WIS, WWA | $161!
What I Spent
I sure made up for last week's lack of shopping.
I spent:
- $68 at Aldi
- $13 at Noodles and Company
- $28 at Safeway
- $22 at Trader Joe's
- $30 on a Hungry Harvest box
Sooo, uhhh, $161 for me this week. But that makes sense because I bought almost no food last week!
What We Ate
Saturday
A green salad with chicken.
And it's what I packed in my lunch for clinical the next day too.
Sunday
I ate at Noodles and Company with my two study companions; I had a spicy noodle bowl with chicken in it.
Monday
I didn't take a picture, but I cooked some Aldi ravioli, added spinach, and also made a creamy sauce, so it was basically like this lunch I packed recently:
Tuesday
I had school earlier in the day, and then I had just a little 3:00-7:30 pm shift.
I picked up a rotisserie chicken on the way home and Zoe and I ate that in a green salad.
Wednesday
I worked what was probably the most exhausting 12-hour shift I've had yet, came home and ate some leftover ravioli, showered, and went to bed.
Thursday
Zoe wasn't home, and I was putting my head down and trying to power through my ATI exam remediation bullet points.
(For each concept we miss on an ATI exam, we have to write three bullet points of related corrected information.)
So I just ate a toasted pretzel bun plus a bowl of cottage cheese with peaches.
This was obviously not my best chef-ing effort, but as I keep saying, you can only slay at so many things simultaneously. And right now, I am basically only slaying at nursing school. Ha.
Friday
As I mentioned, today is my one day off! Yay!
I will go to the gym! I will go for a walk in the woods! I will perhaps cook something better than a toasted bun plus cottage cheese!
(I will also finish my ATI bullet points.)
That cottage cheese dinner sounds like the perfect “eating while slaying” meal. So close to the end!
Monday: rotisserie chicken salads with chopped dates, pickled onions, pecans, and bacon dressing.
Tuesday: Korean beef bowls
Wednesday: cooking for a crowd for Bible study. I made English muffin breakfast pizzas (topped with sausage gravy, scrambled eggs, a bit of bacon, and cheese).
Thursday: baked chicken taquitos
Friday: Pizza/movie night!
@Kyndra, mental note to add dates and pecans to my next meal salad!
@Gina from The Cannary Family,
I was thinking the same thing! I love a mix of sweet and savory salad add-ins.
Hang in there, Kristen! You’re almost there!!
Saturday-cookout at our daughter’s. I contributed baked beans.
Sunday-Easter dinner with our daughter’s family. I contributed grilled chicken, mashed potatoes and strawberry pie.
Monday-made a meal for a family who recently had a new baby. There was a slight disaster which was very stressful and required a last minute trip to the store. After finally getting the meal delivered, my sweet hubby took me out for supper.
Tuesday-I had dental work and needed to have soft foods, so we had breakfast for supper.
Wednesday-supper at church
Thursday-chicken enchilada casserole and salad
Tonight-planning to go to a local farm stand today, so something with a big salad with fresh lettuce and veggies!
Saturday: We had the leftovers of my sister's giant lasagna, plus a green salad with vinaigrette. The salad was mostly made by my seven-year-old daughter. I appreciate having a sous chef.
Sunday: Easter ham, scalloped potatoes, asparagus (from the garden, yay!), maple carrots, strawberry-rhubarb pie (rhubarb from the garden, yay!), vanilla ice cream, a selection of chocolates sent by my mother-in-law
Monday: Leftover ham and potatoes and carrots, raw radishes
Tuesday: I use whatever I have in my kitchen to dye eggs, and that always includes yellow curry powder. I save the curry powder from that by just pouring off the water on top. So we always have something with curry pretty promptly after Easter. This time it was a curry with ground ram and chickpeas. And then I made rice, of course, and my children ate still-frozen green beans.
Wednesday: A choice of leftover ham and potatoes, or leftover curry and rice. Also some garlic bread I had made the day before while baking bread.
Thursday: I was at a crafting event at school with my two youngest children, where they provided nachos and a lot of candy. At home, the other two children and my husband had leftover curry and rice. Again.
Tonight: I have to take one child to town and won't be here for dinner. So my husband will probably make either crepes or omelets, and I'm sure the child with me will want to get Sonic before we start our drive home. I'll probably wait to eat until we get home, and then I might have Wasa crackers and cottage cheese. 🙂
@kristin @ going country,
I’m curious about the other kitchen foods you use to make egg dyes. I’m always looking for more natural egg dye options that actually work.
@Becca, I'm not Kristin, but I've successfully dyed eggs with onion skin juice (dark russet red-orange colour) and with red cabbage juice, with and without vinegar added. One makes a gorgeous deep turquoise and the other a pinkish- purple colour. For both you need to cook/ steeped to make dark juice, strained, and then used to soak the eggs. Be aware that the vinegar will affect the eggshell, so they can scratch easily and need to be handled carefully.
What is the purple and white food I keep seeing in your clinical lunch pic?
Blueberry goat cheese, from Aldi! I eat it with their little cranberry and sea salt crisps (like little crackers)
I'm still hovering right around $100 a week, which is pricey for one person, but as always, includes more than just food and takes into account lunch out at least twice. This week:
M - Chik-Fil-A strips and a mac and cheese
T - Shrimp Pesto Pasta (this was delightful!), broccoli salad
W - A roast chicken thigh, some gorgonzola gnocci from TJ, and the rest of the broccoli salad
Th - Beef and Bean tacos with pico de gallo
F - I'm going to have a salad with romaine, apple, red onion, cucumber, and chicken
I'm doing my best to eat at home and use up what I already have before I do any more large grocery trips!
Happy Weekend (:
You are slaying life in general -- and toasted bun with cottage cheese and peaches is pretty darn good nutrition!
I happen to really like cottage cheese on toast.
Happy Friday, everyone! This week, we enjoyed eating:
- Crackers and cucumbers with white bean rosemary dip; chips and guac; smoothie
- Nuts, granola, yogurt and blackberries
- Broccoli-mushroom strata
- Spinach salad with strawberries, slivered almonds and poppyseed dressing
- Vegetarian taco skillet
- Spaghetti with tomato sauce and broccoli (x2)
I had my annual physical yesterday and when it came time to set the next year's physical, they asked me my preferences for day of the week and time of day and suddenly I realized, it won't really matter much, because next year I WON'T BE WORKING. I left with a big smile on my face.
WIS: Right at $180 for two weeks, but that includes two larger than usual farm orders.
WIA: We had a huge Easter lunch: ham, Brussels sprouts (my daughter found a recipe for sprouts that I like!), mac n' cheese (homemade by daughter), dinner rolls, cheese log (homemade by other daughter) and crackers, spinach-strawberry salad, and my son-in-law's mother and her young grandson took "you can bring a dessert if you like" to the extreme and showed up with two 3-layer cakes, a cheesecake and cookies they had made, to go with my Key lime pie. So you know what I had Sunday night for supper? Nothing more than a slice of Key lime pie, which was all that was left of the pie. All of the desserts had been pretty well demolished.
The rest of the time I ate more normally, but the meals heavily featured Easter ham:
Lamb chops, skillet potatoes, asparagus roasted with mushrooms. I had this twice.
Same veggies as above, but with Easter ham.
Ham sandwich, baked beans and sliced cucumber.
Leftover Admin Assistant Day lunch, which was picadillo, rice, black beans, and fried sweet plantain. (Or, picadillo, arroz, frijoles negros y maduros.)
Ham slices with fresh pineapple chunks and a touch of coconut sugar, lightly browned in a non-stick skillet, English peas.
Tonight, not sure. It might involve ham.
@JD, yes to your first paragraph! It's so freeing to know that appointments don't need to occur before or after work. And I make sure not to schedule any appointments before 10:00 a.m. Why rush my mornings?
@JD, would you share the brussels sprouts recipe, please?
I spent $81.
We ate:
Saturday: hamburgers, roasted potatoes, salad, pickled veggies
Sunday: Easter - ham, salmon, mashed potatoes, pasta salad, asparagus, cheese ball, crackers, rolls, veggie plate. DIL wanted chocolate cake for her birthday and son wanted cheesecake for his. They both had birthdays the week of Easter and mine was this week also. So, we did it all at once since my parents were in town too.
Monday: I sent everyone home with leftovers, but we had plenty here too so we had leftovers
Tuesday: last of the ham in like a carbonara inspired pasta
Wednesday: Pizza with my younger son. DH was out of town
Thursday: kielbasa, baked potato, brussels sprouts
Friday: Whatever DH makes as I have pulled something in my back and can't do much
I think this week's spending hovered around $100 which was split between Trader Joe's and Publix. My husband has been working from home. He has taken to going to the grocery store as a lunch time outing. He doesn't keep his receipts, so I can't be certain of our expenditures.
Saturday - The men in my life went fishing and caught several nice reds. We had an after fishing cook out -grilled red fish, zucchini, slaw, mac 'n cheese, rice, sausage, and no dessert!
Sunday - I did not cook. We had a lovely dinner at a family member's home.
Monday - I was busy planting and cleaning up flower beds, so no real cooking. We had a doctored frozen GF pizza. I added spinach, grilled artichokes, fresh tomatoes, extra cheese, and some pepperoni and sausage that I had in the freezer.
Tuesday - chicken, rice, and roasted rainbow carrots.
Wednesday - I was presenting a leadership award at a local high school, so it was leftovers.
Thursday - chicken taco bar with all the fixings.
Friday - chicken taco leftovers.
Have a nice weekend and bon appétit!
As someone who went through nursing school with 5 homeschooled kids (okay, 4 homeschoolers plus a toddler) I want you to know that it is SO WORTH IT when you're done. Nursing has opened so many doors for me and given me so much back. Those last few months of nursing school are rough, and the burnout is real. You can get there. Just one day at a time and be kind to yourself. One. Day. At. A. Time.
Friday: Burgers at a local burger place
Saturday: Turkey Poppers, curly fried, salad
Sunday: Mac and Cheese, TJ’s Rosemary Lemon Chicken, spinach salad
Monday: Braised oxtails over mashed potatoes
Tuesday: My son had a game an hour away from home. I packed him a sandwich to have on the way to the game (I picked him up directly from track practice) and we stopped by Wendy’s on the way home. My husband had leftovers at home.
Wednesday: Baked Tomato and Eggplant Pasta
Thursday: Yellow Squash and Potato Soup, Ham and Cheese Sandwiches
@Geneva, have to ask what turkey poppers are. I know what jalapeno poppers are (and really like them). I have a feeling I may be a bit disappointed if you answer.
I hope your day off fills your cup!
Saturday- rice, beans, pesto, goat cheese, and an egg. Our go-to quick meal that isn't takeout
Sunday - Easter brunch at a restaurant with family
Monday - we took some friends out to dinner to celebrate their purchase of a winery!
Tuesday - nice weather, so we grilled hamburgers with a side salad.
Wednesday - charcuterie with a friend!
Thursday - we moved date night from regularly scheduled Wednesday and went thrift shopping and got Culver's
Friday - another social outing! Jeez! Monthly supper club
WIS: $30 between Food Lion and Dollar Tree. $35 plus tip for a Chinese restaurant meal for two.
WWA: Leftover chicken and salad. Chili with white cheddar corn muffins. Last night's Chinese meal out. Today will be pork loin and some roasted veggies. As always, there are protein shakes, cheese, fruit and crackers for anyone who does not want a hot meal.
Saturday: Steak (tofu for me) and baguette, green beans
Sunday: Easter lunch with lamb, Hasselback potatoes, warm lima bean salad, grilled asparagus and lemon meringue pie for dessert. We made some easy nachos for dinner after the big lunch.
Monday: Tacos with leftover Easter lamb and black beans which I flavored with chili seasoning
Tuesday: Cream of cauliflower soup and homemade rolls made from leftover breakfast oatmeal
Wednesday: Quesadillas with leftover taco ingredients and meat/veggies my son had grilled for himself and a friend.
Thursday: Spaghetti with sauteed spinach and power greens, garlic, capers, and oregano from the garden. Topped with lots of fresh parmesan.
Friday: Planning to do takeout poke bowls
I think pretzel bun plus cottage cheese plus peaches covers carbs, protein, and produce. Check, meal done. I eat that sort of meal on the regular and don't think twice about it.
Home stretch… you are almost there!!!!!!!
Survival mode is perfectly acceptable. You've got this!
I had a bunch of interviews & interview prep this week, and still working through class content prep, so I also didn't have the most inspiring meal plan.
-On Friday, we had wings & possible chicken Tikka samosas from Trader Joes.
-Saturday was supposed to be a chicken teriyaki dish, but Costco was out of chicken breasts, and DH forgot to go to another store. So, I made orange chicken & cauliflower rice, both from the freezer.
-Sunday - DH grilled beef kebabs, made Persian rice, & yogurt sauce. We had 8 people for dinner, mostly teens. We also hosted a pool party ahead of time. It wasn't warm enough, but the teens played pool volleyball, and weren't phased. My contribution was a chocolate tuxedo cake, from Costco. It had cute festive flowers on it.
-Monday - DS18's senior tennis night, so we got home late. I once again turned to the freezer, and we had spring rolls & coconut shrimp. We eat salad with all of our meals, so we are getting in veggies.
Tuesday - DH made more rice, because we ran out on Sunday, and we served that with the leftover kebabs.
Wednesday - I managed to salvage from carnitas from the freezer that no one was impressed with the first time. I added some chili lime salt, and really crisped them in the oven. DS18 had his with tortillas, cheese & salsa, I had mine over salad.
Thursday - I taught my class last night, so I had cheese, crackers, and apple & a handful of cashews. DH served the last of the rice with meatballs, and large bowls of fruit.
As for tonight, no idea what the plans are. Possibly tacos?
Kristen, I existed primarily on cottage cheese while I was writing my undergraduate senior thesis. No shame there.
Now, WIS: $22.60 at Price Chopper and $10.65 at Tops.
WIA: The usual nothing very impressive, especially as I wasn't cooking an Easter dinner. But the $10.65 at Tops was spent on some impressively marked-down meat. NDN's home care aide wasn't able to come on Wednesday, so I took NDN on her weekly Tops run--and was able to use her Tops card on the meat markdowns and reimburse her afterward. I used the pound of ground turkey I got this way to make a version of an NY Times "spicy turkey burger" recipe. I must admit that putting two spoons of mayonnaise (plus some panko bread crumbs, my own idea) keeps plain ground turkey from turning into little hockey pucks.
There are worse foods to exist on for sure!
@A. Marie, mayo, along with peanut butter, are on the base of my food pyramid. However unlike my Pappaw, I cannot stomach mayo on mashed potatoes!
You remember the 1970s "salad" of cottage cheese, powdered jello, and Cool-Whip? Earned me an "A" on my demonstrative speech.
Oh my word. I have never heard of someone putting mayo on mashed potatoes, but that sounds revolting. And that's from someone who does like mayo!
@Selena, I've recommended this song before, but I'll do it again: William Bolcom's classic "Lime Jell-O Marshmallow Cottage Cheese Surprise," as performed by Bolcom and his wife, Joan Morris (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tWuG2oPL3o).
@A. Marie, lol... the 60s and 70s were really a time of "creative" dishes.
I spent about $100 at Winco and Trader Joes.
Saturday - no idea
Sunday - For Easter dinner we had ham, tri tip, homemade mac & cheese, roasted asparagus, rolls and pineapple upside down cake. All the leftovers went home with relatives.
Monday & Tuesday - Salad with romaine, chicken, green apples, blue cheese and bacon crumbles.
Wednesday - I am not proud to say I had strawberry licorice and cold leftover chicken.
Thursday - Snacky plate with a deviled egg, pretzel thins, cornichons, and laughing cow cheese. This totally hit the spot! Later, I had half of a sumo orange.
Friday - I am thinking I will pull some BBQ pulled chicken out of the freezer and have it over a baked potato or homemade fries. Green salad on the side.
Kristen, have your fabulous packed lunches rubbed off on your fellow students? Any that initially bought and now they pack because of your example?
Some of them do pack lunches here and there, but I haven't met anyone who is quite as hardcore as me. People always comment on my stainless steel containers, though, whether I'm at work or clinical!
@Kristen, ha! ☺️
WIS: S&S-$20; Flashfood-$130; TGTG-$5; the Star-$6; Milk delivery-$21 Total-$182
WWA: Sat- Frozen chop suey like meal and then Gelato later
Sun- Easter Sunday- Easter dinner was early so had a small bowl of clam chowder for dinner
Mon- Stuffed crust steak and cheese pizza
Tues- Cheese and garlic sausage, fettucine w/ vodka sauce, and a veg I can't remember
Wed- Fenway-Chicken tender and fries and fried dough
Thurs- Cheeseburger w/ potato salad and peas
Fri- Italian marinaded pork loin, pappardelle w/ vodka sauce and some assortment of veg on the side or in the pasta
If it were me, I would end that list of if I wills with “who am I kidding? I will take a nap.”
WIS:
I spent nothing, but my husband took the kids to Aldi to buy treat foods for his birthday dinner and spent about 82 dollars.
WWA:
Fri: salad and focaccia
Sat: salad, meatball subs and leftover focaccia.
Sun: Easter dinner, so we had pineapple salmon served over roasted potatoes and Brussels sprouts, an apple fennel salad and apple donuts (made by coating apple rings in slightly watered down pancake mix and pan frying them)
Mon: leftover fennel salad, leftover Brussels and potatoes air fried, and hotdogs in brioche buns. We tried a new trick of scoring x shapes down the hotdog before frying to get more crispy surface area and little crevices for toppings. Definitely worth the trouble.
Tue: salad, Spanish rice, bean and cheese nachos and guacamole.
Wed: it was my husband’s birthday and he wanted a “snacky dinner,” so we had make your own sushi with seaweed squares, sushi rice, smoked salmon, marinated cucumbers and cut up red peppers. We also had crackers and a variety of fancy cheeses from Aldi plus blueberries.
Thu: beyond burgers on homemade buns with cheese and lots of veggie toppings, leftover nachos and leftover cucumbers and red peppers.
Tonight: salad and focaccia, of course.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Belated birthday wishes Kristen!!
I have to ask - is salad any other color than green?
Sat - dine out using a gift card from the fund raiser. Gift card covered 3/4 of the meal, we left a nice tip. If we dine there again, we’ll split a sandwich meal, graciously pay a plate sharing feel, and tip well.
Sun - better half made a pizza, I consumed eggs I cooked my way with locally purchased bread and sausage
Mon - brats, fried potatoes with HG garlic, red peppers, onions
Tue - planned on trying a new chicken place but the cars were backed up onto the street. Not Mickey D’s/not Culver’s cheeseburgers and fries (Freddy's!)
Wed - grilled burgers and baked beans
Thu - steak skillet (leftover) with potatoes, red pepper, onions, HG garlic
Fri - pecan crusted tilapia and semi-homemade fried rice. Which for a first attempt was pretty good.
Yes! Like a tuna salad! Or a jello salad!
@Kristen, I was raised calling it tuna fish, always on sandwiches. Chicken salad also comes to mind.
And ugh to the memory of jello "molded" salad - the one with sour cream in the middle still nauseates me today. And I like sour cream but not with anything sweet.
You've got this!
Ad a high school teacher, the end of the year burnout is real for students AND teachers! But you've done an amazing job, and I'm sure you'll get to the end.
Besides, we're all rooting for you!
WIS $95 (currently 3 of us)
WWA
Sunday: Easter lamb chops and Parmesan risotto. It was a really low key Easter this year, but dinner was delicious.
Monday: chicken pot pie
Tuesday: leftovers. I can't tell you what I ate...
Wednesday: I made a spiced chicken thing and made some fresh yogurt flatbread to go with it, which was successful for the first time ever! So good.
Thursday: burgers on the grill and a black bean corn salad.
Friday: everyone have some leftovers from the fridge night. I had leftover black bean and corn salad with some leftover buffalo chicken from last weekend that had to be used up with nacho chips.
Today I'm making fennel and sausage calzones with fennel from my garden.
I love Aldi ravioli!!!
„ as I keep saying, you can only slay at so many things simultaneously. And right now, I am basically only slaying at nursing school.“
I need to write this down next to my bathroom mirror. I’m trying to so everything at once all the time and guess what it’s not working at all…
We have to selectively slay. 😉