WIS, WWA | I barely cooked!
What I Spent
I wasn't in the kitchen much this week because I was busy catching up on social plans!
This week, I spent:
- $20 with Zoe on subs
- $20 on Wednesday with a friend
- $20 on Thursday with a friend
- $19 at Trader Joe's
So, $79.
What We Ate
Saturday
Sautéed tilapia, green beans, and mashed potatoes.
Sunday
I made pulled chicken sandwiches with green beans on the side.
And then I packed some leftover mashed potatoes, chicken, and beans for my Monday work lunch.
Monday
It was late when I got home from work, and Zoe had already eaten, so I exercised my adult privileges and just ate Raisin Bran for dinner. 😉
Tuesday
Zoe and I went out to get a Christmas tree, and we stopped to get subs on the way because it happened to be dinnertime.
Wednesday
I grabbed dinner with a friend I hadn't seen in months, and I got a $20 chicken, waffle, smoked gouda, and hot honey sandwich, with sweet potato fries on the side.
Thursday
Some friends invited me out to dinner with them, and I had a green salad with chicken.
Friday
I work 12-hour shifts today and tomorrow, so you know, I may have another Raisin Bran night.
$144 at the store, $37 for pizza, and $158 for dinner out:
Saturday—pizza delivery from my favorite place, yum!
Sunday—we went with my daughter, SIL, and granddaughter to see a light display, then to dinner afterwards, my treat. It was so nice to share a meal and chat with them.
Monday—fried egg grilled cheese with red grapes on the side
Tuesday—chicken quinoa soup from the freezer
Wednesday—I made budget bytes’ chicken taco bowl in the crockpot and had it over brown rice
Thursday—leftovers from Wednesday
Friday—leftovers again
I feel like I barely cooked, too. Like a vacay just before Christmas! I spent $47.49 on groceries, and $5 something on lunch out.
Monday - kitchen closed - I ate a burger patty with a slice of cheese at home because I felt like I was starving after work and I was out of milk for a bowl of cereal.
Tuesday - I ate a Taco Salad before the symphony
Wednesday - (freezer) Roast Pork, baked potato, onions and peppers
Thursday - Chicken Chili (chicken thigh, canned beans, salsa in my mini crockpot)
Tonight - (freezer) Thanksgiving Shepherd's Pie for one
Saturday and Sunday - kitchen closed - cereal if I am hungry when I get home from work
Happy Weekend
I can hardly remember, it has been so busy! We did eat at home though. And the one day I went to customer site, I had a good and affordable salad and soup lunch there. For the other two meals (breakfast and dinner) for that day I ate sourdough buns on the train, and had fruits.
Oh, just one suggestion from a friend we applied this week: instead of making peanut satay sauce to go with our rice/egg/pickles, I just added a spoonful of (100%) peanutbutter to the dish. I had made the pickles myself and they were still a bit warm. The peanutbutter blended in beautifully and I saved myself some work and a dirty saucepan.
@JNL, that sounds delicious!
Saturday: I got takeout and watched While You Were Sleeping 🙂
Sunday: Baked sweet potato with various sauteed vegetables
Monday: Burritos with rice, beans and mixed vegetables
Tuesday: Mushroom cheese omelette with some vegetables and chips on the side. This was somewhat of a scratch meal because I was travelling the next day.
Wednesday: Vegetable stew
Thursday: Leftovers with green beans and mashed potato
Friday: I don't know what's on my parents' menu tonight yet!
Saturday: A curry to use leftover rooster meat and the stock made from the carcasses, which also included canned chickpeas. Rice made with some of the stock. We ate early, before going to a farther away church for a Saturday Mass, and then my children had cheese sandwiches when we got home as their second dinner.
Sunday: Another pork butt cooked, and then some of it broiler with soy sauce, vinegar, and maple syrup. More rice, collard greens, pickled radishes, and baked apples and pears with cream for Sunday dessert
Monday: My husband's birthday. He loves Lebanese food, so I made something kind of like that. Sourdough pita bread; hummus; ground beef flavored with tomatoes, oregano, thyme, and cumin; yogurt sauce with lemon juice and garlic; pickled onions, tomatoes, and cucumbers. This is all piled in the pita and eaten like a taco. Quite a lot of work when all the parts are made from scratch, but delicious. For dessert, he requested something he had read about called malva pudding. This is apparently a very popular South African dessert. It's more in the style of a British pudding, soft and dense with flour in it, and it has apricot jam in it and a cream and brown sugar sauce poured in the hot pudding that soaks in. It reminded me of bread pudding. It can be served with either custard sauce or vanilla ice cream. He wanted to try the custard sauce, so I made that. It was very good. Everyone in our family loved it. Well, one kid thought it was only okay, but there's always one. 🙂
Tuesday: Leftovers are always appreciated after getting home at 5:45 p.m. from First Communion class with my daughter. This time it was the chicken and chickpea curry and rice.
Wednesday: My youngest son's birthday was the next day, but we were going to my middle son's basketball game that night, so we had the requested birthday dinner this night. He wanted steaks with caramelized onions and herb butter (I used the parsley that's still hanging on in the garden), pureed potatoes, carrot sticks with curry dip, and pots de creme. So that is what I made.
Thursday: The basketball game was in the town with a Subway, and the birthday boy's favorite food in life is sandwiches. So after the game, we went to Subway and the three children with me got sandwiches. The birthday boy got an absolutely loaded foot-long sub and was very happy. When we got home, we had his requested birthday taste testing of ice cream flavors. I had spent some time trying to find interesting flavors to try, and discovered that most brands don't have too much variety, and they tend to be the same few flavors across brands. So I ended up getting eight pints of Great Value ice cream in different flavors. I found a few months ago that the first ingredient in their gallon ice cream is milkfat, but in the smaller containers, even of the same flavors, the first ingredients are milk, skim milk, and cream. I usually buy the gallons anyway, because my family can't really tell the difference and quantity is their primary concern, but this time I got the pints. Their ice cream really is surprisingly good. Everyone had a great time sampling all the flavors. Thankfully, everyone had a different favorite, so they were all able to have a bowl of their own favorite after the sampling without any arguments.
Tonight: It will just be me and the younger three children home for dinner. We need to keep eating the leftover curry, which will probably not be all that well-received the third time around. Good thing there's ice cream left over for purposes of bribery. 🙂
WIS: $27.50 at Aldi, $27.50 at the India Bazaar (a lot of this was for bulk spices to share with friends at Christmas), and $62 at Wegmans.
WIA: Pretty much along the same unspectacular, if thrifty, lines as Kristen's meals this week. But I'm planning to make the NYT recipe for sheet-pan sausages, potatoes, and Brussels sprouts with honey mustard this afternoon--provided that the current high winds don't knock out our power!
@A. Marie, That sheet pan recipe is wonderful. I remember you brought it to our attention. So every time I make it I think of you, fondly!
@JDinNM, thank you for the kind words.
And two updates: First, for @kristin @ going country, I used "Gianelli in your belly" (never mind, she'll get it) hot Italian turkey sausages Reduced for Quick Sale at Wegmans for the sausages.
And, second, the last two days' thaw enabled me to scoop out a handful of the carrots I neglected to dig from my carrot pot earlier. I substituted those carrots, which should be all the sweeter for having gone through some snow, for some of the Brussels sprouts. Nom nom nom!
@A. Marie, Alas for Gianelli . . .
How did you only spend $19 on the rest of your meals? Were you using up a lot of food you already had?
Yep! Dug thru the freezer and fridge!
I love cereal for supper!
@Stephanie M, Multigrain Cheerios with a banana hits the spot!
@JDinNM,
I add 1/2 Greek yogurt and whole milk to up the protein to the Cheerios and banana 🙂
@Blue Gate Farmgirl, I start with a high protein Greek yogurt and add wild blueberries and a pumpkin and flax seed granola. I feel so ... virtuous! after that. So I go and commit culinary and dietary sins elsewhere ...
@JDinNM,
Yummy, i'm going to try your recipe!
@JDinNM, yes, yes, yes! So love Cheerios. ?
After some farm orders and a little more thorough grocery shopping, my total was just under $184 for two weeks.
WIA:
At the vulnerable youth party, lasagna and salad, one of Kristen’s sour cream sugar cookies for dessert.
London broil leftovers with broccoli and cranberry sauce.
Baked fish, asparagus and carrots.
Eggs cooked with mushrooms, grape tomatoes and cheese. A night I got home late.
Hot dogs with pickled vegetables and raw carrots. Another late night.
Office party- catered hibachi grill of shrimp and chicken, with salad. Mini Bundt cakes for dessert but I didn’t have one.
Tonight a pork curry type dish with ground pork, cabbage, onions, carrots and mushrooms. Yellow curry paste.
@JD, have to ask - are the sour cream sugar cookies soft or like typical sugar cookies? My mom used to make sour cream cookies which are more cake like in texture. As were my mammaw's molasses cookies - they were soft also.
Man, that chicken waffle sandwich looks yum!
We spent/ate:
$76
bean burritos and a salad
butter chicken and broccoli
bbq meatballs, scalloped potatoes, peas (company) homemade bread, salad
beanie weenies with nice sausages instead of hotdogs and salad.
leftovers
ham, roasted potatoes in the airfryer, green beans
Tonight maybe Hawaiian ham and cheese sliders with the leftover ham and a salad to go with it.
WIS: $77, which was $67 at Food Lion and $10 at Dollar Tree.
WWA: Leftover chicken. Pork ribs in barbecue sauce with carrots. Several snacky type dinners with fruit trail mix, cheese and crackers. Some homemade protein smoothies with whey powder, chia seeds, almond milk and frozen fruit.
Hot dogs, my favorite quick and easy supper.
WIS: $71.26 on groceries, which was high for me but I needed to replace some pantry items.
But today will be a pricey day because it's our annual year-end Christmas/Hanukkah/gift-giving lunch at a very "fancy" (a/k/a expensive) restaurant. I am vacillating between the wood-grilled Idaho rainbow trout and the Wild Alaska Butterfish. And perhaps a side of carmelized Brussels sprouts or maybe the sweet potato skillet .... Such a dilemma.
WIA at home: Shrimp Scampi on Jasmine rice leftover from a Chinese cooking spree; chicken and grilled corn quesadillas with sour cream and refried beans; roasted sweet potatoes stuffed with creamed spinach.
@JDinNM, Your lunch choices for today sound delicious! Enjoy!!
@JDinNM, I know and love rainbow trout, but I had to look up the Wild Alaska Butterfish. Sounds yummy. If @Lindsey's feeling up to it, she could probably tell us more. (And best wishes to @Lindsey, as always.)
@Ruth T, Thanks! I'll be sure to report back next week.
@A. Marie, Me too! (or "I, also" for any grammar police lurking out there). Love trout but am intrigued with "Butterfish". I may pick that just to satisfy my curiosity, even though I don't usually play Russian roulette with expensive restaurant offerings. I'll be sure to report back!
Happy Friday, everyone! We spent $70 at Target.
--Stewed lentils and tomatoes
--Salad
--Wild rice soup and cornbread
--Popcorn and fruit
--Orzo broccoli concoction (x3)
I spent $45 at Kroger after a $10 off coupon.
I ate several dinners of leftover chili from the freezer with tortilla chips on the side. I also had hot dogs and potato chips a couple of times. Last night I had canned soup (Campbell's chunky pot roast) with bread on the side. Tonight will either be the other half of the can of soup or some pasta, probably.
Goodness, what did we eat:
-Spaghtetti & meatballs + garlic bread
-Chicken patty sandwiches + salad
-Chicken shawarma x2
-Work dinner, I had mahi mahi & cous cous
-Orange chicken (from Costco's freezer section)
As for tonight, no plans, which means we will likely do chicken wings & pot stickers (plus salad) for anyone who is home. Or, maybe a cauliflower crust pizza. I'm in (almost) vacation mode, so nothing serious will be made.
@Hawaii Planner, I think cous cous is something one loves or could do without. We cooked it one time and both were in agreement it was off the list. And I've always found it amusing that pot stickers are not called dumplings.
WIS: $12 @ Scratch & Dent, $19 @ Winco, $78 @ Costco, $33 @ Restaurant Supply
Sunday Latkes, fried chicken, fried apples, coleslaw and broccoli
Mon - elk fajitas
Tues - fajita leftovers chopped in Cuisinart, qt. Tomato sauce, insta.pot = soup, cornbread waffles.
Wed - Baked Potato potluck
Th - Bolognese w/burrata, green salad
Fr- elk steak and broccoli/onions/mushrooms over rice
Sat - Leftovers ? Holiday outing?
Saturday - Reuben sandwich, the last one finally! (Though I do love them)
Sunday - homemade pizza with peppers and onions. Disappointing crust, but I ate it.
Monday - Jet's pizza, at a family gathering.
Tuesday - ramen chicken soup, peppers
Wednesday - sushi (California roll, from Sam's)
Thursday - rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes, broccoli
Friday - tonight I plan to have a chicken sandwich and the leftover mashed potatoes, probably a bowl of blueberries.
I spent $25 at Sam's Club, $18 at Aldi, and $6 at Walgreens.
@Beth W,
My little town just got a Jet's Pizza, and it's now our go-to pizza place. YUM!
I’m salivating at that waffle thing with sweet potato fries.
If I ate just one bowl of cereal, particularly Raisin Bran, I’d be STARVING in about 2 hours. The raisins are a huge sugar rush. Bummer. All those years I thought it was “healthy”. . . maybe for some people, but not for me. Sigh.
Spent $30 for Dominoes delivery that was divided into several meals Saturday night. Had bacon onion, thin crust with garlic parmesan sauce. SO yummy.
Sunday, ate carry-in after church service, and had turkey, some beef shepherd's pie and salad. Not very many for dinner and did not look like much on the buffet but it's always amazing that everyone is adequately fed.
Monday, took chicken alfredo pasta (half of the Dominoes serving) grapes and red pepper strips to work.
Tuesday, leftover pizza and red pepper strips to work.
Wednesday, the other half of the pasta.
Yesterday, I stopped at Sonic after an eye appointment for a cherry limeade, pretzel with cheese sauce and chicken bites. It was not happy hour so the drink was more expensive than usual. I just love the hot pretzel, like eating fresh bread from the oven w/o all the work.
Tonight: I have hamburger thawed and have been hungry for a good burger. Will have either a baked potato or fries (fries done in the air fryer). I got some artisan buns when at Aldi's last time. Also making salad fixin's to have tonight and to pull from for work this weekend. A pound of hamburger goes a long way if I actually use it, so may "taco" part of it for taco salad and the rest in vegetable soup. May use some bone broth that I made from cooking soup bones last week. I cannot do the taste of marrow and these were rather fatty and I can't do beef fat either, but I know the broth is good for me. I could easily fry in the tallow and my crafty friends use the tallow for skin care but oooo just can't otherwise.
Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah to all those celebrating this weekend!
I had leftovers all this week. Trying to get the fridge and the freezer cleaned out.
Monday I had a bowl of chili with cheese, sour cream and, chopped onions.
Tuesday with grilled cheese with shredded sharp cheddar on sunflower bread with, chili lime spiced bacon I cooked in the airfryer. I have tried a grilled cheese in the air fryer but, I feel the bread gets too crispy. I prefer a little butter in a pan and toasted on both sides.
Wednesday was the last of the ribeye I had cooked on the grill last week and I made cheddar quesadillas.
Thursday, not to be repetitious, was another bowl of chili with sour cream and cheese.
Friday, tonight, will be frozen macaroni and cheese in the microwave and spicy sausage.
Thank you, Kristen, for sharing, always appreciated.
Blessings to all.
so glad you are a social butterfly. good for you. whoo-hoo. hope i spelled it right, i lovr cereal for dinner. last night after my kids third street music school concert performance we went to a diner across the street from the venue. established 1951 that is 3 years before me. had a mushroom, spinach omelet t'was so delicious. hubby had kale salad and noah had steak. zoe had chicken cutlet. it was so good. we don't go to restaurants often and we don't get takeout as much as we used to either. it is prob zoe's last winter concert as she graduatess high school in june. g-d willing.
I've been being "bad" food wise for a while now. By bad, I mean fast food, chocolate, ice cream, stuff from the vending machine at work, etc. What makes it worse is that I am on a GLP1 medicine and all the crap I was eating is exactly what I should not be eating while using that medication (in addition my copay for the medication is $130.00 every 6 weeks so if I'm going to eat all this crap it is wasting the money as well as being bad for me).
So today after I got some energy I went grocery shopping at Safeway and Walmart.
$137+ at Walmart
$180+ at Safeway.
Salads, soups, lunch meat, cheese, frozen dinners, individual pies, distilled water for the CPAP machine, chips, cookies, spinach dip, milk, cereal, cucumbers, bananas, orange juice, lemonade, of course a multipack of TP. A lot of stuff was for work lunches so that I stay away from the unhealthy stuff in the vending machine at work (we do have refrigerators, microwaves, and toaster ovens in the break room
Also at Walmart I had earlier found these socks that I just love. Airplus, double layer, infused with aloe. At my job I am on my feet for the whole shift (8 to 12 hours, 6 days a week during the Christmas rush) and my feet hurt nearly all the time. Not with these socks so I went back and bought several more pairs.
We were really good at eating in this weekend. But then today I crashed and ordered a Chinese food lunch plate with delivery. I can count the times I have done this at work on one hand. I needed warm hot food. I think I have overdone myself and am kind of crashing today. This weekend I hosted about 60 people at my house for a cookie party. It was great, I am tired....I can't wait for a few days off for XMas. We are going to a relatives house and I am not going to cook a big meal. Maybe just bring a desert. I need rest
I think something is wrong with your website. When I go to your URL, it takes me to December 19.
I can find more recent blogs by searching other words.
Has something changed with your website?
Thanks, Dianna