WIS, WWA | Halloween week
What I Spent
Pumpkin pictures will be sprinkled throughout this post. 😉
I spent:
- $141 at Aldi
- $7 at Giant
- $8 at a liquor store to buy some wine for the tortellini soup (see Thursday's menu)
So, $156 for me this week.
What We Ate
Saturday
I drove Zoe and a bunch of friends to a haunted house event (Zoe can drive herself, but she is not legally allowed to drive other minors around. Good thing I still have my minivan!)
Zoe and I just ate some grilled cheese sandwiches before we went, and I have no idea what Lisey ate while we were gone.
Sunday
I made lasagna, French bread, and sautéed broccoli.
And we carved pumpkins!
Naturally, Lisey's has a plane on it. 😉
Monday
Both the girls were out, and I was here for my online chemistry class...but since it was Halloween, I had to keep turning off my camera and running over to the door to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters.
Hmm. That's not really very relevant to this post but I'm leaving it in anyway.
To the point at hand: I made myself some sautéed broccoli and fried eggs.
Tuesday
I had not had pancakes in a while...so I made some for dinner for us.
And then I was pretty happy.
This is the pancake recipe I use, but I subbed thinned yogurt for the buttermilk because I had no buttermilk on hand.
Wednesday
It was a weird schedule night and I don't think any of us actually ate at the same time. I made mashed potatoes and ate them with some ham from the freezer, and the girls both ate mac n cheese.
Thursday
I made tortellini soup, and we ate some leftover toasted French bread on the side.
Friday
Last night Lisey said, "Mom, you know what I haven't had in a while? a REALLY good sandwich."
And it just so happens that I have a Local Flavor voucher for a REALLY good sandwich place. So I think that is what we will do tonight.
Hahaha! Lisey is definitely your girl through and through!
WIS: 20.96 @Giant and two different Aldi trips (a 30.87 quick trip and a 198.89 trip that was supposed to also be smaller but turned into more of a stock up trip on account of it seemed like everything in Aldi was on clearance so I pivoted!) for a total of 229.76 @Aldi this week. So my total grocery spending this week was 250.72 which I think is not too bad, especially considering this included a lot of very low-priced high value items like meat and frozen convenience foods that I got on clearance.
WWA:
Fri: Caesar salad with homemade sourdough croutons and pepperoni and mozzarella focaccia
Sat: salad, leek and potato soup and airfried seasoned chicken breasts
Sun: salad, Halloween shaped pasta with jarred sauce and frozen meatballs. Chocolate focaccia for dessert (but we were too full to eat it, so we had it for breakfast the next day instead)
Mon: rice and beans made with a half lb of chorizo for flavoring, pumpkin wafer cookies for dessert
Tue: frozen veggie burgers (protein and spicy black bean) on homemade poppy seed rolls, toppings were cheddar cheese, sauteed mushrooms, onions and peppers, spicy greens instead of lettuce, and choice of mustard, ketchup, mayo and/or salsa. More pumpkin wafer cookies.
Wed: salad of spicy mix, tomatoes and feta cheese, ghost shaped frozen pizzas from Aldi that were on insane clearance- 1.39 each!
Thu: Tokyo bekana and tomato salad, leftover leek and potato soup and epi bread (a yeasted breaded that is supposed to resemble sheaves of wheat).
Tonight: salad and focaccia, of course.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
I had to google Tokyo bekana!
What recipe do you use for the epi bread? I found this one and it looks SO GOOD. https://bakerbettie.com/how-to-make-epi-bread/
@Kristen,
My husband makes it, but I believe he said it was a Jacques Pepin recipe.
Sunday - I roasted a chicken and a bunch of vegetables, pan fried potatoes (there was no room left in the oven!), plus made a salad.
Monday - Trick-or-treating started at 5, so I just ordered an early pizza for my daughter and I. My husband had leftovers. I made a quick meal for my son, who’s allergic to pizza, but I can’t remember exactly what I made. Then the kids and I did lots and lots of walking and got lots of candy, while the husband passed out the treats at home. We have tons of trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood!
Tuesday - We had ground turkey, noodles, and broccoli.
Wednesday - The adults had sub sandwiches. The kids had homemade hamburgers and oven fries.
Thursday - Taco Thursday? I made turkey tacos with salad on the side.
Friday - I have some dark ground turkey and potatoes, I need to use, so I’ll probably make turkey sausage for the family, some edamame or beans for myself, roasted potatoes, plus some sort of veggies on the side. Maybe roasted zucchini and/or raw carrot sticks.
On a side note, every time I write the food turkey, the autocorrect capitalizes it to be the country Turkey. I would most definitely never attempt to eat Turkey.
@JenRR, Ha ha! gotten love that auto-correct.
@Beth B., Gotta
@Beth B., The irony of auto-correct messing up your comment about auto-correct.
I spent roughly $100 at Sam's yesterday and $48 at Walmart, so we'll go with $150 for the week ...
Last night I made lasagna and we had a green salad and some toasted buns I'd made earlier in the week using Kristen's fluffy hamburger bun recipe.
Wednesday night we had leftover risotto, a salad and some parmesan tilapia from the freezer.
Tuesday we had burgers with the buns I made and roasted vegetables
Monday we had homemade pizza with mushrooms and spinach plus fresh mozarella
Sunday we had ... tacos of some sort?
Tonight we're having leftovers because there are burgers, a piece of fish, risotto and lasagna all in the fridge!
Last night, zuppa toscana.
Wednesday, spaghetti and meatballs
Tuesday, the inevitable pizza takeout
Monday, pepper steak
Sunday, coq au vin
Saturday, chicken enchiladas
Tonight, leftovers.
Saturday - I’d been working at a trunk or treat that ended after 5 so my husband picked up Chinese food for us to eat when we got home
Sunday - pumpkin soup from scratch (4 year old has been fascinated with the idea that you can roast a pumpkin, scoop out the inside and make something with it so he got to experience that), Italian sausages, pierogis
Monday - Halloween snack night, we just put a bunch of snack type things on the table for dinner: cheese, salami and crackers, chips and salsa, veggies and dip, cut fruit, Taquitos and mini corn dogs. My son later said “we forgot to eat dinner tonight” so I guess that wasn’t dinner to him haha
Tuesday - king ranch chicken casserole (good way to use up the broken leftover tortilla chips at the bottom of a bag)
Wednesday - Swedish meatballs over egg noodles
Thursday - I had a meeting to attend at dinner time so I made a can of crescent rolls and reheated some minestrone soup that I’d frozen previously
Friday - ground beef tacos, corn and rice
@LB, your pumpkin soup sounds so fun, we might have to try that sometime!
Saturday: The night of the village's Halloween party, so we ate at the buffet there--pulled pork, tortillas, chips, and lots of desserts.
Sunday: Brisket, boiled potatoes, green salad with ranch dressing, some really weird crunchy peaches with cream, and I made some soup from the brisket and potatoes for the sick girl.
Monday: Bean and cheese quesadillas for the children, leftover brisket, potatoes, and peas, and LOTS of candy. 🙂
Tuesday: Green chile beef stew, cheddar cheese, baked peaches with cream
Wednesday: Breakfast sausage patties, rice, green salad with vinaigrette, applesauce
Thursday: Pot roast, potatoes, frozen green peas, baked rice pudding
Tonight: Making bread and will use some of the dough to make one (half-sheet-pan) cheese pizza. That will use up some of the pureed tomatoes in the refrigerator and the last of the pesto. Also the last of a bag of shredded mozzarella, which will have to be supplemented with grated cheddar. Also making more beef stock today, so will make a soup with the last of the leftover brisket, pot roast, and potatoes. I feel like soup and pizza is actually an excellent combination, though I've never paired them before. We eat bread and cheese with soup all the time, why not put them together?
WIS: $36.70 at Price Chopper and $26.50 at Wegmans.
WIA: My most ambitious undertaking this week was a minestrone that included what was left of a head of elderly cauliflower and a bag of elderly spinach (along with the usual mirepoix), plus a box of vegetable stock and a can of tomatoes that were both past their best-by dates. (I did also include a can of cannellini that was still within the pale, plus orzo for the pasta.) Someone over on the NCA this week said she was thinking of having a t-shirt made that says "I Eat 'Expired' Foods," to which I suggested adding "That Which Does Not Kill Me Saves Me Money."
@A. Marie, "elderly" hahahahaha
@CrunchyCake, I was thinking of calling this "Senior Citizen Ingredients Minestrone."
@A. Marie,
How about "it's-still-fine minestrone?"
@A. Marie, my mother used to make "Friday Soup" which was dibs and dabs of stuff, and I am 100% sure it may have included things that merely passed a sniff test because she never bothered with expiration dates on things. She's 93 and still going strong!
@gina, I LOVE all these funny names for frugal soups! This needs to be a whole post, or a whole movement!!
@Jen,
I've always heard it called "Thursday Night Soup" because it was traditionally made from whatever scraps are left in the fridge before you get paid on Friday and can go shopping again.
I didn't shop last week, but I did pick up one small thing at Trader Joe's while I was grabbing a cheese snack to take to my husband. I can't for the life of me remember what I bought, though.
Since I shop on Fridays, my meal plan week is from Friday to Friday. I'll shop after work tonight and see what I might want to eat, or else I'll scrounge something when I get home.
Here's my meal plan for the entire week, excluding tonight. Are you ready?
Roasted chicken with varying vegetables that included beets, carrots, parsnips, peas, delicata squash and cucumbers.
A chuck roast cooked with carrots, parsnips, onions, and garlic. Squash or cucumbers on the side.
Other than making chicken soup out of the last of the chicken carcass, that was it. I ate on those all week.
It was not exciting but it was nice to know my meal was basically cooked every night, with the possible exception of a side dish or a fruit. I got home no earlier than 7:30 every night this week.
Oh, it's been a week! Here's what we ate:
-Chicken & dumplings
-Everyone at friends for Halloween, so DH & I ate leftovers
-Spaghetti & meatballs
-Tacos
-One night I had a work dinner, one night DH met a friend for dinner
Tonight is our friend's 25th wedding anniversary, so I think we are eating there, and the boys are attending the football game after practice. So, they will eat concessions. 😉
Lasagna and tortellini soup sound delicious…might need to make those very soon. It is currently snowing outside (!) which will turn to rain later today.
Things we ate in the last week:
Pizza and ice cream night with a friend for her birthday
Homemade macaroni and cheese with chopped ham, fruit, salad
White bean soup with hm, French bread, fruit
Leftover night
Parmesan chicken, spaghetti, roasted broccoli
Homemade waffles, ham & cheddar quiche
I froze some of the ham I cooked last week so future dinners will include loaded potato casserole with ham and split pea soup…but we need a break from ham. Next week I will get my “bean club” box from Rancho Gordo so I’m sure delicious bean dishes are in our future. This weekend I plan to make chili and tortillas (or maybe cornbread) because it sounds good since our weather is chilly!
I saw a debate on another blog I follow about whether chili should have beans or not? I’m definitely in the “add beans” camp.
@Beth, chili is like minestrone: Whatever works for the cook is whatever goes into the pot. And in addition to the beans vs. no beans debate, there's a whole other debate about whether Cincinnati chili is really chili. I happen to love it, but I admit that there's room for discussion there.
@A. Marie, I also love Cincinnati style chili - it’s often listed in my WIS/WIA comments as Skyline chili, a popular branded restaurant version. There frequently are debates over which version of Cincinnati chili is the best!
@Beth, I love all kinds of chili.
There's a place in Tulsa called Ron's that makes a great chili. People argue over how to make it at home. I know the secret. They melt a ton of some kind of yellow cheese in it to thicken it.
@Beth, I always put beans in chili. Also pureed squash. It thickens, slightly sweetens, and adds bulk and extra vegetable. Works for me.
Ha! I also saw that on the MB blog. When I dated a chef, he swore by adding a some chocolate to chili, no matter beans or not.
I am somehow not at all surprised that you once dated a chef. Ha.
@BettafmdaVille, there are several sub-arguments about Cincinnati-style chili, and the chocolate question is one of them.
@kristin @ going country, We also add shredded zucchini, to add extra veggies, for our 5-year-old grandson who doesn't like veggies. 🙂 He can't tell the zucchini is in there.
@BettafmdaVille,
I always add cocoa to chili—and beans.
@Erika JS,
I often add cocoa powder or chocolate to chili, but I have also added coffee or cinnamon for a similar effect. My chili is almost never the same and I'm totally fine making it with or without beans and/or meat. One time I made it without peppers of any kind for someone who was allergic and that was the only time it seemed not like chili to me. It was still tasty, but seemed more like soup or curry or something. I've also noticed that homemade veggie burgers (which are also a super flexible recipe when I make them) are not quite right without some kind of pepper in them.
@kristin @ going country, I don't think I have ever made chili without throwing in pureed pumpkin. I grow 10 or 12 every summer so we eat a lot of pumpkin during the winter, when decent fresh vegetables are not really available in Fairbanks. I love how it adds nutrition and extends the hamburger into another meal of leftover chili.
@LDA, I love the Cincinnati chili controversy. Is it cinnamon? Nutmeg? Chocolate?
My dad took me to a chili counter once and gave me a tutorial on chili. 3, 4, 5 way! The idea of chili on spaghetti, awesome.
@Beth, if you are willing to add beans, then check out Smitten Kitchen’s 3 Bean chili recipe. I use Better than Bouillon chicken broth so not vegetarian, but it is excellent. I double everything except the tomatoes and beer, don't use a chile pepper, and, because my kids do not love spicy, use 1 tbs smoked paprika, 1 tbs regular paprika and 2 tbs chile powder. The meat eaters in my family all love it too. Miraculous!
@Becca,
Interesting…..will try those.
@kristin @ going country, added half a can of pumpkin puree to mine last week and it was the bomb diggity!
WIS: $474, very high because I bought some steaks to celebrate our wedding anniversary and $75 of the total was for some vitamin supplements & toothbrush heads
Saturday: I took a meal to my brother in law & his family and we ate takeout on the way over
Sunday: I cooked some chicken breasts in the crockpot and we used those to make some quesadillas
Monday: takeout from Jersey Mike's
Tuesday: tortellini with marinara & chicken meatballs
Wednesday: Jersey Mike's again - they make a good sandwich & clearly it has been a sandwich week for us
Thursday: homemade burgers, onion rings, & sweet potato fries
Friday: I plan on making chicken & rice
Have a great weekend!
What makes a meal to me has really changed. I have portions of chili, chicken tortilla soup, some other soup, cubed rotisserie chicken, mashed garlic cauliflower, turnip greens with pork, and other stuff in their little containers all stacked up in the freezer. I did go to Chipotle this week. I didn't want everything mixed together so I got it as sides. I don't like rice but I love their black and brown beans. I need to make a copy cat recipe of both kinds of beans and freeze those in my containers. I'm craving some ginger carrots. I may copy Kristen and stick an egg on top and call it dinner.
WWS: $5 ($41 before coupon rebates) Star Market, $19 Market Basket $7 Flash Food Stop & Shop
Sat: Wedding luncheon for late lunch, so leftovers/snacks dinner
Sun: fried green tomatoes (last from the garden) over spinach, shrimp and grits
Mon: carnitas, cuban black beans, sautéed zucchini. And candy.
Tues: baked chicken thighs with white beans, leeks, carrots, kale, white wine & thyme
Wed: out for tapas before a flamenco show
Thurs: roasted Moroccan spaghetti squash (Smitten Kitchen) with sautéed chickpeas with mint & lemon
Fri. grilled tri-tip, with grilled potato, zucchini, red pepper & feta sauce
WIS: It's been a long week, but I think this past weekend was the one in which I spent $168.95 at Food Lion (that was for two weeks worth of food), $35 on Amazon for 10 weeks worth of Kashi Go original cereal via subscribe and save, and $29.94 at Ollie's Outlet for discounted coffee. So $233.89 -- eeeyow. We were restocking the pantry and freezer, which are full to bursting right now.
WWA: After all that, you'd think we'd be feasting, but my husband wanted sandwiches for his meals because it's been unseasonably warm. I had lunches of frozen leftovers with fresh fruit.
The week started okay but lost energy by Monday. WWA:
Saturday - souvlaki, Greek salad, grilled pita, tzatziki
Sunday - braised lamb, lemon roast potatoes, salad, cheesecake
Monday - beans on toast
Tuesday- hot dogs
Wednesday - leftover waffles (from freezer), bacon
Thursday - black bean quesadillas
Friday - Mediterranean veggie soup and baguette from freezer
Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend
@kj,
All of those dinners are things I would happily eat and a bonus is that they are all pretty darn frugal, so I think you should give yourself some credit. Eating at home doesn't always have to be Pinterest-worthy.
WIS - $105 at Trader Joe’s
$ 50 at the specialty market
$27 lunch out Thursday and coffee with a friend on Tuesday
Saturday - A big football day. Bought a snack to share to a get together. Football food served as dinner.
Sunday - Roast chicken breast, rice and steamed baby carrots
Monday - Steaks and salad. Potato for DH
Tuesday - Chicken shawarma, rice, veggies with hummus
Wednesday - Burrito bowls with spinach
Thursday- spaghetti with veggie sauce
Friday - ?
Wishing everyone peace and good health!
@Bee,
I recently saw a recipe for chicken shawarma that I want to try....thanks for the reminder!
The price of energy here in the U.K. is rocketing skywards so I was determined to use the oven/hob wisely this week, hence:
Saturday- Spanish Rice previously frozen so heated quickly on the hob topped with a fried egg.
Sunday - roast beef Yorkshire puddings & roast veggies cooked in the oven as the same time as roasting a chicken. I also made cauliflower cheese (frozen for future meals) and a lasagna which was popped in the oven with the rest of the cooking (serious shuffling and squeezing of pans into my quite small single oven but I did it) as well as a chilli which I made on the hob.
Monday - chilli with garlic bread
Tuesday - chicken stir fry & noodles with some of the roast chicken - I froze the rest for future meals.
Wednesday - lasagna & salad - I cooked a ham at the same time as the lasagna
Thursday ham & salad for me; ham egg & chips (fries) for DH and DS leftover ham has been frozen to use in soup/risotto
Friday - pizza night as always
I’ve calculated about 5 hours max oven time and 45 mins max hob time along with 30 minutes of microwave usage isn’t too bad for the week. No idea of the cost though, that would take math to work out and I’m a little challenged in that area 🙂
Just waiting for my food delivery to arrive and I’ve spent £89.48 which includes some Christmas chocolates which were on offer and cleaning products.
Have a great week everyone!
I loved Halloween when I took online classes. It was always so fun to see who dressed up and had the super popular houses to hand out candy. Most professors consider it a bit of a lost cause day when it comes to teaching anyway. My dad always scheduled it as a optional review night when he taught community college. As an aside, I literally live close enough to an elementary school to hit with a rock and I did not get ONE. SINGLE. TRICK OR TREATER. Now I have 10lbs of Costco candy (lucky coworkers)
Saturday- my friend had a Halloween party so we ate there. In the greatest of ironies, her Jewish boyfriend makes the most amazing carnitas.
Sunday- I was craving posole verde since it is finally getting chillier, so I made a huge pot to up to rotation with me.
Monday- In honor of Halloween, I made pumpkin alfredo with chicken meatballs.
Tuesday- I got my bivalent covid booster on Monday and I always feel not great the day after (but yay working immune system), so we got takeout pho (which is my go-to comfort meal) from a local place
Wednesday- back up at work and we flew most of the day but I got home in time to make myself a roasted veggie and potato bowl
Thursday- more roasted veggies with black rice, kimchi and avocado
Friday- currently eating chicken noodle soup (there is a chance of snow so I want to be toasty) but we will see what the rest of the night brings
So weird that you got no trick or treaters!
I didn't feel great after my bivalent either. But at least it's temporary.
99 and some change from Kroger pick up. Love pick up.
Sunday: mustard baked salmon, rice cooker rice and salad
Monday: leftover broccoli cheese soup and oyster crackers
Wednesday: air fryer baked potatoes
( please try it!) with all the fixins and Asian slaw
Thursday: leftover salmon and rice turned into siracha fried salmon rice with peas and carrots
Friday: frozen pizza and bagged salad our version of take out
Saturday: STILL WARM WEATHER IN MOTOR CITY we are going to grill burgers and make oven fries with coleslaw
Homemade pizza and sautéed Brussels sprouts
Beef stew and homemade fococcia
We went to my parents house to trick or treat and she made English muffin pizzas
Chili with homemade tortilla chips, sour cream, and shredded cheese
Hubby picked up subs from a local chain after my son had jiu jitsu
Baked fries with chili and homemade cheese sauce
Homemade pizza and salad. Eaten in the living room while watching Disney movies which automatically makes it taste better.
Kristen, I chuckled that you kept turning your camera off to get the door! Almost all the other students in my online classes keep their cameras off but I like to keep mine on so the professor isn't speaking to black boxes. However, sometimes I need to grab a bite to eat or something and turn my camera off briefly too. 🙂 For the first time ever, I didn't hand out any candy! By the time I got home from my evening class, it was already 7:30 and I had been studying so hard all week that I forgot to buy candy. I hung my head in shame and kept our front light off. Ugh.
Halloween didn't even happen here - I got home from work, changed into my lounging around clothes, made dinner, and layed in bed to watch Netflix. Slug behavior but I was very tired. I did not even pass out candy...and my menus were only very loosely followed this week:
Monday - Potato Chip Chicken, brussels sprout, carrots (this was meh)
Tuesday - Salmon Patty with wild rice, broccoli (also meh)
Wednesday - Blackened Catfish tacos with sauteed peppers (with fresh tortillas from HEB)
Thursday - Teriyaki Chicken Ramen Soup with veggies (very good)
Friday - I picked up fried chicken at Church's - ate three pieces!, then deboned the rest to store in freezer, and now I have a crockpot of bones going for stock. I also had a honey butter biscuit and some fried okra, YUM.
Saturday - I think I shall heat up leftover Butter Chicken with Rice and have a frozen veggie on the side. Going to get a free sub from Jersey Mike's for lunch.
Sunday - Making taco salads for my daughter and I, might consider making a yummy fall dessert.
Happy Saturday!
https://cannaryfamily.blogspot.com/
This week was crazy but let's see what I remember!
Sunday: Was supposed to be a BBQ chicken and cornbread thing, but we ended up scrounging leftovers together
Monday: A Jack o lantern shaped pizza with salad before trick or treating
Tuesday: Spaghetti with leftover sauce
Wednesday: I was on an accreditation team for another school, which means I was gone 7-7 Wednesday and Thursday, and the school fed us breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Dinner this night was some tasty gluten free taco soup and clam chowder (one of our team members was gluten free). No idea what my family ate, haha
Thursday: Gluten free lasagna that I wouldn't have guessed was gluten free! Turns out the principal at this school is a really good gluten free cook
Friday: The BBQ chicken and cornbread that we were supposed to cook on Sunday
Saturday: Leftovers