What I Spent, What We Ate | And July begins
What I Spent
To start July off, I spent $154 on Hungry Harvest and at the grocery store.
What We Ate
Saturday
Mr. FG went to a gathering of friends, Joshua was out with a friend, Sonia and Zoe were babysitting, and Lisey and I just ate some snacky stuff, like hummus and cheese and crackers.
Sunday
I made quesadillas and pico de gallo for lunch after church, and for dinner I made panini, using sourdough bread from Aldi and some chicken lunch meat.
(Here's how I do panini-making.)
Monday
I went out with my cousin and her husband who were here from California to visit.
My kids fended for themselves. Yay, older children!
Tuesday
I found a recipe in Dinner Illustrated for scallops with a snap pea salad. And since I had some snap peas to use up from Hungry Harvest, I splurged and bought scallops at Aldi.
I cooked some chicken for Zoe, since she's allergic to shellfish.
Wednesday
The 4th of July!
We had pulled pork sandwiches, veggie chips, watermelon, and fruit salad.
Thursday
Mr. FG's friend was playing music at a local restaurant so we moved our date night from Saturday night to Thursday night for a meal on the water.
Joshua was at a friend's house, and the girls ate cheese ravioli topped with homemade pesto.
Friday
I was going to grill some chicken instead of making pizza, but the weather does promise to be only in the 80s today. Hmm. I think I'll poll my people and see what they want.
I'm so glad the whether is cooler where we live today and most of next week after reaching 98 degrees 3-4 days in a row. It feels so much better on both the body and the mind. And the AC must be happy to take a break as well.
Happy belated 4th! 🙂
I know, right? It's been brutally hot here on the east coast.
Did you use some of your walnuts in the pesto?
This week's theme was "too hot to cook, but everyone still needs to eat." Bah.
Monday: Scrambled eggs, microwaved tortillas with cheese, carrot sticks.
Tuesday: The only day in the week we didn't have an excess heat advisory, and also the only day I actually cooked a real meal. Italian sausage, fried zucchini/onions/peppers, crispy garlic scapes with overly mature garden peas, boiled new potatoes, raw pepper and cucumber.
Wednesday: Fried eggs, fried leftover potatoes, leftover vegetables, carrot sticks
Thursday: Summer sausage and crackers, bread and butter, yogurt with foraged blackcaps . . . the heat won and I didn't even turn on the stove.
Friday: It's supposed to be in the 70s today (FINALLY), so I have hopes I may actually cook the chicken in the refrigerator. My track record this week for following through on cooking hasn't been all that great.
Yessss, girl, of course I used my walnuts! Heh. Lots of people suggested that to me in last week's freezer challenge post, so I gave it a try.
I spent about the same last week as you did, Kristen, only I'm feeding a family of two.... oops. I had some catching up to do on my grocery shopping after being out of the country. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
We had this week, not in this order:
Sausage, mashed potatoes and homemade sauerkraut. I can eat small amounts of white potatoes these days, thank heaven.
meatloaf, mashed cauliflower and green peas. No bread in the meatloaf because I'm still avoiding gluten.
A big chef salad with homemade dressing.
We were invited to a fish fry for the Fourth. We were told we were not to bring food contributions, so that made it easy for me.
Last night my mission team met at a team member's house for follow up and enjoyed jocon de pollo, cooked by one of our team members. We had eaten it in a Mayan home one night while on our mission trip, and they had been happy to give us the recipe. My husband had a bacon and cheese sandwich at home, which suited him perfectly.
The leftovers became lunches.
I'm trying to dream up the meal plan for next week. I hope I can keep the price low.
The intense oppressive heat and humidity have made it so undesirable to cook!
Sundays the inlaws brought over supper so I provided the space, a green salad and the clean up..
Monday- I pulled out a container of shredded pulled pork and a bag of buns.. we sauced those to our likings and ate that with fruit and grilled corn on the cob
Tuesday- I bought pizza on the way home from errands and haircuts before we had to go run more errands...
Weds- My mom came over brought baked beans... I pulled a pack of hot dogs and homemade burger patties from the freezer.. served with fruit and chips...
Thursday- LEFTOVERS!! pizza, burgers, dogs, scrambled eggs.. I didn't care what they made and ate.. just do it yourself...
Friday- the temps have dropped.. thinks are bearable.. I pulled chicken out to marinate and grill!
Yes! Even turning on the stove feels awful when it's 100 degrees.
That pineapple is quite green. What are you going to do with it?
Well, it was pretty green last Saturday when I got it! It ripened up nicely, though, and I cut it up yesterday. I put half in the fridge and froze half for future smoothies.
I'm feeling very uninspired by this week's menus, but next week I will have more choice as I made a batch of freezer meals. Also, my daughter had a box of seafood shipped to us as part of her summer gift from her employer.! Here's what we've had so far this week:
Monday - Crockpot Bacon Chicken Ranch, leftover veggies, and corn casserole from Sunday dinner
Tuesday - BBQ beans with hamburger, fritos - this was so good at the end of the day!
Wednesday - Hot dogs, chili, chips, cantaloupe, pasta salad
Thursday - Easy Shrimp Tacos, sliced melon - I served these with shredded cabbage and monterrey jack cheese.
Tonight will likely be various leftovers. Tomorrow is a YOYO day. And Sunday I will do Gnochi Skillet with Chicken Sausage and Tomatoes, and some sauteed cabbage
I managed to use the oven only once!
Sounds like a fun week! Our dinners were wonky this week. We ate out twice for dinner (eek), but we're working on getting back on track. I'm happy for the weekend!
I did actually make a meal plan and shopped for it last week but I put zero effort into food prep and cooking so I am sorry to report that I wasted a lot of food. And, since I bought take-out several times, both my bank account and my waistline suffered a little. Next week is my birthday and several friends are kindly treating me to meals throughout the week. I am also off work which means routines are out-of-whack (not that I am complaining about being off!) The forcast is for temps over 100 so I will keep it simple next week, but a bit healthier, by prepping fruits and veggies, And having things ready to make a light meal without having to turn on the stove.
Yes! Hot weather makes me feel like not cooking at all. Salads for the win!
Here's my menu from the week:
Monday- Chicken/Mushroom /Cheese Stromboli
Tuesday- Chorizo/Mushroom/Cheese Stromboli with pizza sauce on the side
Wednesday- Smoked Pork, rice-a-roni
Thursday- pizza
Friday- stuffed cabbage (that is in the crock pot right now)
I have some old bananas here so I may make muffins. I also have a can of sugarfree apple filling and may make a pie. I just need fresh apples.
Monday - I had planned on chicken enchiladas but ended up making them on Sunday instead. So my husband ate the leftover enchiladas plus a hard boiled egg and a couple chicken nuggets. I pulled a leftover grilled turkey sausage from the freezer and made myself pesto pasta with veggies.
Tuesday - my husband left for vacation. Right before he left he had made himself way too many pizza rolls (eyes bigger than his stomach!) so I warmed them up and ate them for dinner. Not ideal, but no waste!
Wednesday - I planned to have a day to myself on the 4th but got in a bit of a weird, sad mood so I called a couple friends who were happy to meet me for a drink. We stayed long enough that we ended up ordering dinner too. I got a chicken sandwich with tater tots that was only $7. My life is so go, go, go that apparently I don’t know how to handle downtime by myself, lol.
Thursday - picked up a small cheese pizza for free from a local pizza shop. They send me one every year for me to use during my birthday month. Ate the leftovers today for lunch too!
Friday - tonight I am meeting my mom and sister for happy hour. The weather is gorgeous and I know of a restaurant that is centrally located that will allow me to bring my dogs on the patio. Should be fun! I had chicken marinating but will just grill it tomorrow for lunch instead.
This week we had:
1. Sauerbraten (crock pot) with mashed potatoes and fresh green beans
2. Cabbage (fresh from the garden) and potatoes
3. Steamed crabs (splurge for my birthday)
4. Hamburgers
5. OFC (Oma’s fried chicken) with broccoli salad https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/jamie-deen/broccoli-salad-recipe-2108604
6. Chicken salad
7. Leftovers
Homemade desserts included banana bread, and carrot coconut bread
My baby girl was born Saturday!!! I finally got to let the hospital cook for me. 😉 I had their pot roast dinner both Saturday and Sunday (it was delicious). I also had a personal pizza Saturday night because labor apparently leaves you starving! Ha!
Monday- Our first dinner at home. The evening ended up being quite a bit overwhelming with my older kids being way too excited about everyone being home. My husband picked up some chicken and potato salad from the store.
Tuesday- A friend brought us lasagna and salad.
Wednesday- I made stir fry for lunch. My family came over for dinner and we had burgers, squash, potato salad, beans, and fruit.
Thursday- A friend brought us pulled pork, shells and cheese, strawberries, and broccoli slaw.
Friday- My husband went back to work today and his co-workers are providing dinner for us. I don't know what it'll be, but I'm grateful. I'm feeling a little worn out at the moment. 🙂
Congratulations!!!!
Thank you!
Ohhh! Wonderful! Many congratulations to you.
And I'm so happy the people in your life are feeding you.
Thank you! She's such a joy and I'm thankful that I'm able to enjoy this special time.
Our church family is loving us well! We've had more offers for dinner over the next few weeks than we have need. My heart is full.
TFG -
Real cool, well-balanced out meals with eating out and making fun dinners. Monday night we used the medium shrimp from Aldi to make shrimp tacos, with the salsa, black beans and tortillas from Aldi, delicious. Tuesday night we went out for Pizza with the fiance's parents and sister. Wednesday was a cookout with my side of the family and all we brought we vegetables & dip - compliments to Aldi and spent only $6.04. Thursday Night/last night - we roasted cauliflower and we sauteed up mushrooms and onions, while throwing in some pasta into there afterwards with olive oil and garlic. Incredible and inexpensive : )
Not sure what's in store tonight, as well. We'll see!
-Lanny
Monday: "cheated" with 2 bags of freezer Lo Mein. I don't usually do these prepared foods, but it was that or takeout and the freezer bags are 1/3 of the cost of takeout for three of us.
Tuesday: Salad with grilled meat (salmon for me, chicken for DH and DD), whole wheat quesadillas
Wednesday: The Fourth! We grilled brats and I served some watermelon and raw veggies from my freezer. Relatives brought lots of side dishes and dessert and we had a feast
Thursday: Date Night <3
Tonight: our classic Friday grilled burgers and broccoli
This week I plan on starting the freezer challenge and keeping up with what I spend on food.
Being shift workers we end up eating out a lot while at work and wasting the food at home that I had good intentions of prepping to bring to work. our spending on all things have gotten out of control again and I am looking at ways to save money. Our food budget is the first place I wanna start. WISH ME LUCK!!!