WIS, WWA | Black Friday edition
As usual, I am happily spending my Black Friday at my house and not at the stores. It's not a moral high-ground thing for me...I just don't enjoy Black Friday shopping (here's why).
I might venture out to the grocery store, though, because that's a nice quiet place on Black Friday. Everyone already bought all their food necessities on Wednesday!
What I Spent
I spent:
- $9 at Harris Teeter
- $14 at Weis
- $20 at Giant
- $25 on a Hungry Harvest box
That adds up to $68, so a pretty cheap week for us!
November Grocery Spending
Week 1: $103
Week 2: $184.50
Week 3: $112
Week 4: $68
What We Ate
Saturday
I was on my own for dinner, so I cooked something random for myself; I think it was a salad topped with leftover rotisserie chicken.
Sunday
We had BLTs.
Monday
I made a mandarin chicken salad, and I served that with a loaf of French bread that I had in the freezer.
Tuesday
I made French toast (to use up some bread from Monday night) and Orange Julius.
Wednesday
I had dinner out, and the girls fended for themselves at home.
Thursday
We went to my aunt and uncle's house to celebrate Thanksgiving with them and Lisey.
It was lovely to see them all.
And it was also lovely that all I had to do was bring rolls! 🙂 I opted for the honey-glazed variety.
Friday
I have a pork butt thawing in the fridge and I'm going to make pulled pork with it.
I maybe missed it but I feel like Mr FG has a designated cooking night now and that is something different from the past?
Which brings me to a idea/question/concept! I would love to see how your (you & Mr FG) roles and responsibilities have changed as your children have grown and his work hours (and location) have changed! My husband use to work in the restaurant world so his hours were often noon to 8 (and usually much, much later!) and this was when we had two very young children. Now, he works more “typical” hours and our kids (we added one more) are early preschool to young elementary. Much nicer he’s home at more needed times such as dinner and bedtime!
Oh yes! I've been feeling swamped during my Anatomy and Physiology semester, so I'm giving my cooking patterns a bit of a reboot. https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/wis-wwa-my-cooking-reset/
And that includes, but is not limited to, dumping one night of cooking off on Mr. FG. 🙂
I like your question; I've added it to my Q&A queue!
I was happily surprised this morning when I went to Target to pick up something I purchased online Wednesday night. There were no long lines, lots of checkout lanes were open and there were employees all over directing people to what they needed.
What a nice contrast to my fears of being trampled to death in a Black Friday mob!
- Chickpea curry salad (inspired by Stephanie's recipe last week)
- Acorn squash stuffed with wild rice
- Salad
- Plate of veggies: sweet potatoes, mushrooms and green beans
- A Kristen kind of meal: leftover brown rice, wild rice, quinoa, black beans, green beans, fried egg and avocado slices
- Thanksgiving
- Popcorn and fruit
I love your Thursday Kristen-style meal!
Saturday: The night before we had stopped at a Chinese restaurant for dinner on our way home from the zoo odyssey, and we had quite a bit of leftovers from the family meal of four different dishes that we got. So I combined all of those, along with some tenderized bottom round steaks, and made a kind of fried rice this night.
Sunday: Brisket, baked potatoes, steamed broccoli, pureed calabaza (Winter squash), chocolate-covered peanut butter balls
Monday: The return of the bull! I still have about a dozen jars of pressure-canned bull meat in the pantry. One of these I had put in the food processor, as an experiment to see if it would be less tough and easier to use if it was sort of ground, and that's what I used to make something like sloppy joes. I had made buns earlier in the day when I was baking bread, and my kids will eat almost anything in homemade buns, so it worked out fine. We also had salad.
Tuesday: A quart of frozen ground beef taco meat mixed with rice, chopped arugula, salsa, and cheese to make a skillet meal. More salad.
Wednesday: Fajita meat tacos (no peppers, though), black beans, carrot sticks, pureed squash
Thursday: And here's the turkey! Plus dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, green beans with bacon, and pumpkin pie.
Friday: Turkey Slop, of course. This is my husband's family tradition. Just diced turkey heated up in gravy, then ladled over either leftover mashed potatoes or dressing. And any other leftovers anyone wants.
I just want to say that it feels VERY strange to hear that you guys got food from a restaurant! Ha.
Creamy chicken and rice. Throw it all in a pan. Cover tightly. Oven Walk away. X2
Spicy hamburger barley soup with corn spoon bread x2
Thanksgiving. All the things.
Leftovers.
Saturday I will make Turkey veggie soup with the carcass and leftover juices.
Monday: Sweet and Sour chicken.
Tuesday: Breakfast foods for dinner (including some waffles and such from the freezer.)
Wednesday: Homemade pan pizza.
Thursday: Typical Thanksgiving
Friday: Leftovers tonight as I'm sure half the country will be doing today. 😉
I hate going out but I may need to go out to the grocery store for a few things (carrots, milk etc.) but I suspect I will just wait until tomorrow. We'll see.
This is my last week to actually make a regular menu - there will be only ONE person here on a regular basis: me. So I will do more of a 'what I ate' kind of thing, too. I will still do my best to eat healthily, though, so it will be a challenge for me not to cave in and eat fast food!
Monday - Cranberry and Almond Chicken Salad sammies
Tuesday - Tilapia of some sort, a frozen veggie
Wednesday - pulled leftover chili beans out of the freezer, ate with chips and cheese
Thursday - Thanksgiving Day meal
Friday - Beef Taco Rio Nachos
Saturday - Turkey Soup
Sunday - TBD {college kid heads back, daughter at her apartment, decorate house for Christmas}
We are entering into a whole new season for my family - in more ways than one.
@Gina,
I’m in a similar situation with just myself to cook for most of the time. My sons moved out and live together, one in college still and the other graduated and is working. My husband is now away for work, 3.5/4 weeks a month, and he used to do most of the shopping and cooking. I have a stressful job (teaching) and am exhausted at the end of the day. I make simple meals like avocado toast with a fried egg, ravioli with sauce, a yogurt with toasted brioche with jelly, salmon with roasted carrots and couscous on the side, a bowl of baked oatmeal, or a fajita bowl. I’m not used to driving very much either, and it has been a big adjustment. I can’t stomach fast food literally, so I have to eat at home.
I have been sick with a rotten head cold. Did not go to work Monday due to being sick: cannot remember what I ate.
Tuesday: We took my brother out for dinner for his birthday. I brought home my leftovers and the veggies my husband did not eat. Had those for lunch on Wednesday.
Wednesday: Made a flying trip to Publix at lunch for B&M brown bread (the kind sold in a can) and Heinz cream of tomato soup, which I had for supper tonight (Friday). It's a good head cold meal.
Thursday was Thanksgiving with my husband's remaining relatives. We don't do turkey or ham: the hostess does not like them. So this year was grilled beef tenderloin, homemade wheat bread, lots of yummy veggies on the side, and some lovely simple desserts. We brought home some leftover apple crisp. It was probably the best holiday meal we have ever had - so delicious.
All I bought was at the supermarket as well. I defeated food waste by offering my rejected avocado (I poked it out of my sushi because I like it not) to my friend, who also ate the excess rice.
Tonight we're having leftovers. We had a giant turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy and cranberry sauce for Tgiving Day, plus a fruit/veg/cheese plate.
Wednesday - homemade pizza and zucchini fries
Tuesday - Pasta with marinara and chicken meatballs
Monday - Stir fry with leftover chicken , mushrooms, and cashews, plus eggrolls
Sunday - I don't remember. Mexican?
Saturday - Friendsgiving with friends. Roasted chicken, roasted veggies, charcuterie
I completely forgot about thanksgiving when I did my meal plan last week so I’d planned 6 days of meals haha Had to figure out what needed to be cooked this week and what could be pushed to next week.
Saturday - takeout Chinese food
Sunday - leftover chicken noodle soup from the freezer, crescent rolls
Monday - creamy mushroom chicken with crispy onions, mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli
Tuesday - spinach lasagna
Wednesday - vegetable chow mein
Thursday - thanksgiving dinner at my parents, we made the turkey, buttermilk rolls and green bean casserole.
Friday - thanksgiving leftovers
This week was a "use up some random freezer stuff!" week.
Sunday: Italian cream cheese chicken with quinoa. It's a recipe my husband grew up with, but he always had it over rice. We've realized that our toddler randomly loves quinoa, so that's what we use now.
Monday: Homemade potstickers (from the freezer) and Korean zucchini pancakes
Tuesday: Smashburger with some friends. We take it to someone's house and the adults eat while the toddlers play.
Wednesday: Mexican rice (from the freezer) and black beans (also from the freezer) in tacos, with sliced peppers on the side.
Thursday: Thanksgiving! We were in charge of the rolls (both gluten free and gluten full) and cranberry jalapeno sauce.
Friday/Saturday: Leftovers
I made your honey glazed rolls for thanksgiving too!!!
Friday- Thanksgiving with family. I brought rolls and a dessert.
Thursday- we hosted Thanksgiving at our house. It was potluck style, so the only food we had to make were turkey, ham, and collard greens. So many leftovers! Everyone took a to go plate home. I am determined to not let anything go to waste so today/tomorrow is a repurposing and/or freezing day.
Wednesday- five can soup. Once again this was a hit and we still had leftovers.
Tuesday- five can beef soup (Ten can soup since I doubled the recipe). The kids always love this recipe.
Monday- Mac and cheese and precooked meatballs with cucumbers on the side. Not fancy but all fed.
Sunday- Take out pizza, sandwiches and salad from a local restaurant.
Saturday- I just can’t remember.
WWS: $56 Market Basket; $12 Whole Foods; $22 fish monger.
WWA:
Sat: broccoli-quinoa gratin. Recipe from Cookie and Kate
Sun: crabcakes (freezer) with sweet potato hash & sautéed eggplant (last from garden)
Mon: BLT
Tues: takeout from Popeye's
Wed: Braised Chicken Thighs With Squash and Mustard Greens (epicurious.com), which is in a soy/arbol chili sauce and is SO good. We used kale & delicata squash.
Thur: dinner at mil. mushroom palmiers; turkey/stuffing/gravy; pureed butternut squash; mashed potato casserole; green bean almondine; cranberry-orange compote; apple and/or pumpkin pie.
Fri: with mil/fil/bil & family. We were on cooking: Pemaquid oysters; queso fundido with poblano vinaigrette (food52-outrageously good); homemade guac & salsa. Carnitas tacos with roasted pineapple; Baja tacos made with cod cheeks; black beans; all of the topping. Papaya and pineapple over raspberry sorbet.
We all came down with a cold, so there were some easy options for dinner this week:
Friday - celebratory takeout pizza for the kids (both made the high school soccer team)
Saturday - Grilled burgers
Sunday - lasagna (freezer) & garlic bread
Monday - hot dogs in crescent rolls
Tuesday - leftover burgers
Wednesday - spaghetti & meatballs
Thursday - steak & the traditional Thanksgiving sides (green beans, mashed potatoes, stuffing)
Friday - lasagna, but this time I burned the garlic bread 🙁
My Black Friday shopping also happens at the grocery store. Costco often has a butchers sale after Thanksgiving and I was able to find an 18 pound turkey for $10.