WIS, WWA | $68
What I Spent
I spent:
- $25 at Aldi
- $26 at Potbelly
- $17 at Safeway
So, $68 for me. A pretty low week even with the Potbelly stop! Perhaps my eat-down-the-freezer efforts paid off a bit. 🙂
What We Ate
Saturday
Pizza!
Sunday
Zoe and I got Potbelly together; I did pay full price for our sandwiches, but I got a half-price shake for Zoe and a free cookie for me, using the app.
Monday
Sausage, corn, and potatoes, plus some shrimp for me.
Tuesday
I made the ground beef tacos I mentioned in my last freezer update; between the beef, cabbage, and tortillas, I figured they were a one-dish meal.
I used the leftover taco meat to make breakfast tacos the next morning, with the addition of chopped green pepper and scrambled eggs. I used up more corn tortillas too, obviously.
I sure have eaten a lot of corn tortillas lately!
Wednesday
Chipotle chicken kebabs, mashed potatoes, and grilled asparagus.
I made the dipping sauce for the kebabs (because of course. I love sauce!) and I was reminded how good the combo is. The sauce recipe is included with the kebab recipe.
Thursday
It was just me here for dinner, so I heated up some leftover mashed potatoes, stirred in some sun-dried tomatoes, and topped them with sautéed green peppers and some fried eggs.
The sun-dried tomatoes were really good in the mashed potatoes and I would 100% do that again!
Friday
I don't know yet, but I do know I have cauliflower in my fridge that needs to be used. Hmmm.
The asparagus and chicken kebabs look so good...
WIS: 28.55 @the Aldi by my mother-in-law's house, then 182.97 @my local Aldi when I got home, for a total of 211.52 this week. That's quite good considering we didn't spend anything on take out. We did have take out pizza one night and ate at a restaurant another night, but both times my mother-in-law treated us, so we had a fairly low-spend week despite the travelling and I'm happy with that total.
WWA:
Fri: take out pizza from my husband's childhood pizza place and a salad that I made from ingredients I brought up in a cooler bag (Tokyo bekana, parsley, cherry tomatoes, orange pepper, celery, avocado and Italian dressing), vanilla ice cream for dessert.
Sat: salad (mixed greens, carrots, cucumbers, celery, orange pepper, raisins and Italian dressing), chicken cheesy rice (from some sort of packet), chicken and shrimp stir fry (with carrots, celery, and a bag of frozen veggies), fruit salad for dessert (cubes of watermelon, Korean melon, apples, and blueberries).
Sun: dinner out which included options like Mac and cheese, fish and chips, cheeseburgers, mozzarella sticks and chicken quesadillas. We did not order dessert, but everyone had a drink that was not our standard water, so the kids were very happy. They were so delighted when the server brought them refills for their lemonades. I am here to tell you that depriving your children on the regular CAN have a nice payoff. 😉
Mon: we got home in the early afternoon, so we had a very simple dinner consisting mostly of food we brought back from our trip-things I had either brought with us or purchased there and we didn't eat them because we had the one dinner out. Salad (mixed greens, carrots, celery, craisins, feta and balsamic vinaigrette) and Hungarian hotdogs. I made up this name because the leftover beef and cabbage I put on top of microwaved hotdogs had smoked paprika in it. We had them in brioche buns that were slightly crushed from taking two car trips. We had unicorn cones for dessert.
Tue: breakfast for dinner: scrambled eggs, tater tots, sweet and spicy Swiss chard and parmesan zucchini rounds.
Wed: salad and Aldi take and bake cheese pizza. Strawberry swirl ice cream cones for dessert.
Thu: zucchini fajitas with red pepper and onion on flour tortillas and topped with cheddar cheese.
Tonight: salad and focaccia, as per yoosh....
Have a great weekend, everyone!
@Becca, I say frequently that low standards in children are very helpful for parents. Because then they're exciting about things like lemonade refills. 🙂
@kristin @ going country, *Excited*. Man, I did not get enough sleep last night.
@kristin @ going country,
My husband says "keep your expectations tiny, that way you won't be so whiny..."
@Becca, I am going to frame that quote and hang it for reminders for my family! That's a good one!
@Becca,
My husband wanted me to clarify that he did not come up with this. It was from a Matt Groening comic book he read as a kid. I forget the name of it now, but it was something that predated the Simpsons.
WIS: $30.50 at various farm stands during a day out on Saturday, $31 at Wegmans, and $23 at Trader Joe's. (I spent more than Kristen did this week!)
WIA: This week's highlight was a frittata made with free-range eggs, a small shallot, purslane (hot out of the garden, of course), and herbed goat cheese. Nom nom nom!
I'm impressed that you were able to get two deals through your Potbelly app. I don't have a lot of restaurant app experience (mostly McDonald's) but that's fun that they let you do two at once.
My July spending is off to a good start. This week we had...
Saturday: We ended up going to Sam's Club kind of late and got dinner there. But dinner for 5 for around $12 is pretty good.
Sunday: Beef roast, potatoes, and grilled apples
Monday: We had some friends over and they brought chicken nuggets and pulled bbq chicken sandwiches. I added salad, veggies, and watermelon.
Tuesday: Stir fry with applesauce. I was really proud of the stir fry! I used up a lot of veggies that we already had (orange peppers, carrots, a getting-sad zucchini) and added asparagus and snap peas from our garden.
Wednesday: I last-minute changed the dinner plan to homemade pizza. It didn't get to rise as much as normal, but the 3 of us that were home to eat were happy and my middle child felt like he was getting a special treat to get pizza on a Wednesday.
Thursday: Sloppy joes, cantaloupe, and broccoli with cheese
Friday: I have no idea. I also plan to be gone most of the day today, so I don't know how this is going to go. I know I have some hot dogs and brats in the fridge, so maybe I'll pick up some buns to go with those. We have plenty of veggies right now. I'm glad to be thinking of this now instead of at 4:00 today!
@Ruth T,
What can you get at Sam's club to feed 5 for 12 bucks??? I don't do the big membership places because I found I just spent too much there, but this dinner prospect is intriguing...
@Becca, not sure if sams club has sinilar prices, but at Costco you can get a large hot dog and a drink for $1.50, so that’d be $7.50 for 5 people. I think the pizza is also only $1.99/large slice, no drink though.
@Becca, I don't know, but I suspect it's not focaccia and salad...
@Becca, a friend regularly brings me a rotisserie chicken from Costco for $5. Incredible, super good, and great fun because I don't belong to those membership places.
@LB, this was my suggestion too — my in-laws get the hot dog combo at Sam's for some cheap price. (This would be a really hard sell for me as hot dogs rate pretty, pretty low in my desirable foods list, but each to his own, of course, lol.)
@Becca, It was definitely not healthy! Ha! But you can get a giant piece of pizza and a drink for $2.50. One of my kids really likes their soft pretzels. Bottles of water are only 25 cents. Sometimes we will add ice cream sundaes (it's crazy cheap) and they're big enough to share.
OOh, your dinners this week sound so good! I think I am in a slump, dinner-wise and probably in need of a freezer clean-out. I don't get jazzed about cooking any more and that could be because of the excessive heat here. This week I fixed:
Monday - (kitchen closed) I ate pre-made focaccia pizza - this one with mushrooms and goat cheese
Tuesday - Chicken thighs, seasoned baby potatoes, broccoli all in my cast iron skillet
Wednesday - Beef Tacos, street corn, shredded cheese and crunchy tacos shells from the freezer
Thursday - Another couple of boneless chicken thighs, cut up and stir fryed with orange bell pepper strips and Thai sauce. It was served over rice and merely ok. I did make a coconut pie and it was delightful!
Tonight - BBQ Pork Chops, yellow squash, (freezer) butter beans
Saturday and Sunday - kitchen closed, and I need to go in there and rustle up three lunches with all of the dibs and dabs. Happy weekend!
https://cannaryfamily.blogspot.com/
Saturday: This was the day we drove 200 miles roundtrip to go to a swim party. I got some smoked sausage at the grocery store to have for an easy meal. To that, I added bread and butter and frozen peas.
Sunday: A whole roasted chicken, garlic bread, carrot sticks with curry dip (mayonnase+sweet curry powder), oatmeal-chocolate chip bar cookies
Monday: Bunless cheeseburgers made from a combination of ground beef and sheep, bread and butter, fried mushrooms and onions, green salad with vinaigrette
Tuesday: I used the rest of beef/sheep mixture to make meatballs, which I seasoned with zaatar and cooked in tomatoes with more zaatar. Because these were vaguely middle eastern, I made rice to go with them. We also had frozen peas and watermelon. But not together.
Wednesday: Chicken fried rice made with the leftover rice and a can of chicken from the excess commodities. And more watermelon. This watermelon was about 25 pounds, so there was a lot of watermelon eating this week. 🙂
Thursday: Birthday child requested grilled lamb ribs and pasta with pesto, so that's what he got. I also added some carrots from the garden, just cut into sticks, because moms always have to add a vegetable in there. The requested dessert was ice cream. I also made some Mexican wedding cookies, because those are his favorite.
Tonight: I'll make some taco meat, but we have flour tortillas, so I guess I'll make something more like chimichangas with the meat. More lettuce, and definitely more watermelon.
I need to up my solo dinner game. I came home last night and my son had made Hamburger Helper with the last of the heavy cream. Problem? I am lactose intolerant. I rummaged around in my fridge for 10 minutes trying to come up with a viable combination between leftovers: pasta with red sauce, pasta with alfredo (still not great,) some roasted veggies, a hotdog and boiled eggs. I found a small bowl of chili of unknown origin and a container of little smokies from the 4th.
Oh man, you can't tolerate heavy cream? Sonia doesn't do well with most dairy, but butter and heavy cream are ok with her system.
Your spin on left over mashed potatoes looks really good, will need to try that. We have also started on freezer clean-out but have too much in the freezer for this to be a quick project. Am diarizing to this again in April and November from now on. WWA;
Saturday - chickpea & pasta soup, baguette (veggie scraps for the stock, spinach, chickpeas, tomatoe products, almond picada, baguette from the freezer)
Sunday - beef vindaloo, rice, naan, papadams, cucumber & radish salad, key lime pie (beef, naan, sweetened condensed milk for the pie from the freezer)
Monday - leftovers (with more freezer naan)
Tuesday - pasta with cheese, zucchini, fresh herbs (needed to use languishing fresh zucchini and herbs so no freezer products)
Wednesday - leftovers
Thursday - garlic sausage, ratatouille, oven fries (everything came from the freezer including the already cooked ratatouille)
Friday - likely to be homemade beef barley soup from the freezer (and toasted bread?)
Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend
Reading these (your posts and the comment on Fridays) definitely inspires me to use up my own leftovers in creative ways!
Saturday - the 4 day fever that plagued us was finally gone and the kids were desperate to get out of the house so we went to a playground and they were so happy to be out and having so much fun, we stayed well past dinner. My husband picked up takeout chicken strips, mac n cheese and milkshakes for us to eat when we arrived at home.
Sunday - we’d gone to visit some friends and then took the kids to another park, we again ended up staying late since they were enjoying themselves (it does feel really good to not be sick after you’ve had an illness) I made scrambled eggs and pearl cous cous for the kids when we got home, I think I just had cereal.
Monday - ground turkey and mushroom stroganoff
Tuesday - we had a few barbecued ribs left so I removed the meat and chopped it up, cooked with some chopped chicken thighs and taco seasoning to make taco meat. We had corn with the tacos.
Wednesday - my grandma was hospitalized and in the ICU (she has improved now) so I wanted to visit her after work. I picked up a sandwich from a grocery store after the visit to eat on the 1 hour drive home and husband fed the kids some premade food we had from Costco (steamed pork buns and veggie stir fry)
Thursday - chicken and alphabet noodle soup. This recipe (minus chicken) was in a kids cookbook I had and my sisters and I still all love it and make it a lot. Also reheated 2 frozen corn muffins and a frozen biscuit using the air fryer setting on the oven. They turned out great and now I used up all the frozen baked goods in the freezer.
Friday - a rare date night! The kids school occasionally does a parents night out, where your kid(s) can stay at school in the evening with one of the teachers and they eat pizza and watch a movie. My kids have never wanted to do it (they understandably just want to go home after school) but for some reason they really wanted to do it this time and are excited. Not sure where we are going, husband said he made a reservation but didn’t say where!
Ooooh, have fun on your mystery date night!
WIS: $54.71 for groceries and $15 for a delightful 3 hour lunch with a couple of friends, which would have made for a great week if it had stopped there. But then last night $36 for two microscopically small crab cakes at the bar at Ruth’s Chris for “dinner” with four friends, which I did not enjoy in the least. One friend loves that place and was the cruise director for this month’s dinner gathering, but it was incredibly noisy and loud, took two hours for some of us to drive back and forth on a very hot evening and … they didn’t even have zucchini fries. “There’s a zucchini shortage” said the waiter. Really? You can’t find zucchini? If you’d told me ahead of time I could have brought a few bushels with me. Not a pleasant or frugal end to an otherwise delightful and frugal week.
WIA: Too hot to do much cooking so a lot of cold vegetables and hummus for dipping, chicken quesadillas with pre-cooked fillings from the refrigerator and freezer, restaurant lunch leftovers. And about a gallon of Boathouse Farms “Green Goodness Feel Good Nutrition”, a 100% fruit and vegetable juice smoothie “to get your greens on in the tastiest way possible.” Notice they don’t actually say it’s tasty, just “the tastiest way possible.” But it is pretty good, especially cold from the refrigerator when it’s so hot the very thought of cooking is unappetizing.
Stay safe and cool and dry, everyone!
@JDinNM, Zucchini shortage? Words never before combined, I'm pretty sure. That is the lamest excuse for not having a menu item that I have ever heard, but it did make me laugh by its very lameness.
@kristin @ going country, I have a zucchini shortage. Three healthy plants, zero production.
I really don't like eating in places where it's super loud! Like...wedding receptions where the DJ's music is insanely loud. Restaurants with loud live music. Nope, nope, nope. I wanna be able to, you know, TALK to the people I'm with!
@Kristen, Exactly! When I'm going out with friends, it's not for the food (although it helps if it's good!) but for the conversation, for the "catching up" on what everyone's been doing, feeling, going through, etc.
@JDinNM, zucchini shortage? That had me laughing forever. I understand some places are having a harder time but that's the first time I've ever heard of that.
An idea for your cauliflower: Rice it (just chop it up in a food processor), and then add it to oatmeal. I found it on Budget Bytes. I was skeptical, but you really can't taste it!
Sunday: Shrimp (and chicken, for the non shrimp lovers) with Sriracha and pomegranate molasses.
Monday: Mushroom gochujong udon noodles. My daughter enjoyed literally every piece of that recipe separately (including mushrooms and green onions), but refused to touch it once it was mixed together. Oh well.
Tuesday: Preschooler's choice, mac and cheese with hot dogs.
Wednesday: I was craving refried beans and we didn't have any, so we went out to get nachos. But we used a gift card!
Thursday: Freezer spaghetti, where I just mixed all of the various tomato products in my freezer together with some ground beef (also from the freezer), and a spaghetti seasoning packet. Turned out tasty!
Friday/Saturday: Leftovers
We've had really good nectarines, so that's been served alongside pretty much every meal 🙂
Have a great weekend everyone!
Whoa, I would never have thought to put cauliflower in oatmeal. It doesn't smell weird either??
@Kristen, nope! Here's the link to the recipe, but I've strayed from the recipe and it's worked out.
https://www.budgetbytes.com/cinnamon-pecan-cauli-oats/
@Natalie J, NOOOOOOO!!!!!!! I cannot make myself believe that cauliflower in oatmeal would work. I think this is one of those crazy health schemes that everybody wants to believe tastes amazing. I think you are jesting, Natalie J!
Just kidding.
Kind of.
😉
Hi,
The link to the sauce in the kebob recipe takes you to a page that mentions the recipe but does not give it. It seems there is a code issue further down the page.
Thank you.
Looking forward to any cilantro recipe!
Hmm, that's so weird! When I scroll to the bottom of the post, I see a printable recipe card that has instructions for both the kebabs and the sauce. Is that not visible on your end?
I haven’t gone shopping yet this week. I spent $40 on CFA and McDonalds(total) for kids on a trip.
I can’t remember what we are Saturday and sunday. Probably pbjs and other east food.
Monday:CFA while on a trip for medical appointment
Tuesday: rice and beans loaded with veggies
Wednesday: pasta and veggies
Thursday: rice and beans again
I cooked three times. Up from sorta once the previous week. Woohoo!
I'll bet sun dried tomatoes are delicious in mashed potatoes!
WIS: Nuttin, it was an off-week for shopping.
WIA: It's been so hot and humid, I have to force myself to cook, so I took some easy outs this week for sure.
For instance, I took excess cucumbers from my plants and made cucumber slaw out of them, then ate that with burgers three nights. I don't know why it took so long for me to realize that one could make slaw out of vegetables other than cabbage.
I had pork cutlets along with squash, onions and okra from my plants. I just cut up the okra and sautéed it along with the squash and onions in the pan I had used to cook the pork.
I had fish twice, with green beans or broccoli and squash. The squash is on a lull now, with a few baby ones but none ready to pick. But for a while I picked some every day from my three plants.
The cucumbers are still producing steadily. I may can some pickles this weekend, if I can stand the thought of the heat produced by processing pickles.
@JD, consider making refrigerator pickles, if you have room in your fridge? No hot'n'heavy processing necessary.
Also, I should think that cucumber slaw would be kinda watery. Is it?
@A. Marie,
I do make refrigerator pickles but I'd like some for later one, so canning seems the best option, albeit a hot one. I have a lot of good intentions here but my follow-through may be lacking. We'll see.
Good point about the cucumbers, but I luckily remembered to do this from having made relish and pickles in the past: I process the cukes in a food processor, sprinkle them with a little salt and mix well, leave them in the refrigerator for a few hours then rinse and drain them, pressing down well. An ocean of water comes out of them, so the slaw is not watery after that.
I needed to clean out my freezer this week. My freezer inventory sheet has been neglected and with our CSA boxes coming in I need to make room freezing the overabundance that will be arriving soon. Between the freezer and the CSA box I only had to pick a few items from the store this week!
Friday: Turkey Cheeseburger Eggrolls, French Fries, Salad with homemade dressing
Saturday: Double date night with friends
Sunday: Cornish Game Hens, Saffron Risotto, Roasted Brussels Sprout, Green Beans
Monday: Chinese Chicken Salad
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: Shrimp, Sausage, Zucchini, Bell Pepper Skillet
Thursday: Creamy Beef and Collard Green Enchiladas
I also made lots of zucchini chips and three jars of raspberry jam.
As always, we had lots of leftovers this week, but as a bonus, two of our dinners originated from the freezer:
-Tacos (x2), ground beef from the freezer
-Meatloaf & scalloped potatoes (x2), meatloaf from the freezer
-Grilled chicken and rice (x2)
-Steak & scalloped potatoes
As for tonight, pizza from the freezer.
Monday: frozen pizza and bag salad sorry not sorry we love tombstone original crust pizza.
Tuesday: hot dogs on the grill. Lemon pepper green beans and cottage cheese
Wed: leftover hot dogs steamed potatoes and slaw
Thurs: a friend treated us to a night out my hubby and I shared a fajita
Friday: pasty pie ( regional fave!) and cucumber salad
I spent 121 at Walmart pickup and 14 at dollar tree
Hello there, this week has been hectic (finalizing everything for a new job which I'm looking forward to BUT it includes tons of paperwork and 3 dang interviews all with different people who required all sorts of things...ugh...onward and upward though) so our dinners have been super simple....I cheated and bought a enormous container of mixed greens...not sorry...it saved me with lunches and dinner.
This week we ate:
Monday - Spaghetti with meat sauce, cucumbers, french bread with butter.
Tuesday - Watermelon with feta, avocado and onions over mixed greens tossed with balsamic, french bread and butter.
Wendsday - Tortellini tossed with butter, garlic, pepper flakes and salt as well as sauteed bell peppers...this served over the last of the mixed greens...weird to serve hot pasta over greens but it's good, fast...and easy...which is the goal here in my kitchen.
Thursday - Baked some yams in the crock pot...topped with butter, honey and cashews. Served with a hodgepodge plate consisting of random stray vegetables and cheese.
Friday - Chucked a pork roast in the crockpot and left it to fend for itself... when I get home I'll shred and bbq sauce the heck out of it...the plan is to serve it taco style.
And as far as this weekend goes I'll have to figure it out on the fly like a chaotic pantster, should be interesting.
Happy weekend everyone!
One good thing about being semi-incapacitated is that 1. you are home a lot more to cook dinner and 2. going out to anywhere is such a pain in the ass that you try and limit it as much as possible (i.e extra shopping you don't need and dinner's out)
Sunday- cauliflower rice burrito bowls with turkey and guac
Monday- I honestly don't remember but I know I cooked
Tuesday- see above
Wednesday- Shrimp cobb salads
Thursday- I had a follow up appt and was stuck in traffic for a million years, so we got pho takeout
Friday- Either chicken parm or meatballs, both with Goodles pasta (my new addiction) and some marinara sauce that needs to be used up
Saturday- it depends. My husband and I have a big errand day (buying a new front door, getting him a suit for an upcoming wedding and going to Ikea), so dinner will depend on how well I hold up. I get the feeling dinner might be frozen pizza lol
Staying home IS pretty cheap. Unless you entertain yourself with online shopping. Ha.
WIS: $168 @ Publix
WWA:
Sat: homemade minestrone soup with a boatload of veggies from our own gardens
Sun: turkey meatloaf, baked sweet potatoes & a roasted vegetable quinoa salad
Mon: Leftovers
Tues: Leftovers
Wed: Tuna sandwiches and fries for some; a date night for me and the hubby
Thur: I hit the easy button and picked up take-out pizza
Fri: Sadly I have no idea whatsoever; possibly Thai chicken lettuce wraps...we shall see
Your cabbage beef tacos remind me of fast food chain in Nebraska called Runza. Their "thing" is ... you guessed it, the Runza, which is a seasoned ground beef sandwich with cabbage (and other goodies, depending on what you order), encased in delicious fresh-baked bread. Mmmm.
Hi! I have an idea/request for a Post… what are your favorite “beat the heat” summer meal ideas? Simple no oven meals? Maybe crockpot meals? I’m just looking for inspiration as the heat sets in. Your kabobs are what made me think of it, I haven’t done kabobs in ages! Thanks! Hope your having a great day 🙂
ROAST the cauliflower.My new fave way to eat it. Break it up into chunks, toss with some olive oil and any herb you like, and roast for a while in 425 degree oven .. so yum.
Sunday- brunch-eggs, bacon, toast
dinner- chicken salad and fruit
Monday-salad with baked chicken
Tuesday-baked potatoes with toppings
Wednesday-salad with bacon on top
Thursday- salad with cheese and pepperoni ( we didn’t like that combo too much but I wanted to use up some pepperoni left over from last week’s pasta salad )
Friday- pizza? Not sure…
WIS: $110 @Food Lion. This was a bit high for us because i bought butter ($4), a big bag of frozen North Carolina grown berries on sale ($6.99, usually $9.99) and a bag of chia seeds ($6.99).
WWA: Homemade Italian herb bread, chili, lemon blueberry bran muffins, cantaloupe, strawberries, green salads with chickpeas, fruit salads, protein shakes with frozen berries and chia seeds, homemade coconut raisin granola, homegrown cherry tomatoes, tomato & Swiss cheese sandwiches with pickles and radishes. It's been hot and very humid, so the time over the stove has been kept short.
I made bbq turkey breast at the beginning of the week to slice for lunch meat, but we ate some turkey for dinner that night.
Turkey/stuffing/salad/brussels sprouts
pork chop/blackbeans/salsa baked over rice with a bit of cheese on top
carnitas with various veggie toppings and corn
grilled chicken kabobs/fried potatoes/baked beans/salad
tonight may be going out because I've done yard work all morning in 90 degree heat and I'm done!
We had a use it up week so I didn't go to the grocery store all this week, so spending was zero. Well, unless you count that $1000+ for the 1/4 side of beef we picked up on Saturday!
Saturday: grilled hot dogs with ketchup slaw, fruit, chips
Sunday: burrito bowls
Monday: Slow cooker Asian-inspired chicken drumsticks, pan fried cabbage, roasted carrots, and rolls
Tuesday: didn't feel well so I had chicken and rice soup and DH has leftovers
Wednesday: baked chicken breast, rice and orzo pilaf, and roasted carrots
Thursday: chicken tenders, green beans, and rolls
Friday: cheese and crackers at happy hour with BFF for me and DH will have whatever he can find in the freezer
I wanted to share what I ate for breakfast today. It's more like lunch for most (3:00pm) but it is breakfast for me because I am working overnight this week and I just got up. I travel for work so I take what I can for meals so I don't have to go out. Some of the hotels have kitchens but no breakfast. Most have breakfast but only a microwave and mini fridge. I microwaved a cheese quesadilla. I brought sour cream and salsa but didn't use those. I ate some baby carrots and some yogurt covered raisins. I will have some coffee from the lobby when I get around. I need more cream and sugar than they have in the room. This week I bought discounted bread (an everything loaf for $1.25 and two Sub rolls for $.70) because I finished my homemade bread and did not have time to make another one. I bought 2 packages of bacon ($3.49 12oz)with the rest of a gift card I received for employee of the month. Froze one and fried the other to take with me on my trip. It's a different kind of creativity but y'all inspire me to think more outside of the box. I strive to be more succinct in my writing but one thing at a time. Hope you have a great weekend.
@Ginger Bruce, Wow. I think your food situation is a big challenge. I'm impressed with your drive to save.
@Jody S., Thank you.
@Ginger Bruce, my husband travels once a week and we are blessed he has a fridge at work so he can travel with a cooler, put things in a fridge and transport to the hotel. I usually pack him something to stay cold on the first day for lunch and a supper he can warm up, but then I send him with a bagged lunch for the second day. He is up and at work before his hotel starts serving breakfast, but at least they have coffee at work. He usually takes fruit with him and some dry oatmeal in a mason jar that he can add water to at work for that second day.
It's a bit of a hassle and it is frugal, but he mainly does it because of he is really watching his salt intake and his blood sugar has been high so eating out is a rare thing for us that we like to enjoy...not use it on a work lunch.
Kristen, I am wondering how you will handle things like baking now that you are a party of two. For example, I love your hamburger buns, but even a half a recipe is too much and I have a tough time with frozen bread. When I make yogurt, I send half of it to my daughter, and it still seems frugal since yogurt is like six bucks!! I would definitely love to bake more, but it is just challenging to size down.
WIS: $18 at NEX on snacks, Herbs Country Store $36 (raw milk & baked goods), Costco $40 (cleaning supplies & milk), $14 Lucille’s Cafe aka date night. Total is $108. Shopping with Gent my week is bit higher
We have been adjusting to Gent being on nights and finding time for shared meals when he is less hungry.
Gent has been having banana muffins for breakfast, leftovers for lunch & my dinners for his dinner.
WWA:
Sun: ate at a neighbors, they made pork stir fry with rice - super good!
Mon: Cajun chicken & veggies
Tues: leftovers
Wed: salsa chicken & rice (I had fried rice with eggs)
Thurs: Gent grilled swordfish & we had potatoes
Fri: scrambled eggs, bagel with jam & shredded pork.
Next week will be more pantry meals.