WIS, WWA | I spent all the dollars at BJs
What I Spent
I haven't been to BJs for at least 7 months. I was in the area this week, though, so I stopped in and promptly spent $130.
But that's fine; some of the things I bought, like laundry detergent and dishwasher detergent, won't need to be bought again for a nice long while.
I also spent $25 on a Hungry Harvest box and $37 at Safeway.
So, my total this week is $192, which is definitely on the high side. That always happens on weeks when I go to a warehouse club!
What We Ate
Saturday
I made this chicken and sweet potato curry, which we ate over rice.
Sunday
We were at my parents' house for a birthday gathering for my dad.
Monday
This was the day that was my anniversary, and I went to spend the night at the hotel.
Tuesday
Zoe thought French toast sounded good, so that's what I made. We topped ours with whipped cream and berries because we will always choose that over butter and syrup if we can. 😉
Wednesday
It was just Zoe and me here, and we had quesadillas plus pan-sauteed broccoli.
Thursday
I had a few plain bagels in the freezer, so I thawed them and made pizza bagels, with a green salad on the side.
Friday
I think I might make some sauteed tilapia, with broccoli and some kind of starch on the side.
Another chaotic week brought to us by back to school, sports and taking care of sick family members...
Sunday-Husband and the girl left town for a concert. I took the boy shopping for some clothing before school started and was going to feed him before he went to work. He just asked for pizza so I looked at my apps and used my points for a free pizza at Pizza Hut but paid for cheese sticks cause I wanted those! lol Later texted the older boy who would be getting off work and asked what HE wanted to do for supper ( intentional spending time with kids kind weekend-lol) Food is his love language and I was imagining all the restaurants near his job.. He asked me to order pizza-lol
So while I was visiting my mom I looked at my apps again and found a deal near her and ordered him a pizza. Spent some time with him before I went to help a friend at work.
Monday- ate pizza leftovers for lunch at work. Husband out of town dealing with his parents health emergency, I had to go to work-left kids to clean out the fridge.
Tuesday- Boys on their own, the girl ate subway on her way to volleyball match. I bought a value deal at mcdonalds on the way home from watching her scrimmage.. tasty cause I was starving!
Wednesday- husband coming home, first day of school, everyone home for a meal at the same time shocker- heated frozen meatballs with a jar of the good pricey sauce-lol. Pasta, garlic bread and green salad.
Thursday- cooked a beef roast in the crock pot, made gravy with the juices. Served with fresh italian bread, rice, corn and peas and a side of canned pears( cleaning out random stuff in the fridge.)
Friday- realized no kids will be home for supper so it is date night.. and that will likely lead to a walk through Home Depot..
I'm actually always kind of amazed at how little you spend at warehouse stores, but I think maybe I just lack self control!
Cases in point, my spending this week...WIS: 140.70 @webstaurant for 150 lbs of KA flour, 5.00 @Dollar Tree for shelf stable milk, 81.85 @Giant for uncured pepperoni, manager's specials and loss leader produce, and then 192.30 @Aldi for all our normal groceries. So a grand total of 419.85 this week, and thanks to all the kid drama, I even forgot a couple things too, so I don't think I'll get away with zero dollars next week either. Inflation plus kids, whadareyagonnado?
WWA:
Fri: sliced heirloom tomatoes with salt and pepper; focaccia with pepperoni, mozzarella and roasted eggplant/pepper/onion/garlic tapenade and topped with fresh basil.
Sat: salad made with watermelon and heirloom tomatoes and topped with crumbled homemade ricotta cheese and fresh basil; leftover air fried focaccia.
Sun: watermelon sticks; homemade fettuccine; watermelon-heirloom tomato pasta sauce topped with crumbled homemade ricotta cheese and fresh basil leaves. The sauce was made by heating the leftovers from Saturday's salad and combining it with a little pasta water, some roasted eggplant and tomatillos, some leftover grilled green onions and a few dried cherries. It was so, so good, especially on homemade pasta!
Mon: watermelon sticks; homemade sourdough tortillas; zucchini/pepper/onion fajitas; assorted toppings: salsa, sour cream, salsa con queso, and chipotle cholula sauce.
Tue: cubed watermelon; jasmine brown rice with assorted Indian spices; chicken karahi with ginger and fresh parsley (thanks for the recipe, Rose!); and a side of microwaved green beans.
Wed: (eaten super late after putting away like a million groceries) leftover rice; leftover chicken karahi; leftover green beans; and Knoppers for dessert (our grocery store treat).
Thu: salad of spinach, raspberries and gouda cheese; cubed cantaloupe; corn on the cob (made in the microwave-thanks, the internet!); and leftover grilled burgers from our vacation on homemade sourdough buns. The burgs had heirloom tomatoes, cheddar cheese and sauteed onions/garlic/mushrooms on them.
Tonight: focaccia and probably some kind of salad.
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!
That reminds me...I need to order some more KA flour myself!
@Kristen,
I was super envious of that time you got it with free shipping! I tried all the available discount codes and one did work but made no difference since I wasn't buying any equipment. Oh, well. King Arthur flour at less than a dollar a pound is not bad, and we definitely go through it. The last time I stocked up was exactly six months ago and then I bought 200 lbs, so I'm kind of annoyed with myself for only getting 150 lbs this time. I know we will need more AP. Maybe there will be some kind of holiday sale in November or December? Fingers crossed.
@Kristen, have you tried the bread flour from Sam's? They don't all have it, but it is $13.48 for 25 lbs. I have not tried the K.A...
@Deb, I like the bread flour from Sam's too (and also get the all-purpose). I'm surprised that here the price is right at a dollar less, though — unexpected.
@Becca, I'm curious, what are Knoppers?
@Danielle Zecher,
They are a chocolate covered wafer-like cookie that Aldi sells in five packs. They are really tasty.
@Becca, thanks!
@Karen., That is the price at the Gainesville, FL Sam's. I wouldn't drive 45 minutes just for flour but have to go there anyway on the 31st. 😉
@Kristen,
What is KA flour?
Yep, like someone else said, it's King Arthur flour. 🙂
@Susan,
Sorry! King Arthur flour.
@Becca, My fantasy is to go to the KA campus and spend with complete abandon, not looking at prices at all. They have a huge surcharge on sending their products to Alaska so the only time I get them is when someone from Outside is flying up to see us. I send the package to them and they cart it up for me.
@Kristen, it’s the bread flour that I love so much. Pricey but worth it.
Yes. Their bread flour is second to none, especially for pizza.
Sat.: Leftover veggie pasta.
Sun.: Grilled burgers, mac & cheese, grilled corn on the cob, fruit salad.
Mon.: Sandwiches w/ leftover sides from burger night.
Tues.: Taco salad.
Wed.: The meal I had planned fell apart. I made paneer, but I think something went wrong with it, so we decided not to risk it. I was going to substitute tofu, but it had gotten shoved to the back of the fridge and was frozen solid. So we ordered pizza.
Thurs.: Leftover pizza.
I'm not sure about tonight. Maybe spaghetti or enchiladas?
@Danielle Zecher,
Oh, no! Frozen tofu? Was it usable when it thawed out?
@Becca, I was so irritated and hangry by then that I just threw it away. Not one of my finer moments. I Googled it later and got very mixed results, so I'm really not sure.
@Danielle Zecher, I actually always freeze my tofu on purpose. It gives it a firmer, chewier texture when cooked. Of course, you still have to thaw it first, so that wouldn’t have helped your Weds dinner.
@JenRR,
Hmm, I'll have to try that. I've always read that it can't be frozen, so it's one of the few ingredients I feel like I can't really stock up on. If freezing would actually be beneficial...it would be a real game changer!
And Danielle, I feel you on the irritation factor! So sorry you had a frustrating dinner night, and glad you could get pizza to the rescue!
@JenRR, that's good to know! Is overnight in the fridge long enough to thaw it out?
@Becca, thanks! It was a series of not so great decisions; stuff Kristen has written about in her meal planning posts. I've made paneer successfully, but I usually do it on the weekend. I shouldn't have done something so time consuming on a weeknight. And it was going in a recipe I'd never tried before. Also something I shouldn't have tried on a weeknight. I love Indian food, but I'm not experienced enough w/ making it to be able to come up with a Plan B on the fly when a recipe doesn't go as planned. Live and learn, right? Next week's meal plan won't involve new or time consuming recipes on a weeknight. 🙂
@Danielle Zecher,
If we never made mistakes, we would never learn anything! (Well, some of us never learn anything regardless, but you get my point!)
@Danielle Zecher, another yes to freezing tofu! That's how I learned to prepare it when I started eating it, and I used to eat a lot of it. Overnight is def long enough for it to thaw, but even if the center is still a little frozen you can still slice and prep it. Or, you can prep it beforehand and then you can put it in your food and let it cook at mealtime - the little cubes cook up fast!! There are lots of ways to do it - when I was eating it tofu wasn't in many stores, so I'd bulk buy. Good luck!!
@Rachel,
These WIS, WWA posts are my absolute favorite! I literally learn at least one new thing every week! Thank you!!!
@Rachel, thanks! That's great to know! I don't usually eat it (I have to limit soy) but hubby loves it and it's so hard to use it up with just one person eating it most of the time.
@Becca,
Just make sure you buy the water packed tofu. I always have a bunch in my freezer. 🙂
@Danielle Zecher,
I used to be able to thaw it out overnight, but lately it’s been taking longer. Maybe, one of my family members has been messing with the fridge controls.
@Danielle Zecher, Hi Danielle! Like someone else mentioned, I always freeze tofu. I buy like 20lbs from Costco and freeze it all for months. And when I forget to thaw it out, I just stick in a pot of boiling water for several minutes and let it cool before squeezing the water out. I also recently made paneer with subbed tofu. It was delicious. I hope you get a chance to make it again! 🙂 How frustrating.
@christie, @JenRR, thanks for the tofu freezing info! I'm definitely going to try freezing it.
@Danielle Zecher, Frozen tofu is great crumbled and used as a meat sub in something like chili. Drain the liquid, then wrap it tight and freeze. After it thaws, squeeeeze all the liquid out of it, then crumble.
@Becca, as others have said you can freeze tofu, but I've actually found shelf stable tofu through Misfits Market. It's been a game changer to be able to have it on hand and easily accessible!
Do you all just freeze it in the container it comes in or do you take it out in something else?
We planned dinners, but they didn't go according to plan for the most part.
Monday, my husband made this crock pot Mexican pulled pork that we served over rice and beans. It was such a large piece that we have enough for 2 more meals.
Tuesday, we had Shepherd's Pie. I always make enough of the meat mixture, and freeze half so all I have to do is make fresh mashed potatoes the next time. I made too much mashed potatoes this time, so I need to find a recipe for potato pancakes.
Wednesday I wasn't feeling well. It is finally drying up around here and everyone is cutting their grass. Well apparently, I'm allergic to grass because I have had massive headaches since Monday afternoon. So my husband put a cauliflower pizza in the oven. Its a Moma Cozzi's brand from Aldi and it is very good. My husband likes fresh tomatoes on his, but I like it plain.
Last night we were out and about, so we stopped at a new-to-us Mexican Restaurant and will be going back. Very, very good and inexpensive.
Today my husband is making some spaghetti sauce so we will have plenty in the freezer. Our freezer is becoming stocked with meals for when we don't feel like cooking.
Tomorrow will be leftovers since I will be out and my husband is working.
@Maureen, Potato pancakes are easy. Just add an egg and some flour until the texture seems pancakey and fry!
@Maureen, Mashed potatoes are also very good just microwaved with cheddar cheese on top until heated through and the cheese is melted. Then mix it all together for cheesy mashed potatoes (I also like lots of pepper).
@Rose, I also add diced onion and a 1/4 to 1/2 tsp baking powder to fluff them up
@kristin @ going country, OMG!!! Why have I not heard of this way to fix mashed potatoes before now!! Thanks!!!
@Maureen, we like to mix leftover mashed potatoes with whatever other leftover steamed veggies we have and fry in some butter, sort of like hash browns.
@Maureen, my mom always mixed an egg, some diced onion, and black pepper in leftover mashed potatoes and fried them in butter (not as pancakes, just one mass). You want to get it until heated through and there is some brown crust forming on parts on the bottom. Yummy!
@Jackie Roberts, Huh. Baking powder never occurred to me but will try that next time! We rarely have leftover mashed potatoes though. My kids adore them.
@Maureen,
There is a breakfast restaurant near us that does grilled mashed... we've done that a a few times and it's tasty.
I can hardly recall Saturday and Sunday except that it was salads I gues. Somewhere I did make a nice vegetable stock for some vegetable soup and we had that. I think it was Tuesday that I cooked my first proper meal in two weeks, a vegetarian millet dish with lots of veg, almonds, cheese, coconut milk and bananas. Wed and Thu we had oldfashioned potatoes/braised veg/sausage. I think I'll do the same again today.
I found some ground beef on offer and may decide to may either slowcooker meatloaf or slowcooker ragu this weekend, and I also have the ingredients for sambal goreng telor (spicy egg dish to go with fried rice and french beans).
I really need to meal plan better when it gets so hot again for a longer time. With all the salads and fruits we ate, I really feel we did not get energy to keep us going, and the heat wore us out also. My plans to keep one freezer drawer empty for ready made meals has failed sadly! I had plenty of ingredients but no appetite for cooking.
\
Saturday: When we got our last cow butchered, I asked for the bottom round to be cut into steaks and tenderized, with great plans to make chicken-fried steak with it. And . . . I have not done that once when I get the bottom round steaks out. Case in point was this night. I INTENDED to make chicken-fried steak. And then I got lazy and just fried the steaks with spices. They do cook nice and quick. We also had garlic bread, the ever-present-this-time-of-year skillet of calabacitas/tomatoes/garlic, and raw green beans for the kids
Sunday: Spaghetti and meatballs. While the oven was on to roast the meatballs (I never brown and simmer meatballs), I also roasted green beans, calabacitas, and sweet potatoes. Raw green beans for children (although some actually liked the calabacitas roasted--yay!), and chocolate-covered peanut butter balls for dessert
Monday: First day of school is also a work day for me, so I'm not up for a big celebratory meal. We had leftovers, and I brought home some cinnamon rolls for the kids that had been sitting in the school office since the week before's in-service. Celebratory indeed. (They actually were very good, especially when warmed in the microwave.)
Tuesday: T-bone steaks, boiled potatoes with butter, sauteed calabacitas, raw tomatoes for the children
Wednesday: Another work day, more leftovers, plus a green salad with a vinaigrette
Thursday: I cooked a chuck roast in the morning. While it was in I baked two loaves of zucchini bread (except for me, it's calabacita bread) and cooked down a pan of tomatoes with garlic. I had the food processor out to shred a bunch of calabacita for the freezer (hence the bread), so I used it to puree the tomatoes for sauce, and the kids had spaghetti with tomato sauce. There were also yet more sauteed calabacitas and raw green beans, and the children had the zucchini bread after judo.
Tonight: I'm going to Taos to meet my brother and sister for the weekend, so I have no idea what I'll be eating. I'm taking out a package of steaks for the home crew, and there's lots of leftover spaghetti. They'll manage.
@kristin @ going country, oh, Taos. Color me envious.
@kristin @ going country, what are calabacitas? The name sounds fun!
@Danielle Zecher, It's a type of summer squash. The plant is a locally-adapted variety of cushaw. It's called a calabaza, which is just the word for squash in Spanish. "Calabacitas" means "little squash," and they're just like zucchini, but better. If the calabacitas are allowed to grow, they become the giant, thick-skinned winter squash known as calabaza. A very useful plant.
@kristin @ going country,I should note, however, that the word "calabacitas" is most commonly used for a dish made with the summer squashes that also includes corn and green chile.
@kristin @ going country, that is so cool!
@kristin @ going country, are these the same squash as calabash (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calabash)? The similarity of the names suggests it.
And for those few of us old enough to remember Jimmy Durante, "Good night, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are."
Hmm....sloppy joes, shakshuka, deep fried chicken nuggets and onion rings (homemade), something else with the hamburger I can't remember, spaghetti, and my mom's kebabs (vegetables and steak, brushed with melted butter and mustard). Still using up 10 tons of tomatoes.
@Rose,
Shakshuka.....YUM. My hubby makes the NYT version that is delicious. I have a boatload of garden tomatoes and mint, so he'll be making that this week, and I can't wait.
@Liz B., Does mint come in anything but a boatload? I think the mint someone planted a few years ago is attempting to take over my entire yard like the Triffids.
Finally getting back in my groove here as far as meals go. I only spent $3 + change for a 1/2 gallon of organic skim milk at Kroger this week. My freezer has lots of meat so all I really need are some fresh veggies & fruit from the farmers market. Meals this week included
Fried trout, coleslaw, onions & potatoes fried in bacon grease
Grilled cheese
Pizza delivery
2 dinners from my niece - burgers with all the fixings & hot dogs with all the fixings
Leftovers, of course
Planning to deep clean the fridge this weekend since it’s not jam-packed right now.
Did I have noodles of some sort 4 out of the 7 nights this week, and also for lunches? Yep! It's the first week of school, so quick and easy wins the game haha
Sunday: We got back from a trip, so we scavenged together some pasta and sauce from the pantry.
Monday: A skillet turkey and veg teriyaki thing. The recipe was hard to follow, but it was basically, cook ground turkey and veg in teriyaki sauce, serve over quinoa. Easy and good!
Tuesday: Cooked more pasta to go with the leftover sauce from Sunday
Wednesday: I had back to school night, which means I was at work for 14 hours. I had McDonald's (it's next to my school), not sure what everyone else did
Thursday: Clams with linguine
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Birthday dinner, going out to eat ramen
This is easily my absolute favourite time of the year, mostly because of all the enticing locally grown produce. WWS was through the roof but I feel like August is one of two months of the year (the other being December) that I seem compelled to stock the pantry and freezer.
WWA:
Saturday - lemon chicken piccata, spaghettini, Swiss chard
Sunday - bbq steak (on sale), sautéed spicy shrimp, new potatoes with dill, green salad, nectarine galette
Monday - souvlaki chicken, Greek salad, grilled pita, tzatziki
Tuesday - Italian sausages, ratatouille, rice
Wednesday - falafel stuffed pitas with arugula, tomatoes, and tahini sauce
Thursday - leftover sausages and ratatouille
Friday - thinking bbq hamburgers for an easy finish to the week
Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend
I'm always amazed and impressed that you cook every night! I always get burned out cooking that many evenings. But you can't be homecooked meals for nutrition and financial stewardship so... My solution is to double whatever I'm making and cook every other night. I try to time the leftovers nights for any extra busy days in our schedules. And we have one night of take-out/restaurant. That gives both my husband and me a break since he always does dishes and I do the cooking. This week I made chicken tacos with slaw for Mon/Tues, meatballs and marinara over pasta and salad for Wed/Thurs, and then I'll probably make some roast veggies and potatoes with chicken sausage for our Sat/Sun dinner. We'll do take-out for our oldest son's birthday dinner this evening.
@Jen D., I've been doing this since my kids were babies. I cook on Friday, Saturday & Sunday. Leftovers the rest of the week, with Thursday sometimes venturing into freezer leftover or easy options territory. I wouldn't say we love it, but I love the convenience. We've tried other options, and it just doesn't work for our schedules.
@Jen D., what do you for lunches when you cook for two days at a time? I love the idea of every other night cooking, but we seem to always have dinner leftovers for lunch. Do you just make that much? Or is there an easy lunch idea I'm just missing?
@Danielle Zecher,
Don't know if it's helpful, but lunches at our house are often light affairs like one or two of the following: soup, sandwiches, cut up fruit and veggies, often leftovers, and my kids' favorite "snacky lunch" which is basically comprised of stuff you open and eat (and maybe rinse) like cheese sticks, gogurts, chips, peanuts, baby carrots, grapes, pretzels, etc. They really love it when we are out of lefties. 😉
@Becca, thanks! We do stuff like that for dinner sometimes, but I never seem to think about doing it for lunch. I think it's just easier to grab a container of leftovers on the way out the door in the mornings. I need to start planning ahead better and work something that in one or two days a week.
@Danielle Zecher,
Oh, for sure, if it's a packed lunch, leftovers are always the easiest! I'm the only one who packs a lunch regularly in our house and I'm always so bummed when I have to actually make myself a sandwich! But I'm also lazy. 😉 Slice bread, get out mayo, spread it, slice cheese...oh, forget it...sometimes I just pack a hunk of bread and a hunk of cheese. Haha!
Leftovers night
Pasta salad
Dinner out on vacation: steak, shrimp, and mashed potatoes
Dinner out on vacation: steak and shrimp tacos, chips and salsa, Margarita
On vacation leftover chicken tacos, burgers, mozzarella sticks, and chips and salsa
On vacation had cocktails and appetizer platter at the rainforest cafe at the Mall of America.
Last day of vacation we bought some refrigerated ravioli and a jar of sauce to make a dinner at the house we are renting. Foraged some mushrooms (our first chicken of the woods!) at a state park we visited so will sauté those up on the side.
This has been a sort of crummy week for me because we were getting ready for a big family bbq which has now been postponed/possibly cancelled/probably downsized.
Monday: Baked potatoes and salads.
Tuesday: Tacos
Wednesday: Pork chops, rice, various garden vegetables.
Thursday: My daughter (who hasn't eaten much in the last few days) was STARVING after her doctor's appointment so she got a slice of gas station pizza (I'm such a wonderful dad, I know) at around 3:30 or so and ended up eating a hot dog and some rice for dinner (again, "I am a super dad!" - he said with much sarcasm.) My wife and I had Japanese curry (a favorite of ours.)
Friday: I'm not sure what's up for dinner tonight. My wife is home today so it's on her. Normally I cook 90+% of the time so hopefully we'll have something good. If not, I guess leftovers will be in the cards.
@Battra92, all parents have these super moments and yet we gotta remember: fed is best. An occasional nod to the idea of vegetables is just fine. Carry on.
@Battra92,
Sometimes I'm too tired to make a salad (that's usually my department since I'm the one who cares about them the most) and if it's a night we have are just having leftovers, I think "meh, good enough..." Then my darn kids are like "whine, whine...where's the salad?" And I'm torn between being happy that they think dinner is not complete without a salad and super annoyed that my own darn kids are veggie shaming me.
"Gas station" anything (gas station milk, gas station sandwiches, gas station flowers) is a family joke. Someone was selling a fake-Rae Dunn (those awful ceramic bits) vase labeled GAS STATION FLOWERS I need to get.
@Battra92, When you are old, your kid will probably tell you how much she loved it when you stopped and got her the special gas station pizza!
Yep! I was thinking the same thing.
@Battra92, Gas station pizza for a starving daughter makes you a hero in my book! 🙂
@Battra92, Japanese curry is a favorite of mine too!
@Rose,
That's hilarious!
@Battra92,
My super picky son *lives* on hot dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches. A vegetable rarely, if ever, is consumed by him, unless you count tomato pizza sauce and French fries. You're doing a great job.
Saturday - takeout taqueria
Sunday - came home later than planned from visiting family so stopped for fast food before we got home
Monday - crunchy Chinese chicken salad (this was very exciting for me to make because it was made with cabbage, carrots and green onion from our garden, probably the biggest meal I’ve been able to make just from our garden produce) It called for crushed up, uncooked ramen noodles to be added so I added those and then cooked some pasta for the kids using the seasoning packet in the water, they loved it!
Tuesday - lemon pepper chicken, steamed broccoli and carrots, Au gratin potatoes (from a box)
Wednesday - salmon, coconut rice pilaf
Thursday - I had a board meeting to attend so I reheated some beef stew that was in the freezer and cooked a can of biscuits
Friday - leftover coconut rice pilaf with pork dumplings
I spent $55 @ Publix this week. Purchases were only this low because of the stocking up I have been doing as of late. But I am glad to see the low numbers to balance out the huge expenses incurred in those stock up trips.
Saturday: Beef stroganoff with egg noodles & green beans
Sunday: I made cube steak in the Instant Pot with gravy, mashed potatoes, and corn; I also made a huge pot of chicken noodle soup for lunches this week & two loaves of banana bread
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Homemade cashew chicken with lots of veggies & jasmine rice, watermelon
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Chicken noodle soup for some, leftovers for some & more watermelon
Friday: If I feel inspired we may have a kielbasa sheet pan dinner but if not it may be a takeout pizza night.
WIS: A whopping $147, divided between Aldi and Food Lion, for food. We usually have one really high (for us) grocery bill a month and the rest is reasonably low. I don't have the receipts for a bunch of stuff we purchased to take care of our dogs, who were all sick this week with a gastro ailment, but we bought a lot of baby food, beef broth, and paper towels.
WWA: The usual summer fare: Fresh fruit and veggies for supper, with cheese, nuts, and crackers. I brown-bagged my lunches all week as usual, but gave myself a little break and made my lunches around the grilled veggies patties from Aldi. Baked some apple bran muffins for our snacks.
Iceberg lettuce, love the crunchy inferior stuff. For tacos, blts and salad. Cherrios and almond milk great for snacks and quick meals. I even bought some V8 juice, I love that stuff, the original veg smoothie. There was chicken, beef, broccoli, carrots and onions and eggs in some form too.and costco pizza, I cut off a frozen slice and stick it in the air fryer.
@Tiana, iceberg is absolutely required for BLTs; nothing else is quite right. Also thick slabs of tomatoes, and mayo on both slices of bread. And I love the spicy V8 juice and drink it by the quart
@Glenna, man, you two just inspired me to put some V8 on my shopping list!
@Tiana, I adore iceberg lettuce and V8. Hell, I love Costco pizza, to my shame, since I'm from New York.
Monday: Chicken and rice casserole, which nicely used up a 1/2 cup of cream lingering in the fridge, and frozen (cooked) green beans.
Tuesday: Tacos.
Wednesday: Sloppy Joes, which used up the leftover beef from Tuesday, which was nice.
Thursday: Burgers and fries, plus half a watermelon 🙂
Tonight is salmon burgers (bought with a coupon) and crockpot corn on the cob, and the other half of the watermelon.
Saturday and Sunday are always homemade pizzas.
I actually kept track this week of what we had on hand and didn't need (I have Compulsive Stock-Up Syndrome, courtesy of my great-grandparents, who lived out in the country and only went to "town" about once every two months. Sometimes this leads to embarrassing incidents such as yogurt actually expiring because I kept overbuying.) And when figuring our food costs I subtracted household needs from the groceries (I buy both at the grocery store, mostly).
Our weekly food costs was 330.10. Not too shabby for six people, including three adults and two teenage boys! I was especially pleased at being able to combine coupons with store deals to get brand-name cereal for 99 cents a box. We don't often eat cereal, but sometimes it's a nice treat.
(I realized there are other posters with the name Karen here, so from now on I will distinguish myself with an initial to avoid confusion! 😉
WIS last week was a hair-raising $175-$180, which is for two weeks, but I'm just one person! I did stock up some, but not that much. Buying organic and local is not cheap.
I actually didn't cook much, after all that spending, but every meal but for a provided lunch at work one day was homemade, so there's that.
WIA: One store was having a sale on kielbasa that was getting close to its sell-by date, which is the first time I've seen that kind of sale in many months, so I stocked up there. That means one night was kielbasa with slaw made of celery, carrot and onion instead of cabbage. I had a pluot with it.
I really, really wanted a steak last weekend, but really, really didn't want to pay those prices, so I bought a nice chop of pastured lamb. I also got a huge container of mushrooms at a good price, so I had mushrooms and broccoli with the lamb.
I made my style of tuna-veggie salad and had that with a pluot and another time with free corn tortilla chips from work.
Beef short ribs with okra (my okra keeps producing), mushrooms and onions. That made enough to have it twice.
I buy Lebanon bologna from a local organic farmer who buys sausages and bologna from his organic-practice Amish friends back in his home state of PA. I had a thick sandwich on gluten-free "bread" and more of the slaw. Apple for dessert.
Tonight, I think will be using chicken and stock from the freezer to make a big pot of soup. It's hot for soup, but soup is easy to re-heat by the bowl, which means less cooking later.
@JD,
Every time I read the WIS & WWA blog I have to look something up and this week it is a pluot!! Never heard of or seen these before but thanks to you now I know 🙂
I am going to try a chickpea and sweet potato curry this week. Trying many more meatless recipes due to grocery prices. Egg prices too. Whew!
I spent 104 at Kroger pickup. I had much dental work this week so soft foods or small bite foods needed.
Sunday: waffles and scrambled eggs
Monday: pesto pasta and salad
Tuesday: air fryer baked potatoes with steamed broccoli cheddar cheese and cottage cheese
Wednesday : meatless taco salad using cooked lentils ( actually very yummy).
Thursday: Leftover meatless taco quesadillas with guacamole
Friday: teeth starting to feel better. Salmon on the grill corn on the cob in air fryer and salad
I have never been to BJs.
It was a real wild ride at work & with kid stuff, so nothing gourmet was happening at our house. We had:
-Grilled chicken & rice x2
-Tacos x2
-Spaghetti & meatballs
-One celebratory dinner out
My son & my husband have an agreement, and if my son follows through, there will be Panda Express. (My son is 16, and the agreement is that he wakes up at 8 am & does chores today, on his day off before school starts. Ah, the life of a teen ;-)).
While the storms of Back to School are raging all around me, it is calm in the Cannary household where there is no one one here but ME and mostly that feels glorious since I remember those BTS days and how chaotic they felt. Another weekend of grape-picking is coming up here in Texas and I am very much looking forward to the weekend! This week's menus:
Monday - Lentil and Pasta Soup with a chunk of cheesy French bread
Tuesday - Shakshuka, with frozen tater tots made into hash browns
Wednesday - Chicken, Sweet potato, and onion skillet (SO. GOOD.)
Thursday - Italian Sausage and rice, one bite brownies for the dessert win
Tonight - Burger out {Painting with a Twist after work!}
Saturday - Carnitas Tacos - hopefully my daughter will join me. I'm going to start the crock pot before I leave to pick grapes. I will serve them with sour cream, avocado, cheese. Might even whip up a dessert!
Sunday - Dinner with my college kid in San Marcos - taking him a load of TP, laundry soap, and hugs before the semester starts.
Happy Weekend! Its raining here, so everyone in Austin did a good job doing the Rain Dance. (:
https://cannaryfamily.blogspot.com/
WIS/WIA, House Guest Edition:
WIS: $65 at Price Chopper, $25 at Wegmans, and $18 for Wednesday lunch at a local coffee shop.
WIA: During her visit, JASNA NYC BFF and I ate breakfasts and dinners in and (until Thursday) lunches out. The Price Chopper tab was mainly stocking up on things for her that I no longer buy for myself, and the Wegmans tab was her "fun at Wegmans" treat. (She insists on going to two places on every visit: Wegmans and Clothes Mentor.) But I only bought one of our three lunches out; our other JASNA friend picked up both of our lunches on Monday, and BFF picked up lunch on Tuesday. I let them do this because behavior becoming a lady and a Janeite doesn't include arm-wrestling your friends for the check.
Dinners in included turkey burgers, sauteed tilapia (a la Kristen) and green beans, and a chicken dish DH and I always called "Chaucer chicken" because we first had it at an end-of-semester Chaucer class dinner during grad school days. It's in a 1975 Metropolitan Museum of Art cookbook called "To the King's Taste."
@A. Marie,
Chaucer chicken! I love that name! I hope it's saucy and slightly inappropriate. 😉
@Becca, you're correct: saucy, rich (the sauce includes milk and honey), and flavored with some unusual herbs (sage, savory, and hyssop; I planted hyssop this year for the first time in many years so I could have this dish again). Any guy who could make this would have Chaucer's Wife of Bath thinking about a sixth try at matrimony!
@A. Marie,
Ok, recipe, please? You had me at milk and honey...
@Becca, here's one I found online that's almost identical to the one in the MMA "To the King's Taste" cookbook, except that the MMA recipe calls for only 1/3 cup honey. I also usually reduce the milk to 2 cups since I find that 3 cups make it too runny, and I usually omit the pine nuts because I'm not a billionaire.
http://www.godecookery.com/begrec/begrec23.htm
@A. Marie,
Thank you! And amen to omitting pine nuts! They are tasty but SO expensive...WHY???
It was a pretty easy week for me! Friday and Saturday we were at my sister's lake house celebrating my birthday (and we ate so well!).
We got home at dinner time on Sunday and I took a frozen lasagna (we have a very good quality brand here in Canada called President's Choice and I try to keep a few of their frozen entrees on hand for times like this) and precooked in the microwave (as kids were hungry) and finished in the oven. I made a salad and some garlic bread to go with it and we were sitting down to eat in less than 30 minutes. Sure beats going through a drive through cost and nutrition wise! Also, because we live rural and my sister 20 minutes north of us even more rural, there are no drive throughs or towns between us. Because I'm not going to lie, I might have succumbed to that temptation - instant family fed and no clean up!
M0nday - grilled spicy Italian sausage, green beans, grilled potato wedges.
Tuesday - chicken and pasta dish in the instant pot, with green salad
Wednesday - cereal, fruit salad (crazy day and I'm not ashamed to admit cereal for supper, at least abundance of seasonal fruit made for a lovely salad!)
Thursday - pizza! (family all over painting my living room)
Friday - I took chicken breasts out, we're going to cook the chicken and potatoes over our camp fire pit, my 15 yo loves cooking over the fire. Probably broccoli for veg.
Haven't done a menu for next week yet but need to get that done as it's chemo week again and I won't be up for anything too time consuming.
I have such trouble remembering back the week!
Friday forecast: leftovers or eggplant parmesan (depending how tired I am)
Thursday: cold pasta salad (red peppers and herb dressing), turkey hot dogs on wheat rolls and sautéed summer squash (with oregano)
Wednesday: Baked rigatoni with homemade marinara sauce and salad
Tuesday: Delivery (fried chicken for hubbie, turkey sandwich for me, with Asian salad).
Monday: penne pasta with homemade spinach and basil pesto and marinated tomatoes from the garden on the side (so SWEET)
@Millicent, Some days I can't even remember what I had for breakfast! Menu planning has helped with remembering dinners. You did well this week!
Monday-green salad with roasted chicken on top
Tuesday-crockpot beef and oven-roasted veggies
Wednesday-green salad with leftover beef and vegetables
Thursday-BLT’s
Tonight-green salad with bacon on top
Tomorrow-something Italian at a local restaurant ( celebrating a friend’s birthday… ) I’ll bring my leftovers home for my husband:)
I spent $90 at Aldi, $50 at Walmart.
Monday: meatloaf, Mac and cheese, and peas. Oh, and pickled beets with onions.
Tuesday: tacos and charro beans, and sliced avocado.
Wednesday: burgers
Thursday: enchiladas, rice
Tonight? Well see
I made a meat loaf. I don't know what I was thinking, the recipe called for a pound of burger, a pound of lamb and a pound of sausage. We don't like lamb, despite having lived on a sheep farm in Scotland for a year, so I used beef burger, moose burger and Jimmy Dean's pork sausage. And, as usual, I added shredded carrot and zucchini that was still lingering in the freezer from last summer's garden. The result was so enormous a hunk of meat loaf that we ate it every single day for dinner and tonight the last of it is appearing in spaghetti sauce. I don't know what came over me, not to realize how much cooked meat we'd end up with. I wanted to freeze it after day 2 of eating it, but the husband said he loved it (I hardly ever make meat loaf) and could we just keep eating it until it was gone. We had salad from the garden every night, too. A boring week food-wise but so few dishes after the first night of cooking! I am so lucky that he is content to have the same thing day after day, it has saved me a lot of work over the years. Hmmm...or maybe it is that the one who doesn't cook does the clean up so he is saving himself work!!
Do you ever make meatloaf sandwiches? I remember that thinly sliced leftover meatloaf is so good in a sandwich!
@Kristen,
Hahaha! You and your sandwiches!
I CAN'T STOP.
I was away so didn't read this week's posts until now: thinking of you, Kristin, and I hope that you are able to channel all of the positive energy that is flowing your way!
WWS: $?? it was a weird week as we were on vacation staying on the cape at a house that bil rented, with family friends who stayed at another rental house.... the amount in beer that was spent is embarrassing so I'll move on....
WWA:
Sat: Korean meatballs over rice with roasted broccoli (food52). Delicious but I would cut the amount of gochujang as it was really too spicy for me.
Sun: leftovers
Mon: catsitters/housesitters who benefitted from a free place to stay for their vacation week: pork larb, rice, salad greens, cucumber & red pepper salad. She brought peach tart.
Tues: I made dinner for 16: hamburgers & hotdogs, baked mac & cheese, doctored up baked beans with kielbasa, Slovenian cabbage salad, tomato salad, homemade ice cream cake. (The ground beef, rolls, cheese, milk, ice cream were free from mystery shop. Pasta, baked beans, molasses, bought on deep discount. Tomatoes were from the garden.) I think my total cost was about $28 out of pocket for 16 plus leftovers, which I see as a win... until I add in the cost of the beer for the week!).
Wed: mil made cioppino, ate with garlic bread, salad & finished off the ice cream cake.
Thus: lobster, corn-on-the-cob, shrimp boil, steamers, etc. etc. at friend's house. I made a cucumber salad & broccoli salad, & leftover mac & cheese (that they requested).
Fri: banh mi from a Vietnamese grocery & bakery. ($7 per sandwich, big enough for 2 meals).
That sounds like such a wonderful week! And it sounds like your trip included lots of good eats.
Thank you for the kind words. 🙂
@Kristen, So SORRY - I keep spelling your name Kristin, rather than Kristen. One of my BFF spells it Kristin, so I promise that it is from a fond place in my heart!
Oh, no worries! There are SO many different ways to spell Kristen; I think every Kristen out there is very, very accustomed to misspellings. Also, we are all used to being called "Kirsten".
We have a restaurant here called BJ’s, so I was thinking a $130 meal was very out of character for you!