WIS, WWA | First one for April
Hey, friends. Happy Friday to you! I hope your weekend is full of good things.
And not snow.
(Our forecast has been flirting with the possibility of snow. Geez.)
What I Spent
On Friday, I went to Aldi and another grocery store.
On Saturday, my Hungry Harvest arrived.
Then later in the week, I had several other miscellaneous trips that added up to $68.
So, my total is $188.
And that means I'm starting out April $38 over budget.
Boo to that.
On the other hand, we did a super bang-up job of not eating dinner out except for our date night (which was very cheap), and Mr. FG hasn't eaten out for lunch any days this week at all.
Plus, it's the beginning of the month, so I have lots of time for this to all balance out.
What We Ate
Saturday
Mr. FG and I had a date night, and we got subs for $14.
(Sandwiches are one of my cheap date night tricks!)
Sunday
I made pizza. One white, with garlic oil in place of tomato sauce....
and one regular with pepperoni and tomato sauce.
Monday
I made hibachi, because my Hungry Harvest box gave me 4 big zucchini!
Two down, two to go.
Tuesday
We had slow-cooker Japanese pork ramen soup. I also sauteed frozen wontons from Costco to eat on the side, and we had some raw veggies.
Wednesday
I made Swedish Meatballs, which should have been over noodles.
But I didn't realize I was out of egg noodles, so I cooked some angel hair pasta instead.
The verdict is that this is weird, for some unknown reason. You wouldn't think it would matter (pasta and egg noodles aren't wildly different!), but I guess it does.
Make sure you have noodles, people.
We also had a green salad.
Thursday
I roasted a spatchcocked, salted chicken, made a pan of scalloped potatoes, and sauteed some beans.
And we had some homemade applesauce from the freezer as well.
Friday
I was thinking about making pizza, but I've kind of been liking this Sunday night pizza thing we've been doing lately. So perhaps I'll do something else instead.
I always serve meatballs like that over mashed potatoes, for what it's worth.
Monday: Sloppy joes with homemade buns because I had three for the kids left over from our Easter dinner hamburgers/french fries/milkshake feast. So good, if a wee bit non-traditional. We also had sauteed broccoli/carrots/onion.
Tuesday: London broil with a mustard/shallot/cream sauce, sauteed mushrooms with shallots, mashed potatoes, peas
Wednesday: I actually bought chicken at the grocery store, which is unheard of for me. It was a package of thighs, which I roasted over potatoes and carrots. Also roasted bell peppers and onion and made canned cannellini beans with olive oil and garlic.
Thursday: Pork chops, baked potatoes, cabbage and onions, baked apples
Tonight: The plan is shepherd's pie. We'll see if I find enough time during the day to do it ahead, though. Babies mess with dinner planning sometimes (all the time).
Hmm, let's see if I can remember.
Monday-sheet pan meal-Sauce packet chicken and veggies(recipe on blog)
Tuesday-BLT's and mandarin oranges
Wed-Pork chops, carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower
Thurs-chipotle baked chicken(strangely not that great) roasted Brussels sprouts, alfredo pasta
Friday-Not sure yet, It's seem that I don't ever make a plan for Fridays and we end up eating out. I guess I should change that but I secretly don't want to. I cook all week, lol!
Btw, I forgot to say, those pizzas look delish! Would love a slice of the white one.
Thank you! I like the white one a lot. The fresh basil is delicious!
I'm not sure why my post is under kristen @going country. I was not trying to break line, lol! Sorry everybody.
That's what I was thinking. Meatballs go with mashed potatoes. At least that's how we serve them at Christmas.
Spent $15.88 this week- all this means is that I have a lot of items on my ever growing list!
Spent $25.07 (19.59 on a gc) on take out... husband traveling this week so 2 suppers had to be on the road between kids activities...
M- no school.. Hit Little Caesars for their free lunch promotion( something basketball related).. bought a 2nd one.. 3 teens and I shared both lunch combos before we headed into the theater for the matinee! Supper was Easter vegetable leftovers served with sauted kielbasa links..
T-packed 4 lunches, supper was chicken patty sandwiches, steamed broccoli and macaroni and cheese.. ( pantry/freezer cleaning out!)
W- packed 4 lunches, supper was Wendy's between kids activity pick up and drop offs and claiming my mom at the airport! lol
Th- packed 3 lunches ( the one who bought said it was nasty!) Supper was Subway sandwiches... But I used a gift card!!
F- will be packing 3 lunches.. I am meeting my cousin after work to lunch and gather my GS cookies.... Hubby will be home.. supper will be chicken veggie stir fry!
Woo I love all the dishes you made this week, especially the Japanese ramen and wontons!
Mr. FAF eats out with with friend every week. At first I wasn't too happy about it. But considering that he doesn't go to bars to drink, I will just consider it his entertainment expense and not stateless about it.
didn't get to the store this week, just couldn't fit it in...
Saturday- Opening day (baseball, a tradition my mom started years ago) hamburgers/hot dogs on the grill, bean, fries, onion rings, and chocolate milkshakes!
Sunday- Easter at the MIL, ham, mashed, scalloped potatoes, peas, salad, corn bake, I brought dessert, angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream.
Monday-kids were with there friends and at there, Dh and I had a date hour at applesbee's with a gift card we got for Christmas. (this hardly happens) we got of the 2/20, I had ribs and dh had chicken fingers. shared a dessert and appy.
Tuesday- (meal I was going to make Monday) Chicken parm (with left over chicken cutlet from the freezer) Pasta, and I had a salad with.
Wednesday-Shrimp Scampi, over angel hair, I had a salad also.
Thursday-crazy night two soccer practices that was from 5;30-8. (2 kids different times) Me and DD stopped at Panera's, I had pick two, soup cup, 1/2 chicken sandwich, DD had mac and cheese (she said it was the best one she has had) dh and ds, stopped at Wendy's. Divide and conquer!!!
Friday- DS has a soccer game at 7pm. So it looks like we will be stopping for pizza. (I think)
All your dishes look SO good! We’ve been making various flavors of chicken wings a lot lately...easy and yummy. We bake them rather than fry, so fairly healthy too.
I like baked ones as well as fried and so much less mess!
I love using up my zucchini by lightly pan frying some butter, onions, mushroom, the zucchs and adding them to scrambled eggs with some wilted spinach!
I think of noodles and pasta as the same thing. Do you mean egg noodles specifically?
Me too! I thought pasta and noodles were the same thing.
Yes, I should have said egg noodles!
Our week or the calm before the storm aka baseball/softball season
Monday was meatloaf per DH request
Tuesday we had turkey tetrazzini with leftover Easter turkey
Wednesday was "brinner" - pancakes and sausage
Thursday was pork chops- I marinated them to put on the grill but silly "spring" weather changed that.
Friday- Tonight is date night with the kids. DH is taking out our daughter in lieu of going to the school Father/Daughter Dance that she has no interest in going to. Son and I will go out too but maybe something easier on the budget.
I love the idea of a pizza night, such a great idea, I have been so exhausted this week, so much going on I had spag bol a couple of times; sauce from freezer, fried rice from freezer, & what else I'm not sure; feel like I just want someone else to cook for me for a couple of weeks so I dropped into the store on the way home & yesterday & bought a pile of frozen meals to nuke in the microwave. Didn't want to go over budget & was so rapt some were 1/2 price so paid $3 or $4 for all of them so I will be under budget this week I think. Went to dinner with friends tonight but I count that as entertainment/spending money & had buffalo wings, hot chips, coleslaw, & a citrus tart with cream; was a lovely night.
Those frozen wontons from Costco taste great and have no weird ingredients.
Your menu for the week sounds yum. I make those meatballs and serve over either rice or mashed potatoes...we love them and call them Lazy Daisy Meatballs. So good! Here's what we ate:
Monday - Tuna Salad on toast, chips, leftover carrot and celery sticks from Easter
Tuesday - BBQ Meatballs (crockpot), mashed potatoes, broccoli and corn
Wednesday - Lasagna (froze half), salad
Thursday - I threw a chicken in the crockpot with sesame sauce. Made rice. Had some pre-seasoned peas from the freezer.
Friday - Leftover beef stew from the freezer - Hubby heated it up on the stove.
I'm on call this weekend (and have to work) and Hubby will be out of town, so I might order me a Luby's plate for dinner on Saturday. Sunday will be a freezer meal for sure - gotta dig around in there to see what I have.
My grocery budget is waaay down after Easter! I have spent less than $100 this week! (:
My mom used to serve meatballs with rice, which I totally loved better than having them with noodles or pasta.
I stayed under $100 this week, but that is helping to balance the roughly $450 I spent last week. We've been on dramatic swings since mid-Feb, but the March total worked out ok. It would be nice to level things out a bit.
Monday - early was chicken nuggets & green beans; late was homemade pizza
Tuesday - spaghetti & meatballs with spinach salad
Wednesday - steak, baked potatoes, and Brussels sprouts
Thursday - early had hot dogs with carrot sticks; late had Chinese take-out at the request of my oldest. Since it was just he and I it wasn't too bad.
Friday - Ice Cream social at preschool so the kids will have their annual ice cream for dinner fun. The adults will probably have some real food later.
Baseball & soccer season kick off this weekend so meals will likely go downhill until mid-June. We're involved with 6 teams this season and are booked for a chunk between 5:30 & 8:30 every evening next week.
And, yes, snow is in the forecast here too. Today & tomorrow will be very cold & wet baseball/soccer days.
Monday - on Friday I had thawed some frozen turkey Italian sausage to make for dinner. Then we decided it would be a better idea to join my parents for happy hour at a local restaurant! So I cooked the sausage Sunday morning so that it wouldn't go bad and that's what we had for dinner Monday with mashed potatoes & green beans.
Tuesday - I have class on Tuesday so normally my husband has cereal but this time he shocked me by making himself a frozen pizza (he DOES know how to turn the oven on, afterall!!?!? 😉 ). I packed myself a ham and cheese sandwich on rye (all leftover from Easter) and ate it on my drive.
Wednesday - I made chicken enchiladas. It's rare that I impress myself with something I cooked but I really did it this time! And the enchilada sauce was all homemade with stuff I already had. I already had the chicken, cheese, & black beans but did have to pick up yogurt as sour cream ($0.80), tortillas ($1.25), green onions ($0.44 after ibotta), and cilantro (also used ibotta discount).
Thursday - I had a hair appointment so I had made myself a salad using some of the shredded chicken that I had made for the enchiladas and my husband had leftover enchiladas.
Friday - I thawed a pre-marinated pork loin to grill tonight. But just like every time I plan ahead to grill, the weather is awful and it is now snowing. I will likely do it anyway!
Monday: Leftover Easter ham, mashed potatoes and salads.
Tuesday: Honey Sriracha Chicken thighs with rice and steamed vegetables.
Wednesday: Leftover Snoopy shaped waffles that were in the freezer. hash browns, fruit and eggs
Thursday: Homemade pizza using store bought dough. Still cheaper than takeout.
Tonight we're having a pork roast, rice and either roasted or steamed vegetables. I'll see how I'm feeling tonight.
Sub sandwiches on Friday night are always nice. No cooking involved!!
Noodles: the size and shape of the pasta makes a difference. Thin or light sauce calls for thin pasta (such as angel hair with pomodoro); heavy sauce for thick noodles (for example, large flat ones for alfredo); and thick and chunky for thick short pieces (think rigatoni for your Swedish meatballs).
Sunday: still tired from the previous week's great-but-exhausing trip, so defrosted a quarter ham from the holidays, with steamed broccoli and whatever fruit was on hand.
Monday: broiled steak (sliced so it went further), sauteed mushrooms (always have mushrooms to saute in steak juices), and canteloupe.
Tuesday: baked spare ribs, steamed broccoli, and clementines.
Wednesday: chicken brats, tomatoes and baby carrots, fruit bowl of oranges, clementines, and bananas.
Thursday: taco night, including cilantro from the plant I bought.
Friday: plan is for chicken stirfry, using fridge staples such as celery, onion, and maybe carrots (baby carrots are a pain to slice) and pantry staples (such as water chestnuts and baby corn), and fruit smoothie with spinach.
Aww I love the cat pic. 🙂 And oh ehm gee, snow in April? Yikes. It's already so hot here that we're trying to find ways to keep the house cool on the cheap. I'm this close to taping ice cubes onto myself.
This week we ate:
Monday: Spaghetti with homemade bolognese sauce. We weren't able to shop over the weekend because of travel and Easter, so this was an easy meal to pull from pantry ingredients. Bonus: the marinara sauce is homemade and chock full of veggies.
Tuesday: Italian sausage tortellini soup.
Wednesday: Whataburger. Don't judge - I had a really hard day at work and thoroughly appreciated eating out.
Thursday: Bruschetta chicken with brussels sprouts and cheesy bread. Surprisingly not a good meal. The brussels sprouts were frozen and they got slimy. Blech.
Friday: Sushi! Hubs got a new job that pays more! We're celebrating by snagging sushi happy hour and then getting beer at our favorite bar afterwards. 🙂 (And yes, we plan to apply the increase in income to our debt!)
Take those zucchini and make zucchini cornbread! You just add sauteed onions and shredded zucchini to your cornbread recipe, reduce the liquid slightly, and bake! Serve with ... soup?
Pizza is our Sunday night tradition. 🙂
Monday - My husband requested beef stroganoff and peas for his birthday dinner, so that's what I made. We only have it once a year - on his birthday.
Tuesday - Leftover ham and sweet potatoes from Easter, plus broccoli with cheese
Wednesday - Meatloaf, salad
Thursday - Tacos
Friday - I was going to make stuffed peppers, but my 4yo has been sick both during the night and a little this morning, so I think I'll make chicken noodle soup and french bread.
I stopped working in March so I've been trying extra hard to not eat dinner out. Your blog has been an inspiration for years and now I'm looking forward to having time to put some of your recipes to use. Like your bread!
M - Bolognese sauce with pasta
T - VB practice so we picked up El Pollo Loco drive thru chicken but this time saved $$ by not getting any side only tortillas and salsa and ordered just legs and thighs
W - Pork loin in the crock pot with trader joe's green salsa over it and leftover mashed potatoes.
Th - Hubby cooked (because I though to take a package of leftover Easter ham out of the freezer) scalloped potatoes with sharp cheddar cheese and ham.
F - Hmm, maybe pizza
Snow eh? This is the winter that never ends! Sheesh!
On that positive note... what we ate:
Monday: Steak, beans and brocolli and brown rice.
Tuesday: Stew! I knew what I wanted to make for dinner right away in the morning and had time to throw everything in the corkpot for an easy done dinner at 5pm.
Wednesday: Spaghetti and salad! One of my favourite meals complete with homemade sauce. yum.
Thursday: Last night we had Fajitas... sort of. Like your noodles vs angel hair pasta dillemna, I found myself without tortillas, so we had Fajitas with pitas instead (the thin kind) which was not terrible, but sort of strange and they were falling apart. However, we all still got fed.
Friday: Tonight is yet to be planned... I'm thinking of eating the leftover sauce from spaghetti and putting it over brown rice and eating any veggies we have leftover.
I saw a meme today — "This feels like January 94th"
So true.
I learned that I can make flour tortillas at home in case of an “emergency” like this! Same with noodles!
I just totaled up our March spending on food and we spent ~$290 on groceries and only $30 on restaurants! I thought our restaurant total would be higher, but my parents treated us to a nice dinner out. I'm headed out of town for dinner tonight so the hubby will be fending for himself and I'll likely be going out for dinner with friends.
Zucchini -- I like it sliced thin with onions, and sauteed in a little olive oil with Italian seasoning (oregano, basil, etc.). Add some salt and minced garlic, and ummm good.
In fact, that's a veggie I cooked this week. Let's see, we had it with a grain-free meatloaf that, while it tasted good, just kind of gave up and flattened out when I baked it. It looked like a meatloaf pancake. Weird.
I roasted veggies with the meatloaf, sweet potatoes, carrots, etc., enough to include them in other meals, which were :
We had fried hog jowl, with mashed cinnamon sweet potatoes, sauteed baby kale (the only way I care for kale) with garlic, and fried corn salad for my husband, which is frozen or fresh kernel corn quickly fried in a little bacon or jowl fat, with fresh cut up bell pepper and tomato added right at the end. Lot of fried foods, hm.
Salmon patties with a big salad.
Pork "sausage" with baby kale and roasted veggies on the side. Also, my husband's fave, cottage cheese and fruit.
Tonight, no one knows, least of all me.
I was sure I was going to hit my food budget in March, and I guess I did -- hit it and kept moving right on past it. April will be a new challenge to get this back in line.
Kristen, I would have thought pasta and egg noodles wouldn't have been that different in the dish, either. I actually made homemade egg noodles once. It wasn't too successful.
I was thinking to myself that Kristen could have made noodles, since I'm sure she has flour, eggs, and salt. Maybe you could tell us what went wrong. I've never tried it.
I've tried pasta-making a few times before and my goodness, it was so much work! Definitely an item I will continue to buy instead of make.
It's Passover, so my eating is a bit out of whack.
Monday: long weekend! I was at my parents and had leftover salmon and sides from the seders.
Tuesday: Matzah brei (basically French toast) for breakfast, leftover brisket, mashed potatoes, and some green beans for lunch, and matzah pizza for dinner with cucumber salad.
Wednesday: Same as Tuesday.
Thursday: Same as above, but chicken cutlet instead of brisket.
Friday: Same as Thursday! What an easy week.
Well this is embarrassing but you don't seem like the judgmental type...what is the difference between pasta and noodles?! like egg noodles? I've always used (as in verbaage) pasta and noodles interchangeably!
I should have clarified! Normally I use egg noodles, which you wouldn't think are super different from spaghetti noodles. But apparently they are!
It was such a difficult work week I came home almost every night and vegged in front of the TV. Anything else seemed completely overwhelming. So my menu is not the healthiest and I didn't cook a whole lot.
Saturday I had a hot dog. Can't remember if I ate anything with it.
Sunday/Monday - I cooked! Pork chops and mashed potatoes with country gravy and steamed broccoli.
Tuesday - Another hotdog with oven fries.
Wednesday - An out-of-state friend drove into town and we went out to dinner. We split a salad and a white pizza. (Bonus: they made us the wrong pizza by accident so they remade our pizza but sent us home with the first one for free - hello lunches.)
Thursday - I picked up a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket and meant to eat it with broccoli from my fridge but my broccoli was looking super-sad so I just popped some grape tomatoes on my plate and called it good. I also made some stovetop stuffing.
Friday - something with the leftover chicken - Chicken sandwich? Tacos? Or I might just snack on the drumsticks since I have been feeling super fancy this week.
I hope next week is easier for you!
Thank you!
We had:
Monday: I honestly don't remember what, I just remember it was leftovers from Easter.
Tuesday: Soup and salad: A homemade clam chowder, little side salad and sourdough.
Wednesday: Taco salad topped with tuna and beans and other taco stuff.
Thursday: Egg, potato and avocado scramble with a lot of kimchi on top and a berry and mango fruit salad on the side
Friday: It's been snowing for hours, and this being the Colorado Rockies, it's not strange or anything, but April snow is the WORST, because it's so very wet and awful and I'm just totally over it by now. Every year. Kills my motivation. So though there was a shrimp curry planned, I feel like phoning it in and going with frozen pizza and garlicky kale. So I think I shall.
Saturday: fish cooked with tomato and crushed garlic, with broccoli and potatoes.
Sunday: spinach and cheese ravioli with meatballs and tomato sauce.
Monday: I can't remember, but I know we had leftover pasta.
Tuesday: BBQ chicken and mashed potato for one, chicken sandwich for another one, and my daughter and I shared a packet of mac and cheese as neither of us were that hungry.
Wednesday: individual egg and bacon and chicken and vegetable pies.
Thursday: similar fish and vegetables to Saturday.
Friday: McDonalds burgers for 2, cooked tuna sushi, strawberries, and Easter chocolate for my daughter and a huge beef burrito that I couldn't finish for me.
Hi everyone! Everything sounds good. Let me see if I can remember this week. It’s been insane. I am pregnant with twins AND I just put my 4 other kiddos in swim lessons 5 days a week. I’m tired.lol
Monday: dance classes right after school so it was leftover shredded thanksgiving turkey and black bean tacos with homemade salsa and guacamole.
Tuesday: skillet ziti from cooks illustrated. So good. I use turkey sausage and fresh ricotta. No leftovers this night.
Wednesday: crispy skin salmon bowls with brown rice, roasted veggies, homemade tzatiki sauce, fresh figs and blackberries for dessert.
Thursday: leftovers. Yeehaw
Friday: 2 take and bake pizzas from Costco. I didn’t have time to make my usual homemade pizza so, I figured $16 is cheaper than the $65 it costs us to order pizza. They were eh, ok and passable for the kids but I had a salad instead. The dough tasted kind of premade , not the chewy yeasty homemade crust I’m used to. Kids didn’t complain so it’s a win though. Lol
Sat: my 11 month old was up all night with teething pain, so I have NO idea. She is currently asleep on my shoulder and I am sitting with my feet up. Lol. It might be leftovers reimagined. Lol
Sunday: prob homemade bbq meatballs and leftover mashed potatoes
Oh my, I bet you ARE tired!
Monday- Barbecued Ribs left over from Easter dinner, Brown rice, applesauce and chocolate cake
Tuesday- Whole wheat toast, scrambled eggs and apple sauce
Wednesday- Spinach salad with grated carrots, cabbage and cheese with Green Goddess dressing,
dinner roll
Thursday- Used Gift Certificate for Jimmy Johns- Veggie sandwiches and potato chips
Friday- Salmon, sautéed Zucchini and dinner roll