What I Spent
I was a grocery shopping slacker this week again. I got a $25 Hungry Harvest box, did a quick $27 trip to Harris Teeter, and spent $30 picking up a rotisserie chicken and a few other things.
So that means I’m starting out December with some nice, low spending.
But we know from history that some low spending is always followed by some higher spending. So I anticipate needing to buy a bunch of things next week!
Oh, and after missing a cat shift last week because of Thanksgiving, Sonia and I got to go see our cat friends last night.
December Spending
Week 1: $82
What We Ate
I may not have gone grocery shopping, but I did actually plan a menu this week, so that’s an improvement on last week!
Saturday
Mr. FG and I did a takeout date night from a local Italian place, and we watched some old episodes of Law and Order while we ate.
It was like the COVID version of a movie date night. 
I took advantage of the opportunity to order gnocchi because I am the only one here who really likes gnocchi. A date night is a perfect chance to eat exactly what I want because no one else has to share it!
Sunday
Continuing our current Sunday routine of supporting a local restaurant (because of current restrictions), we got takeout from a seafood spot near us.
Of course, Zoe did not get seafood, because of her allergies! She got chicken nuggets.
Monday
I made chicken katsu with rice and tonkatsu sauce (recipe from Dinner Illustrated).
Tuesday
We had Swedish meatballs (made with this recipe) on top of egg noodles.
Wednesday
I grilled hamburgers, and we ate the burgers with potato chips and some raw fruits and veggies.
It was actually really cold for such a summery meal, but Zoe wanted burgers. So I grilled in the cold. 
Thursday
I picked up a rotisserie chicken, which we ate with roasted potatoes and a green salad.
Friday
I think I’m going to make some tortellini soup, except in Sonia’s bowl, I’ll use rotini instead of tortellini.
I have never found cheese-free tortellini, despite lots of looking, so plain pasta will have to do for Miss Sonia.
MB in MN says
Here’s what I can remember in no particular order:
Tomato bisque and salad
Vegetarian reuben sandwiches and fruit
Pasta with marinara sauce
Wild rice blueberry pancakes
Creamy butternut squash soup
Amy says
Another birthday week for us!
Monday- burgers and tots
Tuesday- kid’s cooked!!! Chicken Cordon Bleu and rice
Wednesday- meatballs and noodles
Thursday- lasagna with homemade noodles- yum
Friday- Take out-hot wings- we let the birthday boy pick. Also supporting the restaurants.
Veggies and fruit for each day but I am happy to remember the main dish
priskill says
After the whoo-ha of Thanksgiving, it was back to basics:
Friday — Returned from brief trip and had frozen pizza and ice cream
Saturday — Big green salad with chicken breast on top
Sunday — Homemade chicken soup, using up frozen thighs and veggies.
Monday — Big green salad with chicken breast on top; last of the soup.
Tuesday — Very lame dinner but a personal victory as it was a very hard day and I got home late but resisted the siren call of Pollo Loco and opened cans of salmon, nuked a potato, steamed broccoli and called it good. Well, edible. Thank you for the inspiration!
Wednesday — Turkey burgers, steamed broccoli
Thursday –Leftover Turkey burgers, roasted melange of all the things malingering in the crisper old wobbly carrot, the last of some kind of winter squash that was waiting to be peeled, onions, green pepper, and potatoes. Delicious, even the weird squash.
Tonight is treat night — some kind of take out tv — yup, the COVID date night
Susan says
Post idea: Kristen, could you detail your most successful substitutions you’ve found for your daughters’ allergies/restrictions? My daughter is having lots of food related issues, and I could really use the tips on the dairy-free front! While this might not useful for all your readers, I think more and more people have to navigate these issues so probably it is of wider interest than it might seem to be.
Kristen says
Sure, I can do that. Sonia’s dairy issues are sort of odd (in that she can tolerate butter and cream, but not cheese or milk), but I’m happy to post about our workarounds.
cathy says
There are tons of great dairy-free recipes online. You can also search for vegan recipes. Dairy is also one of my kid’s allergies. I usually sub rice milk in cooking and baking, always sauté with olive oil instead of butter, and use Spectrum shortening instead of butter in baking. Enjoy Life makes delicious chocolate chips, chocolate bars, and other snack foods that are free from the top allergens.
jessica says
Sunday was the last nice weather day for a long time so we grilled some steaks from our beef order and ate those with alfredo noodles and some frozen veggies.
Monday I was planning on sauteed chicken breasts but my husband decided we should make chicken nuggets.. so we made them in the air fryer and served with steamed cauliflower and green salad and he decided afterwords it was way more work for less than amazing product and he won’t offer ideas like this again! lolol
Tuesday- I had an early booster club meeting so it was a great night to use up stuff from the freezer! We had cheddar pierogies, leftover sauted cauliflower( it was still too undone the night before!) and I air fried some little smokie links!
Weds- homemade meatloaf, baked sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli.
Thursday- last night was spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread.
Friday-we have more salad to eat so we will have that with beef and cheese sliders and tater tots!
Saturday hubby and I will have date day to get all the holiday shopping completed.. kids will stay home and will probably get pizza.
I decided to do some purging.. so I have a pie baking.. used the last of the frozen pie shells, the last of the pecans and karo syrup… added some dark chocolate pieces…
My lunch is a sauted zucchini and I tossed in a handful of leftover pasta from last night! so simple and good! lots of garlic salt on it!
Sarahbeth says
I love that you volunteer with your girls. I can’t wait till mine are old enough for us to do the same.
Saturday & Sunday- I can never seem to recall our weekend dinners. If I want to participate in WWA I should start writing them down. I don’t usually plan weekend dinners… I leave it more open for some spontaneity.
Monday- smorgasbord of leftovers languishing in the fridge. Included the last of some Thanksgiving items.
Tuesday- this was a weird day because my parents were facing a crisis and needed help: my dad has covid, their power had been out for two days, and my 80+ year old grandma who has severe dementia and lives with them was having a major episode. So the 6 of us hauled it out to their place and hooked up their generator, called a plow, and shoveled around their cars. Then we had to take two of the kids to the doctor for a checkup. All of this was happening in a blizzard. We ended up being gone all day unexpectedly. My kids requested Mexican so I pressed the easy button and we picked up tacos. Yay!
Wednesday- I had to go out that evening by myself, so husband and children ate through some leftovers. It had been a difficult day of homeschooling reluctant children, plus dealing with more family issues, so I hadn’t had the emotional wherewithal to prep a meal for them ahead of time.
Thursday- A much better day. I made quiche with the last of the Thanksgiving ham, with steamed broccoli on the side. I also used the ham bone to make some broth.
Tonight- I’m planning to make the sausage and orzo dish you’ve shared here. My husband and kids really liked it last time. I don’t have asparagus though, plus they don’t like veggies mixed into their main dish, so I’ll leave that out and make green beans on the side instead. They love green beans so I make those a lot.
priskill says
I hope your dad is doing well and things are settling down — take care and best wishes to you and your family. And I think leftovers are a great choice any day but especially a difficult one!
Sarahbeth says
Thank you :). His case isn’t severe enough to be in the hospital, thank God.
You got that right about leftovers… I never appreciated them until I became a mom!
priskill says
Glad to hear that!
JD says
Since I was gone from Friday morning until Sunday evening after Thanksgiving, my shopping was on Thursday after work instead of Friday after work and my menu was smaller. I usually pre-prep food on Sunday afternoon, but for some reason, I thawed out the small, extra turkey to cook, never thinking I would have to cook it after work…
One night we had pressure cooker beef stew.
We had the smoked pork butt given to me at work, with fried okra and leftover cranberry sauce. Cranberry sauce tastes good with/on smoked pork.
We had shrimp from the freezer with a salad.
Turkey night. I got home as fast as I could, took the turkey out of the brine and spatchcocked it (and Kristen is right, that is harder with a turkey), seasoned it, then convection roasted it for 2 hours, at which point it was cooked exactly enough. We had leftover okra, since I had cooked a huge batch of fried okra before, roasted beets, and the last of the cranberry sauce. The turkey was only just over 9 pounds, or we would have been eating at midnight. I will pull the rest of the meat off the bones and put this meat in the freezer for future lunches since my husband isn’t a fan of poultry.
We had burgers and another salad.
Tonight will be some loin chops I’ve had thawing with broccoli and some other side.
I will be shopping this afternoon and hoping to finally find a good sale on butter. I have a cake to make for Christmas that takes a lot of butter; it’s a tradition, and even if I have to deliver it in portions to the family, it is going to get made!
Ruth T says
I had a low spending week as well ($2.50 for milk) but mine is following a super high spending November instead of preceding a high week. Even looking ahead to what meals I have planned for next week, my spending shouldn’t be very high next time I shop. This week…
Sunday: Stuffed crust pizza and breadsticks
Monday: Meatloaf, fried potatoes, broccoli with cheese
Tuesday: Turkey salad sandwiches (like chicken salad, just using turkey instead of chicken), shells and cheese, pineapple, chips
Wednesday: Vegetable beef soup and FG french bread
Thursday: Spaghetti squash (for me) and regular spaghetti with meat sauce
Friday: Date night! There’s a local Mexican place I hope is still open and we’re planning to get that for takeout and rent a much-anticipated clean comedy special from Prime Video
Ellen says
Saturday-mom and dad’s for thanksgiving leftovers..
Sunday- Picked up 5 guys
Monday- Alfrado, and I had some broccoli on the side
Tuesday- Pancakes, breakfast sausage, clementine’s, cut up apples
Wednesday-Home made chicken pot pie, ds has leftover pizza, dd had tortellini.
Thursday- Breaded Chicken and Turkey cutlets, butter noodles, corn
Friday- not sure yet, could be fish sticks, mac & cheese.
JD says
I know what you mean you got on Sunday, but it made me giggle anyway.
MaryAnne says
Haha!!
EngineerMom says
I’m not sure if they’re sold in your area, but Kite Hill makes vegan (and therefore dairy-free!) ravioli and tortellini that actually taste good!
https://www.kite-hill.com/our-food/entrees/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA2af-BRDzARIsAIVQUOdVqPNTYZwxJi-atJaCDjZbPVzYLdXKitZsTG0ZptauTmQOYVoZzgAaArLAEALw_wcB
Kris says
Thank you for the link to dairy free ravioli. We’ll definitely try these.
mary says
I second this – Kite Hill has very good products. I have their almond milk yogurt every day. And I love their ravioli. Haven’t tried the tortellini but it looks good.
Kristen says
I am so jealous that you guys can do nuts. Sonia is allergic to nuts as well as dairy, which makes this more complicated.
But I am happy for you guys!
Battra92 says
Did you buy or make the Tonkatsu sauce? I know that in Japan the Bull-Dog[sic] version is more or less standard but kind of hard to find in the states (my “local” Asian grocery doesn’t seem to stock it.) I’ve been wanting to try it for a while now but I think I may need to just mix some up myself.
Monday: Finished off what was left of the Thanksgiving leftovers we received. It was all pretty good stuff and it was nice to clean it all out.
Tuesday: I made sweet and sour chicken, rice etc. As I’m learning more American-Chinese dishes the less I miss going out for Chinese. I would like a good Peking duck but there’s no way I’m making that at home.
Wednesday: My wife made meatloaf. Meatloaf is one of those foods like ketchup, SPAM, bologna which are looked down upon by foodies as inferior foods or whatever. I really don’t care as my wife’s meatloaf is definitely a comfort food which never fails to satisfy me.
We also ate some potatoes we grew and some other vegetables.
Thursday: Leftovers. I had some more meatloaf and mashed some sweet potatoes to use them up.
Friday: Sorta Detroit-like pizza. My wife has a thing against pizzas where the sauce is above the cheese. So I’ve made the dough (it’s currently in the fridge) and will bake it in the pan but it won’t be 100% what they have in Detroit.
Of course, there’s no such thing as bad pizza so I’m sure it will be fine.
Lindsey says
I’m happy to give a shout out for bologna! Also Velveeta, which I still think makes the best mac and cheese; I worked in a restaurant while in college and they made a fancy mac and cheese but added some Velveeta to make the sauce smoother. Snooty patrons raved about it, never guessing that Velveeta helped make it.
betta from daVille says
WWS: $130; WWA:
Saturday: faux duck confit poutine (over mashed potato pancakes & halloumi sub for curds); spinach & cabbage salad with a bracing mustard vinaigrette
Sunday: TJ pork gyoza; stirfry cabbage, zucchini & red pepper
Monday: homemade pizza; salad
Tuesday: leftovers
Wednesday: tortilla española; broccoli with black olives & smoked paprika (meh)
Thursday: chicken inasal; grilled zucchini, broccoli & red peppers; roasted potato peels
Friday: jota (Slovenian sauerkraut & bean soup); shopska salad (sans tomato); homemade baguette
Angie says
This week was pretty boring for us meal wise but I am loving that we have a mostly empty fridge because that means we are eating up leftovers!
I spent about $15 for cilantro, lettuce and a few other random items but our grocery budget went to a family in need in our community this week. Such a wonderful opportunity to bless someone!!!
We ate…
Saturday we were still noshing on Thanksgiving leftovers.
Sunday I made a large pot of Zuppa Toscana and we ate that with some bread.
Monday I made a large pot of spaghetti with meat sauce.
Tuesday leftovers & I baked a batch of cranberry bread using my banana bread recipe and substituting bananas for leftover homemade cranberry sauce. Fantastic by the way!
Wednesday leftovers again.
Thursday… chicken tacos with rice, pinto beans cooked with our leftover ham bone, lettuce, tomatoes, cilantro.
Friday…leftover tacos & then the fridge will be empty. Time to make a new list
Julie says
We have been working on cleaning out the freezer here and trying not to waste anything! Our weekly produce box is keeping us well supplied in an amazing abundance of greens for salads.
Saturday – Parmesan Crusted Tilapia freezer fish and crab cakes, leftover Thanksgiving sides, salad
Sunday – Cozy white bean stew with turkey
Monday – Chicken meatball subs and roasted veggies
Tuesday – Revamped white bean stew with additional veggies added
Wednesday – Pasta with leftover chicken meatballs, salad
Thursday – Turkey meatloaf (from freezer, some we’d frozen a while back) with roasted veggies and salad
Friday – No idea yet. Maybe something with shrimp…or Mexican. Or both!
kristin @ going country says
Saturday: Bunless cheeseburgers, surprisingly spicy peppers which of course became the prized part of the meal with all the boy children asserting dominance with their spice-suffering (sigh), bread and butter, green salad with ranch dressing
Sunday: Pasta/asadero cheese/roasted tomato sauce/leftover turkey casserole topped with breadcrumbs, plus frozen peas for children. Leftover turkey with the tomato sauce and cheese for husband. Salad for me. And pots de creme made in the blender, which is the easiest and most amazingly delicious dessert ever.
Monday: Same pasta for the kids, plus still-frozen home green beans, some of the pressure cooked bull meat simmered with garlic, onion, and red wine for the adults, plus pureed squash
Tuesday: I cooked a ten-pound log of ground beef all at once and made all of it into taco meat. Some of it I used for tacos this night–just with store-bought corn tortillas and toppings–and most got frozen for the future.
Wednesday: Pork roast with a maple-mustard sauce, leftover rice, frozen peas, pureed squash, gingerbread with whipped cream. Why did I make gingerbread on a random Wednesday? Because I wanted some, and I’m an adult.
Thursday: Leftover pork with barbecue sauce–the plain leftovers from the roast, I mean, not the maple-mustard pork, which the kids ate as sandwiches because I had just baked bread. Plus green salad with ranch dressing and baked custard. I had a gallon of milk that needed to be used, which is why I made yet another dessert. The children have been quite happy this week.
Tonight: I have some of the maple-mustard pork, some of the barbecue pork, and some plain pork all left. So I think I’ll make the plain pork into taco meat and let everyone choose what they want. Choice of tortillas or leftover rice as a starch, and carrot sticks with curry dip (mayonnaise+sweet curry powder) for a vegetable. No dessert.
Kris says
I didn’t realize there was a specific day when you are supposed to make gingerbread. Why CAN’T you do it on a Wednesday??? I made some about a week ago for the same reason–it sounded good and I’m the family baker. End of story.
kristin @ going country says
Kris: I just said that because our usual rule is dessert only on Sundays, when I make a homemade dessert. My children, however, were not unhappy that I broke my own rule.
Mary says
Would love to have the pots de crepe recipe. Can you put a link?
kristin @ going country says
I don’t have a link, because it’s a recipe I got from my MiL, who got it from her MiL, who got it from the cook at the hotel she and her husband ran in the Caribbean during their retirement. But I will be posting it next Tuesday on my blog, so you can look for it there.
Mary says
Thanks. I will be sure to check it out.
Jana says
If Sonia can have almonds, the Kite Hill stuffed ravioli and tortellini is delicious!
Kristen says
Unfortunately, she is allergic to nuts and seeds as well as dairy! It’s such an unfortunate combo because so many dairy substitutes (especially cheese substitutes) involve nuts.
She can do coconut products or pea protein products, luckily.