What I Spent, What We Ate | Plus my monthly averages
(I'm low on pictures this week to break up the post, so please enjoy this bunny, knitted and photographed by Sonia.)
What I Spent
I spent $124.42 on groceries this week, including a Hungry Harvest box. But I didn't take a picture of it this week. Whoops.
Week 1: $154
Week 2: $152
Week 3: $147
Week 4: $125
2018 Monthly Averages
(goal is $150/week)
January: $544
February: $588
March: $641
April: $728
May: $535
June: $749
July: $578
My average currently works out to be $145/week.
($4363 total spending divided by 30 weeks)
What We Ate
Monday
I made Zha Jiang Mian for the second time (from a recent issue of Cook's Illustrated magazine).
A small bummer: I made sure the sauce had no sesame in it (which she definitely seems to be allergic to), but Sonia still had an allergic reaction, and the only thing I can think of is the bean sprouts. Oy.
So, next time Sonia's plate is getting dished up before I add the bean sprouts.
Tuesday
I made grilled pork tenderloin, cut up some raw produce, and cooked up a pan of fingerling potatoes.
Wednesday
We went to see a Studio Ghibli film in the theater and we weren't hungry before we went. But by the time the movie was over, it was 9:30 pm and we were hungry! So we stopped at Chick Fil A.
Thursday
Lisey and Joshua were out with friends, Sonia and Zoe had mac n cheese, and Mr. FG and I went to see a friend of his play at a local restaurant (we ordered some appetizers).
Friday
I haven't decided yet! My fridge is kind of a disaster, so I'm thinking I should probably organize it and then decide based on what is in desperate need of using up.
(Why yes, this IS Level 10 homemaking. I'm basically an expert.)
😉
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Monday: Bunless hamburgers, sauteed green beans/zucchini/onions, fresh corn, boiled new potatoes, canned baked beans
Tuesday: Pork chops, leftover potatoes, corn on the cob, green salad
Wednesday: Soft tacos with ground beef taco meat, cucumbers, ice cream with chocolate shell. You know that Hershey's chocolate shell stuff you pour over ice cream and it hardens? Well, it can be made by microwaving 1 cup of chocolate chips with 2 tablespoons of coconut oil melted and mixed together. One of the best discoveries of my life recently. I got that from the "Life As Mom" blog, where she used it to dip frozen bananas. It's better with ice cream, though. As is pretty much anything.
Thursday: Italian sausage, bread and butter, cucumbers and carrots on the beach.
Tonight: Weather permitting, another beach cookout with friends. Last chance before we leave on Sunday for New Mexico. No beaches there . . .
Chick-Fil-A is always good... This week we ate:
Monday - Beans and Franks (using up freezer franks)
Tuesday - Pulled Pork on onion rolls, chopped salad
Wednesday - Chicken Pot Pie, fried okra, cantaloupe
Thursday - Fajita Mac*, fresh salad, cantaloupe
Tonight - Lemon Butter Shrimp skillet meal with quinoa and green beans
Saturday - Hubby and I are eating out
Sunday - Steak Bites with garlic butter, baked potatoes, salad, rolls
I used up a lot of dibs and dabs from the freezer and heard zero complaint. Win!
*Leftover pork fajita stirred into a boxed pasta meal with added green pepper and onion - not bad.
Saturday: went out to eat with friends to celebrate a new baby
Sunday: Taco Bell
Monday: pork loin, corn, smashed potatoes
Tuesday: leftovers from Monday
Wednesday: mushroom and kale quiche
Thursday: Stuffed shells, roasted carrots, bell peppers with jalapeno dip
Friday: probably leftovers again
Managed to finally stay under budget on groceries for the first time this year.
When my fridge gets overfull of random bits and leftovers, I put it all on the table and declare "smorgesborg" for dinner.
Let's see what I remember from this week. It includes several instances of trying to use up pantry foods.
Sunday - fried rice, and other stuff that I don't remember
Monday - Chinese + sushi, after late appt
Tuesday - ?
Wednesday - beef & broc, using flavoring from a packet
Thursday - burgers, lettuce, watermelon
Plan for next week includes:
- more beef & broc, to use the other envelope
- ants on a stick (Chinese ground meat + celophane noodles, to use up the noodles)
- meatballs in jam+BBQ sauce (to use up jam & BBQ sauce)
Now I remember Tuesday's dinner: Corny Corn Fritters, with scrounging for those who didn't like them.
Corny Corn Fritters:
- Cut the corn off about 3 ears of corn.
- Mix with egg yolk, 2 t. flour, and seasonings (s, p, old bay, chili, curry, dried cheese, etc).
- Separately, beat the egg white till stiff.
- Fold whites into corn.
- Scoop patties directly into frying pan, saute till done.
The bunny is so cute! $147/week is pretty good. Our food expenses this month is $640 for a family of 3 (two adults and a 3yo).
We still need to do grocery shopping this weekend, which might make our final food expenses for July $700 in total.
That amount includes everything that goes into our stomach, including beer and wine for Mr. FAF and the food he ate on his trip to Pittsburgh. I know some families have a separate category for entertainment, trips, and such. But we like to lump all things edible and drinkable together into one category. 😀
It's funny how different budgets account for different things. I lump in my home care items (like soap and laundry detergent) in the grocery budget since we tend to buy them at the grocery store.
Me too - who wants to subtract items out of a total bill and work out what to include each shop; I do separate out my takeaway & eating out so I keep tabs on how much I'm spending as opposed to necessary spending
Last Friday: Chinese takeaway.
Saturday: eggs and leftovers.
Sunday: basa, potatoes and mixed frozen vegetables.
Monday: chicken pasta made with pasta and sauce packets, chicken mince, and frozen veggies.
Tuesday: I don't remember what we had, but nobody starved so we must have had something.
Wednesday: chicken rice with diced kielbasa and veggies. My housemate made seafood salad.
Thursday: fresh salmon, potatoes, and sauteed zucchini and garlic. More seafood salad.
Friday: left over chicken rice and kielbasa.
As a fellow sufferer of food allergies, I totally sympathize. Hopefully it's the Benedryl kind and not the Epi-Pen kind.
I envy you on getting to see these Ghibli films in the theater. Our daughter is too young for the theater (even though she loves Totoro and The Cat Returns - or "Kitty" as she calls it.) So it would mean a baby sitter, an hour's drive and not cheap tickets. Oh well.
Are you planning on seeing Grave of the Fireflies?
This week has been crazy hectic for us and hopefully a return to normalcy is on the way soon.
Monday: My wife and daughter had spaghetti. I ate a large salad with leftover pork tenderloin
Tuesday: Leftover barbecue chicken, rice and steamed vegetables
Wednesday: A former coworker of mine that my wife is friends with came over with her daughter for a play date with my daughter and we had homemade pizza.
Thursday: My daughter and wife had eggs, corn muffins and fruit. I again ate a large salad and a corn muffin (we kind of ran out of eggs.)
Friday: Tonight my wife is sending me grocery shopping as our fridge currently resembles Mother Hubbard's cupboard. I plan on taking advantage of a sale on fish and having fried haddock for dinner. Not super frugal, I know but we're way under on our grocery budget so we can afford fish once in a while.
She's in the midst of getting nut allergies confirmed, and I think an epi-pen is probably in our near future for those. The bean sprout one was more just like itchy throat.
We might go see Grave of the Fireflies. That's one we've never seen on DVD before (whereas we've seen most of the other Ghibli movies on DVD).
Monday - I had a birthday deal for a free appetizer a local pizza joint. I drove out of my way to redeem it and found out they were closed for remodeling. Fail! Ended up using the $1 deal from the McDonalds app (available every day!) to get myself a double fish filet. Needed something quick for hubs so he got pizza rolls and Mac and cheese. Not our healthiest day.
Tuesday- I had a Blue Apron box delivered that cost me $19.90. I did it once to get the new customer deal then immediately cancelled. Every few months they send me a coupon code to start it up again and this one was irresistible! So Tuesday we had grilled steak with mashed potatoes and veggies.
Wednesday - another Blue Apron meal. Chinese Chicken Meatballs over rice with veggies.
Thursday - last Blue Apron meal. Cheeseburgers and corn on the cob. I was supposed to make a corn salsa to top the burgers but made it easy for myself and didn’t.
Friday - tonight we begin our weekend of camping. I’m sure we will stop at a dog-friendly brewery in the area for dinner. Love Michigan in the summer!
Wow, your budget is great! That's impressive.
I was barely under budget last week, after thinking I'd nailed it. I forgot I'd ordered a farm order. Then I had to buy more trash bags for the kitchen and outdoor can. I wish I could produce no trash or forego trash bags, but I can't.
This week we had:
Shrimp quesadillas on cassava flour tortillas, with salads
Pulled pork with sweet potatoes and celery slaw
Pork chops with apple/pear topping and some veggies I can't remember -- I over-salted the pork, ouch.
Sloppy joes and parsnip fries, with cinnamon applesauce, because I was craving applesauce.
Boiled shrimp, homemade onion rings and the last of the slaw.
You can tell I still have a lot of pork in the freezer, and that I got a big bag of frozen, peeled shrimp.
We've had quite a week!
Saturday- My son turned 2 and we had hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, and watermelon. The if his favorites! He ate so much mac and cheese that he didn't eat a bite of cake.
Sunday- We went camping! And when you camp with a 4yo, 2yo, and a newborn you bring grandparents along. 😉 My parents live here and came as well as my in-laws who were visiting from Hong Kong. We had foil dinners (meat and veggies in fill cooled over a fire) and s'mores.
Monday- Still camping. We had pizza mountain pies and chicken tortilla mountain pies. And of course, s'mores.
Tuesday- Ate at a Mexican restaurant. We had just gotten back from camping and there's not much good Mexican food in Hong Kong, so my in-laws wanted to get some while they were here.
Wednesday- Grabbed 69 cent cheeseburgers from Rally's on the way to the zoo and ate snacks like strawberries and cheese sticks at the zoo.
Thursday- BBQ pork sandwiches, green beans, and cherries. Got dessert at the county fair.
Friday- My in-laws left this morning, but my MIL put Mexican chili in the Crock-Pot before she left.
So this wasn't our cheapest food week ever, but it was oh so fun and we didn't go completely crazy on food spending. Now this tired momma needs a nap. 🙂
And I apologize for all of my swipe typing typos!
That is a very brave thing to go camping with so many small children!
Way to be camping with those little ones! I did the same when my kids were newborn, 2 and 4 (and yes, grandparents are especially helpful in those circumstances). I hope it was a good trip!
My youngest is 2 now and camping is much easier! When you don't have to get up in the middle of the night, that's a sweet spot for sure.
Let's see...Sunday was a Chinese buffet after church. With the senior discount and a $3 off coupon.
Monday, the husband went out of town for work till Wednesday night, so I picked up Chinese takeout after band rehearsal (hmm, I sense a theme here).
Tuesday, wonton soup and leftover fried rice.
Wednesday, a chopped kale salad and a chicken breast.
Thursday, a gig at an assisted living facility, where they were having a classic car show and an oldies band (us). The venue had a cookout going, so we had their beans, brats, potato salad, watermelon when we were finished performing.
Friday (tonight) I Instapot-ed chicken legs with garlic & red potatoes, and did fresh corn on the cob.
Monday- Chicken/broccoli alfredo, fried zucchini and fresh tomatoes
Tuesday- Pepper steak with fresh bell peppers and onions from the garden
Wednesday - cooked cabbage and fresh tomatoes with whatever leftovers we had
Thursday - We were at our state fair do we ate there.
Friday - meatloaf, mashed potatoes, leftover cooked cabbage and of course tomatoes (Our garden is presently producing an abundance of tomatoes. )
Saturday - I’m thinking about homemade pizza.
I like commenting on these "what we ate" posts, because I have to work that memory muscle.
Monday - Chicken, garden peas, zucchini and salad
Tuesday - My husband worked out of town and had a hotel for the night, so we joined him and ate dinner out.
Wednesday - Taco rice.
Thursday - Spaghetti!
Friday - We had a birthday supper for a family friend potluck style. I brought a greek salad.
My 3 week total for groceries is under $100 for the month of July but we are living out of freezer and pantry this month. Most of this week was cuc salads, baked beans, fajitas, pork sliders & Chinese takeout at a local dive.
Our garden is about gone due to lack of any rain in the last month, we lost a large crop of black berries.
That bunny is super cute!!
Super excited to be going to Virginia for 2 weeks soon, we went to North Carolina last summer for 2 weeks and I left my heart in NC. I want to live there.
We were trying to eat up whatever was in the house before leaving for a vacation.
Monday: Quesadillas with leftover steak that we had grilled on Sunday, fresh salsa, avocado slices, red and green pepper slices
Tuesday: Tortellini (from the freezer) with pesto (from the freezer), salad
Wednesday: Tacos with ground turkey (from the freezer), cheese, salsa, lettuce (some people had tacos and some made taco salads)
Thursday: We brought sandwiches to the farmer's market and bought some veggies to go with them and some cookies
Friday: Stirfry noodles with veggies (misc from the veggie drawer and also a bag of frozen edamame)
Saturday: Homemade individual size pizza with sauce and mozzarella and random toppings to use things up (a couple slices of salami, bacon, red onion, peppers, basil)
Sunday: Leftovers or whatever you can find (and my 10 year old ate dinner at a friend's house)
Do you have a separate "eat out" budget or do you include it in what you spend for food that week? I have a "groceries" budget and an "eat out" budget that I try to stick to (or at least have a goal haha), but didn't know if everyone does that.
We ordered out a lot last week... Also level 10 homemaking. Ha!
Those little potatoes look so good! Potatoes in any form are my favorite.
Your monthly averages are very impressive! We are looking to trim our household spending, and these posts have encouraged me to focus on my grocery spending. My weekly grocery spending from January to June averaged $210 per week for my small family of three. My goal for July is $150 per week. I will track my spending tonight for July and I do hope I am within budget!