tiny bit of leftover chili.
Friday - homemade chicken fried rice made with brown rice for the first time - turned out great. Served with Costco potstickers and watermelon.
Mon Grilled chicken, roasted sweet potatoes, slaw
Tues Grilled turkey burgers, buns, slaw, fruit
Wed Thai chicken veggie quinoa bowls
Thurs Tuna salad on beds of romaine, rolls, crackers, strawberries
Tonight - scrambled eggs, hash browns, strawberries, pear, Brussels sprouts (for Mom) and homemade chocolate cake
Hope Lisey is doing better! I had elbow surgery a couple of weeks ago and wasn't sure I'd feel like cooking. I decided to make your clam chowder beforehand for an easy meal. I am sooo glad that I did that. It was delicious!
I'm glad you have grace on yourself when you have such a week as this. Buying the packaged stuff and eating out is just what you need sometimes. What is most important is loving your recovering child, and not having the perfect budget and meals.
So true. I consider that a tangible reward of a frugal lifestyle - the ability to ease up a little when life throws a wrench (or a surgery).
Totally agree, it brings to mind Kristen's posts on "frugality for frugality's sake"; we need to feel there is a point to all our efforts. If you've saved and spent frugally, it also makes the reward times all that more, well, "rewarding"!
Praying she feels better FAST.
This week
Monday was spaghetti for the family and ladies meeting snacks for my teen daughter and I.
Tuesday was salsa chicken over rice
Wednesday was tuna salad sandwiches and chips
Thursday was McDonald's for me (got the 2 grilled snacked wraps meal) and Wendy's for the husband. The children all ate at my friends house since she was babysitting while Hubby and I went to my brothers graduation.
Friday was fend for yourself. With most choosing eggs and oatmeal. I had fried potatoes with peppers onions and steakum meat.
Needless to say we ran so much this week!
I am hoping that Miss Lisey is feeling much better. My mother has had a week consumed with pain, intractable pain. So there have been doctor visits and tests etc besides visiting dad in his nursing home. Hence, as usual, I cannot remember our meals. I know we ate lamb with baba ganoush and other vegetables, leftovers from the weekend. I cooked a piece of corned beef on Wednesday and that has made two meals with vegetables. I am thinking of freezing the leftovers now for a few weeks away. Last night was steak burgers cooked over an open fire and there were marshmallows to roast if you wished. It is finally cool enough to sit around a fire and enjoy it.
I am still working on the plan of using up the food in the freezers. I am alternating between the outside fridge and the inside fridge. Miniscule gaps are appearing, the pantry has a teensy hollow. So the plan continues. I still over buy fruit etc.
Ladies enjoy the time before school finishes and keep up the simple meals. If you feed your family and everyone is happy then who needs fancy meals every single night?
I've been lurking for months and have come to appreciate how the weekly meals Kristen serves aren't always in the meat/starch/veggie vein we grew up with. In some ways, it has given me permission to embrace a simple soup, sandwich or panini as a meal or just add on one side. With two toddlers, even getting sandwiches on to the table can be challenging! I've been using the crockpot a lot for one-pot meals and the George Foreman grill to make grilled sandwiches.
I was pretty proud with how our shopping went this week as well! We did a lot more vegetarian meals and (almost, ugh) didn't buy any meat at the store. We're slowly but surely getting down to a $50 a week grocery bill. Woohoo!!!!
Hang in there! Sickness and surgery are tough on the whole family.
I'm still eating out a lot because of my painful hands limiting food prep. But!! This morning I made a honey-spice paste that will go into the crockpot on pork and onion. The hubs will trim the green beans and steam them right before we eat. He eats gluten, so I'll get some rolls out of the freezer for him. If I'm up to it tomorrow I'll make spaghetti sauce and chicken sausage, and we'll have pasta and salad.
Amen and alleleuia the hubs's work schedule eases up a lot after this week, so he'll be able to cook dinner! He's a great cook. He hates trying to decide in the moment what to magic-up for dinner, but if I leave him a recipe he'll make it.
I've been sick this week, but my husband still had some good food around here:
Monday - cereal
Tuesday - made hubs some bacon cheeseburgers with oven roasted corn
Wednesday - we both had some basic soup: homemade chicken broth, stars pasta, a dropped egg, and some pecorino-romano (hubs ate a huge lunch out this day)
Thursday - makeshift jambalaya for hubs using roasted onions and peppers, hot italian sausage, some rice and peas I'd made for myself, and diced tomatoes and spices
Friday - spaghetti carbonara, and ice cream with homemade fudge
This weekend hubs will finish the jambalaya, and we'll make lamb nachos with cheese sauce as well.
The individual package thing -You are taking care of your sick child and you need to do whatever is best for her and NEVER need to apologize for it!
I am truly shocked at how many people leave such judgemental comments about families and their food choices! When did we become such lifestyle fascists? I actually had a woman lecture me on having breast cancer and my attitude. I had a single mastectomy - which later became a double -and would jokingly refer to MYSELF as the "Uno-boober" (as in the Uno-bomber) and she thought I was being disrespectful to breast cancer - yes,the cancer itself. This woman never had cancer but had decided ro become judge and jury over my strange sense of humor that was my way of getting through a nightmare.
All of these people need to abide by the MYOB motto. It's a thing of beauty and needs to come back in vogue!
Sadly,overall I think that many other women are much more engaged in tearing other Moms down than looking in the mirror.
If anyone gives you grief,I will gladly let you borrow my short pier for them to take a long walk off of. 😉
Oh wow, I can't believe someone gave you grief about the way you chose to handle YOUR cancer.
I jump on and off of the packaged food bandwagon. This time of year when my enthusiasm for packing a lunch every day and a snack or two in both boys back packs I reach for anything that is semi healthy and easy. The lunches are ok, because I use the bento style Easy Lunch boxes, but the individually packed snacks get tiresome. The problem is that any easy non packaged food they are sick of. Less than a month of school, they'll be ok with some gold fish crackers and fruit strips.
I don't remember what we ate on each day but we had...
-French bread pizza and fruit
-yeast raised waffles and bacon
-Jambalaya
-cereal and/or leftovers
-Fri: We went camping so we had Hotdogs roasted over the fire, pineapple and chips
-Sat: Tacos
-Sun: leftovers for dinner but breakfast burritos for breakfast and we had more hotdogs/brats, baked bean & the rest of the snacks we packed for lunch.
There were more vegetables and fruits throw in there. Or maybe not, I don't remember.
I hope that she is recovering well. I know you don't like to post TOO much personal stuff, but I was hoping to hear another small update!! I totally sympathize with her. Just had mine out last year.
I just posted a little update on her! Thanks for thinking of her. 🙂
Bless you! I don't have anything to add because my meals this week were pretty crappy. I at least wanted to say I have been thinking about Lisey and hope for a speedy recovery.
Thank you!
We had "leftovers week" last week, and I truly can't remember most of our meals by day or even what went with what exactly. I know we finished off the hotdogs and beans, the sausage and potato casserole, and most of the roast beef. We had veggies in there, too -- roasted golden beets, rutabaga, salads (our lettuce is about too bitter to eat anymore, so we are using it up), fresh green beans from the store plus a few from our vines, mashed garlic potatoes, carrot and celery sticks, and, not a veggie, but still one of my favorite side dishes, fried apples. Oh, and one night I served warm bread spread with a yummy and spicy minced garlic and garlic chive butter, the garlic chives being from our plants. I had made a loaf of homemade bread using freshly ground wheat from the new-to-me wheat mill. It was sooooo good.
Best wishes on Lisey's recovery!
Sunday - pork chop/corn on the cob/rolls/garden salad
Monday-taco bake/watermelon/garden salad
Tuesday-leftovers
Wednesday-mushroom stroganoff/broccoli
Thursday-meatballs with something
Friday-chicken stir-fry with broccoli & carrots/brown rice
Saturday-the "Yellow-Orange Meal" squash ravioli/cantaloupe/roasted carrots/corn muffins
We often cook bulk cook and then eat the same meal 2 nights running, hence the double ups of meals, not typos here 🙂 We are also vegan, which keeps our shopping costs way down.
Monday: One Pot Chilli Pasta
Tuesday: Dal Makhani
Wednesday: Dal Makhani
Thursday: African Peanut Stew
Friday: African Peanut Stew
Saturday: Lentil loaf with baked potatoes, baked pumpkin, steamed brocoli and corn cobs
Sunday: Fried Rice
Hope your little one is feeling better now.