WIS, WWA | $84
What I Spent
This week, I spent:
- $50 at Giant
- $34 at Safeway
And that's it!
So, $84 total.
What We Ate
Saturday
We had a fend-for-yourself night because we were not all home at the same time for dinner.
Sunday
I made a batch of stuffed shells, some homemade French bread, and a salad.
Monday
Lisey was craving something like a smoothie at dinnertime, so I suggested breakfast for dinner, with Orange Julius as the beverage. And she said YES.
So, we did French toast topped with whipped cream and berries, and we drank Orange Julius. 🙂
Tuesday
I baked the rest of the stuffed shells, made garlic bread with the leftover French bread, and made a salad.
Wednesday
I had gotten a free frozen pizza offer in my Safeway app, so I picked it up and stashed it in the freezer.
Unfortunately, there is no good place in this freezer to house a pizza box, so it was getting pretty annoying to have around. It kept getting stuck when we opened the drawer.
So, I baked that for dinner (yay for an emptier freezer!) and we had sauteed green beans on the side, plus some fresh fruit.
Thursday
I noticed that I had thousands of reward points on my Royal Farms reward card, and Zoe was wanting some of their fried chicken. Which was perfect because I had been swamped with chemistry homework that day.
So, I picked up some free chicken and we had some cut-up fresh produce on the side. Easy-peasy, and no extra money was spent.
Friday
Oh man, I don't know. I have two exams to study for, plus my quarterly tax reports are due. Whatever we have, it will be something easy!
I think you should get your deep freezer from your former house. It can't be more of a hassle to move than your piano, and I'm sure you would use it more strategically. Just my two cents.
WIS: 124.86 @Aldi and 35.00 @my farm for pasture-raised steak, for a total of 159.86 which I am super happy about.
WWA:
Fri: coleslaw (which was made with leftover cabbage, peppers and tomatoes that I had cubed up for thaco Thursday) topped with breaded and air fried okra, focaccia with mozzarella and pepperoni.
Sat: green salad with tomatoes, spaghetti with meatballs and parmesan cheese, sourdough crackers.
Sun: green salad with cucumbers and radishes, leftover spaghetti and meatballs, leftover arroz con pollo, sourdough crackers and Colby jack cheese.
Mon: breakfast for dinner (green salad with figs and feta, apple oven pancake, and a breakfast casserole that contained eggs, bacon, grits, onions, peppers and cheddar cheese.)
Tue: sweet Italian sausages, radish greens, bread with brie baked in the center, and a really yummy soup made with butternut squash, turnips, carrots, onions and garlic roasted and pureed and then topped with a swirl of oils and spices-not sure of all of them, but I know it had cilantro in it.
Wed: we all came down with a yucky cold, so dinner was simple: leftover soup, turnip greens topped with a fried egg and air fried Texas cheese toast (from a box in the freezer).
Thu: thacos-just crunchy corn tacos this time because my husband didn't feel well enough to make homemade tortillas. In them, we put leftover rice and beans (from freezer), iceberg lettuce, diced peppers, guacamole made with two unhappy avocados and two unhappy limes, the last of the sour cream, salsa, feta cheese, and chipotle Cholula sauce.
Tonight: salad and focaccia as long as my husband feels up to making it. If not, maybe just soup.
Happy weekend, all!
@Becca,
I’m super intrigued by the breakfast casserole with grits! Do you have a recipe you could share?
@Kyndra,
Let me ask my husband. It was really good and I calculated that we got about thirteen servings out of it, which is not bad for ten eggs and one package of bacon. Our family would usually only get five servings out of them (like for one dinner or one breakfast) so I can definitely attest to the thriftiness of casseroles.
@Kyndra,
Ok, he says "I don't really remember. I cooked everything first, then I buttered the baking dish and baked it at 350 for ages and ages..."
A more broken down version might be:
1. cook a 12 oz pack of bacon (but he says he did NOT use the grease for the veggies or the casserole because he thought it would be too heavy, so he saved it for me and I used it later)
2. Saute diced veggies: onions and peppers first, then add mushrooms and garlic. You could add other veggies if you want.
3. Make a cup of grits on the stove (he used chicken stock)
3. Beat ten eggs in a bowl, add the bacon, veggies and grits, and add 8 oz of shredded cheese (but save a little to put on top). Also add salt, pepper, nutmeg and sage for seasoning (or whatever other seasonings sound good to you)
4. Butter a casserole pan (9 x 13), pour in mixture, sprinkle cheese on top.
5. Bake at 350 uncovered for at least an hour, and then let it sit like a half hour to let it cool and thicken a bit.
This was excellent as leftovers.
@Becca,
He said to clarify that one cup of dry grits becomes about 4 cups of cooked grits when you add the liquid-just follow directions on package.
@Becca, my family is small -- just three of us -- but we have been using a dryer-sized manual defrost chest freezer for nearly 30 years. It makes stocking up and leftover management so much easier.
Lowe's has one made by Hotpoint for $189 right now. They were impossible to get during the pandemic, when everyone got worried about food security.
Yes! I want to buy one that's around that size to use in my rental.
@Ruby,
I love my giant chest freezer! I bought the biggest one I could find when my basement was finished and I use it every day. I think it is my most frugal appliance. Either that or the coffee maker would win in a contest if I did the math on how much money it saves me.
Well, it would actually be pretty hard to get it out of my other house, but the bigger problem would be getting it into my rental! It's an older home with a rather narrow staircase down to the basement laundry room.
So, I think I should get off my duff and buy a smaller chest freezer and put it into the laundry room here.
@Kristen, my sister found a front-opening half-size freezer on Craig’s List earlier this month, it stands about 3 feet tall. I had never seen once that size before, but it stores a lot and is very easy to move around. She was able to get it moved by herself, no whiskers involved! 🙂 Just wanted to mention another possible option.
@Ruby, Back at the end of March, I picked up this very same chest freezer for $189 plus tax…… it actually cost me nothing as I used a $200 incentive from a new credit card…..best investment ever and I am a single senior who cooks all my meals at home….love, love, love the freezer!!!
@Dottie, I imagine our little freezer has saved us thousands of dollars over the years. Right now it's full of manager's mark-down meats, sale breads, and frozen fruit and veggies bought on sale.
@Becca,
Thanks for the recipe! That’s sounds awesome!
Looks like your weeks are settling into that busy school routine. Cooking can be a challenge at those times, for sure. Its been a calm-ish week here. What I ate was only slightly different than what I planned:
Monday - (freezer container) Carnitas, rissotto, brussels sprouts
Tuesday - Shrimp Tacos with pico and grated mont jack cheese, refried black beans
Wednesday - Half a bag of Trader Joe's gnocci, green beans, cheesy garlic bun
Thursday - Crockpot BBQ Chicken, a twice baked potato, and a yellow squash that was getting old
Friday - Catfish dinner from Short Stop, salad on the side
Saturday - Steak Bites, sides to be determined. For lunch I am having Jersey Mike's as a friend sent me some free sub cards
Sunday - Making Easiest Italian Sheet Dinner and an apple pie for two of my peeps
Happy Weekend!
https://cannaryfamily.blogspot.com/
@gina, how do you prep your shrimp for shrimp tacos?
@Natalie J, I buy them frozen, in the shell. Just thaw in the fridge, peel and de-tail, then de-vein them. I pat them dry and season them with whatever seasoning I'm using, then cook until pink, usually 3 minutes.
Sunday: We had a snacky dinner. I made some chicken wings, cut up veggies and popcorn.
Monday: "American Chop Suey" and a salad. I used some ground beef from the value box I bought from the farm this summer. This ground beef is delicious and a very good price, but I don't like how the beef is packaged in frozen 2 lb cubes.
Tuesday: Homemade crunch wraps. We made a double batch so that we could also have for lunch the next day.
Wednesday: I had a coupon for a free rotisserie chicken and I served it with homemade mashed potatoes and roasted veggies. I also made some steamed broccoli for one daughter who does not like roast veggies.
Thursday: Both daughters had theater rehearsal and they made themselves chicken sandwiches before heading out. Husband and I made ourselves french bread pizzas.
Friday: I think we will maybe get some Chinese food take out?
WIS: $16.50 at a farm store I visited with grad school BFF before she left, $2.70 at the bakery outlet, $17.50 at a grocery outlet, and $6.50 at Price Chopper.
WIA: Soup, soft bread, bananas, soup, soft bread, bananas...gosh, can you stand the excitement of the post-gum-grafting diet?? But, as noted yesterday, I'm starting to branch out: broiled tilapia and mashed potatoes, pasta with a fresh tomato sauce, and a turkey burger with lettuce and tomato.
@A. Marie,
Wait, no ice cream?
@JD, no ice cream. I really don't have much of a sweet tooth--and, anyway, I'm trying to use this experience to lose weight rather than gain it!
I've gotten my taste back after having covid! So talking about food is exciting again 🙂
Sunday: Leftover pizza. Exciting, I know haha
Monday: Sang paneer with store bought frozen garlic naan on the side
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: "Chicken and rice" by the preschooler's request. It's a slow cooker meal that has cream cheese and a packet of Italian seasoning
Thursday: More leftovers
Friday: Stuffed pepper skillet
Saturday: Probably leftovers, but with homemade caramel apples for dessert!
I also wanted to say thank you to whoever posted about budget bytes Vietnamese meatballs on here. We made them last week, and they were a hit!
@Natalie J,
Yay to your taste coming back!!!
Ohhh, what a wonderful thing to get your taste back!
@Natalie J,
Hooray that you can taste again! Saag paneer is my very favorite, as are caramel apples (homemade is way better than store bought!).
@Liz B., Your comment made me realize that my saag paneer auto corrected to sang paneer, haha. It's one of our favorites too! And we usually only have to buy spinach and half and half (for the paneer), everything else is already in the pantry.
@Natalie J, I love Indian food and I don't think its any more complicated than Mexican food, so you have inspired me to try this! I really love naan and I don't know why I don't buy it now and again.
So not a relaxing weekend for you, then. Good luck with it all!
Saturday: We had gotten something labeled "hoagie rolls" from the excess commodities, along with a block of mozzarella, so I used those plus the pizza sauce I had made with garden tomatoes to make cheater's pizzas for the three kids home with me while eldest and husband were hunting. They also had raw green beans. I had calabacitas, tomatoes, and beet greens sauteed with some of the unpopular chicken sausage, diced. A much better way to eat it than by itself.
Sunday: I used a package of stir-fry meat to make braised beef in a sauce of beef stock, fresh dill, and sour cream. We also had mashed potatoes, green salad with ranch dressing, and a chocolate cake with whipped cream. The cake was our belated St. Michael celebration. His feast day was Thursday, and we traditionally have a cake (supposed to be devil's food, but I just make chocolate) to stab with toothpicks. Because St. Michael cast Satan into Hell with a sword, get it? And also because it's very fun for children to stab their food. 🙂
Monday: Work for me, so leftovers for some, breakfast tacos (scrambled eggs in microwaved corn tortillas with cheese) for others, green salad for all.
Tuesday: Work again. I had taken out the last bag of chicken from the last rooster we butchered to thaw, and that I just heated up right with the last of the leftover curried split peas. Rice, and done.
Wednesday: Work again again. I made tuna salad. It was chilly, though, and all my bread was frozen, so instead of sandwiches, I made tuna melts with corn tortillas. Or maybe quesadillas with tuna. Either way, they're really very good, and much more comforting on a chilly night than cold tuna. The kids also had raw green beans.
Thursday: Bull enchiladas. This involved a lot of making do. I used the processed bull meat for the filling, and I made the sauce with garden tomatoes. But I didn't have quite enough sauce and didn't want to open one of my jars of canned tomatoes, so I also used the last bit of tomato sauce with basil in the refrigerator (the basil was indectable in the finished dish) and some pureed salsa. Still not enough sauce, but they were good. I also didn't have any sour cream left, so I drained some yogurt and used that instead. Not as good as sour cream, but a passable substitute for an enchilada topping.
I also made arroz con leche (Mexican rice pudding) on the stovetop with about four cups of milk my children informed me was starting to go off, and half a can of condensed milk. It was tasty, but my stove doesn't cook low enough so I had a hard time getting the rice done without it sticking terribly. Also, it boiled over, and nothing makes a mess on a stove-top like boiled-over milk. Boo. I like the oven method better, although it undeniably takes longer.
Tonight: No idea. The freezers will provide some inspiration, I'm sure. Or at least some meat. I'll take it from there. 🙂
@kristin @ going country,
I've noticed that one of my local farmers is starting to sell bull meat and it's $3 more a pound than his regular beef (all of it is grass-fed and organic). I thought I'd see if you had any idea why it's more, since you are the bull meat expert here.
@JD, I'm thinking that's a marketing ploy on the part of your farmer. 🙂 There is no reason I can think of to mark up bull meat. It is not as good as a cow's or steer's meat, because it tends to be tougher and less marbled. This is true of any animal. The female's meat (or castrated male, which is basically like a female) is always better, because it has more fat and is more tender. And, if it's a bull, it was kept for breeding and that almost certainly means it's older, which means tougher. So, I'm guessing he's just marking it up and thinking maybe it will make people assume that means it's better. I would never have purchased bull meat, and actually have a hard time using our bull meat because it's SO lean (also grass fed). In sum: Stick with the cheaper meat.
@kristin @ going country,
Thanks - that was my thought, that this was probably an older bull so why was it more expensive. I'm glad to see my thinking aligns with yours!
@JD,
I'm gonna go ahead and guess that because it sounds exotic, they think people will pay more.
@Becca and @JD, I would add a guess to Becca's: Perhaps there's a certain (ahem) "masculinity" factor involved for male customers?
@A. Marie,
Wonder how much this farmer would charge for geoducks...
@Becca, now that’s funny! Btw we just ground those up for chowder.
@Mary Kerns,
For me, the geoduck jokes never get old...
@A. Marie, Yup. That was my other thought. Bodybuilding types might think it would increase their testosterone. I sure wish I had some of those around to sell to when I was choking down hundreds of pounds of meat from a bull elk in full rut. That was certainly full of testosterone, and tasted like it. Yuck.
@kristin @ going country, I can’t imagine what that’s like, really!
Saturday - we had another family over for a play date and ordered pizza
Sunday - restaurant for my dads birthday dinner (kids did surprisingly well at a long restaurant dinner, especially given my 2 year old has probably only been in a restaurant 3 times in her life)
Monday - dirty rice with smoked sausage
Tuesday - lasagna
Wednesday - mini garden turkey loaves, spaghetti squash, biscuits
Thursday - beyond burgers for adults, mini corn dogs for kids, fries, steamed carrots and baby corn
Friday - something frozen I will buy on my lunch break, probably from Trader Joe’s, keeping Fridays easy!
Pizza and cake at a birthday party
Brats on the grill with homemade buns, cole slaw, and roasted broccoli
Vegetable soup and homemade herb focaccia
Leftovers night
Spam musubi and stir fried veggies
Shakshuka with spinach and feta and whole wheat toasted bread. This was thrown together with leftover marinara sauce, an old carrot and half an onion, some leftover pizza sauce from the freezer that had to be used up, and a quarter of a package of thawed frozen chopped spinach that had to be used up. Also the bread was a baking fail (It was too dense I think I added too much flour and I didn’t let it rise long enough. I have yet to successfully make whole wheat bread). However toasted and with tasty toppings and egg yolk it was delicious. I was very happy to be able to use up all our leftovers in one meal that actually turned out pretty tasty.
Tonight we are going camping and planning to eat burgers and fried potatoes and orange slices.
@Becca, I love when we're able to turn a cooking "fail" into a win!
No shopping for me last week; I'll go today, and I have one farm order this week.
What I ate:
I had made a big pot of beef "curry" soup, and ate out a couple of times, plus I had a few lunches out of it and put some in the freezer for later lunches. I had it one more time this past week.
A chef salad from the pizzeria where a granddaughter works, paid for by my daughter and made especially for me by that granddaughter who knows I avoid tomatoes and I love olives.
A pack of pork cutlets from a farm. There were more cutlets in there than I had thought, so I cooked lots of honey/balsamic beets and carrot/cauliflower/broccoli medley, and ate that for three nights this week.
A made up dish of zucchini noodles, mushrooms, and bacon, with apple slices on the side.
Yesterday was one of my days to visit my husband - I usually go every other day- which gets me home later than usual, plus the long dry spell we are having means I have a lot of watering to do when I get home, so I just scrambled some eggs and ate some biscuits I had made the night before to use up the last of the buttermilk.
Kristen, I think I see sandwiches in your immediate future.
I did have a peanut butter sandwich for lunch one day this week. Ha.
This week we had:
white chicken chili
quiche
pizza (sigh)
white borscht
sweet and sour chicken meatballs.
Tonight: leftovers.
Stuffed shells sound delicious but my kids aren't fans. One doesn't like that it doesn't have meat and the other thinks it has too much cheese. (as if such a thing is possible.)
Make the stuffed shell sauce with meat and then for the child who *gasp* thinks there is too much cheese, just cut the shell up and mix the cheese into the sauce and that child can have pasta with meat sauce (though slightly a pink instead of red sauce)
As you can see, this is an issue in my house as well, but this method works 🙂
@Former Lurker, I love your screen name!
@Former Lurker, Hi! Well--she's 25 so it's harder to fool her than the average child. I should probably refer to them as offspring or something.
@Rose, when I was a kid my mom made stuffed shells and hers were filled with meatball. She put spaghetti sauce and mozzarella cheese over the top. Maybe that would work for your kids.
WIS: $36 on takeout and $15 @ Publix
WWA:
Saturday: wings, roasted green beans, roasted potatoes, chocolate chip cookies
Sunday: baby back ribs with homemade peach bbq sauce, more roasted green beans and baked sweet potatoes
Monday: leftovers
Tuesday: roasted chicken breasts, rice and collard greens
Wednesday: I made a meatball casserole and we ate that with green salad.
Thursday: I hit the wall with a sinus headache so the hubby picked up Chinese soup for me & dinner for everyone else.
Friday: soup is sounding good and I have some cheese ravioli that need to be used up. I might whip up some Italian soup with that and call it good.
Happy weekend everyone!
Another busy week on our side. My husband & I are tag teaming dinner prep, so we can get everyone fed between activities.
-Chicken shawarma, with all the sides. This was delicious, my 16 y.o & husband loved it, and we will have it again. Super easy & a fun dinner option. We had this 2x.
-Baked chicken & ravioli
-One night, the teens were at a birthday party & had dinner there, and we went out to eat. We shared a burger & salad.
-We had steak & roasted acorn squash, x2.
-I'm flying to Portland tonight, so I will get to have dinner with my parents/sister/nephews. I'm not sure what my husband will do. At least one teen is going to the homecoming game, and will likely eat there. I hope he eats something better than 7-Eleven, but you never know. 🙂
If frozen pizza is in an unwieldy thick box, it is usually also wrapped in plastic. Store just the pizza and throw the box, after making a note of baking instructions.
Ohh, I should have thought to do that!
@Heidi Louise, that's what we do too, I just write the temp and time directly on the pizza's plastic with a sharpie. Never had any issues!
@Heidi Louise,
I’m late to the party 🙂 but that’s exactly what I do!! Never had an issue with it either.
WIS: $138, all at Food Lion.
WWA: I made beef-barley-vegetable soup Sunday and we had that for a few days. I ate mine with Wasa rye crispbreads, Laughing Cow cheese and apples (all were on sale). My husband has been on a PB&J sandwich kick as well. Last night I portioned up and froze the last of the soup in three lunch-sized Rubbermaid containers that I will use next week.
Busy week on the farm. Not a shopping week, so $0 WIS.
From the freezer White Chicken Enchiladas , green salad
Breakfast for dinner - home fries, eggs & homemade sausage
Canning day - BLT & cowboy caviar w/tortilla chips
Canning day - fresh tomato soup & grilled cheese sandwiches
Tacos
Taco salad
Leftovers from family dinner @ local Chinese restaurant
Busy week! 64 was spent at Aldi.
Monday: grilled chicken sausage and air fryer potatoes with cottage cheese
Tuesday: enchilada with Mexican rice
Wednesday: tuna salad sand on toasted sourdough with dill pickle spears and sweet potato fries
Thursday: OYO I had fab grilled Swiss cheese sandwhich with blueberries
Friday: frozen pizza and bag salad. Our version of take out
Tomorrow I am making pinto beans with smoked sausage. And cornbread. Beans and cornbread are my fave! Cannot say the same for the rest of my family. Wah
WIS: Roche $8
Shaw's $90
Fri: Pizza and salad at my daughter's for grandson's birthday
Sat: Turkey meatballs (from Dinner Just for Two) plus 2 country style pork chops in sauce and pasta.
Sun: Leftovers
Monday: Greek salad bowls
Tuesday: Burgers
Wednesday: Lemon chicken
Thursday: Autumn pork chops
Tonight: ???
I was at the local market last week to order some flowers for our club event and swung by the meat dept and found a 4-pack of country style ribs on sale. 2 for Sat. night and 2 for Thurs. night. Perfect.
My Shaw's bill was quite high but I bought the meat on sale, one pack being a large rack of spare ribs for my daughter. Meat adds up. Freezer is quite full now with packages for dinners for 2.
Sunday-oatmeal and sliced apple
Monday-pork loin, sauerkraut, green beans
Tuesday-“ Harvest Casserole “ with leftover pork. The casserole is sweet potato, pear, celery , onion and spices all drizzled with 1/4 cup each : pumpkin seed oil and maple syrup.
Wednesday- meals at a local Mexican restaurant with our church group
Thursday-salad with chicken on top
Friday-salad with chicken on top
@Martha, isn’t pumpkin seed oil the most amazing condiment? Until 5 years ago, I’d never heard of it , then learned about it from an Austrian friend. Yum! And healthy! Now he imports it here and I keep learning new ways to use it.
I have never heard of pumpkin seed oil before! How do you like to use it?
Saturday - We were in my home town of Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta so naturally I indulged in some delicious NM enchiladas, rice, beans, and sopaipillas
Sunday - 2nd verse same as the first 🙂 Gotta get it while I can!
Monday - Due to schedule changes taquito tuesday has become mexican monday so we had taquitos. I had a salad to use up some bok choy.
Tuesday - Kids convinced dad to get in n out. I don't remember what I had but I'm pretty sure it was some sort of "use up ingredients in the fridge" type dinner
Wednesday - home made pizza and gum drop grapes (have you tried these? they are DELICIOUS)
Thursday - Ramen bowls and another salad to use up some cabbage and some creamy jalapeno dip I had sitting in the refrigerator. It sounds weird but it ended up being kind of like a spicy coleslaw. Not bad for another cleanup type dinner.
Friday - Going out to celebrate after my daughter's taekwondo belt test
@CrunchyCake, that spicy coleslaw actually sounds delicious! We have some leftover Peruvian green sauce in our fridge right now, I think I might buy a cabbage to use it up.
@CrunchyCake,
An e-mail list I am on had a picture of the Balloons at the Balloon Fiesta attached at the bottom. I had never heard of it. It looks like its a pretty cool event!
@Jaime, it was beautiful. Would definitely recommend it. The only hard part is having to wake up so dang early!
I hope a chest freezer finds its way to you sometime soon, I think you would enjoy it and make the most of it!
We had a busy week again and ate potatoes, chops and different kinds of steamed vegetables three days in a row. I made slowcooker pasta sauce one day and we had that over tortellini. I also made peanut/pumpkin soup for a sibling who needed to stay over, late arrival guaranteed. No leftovers although the recipe said serves 6-8.
I am away for the weekend and am going to eat out tomorrow. I went to the supermarket for soft fruits and yoghurt earlier. The rest will fend for themselves, most likely some takeout.
This week we ate tacos al pastor. This is probably our new second favorite taco recipe. It is made from the delightfully cheap pork butt roast.
Those stuffed shells look like something my kids might enjoy. I will add them to my menu plan for this month!
Saturday: Our church hosted a Fall Fest and offered hot dogs, chips, cookies, and cider for dinner and we just ate there. Oh! And s'mores!
Sunday: One of my best friends just re-entered the workforce after being a SAHM for years (she's a nurse) and we had her husband and kids over for dinner to help her husband out. We roasted hot dogs and brats over the fire and had chips and dip, veggies and hummus, and s'mores.
Monday: Spaghetti and meatballs
Tuesday: My plans got wrecked with spending the entire afternoon at an unexpected vet visit and I failed to wing it with dinner plans. There were a few chicken nuggets eaten by some before soccer practice, but the kids mostly ate cereal after practice and right before bed. I have no idea what the adults ate.
Wednesday: Rice and bean burritos with chips and salsa
Thursday: Tater tot hot dish
Friday: We'll be eating on the road and I'm packing food because we need to scale back our spending a bit! Tuna sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, peanut butter sandwiches for the less adventurous children, veggies, fruit, chips... The kiddos can have a snack when we arrive at our destination if that's not enough.
@Ruth T, I hope the vet visit ended up ok
@Natalie J, Thanks... It did eventually! There were a couple of times that we thought it was near the end and we were preparing to say goodbye, but our cat turned a corner yesterday afternoon and is back to normal now!
Those stuffed shells look delicious! Things we ate this week:
Chicken flautas from Costco, chips & salsa, green salad
Macaroni & cheese, hot dogs, leftover broccoli salad, fruit (gourmet dinner for sure)
Tuna casserole, fruit
Taco salad, fruit (cooked a pot of black beans to use for a couple of recipes)
Black bean & sweet potato tacos, jicama & orange salad
Pork tenderloin, sweet & sour red cabbage, boiled potatoes, sautéed apples
Tonight will probably be a pizza night because we haven’t done that for a couple of weeks. Next week I’m gone for work for 3 nights so it will be an easy week- I just need to make sure the eating out doesn’t continue when I get home.
@Beth, what do you use in our jicama and orange salad? I have some jicama in my pantry right now, and that sounds tasty!
@Natalie J,
I followed this recipe (sort of)- I didn’t have pomegranates and didn’t want to use lettuce. https://www.food.com/recipe/jicama-orange-salad-with-lime-dressing-274655
This dressing is delicious - I have quite a bit leftover and I will make it again.
Hmm Orange Julius - love those - going to add oj concentrate to my grocery list. Also wanted to mention that these posts (and comments!) provide a lot of inspiration - recipe ideas + increased consciousness of menu planning to avoid food (and time) waste. Thanks!
WWA:
Saturday - Vietnamese meatballs on rice noodles with cucumber, carrots (budget bytes)
Sunday - bbq steak (on sale), bbq potatoes, salad, apple crisp (to use older apples)
Monday - shrimp & veggie stir fry on rice (used up crisper contents)
Tuesday - Mexican take-out with step-son before he moves away again
Wednesday - leftovers
Thursday - garlic sausage, fried leftover bbq potatoes, broccoli
Friday - Thai take-out & carrot cake to celebrate daughter’s birthday
Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend
This was not a good week for me in terms of frugality. Life happened and we ate out waaaay more than we usually do.
Sunday- my husband and I had a pretty big argument (which is rare for us) but we made up and decided to have an impromptu date night to start the week off right. So we went to a local pizza place
Monday- We had family visiting from Colorado for Disney, so we met them at a PF Changs. My first time going and surprisingly not bad.
Tuesday-I made migas with a bunch of leftover veggies
Wednesday- Back on rotation, so rice bowl with veggies and avocado
Thursday- You know the drill, baked potato with cauliflower, broccoli and cottage cheese.
Friday- I have no idea, it really depends on if we fly. If I am at the crew house for dinner, I think it will be quinoa burrito bowls with jackfruit and avocado
Saturday- probably baked potato night number two
The weather is starting to get chilly at night at work, so I brought some ramen packets from my local Korean market at home. So, that might also be in the cards.
We did salads and chicken or turkey at luches
Chili with grilled cheese, Greek chicken with asparagus and roasted potatoes, a ham and white bean soup, chicken kielbasa/carrot/brussels sprouts tray bake, and hamburgers with onion rings for supper meals. We had some fruit and hummus with veggies along with those on different nights.
I spent 183.00 this week- yikes. Out of everything and had to stock up.
1. We had spaghetti one night and then
2. chicken parm the next night with the leftover spaghetti sauce
3. I had a 2.50 Sam's pizza combo and my husband ate cereal.
3. Last night I cooked up ground beef with the idea that I could make chili or nachos and when I came in from my walk, my husband had put chili seasoning in beef, but then made nacho "fixins". Really good. And we'll probably eat that again tonight!
And I can't remember what else we ate!
An anniversary, so picked up Mongolian beef (which we both love) from our favorite Chinese place. SO MUCH FOOD! Ate it Sat/Sun and Monday, with only the addition of sliced fruit each night.
Tuesday--spaghetti and green salad
Wednesday---leftover spaghetti and a fruit salad.
Thursday--chicken enchiladas. Made them a month ago and doubled the batch so I could freeze one. Thanked myself for my advance planning when I pulled this out of the freezer. Green salad.
Friday--Want a fillet of fish, but we have to wipe out the leftover spaghetti from Tuesday and Wednesday, so no McDonalds fish this week.
Fried Chicken, Mac n Cheese, Steamed Broccoli
Chicken Parm (using leftover fried chicken, canned pasta sauce, pasta), Green Beans, bread and butter
Chicken and Dumplings
Sweet and Sour Pork, Rice, Broccoli, plums
Chicken Sandwiches, Chips, Sliced Tomatoes, Grapes
Salisbury Steak, Mashed potatoes, Green Beans (if the green beans looks repetitive a 3 year old is involved and green beans are his choice)