WIS, WWA | an even $100
What I Spent
I spent:
- $70 at Lidl
- $11 at Safeway
- $19 on takeout
So, $100 exactly!
What We Ate
Saturday
I was only responsible for feeding Sonia and me, and she had a hankering for Chick-Fil-A. So that is what we got.
Sunday
We had BLTs, fruit salad, and chips.
Because apparently we are pretending that it is June, not February. 😉
The outside world begs to differ:
Monday
I made chicken tikka masala, which we ate with naan from Aldi. And we had green salads on the side.
Tuesday
Some of us ate leftover chicken tikka masala, and others of us ate Budget Bytes' 15-minute Sriracha noodles.
Those noodles are really tasty; thumbs up from me!
Wednesday
I had some more uncooked chicken left from earlier in the week, so I breaded it with panko, shallow-fried it, and served it with sweet chili sauce. And on the side, I roasted some small potatoes.
You may be wondering, why are you not using some of your free 10# bag of potatoes? Well, I already had these tiny ones on hand before I came into the free ones, so I figured I should use them first!
Thursday
Remember how I bought all those pork butts a little while back?
Well, I used some this week to make a pot of Pioneer Woman's Dr. Pepper pulled pork. We ate the meat on buns, topped with BBQ sauce, and we had cut-up fruit and veggies on the side.
Friday
I want to use some of my russets, so that will be the basis of tonight's dinner. I'm thinking of maybe doing hasselback potatoes.
Saturday - fancy takeout from a nearby restaurant. I had prawns stuffed with crab, husband had a fried seafood platter, kids had clam chowder, French fries and meatball appetizer. A very unfrugal dinner but we don’t eat in restaurants so it was nice to get something a little different than the usual takeout.
Sunday - had some friends over for a play date and it went much longer than planned so I quickly made scrambled eggs and toast to get everyone fed quickly before bed.
Monday - skillet cheeseburger pasta
Tuesday - orange chicken(added green beans to recipe to use them up), served over rice
Wednesday - mini garden turkey loaves, steamed green beans and broccoli, biscuits
Thursday - grilled cheese and tomato soup
Friday - Mexican chicken and rice salad
I spent $33 at Kroger this week.
Saturday...I made a huge pot of chili which we ate with crackers, chees and sour cream. I used the last of my homemade chili beans from the freezer.
Sunday...Leftovers
Monday...I cooked some chicken breast & chicken thighs in the crockpot with a jar of homemade tomato salsa. We shredded the meat and made chicken tacos for dinner with tortillas, lettuce, tomato, cheese & cilantro.
Tuesday...Leftovers
Wednesday...Baked tilapia with lemon pepper, sauteed spinach, carrots from the garden with rosemary & ginger, rice with white beans and tomatoes.
Thursday...Leftovers
Friday...my son will have pizza at a school function this evening, my husband and I will have a rare dinner out ALONE which I am so looking forward to, my Mom & my Aunt will fend for themselves.
Saturday...we have several pork loins in the freezer so I think I may roast a couple with whole grain mustard and apricot jam. I have lots of packing to do so we will see what I am able to accomplish around that task.
Happy Weekend All!
WWS: $9 at Star (although, as I write this, partner is at Costco buying LOTS of coffee...)
Sat: white chicken chili (inspired by all of you who have had it over the past few weeks. I think it was my first time having it & it was delicious)
This week: an exercise in using up the entire bunch of cilantro before it goes bad, as it was used in every dinner.
Sun: turkey meatballs in red Thai curry. I added roasted cauliflower, carrots & red peppers and served it over rice. (https://themodernproper.com/turkey-meatballs-in-a-creamy-red-curry-sauce). I LOVE this recipe.
Mon: Moroccan roasted spaghetti squash with butter, cumin, garlic coriander (smitten kitchen); sautéed chickpeas with lemon & mint; all topped with feta and cilantro. Grilled homemade black olive & rosemary no-knead bread.
Tues: I had "charcuterie" inspired snacks in the car for long commute home; partner made himself vegetable fried rice.
Wed: carnitas and black bean nachos, with cabbage, pepper & yogurt (sub for sour cream).
Thur: baked chicken peri-peri; roasted potatoes, cabbage and red pepper salad
Fri: quinoa and black bean with roasted carrots and topped with a radish cilantro salsa
Naturally nourishing cookbook. It is supposed to be vegetarian, but I have a lot of carnitas and black bean mix left over, so I'll use that for the "black bean" component of the dish.
@bettafrmdaville, If you put the cilantro stems in water, they'll last longer. Same for parsley, etc.
@Rose, Yes! We do this and cover loosely with a produce bag. Still, with only 2 of us, I frequently end up throwing out some, unless I have a plan....
I was inspired by your Wednesday post and comments, so I stocked up a little more on our weekly grocery order yesterday.
This week we had-
- An Indian Eggplant dish and Greek lemon potatoes, which sounds weird, but it worked.
- Mediterranean night - Salad, hummus, tabbouleh, stuffed grape leaves and pita bread.
- Repeat of night before plus samosas (these were frozen from Whole Foods).
-Mexican sweet potato bar - the fillings were black beans, brown rice, corn, salsa, guacamole, sour cream and cilantro.
-Thai red curry (Trader Joe's Sauce) with vegetables and Jasmin rice.
- Tonight will be salmon and a salad.
Saturday and Sunday: Restaurant food on vacation
Monday: Fried rice with peas, carrots and Sriracha sauce
Tuesday: Veggie and tofu stir-fry
Wednesday: Homemade soup - veggie broth, corn, barley, carrots, mushrooms, onions, fresh parsley
Thursday: Salad with simple vinaigrette, chickpeas, avocado slices, sunflower seeds, shredded parmesan
Friday: Popcorn and fruit
Sat-chicken thighs, pasta salad & green salad
Sun-lasagna & green salad
Mon-salmon, rice & broccoli
Tues-Butter "beef" (used ground beef instead of chicken), rice & cucumbers
Wed-Beef & Buckwheat soup, pita triangles and green salad
Thu- Sheppard's Pie & green salad
Fri-Meatballs, potatoes & cucumbers
Saturday: We were full from a big lunch, so we ate leftovers instead of getting takeout.
Sunday: My husband made pasta with tomato sauce
Monday: Veggie burritos.
Tuesday: I was at my parents, my husband got grocery-store takeout.
Wednesday: Pasta salad with tortellini from Costco
Thursday: Beef stew. The meat was a bit freezer-burned and I forgot to defrost it before chucking into the pot, but it turned out fine. I used a bag of my precious, precious frozen homemade chicken broth which helped a lot. Also a salad (literally just lettuce with dressing on the side.)
Friday: Not sure. We have leftover stew, but not enough to share with friends coming over later. We could make a nice chana masala with rice and salad, though. It would use some of the produce I want to use up (tomatoes that are getting soft, cilantro, limes.)
Saturday- pulled pork, calico beans, fruit plate, Hawaiian rolls
Sunday- nachos (made using pulled pork)
Monday- sausage and kale soup, homemade garlic knots, fruit
Tuesday- teriyaki chicken & broccoli stir fry,fried rice, pork & seeds
Wednesday- ground beef & mashed potato casserole, spinach & pear salad
Thursday- leftover night
Friday- tonight will be pizza night
I took a turkey out of the freezer to cook so I will cook it tomorrow and we will create more leftovers… I did freeze 2 1/2 pounds of pulled pork for future dinners as well as some of the calico beans and sausage & kale soup. This morning I made egg muffins with bacon & grated cheese - my husband was running a little late for work and was so appreciative to have those to take with him to eat on his way to work. I will make more this weekend and freeze them in his portion sizes so that he isn’t tempted to swing through a fast food place on the days he isn’t running late.
This week we've had....
(Thursday) pizza with ham from the freezer, mushrooms, some spinach...and a salad on the side.
(Wednesday) We grilled salmon and had that with roasted asparagus and roasted potatoes.
(Tuesday) Leftover pasta and salad
(Monday) Frozen chicken tenders and a big salad, roasted potatoes
(Sunday) ... Quesadillas with pintos I'd cooked earlier in the week, some grated zucchini, cheese... slaw and rice on the side I think.
(Saturday) Pasta with chicken, mushrooms, zucchini and red sauce. This was a total "save" thanks to the hubs. I was making a one-pot pasta, as I often do, and was trying to use up some pesto from the freezer...I'm honestly not sure what happened, but the "sauce" was NOT good. It was watery and just...blech. We had friends coming for dinner, so we drained off the blech, kept the noodles (I'd sauteed the veggies earlier and put them aside), and added tomato sauce and more spices. It was great in the end!
Tonight I think we'll have chicken cordon bleu sandwiches to use up some of the ham and some chicken & buns from the freezer.
We spent $150 and some change at Food Lion on Saturday, which included enough pet items and non-food items that our food expenditure for the week came to $97 and some odd cents.
Lunch is our big meal of the day. This week I turned a manager's mark-down small organic whole chicken into most of a week of lunches for DH, with a big side dish of roasted carrots and potatoes. The first night we also had a dish of baked apples. Food Lion sends me a coupon every month lately for a dollar off a 3-lb bag of apples, so we always have apples. For dessert, I also made a pan of chocolate brownies, using a box of mix bought for $1 on sale.
For my brown-bag work lunches, I made black bean-chicken-veggie chili (a standby), cooked some Spanish rice from a packet bought on sale this summer that also gave me Fetch points, and used some frozen bananas to make banana-oatmeal snack muffins. Used some frozen strawberries to make baked oatmeal for my breakfasts as well.
Hot dang, I actually wrote our menu down this week! Or should I say, the written menu actually ended up being what we ate vs. changing at the last minute. 😛
Monday: Crock pot sweet potato stew from Budget Bytes. https://www.budgetbytes.com/african-peanut-stew-vegan/
Tuesday: Crock pot pulled pork for sandwiches, with sautéed kale on the side.
Wednesday: Side salad and Shakshuka pizza for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pizza Cookbook, which may be our most-used cookbook in the house. The recipes are AMAZING and surprisingly healthy. We average a pizza a week, though I cheat and buy Trader Joe's raw pizza dough. My hands live a hard enough life without kneading bread.
Thursday: Bison enchiladas, using clearance bison. The other 1/2 lb of meat will likely become burgers tomorrow. (We try to alternate meat and veggie dinners.)
Friday/Today: Crock pot tomato soup with grilled cheese.
@N, I use this recipe for pizza dough: no kneading! I also skip the rolling them into portions. I just "break" some off for each pizza. It also freezes well. https://www.seriouseats.com/basic-neapolitan-pizza-dough-recipe
@bettafrmdaville, Oooh, thank you! I’ll have to give this one a try!
@N, I find that I need to use more water in the initial mix. When rolling out to make the pizza use flour liberally or it will stick.
This week was unusual, but I did manage to go without take out every night. This week was heavy on biscuits and carrots, it seems.
Leftover pulled pork from the freezer, cassava-pasta mac and cheese, and the last of the slaw.
Oven-fried boneless chicken thighs, cassava biscuits, peas and carrots.
Stir fry using cabbage and other vegetables I had on hand, and using the one oven-fried chicken thigh leftover after getting a lunch and dinner out of the thighs.
Vanilla yogurt, cut up carrots and apples and peanut butter, my daughter's last ditch effort to feed me at the hospital because all of her yummy leftovers had ingredients I shouldn't eat. Since I had not had lunch while waiting on my husband's surgery, I welcomed this meal enthusiastically.
Side note - the night shift registration desk clerk at the hospital allowed my daughter to go in and take my meal to me. I'm glad this person was working the desk when she came!
Finally, bacon, cassava biscuits and cut up carrots. Not my usual combination, but I got home late. The bacon went in the microwave, the biscuits cooked quickly in the toaster oven, and the carrots were prepared while they cooked.
I will go shopping today after work, and I am dreading seeing what the prices look like since just two weeks ago. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
@JD, it is amazing that you avoided take out under the circumstances. Well done indeed. I’m not sure that I could have done that.
@JD, so happy to hear that this time the hospital clerk was a good human!
My grocery spend was much higher than I would have liked. I bought some items because they were half price and they are items I use daily. The real killer was the two pieces of steak that were used for steak burgers and cost $21 for the two.
Friday last week was a curried sweet potato soup.
Saturday was mushroom risotto.
Sunday was a choice of risotto or soup.
Monday was confit tomatoes with cheese on toast.
Tuesday was so memorable that I have forgotten. I do know it was vegetarian.
Wednesday was roast chicken with vegetables and banana bread. I have made three banana breads this week as my mother keeps buying them and not eating them. One went to my son-in-law, another to the freezer and the first is still being eaten. I fed three households with this meal and am planning to use the leftovers tomorrow.
Thursday was steak burgers and fruit. Both of us wanted some real meat after several weeks with more vegetarian options. The steak was very good and weeny son heard steak he stopped by and finished the rest.
I've spent $27.54 so far in February.
Saturday-great northern beans, buttered carrots, cornbread
Sunday-ravioli, bread
Monday-mac & cheese, peas, salad
Tuesday-wasn't hungry so ate a couple of mandarin oranges
Wednesday-burger, potato salad, baked beans
Thursday-leftover beans on cornbread
Friday-burger, potato salad, baked beans
Pasta and marinara and meatballs, garlic bread, salad
Turkey ramen bowls with eggs and sautéed veggies & radish pickles
Steak, bernaise sauce, roasted potatoes, salad.
Got take out subs one night
Leftover meatballs and pasta
Tonight we are having steak burrito bowls with the leftover steak.
Grocery items came to approximately $110 this week. 2 people, 3 meals a day, 7 days. Whatever I make for dinner. We have a variation for lunch the next day. There were any meals out this week.
Saturday - Meat loaf made with a combination of ground chicken and beef. I use GF oatmeal in the place of breadcrumbs since I don’t eat wheat. Baked potato for my DH and salad
Sunday - Leftovers - Meatloaf Again!
Monday - Steak and salad. DH had a baked potato.
Tuesday - Burrito bowls with ground chicken, black beans, roasted corn, tomatoes, spinach, avocado, etc
Wednesday - Stir fry with chicken and veggies over brown jasmine rice
Thursday -Mediterranean chicken - tomatoes, olives, spinach, capers, garlic over leftover brown jasmine rice
Friday - chicken sloppy Joe’s and salad
Kristen et al - A wonderful use for pork butt - Cider Braised Pork Roast from America's Test Kitchen. I don't know if it's in any of their cookbooks or only available on their website. Our next pork adventure will be Conchinita Pibil which we watched Julia do in her sous vide during an ATK @ Home episode. Looking forward to that round of deliciousness!
I don't comment very often, but I do so enjoy everyone's comments - they give me ideas for meals we should try.
This is not related to WIS/WWA, but - Kristen, I keep getting involuntarily unsubscribed from your blog. I re-subscribe, confirm my subscription, get one (or at most, two) posts, then.....nothing. I have had to re-subscribe numerous times over the past month or so. Is this something on your end, or on mine? Has anyone else had this problem? I've been a loyal reader for many years, and this only just started happening.
Thank you, Kristen, for keeping this friendly, helpful community thriving!
Hmm. It looks like you have been consistently subscribed when I look at your account on my end. Have you checked your spam filter?
I do occasionally have a busy day and then forget to send out an email via Convert Kit, but that is all on me! Heh.
What does it look like when you're feeling unsubscribed? Is it that you see I've put up a post but you haven't gotten an email? Or something else?
@Liz B.,
Yes, I’ve had this same issue several times over the years. I checked in with Kristen and she suggested I check my spam folder as well. Last week's emails were sitting in there. No idea why! Emails from before and after arrived in my inbox and this is the third time I have a gap like that yet I remained subscribed.
Anyway, I now know to check the spam folder and move them to Inbox. Hopefully, the iPad will realize where they should go.
Truly first world problem! However, like everyone else, I thoroughly enjoy Kristen's blog and this community feels like a part of my life now so I don’t want to miss posts.
Saturday - Burrito bowls
Sunday - After a full day of church, my daughter's birthday party, and a family roller skating night with our church, we grabbed a couple of Little Caesar's pizzas on the way home
Monday - Turkey pot pie
Tuesday - Stir fry with some Chinese fried dumplings that my daughter's friend's mom gave us for Chinese New Year
Wednesday- Turkey broccoli alfredo
Thursday - Turkey and black bean tacos
Friday - Today is my daughter's actual birthday and she has picked chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes with gravy, corn, strawberries, carrots with ranch, and Cheetos paws (shout-out to Meijer for having the Cheetos on sale for a decent price this week!)
Saturday: Spaghetti and meatballs, baked fennel, frozen peas
Sunday: Pork and sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, green beans, chocolate pudding
Monday: Chicken tacos made from the chicken I pulled off of making stock from meat chickens in the summer, then froze. Very convenient.
Tuesday: Barbecue beef, rice, coleslaw
Wednesday: Many leftovers, plus a tomato salad
Thursday: Beef and potato skillet or chicken tacos, green beans, raw radishes
Tonight: Homecoming at school, so we'll be at the basketball games all evening and will all get the brisket dinner at the concession stand. Which means I am not cooking. I repeat I AM NOT COOKING. Hooray!
What a lovely picture from the river front Kristen! We had some wet weather this week but now today it was crisp and cold so we opted for a winter stew - kale.
With the exception of last Saturday, when we had Chinese take away, we cooked every day We finished some lettuce, French beans and red cabbage and also had cheese fondue one day and leftover cowboy chili on another.
The takeaway chinese food was excellent - marinated tofu. And since there was tofu on offer, I may give it a try to see if I can replicate that tasty but not heavy dish.
Leftover Slow Cooker Chinese "BBQ" Pork (courtesy of super cheap Pork Shoulder)
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday (We love leftovers)
Wednesday: Bagel Pizza
Thursday: Bagel Pizza
Friday: wings if we close escrow. (Bagel Pizza if we don't close Escrow)
I never post on Fridays because I figure leftovers are not interesting to people, but we really enjoy repeating good meals.
This was a boring week, food-wise. We had a 24 pound king salmon (headless, thank heavens) in the bottom of the freezer and there was no way to thaw only a part of it. (It was given to us frozen by a fisher-friend.) So, I thawed the entire thing and we ate salmon steaks for three nights, salmon chowder for another two, and tonight and tomorrow we will be eating salmon patties. We would have eaten it for lunch, too, but we had a soup to finish off so salmon was eaten only one time a day. I also cooked and froze a dozen salmon patties for future use, as well as seven containers of the salmon chowder. Pound hound got the skins, which drove him into a frenzy of excitement. We have more salmon but they are reasonable sized fillets. I love salmon, but this was a bit much.
Next week I tackle the container of geoduck that has been hiding in the freezer since last summer's season of beach harvesting when we went to southcentral Alaska. I know they are a $20 to $30 pound delicacy in other places, but we get them free for the taking so I probably don't appreciate them enough.
@Lindsey,
Had never heard of geoducks, so I looked them up...that is a rather inappropriate-looking clam! I'm not sure I could eat them without snickering...Haha!!!
Ok, then I had to google too, and, um, yes. Your analysis is correct. lol
@Lindsey, Do you have to cook the geoducks a long time? I don't know if you've ever read "The Egg and I," (a great, very funny book), but the author of that book lived on an island off Washington State with abundant seafood, and she said the geoducks were very tough.
Monday: chicken pot pie
Tuesday: fried rice with random veggies and a bit of leftover steak bites
Wednesday:leftover chicken pot pie
Thursday: spicy lentil curry over brown rice
Friday: pizza and salad from a bag
Saturday: sheet pan dinner with spicy sausage sweet potatoes and asparagus
I spent 74 dollars but saved 41. Wooooo
S: spicy lentil soup with tortilla chips, salad, artisan sourdough bread
M: upstairs bathroom was being worked on until late in the evening, so we got pizza and I made a salad and cut up cantaloupe.
T: bathroom finished, so we celebrated with more takeout, this time Ethiopian plus I made salad.
W: chicken and rice (used up some mustard green stems), and also had diced red peppers-very pretty. Plus salad and more cantaloupe.
Th: leftover chicken and rice, salad.
F: focaccia (with mozzarella and pepperoni) and salad (with blueberries from Aldi)
S: beyond burgers with cheese and sauteed onions/peppers on pretzel buns, salad.
Spent: 98.75 from Hungry Harvest, 15.00 on a farm share bag, 73.80 at Aldi; 187.55 weekly total. But, I also ordered our main farm shares for the summer (1298.00) and four 50# bags of flour (172.12), so this was a very spendy week, especially adding in the bathroom cost and the takeout. The good news is that I ventured into the Aldi near my new job after work on Friday and felt very comfortable with the level of covid caution all the shoppers were taking, so I'm going to add back a weekly Aldi trip instead of ordering all our food from Hungry Harvest and elsewhere. This should make a very big difference in our food spending, and also gave me so much happiness picking out my own fruit!!! All weekend long I kept telling my family to look at the absolutely perfect bananas I bought. Haha! Oh, choice, how I missed you!