WIS, WWA | a week until Christmas!
What I Spent
Ok, well, it's a week and a day until Christmas. Close enough.
Christmas really sneaks up on you when your semester ends in mid-December. Yikes! Here's hoping all the things I ordered show up in time.
This week, we spent:
- $64 at Harris Teeter
- $28 at Lidl
- $21 at BJs
So, $113 at the grocery stores this week.
December Food Spending
Week 1: $266 (!!!)
Week 2: $72
Week 3: $113
Funny enough, that averages out to $150/week, which is my usual. So, my unusually high first week has averaged out already!
What We Ate
Saturday
It was unseasonably warm so we went to the taco truck. We figured on colder days this winter, it would be significantly more miserable to stand and order from an outside window.
Sunday
We had apricot-glazed chicken, which we ate with Texas toast and a fruit salad.
Monday
This was the day I took my online cumulative final, which means I spent my day studying, not cooking.
We got Chipotle takeout for dinner, I suppose as a rather informal, "Woohoo! The semester is over!" celebration.
Tuesday
I used a frozen loaf of this homemade French bread to make some French bread pizzas.
Wednesday
I made a pasta/kielbasa dish (an ATK recipe), removing Sonia's portion before I added the cheese.
Thursday
I made pancakes and bacon, plus whipped cream and strawberries.
And we had orange juice as well. 😉
Friday
I think I'm going to make shrimp and grits (click that link for the recipe or click the image below) because Sonia and Zoe will be at a friend's house for dinner.
Zoe dislikes grits, Sonia can't have cheese, and Zoe is allergic to shrimp, so if they're here, it doesn't feel worth it to serve this dish for dinner! It's too hard to make that many modifications.
I'm still making out menus, so I might as well blog them...they're fairly repetitive, though. The week's cooking started out poorly, but did improve:
M - Chik Fil A sammie and waffle fries I had at home - ran errands after work, got my Covid booster shot
T - DOWN FOR THE COUNT. The booster is no joke, people...My daughter came over and made me a turkey and cheese quesadilla for dinner and I went to bed for the day at 8 p.m. after sleeping much of the day
W - frozen Thanksgiving leftovers that I heated up - again, ate and crashed
Th - Tostadas at my daughter's apartment
F - Going to fix an Italian Sausage and marinara skillet with pasta, chopped spinach
Sat - Going to fix tilapia with a quinoa and brown rice side, salad
Sun - Pork loin, roast sweet potatoes, corn
I'm glad to be done with a lot of unpleasant things before Christmas and the menus next week will be much improved!
@Gina, we struggled with booster too. But just for one day! My hubby said I WOULD STILL GET IT EVEN IN THE EYE IF NECESSARY and I laughed!
@Stephanie, I love your husband's comment! Me too! I was super lucky and only had a sore arm as a side effect from the booster.
@Gina,
The booster knocked me out too, but I think that means we had a good immune response. And I’m very thankful, because I’m a nurse taking care of COVID patients and it is ramping up again. Grateful to have the booster! Sounds like you still ate yummy food even though you didn’t feel well.
@Gina, you are right about the booster… I got mine a week ago Wednesday and by Thursday, I was as weak as a kitten. Sore arm, headache, and fatigue like I’ve never felt. By Friday I was better, and Saturday, back to normal.
@Stephanie, I also love your husband's comment. And I would do that too! The actual shots put me out of commission for several days each time, but all I got from the booster was a sore arm, thank goodness.
Pork chops from freezer with a pan gravy,browned on top of stove in cast iron pan then popped into over,with carrots and mashed potatoes. Potatoes were $1.97 for 10 pounds this week!
Potato Leek Soup and Sliced Italian Bread. Pears for desssert.
Farfalle pasta with sautéed sliced bell peppers,mushrooms, and some sliced Italian sausage from freezer that we brought home from a pot luck 2 weeks ago.
Frozen Pizza from freezer topped with anchovies from pantry, large green salad
Teriyaki salmon with bag of veggie rice from Trader Joe,also from freezer.. and broccoli.
Went out for Mexican Chilaquiles brunch yesterday at locally owned cafe, and it filled me up all day.Ate leftover pizza while watching a movie last night.
Sunday: It was quite mild so we decided to grill some burgers. We had cucumber "quickles" and chips with them. Older daughter ate at work.
Monday: Baked potato bar with toppings. The toppings were steamed chopped broccoli, cheese, bacon, sour cream and a small amount of chili I found in the freezer. This is a family favorite meal that I often forget about.
Tuesday: I made meatballs. I was going to cook pasta to go with them but my kids asked if we could have meatball subs and I had homemade sub rolls in the freezer, so we did that. We had salad as well.
Wednesday: We had turkey paninis and cut up veggies. Everyone topped their own panini as they liked it.
Thursday: Asian Chicken Rice Bowl. I used some rice that was given to me by a friend who was moving. It did not cook up like the basmati rice we usually use. No one really liked it, but luckily the chicken and other toppings were delicious.
Friday (today): We will probably get a take out pizza. Older daughter will eat at work.
Saturday: Leftover taco meat in corn tortillas, carrot sticks
Sunday: My husband got four quail when he was hunting, so I roasted those. Quail, though delicious, are TINY and four of them is definitely not enough for six people. So I also made some meat hand pies with the other half of the pie crust recipe I made and froze on Thanksgiving, plus some shepherd's pie meat from the freezer. I also put a little cheese on top of the meat when I form the hand pies, and my kids LOVE these. We also had roasted potatoes, green salad, and a bar cookie my son made called Chocolate Revel Bars.
Monday: The fastest dinner I could manage after a work day and bunch of chores when I got home. Which was microwaved potatoes chopped and fried with the rest of the shepherd's pie meat. I also made a soup for my son out of leftover broccoli, some of the potato, leftover cooked onions, beef stock, shredded cheddar cheese, and sour cream, pureed. He had an accident the night before that resulted in a large, bloody furrow on the roof of his mouth, and he couldn't eat solid food for a couple of days. He (and his siblings) had some apple/pearsauce with cream, too.
Tuesday: Meatloaf, rice, carrots
Wednesday: My husband's birthday. We had NY strip and filet mignon steaks, twice-baked potatoes (I had actually made these the night before, so I could just put them in the oven for the second baking when I got home from work), green salad with ranch dressing, and a recipe for flan the birthday boy sent me and that was too sweet for my tastes. He enjoyed it, though.
Thursday: Ending the school semester and the crazy week-before-break with leftover meatloaf, rice, and lettuce with ranch dressing (not even a salad, because it was literally just lettuce :-). I had to work this day, and I knew I would be in no kind of shape for a great effort in the kitchen. That's why I made extra meatloaf. Yay me.
Tonight: Tomorrow is my youngest son's birthday, and he wanted pizza, so maybe I'll make sausage tonight so I can cook extra to top the pizza. I don't know. Something will come to me. 🙂
We spent $84 on our regular weekend shopping trip, of which the only non-food was $4 for a bottle of 409 cleaning spray. After my husband's second eye surgery on Monday, he had some requests and I discovered we were out of some pet items, so back to the grocery store I went and spent $53. Of that, $15 was cat litter and tasty stuff to tempt our old cat to eat and $1.99 was a pack of baby wipes for making homemade hand-sanitizing wipes.
For supper, I made a huge pot of spaghetti sauce with sweet Italian sausage and portobella mushrooms over made-in-Italy pasta bought on close-out for 69 cents a pound. It was delicious and made many plates of leftovers.
Sunday-we were with family, who provided pizza and salad
Monday-ravioli, broccoli, oranges
Tuesday-Shepard’s pie, salad greens, oranges
Wednesday-leftovers
Thursday-baked chicken, brown rice, roasted red peppers, salad greens
Friday-chicken enchiladas using last night’s leftovers
Saturday - takeout ramen
Sunday - pizza at my parent’s house
Monday - chicken Parmesan (easy version, frozen chicken patties with some jarred pasta sauce and cheese on top), green beans, leftover pearl couscous for kids
Tuesday - slow cooker creamy tortellini spinach and chicken soup, crescent rolls
Wednesday - cheesy chicken, vegetable and rice casserole
Thursday - bbq chicken, french fries, steamed green beans and carrots
Friday - spinach artichoke pasta
I have to shop for Christmas dinner as I shop for next week, and we still haven't decided what we are having and who will bring what. Shopping today might get tricky.
What I ate:
Pork chops with parsnips and celeriac, and some sweet potato.
Leftover pork chops with sweet potato and English peas.
Cassava pasta with a little olive oil and seasoning, and a salad.
Sweet Italian sausage and a big skillet of summer squash, zucchini and onion.
Eggs! I allowed myself two eggs, as I usually don't react to eating just a couple of them once in a while. They were stirred up with broccoli, carrot, and mushrooms and onions.
AIP-compliant bacon, and sautéed cabbage, mushroom and onion. Satsumas on the side.
Office party at a Japanese restaurant. I went as "safe" as I could, and got the steak hibachi with zucchini, mushrooms and green onions ("...mushrooms and onions" seems to be a theme this week). I ate only a tiny bit of the rice, but I ate the lettuce-only salad with ginger dressing. I skipped the platter after platter of sushi, sashimi and rolls served as appetizers to the group. I don't know how some of those people had room for their meals.
Tonight, who knows?
I completed most of my holiday shop this week save a few fresh items that I can't pick up until next week. I spent $212 @ Kroger.
Saturday...My husband and I completed all of our Christmas shopping on this day so we had dinner out together and alone which was lovely. I put a pot roast in the crockpot for those at home and they ate it with peas and baked potatoes.
Sunday...Leftovers for everyone.
Monday...Stewed pork chops, rice, and home grown green beans
Tuesday...I made no plans so we had chicken pot pie from the freezer.
Wednesday...I cooked split chicken breasts in the crockpot, seasoned with spices and shredded to make chicken tacos. I made a quick rice & bean dish and we had lettuce, tomato and cilantro with our tacos.
Thursday....Leftovers
Friday, Saturday, Sunday.....who knows. We are packing up my Aunt's house this weekend so I imagine there will be some sandwiches, some takeout food and a lot of work. It will be catch as catch can but oh the joy when it is finally done.
Happy Weekend everyone!
- Mushroom stroganoff
- Faux fish cakes
- Frittata filled with leftover noodles and veggies
- Edamame risotto
- Fruit smoothie and toast with peanut butter
- Plate of roasted veggies: Brussels sprouts, squash and mushrooms
- Popcorn and fruit
Tell me about faux fish cakes. What are those?
@Kristen, a cake made with arti-fish-al seafood.
Rose is here with the dad jokes. Heh.
@Kristen, here is the recipe I follow: https://www.peta.org/recipes/faux-fish-cakes/
I spent 103 bucks this week which is over my 90 dollar weekly budget for 2 adults but we needed trash bags and a few holiday baking items. We continue to eat less meat/ no meat meals to keep costs down.
M- leftover pesto shrimp tortellini with cold green bean salad ( frugal winter salad side from my husband’s family : two cans of green beans drained , salad vinegar oil of your choice dash of salt and lots of pepper) and naan flatbread. Pesto made from home grown basil and frozen back in August!
T- busy day. Cereal and fruit I seldom eat cereal so it is actually a TREAT. I had wheat chex with sliced banana.
W- One skillet Mexican hot dish with 1/2 pound of ground beef and one can of rinsed black beans ( I would normally make it with 1 pound of ground beef and no beans. Really cutting back on meat). We also had asparagus from air fryer.
T- used the other half of the pound of ground beef to make slow cooker hamburger veggie soup. Added brown rice to bulk up soup in lieu of less hamburger. We ate this with sliced Aldi cheese and Aldi crackers.
F- pizza and salad from a bag kit
S- travel day to my Dads. Five hours plus one way. Packing sandwiches drinks and snacks. DAD WILL FEED US WELL ONCE WE ARRIVE
TGIF!
Sunday Chicken and dumplings (its more like chicken stew with dumplings on top) with mashed potatoes and salad
Monday sweet and sour meatballs and rice (I make 10lbs of burger into meatballs at a time, then freeze into meal sized portions) with veggies
Tuesday chicken taco soup (leftover chicken from a rotisserie chicken plus a bunch of canned things, throw in a pot and dinner is ready in 15 mins)
Wednesday I work till 8 so its fend for yourself night. I had leftover soup
Thursday Sausage, kale and gnocchi soup
Tonight is date night. Kids have leftovers or they will make something
Its been a crazy busy week and stinking cold (currently - 47C with windchill) so thats why all the warm comfort foods and fast meals. We live in the middle of no where, nearest restaurants are at least 40mins away so take out isn't an option for us.
Saturday: Homemade Sausage & Onion Pizza
Sunday: Leftover Homemade Sausage & Onion Pizza
Monday: Instant Pot Vegetable Lo Mein. I use whatever hearty vegetables I have on hand and add frozen peas and corn after it’s done cooking. https://kirbiecravings.com/instant-pot-lo-mein/#recipe
Tuesday: Leftover Lo Mein
Wednesday: Vegan Ethiopian Food: Misir Wat (Red Lentils), Atakilt Wat (Cabbage, Carrot and Potato) and Gomen Wat (Collard greens)
Thursday: Ham and Cheese sandwich
Friday: probably leftover Ethiopian food
I saw a meme that said “Meal Prep is just eating leftovers every day” and it cracked me up, because I love leftovers!
What did we have for dinner this week? Most of the time I cannot remember...
Tonight I think we're having leftover stirfry.
Last night we had...quesadillas made with leftover fajita stuff and a salad.
Wednesday night we had kung pao shrimp and eggrolls.
Tuesday night we had fajitas, baked brown rice, and pintos from the crockpot.
Monday night we had pizza (I think) and salad
Sunday night we had chicken tenders, roasted potatoes, and a salad.
We've been doing really well at using up leftovers lately, which is always a plus!
Saturday - Uhhh... I just had Christmas cookies and a cheese stick. Judge away. 🙂
Sunday - Ham and potato soup
Monday - Spaghetti and green beans
Tuesday - Burrito bowls
Wednesday - Ham and cheese paninis and mandarin oranges
Thursday - Chicken nuggets, broccoli with cheese, and pineapple
Friday - Ham and scalloped potatoes and zucchini
Well, between cookies and a cheese stick, you do have carbs and protein. So that seems fine. 😉
My son came home from college on Monday, so this week has focused mostly on his preferences. His first night home was pancakes, sausage, and smoothies. Then there was sausage-potato-kale soup because he was sad that he only got one serving of the batch I made over Thanksgiving break. Last night was a gnocchi dish that my daughter doesn't care for, so we had it before she gets home tomorrow. Tonight is homemade pizza, but with dough from the freezer so I'll be giving a shout out to past-Kate for that.
Saturday-soup and a toasted croissant
Sunday-cheeseburger pie, roasted potatoes, butter beans
Monday-cheeseburger pie, sweet potato casserole, peas
Tuesday-chicken fajita and an orange
Wednesday-cheeseburger pie, sweet potato casserole, butter beans
Thursday-pancakes, roasted potatoes
Friday-pizza
Monday: Takeout! We got burgers.
Tuesday: Tomato soup and grilled cheese; I froze half of the soup as it made a LOT.
Wednesday: Spaghetti and meatballs that I'd previously made and frozen.
Thursday: Frozen breaded fish, frozen pierogis, and cabbage salad.
Friday: We have lamb burgers that someone gave us defrosting, I have challah dough rising on top of the fridge, and I think there are some hamburger buns still in the freezer; if not, I'll shape the challah into buns instead of a braid. We still have salad from yesterday left, though it wasn't spectacularly delicious.
Are those mushroom ornaments? Super cute!
Turkey and cheese quesadillas, cashew chicken, spaghetti, turkey and dumplings, and cheeseburger pie graced our table this week. My son made the spaghetti and husband made the meal with dumplings. Hooray for family members who kick in to help me out on busy days!
Yep! They're from Ikea. 🙂
WWS: $21 Stop&Shop; $34 Ocean State Job Lot; $54 Aldi (butter, butter, butter); $49 Market Basket. WWA:
Sat: Dinner Party! gougéres [Alain Ducasse recipe], olives & crudite; Dijon & Cognac Beef Stew [Smitten kitchen]; potato & cauliflower mash; sautéed green beans; salad
Sun: Chicken, ginger & rice soup
Mon: zucchini and broccoli fritters with yogurt cilantro; carnitas with leftover gochujang bbq sauce that had been languishing in the fridge
Tues: TJ pork & leek dumplings; rice; stir-fry veg (cabbage, carrots & green beans)
Wed: take-out subs
Thurs: roasted chicken with roasted potato, Brussel sprouts, carrots & turnips
Fri: turkey tacos with all the fixings