What I Spent, What We Ate | Meal Box week
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What I Spent
I started off with my Hungry Harvest box.
I spent $31.42 at non-Aldi stores, and $42.96 at Aldi.
So, I'm at $99.38.
Oh, wait. I got a box of bruised peaches at the produce stand for $10, (probably my last one for the season!) so, actually I'm at $109.
September Spending
Week 1: $121
Week 2: $109
What We Ate
Monday
My Hungry Harvest box gave us 4 yellow peppers, so it seemed like a good time to make a shrimp and pepper stir fry.
Tuesday
This is the day we got our Dinnerly box! Sonia and Zoe made the sausage meatballs and spaghetti.
We also had a green salad, made with the lettuce from my Hungry Harvest box.
Wednesday
This is the night we had the grass-fed beef tacos from the Dinnerly box.
I also made a strawberry/peach salad, and I cut up some watermelon.
Thursday
Sonia and I made the veggie pizzas from our Dinnerly box.
These ended up being my favorite Dinnerly meal! The crust is naan, topped with a spinach/ricotta mixture, and then a sauteed red onion and red pepper mixture.
Easy, vegetable-ful, and delicious. I will totally make these again.
(More coming about Dinnerly next week.)
Friday
Since we had pizza last night, I really don't think we want to have pizza again. So, I think I'll come up with an easy meal instead. Maybe breakfast for dinner is calling my name.
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What have you been eating this week?
I have really scored on the food budget so far this week -- $0.00! That's because of the hurricane, of course. My goal now is to squeeze through Saturday, my budget's week ending date, without spending a penny more. I know I will spend on Sunday, but that goes on next week's budget.
Our eating has been whatever we could manage -- tuna salad, chili, leftover pulled pork from the freezer, a meal at my daughter's house, and pork chops, acre peas and corn on the last night for us to have power. We got our power back yesterday, but I had a lot to do when I got home, so it was leftover chili with corn tortillas. Tonight, I'll try to be creative.
I discovered this morning that the insides of my bathroom cabinets are moldy, from the hot days and wet weather with no a.c. I'm adding that to my list of things to do, ugh.
I guess that's one very small upside of the hurricane!
If my wife could stand shrimp, I'd be happy to try that stir fry! What do you use for the sauce? We'll have to substitute a different meat
Oh gosh, I forgot to put the link in there. I added it now. And here it is too: https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/2017/04/shrimp-and-red-pepper-stir-fry/
Thanks! I was sure I had seen it somewhere here before
Monday: Pork ribs on the grill, boiled potatoes, Caprese salad, carrot sticks
Tuesday: Fry everything! First the bacon, then the eggs, tomatoes, and potatoes in the bacon grease. Not the cucumbers, though maybe cucumbers fried in bacon grease wouldn't be bad . . .
Wednesday: For kids, pasta with pesto, leftover ham and pork ribs, cucumbers. I had some sauteed cabbage with ham and cheese.
Thursday: Hamburgers on the grill, sauteed mushrooms and onions, tomato salad, cucumbers, bread and butter.
Tonight: We're having my son's friend over for a playdate. He's staying for dinner, and apparently is a very picky eater. His mother informed me that the only thing he'll reliably eat is grilled cheese. So the kids will have grilled cheese sandwiches with carrot sticks and ranch dressing. Maybe some of the applesauce I'm making right now. I usually add heavy cream to it for dessert. My husband and I will probably finish up the leftover pork, ham, cabbage, and tomato salad.
Somehow, I'm thinking cucumbers fried in anything would be a little gross.
Julia Child had a recipe for cucumbers baked in butter that is supposed to be delicious. I haven't had the nerve to try it yet.
Funny, because the one clear memory of the otherwise-forgettable movie "Julie and Julia" that I have is the main character making that recipe for baked cucumbers and declaring, "Cooked cucumbers are a revelation." I always meant to try it, and never have. I don't have enough cucumbers from the garden this year to do it now, though.
By removing the inside seed part, you are left with some greenish-white mild-flavored vegetables which are fine in stir-fry! We only do that when we have so many cukes in the summer and need to "get rid" of them. Kind of like zucchini.
Sometimes I swap out cucumbers for water chestnuts in stir fries. Mild flavor and a bit of crunch still.
Every one of those meals looks delish!!
I'm looking forward to the Dinnerly post next week!
Monday: brats, romaine, fruit-spinach smoothie.
Tuesday: chik yakitori (instead of broiling it on skewers, I simmered the chix in the sauce, then broiled for a min), mac & cheese bites, watermelon, carrots & tomatoes.
Wednesday: steamed shrimp, romaine, oranges.
Thursday: at an event - ham & cheese sliders, sliced melon; at home - 4-5 pieces of CI's amazing garlic bread on Bernard Clayton's amazing Italian bread.
Friday: hot dogs, probably wrapped with Italian bread, not sure of veg, honeydew.
Saturday: at a friend's BBQ, so whatever he smokes/whatever others bring/garlic bread, I'll probably makes brownies as well.
I think I only spent about $50 on groceries and about $30 on eating out. 🙁
Monday: Red beans and rice, corn, and beef combo, with cornbread
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: Chicken sandwich and fries
Thursday: Panda Express
Friday: Backyard campout with Girl Scouts (hot dogs and s'mores on the menu)
I've got to get out of my cooking rut! Of course it didn't help that I was painting all week and so tired by the time dinner rolled around.
I like that you always start your list with a box of fresh veggies and fruit. It just looks so healthy and environmentally friendly. I always love all the food that you make! ^.^
Breakfasts all week: I made a big batch of belgian waffle batter, it's been a waffle week in the house. Good recipe for a yeasted waffle, crispy with a bit of chew on the inside: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/17681/belgian-waffles/
Lunches: Buffalo chicken penne pasta for DH: http://whitneybond.com/2012/02/23/whats-for-lunch-buffalo-chicken-cheesy-penne/
For me, big salads with chickpeas, radicchio, cucumbers, red onion, tomatoes from a friend's garden and homemade buttermilk ranch yogurt dressing.
Monday: Meatballs and hot italian sausage slow cooked in marinara, over pasta with homemade french bread I turned into garlic bread (lazy style, butter and a sprinkle of garlic powder)
Tuesday: Leftover meatballs and sausage w/ pasta, garlic bread
Wednesday: Simply Scratch's great stromboli, with pepperoni and italian sausage: http://www.simplyscratch.com/2014/06/homemade-stromboli.html
Thursday: Leftover stromboli and watermelon for dessert
Friday: It's up in the air, thinking breakfast for dinner too - DH has been craving a breakfast burrito. Fry up and crumble some sausage, fry some small potato cubes in the drippings, scramble some eggs and throw some cheddar on there, throw the whole mess into a tortilla.
Jessica (or anyone)- what's a good buttermilk ranch dressing recipe?
I'm lazy, so I do mayonnaise and buttermilk (or yogurt to make it thicker and more like a dip)-- enough buttermilk to get to the consistency you like--dry dill weed, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper. I never measure, just add and whisk together with a fork until it tastes right.nI always need more of the spices than I think I will, though.
I like my mom's recipe for homemade ranch dressing. I don't usually measure carefully, but here's a bit of a guide.
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. salt (or to your own taste)
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 Tbsp. parsley (fresh or dried)
dill weed (optional)
buttermilk to make the consistency you want for either dip or salad dressing
Thanks, both of you !
I had our week all planned out, then we got a puppy and I didn't have a chance to cook as much. We've done breakfast and stir fry, since they are simple. We've also ate out twice, which never happens.
I haven't ever heard of Dinnerly. I'm interested to hear more about it next week. I checked and it's not available here yet, but I want to learn more for when they (hopefully) do.
Monday- Ham sandwiches, potato chips and fruit
Tuesday- Spinach lasagna
Wednesday- Veggie pizza with green peppers, black olives, and onions
Thursday- Spaghetti with marinara sauce and sautéed shrimp, breadsticks
Friday- Salmon, sweet potatoes, and mixed veggies
More of the same around here. Nothing exciting, but quick and keeps us fed for less...
Monday- scrambled eggs to use up leftovers
Tuesday- pulled pork in Crock-Pot.
Wednesday- tacos with leftover pulled pork
Thursday- zucchini/sweet potato and chicken casserole
Friday- stir fry over rice
Monday - burgers
Tuesday - grilled chicken with garlic ginger sauce
Wednesday- spaghetti and meatball Thursday -FG Aussie chicken
Friday- pizza
Sat: garlic and Parmesan shrimp and gnocchi
Sun: tacos, strawberries
Mon: sandwiches, strawberries
Tues: baked beans, grilled pork chops, watermelon
Wed: Italian sausage with white beans and spinach in marinara sauce
Thurs: hotdogs, baked beans, mac and cheese, watermelon
Fri: leftovers (known in the BNC household as "smorgasbord"!)
Monday: Red Chicken Enchilada w/ rice/ tomato & Corn
Tuesday: Homemade Burgers- Big Boy Style... cheese,1000 Island Dressing, lettuce, pickle,ketchup
Wednesday Sauteed Chicken breast and brocolli
Thursday Taco salad
Friday : We both had a big lunch,...so a few tortilla chips....sometimes a full meal is just not the deal44?ĺok
It was a work busy week! But was glad for Eating at Home success!
Sunday - Baked marinated pork chops, noodles with veggies and cheese sauce, melon
Monday - Hurricane Day: Grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, cucumbers, fruit
Tuesday - BBQ'd chicken, macaroni and cheese, string beans
Wednesday - Pizza, salad, fruit
Thursday - Meatloaf, mashed cauliflower with cheese and bacon, sliced tomatoes, cucumbers
Friday - Sautéed turkey kielbasa with zucchini, onion and red pepper, rice, fruit
Saturday - Leftovers
Does anyone else have the experience of having a complete memory blank about what they ate when they sit down to write the week's eating? Oh, after a great deal of thought:
Monday--stir fry with tofu, lots of veggies, and a half-jar of jalfrezi sauce, with brown rice
Tuesday--pasta with red sauce with veggies (spinach, mushroom, corn)
Wednesday--grilled salmon, steamed broccoli, left-over potatoes stir fried with a handful of frozen, breaded okra
Thursday--we ate out, but it was cheap--my meal (veggie hot dog and fries) was $5!
Friday--frozen pizza, on the porch, with a beer
Tonight--not sure yet. Maybe home made 'fish and chips with mushy peas' as we have all the ingredients for it
Sunday I'm planning to make veggie chili with baked potatoes
The last five posts on this blog have all been affiliate posts or advertising for some service/product in some way. I feel like there's no content anymore, other than lists of things you've purchased for groceries. It's kind of boring and it really seems like a cash-grab. I probably won't visit this blog anymore, even though I've been reading it for years. There hasn't been anything interesting to read in ages... Just endless advertisements disguised as posts.
I understand that blogs can be expensive, but they can also be cheap... Just go to a free one if you can't afford to host with this service. If you're stuck only making posts intended to make you money so you can keep the site up... Well, what's the point?
This has been a VERY unfrugal week... Upon realizing that the upstairs side by side was not working properly we had to turn on the much smaller spare fridge in the basement and move everything down to that and the deep freezer... The bottom of the freezer kept filling with water and freezing in a thick sheet.. so we totally defrosted and cleaned out everything we possibly could on this appliance... and took the time to scrub the entire thing, the floor under it etc...( the linoleum got ripped fairly bad b/c we quickly learned that the front wheel snapped and when moved grabbed and tore the flooring... but we pushed on... and once everything seemed great... we plugged it back in and waited.. and my recent worries came true... I had thought that the fridge at times did not seem cold enough.. and I assumed it was the kids... but running empty we can see the fridge is NOT maintaining cool enough temps.. and is running non stop....
Soooo new fridge is ordered to be delivered and installed this week... new floating flooring is purchased.. to be installed before the fridge arrives...
Meal making and lunch packing has been so very annoying.. having to run up and down stairs constantly..
So random DIY meals before daughter VB games..
Ordered Pizza Hut dinner kits one night since I could barely enter the kitchen with pulled out fridge/messes every where (leftovers helped with lunches the next day!)..
Kids ate freezer snacks the night we adults bought the fridge and drowned our *sorrows* with italian after that...
Out to eat for the husbands birthday on Friday...
Saturday we continued his festivities at a local festival and snacked on food all day!
This too shall pass!
I'm very curious about the naan pizza. I make naan often for conventional homemade pizza, but like the idea of the spinach, onions and peppers. Do you just mix the uncooked spinach with the ricotta and top with caramelized onions and peppers then cook the pizza?
Thanks!
We had mostly basic meals (my husband was out of town for most of the week)
- Monday - panko chicken + mini tacos (trying to use up some freezer food we bought for a pool party. Served with cucumbers, tomatoes from the garden, & fruit salad
-Tuesday - build your own tacos (ground beef already prepped, in the freezer)
-Wednesday - grilled cheese & tomato soup
-Thursday - spaghetti & meatballs (freezer), topped with tomatoes from the garden
-Friday - oven baked risotto, blended with homemade pesto & fresh mozzarella. Served with grilled chicken & salad
-Saturday - my husband grilled burgers & corn
-Sunday - broccoli & cheese soup, a baguette that I discovered in the freezer, & salad