WIS, WWA | First one for July!
Time for a new month and a new grocery budget.
And now it's officially the second half of the year. The first half of 2020 was so crazy that I wonder what the second half will bring.
What I Spent
I got a $25 Hungry Harvest box, and I spent $115 at the grocery store.
What We Ate
Saturday
I made grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for the girls, and then Mr. FG and I did our takeout date night.
We got Panera, and I redeemed some Fetch rewards points for a Panera gift card to reduce the cost of our meal.
I also got a $2 drink discount in the app, so I added a a drink to our order and it only cost me $0.19!
(Fetch Rewards gives you points for scanning grocery receipts. It's mostly rewarding if you buy brand names, but you can get a quick $3 when you first install the app.)
(note: at the time of writing, 1,000 points = $1, so that's $2)
Sunday
I made a chopped salad with turkey breast, bacon, cheese, cucumbers, and lettuce, and a homemade Dijon vinaigrette.
And I made a loaf of garlic pull-apart bread to eat with the salad.
Monday
I made shrimp and grits and I cut up some raw produce for us to eat on the side.
(That's not my recipe link; if you make the recipe, change the 2 tablespoons salt to 2 teaspoons. I think it's a typo!)
I'd made a few extra burgers last time I grilled, and I froze them. Since Zoe is allergic to shrimp, I cooked two of the frozen burgers for her.
Tuesday
We had chicken croissant sandwiches + watermelon.
Three things that make these sandwiches really good:
1) I did this brinerade for the chicken.
2) I made this red pepper/basil mayo.
3) I buttered the croissants and toasted them in a skillet.
Wednesday
I got a LOT of radishes in my Hungry Harvest box, so I decided to make the chicken taco recipe that calls for a radish/cilantro/lime topping.
We had watermelon with our tacos.
Thursday
I cooked some local breakfast sausage and made waffles, topped with whipped cream and berries.
Friday
I really am not sure yet. But since the high is in the mid-90s today, I can tell you that
a) it won't be pizza
and
b) it won't be me grilling, because that is too hot to stand by a grill in the sunshine.
What did you eat for dinner this week?
P.S. Grove has their private label hand sanitizer back in stock; it's the blood orange scent that we love. I just got two bottles, so we are good to go for a while now.
If you are new to Grove, click on this link first to get a free Mrs. Meyer's set, and then you can add the hand sanitizer to your cart.
1. Had some steaks purchased on sale a while back, in the freezer, and that is what my husband requested for his birthday dinner. Caesar salad,grilled zucchini and fried potatoes. Homemade apple pie.
2. Spaghetti and sliced peppers and tomato sauce and a green salad
3. Garbanzo Tahini Soup and homade bread
4. Large BLT salad
5. Over baked fish with salsa verde,brown rice,carrots
6. Cioppino (frozen from Trader Joe( with french bread and a warm mushroom salad
7.Ate leftovers from refrig, hodge podge night!
Sun/Mon-chicken fajitas
Tues-sloppy joes, potato salad, pork and beans
Wed-scalloped potatoes/ham, roasted vegetables
Thurs-red beans, sausage with rice
Fri-choice of scalloped potatoes or beans and rice
Sat-salmon and any sides that need to be finished from the refrigerator
Radishes on tacos are so good. Particularly picked radishes.
This week in food featured a lot of bacon and tuna. Sometimes together. 🙂
Saturday: Bacon and egg sandwiches, Grandma Brown's baked beans (a local upstate New York company that is one of the things I always request whenever I can get someone to bring them to me from NY), frozen green beans cooked in bacon grease
Sunday: Antelope in a garlic scape pesto and cream sauce, German potato salad, more of the bacon-grease cooked green beans
Monday: Tuna skillet with bacon, onion and celery, cooked rice, tuna, frozen green peas, mayonnaise, and cheddar cheese. I opened a three-pound can of tuna for this (yes, three pounds, not a typo), so tuna appears a lot more this week.
Tuesday: Tuna salad sandwiches, carrot sticks
Wednesday: Pork chops in cream gravy, boiled potato chunks, green salad with ranch dressing
Thursday: Leftover of the pork for my husband, tuna salad sandwiches and frozen green peas for the kids, salad for me
Tonight: Probably antelope. I have another bag of small roasts in the freezer, which are good for cutting up and cooking quickly. Quick cooking is the name of the game in the summer, when my kitchen is consistently over 80 degrees even before I start cooking dinner. All the stew meat kind of stuff will have to wait until fall.
Sunday: "Sunday sauce" and spaghetti (sauce that has to simmer all day, so we have to make it on a Sunday).
Monday: Curried chicken salad on croissants. So easy, and it's even better if you make it ahead of time, so it's one of our favorites in the summer.
Tuesday: Used some short ribs that flopped in another recipe to make shredded beef bbq sandwiches.
Wednesday: Pulled the last of our lettuce plants from the garden, so we are currently drowning in lettuce. We had vegetarian lettuce wraps to help eat some.
Thursday: Chicken lettuce wraps (I prefer the veggie version, my husband prefers ground chicken, we had enough lettuce to do both).
Friday: We're going hiking to a lake today, so we'll come home tired and eat whatever leftovers are available!
My menus sounds less than thrilling, but overall, I think I do pretty good on juggling them with working full time. We eat out less than I would like - I do love eating out. This week:
Monday - Rotisserie Chicken Tacos with tri-color slaw, sliced radishes, avocado, queso fresco on whole wheat or corn tortillas
Tuesday - One Pot Pesto Tortellini with broccoli (this was meh)
Wednesday - Fajita Bowls with fajita meat and peppers, rice, cheese, tomatoes, bell pepper (freezer meal)
Thursday - Crockpot Italian Drip Beef, some great mac and cheese from the freezer, zucchini and peppers
Friday - Not entirely sure yet...
Saturday Grilled Hot dogs with turkey chili. My "kids" are bringing sides.
Sunday - Cheese and Veggie Frittata OR One Pot Spagetti
Listen, I think anyone who regularly gets dinner on the table deserves a pat on the back, even if it's not thrilling stuff each night.
And besides, I think your meals sound really good!
I was going to say that too! They all sound great to me!
Saturday - Grilled pizza
Sunday - My daughter's 2nd birthday party! Chicken legs and thighs, potatoes/summer squash, strawberries, pasta salad, cake and ice cream
Monday - Pork chops, leftover pasta salad, grilled zucchini
Tuesday - Grilled chicken legs and thighs, grilled mixed veggies (summer squash, asparagus, potatoes, broccoli)
Wednesday - Frugal Fail Night. It was a day where our power company was giving a discount if you reduced your usage from 2-6, so I had lots of plans... which all got disrupted by my kids lack of naps. So we packed up and went to an outdoor pool around 3 and ended up staying until a little after 5 at which point my husband suggested we get take out instead of making stir fry. So my attempt to get the power company discount ended up costing $25 in take out. At least we had a fun afternoon.
Thursday - Stir fry and cherries. The stir fry was not a hit and is probably a dish I need to take a break on making for a while.
Friday - Pork chops, potatoes, broccoli, and watermelon are the plan.
This is probably a ridiculous question, but when you do your grocery budget, do you go strictly by $150/week, or do you have a monthly total you try to stay under also? When the month changes mid-week, do you count that week for the old or new month? Our budget never looks quite right because I give myself 100/week for groceries, but there are never 4 perfect weeks in a month. Maybe I'm overthinking it. Anyway:
Saturday: grilled burgers
Sunday: eggroll in a bowl
Monday: ham and swiss roll-ups
Tuesday: leftovers
Wednesday: pizza
Thursday: chicken tinga tacos
Today: manicotti, probably
We got a Misfits box this week, so we had some type of veggie with every meal, but...I can't remember what.
I just try to make it average out to $150/week over the course of the month, or really, the year!
It goes up and down and up and down from week to week, but I've learned not to panic too much about the really high weeks because they average out over time.
We have been so hot here. I've been doing crock pot, stove top, pressure cooker, whatever, to help keep the kitchen cool, since my husband gets chilled if we drop the temperature below 78. I don't blame you for skipping the pizza.
We had crock pot beef roast with mushrooms, carrots, onions and celery cooked in with it.
Gluten-free spaghetti with sauteed vegetables from the garden, along with onions and garlic, topped with cheese. My husband was very leery of it, but ate it and declared it good.
Chicken parts from a chicken I had cut up earlier, fried in my Dutch oven to keep the splatters down and speed the cooking process. With that, we had English peas and cauliflower rice topped with chicken gravy.
Burgers with potato wedges for him, plantain "fries" for me. No bun for me.
Since I was gone over the weekend, I didn't do any other dinners this week. Tonight may be tacos.
Your family eats radishes! My husband loves them, but the only way I can eat them is to roast them well. My kids won't touch them either. In fact, only my dad liked them when I was growing up. Food preferences are so funny.
We had so many radishes last week that I tried roasting them. Just cut them in half (depending on the size) and drizzled with olive oil and a bunch of cut herbs (oregano, chives and thyme) from the garden. Put them in a tinfoil pack and threw them in the oven. They were delicious! Very mild and summery tasting!
For Panera app users, Panera is offering unlimited free coffee all summer, sign up through the app, but cancel before September so you don't get charged. It's free hot/iced coffee and hot tea.
I saw that and wondered what all is included. Can you get things like vanilla iced coffee with this program?
It doesn’t include the coffee drinks that they make behind the counter. It’s the self-serve hot coffee and tea, as well as the tank of self-serve iced coffee.
Monday we had tacos because my daughter was cooking. They were very good.
Tuesday I made a double batch of chicken and orzo which we ate with a side salad.
Wednesday we finished the chicken and orzo.
Thursday was our usual pizza night with cup up veggies.
Tonight it's chicken and leeks with noddles and orange sauce--lots of sauce!
Are you seeing any changes in the hungry harvest box since the pandemic? Was wondering if something like that would be affected at all.
WIS: $32 on fish (90 year old neighbor requested another meal of salmon Nicoise), $30 specialty groceries (my partner went to pick up 1 loaf of special bread requested by 90-year old neighbor and ended up spending $30 on delicious treats that we did not need. I should know better by now....)
WWA, working backward
Friday: pick plate: meat and cheese (see above), with white bean dip and veg
Thursday: ricotta gnudi with foraged mushrooms, speck, and sage; salad
Wednesday: salmon Nicoise with fried capers (bon appetite)
Tuesday: broccoli, bacon & cheddar quiche; arugula (from the garden) salad
Monday: "Schlow" burgers, broccoli and cabbage Cesear salad (bon appetite)
Sunday: Vietnamese chicken salad (whiteonricecouple.com)
Saturday: pork carnitas and black bean nachos, cabbage, salsa fresco (Rick Bayless) and avocado
Saturday: We visited my in-laws for birthday picnic. Highlight: strawberry cake
Sunday: Carnitas with red rice and refried beans.
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: mushroom burgers with beet and oregano sour creme. Rosemary potatoe wedges.
Wednesday: big green salad with cucumber, bell peper, tomatoes, apples, fried green asparagus and smoked tofu.
Thursday: Pasta with marinara sauce
Friday: stir fry on rice with vegetable and smoked tofu leftovers from the fridge
Sat/Sun/Monday--A friend brought over a tray of enchiladas and there was so much we ate it for three days. Also fruit.
Tuesday--quick pulled chicken with red cabbage slaw sandwiches, a recipe from Cook's Illustrated. Easy and a hit, so we will be eating it again. Also cukes and fruit.
Wednesday--salmon, baked potato wedges, Gateau Basque for dessert. It took literally hours to make that dessert, which is supposed to be a bread loaf shaped and sized pastry that you slice open to reveal a center of egg custard. Well, the pudding was cooked but did not stand up to slicing, so we had pastry with thick egg custard sauce. Thirteen eggs to make this dessert...
Thursday--halibut, scalloped potatoes, fruit.
Friday--no filet 'o fish because we have a mountain of leftover halibut and salmon to use up. (The fishing neighbor went on a fishing weekend but before he left he told me that if we cleaned his freezer for his new catches, we could have all the fish in it. 19 pounds of salmon and 14 of halibut later, plus two trout, and our freezer is full while his small chest freezer is gleaming and empty. He is always giving us fish so I would have cleaned his freezer as a favor, but the incentive of fish made it a lot more fun.)
Mon- Beef Tacos
Tues-Chicken Stirfry
Wed-Moose Stew with salad
Thur-Shrimp Alfredo with raw veggies
Fri-Hamburgers & raw veggies are on the menu
Saturday-leftovers
Sunday-chicken noodle soup (one of the only foods my son won't eat. He'll chicken, pasta, and cooked veggies but once they're put together it disgusts him)
Monday-pizza
Tuesday-leftovers
Wednesday-omelets and potato/sausage hash
Thursday-pasta/red sauce, cooked veggies
Tonight-chicken/bean tacos in the crock
Real Feels have been 105+ here all week (today is notably cooler and real feel is 103 right now), so we are trying to cook things that are quick or only use outside heat. I think I'm just going to eat salads and fruit for the rest of the summer.
What is WIS and WWA?
What I spent
What We Ate
Yep, yep! I almost put an explanation at the top of the post and then I was like, "Nah, people will know." Heh. I should have put the explanation!
Saturday: Grilled cheese sandwiches because the grandkids spent the nite.
Sunday - Wednesday: Spicy Shrimp Soup and rolls. Recipe said serves 4 - 6 but we got 8 servings out of it. Was also better the 2nd thru 4th days
Thursday: Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese sandwiches.
Friday (today): some taco meat we needed to use up and baked potatoes
We made two trips to the store Wednesday ($36) for milk, oil and a few fill in items and Friday ($48) for things for our 4th bbq/picnic.
This has been a lazy week where I needed to go get some groceries.. but I have been putting it off so the fridge is rather clean and empty of leftovers!
Friday- I pulled a marinated turkey tenderloin out and we grilled that.. Served that with a sidedish I made of rice, frozen broccoli and a cheese sauce. I topped it with butter toasted panko and breadcrumb mix.. With applesauce and a loaf of bread I grabbed at the store.
Thursday- I warmed up some pulled pork and ate a bit before I left for a meet up with friends. Husband enjoyed his coconut shrimp( he is the only one who likes it ) and the last of the scalloped potatoes and green beans
Weds- grilled burgers from the freezer, made 3 boxes of scalloped potatoes...(packages keep getting smaller and its a good leftover for lunch reheat!) the last of the grapes and sliced nectarines, I ate some green bean
Tuesday-Brats, canned corn, baked beans, grapes
*I think this is the first week since quarantine started that I did not have tacos...
Monday-green beans, potatoes and ham hocks in the crock pot ( leftovers all week! )
Sunday- Subway subs,( it was a 2 foot longs for $10- so $20 supper ).. we ate our own chips, watermelon and grapes
Granddaughters visiting dinner. And since they are just 2 and 5, that primarily means simple food.
Sat- BBQ chicken, potato salad, watermelon
Sun- Chinese take out
Mon- Spaghetti with red sauce (what they call marinara), salad, garlic bread.
Tue- Tacos, beans, salad
Wed- Pizza
Thur- Quesadillas, raw veggies
Fri- Grilled cheese, raw veggies
I spent $38.26 this week.
Saturday-(meatless meal) mashed potatoes, butter beans, carrots and black-eyed peas
Sunday-white beans, cornbread and applesauce (meatless again)
Monday-Turkey, bacon and avocado sandwich and pineapple
Tuesday-baked potato, green beans, carrots and applesauce
Wednesday-pizza and fruit salad
Thursday-fried chicken strips, mashed potatoes and green beans
Friday-bean soup, French bread and applesauce
We switched around dinner and lunch because our eldest needed to work evening shifts. For cooked meals we had
beef stew with steamed new potatoes and french beans
minestrone from home made stock - bit hit, requests to make this more often
fish burgers, salad and garden peas
chicken wings with rice and veg
leftovers with some fresh vegetables
takeout, on account of a birthday. Leftovers were frozen.
I intend to cook (salt water) fish a little more often than I used to, because I discovered I do not eat many foods with iodium except for eggs. I could also eat kelp ofcourse, but if possible I try to get my vitamins and minerals from my meals (I do take additional Vitamine D, as advised by my GP)
Saturday- a friend was out of town, and said we could use the pool, so that is what we did. Came home and did take out. Ordered from a local pizza place, dh and I shared a cheese steak, and calzone, Ds chicken parm sandwich, cant remember what my daughter had.
Sunday, hotdogs, tater tots. (it was HOT!)
Monday- chicken alfredo. ds had pasta with red sauce since he doesn't like alfredo.
Tuesday- Kielbasa on the grill, pasta salad, veggie.
Wednesday- ordered in Chinese. (month end for work)
Thursday- chicken cutlet, left over pasta salad, veggie.
I clicked your link and signed up for Grove. I'm on my last month of my annual Mighty Fix subscription and I think I'm going to cancel. I have enjoyed Mighty Fix but I now have a pretty well stocked kitchen. Grove seems to have some useful products (including the blood orange sanitizer which I ordered two bottles of). I appreciate your subscription suggestions, Kristen.
So much hand sanitizer smells terrible; this stuff legitimately smells good without being overpowering. I hope you like it!
Seems like it's more eco friendly too? I'm having a hard time finding "healthy" sanitizers and cleaning products that disinfect without all the chemicals. Hopefully Grove will be good for that.
I use ReceiptPal. I don't have to purchase a specific item from a specific store. All receipts, as long as store name and address are included, can be uploaded and points used for Ecards, etc. Much better for me as I don't purchase the main stream items on most apps.
Spent zero. I've been hitting the grocery store once every three weeks since COVID hit. If we run out of something, we're out till the next trip.
Saturday: refried bean enchiladas
Sunday: stuffed shells
Monday: scrambled eggs, homefries and fried green tomatoes fresh from the garden
Tuesday: vegetable and chicken lo mein bowls
Wednesday: leftovers
Thursday: pb&j sandwiches, fresh pineapple
Friday: more leftovers