WIS, WWA | groceries at 7-11
What I Spent
I think this is the first time I've ever had grocery spending at 7-11.
But man, I had tried so many other places in search of cream or half and half, and 7-11 is the only place that came through for me.
I spent:
- $63 at Aldi
- $30 at Giant
- $32 at Safeway
- $35 at Chick-Fil-A
- $7 at 7-11
So, $167 for me this week.
What We Ate
Saturday
I'm wanting to donate blood again soon, but since I struggle to get my iron levels up enough to qualify, I need to get back on my supplements and also eat some more iron-rich foods.
So, in an effort to get some beef into my system, I made ground beef tacos.
Sunday
I had done some volunteer work on Saturday and brought home an entire pizza that was leftover. So, I heated that up in the oven and we ate it for dinner.
Monday
For a wide-ranging list of reasons, Zoe and Lisey and I all had an extremely crappy day. Lots of tears were involved, and I was in no shape to cook dinner.
So, I ran out to Chick-Fil-A and got food for us before my online chemistry class.
Sometimes, that's what you have to do.
Tuesday
I tried a chicken gnocchi soup recipe which is basically a one-dish meal: meat, veggies, and carbs in a pot. We had some fruit on the side.
And we ate our soup in our lovely new bowls, which did indeed keep our soup hot.
Wednesday
I made a pot of pulled pork which we ate on buns with fruit on the side.
Since this makes a pretty big batch, and since we are a pretty small household now, I froze two meal-size portions to use for easy dinners in the future.
Thursday
Sonia came over and the four of us had a very non-traditional Thanksgiving meal: waffles, whipped cream, berries, fried mush, bacon, and orange juice.
All of us were happy with that (perhaps most especially me because hello, that was an easy meal to make!)
After dinner, we watched Grease together since Lisey was shocked that Sonia and Zoe and I had never seen it before.
My conclusion: I don't know quite what to think of that movie. The plotline (or lack thereof?) is rather...non-traditional. If I was going to try to graph it on the classic storyline (tension, climax, resolution), I really don't know how I would do it!
We had a rather hilarious time watching it, though, and at the end, Sonia said, "I'm really confused, but I had fun."
Accurate.
Friday
We are going over to my mom and dad's house for a more traditional dinner, and I'm bringing these honey-glazed pan rolls.
We had breakfast for thanksgiving too!
What we ate, hospitalization edition
Saturday: I ate hospital cafeteria food (chicken/rice bowl) while I think husband and home kids ate pizza that was gifted to us.
Sunday: dinner out, mostly to get me out of the hospital for a minute (I tend not to leave at all when son is in). Like Kristen said, sometimes it’s what you have to do.
Monday: leftovers? I can’t remember because I had just gotten home with son and was in a fog and still sorta hyped up on adrenaline.
Tuesday: I crashed hard after the weekend hospital excitement, so Ramen chicken bowls courtesy of the Costco freezer section, veggies on side.
Wednesday: Chicken in white wine sauce courtesy of Aldi fridge section, with veggies.
Thursday: homemade cinnamon rolls, bacon egg cups and grapefruit. And my husband later made pork chop and mashed potatoes for fun.
Friday: I haven’t thought much about food all week. Probably will do some type of fajita inspired chicken and rice bowl.
I'm so glad you guys are home now. And I hope you don't have to see the inside of a hospital again anytime soon!
First, that breakfast-for-dinner Thanksgiving with your girls sounds wonderful!
WIS: About $15 at Aldi (I mislaid the receipt) and $24 at Price Chopper.
WIA: For some reason, I don't shop often at Aldi--but I will probably be there more often in the future. Aldi had some amazing bargains on excellent produce this week (green beans, sweet potatoes, and Brussels sprouts). I made marinated green beans as my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner at the Bestest Neighbors', had the Brussels sprouts earlier in the week, and stashed the sweet potatoes for future use.
And the BNs and their friends, as usual, put together a turkey feast that couldn't be beat. Also, since no one else seemed to want the turkey carcass, I dibsed it for making stock!
I would 100% snag the turkey carcass too! Homemade poultry broth tastes so much better to me than the store-bought type.
@Kristen, Yes, never waste the turkey carcass. My husband said the only thing missing from the boneless breast is that you don't have the bones to make soup.
7-11 coming in hot for the win!!!
WIS: 20 @local farm for a thanksgiving farm share that I definitely DID NOT NEED, 10.31 @Giant, 164.82 @Aldi, 86.08 @liquor store for Thanksgiving libations and a cheap bottle of vodka to make vanilla. Grand total: 281.21 and I feel like I should probably never be allowed to grocery shop again...except we are now out of eggs...I might restrict myself to buying only the number of eggs I can successfully juggle...
WWA:
Fri: crudites and focaccia. We had a ton of salad greens, but I've noticed if I have too many greens on hand, I feel very unmotivated to you salads with them. There is a perfect amount of produce, and having too much just seems like work.
Sat: baby carrots (still ignoring salad greens) and leftovers (rice, fish and salsa, lentil-not-dahl) in egg white wraps with shredded cheddar cheese.
Sun: spicy mix salad (finally!), brown rice, spicy stir fried tofu.
Mon: salad, homemade pork and pinto beans, sourdough rolls.
Tue: salad and leftover tofu.
Wed: veggie burgers with cheese, tomato and lettuce, french fries and pumpkin wafer cookies for dessert.
Thu: Thanksgiving! SO MUCH FOOD!!! Including not-so-can-shaped cranberry sauce. Story below. Drink coffee with caution while reading. You've been warned. We had snacky foods for lunch (deviled eggs, chips, cheese board, dips, crudites, etc) then the works for dinner which was later than usual so between the later time and the bellies full of potato chips, not much was actually eaten, but the following was available, all prepared in an out-of-practice, hilarious unprofessional fashion by yours truly: turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn casserole, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, maple glazed acorn squash, macaroni and cheese, green salad, peas, yeasted dinner rolls, cranberry sauce, and fruit salad, as well as all the remaining lunch items. I also had three kinds of pie: pumpkin, apple and pecan, but we were all too full to eat them, so they got slated for breakfast instead.
Fri: we are most definitely having leftovers...like probably for the rest of our lives...or at least until the salmonella from the turkey that WILL NOT FIT in the fridge gets us! Thank goodness my enclosed porch is cold!
And now...the very long saga of the can-shaped cranberry sauce...when I asked my kids what they wanted for Thanksgiving, top of their lists was cranberry sauce, but specifically the can-shaped kind, which is not sold at Aldi. So I started searching and discovered that every available brand I could find had high fructose corn syrup in it. Yuck. Also, those cans are like 3 bucks a pop! So I bought two bags of whole berries for .99 each at Aldi and resolved to make my own and pour it into washed out cans. (Actually, I bought one bag for 2.99 at Giant and then kicked myself when the price dropped next week to 1.99 there and .99 at Aldi, so I bought a second .99 bag at Aldi and called my frugal efforts good enough. Am I still salty about it? Perhaps.) The first batch I made on Wednesday tasted great but after sitting in cans in the fridge overnight, it was still more like cranberry syrup than jelly, especially the can that I had painstakingly sieved to remove seeds and skins. So, back into the pan all three cans went to reduce further on Thanksgiving morning. After an hour or so, my stove top looked like I had massacred a group of pink-blooded leprechauns, and the sauce was slightly thicker, but still not thick enough. Then I remembered I had some unflavored gelatin packets. I read the package which tells you to remove a portion of the liquid, cool to room temperature, mix in gelatin and then add back to the boiling liquid. I thought "Ain't nobody got time for all that..." I dumped the packet straight into the pan whereupon the powder clumped together and immediately reformed the cow's knuckle or whatever it used to be in it's former life. So now I had slightly thicker cranberry sauce with chunks of white crud floating in it. I thought "No big deal. It'll either dissolve eventually or I'll strain it out later, but probably it'll dissolve because I clearly need to boil this concoction for like four more hours..." Practically four hours and several more bands of leprechauns later, I finally had what I figured was the right consistency for jellied cranberry sauce, so I poured it into two cans this time and let them cool on the stove top while I jenga-ed the fridge some more. (If you're wondering, a large bunch of curly kale makes an excellent retaining wall.) At about 4:30 PM, I put the two cans into the fridge on the top shelf where it's coldest. Around 6:30 PM (a solid hour past my children's normal dinner time) while waiting for the turkey, I checked the cans. They were about room temperature but looked nice and solidified, so I called my daughter in to victoriously unveil the can-shaped glory utilizing my childhood technique of turning the can upside down and opening the bottom to push the sauce out. I yammered away about how much I hate the newer designed cans with the weird molded bottom that a can opener can't grip. I proudly showed her how thick the sauce was by turning the can sideways, jiggling it and turning it fully upside down. All signs pointed towards an awesome reveal. I told her to expect first a suction sound when I break the seal, and then a slow emergence of the can shape that we will turn sideways and slice. I got the can opener to grip, and we did hear a very satisfying suction pop followed immediately by the entire contents of the can whooshing out diarrhea-style onto the plate like the world's prettiest cow pie. Then we laughed for about ten minutes straight and we are so annoyed that we didn't think to film the reveal. We will, of course, be trying again today with the second can after it has sat in the fridge for a full 24 hours, and we will film this time, but I'm not sure we can ever top that first can. Still, we will try if only for the $#!/$ and giggles...
Happy Thanksgiving weekend, everyone, and I hope my cranberry tribulations brought you some joy!
@Becca, I admire your determination in avoiding high fructose corn syrup, but frankly, sounds like too much work to me. And you must have the only kids in the universe who actually like cranberry sauce from a can, everyone I know avoids that stuff like the plague. I give you five gold stars, though, for your hard work and an extra five for a great story. Most times the biggest messes/disasters make the best stories!
@Becca, your family will be re-telling this story for years to come! I was curious as to why your original attempt at the sauce didn't gel so I Googled it--the answer I found was that if too much water or not enough sugar is added then you run into that issue. However, I sometimes have had issues with that based on the cranberries themselves, which leads me to wonder if when/how they are harvested affects the pectin in them?
I have started adding almond extract to my sauce and I love it, for anyone who wants to try something different. 🙂
@Bobi,
It was definitely too much work, but it sort of got to a point where I was like "I can't give up now..."
Also, there are premade versions that only have sugar instead of hfcs, but they were all sold out. Next time I see them, I'm going to stockpile a few.
I think all the effort was worth it for the story, though.
@Becca, definitely a great Thanksgiving story!
@Becca, your trials made me chuckle. "reformed as a cow's knuckle" is hilarious, also a great description of why I (vegetarian) don't eat gelatin.
Thank you so much much for brightening a cold gray day.
@Becca, I actually told some friends last night about you trying to recreate canned cranberry. We thought gelatin too! Will definitely share yr trials and am looking forward to hearing about can #2.
@Sandra,
Well, we ate some more of the magenta cow pie one at lunch today and even though it has now been refrigerated for 24 hours, it was still suspiciously slip-slidey, so for can number two, I'm thinking maybe freezer because at this point, why the hell not? Oh, can-shaped gel with your helpful built in cut lines, why do you taunt me so???
@Becca,
I should perhaps mention that throughout this lengthy ordeal, my husband (AKA the regular cook around these parts) would occasionally wander in, stare and then shake his head ruefully at me. Then I would be like "Go away! I'm trying a thing!!!"
@Becca, loved your story telling of your quest for can-shaped cranberry sauce!
@Becca, I thoroughly enjoyed your cranberry sauce story- your descriptions are spot-on and cleverly funny. I will not look at plan gelatin again without thinking about cow knuckles and pink-blooded leprechauns. Thanks for the laughs!
@Becca, your hysterical story had me laughing until I coughed, thank you for that. Your additional comments are also very funny. Gah
.
However, Because your story was so funny, the additional clever and observant part of your post that preceded the cranberries got lost in the fray "I’ve noticed if I have too many greens on hand, I feel very unmotivated to you [sic] salads with them.". SO true, I am there with you... I have all the right intentions and don't get it done.
How pleasing that you spent $7 at 7-11. 🙂 Also, you're definitely not supposed to THINK about "Grease." Just enjoy. And now you can watch the second one.
Saturday: I was with my son at his basketball tournament, where we ate a big, late lunch between his (very widely spaced) games, and then an ice cream bar at a gas station a little later. My husband fed the ones at home bean and cheese quesadillas and leftover jello.
Sunday: Ribeye steaks, rice made with chicken stock, creamed spinach, raw cucumbers, and marshmallows dipped in melted chocolate chips for the world's laziest fondue.
Monday: Bottom round steaks braised in an Italian tomato sauce, spaghetti with more tomato sauce, raw cucumbers
Tuesday: Green chile hamburger stew made by our neighbor's daughter, leftovers from the night before, plus baked beans made with the industrial-sized can of pinto beans the school was giving out when, uh, COVID first shut us down (yes, past time to use those, but I was intimidated by 6.75 pounds of pinto beans), and fresh bread.
Wednesday: Salmon chowder made with some of the numerous cans of salmon we keep getting from excess commodities, green chile stew, crackers (either store-brand Ritz or rye crisps, depending on preference)
Thursday: The whole Thanksgiving thing, which was turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes, saourdough dressing, whole-berry cranberry sauce (plus a little my eldest put through a sieve to make some more like jelly, but I prefer the whole berries), green beans with bacon and onion, corn, pumpkin pie (actually squash, because will I pass up a chance to use the literally dozens of squash we have? no) with whipped cream, and homemade Squirt (lemonade+grapefruit seltzer=Squirt).
Tonight: We have a lot of Thanksgiving leftovers, as well as a lot of salmon chowder left. Whatever doesn't get eaten for lunch will be for dinner. 🙂
@kristin @ going country, I remember reading somewhere that the canned pumpkin we buy in the store is just butternut squash anyway, so we're all making spiced squash pie, really. 🙂
@Karen A., can they do that?!? I get skulduggery around cryptocurrency but they are passing off squash as pumpkin? What has the world come to?
That Thanksgiving dinner sounds delicious. I haven't yet seen a cream shortage in these parts, but who knows!
My husband took one of the kids shopping with him and they managed to get everything we needed for the week on Monday (they got the turkey the week before).
Monday was chicken and rice, always a hit.
Tuesday we had tacos.
Wednesday was my husband's birthday, and he wanted to make dinner: our version of fish and chips, which was pan-fried salmon, shrimp, and tater tots. Delicious.
Thanksgiving was probably our best Thanksgiving feast ever: turkey cooked in an oven bag, which is always the best turkey, and homemade giblet gravy (made by my husband, who also cooked the turkey). Bell's stuffing casserole, roasted potatoes, a fancy coleslaw recipe, two kinds of dip with veggies and crackers, and corn and an olive and pickle tray, which are required. Homemade cranberry sauce, my absolute favorite thing on the planet. Oh, and frozen rolls, because I'm not very fancy. Homemade pumpkin pies for dessert and homemade whipped cream.
I have never willingly eaten giblet gravy before; this was the first year my husband decided to use the neck and giblets, and it was amazing. I remember my dad once cooking the giblets to make gravy (the one year he cooked T-day dinner), and I said, when I lifted the lid of the pot in which they were boiling, "You're cooking these for the *cats*, right?" Ick! But my husband sauteed the giblets and neck in lots of butter and that, as they say, has made all the difference.
@Karen A., Dr. Bestest Neighbor always makes a delicious pate from the turkey giblets, and that was one of our "starters" yesterday.
@A. Marie, That sounds fantastic!
@Karen A., my mom used to boil the giblets and neck, then dice up the cooked giblets and add them to the dressing. (As I think on it, I’m not sure why she included the neck—additional flavor for the giblets, maybe?) So you’d be eating dressing and then bam! Ninja giblets.
@NatalieH, she probably used the resulting liquid to make gravy, and saved the neck meat to add to the soup from any stock made with the turkey... at least, that is what happens in my world.
Your Thanksgiving sounds very cozy and easy. It reminds me of Christmas time here - as my family does not celebrate at all we always have such a relaxed and easy time while everybody else around us seems to go bezerk with all the preparing, buying, decorating etc.....
I can list some meals I had. From almost every meal I froze several portions for later.
Beef gulash with Spätzle
White beans in tomato sauce and Swiss chard and very spicy because of spoonfuls of Zhug, sprinkled with lots of grated parmesan cheese
Cabbage rolls stuffed with beef and simmered in tomato sauce. That one really made my Ukrainians guests happy 🙂
On Tuesday my son had me over for dinner and served your beefy lettuce wraps with sriracha mayonnaise, Kristen
Duck breasts in a madeira sauce and roasted potato cubes.
Now in winter time I prepare myself nearly daily lamb lettuce with pears and walnuts as this is my very favorite salad. I have it for lunch usually.
And as a meal without dessert is not complete for me I served several times chocolate cake which I had baked and twice it was white cheese with thawed raspberries.
More I don't remember
A busy week! You probably already know about high iron foods, but peanut butter and raisins are also high in iron and easy to eat! Good luck!
My grandmother always kept small cans of evaporated milk in the cupboard for when we ran out of half and half.
I love the movie Grease.the music is soo fun!
Your cozy home is such a treat to “visit” when I read your blog and I am glad you and your girls had a non traditional and totally enjoyable thanksgiving! With ANOTHER feast to follow,today.
Best wishes for a great semester at school.
Agree that Grease is a weird show! The music is great, though. I re-watched it with my husband last year and we both agreed that a) Dirty Dancing is a far superior movie and b) Patrick Swayze could dance better than John Travolta.
I leaned heavily on the freezer this week and it really, really helped.
Monday: My mom came over and we had chicken curry, rice, and salad; I actually made the curry on Sunday night. I used frozen thighs and drumsticks from the last whole chicken we bought, which was great because we aren't huge on dark meat.
Tuesday: I had a very stressful afternoon (tried and failed to go to an event that I'd been really excited about and lost my wedding ring--I found it later, but that was upsetting) so I picked up two pizzas on the way home. My husband had made ravioli from the freezer but I wanted to eat most of a pizza lol
Wednesday: My mom came over and we had tomato-lentil soup with grilled cheese on homemade bread (made last week and frozen.)
Thursday: Homemade chicken gyoza (from the freezer,) rice, and broccoli stir-fry (used frozen broccoli--the baby liked it! Triumph!)
Friday: I think we'll do pasta with meat sauce from the freezer.
@Meira @meirathebear, agreed! Dirty Dancing is the best!
I, too, had a very untraditional meal because I didn't expect to be at home today. I went to the supermarket at 4:45 pm to buy whatever appealed to me.
One of the first things I saw was a display cooler case with lots of heavy cream.
JEALOUS.
@Kristen, I couldn't find what I did want - Entemann's chocolate chip cookies - so I bet you saw a lot of it.
I made your honey rolls for the first time last weekend and they were so delicious that we had them again for Thanksgiving. Thank you for the recipe.
Low-Key breakfast for supper Thanksgiving sounds delicious to me!
Backwards due to memory issues....
Friday- they will fend for themselves with leftovers! I plan to make a big bowl of salad today with all the veg in the fridge. The end
Thursday- the typical Thanksgiving- turkey, a million carbs, some desserts.
Weds.- I did a LOT of holiday food prep this day and was not going to cook dinner. I finally got hungry and made a single batch of lemon blueberry pancake for me. the oldest went for chipotle and brought Wendys back for dad. The other 2 left to hang with friends.
Tuesday-Homemade beef and black bean enchiladas- chips and salsa and toppings.
Monday- Sausage and Peppers that I had previously frozen. Served with buns, frozen veg and tater tots.
Sunday-Little Ceasars Pizza- Husband ordered, kid picked it up, I did not complain
Saturday-I know I cooked something, I did not throw any leftovers out so it all must have been eaten..
I almost always write these posts starting from the bottom up! It's easier!
Did you come across other interesting products at the 7/11? It is funny how I can often withstand impulse purchases at my regular store but am all of a sudden tempted when I visit a non-regular store. It is as if my brain does not remember my no-unnecessary-purchase setting.
This week we ate homemade meals every day and I prepped several dishes ahead to make it easy for myself:
* roasted veg with meatballs
* sambal telor
* vegetable soup with a meatball on a bun
* kale stew, with porc (plenty of iron in that one!)
* pasta with red sauce and parmesan (the sauce had been frozen by past-me)
*brussels sprouts and beef (we will have leftover beef for a later meal)
No Thanksgiving in our country. Thankful Thursdays now, I would not like to miss out on!
I was so tired of looking for cream and half and half, I just grabbed it and left. I literally did not look at anything else!
Oddly enough, 7-eleven also came through for me this week on a needed grocery item. I think I was more just unlucky rather than supply chain issues but both grocery stores I’d gone to were out of cream of mushroom soup (for green bean casserole). It got to Wednesday and I really didn’t want to go to another grocery store. I decided to check the 7-eleven near my house while I was out for a walk anyways and they had 3 flavors of Campbell’s soup with cream of mushroom being one of them!
Saturday - husband and I were at a friends 40th birthday dinner, kids had kid cuisine frozen meals with grandma (which they’d never had before and thought were great)
Sunday - pasta, jarred sauce and frozen meatballs
Monday - easy sesame chicken with rice, pot stickers from freezer
Tuesday - chicken tacos and corn
Wednesday - originally were supposed to go to my parents and spend the night but realized we couldn’t because of our dog (he’s too old to bring anywhere now, he gets really disoriented and anxious) so another meal of jarred pasta sauce and pasta, also some steamed green beans.
Thursday - thanksgiving feast! We were at my parents but we did the cooking. My husband cooked the turkey and my sister and I cooked all the sides.
Friday - leftovers of course!
@LB, for future, it’s really easy to make your own cream of mushroom soup substitute w stuff you always have on hand- milk, flour, butter, chicken bouillon, canned mushrooms…
I spent way too much at the grocery store this week as we figured out late Tuesday night that I was going to host Thanksgiving as everyone at my mom and dad's house were sick with covid/flu. It is what it is and I have no regrets.
Saturday we had chicken and wildrice soup and rolls.
Sunday we had sliced ham, boxed angel hair pasta with herbs, and green beans.
Monday we had aldi red bag chicken sandwiches and macaroni and cheese.
Tuesday Bill and the boys had movie theater popcorn and who know what else when they got home. Rebecca and I stopped for Jersey Mikes subs between our hair appointments and before choir practice.
Wednesday we had tacos.
Yesterday we hosted Thanksgiving and had turkey breast, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn casserole, green beans, rolls, homemade applesauce, cranberry sauce, stuffing, chocolate pie and pumpkin pie.
Tonight we are going to put our Christmas tree up and I will make frozen pizzas.
Sunday: Butternut squash, sausage, and tortellini soup. It was a new recipe and we'll make it again, but with some tweaks.
Monday: It was supposed to be a crockpot meal but we forgot to start it in time, so we had leftovers.
Tuesday Crockpot cream cheese chicken over rice, one of my husband's childhood recipes. We ate it with a side salad.
Wednesday: Preschooler's choice, which meant plain penne for her and penne with sauce for us. Blueberries on the side.
Thursday: Thanksgiving! We provided green beans, rolls, and jalapeno cranberry dip with cream cheese.
Friday: We're taking my mom dinner for her birthday.
Saturday: Leftovers
I know Kristen had a hard time finding cream this week, but I actually have too much in my fridge right now. Any ideas for how to use it up?
@Natalie J, I love "preschooler's choice"!
@Karen A., Thanks! It usually means we have mac and cheese every Wednesday, but this week she decided to mix it up haha
I watched Grease long before I knew what any of it meant, and haven't really thought of it in the way you just described. But, what's funny is that it's a pretty typical school play, and some of the plot is...quite mature!
Oh, let's see. What did we eat this week?
-Sesame chicken & rice
-Taco skillet (which became burritos, for the non Keto eaters)
-Chicken potato soup, with sourdough bread
-Chicken alfredo
-Thanksgiving: steak + traditional sides
For tonight, we have a ton of leftovers, so we'll be eating that. I'm thinking of making butternut squash soup. I roasted garden squash a while back, & froze it for a future soup.
We are revelling in more seasonal temperatures lately, hovering just above or below freezing, so am thankful for that. WWA:
Saturday - partner made a big pot of chicken curry along with papadams and naan
Sunday - slow cooker short ribs, mashed potatoes, broccoli, store bought chocolate chunk cookies
Monday - leftovers
Tuesday- grilled cheese, green salad
Wednesday - chickpea and pasta soup from the freezer, baguette
Thursday - oven baked pork chops, spaetzle
Friday - planning on pasta al limone with sous vide scallops (the scallops were starting to languish too long in the freezer and need to be used - will vacuum seal them in the future)
Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend
We also had an untraditional meal. Only three of us. My son who was home does not like Turkey mashed potatoes or stuffing. We had grilled marinated steaks. Baked potatoes. Mushrooms and onions. Steamed broccoli. Salad from a bag and homemade pumpkin pie. It was stress free and delicious!
The steaks were 41 dollars. Just the steaks. WAH! Not frugal but we enjoyed ourselves!
WIS: $120, but about $20 of that was food for the dog and cleaning stuff.
WWA: Pot Roast the first part of the week. We had a mini-Thanksgiving eve meal at home of roasted chicken thighs and drumsticks from the freezer, green beans, mac and cheese, cranberry sauce, and free French bread from a grocery store coupon. I baked chocolate cupcakes and an apple crisp to take to the family Thanksgiving get-together.
For my lunches, which are my big meal of the day, I have been eating frozen leftover spinach quiche and spaghetti. Nearly finished with that.
I also struggle to get my iron up to donate blood, but I have found that if I eat Clif bars for breakfast the two days before I donate along with red meat for dinner that I super qualify. I really like the peanut butter banana chocolate variety and blueberry muffin is good too. You can buy single bars at Trader Joe’s, but Target has the best flavor selection.
WIS $66.10 at Kroger. WWA was mostly hit or miss as I was driving back & forth to the nursing home after my father was released from the hospital last Friday. I think there was grilled cheese & soup in the mix & Thanksgiving dinner was graciously supplied by my niece & our neighbor brought over slices of Honey Baked ham. We actually have some leftovers so will repeat or transform them the rest of the weekend.
Eating from the freezer this week.
I don't know anyone who watches movies looking for "tension, climax, resolution" who knew?
Well, it's not that I went into it with that thought. But we got to the end and I was like, "Hmmm, something feels odd." So that's when I started thinking about classic storyline arcs, and how this one definitely felt like something was missing.
Sunday: chicken chili at home
Monday: snacky cheese and spreads at BFF's
Tuesday: more snacky cheese and spreads
Wednesday: quiche, since I was making pies anyway
Thursday: turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, cornbread dressing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with pecans, fresh bread, roasted carrots, creamed onions and blackeyed peas with field peas and snaps. All from scratch by me except the blackeyed peas from cans. Then pumpkin pie, pecan pie and cheesecake.
Friday: leftovers and possibly colcannan/champ if I roll my way to the supermarket.
Some weeks are astoundingly big, spending-wise. I'm good at frugal and bad at budgeting and tracking, but ballpark estimate is that groceries have gone up around 15 percent across the board.
It's the time of the year when the farm-employed among us wonder where all the money went and how much more the government is going to want, so we push a pencil a lot, lol.
My husband (aka my shopping cart engine) and I spent $414 on groceries this week. The only thing not for humans was cat food at about $23 or so. Non-huge weeks run from $60 to $130 (ish) but then there's these ....
Our meals have been chili, tacos, stir fry, beans and weenies with random vegetables on the side, a sort-of minestrone that lasted two days, and the whole-works 1950s-style Thanksgiving meal, leftovers of which will feed us again today.
The plot of Grease in one sentence (now that I’ve aged out of the target demographic): Peer pressure wins.
Grease 2 is worth a viewing, as long as you’re in the zone.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Kristen, the lack of cream has a topic at yesterday's holiday lunch in Atlanta. Some of the family foods had to search high and low.
Correction: that is "family cooks."
OMG fried mush. I grew up on that. I miss it! I'd forgotten all about it.
Sunday-eggs/ bacon/ toast brunch kept us dated til early evening. Then we just had fruit and mixed nuts.
Monday- chicken soup and toast
Tuesday chicken soup and toast
Wednesday- tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches
Thursday- My son and his wife and their son along with my son’s wife’s parents, brother and sister, joined us for Thanksgiving so we provided turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, roasted broccoli, roasted green beans, sauerkraut and apple pie. They brought homemade cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, Gulliver’s corn, and pumpkin pie. Everything was scrumptious!! Gulliver’s corn was new to us but SO good!
Friday- Thanksgiving leftovers, yum!!
Saturday-probably turkey soup or casserole
@Martha, I meant “sated” not “dated”
I used to shop at 7-11 almost every night before work (I work nights and they were the only place open). Then they started road work on the road that goes right in front of the one I shopped at, so not only were my trips getting expensive ($10.00 to $12.00 per night or more SIX nights a week--yes I work 6 nights a week LOL) but inconvenient as well. I'm proud to say that I stopped the 7-111 habit cold turkey on July 23, 2022. Four months and counting, I'm eating healthier food, spending less money, and getting to work faster. Win Win Win all the way around.
I’ve had trouble finding half and half too! I bought the last one at Walmart last week, and I’ll be looking for it again soon. I saw Grease when I was a teenager, and I loved it. In fact, I owned the soundtrack record. I still love the music; it’s so catchy!
@Susan_SFL, I love Grease, too, especially the original Broadway music! I was a teenager when it came out, and, oh, how I cried to “Hopelessly Devoted to You”! Of course, like all musicals, the plot is just a vehicle for the songs, but I think the story makes total sense, but I doubt that you all want me to explain it here! That is, until the last minute of the show!! Car in the sky?
Recently I read about the Grease movie cast in a “where are they now” article. Haven’t seen Grease 2. Dirty Dancing wasn’t a musical, so quite a different genre. The remake is awful. Same with Footloose, same era.
I too made your honey rolls! They are always a huge hit.
Sorry about everyone's crummy Monday...those days are the worst and yes, takeout is definitely what you do. That and lots of hugs.
I struggle with anemia so I feel you....it sucks. Fingers crossed they'll let you donate.
As for what we ate I shared on Kirsten's going country blog...the both of you are a hoot.
Happy holiday and weekend everyone!
I don’t remember what we ate Monday night, but Tuesday night was tacos, and Wednesday night was hot dogs or fend for yourself.
For Thanksgiving dinner (I’m in Georgia, so this is the noon meal), we had our big family gathering, and even though several branches of the family were missing, specifically the Alabama folks, the Florida folks, the South Carolina folks, and the Atlanta folks, we still had plenty: Turkey and dressing with gravy, ham, roast and gravy with rice, collards, butter beans, green beans, Brussels sprouts, carrot soufflé, mashed potato casserole, hot curried fruit, macaroni and cheese, broccoli rice casserole, deviled eggs, pasta salad, grape salad, pear salad, cranberry congealed salad, rolls, and a variety of desserts. Plus cheese straws and pimiento cheese with crackers for appetizers/snacking.
I think we need to cut back on how many dishes everyone brings next year!
For supper, we went to my husband’s parents’ and had spaghetti and meatballs.
Enough leftovers from both meals for the rest of the weekend!
I also could not find creamer/half and half. I gave up and we are just using milk this week.
Ok Kristen, if Grease is kind of strange to you, google the theory that it never happened. At the very beginning, Danny says says “I met a girl. She kinda died…”. One theory is the whole story is the deranged vision Sandy has when she drowned. Apparently, some think they were never together and he just tried to save her at the beach and was too late.
That one took me down at big long rabbit hole!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Oh wow. That DOES make it even more strange!!
We were non-traditional in that I did not make turkey, but I envy you breakfast for dinner! I would’ve much prefer that on every level. I also can’t believe you’ve never seen grease! I saw the play on Broadway several times as a kid and my own children were obsessed with the movie for a while. I’m glad you had so much fun!
I am sorry you had an especially difficult Monday with the girls. It seems that teenage girls have a very hard time with parental separation. I have seen more couples split at around the 20 plus mark than any other time. One would think since the kids are older and perhaps even out of the house that it is easier on them
Not true from what I have seen. Girls seem to fair worse and even good kids act out in destructive ways. I have seen heaps of abuse towards the parent who needed to get out of a toxic environment. Easier to be angry at that person I guess. I, of course, do not know your situation but do encourage therapy if needed. Thoughts and prayers
Sometimes a crappy day is just a crappy day, regardless of the personalities or circumstances of the individual people involved: Accidents, losses, somethings denied 0r missed, illnesses. In such circumstances, a treat for supper is a comforting choice.
Oh, none of our difficulties were actually with each other! They were all problems outside of us, thankfully.
I have seen situations like you're talking about, but I am very, very blessed in that all of my girls are very supportive of me leaving him (mostly they wonder, "Why not sooner?") and I am also blessed to have good therapists helping us.
My daughter hasn't spoken to her father since he left when she was 16, 9 years ago.
I must have missed this post on Friday - the weekend went by in a blur. Very sorry to hear about the bad day for you. Sometimes holidays start out bad but get much better. I hope yours is on the way to much better! Last week at my house:
Monday - (freezer) Spicy Beef Tacos, broccoli
Tuesday - (freezer) a leftover meal - not sure which one will be left
Wednesday - I picked up Taco Cabana on my way home from work and it was a 5 out of 10.
Thursday - Thanksgiving Meal - I made the turkey, dressing, gravy, and cranberry sauce. My peeps brought: crockpot sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, corn casserole, and an apple pie. We had just enough leftovers to send everyone home with a couple of meals and I threw my two into the freezer.
Friday - Pulled Pork Sammies, chips, pickles and onions (my goodness this was delish, it cooked all night and made the house smell so good)
Saturday - Fried Chicken Bowls (a la KFC)
Sunday - Turkey Soup with my daughter - also a very good meal!
Happy Cyber Monday!
https://cannaryfamily.blogspot.com/
I donate platelets every couple of weeks, and my iron levels have been low to borderline lately, even with supplements. A friend recently recommended eating cream of wheat for breakfast. I had only been doing it for a few days when I last gave blood, and my hemoglobin cleared on the first try! I'm weird about textures, but I've been adding PB and a drizzle of maple syrup, and it's been completely fine and filling!