WIS, WWA | Eating down the freezer
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What I Spent
Let's see.
I spent $47 at Aldi last Friday.
I got my Hungry Harvest on Saturday ($25).
On Tuesday, I made a $44 stop at Aldi.
And yesterday I spent $32 at a non-Aldi grocery store, buying mostly loss-leader sale items.
So, I spent $148 on groceries this week, which is better than last week!
I'm on budget partly due to me trying to reduce the amount of stuff in my chest freezer. Using up the odds and ends you already have is cheaper than buying more new food.
Anyway, you'll see a bit of a freezer theme in my meals this week.
April Spending
Week 1: $188
Week 2: $148
What We Ate
Saturday
Date night! Mr. FG and I went to Five Guys for burgers.
Sunday
I made pizza, using a make-ahead whole wheat crust dough.
Monday
I got some ham out from the freezer and used it to make panini. Easy-peasy. We had a green salad with our sandwiches.
Tuesday
I rummaged through the freezer and found a random assortment of meats for tacos. I cooked up the last of the shrimp, a few chicken tenderloins, and also some mango habanero chicken sausage. So we had a kind of taco smorgasbord...pick your meat and add your toppings.
I made pico de gallo and guacamole too, of course.
And we had applesauce. From the freezer, naturally.
Wednesday
I tried a new recipe from my Cook's Country magazine for Chicken Shawarma. It was great! And not very hard either.
Except I made my own whole wheat pita bread and that made it much more time-consuming.
Incidentally, if you haven't tried Cook's Country yet, you really should! I usually get at least one or two good main dish recipes from each issue and that makes the subscription price completely worth it to me.
I had two partial packages of boneless, skinless chicken thighs in the freezer, so I used up both of those with this recipe. Yay me!
Thursday
I cooked up some local sausage from my freezer and made buttermilk pancakes.
Friday
Sonia and Zoe are having a friend over and they are planning to make garlic pull-apart bread. So I'm thinking maybe I should make some spaghetti for them to eat with their garlic bread.
What did you eat for dinner this week?
P.S. The Ultimate Bundles group has their annual Ultimate Homemaking Bundle available right now through Monday. It's $29.97, and there are some pretty awesome bonuses this year, like a free $15 Strawesome gift certificate (for glass straws), a course from Get Your Pretty On (a super popular wardrobe course), and more.
Plus you get access to all the courses and ebooks in the bundle as well, from people like Tsh Oxenreider, Ruth Soukup, Anne Bogel, Jessica Fisher, Abby Lawson, and Crystal Paine.
There's a 30-day money back guarantee, so if you buy it and feel like it's not with the money, you can get a complete refund, no questions asked.
I bought a bundle and already ordered my Strawsome straws (from the clearance section OF COURSE.)
Monday: Barbecue beef sandwiches made with the meat pulled off the bones from the broth I made in the morning, beets, and green salad
Tuesday: Pork chops parmigiana, pasta, peas, fried cabbage and onions
Wednesday: Leftover pork and rice sauteed and mixed with the leftover Parmigiana sauce and actual Parmesan cheese, leftover beets
Thursday: Beef soft tacos, roasted sweet potatoes/bell peppers/onions
Tonight: Scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, steamed carrots and broccoli
So how did the homemade pita turn out? Better than store-bought, I bet. Because anything homemade is better than anything store-bought. That's the danger with starting to make it: You can never go back to the inferior version.
Saturday- Turkey dinner (me and my sister had the turkey breast) mashed, sweet potatoes, stuffing, veggies, yum... at moms.
Sunday-Home made Chicken Pot pie! salad. (after soccer game) pre cooked the filling so when we got home just had to fill crust and bake!
Monday- chicken cutlet, pasta, veggie (after soccer practice)
Tuesday-Crazy night, son had grilled cheese, daughter went out to dinner for a friends birthday, dh and I had cheese steaks. (from home) (after soccer)
Wednesday-chicken Alfredo, son had waffles since he doesn't like.
Thursday- Sausage and peppers/onions and potatoes oven bake, kids had pizza rolls. (after soccer practice)
Friday-both kids have soccer practice in two different places, so me and son will grab something and dh and dd will grab something else(not sure what yet)
We only spent $15 this week at the farmers market since we are eating down our freezer and pantry reserves too! I like to up all that stuff now, since summer means eating a lot more fresh produce.
Sunday I made a turmeric curry, so we ate those leftovers Monday night too.
Tuesday - homemade refried bean and fajita veggie tacos
Wednesday - we split a burrito bowl at qdoba! It is a frugal way to eat out and not eat a 1000 calorie dinner
Thursday - homemade vegan lasagna with butternut squash, green beans, and asparagus
Tonight I think I'll make some Thai food since it's supposed to thunderstorm and I'll be stuck inside
I love reading your dinner series. The pics look great, and this post particularly inspired me to clean out our freezer.
It's kinda packed with bread and frozen meals from Cisco that we don't really like but don't want to throw away either.
Your pizzas always make me wish I would take the time to make homemade dough. Sometimes I do, just not very often and it's so good.
Got to go backwards or I will never remember
Friday-not sure yet
Thursday- Taco bake
Wednesday- burgers
Tuesday- I'm completely blank right now
Monday- spaghetti
This list doesn't sound exactly right. It's been a weird week and sinus allergies are clogging up my brain☺ï¸. I love to watch Cook's Country on PBS when I can catch it.
I didn't realize how much hamburger dishes I had this week until I began thinking of dinners I had made throughout the week. It has been a busy week with the kids in after school programs, baton, and weight lifting.
Monday: I made lasagna.
Tuesday: We ate leftovers. Everyone warmed up their meal as they had time.
Wednesday: I fixed sloppy joes between all the small trips to pick up kids and take them to their next destination.
Thursday: The girls have baton right after school so I usually stop and get them a Happy Meal to eat before it starts. Then they can get a snack before bed. Everyone else was own their own. Sandwiches, leftover Sloppy Joes, or whatever else they could find.
Friday: I am planning on picking up a pizza after school to eat before ball practice.
It has been a busy week.
I'm at $105 this week, though I expect one more trip to the store of $60 before doing my numbers on Monday.
Monday - Early group had chicken nuggets and grapes. They didn't actually eat that early as they waited for the first soccer player to be done with practice at 7:00. The late group really was late, waiting for the second soccer player to be done with practice at 8:30. They're back to back on the same field. Late group had homemade pizza.
Tuesday - We had a busy late afternoon with swimming lessons and Little League pictures so I made lasagna in the morning and we ate that with spinach salad.
Wednesday - The kids all had macaroni & cheese with broccoli before the second night of pictures. The adults had Welsh rarebit late.
Thursday - The early group had hot dogs and applesauce. The late group had tuna noodle casserole after baseball ended at 8:00.
Friday - TBD, 2 groups
Monday I made Brown Sugar Flank steak in my crockpot. It is really easy to make. https://mcoia.blogspot.com/2018/04/brown-sugar-flank-steak.html I also made Lentil and ham soup in the crockpot to have for lunches this week. I used a ham bone, onions, celery and carrots from my freezer. I am also trying to make room in my freezer.
Tuesday I made a Greek salad. Hubby and my son had some soup with theirs.
Wednesday I roasted a chicken with mashed potatoes and asparagus
Thursday I made pasta with sausage and home canned sauce and a salad.
I spent $56 last week, which would have been less, but I had to pick up a couple of things to make recipes I was trying. We are freezer and pantry eating, too.
Some of my meals did not go off as planned this week.
In no order:
I made a homemade beef pot pie. The veggies, meat and gravy were delicious, but I subbed an ingredient in the cassava flour crust, and the crust turned into something horrible and mushy. I had to scrape the good stuff out from under it when it was done. I served fruit and cottage cheese (the cc only for the husband, I can't have it yet) alongside.
I marinated and roasted wings and drumsticks. I thought they were great -- my husband ate a wing and said that it was just okay (he no longer likes chicken). We had a salad and my husband also had fried corn.
We had bun-less burgers and fried corn (for him), plus coleslaw made from one of our cabbages.
I made ATK Paleo clam chowder, which I accidentally oversalted some, since I'd cut the recipe in half but forgot to cut the salt in half. Luckily, I had added less salt than I thought it needed, so it wasn't too salty to eat. My husband hated it. I thought it was good, minus the extra salt.
We had bacon and roasted root veggies, with coleslaw on the side one night.
Tonight I just can't even think about yet, but I won't get take out and we won't go out. One thing about the AIP diet, it pretty much keeps you cooking at home.
That is so true...pretty much any strict eating plan forces you to cook. Which is overall, a good side benefit.
I love pancakes for dinner!
We have some blood sugar issues in our house, so it's just not an option. So sad. (And another reason why we have so much brown rice)
Dinners this week
Monday- taco wraps
Tuesday- leftover ground meat with yams, rice, zucchini and broccoli
Wednesday- taco wraps/salad
Thursday- Stew I had previously made in the freezer. (Yay for no work dinner!)
Friday- something with broccoli! And yams! (And probably brown rice 😉 )
We are headed out of town to a funeral and family time this weekend...so I am headed to the store to get stuff for my peeps who aren't attending with us. And I have managed to keep the groc bill down, but of course, this will skew it a bit. Oh well. Unplanned.
Monday - Cobb Salads
Tuesday - Taco Mac and Cheese with roasted corn, sauteed peppers
Wednesday - LEFTOVERS - Easter Pork Tenderloin, cheesy potatoes, brussel sprouts
Thursday - Leftover Chicken Spaghetti from the freezer
Friday - YOYO
Saturday - YOYO
Sunday - Calamity Anne's Meatloaf, scalloped potatoes, green beans
For those YOYO nights I will have freezer meals for them to cook. And I will buy them fresh fruit to go with sandwich meat and such.
Monday - We had had guests over for a BBQ on Sunday and had a ton of leftovers. My husband had leftover burgers and I had leftover pizza (yes, my husband got himself a Hot & Ready for lunch before the BBQ)
Tuesday - I have class on Tuesdays so my husband had more leftover burgers and I picked up Panera with a $1 off reward and a gift card I had gotten with a discount on Raise.com
Wednesday - I had picked up personal pizzas at a local pizza chain with a BOGO coupon. It ended up being $8.65 for both pizzas and I warmed them in the oven for dinner.
Thursday - When I came home on my lunch break I made the fillings for stuffed pepper. When we came home from our vet appointment that evening I was able to put the stuffing in the peppers and warm them in the oven. My husband wasn't hungry.
Friday - When I made the stuffed pepper filling, I meant to make enough for 3 halves but instead ended up with enough for 5 halves. I will pick up one more pepper on my way home and have stuffed peppers again tonight. My husband will have pork fried rice with pork leftover from our BBQ that I had frozen.
I'm glad you mentioned the shawarma recipe from Cook's Country. I have the digital issue checked out from the library and I considered making it, but promptly forgot. Will definitely be on next week's menu.
"Sonia and Zoe are having a friend over and they are planning to make garlic pull-apart bread. So I’m thinking maybe I should make some spaghetti for them to eat with their garlic bread."
I love that the bread was the first thing planned. Girls after my own heart!!
Priorities, right??
We had a death in my wife's family so the week was shot, planning wise.
Monday: Oven fried chicken.
Tuesday: Wife and kid were with family so I ate leftover chicken.
Wednesday: Leftovers from the weekend.
Thursday: Turkey tacos. My wife went to a wake and I had a late evening call in to work.
Friday: I don't know. We'll play it by ear.
I'm so sorry to hear that.
My list for the week was very simple. Lots of Japanese sweet potatoes, broccoli and other roasted veggies (eating down the freezer) legumes and chopped salads. I find having too many choices not conducive to sticking to an eating plan for weight reduction. For hubby, it was a chicken divan,(using chicken from the freezer) spaghetti and turkey meatballs, chicken stew and faux chicken burgers (bocas) and roasted potatoes. I spent $63 dollars this week @ Market Basket.
You might find http://www.marketforceshopper.com interesting......... you will need to register in order to get the deets.
Just wondering if you could share the recipe for the whole-wheat pizza dough?
It's nice to see what everyone posted. Keeps up the motivation.
Thanks for reminding me about the homemaking bundle. I qualify as both the breadwinner and homemaker these days and could use some tips. 🙂
This week we ate:
Monday: Instant Pot butter chicken on rice.
Tuesday: Slow steaks with mashed potatoes and salad.
Wednesday: Raising Cane's. I just ... yeah, takeout was good for today.
Thursday: Harvest Cobb Salad.
Friday: Culver's! We're celebrating my hubby's new job that he starts on Monday. To keep it frugal, I signed up for the Culver's mailing list and got a coupon for a free combo. Yes!
Monday- Salmon, baked potato, salad
Tuesday- Pasta salad and fruit
Wednesday- scrambled eggs, bacon and fruit
Thursday- Meat loaf, sweet potatoes, and veggie
Friday- broccoli cheese soup and ham sandwiches
Lots of stuff going on at the moment so ate mainly supermarket freezer meals for dinner this week; lasagne, butter chicken, risotto, & not sure. I did cook a ready marinated butterfly lamb leg last Sat night & had with roast potatoes & mixed steamed vegies, sliced up the leftovers & froze a pile of lamb sandwiches for lunches that I added salad/avo/tomato to & today I just had it with tomato sauce.
Sweet potato/corn/black bean/rice bowls with fruity salsa on top.
Baked potatoes with salsa and a large spinach salad
Three bean chili and cornbread and roasted asparagus
Spaghetti and salad, sauce from freezer, home made
Out for Chinese food at local Asian Diner.Entrees are $6.00 and portions are huge:enough for lunch next day!
I'm not sure what your local library offers, but mine offers magazines for digital (and permanent) checkout for free! They use an app called Zinio for Libraries that is available for tablets and phones. I've been getting both Cook's Country and Cook's Illustrated from them for a few years now. Might be worth checking into for an even more frugal option if you haven't already!
Oh, interesting! I'll have to see if my library has that.
After a very difficult month or so, things seem to be returning to normal. Even though I didn't cook "real" meals every night, I did at least eat at home every night so thats a win.
Saturday: Chicken and cheese quesadilla and an orange.
Sunday: Tried an ATK recipe for a potato & chicken curry, only I didn't make the curry paste from scratch. Maybe I should have, because it was just OK.
Monday: Steak, asparagus and potatoes.
Tuesday: Cottage cheese and fruit.
Wednesday: Tacos
Thursday: Bagel with cream cheese and blackberries.
Friday: French bread pizza and salad.
Sat -panini & Mac n Cheese
Fri -Famous Daves corn bread green beans & I can't recall what else!
Thurs -leftovers from Wed
Wed -grilled steaks, potatoes outside & corn on the cob in my Instant Pot
Tues -Asian Stir fry
Mon - grilled pork chops & salad, corn on the cob
We went out to eat Friday and there was so much food we lived off of it for the previous Sat & Sun.
I spent $27 at Meijer & $26 at Aldi, I spent over $100 on dog food at Petsmart & Chewy. At least the dog food should last till June. I also donated some of the food to our local Humane Society.