WIS, WWA | Black Friday
I kind of hate Black Friday because I dislike crowds and limited-quantity offers.
So typically, the only brick-and-mortar store I go to the day after Thanksgiving is a grocery store. Grocery stores are wonderfully empty right after Thanksgiving!
If you are braving the retail crowds, godspeed to you. 😉
But here in Frugal Girl world, it's business as usual. We did Thankful Thursday on Thanksgiving, and today we're doing WIS, WWA on Black Friday.
What I Spent
I spent:
- $30 on a Hungry Harvest box
- $34 at Safeway
- $15 on fried chicken
So, $79 for me.
What We Ate
This was a week of some serious phoning-it-in at dinnertime. I kind of regretted that I hadn't ordered another Dinnerly box for this week!
Saturday
I made whole wheat blueberry pancakes because I had been craving them, but my morning had been too rushed to do something like pancakes.
I love blueberry pancakes!
Sunday
I had eaten a late lunch so I don't think I even actually ate an official dinner. And Zoe picked up some dinner on the way home from work.
Monday
I had a free frozen pizza from Safeway sitting in my chest freezer, so that's what we ate!
Tuesday
Butternut squash soup, plus grilled cheese sandwiches.
Wednesday
We had cheese ravioli with tomato sauce and Parmesan, plus some fruit.
Thursday
Last year, we got fried chicken, which we ate with waffles (since no one here likes turkey!) So, we did that again this year, except I made honey-glazed pan rolls with cinnamon butter in place of the waffles.
At class last week, the professor asked what the best part of a Thanksgiving meal is, and my friend next to me was surprised that I said, "Rolls".
But I stand by that; if the rolls are fresh and homemade, there is nothing on a Thanksgiving table that I'd rather eat. 🙂
Rolls > turkey. PERIOD.
Friday
We've got leftovers, so that's probably what we will eat tonight.
What did you have for dinner this week?
P.S. After I published this post, I saw that Amazon has a page of gift card offers for various brands. For example, you can buy a $50 Bath and Body Works gift card for $40. Obviously, you could give the gift card as a gift, but you could also use it as you buy Christmas gifts.
There are some restaurant options and quite a few retailers, including Apple.
The rolls were my favorite part of my MiL's family gatherings, too, but I've never made them myself. Lots of other carb options for Thanksgiving, though. 🙂
Saturday: Pizza, just one with bacon because my husband wasn't home so I didn't need two bigs ones. And a green salad.
Sunday: Elk steaks, plain spaghetti with butter and garlic powder, frozen green peas, and my eldest son made some quite involved and VERY sweet toffee bar cookies. Popular with the children.
Monday: Elk and bean chimichangas, carrot sticks
Tuesday: Barbecue meatballs, baked potatoes, frozen green peas. I love meals when everything can just be shoved in the oven at the same time.
Wednesday: Elk steaks, bread and butter, more frozen peas.
Thursday: Buckle up . . . Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, sourdough dressing, cranberry sauce, roasted parsnips and carrots, green salad with vinaigrette, pumpkin (squash) pie, pumpkin custard, lemon meringue pie, brownies, and whipped cream. And red wine,(California) champagne, and brandy. 🙂 Our priest came for dinner, so we had more desserts and alcohol options than we would typically. The dressing got overbaked when I was re-warming it, which was sad because that's my favorite part, but otherwise, everything came out well. Especially the desserts. The lemon meringue pie was irritating, but mostly because I had never made it before and I used a Christopher Kimball recipe. Guaranteed to have extra steps and more dishes. It did have a delicious result, though, and I was very impressed with myself for making it. 🙂
I used to work retail and dreaded Black Friday. So I am very happy to not shop on that day. We will be going to the grocery store, though!
Saturday/Sunday: homemade pizzas
Monday: baked chicken, roasted broccoli, rice
Tuesday: burgers and salad bar
Wednesday: Taco night
Thanksgiving (also my wonderful DH's birthday, as it is some years--it's a good thing Thanksgiving dinner is also his favorite dinner in the world!):
Turkey (a nice 21 pounder, cooked to perfection in an oven bag)
Stuffing (instant, lol)
Crockpot garlic roasted potatoes
Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Corn
Relish tray--it's not Thanksgiving without a dish of black and green olives and baby dills
Rolls (my kids agree with Kristen on rolls!)
Cranberry sauce (I started making it with xylitol last year and it tastes just like usual. My Selective Eater even tried some this year, we were so proud of him!)
Pumpkin pie: I made two, one with crust and one without, as DH requested, and it turns out most of my family does NOT like crust, as only one person took a piece from the crusted pie. So that tells me I can just make pumpkin puddings next year! These were also sweetened with xylitol, no special recipe needed. I whipped cream with powdered erythritol and it worked, but it got pretty soft even though I thought I had stabilized it with gelatin. I made it too far ahead of time. It was still tasty, though!
Tonight will be leftovers, so many leftovers!
Rolls and bread are something I never eat except for a good sandwich! I like mashed potatoes and gravy best with stuffing with lots of celery and onions next. I made a delicious creamed onion dish and a German chocolate cake for my sister’s birthday. The cake was time consuming but worth the work. I’m finishing up paperwork today- I’m a caseworker and have to finish my notes and visits by the end of the month- and tomorrow I’ll be making a few home visits. I love Christmas but I’m actually contemplating only using one little tree and not putting all my ‘stuff’ out. I doubt if I have a lot of company this next month so it’s just for me. Am Vets is coming for a pickup Monday and they might just be getting a lot of holiday items. Have you thought about Christmas?
WIS: $23 at Price Chopper and $44 at Wegmans. (Clearly, I was not hosting a Thanksgiving dinner!)
WIA: The highlight, of course, was the Thanksgiving dinner I did attend. I took my next-door neighbor (NDN) to the dinner hosted by the other friend who's been helping NDN out and this friend's husband and sister. There were four other guests, all friends of our hosts from their Anglo-Catholic church. (Musical note: We sang the Doxology as a Thanksgiving grace; it's been several decades since I sang it, but I managed well enough. You can take the girl out of the Episcopal church choir some 50 years ago, but you can't take the choir out of the girl.)
My contribution to dinner, as noted earlier, was my kale, carrot, and apple salad, which was much admired. In turn, I particularly admired the three or four different stuffings (Kristen's favorite part of Thanksgiving may be the rolls, but mine's the stuffing) and one guest's contribution of pecan pie seasoned with Chinese five-spice powder (inspired!). I think my NDN enjoyed herself very much; I certainly did.
@A. Marie, I am weirded out when I go to Son's Episcopal church and they don't sing "aaaaahhhhh men" at the end. They say it.
@A. Marie, I've never heard of singing the Doxology for a blessing at a meal, but what a beautiful and appropriate idea that is! Thank you for sharing. I will have to do that should I ever get to host a Thanksgiving meal or Sunday dinner!
@Fru-gal Lisa, I can still remember my mother frowning at me when I said, "Good bread, good meat, good God, let's eat."
@Rose,
I had college friends who did one better (or worse, depending on your viewpoint): Donna would say, "We need to say grace," and she and Kay would bow their heads, put their hands together and say, "GRACE!"
@Rose, maybe I shouldn't admit this, but my dad liked to say, "Rub a dub dub, thanks for the grub." Yours is slightly more socially acceptable.
@Rose, you'll be glad to hear that we did indeed sing "aaaaahhhhmen" at the end. (Nowadays, I think this is one way to tell Anglo-Catholics from Episcopalians.)
And everyone: Back at the hometown Episcopal church, one of the rector's daughters, when asked to say grace at youth group, would casually wave a hand and say, "Ping!" I think she quit doing this after word got back to her father about it, but she enjoyed her moment.
@A. Marie, just curious - what is an Anglo-Catholic church, please?
@A. Marie, a Breakfast Lions Club I spoke at used to simply shout, "YEA GOD, boo devil" before their meal.
@Joan from Dublin, Ireland: The U.S. Episcopal Church (the U.S. equivalent of the Church of England) has undergone a schism in the last few years. A lot of more conservative/traditional former Episcopalians have peeled off and now describe themselves as Anglican or Anglo-Catholic.
@A. Marie, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow”. Is that right? Honestly, I have not sung the Doxology since YMCA summer camp in the 1960s. I can still sing the whole thing!
@Leslie, yep, that's the one.
@A. Marie, thanks for explaining that - I was a little confused!
@Joan from Dublin, Ireland, The Anglo Catholic movement really started around 1830s as the Oxford Movement in England.
Sunday: Pepperoni bread. I rolled out the dough, and then the 4 year old did the sauce, cheese, and pepperoni by herself before I rolled it up. I was impressed!
Monday: Leftover curry sauce from last week, with new chicken cooked and added to it.
Tuesday: Preschooler's choice, ramen this time.
Wednesday: Leftovers to clear out the fridge.
Thursday: Thanksgiving! My husband always makes the rolls, and I made corn pudding and roasted carrots. I don't usually like turkey, but whatever my uncle does makes it tasty.
Friday/Saturday: Leftovers, getting ready for next week.
I made the best rolls for Thanksgiving - buttermilk bread as a roll. Two kids ate 3 each, and husband got none. I have to make them again this week. My daughter makes great rolls rolls with tangzhong, but she was at college,so I had to try something new.
I think I spent about $150 this week on groceries - Walmart $70, Aldi's $60, and $20 other grocery store where I used mostly digital coupons. Oh, $25 for some pizza take out, but for me that comes under entertainment, not food. But at least one was my emergency pizza and so free!
@mbmom11, I think you are first person I have heard (finance class, spreadsheets, articles) of take out food as entertainment. I have always been told food consumption is under food, even though I list by specific items (groceries, non food groceries, take out, gas, gifts, entertainment, clothing, etc). When going through unmarried I specifically did this to show exspenses (which $0 take out) (with receipts) & have kept with this spreadsheet as I can see specific costs/expenses.
@Regina,
I have categories for my budget software, and it is entertaining for me (relaxing and out of the ordinary) to get take out. It's an event, not just food. I admit, some months I get a little creative classifying what goes where, but it zeros out in the end.
@mbmom11, I’ve been using Quicken for years & years. I separate my groceries from eating out, also. It falls under “Dining out” & taxes & tips are separated, too!!
Your rolls sound yummy. 🙂
what I spent----
Sam's club $50.09
Farm eggs $8
Domino's $21.42 (had $4 gift card/credit & 20% off order)
What we ate--
● leftovers
● chicken strips with shells & cheese (I dropped 2/3 of shells when draining 🙁 )
● pizza for teen, corn dog with baked cheese fries for me
● teen eats lots of popcorn for snacks, also donuts & pumpkin pie (Sam's club will not have pumpkin pie after this week & at $6.98 for 8 large pieces who can not buy)
● Dominos---teen meat lovers pizza, garlic bread bites (shared) & chicken carbonara pasta for myself (actually had more in bowl than usual 1/3 full)
● BBQ pulled chicken sliders
● Brown sugar honey glazed spiral ham with sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes (teen garlic always!), dinner rolls, apple crumble & pumpkin pie
● breakfast---pancakes, eggs
Being in Europe, I always forget Thanksgiving exists!
Saturday: cream cheese and spinach with pasta
Sunday: Aubergine with tomato, mushrooms and beans.
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Chilli mac and cheese
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Baked sweet potato with various toppings
Friday: Probably frozen pizza and garlic bread
My week to cook
Saturday-came home from a trip and made breakfast burritos with green chili
Sunday-DH made pizza (with FG recipe!)
Monday-tacos, brown rice, salad with mandarin oranges
Tuesday-beef stroganoff, salad greens, mango
Wednesday-leftovers
Thursday-hosting a family gathering next week, so for Thanksgiving itself roasted a chicken with sides of broccoli, mac & cheese, and sourdough toast
Friday-leftovers
I think dressing has pulled in the lead for me as Thanksgiving favorite, but rolls are everybody else's. I had to shoo people away from them before the big meal. I had to remind the hunters that they wanted to take leftover turkey on rolls sandwiches with them out in the woods. And then our turkey was rancid, but they can still take the rolls 🙂
We had fairly easy low-key dinners this week. WWA:
Saturday - stir fry chicken and veggies over noodles
Sunday - Mississippi pot roast, mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli, store bought baklava
Monday - leftovers
Tuesday - make your own sub sandwiches
Wednesday - grilled cheese, a banana
Thursday - spicy orange chicken, rice, steamed broccoli
Friday - planning on a fish and chips takeaway
Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend
I'm with you on the turkey, it's sooooooo boring!
Best part of a Thanksgiving meal? Mashed potatoes.
Friday - I had leftovers of a chicken fajita rice, DS17 went out with friends, and after a late school soccer match, I took DS16 to Chik Fil A, where he got a milkshake and chicken nuggets
Saturday - chicken stew, sourdough bread & salad
Sunday - we had leftovers of the stew, as DH's flight was late
Monday - chicken pesto pasta
Tuesday - salmon
Wednesday - leftover chicken pesto pasta
Thursday - our traditional steak in place of turkey, mashed potatoes, roasted squash, green beans with parmesan and toasted almonds, stuffing & martinis at happy hour. My husband had pie, the teens had ice cream, and I had two of my favorites - Trader Joes dark chocolate covered peppermint Jos. OMG. Love these. I only buy one box a year, because they are ridiculously good.
Tonight - date night!
My husband cooks our turkey (fresh) on our smoker after a dry brine and butter injection—so moist and flavorful! I think there are a lot of dry, tasteless birds out there!
@Debbie H., brining is a must!
You like rolls; I like olives. I have a funny story about that: when I was a kid, my grandmother went all out and put on a wonderful Thanksgiving feast; she repeated the feat on Christmas Day. She used her best linen, china, crystal and silverware and no expense or effort was spared for a formal holiday dinner. It took awhile for the women to make all the fixings, and we usually didn't sit down to eat until 1:30; so as a little kid, I would wander around the house trying to find something to do. I would inevitably go by the dining room and snack on the green olives, which were already set out on the table not in their jar but in a beautiful square cut glass dish. The dish would be piled high with olives but by the time the meal was served there would be just a few left in there. I admit that I was the main culprit, snacking on those olives, although I know a cousin or two also indulged a bit. But I just craved those olives and could not resist getting just one more again and again! Grandma got so upset with me one Thanksgiving that at Christmas, instead of the usual big peppermint stick in my stocking, there was a jar of Towe's Olives. Which I liked better than peppermint, anyway. Decades later, when Grandma passed away, she got the last laugh because she specifically left me the cut glass olive dish and its saucer in her will. LOL! Now, I am an adopted child and in recent years, I found my blood relatives via Ancestry.com. Guess what? I am of Greek nationality, which may explain why I crave olives so much!
@Fru-gal Lisa,
That is a great olive story! DH and I both love olives and recall "snitching" them out of the salads as our mothers were making them when we were kids. DH is the cook in the family, but I am the salad maker, and I go VERY heavy on the olives!
@Karen L,
Glad to hear from fellow olive-lovers! LOL!
@Fru-gal Lisa,
What a great story! I hope every time you look at your Grandma's dish it gives you a smile. I am Scottish, Netherlander and English, I eat green olives every day! I love them as a topping on a garden salad. We grow about 7 acres of olives for brine and oil.
@Blue Gate Farmgirl, Oh, your own grown olive oil; what a delicious world you live in! And Fru-gal Lisa - I have my grandmother's glass olive dish too - in her case it usually had celery on one side, and olives on the other.. Thanks for the good food memory!
@Fru-gal Lisa, my nieces and nephew did the same thing, just gorging on olives. So for Christmas each year when they were still children at home, I gave each one her/his own can of olives, all wrapped. Sometimes I taped $20 to the bottom of the can. 😎
@Fru-gal Lisa, Green olives just taste like Thanksgiving to me. My kids prefer black olives, so we have both plus baby dills.
Thanks for being a woman who eschews Black Friday outings! I am lucky if I can remember what I had for breakfast -- so it's always fun to see your food diary . . . good goads to refresh my daily menus.
I did not like turkey either until I met my husband, he makes delicious turkey, so now he makes it every year, even when we aren’t hosting. I found a great buttermilk rolls recipe I make every year too though, so I’d say my favorite thanksgiving food is a mini sandwich, a roll with turkey in it.
Saturday - we take turns hosting playdates with another family with similarly aged kids, whoever hosts orders dominos pizza for the group so it was our turn to host and we ordered the pizza (we had a free one, we seem to always have a free pizza from dominos)
Sunday - I had planned to make a soup, but somehow forgot to buy most of the ingredients, so I cooked the sausage that was supposed to be for the soup, and then defrosted various pasta and tomato sauces from the freezer (vodka sauce, pizza sauce, tomato sauce) and dumped it on the sausage to make a pasta sauce to serve over pasta. It tasted good and was a nice way to clear out the freezer so it worked out.
Monday - quesadillas, this was also to clear out the freezer, I had frozen beans and chicken taco meat in there. Also, the grocery store replaced my requested brick of sharp cheddar with sliced mild cheddar, not a great substitution in my opinion but I used the sliced cheddar in the quesadillas. Frustratingly, I found no one else in my family actually likes quesadillas, husband begrudgingly ate them, daughter ate one piece, son cried and wouldn’t eat any because he said he didn’t like them and he just wanted a plain tortilla to eat. At least I enjoyed them!
Tuesday - ground turkey and mushroom stroganoff
Wednesday - chicken patty sandwiches, chicken nuggets for kids, steamed broccoli
Thursday - my parents hosted thanksgiving but my sister and our partners cooked everything since my mom has a back injury right now. We had turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, yams, corn, green bean casserole, roast Brussels sprouts, buttermilk rolls, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie and magic bars for dessert.
Friday - brought home leftovers from my parents and had bought some thanksgiving foods so we can make our own additional leftovers haha
You’re right! Rolls are the best part!! Also cranberry sauce, which I like on the tart side. I have two sisters who make the best rolls! I am very thankful for them.
Lobster Trap $35 (took my friend for her birthday lunch)
Market Basket: approx. $25
Cape Cod Cafe $32 (too tired to think about preparing a meal after work)
Friday: Pizza at home
Saturday: Stuffed butternut squash
Sunday: Lasagna rolls
Monday: Baked stuffed haddock
Tuesday: Take out meatball subs--The Cod, a local bar, family-owned, has been in business all of my life in my hometown. The younger generation has expanded it to surrounding communities, less the bar part. They bought The Italian Kitchen, another family-owned, small lunch restaurant and food business right down the street from them. They now serve the Italian Kitchen meatball subs. That is what I picked up for dinner Tuesday night.
Wednesday: Instant pot crustless quiche--added in stuff that was in the 'frig.
Thursday: Some of this, some of that. As I was having some cheese and crackers, I thought it would be nice just to do appetizers for Thanksgiving.
I think I can eat from my daughter's 'fridge the remainder of the weekend. I just need to get some good bread. She made some interesting turkey sandwiches at her job a couple of weeks ago with roasted vegetables, cranberry sauce, and stuffing. It is a meal unto itself.
My favorite part of Thanksgiving is usually the stuffing, but that is cornbread based, so still bread. (:
Monday - I'm back to not worrying about making a dinner. The people who currently live with me are adults and can fend for themselves. I made a knock off KFC bowl and it was so good!
Tuesday - Taco Salads
Wednesday - Freezer Pizza because I cooked all day
Thursday - Turkey and Dressing, gravy and cranberry sauce, Bacon Green Beans, Cinnamon Sweet Potatoes, brownie and cookie tray {I worked 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., so the 5 of us sat down to eat Thanksgiving Meal around 2:30} BUT, I have decided not to do Thanksgiving next year and I'm not sure I will host my peeps for Christmas. We'll see how I feel about it in a month.
Friday - Day After Turkey Soup
Saturday and Sunday - kitchen closed
Happy Weekend!
https://cannaryfamily.blogspot.com/
I love turkey! In fact I love all Thanksgiving foods, at least the ones my mother always made. Stuffing with giblet gravy, made from scratch green bean casserole, candied sweet potatoes, and creamed onions are my favorites. We never had rolls or bread, or salads, or "relish dishes" on Thanksgiving. Everything was hot.
@Rose, I love sweet potatoes but have always been puzzled as to why they get "candied". . . they are so good on their own that the addition of sugar and/or marshmallows strikes me as overkill. The best ones I've ever had were mashed with fresh-squeezed orange juice and topped with walnuts. I also regularly cook them with Chinese 5-spice. And my big thrill on Thanksgiving this year was digging up 3 sweet potatoes that I've been growing all summer. . . simple pleasures.
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, No marshmallows. Mom peeled them, cut them up and baked in the oven with butter and brown sugar. Thats it. Delicious.
@Central Calif. Artist Jana,
I found a recipe online over a decade ago for sweet potato casserole where you bake the sweet potatoes first, then scoop out the flesh and mash them with eggs, orange juice, brown sugar, melted butter, and vanilla. Top with a butter/brown sugar/chopped pecans mix and bake. It is absolutely delicious.
My mother used to make that awful sweet potato thing with marshmallows on top, and there might have been raisins also. Yuck.
@Meg in SoTX, sounds worthy of being called "dessert"!
Friday: My son and I met my cousin for pizza before going to a concert
Saturday: Potato, Kale, and Sausage Frittata with a salad and French bread. We invited my parents over to celebrate my mom’s 65th birthday
Sunday: Steaks and cheesy hash browns
Monday: Baked Potato Soup and Buffalo Chicken Melts
Tuesday: Spaghetti Squash Taco Bake
Wednesday: Frozen pizza (I had been prepping for Thanksgiving all day and I didn’t have it in me to cook)
Thursday: Frozen pizza – we hosted Thanksgiving and had our meal early enough in the day that my grandparents could drive home before sunset at 4:30pm. After a few days of cooking and cleaning up after even the thought of pulling all the leftovers out of the fridge was too much.
After looking at this, I think we will be avoiding pizza and potatoes for at least a week (hahahaha)
WIS: 67.89 on Indian food with a new coworker, 46.31 @Aldi, 166.02 on my husband's protein powder for a total of 280.21 this week. Restaurant food is so expensive now, but it was worth it to connect more deeply with my new coworker and that price also included a generous tip (15.00 which I then anxiously went over in my head a million times, but yes, 15 dollars was about 30% of my bill so it was a good tip even though it seemed too low to me at the time). There was also a lot of leftovers that my coworker insisted I take home to share with my family, so we got about half a dinner out of it too.
WWA:
Fri: random leftovers (chicken and collards biscuit ring, ground turkey soup over brown rice, pasta and peas) and apple sauce.
Sat: I made a big pot of soup using beef broth, egg noodles, frozen veggie meatballs and a bunch of veggies (carrots, celery, onions, garlic, turnips, bok Choi). We had it with canned peaches and bread and butter.
Sun: leftover soup, apple sauce, bread and butter.
Mon: leftover soup with oyster crackers, yogurt with brown sugar and craisins, bread with butter and pumpkin butter.
Tue: Indian food leftovers (naan, jasmine rice, palak paneer, dal, chutneys, a mixed vegetable dish with cauliflower that was called something with a K but not korma, and salads) plus a cheese pizza from Aldi.
Wed: the night before Thanksgiving. I had spent the day making pies and my only dinner request was something that would have no leftovers. Husband made fancy ramen from scratch using angel hair pasta boiled in baking soda water to taste like ramen. It definitely works and tasted like very delicious ramen, but boy will baking soda make a pot boil over in the most messy way if you don't watch it! With the ramen noodles, we had broth made from homemade shrimp stock, and lots of toppings: seaweed squares, radish slices, carrot sticks, hard boiled egg halves, celery leaves, chicken sausages and a delicious sesame drizzle as well as a dashie added to the broth. Assembly was show in itself. 😉
Thu: Happy Thanksgiving! My husband is the usual cook around here, but I do the holiday cooking since I like to "do the most" as he puts it. He did make a loaf of rye bread, pan fried green beans and a pan of very tasty yeasted rolls using some sweet potato water and some potato flakes, plus he did tons of dishes all day long, so he was not completely off duty. 😉 I made a boneless turkey breast which was a bit of a struggle because it just took forever to be done-way longer than it should have taken. I think it might have still been frozen in the very middle? I don't know, but I ended up air frying it for an extra half hour at a higher temperature and it turned out very delicious, so I guess it was ultimately worth it. I started out roasting it at 350 over a bed of onions and lemon slices and I coated the top in a mixture of butter and spices including a whole bulb of chopped garlic and some smoked paprika along with the usual spices like parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, etc. In addition to the turkey breast, beans and rolls, we had gravy, stuffing (is it technically dressing if it's made in a pan since there is no cavity to stuff in a boneless breast?), mashed potatoes, green peas, roasted carrots, spicy sweet corn with feta, salad, crudites, cranberry sauce, Mac and cheese, pumpkin, apple and cherry-berry pies, whipped cream, chocolate covered pumpkins, plus a cheese board and a cornucopia of fruits and mini pumpkins that my son created. Everything was from scratch, but I used up lots of random stuff lurking in the freezer and cupboards, so it didn't cost all that much more than our usual food expenses, especially considering we will eat this for about three or four dinners, plus pie for breakfasts-arguably the best way to eat leftovers!
Tonight: leftovers, for sure, but I haven't decided which ones yet. The beauty of making smaller amounts of lots of different foods is that you can rotate the leftovers so it doesn't seem like the same meal for days on end.
Happy weekend, everyone!
WIS: $0
WWA: Elk camp! Big hungry hunters 3 meals/day plus snacks
M: Sirloin Tip Roast, brussels sprouts, roasted butternut squash, slider type rolls, au jus, green salad & apple slab pie w/ice cream.
T: Sea bass fillets fried, oven fries, coleslaw, lemon pudding cake
W: Hunters went home. Fish tacos, fruit salad
Th: Butchering Elk - Chicken Pot Pie casserole, green salad & Banana Pudding
F: What's Black Friday? Having worked in retail twice in my lifetime, I abhor crowds
More butchering. I'm making a 1/3 of a ham in the slow cooker, 3 bean salad and baked beans in the Instapot. Neighbor brought cookies because I roasted up some dog bones and gave his pup a grocery bag full for the freezer. He brought me GF cookies that a guest brought to him.
S: grinding hamburger, we'll eat leftovers and ham sliders Kristen style
-Chicken, bean burrito bowls
- sandeiches
- Noodle stirfy
- I think we had burrito bowls another time
- tomorrow we are celebrating Thanksgiving. I'm in charge of chicken (easier to get here than turkey) and gravy. Everyone else is bringing the sides and Desserts. I'm looking forward to my friend's homemade rolls, cause it's one of my favorite parts too!
Kristen, your #1: Even though we don't celebrate Thanksgiving at the same time as you, it seems that Black Friday has migrated across the border. Hence I was in the grocery store at mid-day today and it was practically empty, and now I know why.
WIS: $122.05
WWA: (I was sick for most of the past week so easy recipes were the order of the day):
Friday: From the freezer: present self is thanking past self for freezing the leftovers: Pork Cottage Roll and cabbage that was originally cooked in the crockpot.
Sat: Dump and Bake Sweet and sour chicken, made with pasta.
Sun: leftover sweet and sour chicken, made rice to go with it.
Mon: Too sick to cook, so HB made us French Toast.
Tues: From the freezer: Home-made Felafels, on a salad.
Wed: Butternut squash with Bangers (sausages) and roasted potatoes and a salad.
Thurs: Leftover Butternut squash and the roasted potatoes, made teriyaki trout to go with it, plus a salad.
Tonight: Easy: a frozen pizza.
Happy weekend to everyone!
WIS: Around $90 for people food. I did buy some ground turkey, chicken stock, canned tuna and sardines for the pets, but counted that separately.
WWA: Salads, fish, cheese, fruit, fresh veggies, ham, whole wheat crackers, nuts, rye crackers. Homemade soup from the freezer. For Thanksgiving, I made cherry pies (one gluten-free and one regular), gluten-free buttermilk corn muffins, and gluten-free chocolate brownies with peanut butter icing. We had that with prime rib cooked in the smoker, green beans, corn pudding, and gluten-free mac and cheese. One of our extended family members has to eat GF and none of us like turkey, thus the unconventional menu.
I hosted Thanksgiving this year and I made dinner rolls - so that my nephews would have something they wanted to eat. 😀 I would far rather them eat one thing they like than have to eat a plate of food they really don't like.
Monday-ate with family at a funeral (restaurant)
Thursday - ate 21 lb turkey with same family at their home
Friday- my husband and son went grocery shopping. Store was quite empty of customers on Black Friday.
Can't remember meals. Think I made a pizza casserole.
I agree! Homemade rolls are just so much better than turkey!
I AM a fan of all components of the "Thanksgiving Dinner",
For years I have made rolls using my Honey Wheat Bread recipe. This year I tried something new. I made your Winter Squash Rolls (using pumpkin). They were so good, soft, moist, delicious. I made 3 small foil pans that I could send home with my guests and 15 knot shaped rolls that we had for dinner. There were NO leftovers. I'll have to make another batch soon.
Oh, I am so glad that you enjoyed the rolls! Aren't they a beautiful color?
I agree with rolls being the best. I made a pan for our thanksgiving and it was the only thing that was wiped clean.
TEAM ROLLS!
(my husband thinks I am crazy to really only care about the rolls given all the other food objects....I usually eat another roll for dessert, rather than a slice of pie)