What I Spent, What We Ate | Father's Day, a little sickness...
(From our Father's Day trip to a local park)
What I Spent
It was an off week for Hungry Harvest (I'm trying every other week to see if that's more manageable), and at the grocery store I spent $195.
Good thing I didn't get a Hungry Harvest! 😉
I'm mostly over due to our Father's Day seafood meal, but it's fine. That doesn't happen every week, and it was still way cheaper than us going out to eat, even for a non-seafood meal!
What We Ate
Saturday
Mr. FG had been out with Joshua all day and they got back around 9 pm to see if we wanted to go out for steamed buns.
I'm not all that spontaneous, but maybe I'm getting a little better...because I said yes.
And that is how I found myself sitting at a table outside a steamed bun restaurant at 10 pm on Saturday night.
Sunday
Father's Day! Joshua joined us, so we had all six of us here, which made our dinner fun and hilarious.
We had pan-seared scallops and shrimp (chicken for Zoe since she's allergic), French bread, and asparagus.
And for dessert, I made hot fudge pudding cake. I used less sugar in the dry mixture on top this time, and it was definitely still sweet enough.
I also used dark chocolate cocoa powder (Hershey's dutched). So good!
Monday
I made pulled chicken sandwiches and I am sure I served them with some kind of produce.
Can I think of what that produce was?
Nope.
Tuesday
Friends from Florida were visiting the area, so they came over for dinner. I grilled bratwurst, cut up a watermelon, and bought several varieties of veggie chips from Aldi.
And we had root beer floats for dessert, which is what we do every time we see these friends. It's tradition by now.
Wednesday
Mr. FG was down with a cold, and even though the weather was hot outside, he was craving wonton soup.
So I went and picked up two quarts from a local Chinese restaurant.
I wasn't feeling soup-like (too hot!) so I had leftover bratwurst.
Thursday
Sonia came down with the cold and she said she felt like eating chipped beef on toast.
Apparently this cold makes people feel like eating hot things in the middle of summer?
Friday
The weather is a little bit cooler today so maybe I will make pizza.
Friday : Mac&cheese, fish sticks, cucumber slices
Thursday : We tried a new brand of frozen pizza that was low carb (the crust was chicken and parmesan) - it was not good. I couldn't eat it. Luckily I only wasted $1 on it since there was an Ibotta rebate. Ended up having Taco Bell a bit later.
Wednesday : shrimp scampi with leftover veggies
Tuesday : ravioli with leftover veggies
Monday : grilled chicken with more zucchini and asparagus
Sunday : my in laws made burgers, pasta salad, baked sweet potatoes, watermelon and cantaloupe
Saturday : fancy father's day burgers, zucchini, asparagus, baked beans
Best summer cold food is milkshakes. Or maybe best summer food, period.
We ate beef every single day this week. I usually manage something different at least one day in the week, but this week, nope. At least we don't have to worry about anemia . . .
Saturday: Cube steak in barbecue sauce, leftover rice, leftover coleslaw
Sunday: T-Bone steaks, oven fries, asparagus, roasted garlic, peanut butter cookies with M&Ms
Monday: Bunless hamburgers, rice, frozen green beans
Tuesday: Spaghetti and meatballs, roasted broccoli/sweet potatoes/bell pepper/onion
Wednesday: For the adults, goulash-type soup with a random bony roast I pulled out of the freezer--it had paprika and sour cream, so I figure that's goulash-y enough. Kids ate leftover spaghetti and meatballs, plus some still-frozen vegetables
Thursday: Beef stir-fry with peanut sauce, rice
Tonight: Taco meat either as actual tacos with corn tortillas, or in a skillet with rice. I have a lot of leftover rice.
1.Chicken sausage with rice and vegetables ...
2.Leftovers for the next day
3. Hamburgers with sweet corn casserole and veggies ...
4.Leftovers for next day
5. Tuna salad and chips and Pomegranate Martinis
I absolutely love #5. Anything with chips and a cocktail is aces.
It's been a crazy busy week with a lot of having to Get Stuff Done after work, so there was concomitant amount of eating out.
Sunday: Chinese. Their stand-out dish is shrimp so no frugality there.
Monday: Pork chops, tomatoes, berries.
Tuesday: Cosi, with a discount.
Wednesday: Sushi and Korean from a Korean/Hispanic supermarket near where I was, plus some produce shopping. The produce was cheaper than my usual; the sushi almost as good as most restaurants and half-price because it was near the end of the day; fantastic bulgolgi and bibimbap with enough food for two meals (so much rice & sides that all I need to do is add eggs to make fried rice). But good value or not, it was yet another meal out.
Thursday: Steak, asparagus, watermelon, fruit smoothies.
Friday: Haven't decided, likely sausages or something with ground beef, and definitely more watermelon.
Sunday: For Father's Day we didn't really do anything. My wife asked what I wanted for dinner and I said fried chicken. Since my mom wasn't around to make it, I didn't feel like making it and there's no way my wife would make it (she doesn't fry food) I ended up going to the grocery store and buying it from the deli. My wife did cook mashed potatoes and other sides at least.
Monday: Leftover fried chicken
Tuesday: BLTs
Wednesday: I've been sick and exhausted lately so various leftovers were had.
Thursday: Kielbasa, peirogis and corn on the cob.
Friday: I have no idea what to make tonight. I'll have to figure something out.
I get a hankering for fried chicken about once a year and since I cannot make a decent batch, we break the bank and go to KFC (maybe it is cheaper Outside, but in Fairbanks, Alaska, it is extremely expensive). They have a hot and very crispy version that I love and, luckily, once a year is enough for me.
Sunday we had pulled chicken with sweet potato cubes and cut up veggies.
Monday everyone else had the last of the pulled chicken with mashed potatoes and broccoli. I had a little macaroni and cheese because I was half frozen from a dentist visit.
Tuesday I made Ina Garten's turkey meatloaf--so good--with spicy fries and asparagus. My stitches are out and I had a few fries. Bliss!
Wednesday there was leftover meatloaf which we had with the last of the broccoli and asparagus.
Thursday was the usual pizza for everyone else and a glass of ginger ale for me because once again I was frozen from the dentist. (Yes, I went to the dentist 3 times this week! Yes, I whined a lot!)
Tonight my husband is making orange chicken, probably with noodles and spinach because they're easy to chew.
I’ve never heard of steamed buns? I wonder if that’s something local to your area. I eat soup all year around but my house is air conditioned. I’ve been really frugal this month and have spent maybe $100 in total but today I went to Aldi and there were so many bargains. I have to be careful because sometimes I overbuy and I hate to throw food out! I am going to prep the produce now and make some three bean salad.
Ditto! I was wondering what that was too, definitely seems like a regional delicacy (and one I'd love to try sometime, looks good!) only time I've ever heard of steam buns was the Asian bao steam buns.
So, I think these are an Asian fusion type of thing...the steamed bun is definitely taken from Asian cuisine, and there are some elements of it that are Asian inspired, but the whole thing altogether is not authentic Asian at all!
Super delicious, though. 🙂
Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday- Roasted, bone-in, chicken with rice and roasted vegetables
Wednesday and Thursday- Hamburgers with grilled aspargus
Friday- dinner at my mom's house
Total spent on groceries this week: $41 for 2 adults, 1 child, and 1 baby. Not too bad!
1. What are steamed buns?
2. I think I had the same cold, but my husband made wonton soup. We've never made it before, but this is what we did that worked. I had a pot of homemade chicken broth in the fridge that needed used, and my husband chopped a carrot and some snow peas from our garden and tossed in a bag of frozen Chinese dumpling. It was actually good, and we all decided we'd do it again because the closest Chinese restaurant isn't close at all.
My favorite food on the entire planet was Fried Wonton Soup (or a giant bowl of Happy Family Soup with Fried Wontons) from China Doll Chinese restaurant in downtown Fargo, North Dakota. It closed decades go.
They had a very good broth, and light thin fried wontons, which were warm and sort of crunchy after they had been soaking in the broth. I've made my own version (broth, carrots, celery) with fried wontons from my local restaurant now, but it isn't as good.
I hope the colds were all one day short-lived sniffles!
My kids made a lemon pound cake together last night (one of the Barefoot Countess recipes)! Very proud of them. (Though we did make them eat something that wasn't cake for breakfast before having pieces.)
Those buns are enormous!
Also: We have had that cold this week. 🙁
Aww, I hope you all are well soon! So far, we only have two down, but I always feel slightly doomed when something like this comes around. It's hard not to catch it from your housemates.
We are eating anything I can thaw from the freezer. Last week we got a ton of halibut from our neighbor fisherman and this morning I got an email telling me he got an 83 pound halibut and could I fit 40 pounds of it in our freezer. Yes, please! As a result, our meals have been totally random. Ham sandwiches, toad in egg to use up elderly sausages, hamburgers, chicken sliders, and more hamburgers. I still had bag after bag of rhubarb in the freezer, so I volunteered to bring the treat for a meeting---20 rhubarb hand pies that also used some frozen cream cheese. I also made rhubarb rye bread, one of the few ways I know to use rhubarb in a savory way. Then I unearthed three bags of frozen Mrs. T's perogies, purchased in a weak moment because I can make better homemade ones. We will be eating those tonight and also tomorrow night, because the fish will be here on Monday. I am thankful beyond words for the fish but right now it is a race to free up space.
Do you have room for another freezer? I gave one away a couple of years ago. I just wasn’t using it much. They’re pretty inexpensive especially used.
Pretty sure when you have a cold, regardless of the temps outside, you are going to want something hot. Especially if/when it is a favorite comfort food.