What I Spent, What We Ate | It's November!
What I Spent
I started out the week with a trip to Aldi and one other store, totaling $84.26.
And then I managed not go to to the grocery store at all again. Yay me!
What We Ate
Saturday
Sonia had one of her cousins over for a knitting lesson, and he stayed for dinner, which was Asian chicken noodle bowls. Except they were supposed to be pork bowls.
We like chicken better, though, and we do what we want. 😉
Sunday
The girls have been asking for bbq chicken pizzas, so that's what Mr. FG and I made.
Monday
We were seeing a Studio Ghibli film in the theater, so we just had time for some quick grilled cheese sandwiches before we left.
Tuesday
I tried a Cook's Country recipe for Sticky Chicken (chicken thighs cooked in a glaze). This was just too vinegar-y for our taste, even though I used less than was called for!
I just need to remember in the future that recipes calling for ¾ cup of vinegar are probably not going to be favorites around here.
Wednesday
This was Halloween, and the girls went over to a friend's house for a sleepover after trick or treating. I think they may have just eaten candy for dinner, actually.
Which is really fine once a year.
Mr. FG and I went out and grabbed a burger from Five Guys after we changed out of our costumes.
Thursday
Sonia saw a main-dish polenta recipe in a Cook's Country magazine and asked to make it. It's a garlic/Parmesan* polenta, which is cut into pieces, baked, and then topped with a tomato sauce. We thought it was tasty!
*It was actually supposed to have Romano cheese, but Aldi doesn't have that. They DO have Parmesan wedges, though, so that's what I used.
We had some raw fruits and veggies with our polenta.
Friday
Sonia's had her eye on a recipe for cocktail meatballs, so maybe we'll do those tonight and make a meal out of them (with some sides, of course.)
My family WOULD like that chicken recipe that calls for 3/4 cup of vinegar. We're all sour like that. 🙂
This week's theme was Mitigating Sugar Consumption.
Monday: Pork, pasta, roasted sweet potatoes/onions/bell peppers, roasted beets, sauteed beet greens with garlic.I feel so at peace when I'm cooking things from my own garden, as if everything is right with the world. Too bad our garden this year was about 5 feet by 1 foot. I'll make up for it next year.
Tuesday: Oven-fried chicken, roasted potatoes, roasted bell pepper and onion, green salad
Wednesday: Venison chili, tortillas and cheese, canned black beans, sauteed zucchini/bell pepper/carrot
Thursday: Scrambled eggs, leftover chili and black beans, rice, pureed squash
Tonight: I have quite a bit more chili left, so I think I might make it into an enchilada-type casserole with corn tortillas and cheese. I might need to add some extra ground beef if the meat is almost gone, as tends to happen in our household.
Mon - Whole Paycheck Cilantro Chix sausage, which is extremely tasty; broccoli, plums.
Tue - Sushi take-out; combo of feeling under the weather and lack of meal planning led to this (tasty) fail.
Wed - Halloween. Doesn't everyone have candy for dinner?
Thurs - Taco night, extra large to accommodate visiting relative.
Fri - Taking relative out for good Thai food, something she can't get where she lives and something she misses, as she lived in Thailand for a year.
Oooh, that sausage sounds so good!
Monday: My wife was home with the kid because of a stomach bug. She ended up making a roast chicken and baked potatoes.
Tuesday: Taco Tuesday using ground turkey instead of beef.
Wednesday: Had a sort of whatever night using leftovers. My daughter wanted leftover tacos then immediately after presenting them to her decided she didn't (three year olds!) but she did eat it eventually though that was a fight I didn't need. I ate a large salad with chicken in it.
Thursday: Used the leftover chicken to make grilled chicken sandwiches.
Friday: I may be going to my grandmother's house to repair her stove so I don't know what my wife and kid will have. They usually do pasta nights when I'm out because I don't eat pasta.
Hang in there with the parenting, Battra92. It can be a tough haul in establishing groundrules but the effort pays off in the longer run.
My SIL had 4 kids, a small budget, and one kid who was a picky eater. The kid would skip the meals she didn't like and overeat in the next meal. After milder parental responses didn't work, SIL went hardcore. Kid wouldn't eat her oatmeal for breakfast? She was presented withthat same oatmeal for each subsequent meal, till she finished it. (Warning that this would happen was given, of course.) To increase the incentive, SIL made the kid's favorite meals so that if kid didn't eat the oatmeal first, kid didn't get the favorites. By dinner, kid was ready to eat the oatmeal and then the favorites and it never happened again.
My parents also did the, you will eat your previous meal at the next meal if you refuse to eat it the first time, but we also were not a clean plate house. So you could eat at least half the oatmeal the first time and be done or you had to eat all the oatmeal before getting to the next meal option.
It didn't need to be done more than twice.
My parents did the same thing only they didn't count on having a child who would rather die than give in. My breakfast gruel was served up for a week straight, every meal, and I would not eat it; I was 10. I always hated oatmeal and just reached a point where I felt I should not have to eat it. I was willing to go without breakfast and just wait until lunch. It was summer so no school lunches, just gruel again. So, I went out and shoplifted a package of hotdogs. I got caught. I told the policeman who was called in by the shop owner why I shoplifted food. End of my parents ever doing that again.
Wow, you are really persistent!
P.S. I could last that long because of a sibling who snuck me some food every day. It helps to have co-conspirators.
Aha! Your sibling was an enabler. 😉
My mother did this with me. However, she did not allow for allergies. It wasn't until I was in my 20s that my allergy to egg and some grains was diagnosed. A recent trial of the FODMAP diet has explained other things I really do not want to eat ever!
My friend gave me a Philippine recipe for chicken, from the time she lived there, that calls for a lot of vinegar, but it isn't all that vinegary tasting, for some reason. I agree, tangy is one thing, vinegary is another.
I stayed just under budget, which was tough since I had a farm order, too. This week I need to stay under budget even more -- we got hit with an unexpected vet bill, ouch.
What we ate:
There was a good beef sale, so our menu had more than usual beef.
Pot roast, with potatoes, green beans, onions and cauliflower for me instead of potatoes. We had it again on Wednesday. We've had pot roast two weeks in a row, so there won't be any this upcoming week.
I made a casserole with homemade sausage (so no red pepper), onions and potatoes. I cooked sweet potatoes for me in one side of the dish in place of the white ones. As usual, my husband was less than enthusiastic about a casserole, but he ate it.
Steak one night, with a salad.
pork chops, leftover green beans, and another veggie that escapes me.
One night my husband felt a little nauseous, so I foraged for leftovers and he went to bed.
I've checked out the sales and have no idea what this coming week's menu will be, but since I will shop after work, I need to figure it out. We also are having an early Thanksgiving, and I saw zero turkeys on sale in the stores I normally shop in. What's up there? My daughter is due to give birth the day after Thanksgiving -- no way are we waiting till that Thursday to try to put together a big dinner. We plan to have better things to do that week!
I think vinegar definitely needs to be balanced out. For example I love Cornell Chicken (it's an Upstate NY thing) and there's a lot of vinegar in that sauce.
Long simmering also mellows the vinegar. There's a famous recipe for chicken from Bresse, France. The sauce is primarily vinegar and it's simmered for 40 min or so.
Mon - pork loin and roasted acorn squash
Tues - bratwurst and brocolli
Wed - traditional Halloween meal of mummy dogs, batzones (bat shaped calzones), and pumpkin lanterns (jack-o'-lantern shaped pumpkin pasties)
Thurs - chicken tenders and mashed potatoes
Fri - TBD. I had a lot of dental work yesterday and it's just me and baby for dinner, so it might just be turkey and cheese sandwiches
How do you keep your grocery bill down with 2 kids in college, and them eating on campus ?
Saturday - I can't remember what I ate.
Sunday - Garlic parmesan pork chop, potatoes with peppers and onions, zucchini.
Monday - This was the day of the hot water heater debacle. I just picked up a rotisserie chicken and had it with Stove Top and steamed zucchini.
Tuesday - Cereal. Because that's how it goes sometimes.
Halloween - A friend came over to watch movies. We each picked up what we wanted to eat. She had enchiladas. I had a noodle bowl with orange chicken from Panda Express. We both had candy on the side (natch!)
Thursday - chicken tacos with the leftover rotisserie chicken.
Friday - not sure yet. Something easy because it has been a long week. An omelet maybe.
I've been on a meat less/Korean food binge. It's just purple rice and some veg. sides every day for 2 meals. Besides rice that's a bit high in carb, the calories from things like kimchi etc helps move my weight lower 🙂 occasionally there's a bit of fish and squid.
The pic of the leaves looks beautiful!
The noodle dish makes me hungry. I literally just got up after a long night of breastfeeding and such. Haven't had breakfast yet, and this post makes me want to eat something NOW! :p
Ah, yummy BBQ chicken pizza! When I make mine, I model it after the California Pizza Kitchen recipe, which uses BBQ sauce instead of marinara (as the base of the pizza), then topped with a mixture of grated Gouda and mozzarella cheeses, sweet red onion slices, chicken, and fresh cilantro (added after cooking). I add red pepper flakes too, to add more zest.
Monday - fried, thick cut pork chops (from a local butcher shop!), mashed potatoes, green beans
Tuesday - lasagna, crescent rolls
Wednesday - Hubby cooked hamburgers (made from ground chuck from the butcher)
Thursday - homemade chicken noodle soup (we both have sinus/chest congestion)
Friday - either homemade chili or Skyline (Cincinnati style) chili
** I mentioned the butcher shop because I’m so pleased with my purchases - better quality cuts for same or better prices than the grocery stores.
Two more weeks until the end of soccer season so we're still on split dinners.
Mon - Younger three had chicken nuggets with carrot sticks. The rest of us had a mix of leftover pizza and leftover homemade mac n cheese.
Tues - Cod with brown rice and tossed salad
Wed - Leftover beef barley soup and beer bread. Served before trick or treating so they were highly incentivized to eat.
Thurs - The younger 5 had hot dogs with spinach salad. The rest of us had Chinese take-out, requested by the eldest.
Fri - Tonight the kids will get mac and cheese (box because they won't eat the homemade variety) and spinach salad. The adults will have homemade pizza after they go to bed.
My bunch loves vinegar laden foods. I also saw that cook' s country polenta/ tomato sauce recipe and thought it would be fun to try. I think I watched them prepare that dish on the show recently on PBS. We also are fans of BBQ pizza around here to switch things up a bit. Our menu this week has been pretty rediculous due to the limited time we have had at home. Let me just say it included many wrappers, boxes, and 50 cents corn dogs from Sonic then leave it at that.
It happens! Give yourself some grace and go forward. I hope next week is calmer for you!
Monday and Tuesday- lasagna with homemade sauce and homemade bread
Wednesday- my mom brought over pizza
Thursday- rest of the lasagna
Friday- enchiladas with green tomato salsa (made from the green tomatoes left over from our garden- came out so good and cost $2 to make a huge amount)
Mon: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, carrots
Tues: chili with beef/beans
Weds: meatloaf sandwiches, broccoli
Thurs: Coconut Curry chicken/veggies
Fri: hubby had to eat at work, I had leftovers
Sat: brats and cabbage
Oh my god, thank you!!! I have tried to find the name of the great-tasting porridge for ages!!! I bought it one time at a festival, but forgot the name. And suddenly, I read this post and you mention polenta! And sure enough, POLENTA is the great tasting porridge I have been looking for all this time 🙂
Yay! I'm so glad my post randomly helped you out. Now you can make some for yourself!
I love polenta and serve it with sautéed mushrooms.
This week we have had some easy meals as summer's heat has begun. I made Moroccan lamb rissoles and froze the left overs for another day. Today there is a big pot of spaghetti bolognese sauce on the stove. So tonight with be pasta. We have had chicken and salad. The local super market is trialling sales of cooked roast pork. I bought some as mum likes it and I don't. There was another easy meal. I can't remember the rest.