What I Spent, What We Ate | A week of many stops
What I Spent
You can tell by my shopping that I'm in a very different stage of life than I was years ago, when I shopped about once a week due to having four small kids in tow.
At this point in my life, I'm out and about a lot more, and it's a lot easier to make small stops instead of one big one.
Late last week, I made a $31.60 stop at Aldi.
On Saturday, I got my Hungry Harvest box, of course.
I spent $43.75 on the trip I told you about earlier in the week.
I made another stop at Aldi, where I spent $29.97.
And lastly, I spent $13.26 on a stop for bananas, lettuce, a lime, and tea.
So, I'm coming in at $143 this week.
October Spending
Week 1: $208
Week 2: $188
Week 3: $90
Week 4: $143
My total for October is $629, which is $29 over my budgeted $600 for four weeks. But I'm not really too worried about a $29 overage for the whole month, especially since I underspent by $73 in September.
What We Ate
Monday
I made chicken taco salad to use up the corn and the corn tortillas from my freezer challenge.
Tuesday
We had orzo with sausage, asparagus, and green peppers.
But this is a photo from when I made it with yellow peppers. 😉
I also sliced up some apples and Asian pears.
Wednesday
I made Swedish meatballs over noodles, along with a green salad.
Thursday
I thawed some beef bones from a local farm, roasted them, and made beef broth.
Which I then used for a pot of tortellini soup.
We ate that with some applesauce from the freezer.
Friday
Zoe's been wanting a BBQ chicken pizza, which not all of us love. So, I'm thinking I'll make some small thin-crust pizzas so that she can have her BBQ pizza and the rest of us can have other varieties.
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ALl your meals look so good! We’ve been eating a lot of soup lately.
Your budget makes me nervous for when we have mouths to feed in our house! I love our low spending on groceries ($225/month for the two of us this year). We ate great this week:
Monday: Cabbage and Onion Ethiopian Lentil Stew
Tuesday: Coconut Lentil Curry with Homemade Naan
Wednesday: Veggie Nachos to use up all the peppers I harvested before the first frost our garden suffered Wednesday night! (Sad day, only the kale, carrots, and beets will still produce for us this year.)
Thursday: We ate random leftovers from the three prior nights!
Tonight we are headed out to the in-laws for a weekend of pumpkin carving and quality family time! I have no clue what we'll eat for dinner!
Yep, having six mouths to feed instead of two definitely makes for a larger grocery budget. But it's not like it happens overnight...kids don't eat that much at first, and their appetites slowly increase over time. So, you have time to adjust!
I hope your weekend trip is fun!
I was with my dad in the hospital on Monday and Tuesday so my husband had to feed the family. He opted for Chick-fil-a one night and then popcorn shrimp, mac & cheese and corn the other night. At least he did cook one night!
Wednesday: Dinnerly box of sloppy joe sandwiches, corn and oven fries
Thursday: Dinnerly box of veggie lo mein
Friday: Dinnerly box of turkey meatloaf, mashed potatoes and peas.
Saturday: We have a Halloween party...so mish mosh of stuff.
I hope your dad feels better soon!
He is doing a little better. Thanks for asking!
Monday: the Toddler and I ate Garbanzos (brace yourself, this is going to be the name of the game this week).
Tuesday: We bought Papa Murphy's pizza because it was $10 Tuesday.
Wednesday: We ate at our small group for church (we brought drinks, which we bought)
Thursday: Hubby and I went out on a date. My food was expensive, but oh so delicious.
Friday (Tonight): Hubby's cooking. He'll have to go to the store, but at least we won't be eating out for the fourth time this week 😉
That sounds like kind of a fun week, though. 🙂
Mon- Pork chops and something, I think
Tues-Ritz cracker baked chicken, sweet potatoes, cornbread, and crockpot great Northern beans.
Wed-herbed chicken, green beans, and baked beans
Thurs-homemade hamburgers
On a side note, I made pumpkin guts bread from the guts of two small pumpkins my kids carved. It was delicious! I added a thick cream cheese layer to the top and a few pecans so it was more like a moist pumpkin cake. Of course, I roasted the seeds this year and they were also so good!
Monday: Grilled pork chops and steaks, sauteed cabbage and carrots, boiled potatoes with butter, cucumber and tomato salad
Tuesday: Pork tenderloin medallions in a red wine and cream sauce, leftover potatoes, sauteed beet greens, roasted beets, mashed delicata squash with butter and maple syrup
Wednesday: Lamb chili, rice, black beans, Mexican slaw
Thursday: Pre-made frozen meatloaf, pre-made roasted potatoes, roasted butternut squash, roasted tomatoes (roast all the things!)
Tonight: I think leftover chili. Or maybe fried eggs with tortillas and cheese. I'll leave it to my husband, because I'm not planning on cooking in any case.
Everything looks absolutely delicious as always! Going $29 over the $600 budget is not bad at all. I think it's pretty impressive for a family of six.
We have only 4 people in our family, including a toddler, and our food budget for October is much higher than that. It was actually $1,100 in September @_@ We're still trying to find ways to cut costs, but it's been a challenge >_<
Our budget for four is about $1000/month as well
I would definitely not be able to stick with this budget without Aldi! It's a key player, and if you don't have access to a store like that, or if your family is just hungrier than mine is, I think a larger budget is quite reasonable.
It also depends on where you live. Ms. FAF lives in Washington, DC, which is relatively expensive.
Why is your food cost so high? What do you buy?
Do you find overall that you spend more when you make more stops vs when you would only would do one trip? I find that often happens to me.
I was wondering the same thing. I usually make several stops through the week and always find myself over budget. I need to buckle down somewhere!
Monday-Veggie stew with a delicious nut roll my step-mom made. Tuesday- homemade Mac n cheese and a green salad. Wednesday- Reuben sandwiches. Thursday- crock pot chicken, couscous, Brussels sprouts, and peas. Eating out tonight at hibachi to celebrate my son's karate graduation!
Kristen, have you posted the creamy green dressing you have on your taco salad? It looks similar to one I love at a local restaurant. 🙂
I haven't....I just googled some recipes and then did my own thing. I ended up just blitzing cilantro, sour cream, lime juice, and salt in the food processor, and it was tasty!
I got hijacked by the produce department yet again...did stay in my 80 dollar budget though so yay for sales, coupons, and comparison shopping
BREAKFAST ITEMS FOR THE WEEK(make ahead stuff): Pumpkin Bowls, cornbread muffins with blue berries, boiled eggs, bananas
LUNCHES: Leftovers from dinners for all...(totally intended) rounded out with fruit and oatmeal cookies
DINNERS:
Monday - Spicy chicken corn and 3 bean chowder, avocado halves, cheese (crockpot meal)
Tuesday - Baked sweet potatoes (baked in the crockpot) topped with butter, a drizzle of honey and topped with cashews
Wednesday - Shaved Mongolian beef (sliced and marinated ahead of time), sautéed snow peas and peppers, rice (rice cooker)
Thursday - Heirloom tomato pie/tart, spinach salad (mostly made the night before, crust was in the freezer)
Friday - I intend on making orange chicken (my way, not the gloppy coated fried way), rice, peppers, carrots, cucumbers with dip and the rest of the avocados
Saturday - I'll have some chicken leftover so I'll probably use that to make stuffed bell peppers and finish up the spinach and other stray veggies with another salad, and some rolls
Most of all this I made I did ahead of time, both on Sunday and as much night before stuff as possible... its also a huge timesaver in the morning when the leftovers are lunches that are packed up the night before and breakfast is all grab and go stuff...saves the sanity when everyone's running in all different directions at once..
Everyone have a awesome weekend!
I made your tortellini soup for the first time this week, and it was amazing!! 🙂
Yay!
We had baked pork chops, spinach and red Kuri squash one night.
We had spaghetti squash with leftover spaghetti sauce and lots of cheese plus something else I can't remember.
We had roast beef and some sautéed zucchini and summer squash with onions and something else. (It's squash week)
I picked a carcass and made chicken stock overnight in the crockpot then made chicken veggie soup with the leftover chicken bits and the stock.
Tonight we celebrate the last day at my old job and the start of the new next week. Shrimp which we have frozen, a small steak and salad are on the menu.
So far I am under budget this week by about $40.
Sat: smorgasbord
Sun: lemon garlic roasted chicken, baked spaghetti squash w pesto, steamed carrots
Mon: pizza
Tues: smorgasbord
Wed: bean soup, cornbread
Thurs: spaghetti, steamed broccoli
Fri: omelettes, fruit, toast, smoothies
Monday - Spaghetti Bolognese
Tuesday - Thai green chicken curry
Wednesday - Shakshuka: gently fried sliced onion+capsicum 5min when soft add tin of diced tomatoes salt and pepper simmer 5 min, with the back of large spoon make 4 indentations and crack an egg into each, partially cover and simmer 6min until white cooked and yolk runny, served with Jalapeno sourdough bread; was yum.
Thursday - cannot recall for the life of me
Friday - Guest for dinner my sister made roast lamb w gravy and vegetables which means
Saturday lunch - toasted jaffles with cut up lamb and gravy, my favourite.
Mon.- Blueberry waffles, turkey sausage, fruit
Tues.-Baked chicken, baked potato, mixed veggies
Wed.- Salmon, lettuce salad
Thursday- turkey burger, sweet potato fries, fruit
Friday- chili, hot dogs, brownie
We had:
Monday - Rotisserie chicken (made at home), mac and cheese, broccoli roasted, fruit
Tuesday - Sheet pan dinner (fish, zucchini, onion and baby red potatoes), fruit
Wednesday - Chicken salad (made from Mondays leftover chicken), green salad, rolls, fruit
Thursday - Grilled sandwiches and tomato basil soup, fruit
Friday - Planned dinner out
Saturday - Asparagus and cheese stuffed chicken breasts, stuffing, string beans, fruit
Sunday - Orange chicken, rice, Asian cucumber salad, fruit
I don't have any food budget as there are 2 of us but this week I spent $20 at Aldi. $23 at Meijer to make soup for my dad and $63 at Costco.
Monday and Tuesday we had leftovers as Sunday was beautiful so I cooked a grill full of chicken, taters and brussel sprouts
Tuesday Tacos and salad
Wednesday soup and sandwiches
Thursday can't remember
Friday we went to Aubrees with a birthday gift card so while the meal was free we left a large tip with our waitress who made our evening fun and funny.
Saturday was Costco trip and I had a free pizza coupon and I made soup
On to my non food gripe. Bought a led reading lamp at Costco. Guaranteed for 35000 hours. Didn't last a fraction of that and Costco gave me my money back no questions asked. Lights with non replaceable lights are such a huge waste, we have replaced 2 on our garage so far that had 10 year guarantees. Home Depot prolly hates me as I keep my receipt & box and they have replaced them for the third time. Now our utility room light fixture died and it has the circle fluorescent bulbs that cost more than the fixture cost. UGH and all the new utility room fixtures have non replaceable bulbs. I seen a fancy chandelier at Costco yesterday...that may end up being my utility room light!!
For the past week, we've had: beef stew, eggs, homemade mushroom pizza, oven chicken and fries and I'm making more stew.....The freezer has older items in it, so I needed to get the beef out and well, I make stew from any cut of beef. I will make homemade bread with it and maybe some cookies if I have time.
I have chicken thawing out and have no idea what to do with it. I'd like to try a white chicken chile with frozen hatch chiles. We'll see.
My comment on my version of "What I Ate This Week" - being sick plays hell with plans and produce. I threw out much more than my usual, and ate much worse. Eventually I did get better and actually cooked two dishes:
- lasagna (much easier when you have the meat sauce already made);
- a CI shrimp stir fry, using veggies left over from a work party veggie tray.
Dunno what I'm going to do this week. Tonight is breakfast for dinner - a CI Dutch Pancake.