WIS, WWA | a $94 week

WIS: Approx. $30 at Market Basket, Stop&Shop and Aldi WWA: Saturday: Burgers Sunday: Chicken marsala Monday: Swedish meatballs and some vegetable. Tuesday: Leftover--great when I get in from work late because of summer traffic. Wednesday: Well, as I said I have been working out of my freezer--Thankfully. I went for an appointment and the cleaning lady was here. I really like to not make a mess immediately after she is here. I offered my daughter that I would pick up the on-sale pizza at the market. They were busy, so I figured I would go back later. But I bought some ice cream and came home to put it in the freezer--that is when I found that the food in the freezer was thawed. I shared with my daughter--burgers, salmon, steak. Thursday: Steak fajitas & Spanish rice Friday: Leftovers. And today I went out to buy a new refrigerator. The salesman did not try to oversell. I was prepared for $2K after researching (including tax, delivery and take the old one, and the extra 5-yr warranty); but it ended up at $1K, just a plain old (actually new) white, top freezer, no ice maker (that will be my job) or water dispenser--just more things to break. He was truthful to my questions that I asked based on the complaints people had. Appliances are made to not last--Maybe the climate change advocates should look into environmental causes from the massive amount of appliances that now end up in the landfill. Growing up, my family had same refrigerator. It was still there when my parents sold their house.

I broke my Ankle last Friday so my Husband has been Cooking. Monday Night we had Egg Rolls Tuesday Night , can't remember Wednesday night Burritos Last night I cooked we had Philly cheesesteaks And Tonight we had Hamburgs

Sunday: We spent the weekend at my in-laws place, and they had a BBQ Sunday night. Hot dogs, burgers, watermelon, yum! Monday: We drove home this day, and my in-laws set us up with leftover food. Tuesday: Still leftovers, haha Wednesday: BBQ chicken casserole. I doubled it and gave one to a neighbor who recently had a baby. She asked for the recipe, so I guess it turned out well! Thursday: Pizza salad. Not sure why it's named that, but it's a family favorite and it's stuck by this point. Salad with marinated beans, pepperoni, red onions, and cheese. Friday/Saturday: More leftovers

WIS: $4 at a produce stand, $39 at Price Chopper, and $12 at Wegmans. There was another BOGO on olive oil at Price Chopper, which I will again be sharing with neighbors.

WIA: A beef noodle soup from frozen beef stock, and some sheet pan roasted chicken and cauliflower. This cauliflower was so old it should have been collecting Social Security, but I just sliced off the moldy bits and used the rest.

And the Bestest Neighbors brought me back half a smoked whitefish from their holiday weekend stay at the lake house. I'll be using some of the whitefish on a chef salad tonight, along with salad greens harvested from another neighbor's garden.

This week we had: Sat: Red pepper pasta with chicken parm sausage and red sauce Sun: leftovers from saturday Mon: Went to a friends house and had cheeseburgers, macaroni salad, corn. Tues: Fennel and grapefruit salad, Flatbread with fava beans, cucumbers, and burrata Wed: Salmon, rice, amaranth, and snap peas. Cherry chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Thurs: Husband's birthday dinner out at a new Italian restaurant in town. They do small plates so we shared: Burrata with apricots and nuts, fried artichoke, grilled asparagus, branzino, and shrimp/crab paccheri. For dessert we shared strawberry rhubarb bamboloni (doughnut) and baked sorrentina (sweet cream gelato, yuzu cream, meringue, candied citrus) Tonight: Husband's actual birthday and he is requesting enchiladas...so we will have beef enchiladas, refried beans, corn salad, tortilla chips and tomatillo salsa, and birthday churros

Thursday night was most certainly not frugal in anyway but totally worth it. Additionally, I have found out I love fava beans. They are only around a short time and this is the first time I have ever been able to buy them and I just can't get enough. If you are lucky enough to spot them at your local farmer's market grab them immediately. You won't regret it :-)