What I Spent, What We Ate | It's a new year!
Woo!
It's been a while since I wrote one of these. Ohh, those holidays.
I did cook and feed my family these last three weeks, but I guess you'll just have to trust me on that. 😉
What I Spent
It's a new year now, so it's a fresh start on tracking my spending. I ended the year with a $165 weekly average, and we'll see what happens this year. I imagine my spending may slowly creep up over time as my kids get older and hungrier, especially since I am not in the nest-emptying stage of life yet.
I'm pretty happy with $165 a week, given that it averages out to $23 a day. That's a pretty good price for feeding six people.
Anyway! Here's what happened the first week of grocery shopping in January (blessedly little, actually).
I just made one trip out where I stopped at Aldi and at a regular grocery store, and here's what I bought:
I wouldn't normally buy so many crackers, but they were on sale for $1.67 and there were tear-off coupons for $1.15 off two, which meant that each package was only $1.10.
These will be handy for when we have snacky Sunday night meals. Yay!
I spent $131.64, plus $33 on my produce box.
January Grocery Spending
Week 1: $164.64
What We Ate
Monday
I made a stir-fry, which always makes Joshua happy. He digs stir-fry.
We had that over rice, naturally. And I cut up a bunch of oranges.
Tuesday
I made fish cakes.
Which was all well and good, except I forgot that I had no mayo in the house.
And since I was prepping the fish cakes in between visiting two cousins in the hospital (one was in a car accident and the other has a sick baby) and taking Sonia and Zoe to dance, I didn't have time to go buy mayo.
Happily, Cook's Illustrated's website had a recipe, so I printed it and made some mayo in my Vitamix. Yay!
I was all pleased with myself and then went further on in the recipe and remembered I had no bread crumbs in the freezer (normally I keep a stash in there made from odds and ends of bread.)
So, I toasted up some random bread that was on my counter and made bread crumbs.
I'm pleased to say that the rest of the recipe went off without a hitch. 😉
We ate a green salad with our fish cakes. And of course we had tartar sauce.
Wednesday
I made kebabs with citrus-marinated chicken, kielbasa, red peppers, and onions.
Thursday
I needed a breakfast for dinner night because, hello, easy!
Buttermilk waffles and local sausage fit the bill nicely.
Friday
It's gonna be a pizza night. And I think it's gonna be a pizza-that-Kristen-isn't-making night (which we all need every now and again!)
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What did you eat this week?
I agree that $165/wk for six people is supertastic!! (That is a word;) I didn't keep very good track of my totals each month for 2016, should have but didn't. I would estimate that we were around $700 a month. That's a resolution of mine this year - keep better track of spending all around with the end goal of paying off the last of my student loan debt! November and December were leaner spending months for various reasons so I'm going into January feeling like we are in a good place and can continue that leaner spending. So far so good with a single trip this week for about $145 for four of us.
We've been doing pretty good about getting our spending down, although it's just the two of us and we're still spending about $125/wk. (I have a very hungry husband who lives for processed junk food!)
The only thing I really cooked this week was a clear-the-fridge macaroni and cheese. It had leeks, bell pepper, some other vegetable, summer sausage, and four different kinds of cheese.
I made myself lentils and rice for lunches with bang-bang sauce, and got to eat out twice (once was an office lunch and once was a date with my hubs).
Hubs was still noshing leftover chili, or eating crazy amounts of junk food.
Pretty easy week, and lots of random meat in the freezer to build future meals from.
Monday: leftovers from New Year's dinner: barbecued ribs, black eyed peas with rice, and cabbage.
Tuesday: cilantro lime chicken soft tacos, ( crockpot) with Spanish rice and sliced avocado.
Wednesday: leftovers night, hubby had tacos again, I had a sandwich.
Thursday: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and cheesy Brussels sprouts.
Tonight: probably Chinese something or other.
The kabobs and stir fry look really good. Where did you get those recipes? Thanks 🙂
And my week...
Monday-Meatballs Stroganoff
Tuesday-Chipotle Chicken Kabobs with cilantro lime dipping sauce!!!! YUM
Wednesday-Cranberry Chicken
Thursday-Parmesan Crusted Tilapia
Friday-Crockpot Hawaiian Chicken
I need to start keeping better track of what we spend, and I am sure its high, though I am trying my best to think frugally when it comes to meal. That being said, some weeks are more extravagant than others.
Monday - One pot Chicken Fajita Pasta from Plain Chicken's blog
Tuesday - Sloppy Joes using up some ground beef, sausage, and assorted buns from the freezer, with fries
Wednesday - The last of the Thanksgiving turkey and stock made into soup with some random frozen veggies and some rice, homemade garlic bread.
Thursday - Quesadillas, guac, rice
Friday - I'm going to make tamales with chili (leftover frozen tamales and TJ chili)
Saturday and Sunday we will have easy meals, I'm just not sure yet which ones...
My goal is add back veggies in full force to every meal!
Oooh, way to go on that homemade mayo! I'm not a big fan of mayo myself but it's good to know it's not too difficult to whip up at home. Next time I need it for a dip I might just do homemade to save money. Mayo is expensive at the store; $3 a jar is the cheapest I can get it!
Anyhoo, here's what we ate this week:
Monday: Coffee-braised pot roast with potatoes and carrots.
Tuesday: I made tequila lime chicken but it was really gross (curse you, Pioneer Woman!). We picked up Carls' Jr. instead since we had a coupon. We realized they had a $4 meal deal that was better than the coupon, so that's what we got. If we need to eat out in the future we decided to eat only meal deals or dollar menus.
Wednesday: Today we had a freezer / leftover night. Our freezer is chock full of meals, so it's high time to start eating our way through them. I love it because it means no cooking right after work. Ahhhh.
Thursday: Mr. Picky Pincher made farro with pumpkin, kale, and salmon (I had a vegetarian version because I hate fish). This was okay, but the pumpkin was defrosted and became slimy. We should have roasted it. It still tasted good, though!
Friday: Tonight I'm making bacon brussels sprout pasta. The recipe calls for pancetta, but I've started using bacon since pancetta is three times the price. I prefer the smokier taste of the bacon anyway.
We ate mostly leftovers this week, along with things we had on hand. Not much cooking done this week, except for some chicken and potatoes in the crockpot yesterday.
Have you ever looked at the USDA Food Plans: Cost of Food? https://www.cnpp.usda.gov/USDAFoodPlansCostofFood
There's a chart with how much they expect people will spend on food at home for four spending levels: Thrifty, Low-Cost, Moderate, and Liberal, based on the ages and gender of the household members. By my calculations, $165/wk. for your family is WAY below their "Thrifty" estimate! For some reason, I find this chart fascinating. Of course, it is an estimate for the whole country (except AK and HI), and food prices vary a lot depending on where you live.
Happy New Year to you and your family! Thank you for writing this blog, I really enjoy it!
I also feed 6 people, but my kids are 4 and under, so I'm aiming to stay at $100 a week this year. I came in at $84 this week, but meals include a lot of meat I already had frozen. We're about to start a sugar fast, so that will cut back on a lot of the extras I buy for treat making.
Monday: Breakfast Skillet that used up Christmas ham and veggie scraps
Tuesday: 15 bean soup
Wednesday: Ranch pork chops
Thursday: Turkey, Quinoa, and Black Bean tacos
Friday: pulled chicken sandwiches on your bun recipe
I hope your cousins make speedy recoveries.
Sun: Melting Pot. Cheaper than expected because the service was atypically poor. The food is still tasty with plenty of nutritious options.
Mon: turducken, cucumbers, apples.
Tue: drawing a blank. Something went very wrong with the spaghetti squash - either I vastly overcooked it or it was past its prime. In either case, it had the texture of mashed potatoes and it went straight into the compost.
Wed: steak, carrots, tomatoes, strawberries.
Thurs: smorgasbord (aka, whatever is in the fridge) - ham, steak, sautéed mushrooms w turducken drippings, blueberries, remaining strawberries, lo mein (from the food court Chinese I had for lunch on Wednesday), lettuce.
I also finished freezing the 100+ unsellable bananas I got from the store. I shall be set for smoothies and quick bread for months to come.
100+ free overripe bananas is awesome! We love them for smoothies, sweet beads, and banana milk (just the two ingredients blended). That's a good score!
Almost free - they were $3. They weren't even overripe - just yellow. I had to wait a week before they were ripe enough to freeze. LOTS of banana eating in my home in January.
Oh wow, that's awesome! not even brown and spotty?
Nope. A little underripe, even.
Is that Aldi beef I spy?? I'd be interested to hear your take on it. I buy chicken at Aldi sometimes and occasionally the 90% lean ground beef (we don't eat much ground beef), but I tend to stay away from their steaks, roasts, etc. How have you found it? I am pretty much pro-Aldi on most everything (except some cereals), but that's one thing I haven't been brave enough to try yet. Would love to know what you think!
I'm a huge fan of their meat, it's the only place I'll buy it anymore. I used to shop Publix for meat but Aldi is so wonderful there is no need to! Their pork tenderloin is really wonderful, it's never once been tough or dry for me.
I found myself in the same situation last weekend of needing mayo and being out. I thought, ok, well I have eggs and oil I'll make my own. Lets just say yours looks a lot better than mine did. 🙂
Monday: Pizza since I had a little ham, green pepper, and a few mushrooms to use up.
Tuesday: Turkey pot pie.
Wednesday: Baked potatoes with chili and broccoli/cheese.
Thursday: Leftover barbecue chicken breast, baked beans, corn. I hadn't realized that my husband had taken some of the chicken in his lunch the day before which lessened our leftover stash, so I ate some crab meat instead. It wasn't near as good with beans and corn. Kinda weird.
Friday: Grilled cheese, tomato soup, and fruit.
Monday: Can't Remember....
Tuesday: A new baked chicken recipe, corn on the cob (frozen from the summer), noodles
Wednesday: Chicken noodle soup
Thursday: Tacos (Taco Bueno 59cents taco Thursday)
Friday: Stuffed pepperoni/mozzarella sticks and marinara sauce
That's THREE new recipes this week. Woohoo!
Monday: Grilled cheese sandwich, sun chips, fruit
Tuesday: Salmon, baked potato, mixed veggies
Wednesday: Left over salmon , sour dough bread, lettuce salad
Thursday: Spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread stick
Friday: cheese quesadilla, salsa, lettuce salad with ranch dressing
Last year I spent an average of $72 per week for one person. I am trying to tighten things up so I can finally be out of debt by the end of June. My budget until then is $50 per week.
This week:
Sunday: Roasted Chicken, stuffing and zucchini
Monday: Leftover chicken and a baked potato
Tuesday: Met a friend for cheap but delicious mexican food
Wednesday: Asian chicken noodle Soup
Thursday: Homemade pizza with turkey pepperoni and black olives
Friday: soup from a can with homemade garlic bread
We are expecting heavy snow and rain this weekend so I went out on my lunch hour to get enough things to get through the weekend so I wouldn't have to go out. Unfortuantely I left my groceries in the refrigerator at work! So annoying. So I will have to go out, or do without.
Monday: Fabulous Leftovers from out to eat Sunday at the Brewpub ..yum!
Tuesday: Tortellini with sauce (post dental procedure) for him... leftover protein everything
remaining in the fridge including a dab of cottage cheese for me....I am as feverishly committed to reducing food waste.... as I am to meeting my low carb dietary goals
Wednesday :Mushroom steak and green beans
Thursday: Chicken Alfredo for him ..chicken and broccoli for me
Friday: Burger night! Burger bowl for me, and a small side of Tots for the man I love.
Happy Friday!
I can't remember!
Okay I know we had a frozen pizza from the freezer the night I got home late.
We had New Year's Day leftovers for one meal.
I fried two pieces of chicken and served them with a combination of fresh and leftover veggies for one meal.
I put a small beef roast in the crockpot and made mashed potatoes with our last couple of potatoes, gravy and cooked carrots for one meal.
We had leftover roast and carrots with the addition of squash from the freezer and onions tonight since we were at a doctor appointment 90 miles from home much of the day.
Hey I remembered most of it after all! I'm still working to reduce my grocery budget. I ended December a little under budget but I want to cut that budget number more.
Monday - tortelli sausage vegetable soup (from your recipe)
Tuesday - Spaghetti, green beans, fresh veggies
Wednesday - Hamburgers, green beans, fries
Thursday - Chili beans, corn bread
Friday - Potato ham soup (potatoes were super cheap and ham was leftover) Great for the cold snowy weather here
Did you eat anything with your kebabs? I can see my husband eating $20 of meat in one meal if that's all I served, hehe
This weeks meals have been different because my husband's schedule is 4pm-midnight for the next month, so we had our big meal at lunch. Monday I wasn't home as my grandma was in town. Tuesday was leftovers. By Wednesday I came off the post-holiday drag and made burrito bowls! Thursday was fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and chicken gravy, and Friday was spaghetti and meat sauce. Last night was family night and we redboxed a movie and ordered pizza muffins from a local shop.
Yup! I grilled veggies too, plus we had rolls. And I feel like a couple of other things too but memory fails me at this point!
What do you do about weekends? Do you cook, do leftovers, go out, a combination of all?
I spend $65-100/week for my husband and I and we hardly eat out. Some weeks we stock up and some weeks we don't. We average about $80/week but we sacrifice by not buying organic too often and not buying the freshest produce.
I am going to look around your blog for tips but please point me in the right direction if you have any content about these topics! I don't know where you find the time to do this blog but I appreciate it as a new adult in the world & a mom-to-be!
Usually one night of the weekend is a $20 date night for Mr. FG and me, and the kids eat something easy.
Often the other night is a snacky kind of meal....crackers, veggies, fruit, dip, popcorn, cheese, ham, etc.
Not eating out is HUGE part of keeping food spending down, so kudos to you!
Thanks, that is very helpful and a date night is a great idea!