WIS, WWA | ice cubes for $0.99!
Breaking news: the much ballyhooed ice cubes at Aldi have been marked down again.
There were only three boxes left, and I opted to leave them for someone else. 😉
I kinda wish I'd bought a box, though, just so I could try them and give you a review!
What I Spent
I spent:
- $45 at Aldi
- $34 at Giant
- $24 at Panera
So, $103.
What We Ate
Saturday
You know how I often have a 24-hour exhaustion hangover after a string of shifts? That was me last Saturday, so we got sandwiches from Panera.
Sunday
Zoe wasn't here, so I made myself a quick tuna sandwich, which I ate with cucumbers and hummus.
Monday
I thawed my previously-frozen stuffed shells (thanks, Kristen-from-the-past!) and baked them for dinner. I also made a big bowl of kale salad.
Tuesday
Shift one of three. I had carrot cake overnight oats for breakfast, and stuffed shells + kale salad for lunch.
But I ate the kale salad before I took a photo!
Wednesday
Shift #2! More overnight oats, more stuffed shells and kale salad.
After work: a bowl of plain shredded wheat with fruit.
Thursday
Shift 3! Overnight oats for breakfast, more kale salad at lunch, but this time my protein was cottage cheese with tomatoes and basil.
And I ate more shredded wheat after work, with a banana.
Friday
I'm off today, which is good because MY WORD, my body is tired.
I have absolutely no idea what my plans are for dinner, but I will figure out something easy.
It all looks delicious!
A little while ago, I tried the kale salad recipe that you use and it was a confusing recipe to me! The "dressing" was so dry because the small amount of liquid it called for evaporated so quickly! I ended up adding more vinegar, which made it perfect for me but far too acidic for everyone else. Have you encountered this? If so, how do you modify the dressing?
I add in an entire large lemon's worth of juice, so my dressing is probably way more wet than the original.
I saw those weird ice cubes in my Aldi too. I stood there with my cart, looking down into the freezer case, trying to puzzle them out. I passed as well. LOL! Aldi is usually basic, no-frills but this one took the cake!
Saturday: I was still feeling a bit yucky after my stomach bug so I just had scrambled egg on toast.
Sunday: I travelled that evening. I still wasn't feeling very hungry so I took a sandwich to the airport and bought a packet of crisps (chips).
Monday: Aubergine, garlic and mushroom in a tomato sauce with cheese over pasta.
Tuesday: I started the great deep clean of the oven and ordered pizza.
Wednesday: Mushroom omelette with some crisps and salad on the side.
Thursday: Kitchen was still a disaster area and I ended up ordering Indian food.
Friday: No idea but the oven is cleaned out now and the stove is useable, so I'll figure something out - possibly pasta again.
You started the week like Kristen of Yore, with all those sandwiches. 🙂
Saturday: Very fast burritos, with ground beef, canned pinto beans and salsa in flour tortillas. Plus leftover coleslaw.
Sunday: I had some ground beef I hadn't used the day before, so I made it into sloppy joe meat, with the addition of the last of the commodities American cheese. Carrots and ranch dip, as well, plus ice cream.
Monday: I put together the leftover burrito filling with rice, salsa, and cheese to make something like Spanish rice. Cucumbers with ranch dip.
Tuesday: I had to bake bread, so while the oven was on, I roasted chicken thighs and potatoes. We also had green salad with vinaigrette, and then the kids had fresh bread with butter before bed.
Wednesday: I meant to make barbecue meatballs, but the meat mixture was so soft, they ended up more like patties. I also made mashed potatoes, and then there were pickled radishes. And more ice cream.
Thursday: I used the soft not-meatballs plus their sauce to flavor a quart of pinto beans I had thawed, to make something like baked beans with ground beef, I guess. Served over rice cooked in the chicken stock I had made from the chicken thigh bones. Various raw vegetables. I had made buckeye brownies to enter into the county fair that started this day, so my kids got to have the extras of those, much to their delight.
Tonight: Another day of the county fair, another day of very tired kids (and mom). Because every day of the county fair is like that. I still have like nine dozen eggs, so I think I'll cook some potatoes this morning and use those plus eggs, salsa, and cheese, to make a breakfast burrito filling. And whatever vegetables I find, raw or pickled.
You know what's funny? As I typed up this post, I thought, "I wonder if Kristin will notice the sandwich emphasis.) Hehe.
Glad I didn't disappoint. 🙂
My youngest and I have been watching those ice cubes at Aldi too - it just seemed like a mismatch for their usual products. My store (northern Virginia) has a few more than 3 boxes left but they’re down to $.99 too. Did not add to my cart.
Same here in MN, those ice cubes hit .99 and I still think it's too high for frozen water, so I passed them by, too.
Friday – Sunday meals were vacation meals. Monday – Thursday meals were what I could pull together from the groceries my husband bought while my son and I were out of town. He’s a really good cook so I had some great options to work from.
Friday: Trader Joe’s snacky dinner at the Airbnb – frozen appetizers, fruit, veggies, crackers with dip
Saturday: Chicken Sandwich at a local restaurant
Sunday: Costco food court pizza – we needed a fast/easy dinner so we stopped while filling up the rental car with gas. One pizza fed two adults and two teenage boys for far less than anything that we could have gotten at the airport.
Monday: Smoked chicken sandwiches, Caesar salad, fresh melon
Tuesday: Buffalo chicken melts, baked potato/cauliflower soup
Wednesday: Pork ramen stir fry
Thursday: Sullied Josephs (Sloppy Joes), squash bites (zucchini fries recipe but using chunked yellow squash), corn on the cob, fresh melon. The puppy was thrilled because I scrambled the leftover eggs from breading the squash bites so he could have a treat.
We had stuffed shells last night! After seeing your post about them recently I realized I hadn't made them in ages. They were a big hit and the teens asked me to make them again soon.
They're great for feeding a crowd!
I’m so excited for you that your reduced hour life is right around the corner ☺️
Saturday - we were at my parents house, and DH grilled chicken. We paired that with pita, & the fixings for gyros + Greek salad.
Sunday - we flew home & were tired, so DH picked up Costco's street tacos
Monday - I made pasta & meatballs (freezer)
Tuesday - DH made rice & I defrosted chicken curry from previous me
Wednesday - I cut up a rotisserie chicken & turned that + some of the leftover Costco street tacos & pantry/freezer items into a chicken/rice skillet dish that was good
Thursday - had leftovers from Wednesday
Friday - I think I'll pick up a bag of the peanut crunchy slaw from TJs & pair that with TJs meatballs (freezer),the soyaki sauce (pantry) & rice (leftovers in the fridge).
Food.com has a recipe for homemade ice cubes, for less than .99. The reviews are hilarious.
WIS: Approximately $120, at all four stores on the main road, but mostly at Food Lion.
WWA: Sandwiches, mostly ham, with cheese, fresh sweet peppers, carrots, pickles, and plums on the side for DH. I mostly had protein smoothies with peanut butter toast and cantaloupe or an orange on the side. One night I had an egg and cheese sandwich, which was so very yummy, and last night I had the last of the hamburger-veggie soup from the freezer with crackers. The burger in it was half ground turkey and half ground pork, which was delicious.
I am a life long fan of cereal for supper. Especially in the summer!
I spent $171 this week which is high for me, but I should only need a few small things this coming week. I also stocked up on some good deals I came across on various meats. We had a family dinner one night with the grown kids for DH's birthday so that added cost (not near as much as if we had gone out though)
Saturday: DH's birthday - grilled pizzas and a cheese board with salad
Sunday: bbq sandwiches with slaw
Monday: meatball subs with salad
Tuesday: breakfast - french toast/scrambled eggs/sausage
Wednesday: Spaghetti with the leftover meatballs from Monday/salad
Thursday: chicken with tortellini/salad
Friday: leftovers to clean out the fridge
Happy Friday, everyone! We spent $88 ($52 at Target and $36 at Trader Joe's).
-- Salad (leftovers from restaurant lunch)
-- Quinoa salad
-- Guac, tortilla chips, grapes and a peach
-- Salad
-- National Night Out neighborhood gathering. I brought a Mediterranean orzo salad that used up the jar of sun-dried tomatoes in oil that I had on hand. I ate that along with potato chips, fruit, cheese and crackers, and chocolate-covered raisins
-- Leftover orzo salad
-- Toast with peanut butter and a peach
WIS: $35 Aldi
My main meals this week involved eggs, ham and cheese. I made an egg scramble one day with leftover hash browns, peppers and onions. On another day I had two eggs over easy with sourdough toast and applesauce. For two days I had ham and Swiss cheese sliders on dinner rolls, and yesterday I made a Monte Cristo sandwich. Today I may make another one. It was so good, and I still have the ingredients.
You dip your toast into the yolks? My mother called them soak eggs as she'd cook them in bacon grease. Somehow she'd flick the grease over the yolks - I think she tiled the pan when she did it.
Not the way I cook mine but I do dip my toast in the yolks. Growing up our eggs came from a local farm. Adulthood a not quite as local farm. Suffice it to say I am not worried about eating eggs over easy nor raw cookie dough (not much cookie dough after the kids were out of the house).
WIS: $34 at Wegmans, $13 at Aldi, and $41.50 at Price Chopper.
WIA: The week's highlight was a chicken and cucumber salad, made with a pound of 50% off chicken tenderloins from Aldi (I poached these, and they came out very well and not at all dry), plus a large cucumber from Dr. Bestest Neighbor and a couple of leftover picklers. For dressing, I used the rest of the tzatziki and feta dip I bought a while back, plus dill and a green onion from my gardens. I think this one might even have impressed Martha Stewart.
BTW, Martha turned 85 on August 3. According to Hello! magazine, she celebrated the occasion by (a) posing for a photo in her new hot tub, and (b) beating up in public one more time on her ex, Andy Stewart. Obviously, Martha has decided not to grow old gracefully. 😛
Great palates eat alike! Chicken and cucumber salad were main highlights of this week's menu for me too. Your dressing sounds delicious!
DH has been bringing in piles of garden cucumbers. It's been great having extras to share with friends (who actually want them, not like an overwhelming zucchini situation ha).
WIS: $not sure! I sent my niece to town so many times to replenish supplies. We had so many mouths to feed. Taco bar, spaghetti dinner, hamburgers, fajitas, brisket and chicken and noodles.
Tonight I got out a whole ham.
You may need the "whole hog" with all those mouths you're feeding.
WWS: $50
In no particular order, this week we had:
chicken salads with garlic knots
blt sandwiches and fries
stuffed zucchini with roasted potatoes
hot dogs, jalapeno cheddar sausages, popcorn
Tonight will be philly cheesesteak sandwiches and potato salad
Food remains a puzzle as I settle into the River House. I know we will have Sizzler salad bar after Hubby's radiation appointment. It is a treat for him and I will focus on veggies. I continue to have lunchables when we are at the hospital. It works and is comforting. Breakfasts are instant oats and a cut up date with a protein milk. Dinners have been either hot dogs or the prepared chicken enchiladas from Sam's.
Highlight snacks are fabulous white peaches and peanut butter s'mores. Replace the chocolate with pb.
Good news is the food bill has dropped dramatically as we are now fully moved in and the home and rental have sold.
A good white peach is such a treat!
Saturday - I went out to dinner with three friends for an early birthday celebration. It was a very nice restaurant (and they ended up treating so I felt bad for picking something a bit expensive!)
Sunday - impossible burgers (Morningstar chicken patty for the non-burger eater), French fries and sweet potato fries, steamed broccoli and carrots.
Monday - salad night for the adults, mine had avocado, beets and falafel on it with a quick dressing made from shaking together hummus, Dijon mustard and balsamic vinegar in a small container. I also had sourdough toast with orange rosemary jam. Kids had pearl cous cous and steamed and fresh veggies, along with biscuits from the freezer.
Tuesday - bean burrito, Spanish rice and corn for the kids, I had homemade black bean dip spread on corn tortillas that were crisped in the oven, topped with avocado and mango salsa.
Wednesday - I normally make the burritos on rice on Wednesdays before the kids weekly play date, I had made it the previous night so I was going to make something else, but the kids said they wanted their regular pre-play date meal so it was a repeat of the previous night for them. I had some cauliflower soup I defrosted from the freezer along with toasted sourdough with hummus and sliced tomato on top.
Thursday - This was my birthday so we went out to dinner at a favorite Mexican restaurant, I got a cauliflower taco and an avocado taco, along with the chips and salsa. We got frozen yogurt for dessert.
Friday - I have a meetup with the schoo PTO tonight so I’ll eat something fast before that, probably more sourdough toast with hummus and tomato.
I tried a cauliflower taco one time and was wildly underimpressed. It just didn't seem like it belonged in a taco! How was yours?
This one was delicious! It did have quinoa in it and a cashew crema sauce so really good flavor.
I worked five 3pm -1130pm shifts in a row when my children were young. The day after the five shifts were done was a PJ day. We all kept our PJs on, ate easy meals, and watched a. lot. of. TV. I was much younger than I am now but your body really needs that day to rest up and recover.
Yes! That first 24 hours, my body says...nope.
We had hot days, with the usual salads, and cooler days, with steamed potatoes (!) and runner beans (!) and fried sausage (!), all of which had been prepared on the stove.
On one day we were very busy and had "apple and nectarine oven pancake". It was not the most nutricious of meals, using white flour, but it allowed me to relax a bit while the pancake was in the oven.
Belated thankful: we had rain :-D. First a few hesitant drops, and during the late evening and night a proper shower. Very very relieved, and the containers are half full again.
Have a great weekend all!
Was it an eggy sort of pancake? I'm wondering if it was like the apple pfannekuchen I make sometimes. https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/wednesday-baking-apple-pfannekuchen/
It is!
Growing up we would only eat thinner pancakes, rolled up with syrup or sugar (usually on Saturdays, but certainly not every Saturday).
I discovered this fairly late. I soften the fruit slices in my skillet, then add the batter and in the oven it goes.
I'm getting to this late since we were out all day.
I like your kale salads. Are you doing that to get away from possibly contaminated lettuce? I’ve missed my leafy green salads. I may do that. I've just been skipping all leafy green salads.
WIS/ WWA this week
I spent $86 at Walmart, a lot of that was for food for a donation to a food pantry, $39 at Aldi, so $125.
Saturday – out to eat at a local burger joint.
Sunday – grilled T-bone steaks, baked sweet potatoes and ratatouille with zucchini, yellow squash, onions, peppers.
Monday – we had relatives over for pizza we ordered and I made 4 different non- lettuce salads.
Tuesday– out to eat with relatives to a Japanese grill to celebrate a teenager’s birthday
Wednesday – we ate leftover pizza and salads from Monday. I put some pieces of pizza in the freezer.
Thursday – baked salmon, brown rice, veggie.
Friday – we went on a day trip to a military museum in the northeast corner of the state about 3 hours away. It was interesting. Instead of taking the same way home, we looped down through the middle of the state, stopped in a few little towns and snooped, then ate an early dinner at a catfish buffet I'd heard about. It was a good day.
Nope, I just had a big bunch of kale from my Hungry Harvest box. Ha.
We ate inexpensively this week - even when taking my dad out to dinner. All of us had leftovers.
I do have to brag about the reduced-for-quick-sale-and-I-do-mean-quick-sale of boneless, skinless chicken breasts better half scored - $1.62 a pound so just a hair under 2 pounds - 3 breasts. One grilled breast cut in half - I presume we're having chix sandwiches for dinner this weekend. Other two went into the freezer (cooked).
Sad to say those with time to hit the stores first thing in the morning any day of the week have a better chance at meat sales then those that have to shop Fri-Sat-Sun,
Sorry to be late this week. We did a massive Ikea run yesterday to get furniture for my youngest who turns 12 this month. For his birthday, he wanted us to “nice-ify” his room. We spent a little bit of money, but buying furniture is not a usual thing around here. Up until a week ago, he still had the crib that all three of my kids used in his room, so it was definitely time. My favorite hack is I made curtains for his little dormer windows by using two shower tension rods, a couple of pretty shower curtains and some old curtains I repurposed from another room. They turned out really cute.
Anyway, food. We spent about 320 @ Aldi (this did include a few non-food birthday items), 6 dollars at brunch with some old colleagues, and 60 bucks on lunch at Ikea.
WWA:
Ugh, I have no pictures, so I’m relying on memory…
F: focaccia (leftovers for me)
S: salmon, rice, broccoli, salad
S: pasta with meat sauce, salad
M: chicken patties on buns, salad
T: pasta carbonara, salad
W: battered fish fillets, gf chicken nuggets for me, sourdough brie wheel, California veg, salad
T: chicken pizziola, green beans, salad
F: focaccia for the boys, leftovers for me
I think that’s fairly accurate on the foods, but I might have mixed the days up a bit.
Happy weekend, everyone!
A dear friend of mine is a social worker who worke din risk management for hospitals.Years ago, her work showed a few local hospitals of the DEGREE TO WHICH MEDICAL ERRORS GO UP, after a Nurse has worked 8 hours..in the 8-12 hour window (12 hour shifts!!!) the errors increase DRAMATICALLY.
She showed the hospitals how, even with potential increased costs of maintaining 3. 8 hour shifts for nursing, the savings would e made up by a DECREASE IN MALPRACTICE CLAMIS!!
NOTHING CHANGED However.
If the general public ONLY KNEW how exhausting ad impossible it is to safely do 3. 12 hours shifts in a week, the would not allow it!!!\
I am retired now. History: I was totally burnt out of hospital nursing after the first year it went to 12 hours shifts.I LOVED 8 hour nursing!! Such life balance was still possible.
I left the bedside and became an NP and went back to working normal working hours..but we need to do something about the safety factors in our hospitals11
So glad you get to cut back a shift per week!!
I saw the ice cubes Monday at my aldi for the same price. 🙂
I did manage to grab one given the price just to see what the hype was about. It makes a cute drink - but definitely not work $5.