What I Spent, What We Ate | Not exactly a role-model week!
What I Spent
This week I spent:
- $105 at the grocery store
- $25 on my Hungry Harvest
- $68 on takeout (!) See the rest of the post.
That puts me at $198 on food spending for the week to start November off.
If there's a little takeout here or there, I don't bother adding it to my grocery budget.
But three meals this week? That seemed like it should come from my grocery budget!
What We Ate
Saturday
Mr. FG and I had a date night at Panda Express, which has two of the features of our usual date night restaurants:
- inexpensive
- casual
Every now and then we get dressed up to go somewhere fancy:
but as a rule, we are happy being casual.
Our bill was $21.25, which comes out of our $20/week date night budget.
Sunday
We carved pumpkins on Sunday afternoon, and in the evening after Joshua and his girlfriend left, Mr. FG and a few of the girls were hungry (some of us were full from snacking during carving!)
So he picked up some sushi for $38.
Which reminds me why we don't eat sushi all the time. The amount of food you get for the price is definitely lower than other forms of takeout!
Monday
I made cuban sandwiches and we had raw fruits and veggies with those.
Tuesday
I made shrimp and grits, and I was going to cook green beans with those....but my green beans had gone bad.
Sigh.
So we had raw fruits and veggies on the side again.
Wednesday
Only Mr. FG, Sonia and I were home at dinnertime, and both Sonia and Mr. FG were sick with a cold.
Sonia in particular was really wanting Chinese food, so we got a takeout order for $14.75.
Thursday
Halloween night!
Which always makes dinner kind of tricky, because the parade in our neighborhood starts at 5:30, and we are always busy getting ready before then, which does not leave time to eat.
By the time we got back to our house at 8:00 or so, we were all pretty hungry. So Mr. FG picked up Little Caesar's for $14.80.
I'll do a post with photos of our costumes (check back tomorrow!), but you can see Mr. FG and me on my Instagram feed.)
Friday
I really think that I should actually cook some dinner tonight. Ha.
It got suddenly cold overnight, so maybe I'll do some soup and fresh bread.
Saturday: Halloween celebration in the village, for which the sole restaurant has a baked potato bar and a LOT of desserts. Kids are free, which is a good deal when you have four kids. They never really eat the food at restaurants anyway, so free is pretty much the only way to get a good deal with them.
Sunday: Meatloaf, baked potatoes, curried cauliflower, cucumber slices, raw tomatoes
Monday: Scrambled eggs, bacon, leftover mashed potatoes with cheese or bread and butter, carrot sticks
Tuesday: Elk stir-fry with peanut sauce, rice.
Wednesday: Elk marinated with olive oil, vinegar, salt, a lot of garlic, and dried oregano and basil,. then quickly fried and mixed with marinara and covered with mozzarella cheese. Pizza elk. 🙂 Plus pasta with more marinara, and a green salad.
Thursday: Leftovers and sliced cucumbers in between the sugar bonanzas of a school Halloween party and trick-or-treating
Tonight: I cooked a huge squash yesterday, so now I have about two gallons of squash on hand. I believe I will make a soup with some of it tonight, and then have bunless cheeseburgers, roasted potatoes, and salad for everyone who doesn't eat squash soup (my children).
On Sunday I cooked a roast chicken dinner. Monday was leftovers from that. Tuesday and Wednesday see me babysitting my granddaughter and I honestly do not remember what we had. Last night was chicken sarges, gravy etc and tonight was a stew made from lamb neck chops. I don't think I will make that again.
Soup and fresh bread sounds so good! And it's amazing how delightful takeout is and how quickly is can add up. Worth it on occasion though. We love easy and casual treats!
Especially when it's sushi. Geez. How can such a small container cost so much?
In case that's a real question and not a rhetorical one. The reason is that for even supermarket sushi, the fish has to be pretty good quality, because there's no way to disguise poor quality fish. There's no cooking, or sauce, or even much in the way of seasoning.
Think of all the ways you can disguise low quality ingredients in a stew: roast them first, or marinate, or spice; mnce them small, puree them, overwhelm with other flavors; add bread or tomatoes or strong beef broth or cheese croutons. None of these options are available for simply prepared food, and even less for simply prepared raw food.
On the plus side, it sure is healthy.
BTW, this is a good read, informative and enjoyable.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/250638.The_Zen_of_Fish
Although I planned to have real meals it just didn't work out that way.
Saturday - tacos
Sunday - roast chicken breast, artichoke and stuffing
Monday - I was working on a Halloween project so I just ate some cottage cheese and fruit since that took no time to cook.
Tuesday - I went shopping after work and was hungry so I used a free sandwich coupon I had from Chick-fil-A and called it good.
Wednesday - I can't remember even though it was just 2 days ago. Hmm. I think I just grazed on whatever was around: cheese and crackers, etc.
Thursday - grilled cheese sandwich
Friday - Not sure yet but I should probably eat some super foods or something since my dinners were pretty atrocious this week.
Monday: Pork chops with homemade copycat Shake and Bake. My kid eats it so who cares that it's not gourmet.
Tuesday: We had cold meat sandwiches and some soup which set the stage for how low key this week would become.
Wednesday: My wife and daughter ate spaghetti and meatballs. I just had a salad.
Thursday: I don't celebrate Halloween (though my kid did get some stuff at daycare) so no party or anything like that. We had BLTs.
Friday: Cooking a roast beef tonight.
Here is how we did last week, we only ate out once! $15 for pizza and it was worth every penny.
Last week's menu
Wednesday: Chili Dogs and Tater Tots
Thursday: Breakfast for Dinner Eggs and Grits Sandwiches
Friday: Spaghetti, Salad, and Bread
Saturday: TacoBurgers (Son In Law is cooking)
Sunday: Take Out Pizza
This week's menu
Tuesday: Breakfast for dinner Eggs, Grits Bacon and Pancakes
Wednesday: Large salad and grilled chicken
Thursday: Sloppy Joe's and Tater Tots (Son in Law is cooking)
So far so good. We are tracking our grocery spending this month, so that may be an eye-opener. I will keep you posted!
That's a lot of take-out for only $68 though! We probably spend about that on take-out every week and that's only 2 meals worth (or 1 if it's sushi...). This week we only did take-out once and that was $50 at the noodle place (we got 5 entrees for the four of us because DC1 is on a growth spurt) last night.
That's true...Little Caesar's is a pretty cheap takeout place. And the wonton soup was pretty inexpensive too.
1. Made teriyaki chicken legs...boneless legs from aldi. Teriyaki a little strong so i am slicing to freeze as strips to use on top of green salads. 2. Need some mushrooms to throw in to pilaf mix from aldis....87 cent boxed pilaf mix. Get mushrooms into diet any way you can. 3. Snack on carrots or grapes No more chips.
I know I hate adding up what I spent on eating out, but this month I hated adding up what I spent on groceries! Can we say $200 over budget? Incredible! I toned my numbers down last week, but I was already over budget when I shopped last Friday. Today starts a new budget month, so wish me luck.
What we had:
(Almost everything is still on the AIP elimination diet)
Pressure cooker beef stew, which we both love. I made adaptations to a basic stew recipe to make it AIP friendly and for once I hit a home run. My husband isn't a sweet potato fan but he eats the white sweet potatoes in this stew with no problem.
I had the stew again and he had a frozen supreme pizza that was on sale. He said it was quite good.
Hamburger "steaks" with lots of garlic and onion, served over rice for him, over cauliflower rice for me, with fried okra on the side.
Chicken thighs with sage and garlic, with Rosemary Carrots on the side and something else.
Burgers (in two small cassava flour tortillas for me) and cole slaw
Steak with a side of green beans and something else I've also forgotten.
Salmon patties, made with a gelatin egg instead of real egg. I didn't refrigerate them an hour to let them firm up, and they broke up all over the pan. Salmon hash, is what we had. It looked awful, although it tasted fine. We had that with leftover carrots and leftover slaw.
We hadn’t big plans this weekend so we cooked on both days.
Saturday: Potatoes salad and meat balls
Sunday: Pan fried salmon, risotto and Swiss chard (Italian style)
Monday: Bread with cheese and some leftover green salad with cucumbers and tomatoes.
Tuesday: Pasta with tuna in tomato sauce
Wednesday: Pizza from scratch
Thursday: Bread with cheese and a small side of chickpea salad with odds and ends.
Friday: It’s a national holiday here so we have time to roast pork belly. We will have potatoes dumplings and creamy cabbage with it.
What and why on the "gelatin egg"?
That question was supposed to be for JD.
Jenny, what's the holiday?
Saturday: We had a wedding to go to (hubby was a groomsman) We had BBQ pork and baked Potatoes at the wedding. Really good!
Sunday: The groom's parents wanted to take the wedding party out to lunch. So we had Chinese. Then went to a movie with friends. Had a coupon for free popcorn. By the time we got home I just made a smoothie and called it good hubby ate a hot Pocket
Monday: Sprimp and grits.
Tuesday: I'm at church all day 9-12 then again from 4-8 so I picked KFC up on my way home.
Wednesday: Hubby has a management class for work from 5-9 So I had leftover chicken and Hubby stopped somewhere on his way to class.
Thursday: I made Alfredo pasta and salad.
Friday: We are signing the final escrow papers for our new house at 5. So Hubby said something about going out to dinner.
Monday: Grilled cheese and tomato soup
Tuesday: I had planned to make ravioli, but couldn't find it in the freezer. So I made pizza instead.
Wednesday: Quesadillas and pineapple
Thursday: Chicken thighs, broccoli with cheese, butternut squash
Friday: Spaghetti or baked spaghetti with peas
Lots of fun photos!
Monday: fish tacos and zucchini spaghetti
Tuesday: turkey sausage, brown rice and oranges
Wednesday: chicken burger, arugula salad and sliced apples
Thursday: Lamb, sauteed veggies, baked french fries (and lots of candy)
Friday: Has to be something quick, so maybe eggs
Sunday: Pepper steak with rice for my husband and cauliflower rice for me.
Monday: Salmon with homemade, oven baked french fries for him and broccoli tots for me. Caesar salad
Tuesday: Awful, awful. I made spaghetti with a new type of plant based "meat" from Aldi. I've used Aldi's earth grown brand before but this was horrible. Will never buy again. I ate a tiny portion with some elbow macaroni. My husband took one bite and then had a tuna sandwich. Roasted yellow squash on the side.
Wednesday: Leftover pepper steak. More rice for him, leftover low-carb elbow macaroni for me. Yellow squash.
Thursday: take out from our local feed store (an actual feed store with a cafe attached). I had salad with brisket and collared greens on the side. My husband had a burger.
Friday: We're having ribs and sides from the feed store and I'm making french fries.
It is cold enough now to transfer stuff into our second freezer: a plastic tote with a secure lid to keep out moose and the dog. Doing that means discovering stuff that has been lurking at the bottom of our fridge freezer since last spring. Last week I discovered a salmon that fed us all week. Yesterday I pulled out a hunk of moose roast and it has been in the fridge marinating in a strongly vinegar flavored sauce all night, to tenderize and also to reduce some of the gamy flavor. Tonight it is moose pot roast and then the rest of the week it will be moose tacos; it takes some time for two of us to go through a giant hunk of meat and we are not picky about eating the same thing day after day after day. Less time cooking and fewer pots/pans to wash.
That's a lot of takeout at a pretty decent price... many of those meals could be around the same cost as a nice make at home meal. We tried to make pizza with the kids recently as a fun family activity, and it turned out being more expensive and less delicious than just ordering one in!
Have you ever tried making your own sushi? If it's a treat you love, that is one meal where you can definitely save costs by making it yourself. The rice doesn't have to be perfect either. In fact, it's more fun (and funny) if it's not!
I can honestly say it hasn't been the most thrifty food week here either. I was going for a zero dollar food bill, forcing us to pantry and freezer eat. Then my daughter's car needed to be repaired. She lives 30 minutes away. But, we're a family always there in time of need. We spent two days making sure everyone got to work in the mornings, commitments afterwards and then home at night. It meant some eating out and picking up premade food (rotisserie chicken and mashed potatoes) to make it all work. We also got fresh eggs from our neighbor and ate breakfast a lot.
Saturday - food bar variety at the local grocery store.
Sunday - rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes and salad.
Monday - mushroom and cheese omelette
Tuesday - chicken noodle soup and toasted sesame seed bread
Wednesday - pork chops, brown rice and salad
Thursday - waffles and bacon
Friday - egg, cheese and sausage sandwiches.
Let's see what I remember.
- Mon: Beef bulgolgi, from bulk-bought pastured beef and home-made bulgoli sauce from CI. I don't remember the veg or fruit.
- Wed: Shrimp and Broccoli. Well, it *was* going to be shrimp and broccoli, but I had an experience like Kristen's. The broccoli went sour! Not wilted, not moldy, not flowering. Sour. I've never encountered that before in my life. Has anyone else??? I served tomatoes and carrots on the side.
- Thurs: Halloween was pizza (leftover from a long-ago kids' party that I helped with), carrots, melon.
- Fri: Clear Out the Freezer: meatballs (made with on-sale 100% grass-fed meat) rotisserie chicken (leftover from a party), leftover Shrimp without Broccoli eked out with rice, cukes, melon.
- Sat will be ribs, lettuce, melon.
Oooo - the shrimp and grits look amazing :)!
Well, not our finest, yet not our worst week . . .
Sunday -- Finally finished off the Blech weirdly bland veggie taco leftovers. Gritting our teeth.
Monday -- FAIL -- So tired and crabby but mood improved with Subway using coupons.
Tuesday -- Sauteed 2 chicken breasts in soy Vay, and served one over brown rice, with broccoli and salad.
Wednesday -- Turned the leftover chicken and rice into fried rice, salad. Husband ate the leftovers for lunch next day and I ate the salad).
Thursday-- Well, it was our Friday, since every teacher's dream finally came true -- no school the day after Halloween! So we went to happy hour game night and had enormous chicken and hamburger sandwiches with fries and slaw, respectively. And each came with a beer --.For 12.99 per person! We yapped and yapped.
Friday-- As if Thurs. wasn't enough, we met friends for dinner at a brew pub and it was noisy and fun. Had a salmon patty sandwich and husband had tacos. Walked around afterwards and had vegan ice cream (hey, it's Los Angeles). Mine was superb -- made from almond milk and almond butter. So -- not cheap but fun. These friends are leaving town soon so no regrets!
Saturday -- so tonight it is something from the freezer/refrig for sure! Either chicken or turkey or possibly frozen pizza to go with leftover salad.
Happy Saturday night, all!
Oh and thanks so much for sharing your "non-role model" weeks along with the gold star ones -- i think that is why you ARE a role-model -- you don't shy from truth-telling and keep inspiring everyone to keep on keeping on. I always leave these posts vowing to do better, not to be perfect since perfect is the enemy of good, as you have pointed out, but to make improvements as I go.
So thank you and all the commenters for creating this happy, inspirational space 🙂
Love the costumes!
I have no idea how everyone remembers what they had last week (and, I do menu plan, but don't track it week on week), but let me give it a go;
Monday - chicken sausages for most, salmon for my husband. Served with soup & salad
Tuesday -carnitas + quesadillas
Wednesday - leftover sausage + salmon, served with cauliflower rice
Thursday - both kids had Halloween parties to attend, so we went out to dinner. Martinis + entrees, & it was fabulous. Our first Halloween evening to ourselves in years. We enjoyed it.
Friday - carnitas salads
Saturday - steak, brussel sprouts & the kids also had garlic bread (they made themselves). We had salad to go with.
Sunday - I'm making cauliflower crust pizza (adults) + regular crust pizza (kids) with pepperoni for both, & salad on the side