WIS, WWA | $6.82
What I Spent
I spent just $6.82 (at Safeway) this week, mainly because I'd made that Aldi trip at the end of last week. And I also had plenty of produce from my Hungry Harvest box from last week!
What We Ate
Saturday
This was the night I went to the symphony and I already showed you my pre-symphony meal. 🙂
Sunday
I went to a friend's crab feast in mid-afternoon, and when I got home in the evening, I wasn't hungry. I just threw some cut-up cantaloupe in a container and went to my favorite sunset park to read a book and eat a snack while the sun went down.
Monday
I did some food prepping since I had work shifts the following three days. Part of that was making a kale salad, so I ate that at dinner along with some sauteed shrimp.
Tuesday
I wasn't crazy hungry when I came home from work, so I decided to make a smoothie.
I started out with just some yogurt and spinach:
And then I added frozen bananas and strawberries, but of course, the strawberries turn a green smoothie into an unappetizing brown smoothie, so I didn't take a picture of the finished product.
Wednesday
I browned some chicken sausage slices and added them to a green salad. I didn't take a picture, but it was a lot like this previous salad:
Thursday
When I got home from my shift, Zoe was at a friend's house, so I just made myself some blueberry pancakes and called it good.
I'd already eaten a kale salad for lunch, so I figured the lack of greens at dinner was no biggie. 🙂
Friday
I've been at work the last three days but I'm off today! So I need to poke through my fridge and figure out what needs to be urgently used. 🙂
You spent considerably less, and I spent much more! I spent $338 which is crazy for us. I had been spending about $60 for weeks though and that was low. We also made a trip to the commissary at the air base. I hadn’t been there in about 6 months. Lately, not many things are cheaper there than anywhere else, but some things are (cleaning supplies, paper products, frozen things, cat food, batteries, etc) so I stocked up on those a lot.
Sat: Butter chicken/rice/salad
Sunday: Hamburgers with tots/raw veggies
Monday: airfry chicken pitas/slaw/cheesy rice
Tuesday: meatballs sub/potato salad/raw veggies
Wednesday: We were in Charleston and ate fish at Codfather because I miss it so much!
Thursday: burritos with meat, black beans, rice…whatever you wanted to put in your burrito (kids came so it was a stuff your own burrito thing)
Friday: hitting the easy button with rotisserie chicken (one of the $2 rotisserie chickens I put in the freezer), mashed potatoes, green beans
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Sat-saugage pepers onions, patatoes
sunday- chicken on the grill, yellow rice, salad, mixed veggies
monday- hot dogs tater tots
Tuesday- shrimp scampi, broccoli
Wends- Ribs on the grill, veggies,
thursday- scrambled eggs. breakfast patotoes, toast
fri--out
I do love a good kale salad! When I make it at home I add apples and dates to it. I spent $75 at HEB this week, with another $4 at Chik-Fil-A. Most of those groceries are for next week, but I got a few things I can keep in my pantry, too.
M - CFA, using rewards so it was cheap thrills - chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, kale salad
T - Taco Salad with meat from my freezer
W - Made a bolognese pasta dinner with sauteed zucchini and took dinner to Son#2
Th - (freezer) Burger and Fries
F - tonight I am going to a hatch chili thing at Central Market, so I will likely eat al fresco on their deck
S,S, & M lunch - 3 lunches for work. I have freezer beans and sausage, bolognese pasta from W, and a greens salad with some frozen pulled pork and the rest of the ranch dressing. I usually eat a small snack when I get home. Your menus reminded me that I have shrimp I need to use up in the freezer. Happy Weekend!
I shop every other week, but last weekend, although it was my off week, I contributed to the food on our vacation and bought $85 and change of groceries, plus treated myself to a small-sized $6.79 ice cream. I'll be honest, the mint in the chocolate mint was lacking, and to pay that much for the ice cream just to be a little disappointed ....
WIA - I'll do the best I can for conjuring up the last two weeks.
At the beach - Shrimp boiled with Old Bay, roasted and seasoned tiny potatoes, salad.
Grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, salad and... something.
Delivery pizza - I ate some of the one with the most vegetables.
At home:
An omelet with salad.
Tuna salad made with carrot, bell pepper, apple and raisins, strawberries on the side.
"Fried corn", which is bacon cooked and crumbled; then frozen (or fresh, but I had frozen on hand) corn quickly cooked in the bacon-y skillet with a little of the bacon fat, and finally the addition of chopped green bell peppers, the crumbled bacon and chopped red tomatoes, only I didn't have the tomatoes. Pickled onions on the side.
Sweet Italian sausage and broccoli, cauliflower and sliced carrots cooked in the skillet after the sausage.
Seasoned, sautéed chicken breast tenders (not breaded) with jicama sticks and ranch dressing then fresh cherries for dessert.
A cassava pasta salad using sale-priced smoked salmon, herbs, some stuff I forget, and a lemony dressing. It was a new recipe and I liked it, but I threw away the salmon package, forgetting to get the recipe off of it. I hope I can find it again. They were discontinuing the salmon so it may no longer be there.
The rest of the smoked salmon served with pickled onions and something on the side I have forgotten and didn't write down.
Goat chop, green peas and skillet-cooked root vegetables.
Tonight? TBD.
@JD, I'm envious of both your shrimp boil and Kristen's crab feast! And I'll have to try your fried corn. You know how I feel about anything cooked in bacon fat. 😀
@A. Marie,
It was a favorite summer meal that my mother made, making use of the fresh sweet corn in the garden, but it is a colorful, cheerful meal using frozen corn in cooler weather, too. The chopped peppers and tomatoes are tossed in after the cooking is done. When I first made it for DH, he fell in love with it.
WIS: 11 @Aldi for milk, salad and yogurt, 32 @the farm for local honey
WWA:
Fri: salad, steamed broccoli and focaccia
Sat: salad, sliced heirloom tomatoes, pasta carbonara with peas
Sun: salad, potato Tah Dig with chick peas and extra veggies (a Persian dish made in a rice cooker so that the bottom of the rice, or in this case thinly sliced potatoes, gets crispy) with dill and parsley yogurt sauce
Mon: leftover Tah Dig, homemade sourdough bagels with cream cheese, heirloom tomato slices, avocado and greens
Tue: nachos with pinto beans, crumbled queso, basil and guacamole
Wed: salad, stir fried peppers, eggs and breakfast sausage, garlic sourdough toast
Thu: leftover Tah Dig and salmon burgers on brioche buns
Fri: salad and focaccia
Have a great weekend, everyone!
@Becca, you can also make tahdig with lavosh bread on the bottom, which is my favorite way to have it. Although, I do love it with potatoes!
@Hawaii Planner,
I had to look up the bread you mention, and it looks like it might be similar to my husband’s homemade tortillas or homemade naan (minus the yogurt). We may have to try…thank you!
@Becca,
PS We still have leftover Tah Dig a week out, so I will definitely half the recipe next time (or at least the rice portion). I made 2 cups of rice and I think 1 cup would have been plenty for us.
It was a busy week at our house. As always, a struggle to remember what we ate:
-Last Friday was a mix of things, but primarily grilled chicken (freezer) + quesadillas. I found a chicken & rice dish in the freezer, and ate that, as it was a single serving.
-I cannot remember what we ate on Saturday, but it was likely leftover related, since I don't remember it.
-I made a huge batch of taco meat + guacamole & we had that for dinner. I also froze enough taco meat for numerous future dinners.
-We had taco salads for two more nights
-I made a delicious chicken curry & paired that with my husband's rice (he makes the best rice). We had that for another two dinners. I would have eaten it all week, it was that good.
For tonight, we will have the remainder of the chicken curry, but I'll add a glass of wine. 😉
@Hawaii Planner, a Friday side of wine sounds reasonable!
My son and I went on a road trip with friends. We made sure to stay at hotels with free breakfast and packed lots of snacks since we knew we wanted to sample local restaurants at lunch and dinner.
Friday: Leftovers.
Saturday: St. Louis, MO – we went out for BBQ. My son and I both had brisket sandwiches and our friends split a rack of ribs. We also made sure to sample a local favorite, fried ravioli. (lunch was a picnic at a park in IA that cleaned out my fridge)
Sunday: We stopped at a roadside restaurant because it was getting late. The boys ordered wings that may have been some of the best any of us ever had. The moms had sandwiches. Our waitress identified us as out of towners not because of our Minnesota accents but because we all ordered soda water! (lunch was a visit to St. Louis Kolaches)
Monday: Memphis, TN – dinner on Beale Street! We shared racks of ribs, potatoes, beans, coleslaw, and Texas toast. I also ordered catfish since my friend’s son had never had it before and he thought it was yummy. (lunch was packed snacks, including mac and cheese cups the boys made in the hotel microwave)
Tuesday: Hannibal, MO – we visited The Brick Oven where the boys had pizza and the moms had pasta. (lunch was at Front St. Deli in Memphis)
Wednesday: We stopped at Wendy’s on the drive home just before crossing the border to MN. (lunch was packed snacks since we filled up on ice cream in Hannibal)
Thursday: My husband’s homemade chicken noodle soup!
@Geneva, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this: I rarely eat out, so I was living vicariously through you; loved the descriptions of the restaurant foods.
What i spent:
34.48 at Walmart
15.95 at a candy shop my friend wanted to go to. I should have know I could not resist!
63.59 at 3 lunches out with friends. Fun, but not frugal!
Saturday - leftovers from the week before.
Sunday - green salad with chicken, blue cheese, boiled egg, tomatoes and bacon crumbles.
Monday - half of a French dip leftover from my lunch out that day.
Tuesday- not a formal meal. Grazed on various things including cold sautéed chicken, japanese peanuts and grapes.
Wednesday-chicken tacos. Grapes for dessert.
Thursday - leftover ravioli bake from the freezer, salad and garlic bread. Will probably have the same thing tonight.
WIS: $30 at Wegmans and $15 at Aldi.
WIA: Best effort was another stir-fry with Reduced for Quick Sale pork strips, snow peas from Wegmans, and a generous fistful of purslane and redroot pigweed from the garden. Gotta eat my weeds while I can.
I've been feeling really relieved since you shared the USDA food plans. I converted them into Canadian dollars and realized that we remain really quite thrifty, even though I don't have the energy to go to the discount grocer and we eat more meat than we used to.
Sunday: We were at my parents' with my brother and SIL. My mom made spanakopita, salmon, and all sorts of salads and veggies. It was delicious.
Monday: Long weekend here in Canada. Mr. B made us steak, rice, and green beans.
Tuesday: Roasted chicken, roasted zucchini.
Wednesday: Chicken wraps! We had tortillas, I sauteed the leftover chicken with an improvised sauce, made a salad, and cut up an avocado. I dislike the taste of day-old poultry, but the sauce covered it up.
Thursday: Mr. B and the tot were out running errands, so I caught up on some work and made myself eggs and plant-based sausage. Bought a new-to-me brand of plant-based sausage to try and it was revolting.
Friday: The little miss is going for a sleepover at my parents' so Mr. B and I will probably go out! How exciting 🙂
Now that we are home from our trips and have (mostly) eaten the freezer down, I re-stocked our provisions. The amount spent was eye-popping - the price of Canadian groceries is [big sigh]. Still, as Kristen says, it costs less than eating out… WWA:
Saturday - spaghettini puttanesca, left-over (on-sale) grilled steak
Sunday - hamburgers, Caesar salad, cherries
Monday - leftovers
Tuesday - tried frozen chicken strips - they were edible but didn’t make the grade (these ones appeared to have been made from processed chicken meat), Ceasar salad, last of the potato salad
Wednesday - ham and Swiss cheese sliders
Thursday - penne with homemade meat sauce left over from making lasagna, garlic bread
Friday - it’s cool and rainy today, so I am about to put Mississippi pot roast in the slow cooker and we will have that with boiled baby potatoes and corn on the cob
Wishing everyone a cool week ahead
@kj, Your assessment of your frozen chicken strips reminded me of this hilarious old Wendy's commercial.
https://youtu.be/FMA44s6giw8?si=0MXH0olwZ-In_zWk
Happy Friday, everyone! We spent $164 ($12 @ Trader Joe's, $75 @ Aldi and $77 at natural foods co-op).
- Sourdough bread, cheese and red grapes
- Pasta with broccoli, walnuts and Parmesan cheese
- Salad with garbanzo beans, sunflower seeds, raisins, Parmesan, hard-boiled egg, olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper
- Roasted vegetables
- Rice, beans, green peppers, zucchini and corn concoction
- Veggie hoagie
- Carrots, pita and hummus, along with some cherries
Saturday: Green chile bacon cheeseburgers using the buns I had baked the day before, roasted potatoes, peaches and cream
Sunday: Oven-fried chicken that I underseasoned and didn't get crispy enough, biscuits I made with slightly warm butter so they didn't rise well, carrot sticks with curry dip, and brownies my daughter made and added too much flour when she mis-read the amount, so they were kind of cake-y and bland. All in all, an underwhelming meal. It happens.
Monday: I had cut off the huge bone-in chicken breasts from the bone, and then cut some of those into smaller chunks to use this night. I combined those with pasta, pesto from my still-small basil plants, bacon, cream, Parmesan, and balsamic vinegar. We also had a green salad with vinaigrette.
Tuesday: Ram chops, leftover rice or fried potatoes, radishes, snickerdoodles, and bread and cheese after dinner for those who were still hungry
Wednesday: Leftover pasta, scrambled eggs, bacon, corn on the cob, and cherries. A thrown-together meal after a long day in town.
Thursday: Day one of the county fair, which meant another long day. I made a skillet of cooked pork shoulder from the freezer, diced and fried with a can of black beans, rice, frozen corn, salsa, red chile, grated cheddar cheese, and sour cream. For dessert, the extra of the brownies my daughter made and entered into the fair. She won a first place ribbon, so I could call them Blue Ribbon Brownies. Honesty compels me to admit that our fair is so tiny that there is often only one of anything in each category, so there are a lot of first place ribbons. But I don't tell her that. 🙂 She made the brownies, they were good, and she has good reason to be proud.
Friday: Day two of the county fair marathon. It's going to be almost a hundred degrees today, which means I won't really be cooking. Luckily, there's enough of the skillet food left to put in flour tortillas to make toasted burritos. Probably just raw tomatoes from the garden as a vegetable.
$52 @ Winco, $37 @ scratch & dent, $26 @ restaurant supply
Sat - taco salad & watermelon
Sun - family pizza party
Mon - leftover pizza & green salad
Tue - chicken stir fry over rice
Wed - elk steak strips, green salad
Th - pork steak, new potatoes, green salad
Fri - yard sauce over some kind of pasta. Yard sauce is garden veggies roasted in solar oven then vitamin it all cook down a bit and serve over pasta and top with parm.
Sat is a big framily party.
WIS: $42.92, excluding cleaning products and dog food, but including shrimp (because Kristen's shrimp dishes always look so appetizing) and fish and $0.93 for 6 nice sized perfect bananas, so $0.155 apiece. I’m trying to eat at least one banana every day, and 15 ½ cents a pop seems more than reasonable.
WIA: Shrimp scampi on ramen noodles; cauliflower crust pizza; roasted sweet potatoes stuffed with creamed spinach and feta cheese; BLTs to use the rest of the heirloom tomatoes; and Multi-Grain Cheerios (hardly any added sugar and 100% of RDAs of iron, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, B6, B12, folate, zinc., etc.), with high protein Fairlife milk and bananas (potassium and fiber). I’m gonna live forever! (Whether I want to or not.)
@JDinNM, hi there! would you be able to tell me a little bit about the cauliflower crust pizza please. As in, taste, texture, is it tasty, anything you can add to that? When my HB and I get take-out pizza (occasionally), we normally get regular crust, but since I am having issues (I think) with wheat, the next time we do take-out, I'd like to get 2 smaller pizzas, regular crust for him, and cauliflower crust for me to try. Much thanks.
@Linda in Canada, I like the cauliflower crust for a lot of reasons. I'm not gluten intolerant, but the cauliflower crust is gluten-free if you think that might help you. I find it's lighter in texture and taste, and because it's much thinner than flour-based crusts it bakes up crispier and it lets the taste of the pizza toppings stand out. It has about one-third the calories of a regular flour crust, and more fiber. I think you should try it!
@JDinNM,
I do t know whether this cauliflower pizza crust was homemade but I had a sample of a cauliflower crust pizza at Sam's last week and it was very good!
@Joyce from Arkansas, All the grocery stores seem to be stocking the cauliflower/gluten free pizzas now, so there must be a lot of people agreeing with you!
WIS: $49 at Tom Thumb, mostly stocking up on sale items
WIA: working backwards to see what I can remember
Thursday - rice cereal with coconut yogurt and blueberries
Delicious, but not filling enough. I snacked on crackers with Sunbutter later.
Wednesday - chicken nuggets and crinkle cut fries
Tuesday - Vienna sausages, broccoli with Italian seasoning and a little olive oil, and buttered tortillas on the side
Monday - Mexican rice with tomatoes, Ranch style beans
And I'm drawing a blank on last weekend, though I must have eaten something.
I have to smile at your "week of kale." I once bought a kale salad at Sam's Club to take to an event, which event was canceled. I ate kale salad for days on end, and to this day kale salad kind of gives me an "ick." A little kale is just fine, too much kale is . . .
@Jean, Next time you need to take a food offering to an event, think about ... I dunno ... a tray of brownies? a basket of cookies? Just in case of cancellation. ;-}
Saturday night I ordered brisket pizza from Casey's to take to work for me and my coworkers. They were very poorly made and the amount of brisket on both pizzas was not enough for one. Sunday night's meal was delicious, I had ordered lunch from work, which was roast beef, mashed potatoes and brown gravy, mixed vegetables, a roll and a piece of cake. $3.00 out of my paycheck, painless. Monday, late, I baked a potato and had it with cottage cheese. Tuesday, I scrapped on the garlic green beans I cooked and ate an ear of corn. Also had some fresh baked cherry clafouti. I was on a cooking streak. Wednesday, I got a package of ground beef from the freezer and another package of beef, I thought was a small chuck roast. As they were thawing, I turned the package over and it is two rib eyes. I cannot justify cooking two rib eyes in the crock pot, but they take concentration for me to cook them perfectly (not like Gibbs on NCIS, who just barely chars them in the fireplace) and it requires the right accoutrements, not a cold beer (like Gibbs) plus I don't drink alcohol per choice. Anyway, Wednesday night I had a smash burger fixed in my steel skillet with onions on toasted delicious Everything Sour Dough Bread from Aldi and cheddar cheese. It was divine. Also had cucumbers and tomatoes and yellow watermelon for dessert. I took a "Chrissy-made" chef salad with sweet onion dressing to work last night. Also had a black walnut banana muffin I'd baked Wednesday during the kitchen marathon. I will have a rib eye tonight probably with a baked potato or corn on the cob and yellow watermelon. It is a big melon, so I hope I make it through it. It is the first one I've ever had and will probably be my last. It is just weird eating a yellow one, plus it is just underripe, I think, very crispy. That still leaves half a pound of gr. beef and rib eye to use up. And prepped salad fixin's, also from the kitchen marathon.
Have a great weekend, friends!
I was busy canning, meaning that I took over the kitchen completely, so we had a frozen pot pie from my favorite deli/market. I was productive enough (peaches, sweet pickles, and preparing for dill pickles) that we could justify not cooking from scratch. My pantry is looking better and better!
@Daisy, Peaches?!!!! Yum!
WIS: Approximately $80, divided between four stores.
WWA: Ham, salad, cheese, crackers. Chili and cheddar-herb corn muffins. Tightwad Gazette tuna-cheddar soup (sounds weird, tastes great). White bean-quinoa-tomato soup. Watermelon and cherries for snacks.
@Ruby, you made the tuna cheddar soup!! Was that your first time making it? I don't eat tuna, so not for me... but glad you enjoyed it!
@PD, I did at last make it after 30 years of knowing about it. It would be good with any cooked fish, as it's basically a cheddar-y chowder.
I only remember a few days, so here goes...
- BBQ'd chicken legs and potatoes and corn on the cob, cucumber slices on the side.
- Homemade eggplant and cauliflower curry, with protein wraps. Cucumber slices on the side. (it was a cooler day so I could cook inside, see below)
- my brother is in town from a west coast city, and so we went to the restaurant chain called Swiss Chalet for chicken and ribs. He always goes to Swiss Chalet when he comes into town as this chain of restaurants is not on the west coast.
- salad (homemade) with felafel balls (bought), and I made a tahini dressing
- leftover chicken legs and potatoes and corn (from above, I had frozen it as I knew I wasn't going to get to it right away).
Friday: We are having a steak, with potatoes and sweet green peppers to be done on the BBQ. And green beans. It is mega hot here (and Saturday and Sunday will be even hotter) so no cooking in the kitchen if possible, so almost all dinners are done on the BBQ, always with leftovers for the next day.
Happy weekend all.
Brown smoothies taste very good, but they look soooo bad!
Kristen, I am so happy that you finished the last of your PCT shifts this week! Your hard work and perseverance is coming to fruition. Next week will be the start of many new and wonderful things for you and your family! Congratulations!
I spent $35 at Kroger and $10 at Edwards Food Giant on some weekend specials they offered including 99 cents for a cantaloupe and chicken legs for 79 cents a pound. I couldn't pass these deals up!
– Sunday – grilled strip steak, baked sweet potatoes, bagged kale salad from Sam’s, fresh sliced tomatoes from the garden.
– Monday – we did a few errands out of town for part of the day. Because hubby was hungry, we stopped and got a burger for lunch at our favorite local burger place that features unlimited fries. (Oh no!) So I wasn't hungry at dinner. Hubby ate leftover steak and salad from Sunday.
– Tuesday – baked ziti, garlic bread, frozen broccoli mix.
– Wednesday – baked pork chops, onion/pepper potatoes, cucumber salad.
– Thursday – leftover baked ziti, cucumber salad, garlic bread and cooked butternut squash from the garden.
– Friday – I will be out of town all day visiting a friend. We will probably have beef pot pies with rice and a veggie when I get home.
(I got home about 6:00, I'll be with starving so we went to the local Mexican restaurant)