What I Spent, What We Ate | A very freezer-ful week
What I Spent
I skipped my Hungry Harvest this week because I was starting to get a little backlog of veggies. I love that it's so easy to skip deliveries when this happens!
(If you want to try Hungry Harvest, you can get $5 off if you sign up through my referral link.)
And I only spent $92 at the grocery store this week, partially because I used a lot of freezer ingredients for our meals.
January Grocery Spending
Week 1: $115
Week 2: $92
What We Ate
It was a very freezer-challenge-centric week for dinners at our house, as you will see!
Saturday
We were at a belated Christmas gathering with my side of the family. We usually just do a bunch of appetizers when we all get together because that's simpler with so many people (10 adults and 17 grandchildren if we are all there).
Anyway, I brought pigs in a blanket, because I'm gourmet like that.
Sunday
Mr. FG and I made breakfast for dinner together, partially to use up the frozen OJ for my freezer challenge!
We made buttermilk waffles, fried up some local sausage, and made a batch of Orange Julius.
Monday
I made Korean beef lettuce wraps, with frozen potstickers on the side (the potstickers were from my freezer challenge.)
Tuesday
I cooked up the tortellini from my freezer challenge, topped it with sauce from the freezer, and pan-fried the frozen chicken sausage to put on top.
Wednesday
MORE FREEZER THINGS.
I thawed the mahi mahi and scallops and pan fried them in butter.
I baked some canned crescent rolls (extras I bought from making pigs in a blanket) and made a green salad as well.
Thursday
I thawed the chicken pieces and used them to make cast-iron fried chicken.
We also had buttermilk biscuits and a green salad.
Friday
I think it's going to just be Mr. FG and me tonight, so I will have to chat with him about what we want to eat. Maybe we'll do a date night. 😉
I’m curious if you ever have an amount of something (say chicken) that is too small to feed your family for dinner but too big for you to eat at lunch. Do you buy more chicken to use it up or have another strategy. This is often what my freezer is full of, partial packages of something.
What I will do is a mash up dinner. Make a little chicken and a little something else and use up 2 things at once.
YEP! When I have random things floating in the freezer and fridge it becomes HODGEPODGE night! Cook a bunch of stuff up and it becomes a free for all, fill your plate and bellies! I did this recently with leftovers and trying to use up stuff before I did a large grocery stock up and my husband asked what I was calling it.. I said *not ordering pizza night* he laughed and understood I was trying to not waste food or money!
I do one of several things with those bits:
- a smorgesborg dinner;
- soup;
- fritatta;
- fried rice (not suitable for all foods);
- pasta sauce (also not suitable for all foods);
- casserole or lasagna.
I sometimes will buy more to use it up, yes. Or I will use it in a recipe that calls for not that much chicken (you need way less chicken for making a pot of soup than you do for serving roasted chicken breasts, for example.)
And yes, partial packages are the most challenging!
Thanks! Good ideas.
Monday: Pork Bulgolgi (CI recipe, pork loin from the freezer); tomatoes, carrots; strawberry banana smoothie (fbananas from the freezer).
Tuesday: chix sausage (freezer); apples & clementines; romaine salad.
Wednesday: pork loin steaks; the rest is a blur.
Thursday: Overnight French Toast (using up an impulsively purchased baguette); broccoli; strawberry, banana, and clementine smoothie (freezer bananas and clementines I didn't feel like eating).
Friday & Saturday: likely one meal out; one meal of smorgesborg/Tyson's Naturals chicken (freezer, natch)/cauliflower "thing".
Maybe y'all can help me with the name: the cauliflower "thing" is modified from an attempt at cauliflower pizza crust. It would have been terrible as a pizza crust but I liked it on its own. The "thing" is mashed cauliflower, cheese, spices, optional chopped meat or other veg, held together with egg. Bake till cooked & crispy on top. What should I call it?
As a result of this week's meal planning, my deep freezer is mostly empty. There are 3 packets of sandwich meat and 2 c. garlic cloves left, and are a few things that I can't really eat down:
- 2 gal bag spice stash;
- 2 gal bag of smoked pig parts, for soups and such;
- 18 lbs butter stash;
- 3 gal lard (someday I'll try making soap, really!);
- small odds and ends, such as 3 packets of yeast.
Baked cauliflower. I'm not very original. 🙂
Cauliflower flat bread?
This might post twice...but...maybe call it a flat "bread"
I think those cauliflower "things" are pretty acceptable on their own, but I agree that they go wrong when they try to be bread!
We made a similar thing in my house with couscous and called them couscous cakes. Hey, if crab can be made into a cake, why not cauliflower?!
Cake always gets a vote from me. It makes everything sound better!
Cauliflower cakes sound good
I think "William B's Crazy Cauliflower"!!
Cauliflower frittata
Yum yum sounds like a fun frugal week! Hubby and I have been kinda obsessed with Kabob lately. We keep saying we should try making it at home. But kids keep us tired and a bit lazy. I want to try making at home instead of buying it at the restaurant!
I went over budget last week, which makes me mad, but it is what it is.
I'll see if I can remember what we had...
Tuna salad with fruit and cottage cheese on the side. I finely chop celery, carrot and onion and put that in my tuna salad too, to make sure we get veggies. I also add grapes, apples or dried cranberries to it. This is a recent recipe and my husband loves it.
We had ham n' bean soup using up that ham bone from Christmas
GF macaroni baked with cheese, mushrooms, chopped spinach, a little tomato sauce and lots of Italian seasoning.
Pork chops, riced cauliflower cooked in broth, and some other vegetable that I forget.
Pulled pork that I pulled (ha, ha) from the freezer, with vegan cole slaw and fried apples.
Boom Boom GF shrimp with sweet potato fries
Tonight I'm having dinner with my small group and my husband is probably having fish from the freezer.
What's "vegan coleslaw", and why do you have it with pulled pork?? Just wondering ; ))
Perhaps this coleslaw doesn't include mayo?
Yes, it doesn't have any mayo in it: it's vinegar, oil and sugar for the dressing. My kids and husband prefer it very much to the mayo version. We just eat it as a side dish with the pork, since the pork is a little spicy and the cole slaw is a good balance to it.
My husband has been out of town all week. And we all know what THAT means! Here's your leftovers and frozen vegetables, kids!
Monday: Leftover pasta and meat sauce, sauteed mushrooms/collard greens/tomatoes, frozen green beans
Tuesday: Oven Cornell chicken, baked potatoes, steamed carrots, chocolate chip cookies because apparently I've gotten over my holiday baking burnout
Wednesday: Leftover pulled pork sandwiches, leftover canned baked beans, coleslaw
Thursday: Breakfast sausage links, rice, leftover coleslaw
Friday: Well. Three out of four kids are sick--of course they are when I'm the only one to deal with snot and vomit in my bed--and I have some chicken that must be cooked today, along with half a can of tomatoes that needs to be used. Some sort of tomato-stewed chicken looks likely, probably with the rice left over from last night. And, to continue our theme of leftovers and frozen vegetables, probably frozen peas.
Anytime this week wants to be over is fine with me . . .
Good luck and stay healthy! Your husband really owes you when he gets back.
I have always admired your creative meal planning and cooking! You have done such a good job over the years. I struggle with coming up with new ideas for meals. We have the same stuff over and over which is fine, but gets old sometimes. You should be very proud of yourself!
Aww, thank you for your encouragement!
Monday: Honeysuckle Turkey Breasts with Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, and Peas - won't make these again. Kind of a weird texture just cooking the breasts not on the bone.
Tuesday: I had fried rice with leftover turkey and my husband had a chicken stir fry with broccoli
Wednesday: Sloppy joes, mac and cheese, peas
Thursday: I have class on Thursdays so my husband had chili from the freezer and I picked myself up a sub from Jersey Mike's with a $2 off coupon. I always get the cheapest sub (ham) and I used a gift card that was originally $25 and I had paid $20 for it through Gyft.
Friday: We are having a movie night at our house so we will probably order pizza for all of us.
I've been doing a really good job clearing out my freezer as well. It actually makes meal planning easier for me because instead of having to choose from everything in the grocery store I am just choosing from everything in my freezer. However, this week Kroger was having a great sale on things that we eat - frozen fruit, frozen veggies, Lean Cusines, BOGO bread etc. So just as the freezer was starting to empty out it is now pretty full again. It's hard to balance wanting to clear things out but also wanting to take advantage of good sales!
I made your recipe for Thai coconut soup YUM. Only thing I'd change is to add some fresh ginger. I also used up some fresh spinach and about to expire cottage cheese and made stuffed shells with marinara I had in freezer. I had egg salad one night using some eggs (overbought for the holidays) and I used some of my surplus of cheese and bread from the freezer and made grilled cheese- it was a very frugal week. Well, I do need new tires but that is car maintenance.
Saturday-chicken lo mein
Sunday-build your own taco bowl
Monday-chili cornbread bake
Tuesday-chicken and waffles
Wednesday-chicken gnocchi soup
Thursday-fend for yourself/leftovers
Friday-we go out to eat as a family almost every Friday
Glad you were able to wrap up the final bits of your freezer challenge. That is great resourcefulness
I had surgery on my dominant hand this week. Meals have been very simple.
The only real cooking I have done so far was Sunday - I roasted a chicken and had it with broccoli and mashed potatoes.
The rest of the week was also chickeny. And sandwichy since I have had a lot of stuff to do after work this week.
Monday - chicken sandwich with cottage cheese and fruit
Tuesday- another chicken sandwich - no sides.
Wednesday - Tuna melt and applesauce
Thursday - Went to dinner for a friend's birthday and had chicken fettuccini alfredo, salad, and coconut cake.
Friday - I am making the dragon noodles from the Budget Bytes website but substituting chicken and cashews for the pork and peanuts. I am planning to throw in some broccoli, too!
The BB dragon noodle recipe is delicious
Grocery shopping has been a challenge this month. I've decided to aim at reducing plastic packaging in the kitchen, which has made menu planning more complicated because purchasing meat has been tricky.
Good news is that I'm significantly under budget 😀
Saturday :: leftovers
Sunday :: takeout provided by my mother in law
Monday :: more leftovers
Tuesday :: Thai chicken soup from the recipe posted here
Wednesday :: french bread pizza topped with spinach, green pepper and bacon
Thursday :: chicken Alfredo on spaghetti squash with charred zucchini
Friday :: autumn squash soup with focaccia bread (I've been wanting to make focaccia since watching Salt Fat Acid Heat)
We ate: so much leftover salmon, chili (while skiing), an unexpected dinner out when we got caught in a snowstorm, my son made a 4 course meal for a cooking class he's taking, & then finally a chicken fiesta one pot skillet meal. For tonight, homemade pizza!
Monday: Chili at my parents' house
Tuesday: Cheeseburgers, tater tots, broccoli with cheese
Wednesday: Tacos
Thursday: Chicken breast, roasted butternut squash and sweet potato, salad
Friday: Sloppy joes, asparagus, mashed potatoes/cauliflower
My dad got an extra deer this year and gave it to us (yay!!!!!) so there's a lot of venison in our future. My 4yo loves cheeseburgers and was so excited for the deer burgers on Tuesday! 🙂
Saturday Meatloaf with tater tots
Friday Subway subs that were left over from work & spinach salad with pickles in it
Thursday salad, eggs, sausage and bagels
Wednesday leftover soup and fried chicken
Tuesday Chicken noodle soup
Monday Turkey paninis, salad
I did add a bunch of veggies to the chicken soup, I kind of feel like we don't eat enough veggies in a week.
I made your buttermilk biscuits for the first time today and they worked well! Sort of like a scone but not quite.
I was making buttermilk pancakes and wanted something else that used buttermilk. The pancake mix will freeze. If I wanted to freeze the biscuits what stage would be possible or work best?
I think you can freeze them shaped and unbaked...I'd shape them, freeze them on the cookie sheet until they're solid, and then remove them from the sheet and store in them in a ziploc bag until you're ready to bake them.
Thank you! Would you bake from frozen?
I'd definitely thaw them first; otherwise the outside of the biscuits will probably overcook before the insides are cooked through.
We had soup this week- Butternut Squash & Tomato (one recipe!), veggie, and Vegan Cabbage Roll soup. It's been bitterly cold, and now we have snow, so this has been perfect. We also had Rice Cooker Spanish Rice with Soyrizo stirred in, which is a favorite with three of us and too spicy for one of us (so she had leftover soup and a grilled cheese!).