WIS, WWA | I made dilly beans!
What I Spent
Thank you all so much for your bean suggestions last week! I decided to turn my beans into refrigerator dilly beans, which were quite easy to make. They're supposed to sit in the fridge for a week or two before I eat them, but I have sampled some and they're good!
Kind of like a dill pickles except they're beans.
And since they're just refrigerated, not canned, they are still nice and crunchy.
I spent:
- $11 on a taco plate
- $48 at Aldi
So, $59.
What We Ate
Saturday
I have zero recollection of what I made for dinner, actually! I know I didn't get takeout or anything but I have no memory of what I cooked.
Sunday
This was moving day for my girl (as I mentioned on Thursday).
She and her friends were getting pizza for dinner, but it was getting a little on the late side for me, so I headed out and just picked up some tacos on the way home.
Monday
Burgers! And some fresh cherries on the side.
Tuesday
I cooked up a bunch of chicken tenderloins, partly to have for my work lunches, and I ate those with some kale salad (also for work lunches), plus some mashed potatoes.
The sauce is onions and tomatoes sauteed in the pan I cooked the chicken in, plus enough half and half to deglaze the pan.
Wednesday
Before I left for work, I put some fish in the fridge to thaw. And then when I got home, I sauteed it, heated up some mashed potatoes and leftover sauce from Tuesday night, cut up a red pepper, and ate some of the dilly beans I made.
Thursday
Similar to the night before, but it was chicken, mashed potatoes, sour cream, and green onions, plus the rest of the kale salad. Basically just a cobbled-together post-work meal!
Friday
I haven't decided yet, but I do have two more work shifts coming up on Sunday and Monday (I'm off today and tomorrow). So whatever I cook tonight and tomorrow, it'll be with an eye to something I can turn into work lunches.
I made a batch of dilly beans this week, too! This was a new-to-me canning project, and I’m excited to crack them open.
Monday- Chicken Alfredo and garden green beans for an at-home date night
Tuesday- Philly cheesesteak skillet, garlic bread
Wednesday- Bible study night elsewhere. The host made baked spaghetti, I brought some of my surplus garden zucchini (sautéed), and others brought salads and desserts.
Thursday- Breakfast (hash brown bowls)
Friday- Pizza night!
It’ll be a bit of a fend for yourself weekend, but I need to get my chest freezer emptied and defrosted within the next month (freezer meals to store before our baby arrives in August). So we’ll be scrounging around in the freezer for some meal inspiration.
@Kyndra, Ooh! I love that your garden is producing already! And congratulations on the upcoming arrival of Baby!
@Ruth T, Thank you! Growing up in the PNW and now living in North Carolina, I’m still shocked at the garden produce in June!
OOoh all of those meals look and sound so good. I do love kale salad. I only did a small shop for fillers - well under $100. Let's see if I can remember what I ate...
M - ordered Szechuan Beef - saved half for another meal
T - Blackened Tilapia, (freezer) dirty rice, salad
W - Chicken Tacos with chorizo refrieds, rest of the salad
T - Skillet Chicken Thigh with sweet potato
F - Going to make a Cranberry Gorgonzola Salmon Patty (from HEB) and will likely pull a veggie out of the freezer. Maybe make one serving of pasta.
My rule of thumb is usually cook once, eat twice, but I've been a champion of dinner for one lately. That said, I think I have two meals in the freezer for the weekend.
High five on the Dilly Beans. My daughter planted our beans this year, and in consequence I have a LOT of bean plants out there. If they all actually produce beans, rather than getting demolished by hail/grasshoppers/whatever, I will have lots to make into Dilly Beans. I prefer to can the Dilly Beans--the texture is better than canned cucumber pickles--and keep the cucumbers for refrigerator dills, so I have many pickle options on hand. 🙂
Saturday: Ram kebab meat, marinated and sauteed, and then I made a sauce for it with red wine, onion, and cold butter. Also mashed potatoes, coleslaw, and chocolate ice cream.
Sunday: Sausages--both jalapeno/cheddar and plain smoked--leftover rice, baked beans from the freezer, green salad with vinaigrette, and double chocolate peanut butter cookie ice cream sandwiches with the last of the chocolate ice cream and the cookies I had made the day before. My children asked to have a picnic outside and then ended up eating on our shed roof to avoid the thousands of grasshoppers.
Monday: Scrambled eggs, leftover mashed potatoes with cheese, cucumbers and grape tomatoes
Tuesday: One cheese pizza supplemented with leftover sausage, still frozen green beans
Wednesday: I made an enchilada casserole with the elk/beef heart we had ground, and then we had a green salad with vinaigrette
Thursday: Pork shoulder cooked in the morning while it was cool and then fried in rendered lard with spices at dinnertime. I baked potatoes at the same time and then pureed those to heat up later for dinner. It's getting hot, so I don't want to be actually cooking at 4 p.m. We also had pureed calabaza and still-frozen green beans for the children.
Tonight: I have a lot of leftover pork, so I think I'll shred some of it and heat it up with barbecue sauce and we'll have sandwiches. I harvested two more cabbages yesterday, so I can make coleslaw. Good hot weather meal.
I have come to appreciate refrigerator pickles and have pretty much given up on canning them. But my 6yo and I love to eat refrigerator bread and butter pickles.
Saturday - This was our final camping meal from our weeklong trip. We roasted hot dogs and brats and had canned fruit and made shells and cheese, followed by s'mores.
Sunday - After we got home, we quickly grabbed Little Casesar's pizza and breadsticks and a bag of salad.
Monday - Tortellini and peas
Tuesday - Shrimp, waffle fries, and strawberries with blueberries
Wednesday - Spaghetti and meatballs with a side of green beans
Thursday - All spread out... one kid is away at summer camp this week, my husband and son went to a potluck picnic, and my youngest daughter and I got Rally's on the way to a late-night birthday party because I was totally unmotivated to make anything.
Friday - The kids that are here have requested pizza and a movie, so I'll make pizza tonight.
WIS: $16 at Aldi and $37 at Wegmans.
WIA: Nothing much out of the ordinary, except that I tried to work my abundant container crop of spinach into as many things as possible (salads, frittatas, etc.). I think I'm turning into Popeye the Sailor Man. 😀
@A. Marie,
"I'm strong to the finish, when I eats me spinach..."
@A. Marie,
Oh, many years ago I went with my brownie scout group on a nearby television station's afternoon Popeye Show, which featured Popeye cartoons and hosted small groups of young visitors regularly. We each got asked our name, age, and a random question. My random question was did I have a boyfriend (the answer was no). Had he asked me if I liked spinach, I could have truthfully answered yes.
Y'all didn't know I was a celebrity, now did you? 🙂
@JD, I appeared on a similar show in my old hometown, called the Bob Brandy Show (https://chattanoogaradiotv.com/general/memories-of-the-bob-brandy-show/). I see from reading the article at the link that Brandy was shortened from Brandenburg; as an adult, I occasionally wondered whether Bob hadn't had to have a snort or three of brandy after workdays spent hosting passels of brats. But I digress.
Anyway, I appeared on the show with a group of kids from my neighborhood, and we did each get asked our name and age (I don't recall a random question). My main memory of the day was that I lied about my age and said I was 5. I was really 4. 😀
@A. Marie,
TWO celebrities! I think I was six when I was on.
@JD, when I was six i was on the bozo the clown show and bozo pulled my braid. i also spoke ot joan rivers on her show about battling neighbors. my upstairs neighbor in brooklyn once punched me for nothing.
WIS: $27.38. I realized I had fallen into an “aspirational” trap where I was buying all sorts of “healthy” and somewhat “exotic” things believing I would suddenly eat vast quantities of fruits and vegetables and salads, and cook incredibly complex recipes, only to have to toss stuff out when it spoiled because I did not, in fact, eat it. Or, more accurately, eat it fast enough.
So, a low spend this week while I repented my non-frugal ways.
WIA: Asparagus soup I actually made some time ago, but canned for Future Me. Thank you, Past Me. Present Day Me sauteed some fresh asparagus using The Frugal Girl’s easy instructions, and I used it as a garnish on the soup. Very tasty, Frugal Girl!
All the salad kits while they were still fresh, with diced chicken that I had parceled out in several small bags and frozen so I could defrost them one at a time. (As opposed to tossing out half a chicken that I couldn’t get through in time.)
A lot of tuna salad. I had bought a small container of ready-made at the store, but doubled it by adding two cans of tuna I had in the pantry and some hard-boiled eggs and pickle relish because the store version, while nicely seasoned, was a little too thin and soupy for my taste.
Not very inspiring! But also not very spendy.
P.S.: An article in this week’s Washington Post about the threatened cuts to Food Stamps/SNAP benefits said that currently eligible recipients receive about $6/day. $42/week. Which will go down (or disappear altogether) if the One Big Beautiful Bill is passed. This coming week I’ll see what I can get for $42 and report back. Don’t expect any restaurant meals or yummy takeout!
@JDinNM, To your P.S.: I certainly do not want to see a reduction in SNAP benefits, but those aren't supposed to be for restaurant meals or takeout. My family qualifies, though we aren't signed up for it. However, if we were, our family of six would get $252 a week. I can for sure feed my family on that. But not if I were trying to buy anything prepared and certainly not something like takeout. That's not the purpose of the program, though.
@kristin @ going country, Just to clarify, in case that's really necessary? I am not using SNAP benefits but ... "real" money. My point was that my "pretend" $42 "allowance for 1" would (obviously?) not stretch far enough for restaurant/takeout expenditures (as Friday posters sometimes describe), just groceries.
@JDinNM,
Here in good old NYS,I get 23.00 a month,not quite sure what that's supposed to " supplement" but it definitely rules out any gourmet delights.
Truth be told,I only don't tell them to keep it because it gives me a discount on my Walmart plus and Prime accounts.
Goodness! Even the most frugal among us couldn't do much with $23/month!
@JDinNM, Yes, I did understand. It sounded kind of like you were of the opinion that the program was lacking somehow because it doesn't provide enough money--or the ability to use the money--or things like takeout or prepared food. But maybe I just misinterpreted that.
Your first paragraph: Yes! Aspirational shopping can get us into trouble. Better to buy what our real selves will actually eat!
@kristin @ going country, and you are looking for a solution that needs a problem. In no universe does anyone (well perhaps some that support a certain party as they'll believe anything they are told) believe SNAP can be used at McDonald's or Ruth's Chris Streakhouse.
But I have to ask, are you one of those who'd let your kids starve rather than accept help (of which your tax dollars allow)? I've read too many holier-than-thou's refusing food assistance.
Selena, I'm not the Kristin you're looking for, but I think this is a a pretty insulting question to ask her. You've been reading long enough to know that Kristin works her butt off and feeds her kids (creatively) on a tight budget, and that she is a devoted mother. We could know without asking her that she would not let her children starve.
@Selena, You did not *have* to ask; you *chose* to ask a question that was meant to be an insult. I'm not sure of your motivation for that, but I'm certainly not going to engage with it.
@kristin @ going country, Yes, you most certainly "just misinterpreted that."
@Patricia, $23 a month is the minimum SNAP benefit here in New Mexico. The maximum monthly benefit for a single-person household is $291, while a household of 4 could receive up to $973. It's all based on household size and income.
@JDinNM, intentionally.
Does quick pickling (because that's what you do, right? This is not real fermentation) remove the lectins in the beans?
IF my beans work out - last year something got all of them- I might make dilled beans again. Since I grow such small patches of beans, I usually just throw a freshly gathered handful of them into a meal every other day or so. I've been growing the old Landreth green beans, and they are delicious, but it seems there are unwelcome others who agree with me.
WIS: it was the off week for shopping.
WIA:
A good-sized goat chop with a skillet mix of zucchini, onion and mushrooms. I ate the other chop and leftover vegetables for lunch.
Bunless hot dogs with beet slaw and nectarines (from my little tree) I had this again, with applesauce on the side instead of nectarines. Mostly, I use the nectarines as a snack.
Seven-layer salad, which is an old church potluck and family gathering favorite and is basically a form of chef salad in layers, if you aren't familiar with it. Layers vary, but ours are usually lettuce (or spinach), frozen peas that are lightly cooked or simply thawed, chopped tomatoes, green onions, chopped hard-boiled eggs, crumbled bacon, a modest layer of mayonnaise and topped with shredded cheese. I know, that's 8 layers, but the mayonnaise doesn't count as a layer in my family. It must be served in a glass bowl so we can see the layers; family rule. I had enough for two meals and a lunch.
Bacon with a large portion of sautéed radish greens and blackberries (from my plants) on the side.
Today is shopping day, so tonight will be something easy like a sandwich or eggs, or something I find in the stores.
@JD, I hear you about your beans. I grew good old Kentucky Wonder pole beans till I gave up in despair. But critters of all types simply adore beans, starting with slugs at the seedling stage and going on to the usual mammalian suspects (rabbits, woodchucks, and deer) at later stages.
@A. Marie, It's a jungle out there! And a hungry one at that.
Sunday: homemade pizza
Monday: buffalo chicken skillet over small shell noodles (new recipe)...was good.
Tuesday: Wings (takeout), tater tots in air fryer
Wednesday: Blt sandwiches and fries
Thursday: hubby worked late & his work bought them pizza; I had Moe's chicken bowl (it wasn't that great for some reason)
Friday: grilled hot dogs & chips & cherries
Friday: I read our calendar wrong so my husband picked up salads from a local restaurant.
Saturday: I pulled Philly Cheesesteak Eggrolls out of the freezer for dinner and I paired them with a salad. My husband and I made a big batch of mac and cheese and a dozen breakfast burritos for a friend who had surgery and neither of us were interested in making a fussy dinner for ourselves.
Sunday: Spaghetti Squash Taco Bake.
Monday: Italian Sub Salad
Tuesday: Last Day of School and a game! I prepped California Roll Bowls the day before to make this an easy dinner night.
Wednesday: I was on my own so I made a quick Greek yogurt pizza crust and used the last of the meat and cheese from the salad on Monday to make myself a tasty pizza.
Thursday: Cabbage and Chicken over mashed potatoes.
I had two pizzas when I was away this weekend which was fine by me 😉 As for the rest of the week...
Monday: All the shops were closed so I made an omelette and had garlic bread on the side.
Tuesday: Aubergine skillet lasagne.
Wednesday: Baked sweet potato with various vegetables and cream cheese on top.
Thursday: Chilli Mac and Cheese
Friday: I'll have leftovers this evening and possibly some wine because I passed my Danish exam 🙂
@Sophie in Denmark, Congratulations on passing your exam!
@Cheryl, Thank you!
@Sophie in Denmark, congrats on the exam!
WOOOHOOOOO! Congrats on your exam!!
@Sophie in Denmark,
Yay on your exam. Also, aubergine skillet lasagna sounds really good! I've never heard of it before.
@Sophie in Denmark, Congrats! Have another glass for me.
@KJ, Doesn't that sound good? We should pester her for the recipe.
@JDinNM, Aw, thanks! Cheers!
@JDinNM, and @KJ, here is the recipe! I'm vegetarian so leave out the meat when I make it 🙂 There's lots of great recipes on there!
https://www.budgetbytes.com/skillet-lasagna/
@Sophie in Denmark, That looks great! I'll try it out and report back. ;-}
We continue to eat imported and greenhouse produce for another couple of weeks until the local veggies start coming in. Very much looking forward to that. WWA:
Saturday - an on-sale frozen pizza after a day of errands
Sunday - pasta (creamy chicken pesto sun-dried tomato)
Monday - homemade falafel bowls
Tuesday - leftovers
Wednesday - celebrated SIL’s birthday with Thai takeaway and ice cream bars
Thursday - oven baked trout (prepared with lemon, veggies, and dill in packets), leftover rice from freezer, then rice pudding to use up remaining rice
Friday- planning to make a large salad with chicken on top
Wishing everyone good health and security in the week ahead
What I spent: $40 at Kroger
What I ate: working backwards, I had chicken and rice cooked in tomato sauce with Italian seasonings, ham and potato soup from the freezer with bread on the side, a Hormel Compleats roast beef dinner, mini pizzas made with tortillas as the base, and mashed potatoes with tomato sauce and meatballs.
Oh, and a chicken enchilada casserole. I knew I was forgetting something.
Tonight I'll probably have eggs and toast.
Dumpster Fire Week over here my friends but we managed and all were fed.
Sat: I cooked a chuck roast in the Instapot - Mississippi Pot Roast style - then I pulled it apart and put it cut slices of French bread and topped with provolone cheese, baked in the oven until everything was beautiful and melty.. We had watermelon on the side and a green salad.
Sun: Leftovers
Mon: Roasted chicken breasts, sauteed spinach with bacon, onions & garlic, and fettucine alfredo & green salad
Tues: Leftovers
Wed: Collard greens, Pinto beans, Jasmine rice, roasted pork tenderloin & green salad
Thurs: Hit the easy button and we went to Ted's Montana Grill
Fri: Clean out the fridge - may result in some pork fried rice but we will see
WIS - $0
Sun - camping chili & burgers, camp tots
Mon - camp burrito bar
Tue - baby kale and apple salad w/hot bacon dressing
Wed - fish and chips English pub style
Th - fish tacos
F - Tonight: made elk sausage & Kraut casserole, green salad & garlic beans. Made a gallon jar of pickled baby veg (cauliflower, carrots, beans, daikon radish and pea pods) we start taste testing refrigerator pickles after 3 days.
Sat - work will take 12 dozen cookies for the wildfire fighters fighting a very dangerous fire in the Columbia gorge.
We, unfortunately, had a very hard week. Still, you gotta eat.
Saturday: It was hot and we'd snacked, so we just had hard boiled eggs, salad, and bread.
Sunday: I was working so I got kimbap near the hospital.
Monday: I think we had a snacky meal of raw veg, crackers, and eggs.
Tuesday: I made macaroni and cheese, and peas on the side. I mix mine into the mac n cheese, but other members of the family object to this blasphemy.
Wednesday: I made pasta, jarred sauce, and broccoli.
Thursday: It was my birthday and we got takeout sushi.
Friday: Mr. B is cooking, so in guessing salmon, vegetables, and challah.
@Meira@meirathebear, I hope next week is better. Belated birthday wishes!
@Meira@meirathebear, sorry you had such a hard week :-/
@Meira@meirathebear, I also mix peas into my Mac and cheese. Even better if we’re having hot dogs, I’ll chop one up and add it too. My husband shakes his head while the kids look horrified 🙂
@Meira@meirathebear, belated happy birthday. all the best to you.
@Meira@meirathebear, So sorry your birthday fell in a Very Hard Week. Not fair! But I hope the takeout sushi was tasty.
@Meira@meirathebear, I’m so sorry that your hard week coincided with your birthday! I hope the next week is better. Mac and cheese with peas is delicious, I’ll even add tuna to my serving. My husband and kids also look at this as blasphemous.
Maybe a silly question, but do you only eat one meal a day?
Oh, goodness no! I eat a solid three meals a day, plus some snacks. I just am sharing my dinner meals here.
Sat - Church’s chicken - tenders, fries, underwhelming to say the least. Freddy’s seems to be the *only* fast food place that can cook fries (Culver’s failed). Will have to go to McDonald’s which I suspect will pass the test. Five Guys (overpriced) brags fresh cut which means squat if you don’t cook them long enough.
Sun - Mexican dine out
Mon - I made a sandwich out of my two leftover tenders which were better than Saturday. Both had leftover potato salad (Sun lunch). Better half ate a leftover grilled Vienna hotdog (Sun lunch) and pulled some leftover pizza out of the freezer.
Tue - semi homemade fried rice
Wed - goulash
Thu - grilled hamburgers and fried potatoes w/mushrooms
Fri - cook’s night off, dinner out with my dad
Spent $184 at the butcher shop. Meat packing plants are being raided (and the owner was told e-Verify, you know the government system "is broken"). Chasing workers thru the field was bad optics. So now farm workers and hotel workers (SURPRISE) are getting a break. The warning about farm workers fell on deaf, orange ears I guess.
PICKLED. I should try that. Oof, I went to the grocery store today and boy howdy. School ended yesterday for the almost-13 year old boy, and my 19-yo son the college student comes home today. Now I have to feed them. Sheesh
I see a higher food bill in your future. Hehe.
WIS: About $68 at Food Lion, Ollie's and Dollar Tree
WWA: Salami tray with cheese, grapes and fresh veggies. Lots of cheese and tomato sandwiches. Spaghetti with a homemade red sauce livened up with sausage, mushrooms, sweet red peppers and onion. Chili tonight or tuna salad with crackers.
I took Lindsey's tip about refreshing stale crackers with a quick toasting in the oven and it worked great,
I spent $73 at Kroger
I have to try those dolly beans. They sound good!
– Sunday – grilled steaks, cucumber/onion salad, baked sweet potatoes.
– Monday – we went out to lunch with friends. Hubby brought another entree home to eat, I ate a ham sandwich.
– Tuesday – sheetpan meal with Italian sausage meat balls, onions, tomatoes, broccoli and garlic over linguine, garlic bread.
– Wednesday – baked chicken, carrot/raisin salad, corn, pickled squash.
– Thursday – Sloppy joes, carrot/raisin salad, fresh green beans, potato chips
– Friday – we’ll have beef pot pies with some brown rice, more fresh green beans, fried cheese curds I got from Aldi to try. Aldi opened in Little Rock about 6-8 months ago, nuto hadn't been there. Hubby and I checked it out on a recent outings . We are getting one where we live in North Little Rock by the end of the year
Yippee!
– Saturday - we'll have ground beef enchiladas in corn tortillas, green salad, refried beans
Here's what's interesting to me, though kind of off topic. 🙂
So many of these meal recaps say "work" in them. The reason I think this is cool is that usually by the time people are (roughly) our age, work/workplace is so not the interesting focal point. It's getting home. It's doing the things that *don't* involve the bosses or the co-workers. Not so for you. It's like getting to do my early 20s all over again through someone else's eyes.
@Karen., It's like Kristen is living backward through time. Kinda neat!
Sometimes I say I am going back and doing a stage I skipped! Ha.
It's like when your kids play a video game and realize they missed collecting some stars on an earlier level and they go back to get them. 😉
@Kristen, I see a lot of gold stars in your future! You've already collected quite a few, Ms. Top of Her Class Graduate Who Should Have Thrown Her Nursing Cap in the Ring for Class Valedictorian.
@Kristen - I do *not* know that kristen @going country would use food stamps or not. I've seen too many pig headed people, including a relative, willing to commit child abuse instead of accepting help.
For most women, having kids is easy - heck you don't even have to conscious. But not enough women give thought to supporting said children by herself and/or during hard times even with a committed partner.
Understood that you’ve seen that. But to ask someone, essentially, “Are you a pig-headed mother too?” is not kind or considerate.
I have had a dreadful marriage experience and I’ve seen hundreds of women with my same story. But it would be presumptive and insulting for me to assume that same husband behavior onto some guy by asking some variation of, “Are you also a terrible husband?”