WIS, WWA | Is this an August week? A July week?
What I Spent
I'm counting it as a July week, since it was mostly July.
I started out the week with a $64 Aldi trip. And the only other stop I made was a $22 one at another grocery store.
So, $86 it is for this week. Yay!
July Spending
Week 5: $86
Year to Date Grocery Spending
I’m averaging $151/week thus far.
January: $619
February: $485
March: $702
April: $791
May: $806
June: $598
July: $695
What We Ate
Saturday
This is usually a date night for Mr. FG and me, but we ended up taking Sonia and her cousin along with us this time (after our apron-making session)
We had Panera with the girls.
Sunday
Mr. FG and I made chicken and biscuits, which we ate with some fresh fruit.
And we made rice krispy treats for dessert, using Cook's Country's suggestion to add vanilla.
The vanilla DOES elevate the recipe quite a bit (2 teaspoons for 10 cups of cereal), so try it next time!
Monday
I made a Cook's Country recipe for crispy shrimp tacos, and we had a strawberry-peach fruit salad with our tacos.
Tuesday
Mr. FG was out at dinnertime, and the girls and I ate Swedish pancakes, aka lazy crepes.
Wednesday
Our eating schedule was all mixed up on Wednesday, so I didn't even make dinner aside from heating up some leftovers for myself.
Thursday
I tried a Cook's Illustrated recipe for butter chicken, which was very tasty. I fail to see the difference between this and chicken tikka masala, but that's fine, because I like tikka masala!
Friday
I'm not entirely sure what our plans are for tonight; we might do our date night tonight instead of tomorrow night.
In which case Sonia and Zoe will eat leftover butter chicken.
We have been having heartier meals as it is our winter. This week we have had chicken pasta, pizza, pumpkin soup, potato and leek soup and I can't remember the other meals.
And you will be eating salads when I get my soup pot out!
I decided to make future meal prep my focus this week.. I have a good amount of stuff in the freezer that is just future foods.. so I used my time to prepare for the busy back to school weeks..
Sunday- We went a family birthday luncheon so ....( I tossed a bag of frozen chicken breasts into the crock pot with a box of stock and added herbs.. poached those and when cooled I shredded, and froze for future meals...I strained the poaching liquid and froze in jars for future use!) That night we just ate whatever random leftovers were in the fridge...
Monday-We took my mom out for her birthday so while we were doing stuff all day and eating at a steakhouse... I cooked a Sams Club sized roast in my crock pot and later froze it in the broth for a quick simple dinner starter...
Tuesday- The girl was asked to sub up into a summer Volleyball league so we jumped at the chance.. So she prepared a quick early supper when I was on my way home from work.. Paw Patrol nuggets, tater tots and a bowl of fresh fruit salad! lol We hit the local custard stand on the way home from the matches!
Wednesday- I cooked a 9lb pork shoulder in the crock pots( so big I had to hack it down in partial frozen state and divide).... While that was cooling I cooked a package of steakums and drained all the fat off... I cut a 12ct package of dinner rolls in half, and layered garlic butter, meat and mozzarella in the middle and toasted in the oven.. served these sliders with fresh corn on the cob, peaches and strawberries...
When the pork was cooled I was able to debone, de fat and shred it into 3 huge containers of meat.. tossed 2 into the freezer for future dinners! I also strained and saved the meat broth for a future crock of ham and green beans!
Thursday- Finally I allowed the kid to eat something I was cooking! BBQ pork sandwiches, sauted garlic green beans, macaroni and cheese and applesauce before I had to go back to work for a meeting!
Friday- Up in the air.. I am going to let the girl choose as she has her final day of VB try outs and we will find out team placement! But I have a sneaking hunch it will involve hotdogs since the WeinerMobile will be at the grocery store my oldest works at this afternoon! lol
Saturday: Ribeye steaks, garlic bread, roasted bell pepper/onion/mushrooms, carrot sticks
Sunday: Pot roast, baked potatoes, sauteed summer squash, cucumbers with vinegar and salt
Monday: Various leftovers
Tuesday: Ribeye steaks (yes, again--they cook fast and it's been hot), Schwan's frozen spicy chicken fillets someone gave us (not bad, but VERY spicy), roasted potatoes, roasted cabbage, cucumber/tomato/shallot salad
Wednesday: Hamburgers with bread buns--meaning just slices of homemade bread--cucumbers and carrots with ranch dip
Thursday: Scrambled eggs with salsa and cheese, garlic bread, more vegetables with ranch dip
Tonight: I am tempted to let my children eat from the county fair concession stand, but I know I won't. I guess I can cook some country-style pork ribs in the morning so they're ready to eat when we get home. Along with other similarly fast things. Rice and frozen peas, maybe.
I have an honest question about Aldi. How do you deal with the plastic waste aspect? Whenever I go to buy, say, tomatoes, they're packed in plastic bags with no loose alternative. Or the garlic heads come 3 to a package, wrapped in that weird mesh stuff. Are there some vegetables you buy unpackaged at other grocery stores, or is that not part of your calculus right now?
I Guess Kristin avoids this issue as she has her Hungry Harvest box!
Here in Germany, the amount of plastic wraps for vegetables has increased dramatically over the last decade. However, the trend is slowly reversed and you can find more and more vegetables without plastic bag at Aldi. They are even using the reduction of plastic wraps as an argument in their commercials.
This is possibly due to the increasing public awareness of the impact of plastic production on climate change as well as on the pollution of the oceans. Right now, the topic is much discussed due to the "Fridays for Future" movement (https://www.fridaysforfuture.org). Perhaps you can inquire if Aldi plans to offer less plastic wraps for vegetables.
I do get a lot of my produce from Hungry Harvest, and that tends to come unpackaged (except for things like grape tomatoes, which I have never seen unpackaged anywhere except from a garden!)
I mostly steer toward the produce at Aldi that is always packaged, no matter where you go (strawberries, blueberries, cherries, baby spinach, etc.) And of course I happily buy the unpackaged stuff like watermelon, avocados, butternut squash, and so on.
The plastic on produce at Aldi is an interesting thing to think about. Because of the way Aldi operates (fast turnover, limited selection), they tend to produce less actual produce waste (like throwing produce away) than most grocery stores do, so part of me wonders if that totally negates any extra packaging. I would love to know!
When I was paying more attention to plastic household waste, I bought our pantry Staples and frozen goods at Aldi, but made the weekly produce/milk purchases at the Kroger or Meijer that was closer and had loose produce. It wasn't a perfect system, but it worked for me.
We no longer live near and Aldi but did so until last fall and I did about 90% of my shopping there. I noticed right before we moved that Aldi had switched more of their produce to be loose and not packaged. Several items I would buy on the regular were no longer in packages of 3-4 plastic wrapped to a styrofoam tray but rather loose for you to pick though and choose. I figured it was the beginning of a change for them. I was never too concerned about that plastic waste when I work to reduce my waste in other ways and recycle as much as possible.
Saturday- Ds had a soccer tournament 1 1/2 away last game was at 4:50 (and it was HOT!) so we stopped for something on the way home.
Sunday- at mom/dads sister/bil made sauce, so it was ravioli, meatballs, sausage.
Monday-BBQ Grilled chicken, sliced New potatoes/carrots on the grill (foil packet), fresh white corn from the veggie stand. We stopped on Sunday on the way back from the soccer tournament! (delish!)
Tuesday-Hamburgers/hot dogs homemade Mac & Cheese
Wednesday- Pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs, Cut up apple before DD soccer practice.
Thursday- Homemade Chicken pot pie, dd- tortellini, ds- chicken parm
Friday- Took out sausage, so sausage peppers onions, potatoes , not sure about the kids yet.
Do you have a recipe for the chicken and biscuits? If that's what in the picture it looks really good!
I was wondering the same. It looks like a deep dish chicken pot pie with a biscuit crust instead of pie crust? I would like to try this if you could give us your recipe .
It's kind of like that...just chicken and gravy, topped with a big sheet of biscuits.
Well, I've never made that dish myself before, and I pieced it together from some very unspecific directions from my mom and grandma. Ha. I have a few tweaks I'd like to make to make it a little tastier, and once I get that figured out, I'll share!
Monday: Cheeseburgers, chips, and cooked carrots
Tuesday: Fancy Mac and cheese (macaroni and cheese with mixed veggies thrown in), green beans from our garden, and smoothies
Wednesday: Venison steak, frozen veggies, baked beans
Thursday: Everyone got home late (we ate dinner at 8:15 and my kids are normally in bed at 8) so I changed plans and made spaghetti.
Friday: I might make the burrito bowls I had planned for last night. Or the original Friday plan of chicken thighs, broccoli with cheese, and fruit.
Our fridge has been dying a slow and unfortunate death - so I've been making near daily trips to the grocery store to buy milk and fresh meat for dinner. We've also had a few fast food meals.
We ordered a new fridge from Costco, which includes delivery and hauling away the old unit for about $100 less than home Depot. We couldn't find an open box deal in the correct size and brand unfortunately (I checked 4 stores near me).
This week:
Saturday: frozen pizza
Sunday: dinner at the in laws for FIL's bday
Monday: Salmon and salad
Tuesday: Naan pizza
Wednesday: McDonalds
Thursday: breakfast burritos
Friday: chicken and sweet potato, probably in a curry
I'm sorry your fridge died, but I hope the new one is fantastic!
I'm definitely looking forward to not making such frequent trips to the grocery store anymore 🙂
There was a lot of "no dinner" evenings in my week this week.
Sunday - home from lots of driving from road trip
Monday - went to a talk at a library, grabbed some supermarket sushi.
Tuesday - lazed around with snacky food, as roommate was out.
Wednesday - I'm drawing a blank.
Thursday - my birthday boy friend chose sushi for dinner. The timing worked out such that it was happy hour sushi so the cost was very low.
Do you have a recipe for those pretzels? I use the KAF recipe normally. I've never thought to add cinnamon sugar to the outside. That looks amazing. My boys have been asking for soft pretzels again soon and that might have to be in order.
We used the Cook's Illustrated version, and I don't think I'm 100% happy with it. Do you love the KAF version? If so, maybe we should try it!
I have been adding vanilla to Rice Krispies treats for years. It definitely makes a difference! But, I recently discovered the BEST Rice Krispies treats recipe EVER. I honestly cannot make them very often because I would literally eat the entire pan. They are SO good!
https://life-in-the-lofthouse.com/the-best-rice-krispie-treats/
Oh man, I know that feeling. It is so easy to eat WAY too many of those.
So the difference is 5 T of butter versus 3 T in the Kellogg’s official recipe, plus double the marshmallows?
I remember in the 1960s the recipe had a whole stick of butter!
Browning the butter sounds intriguing!
I didn't cook at all last night or the night before -- I unfortunately had a partial blockage which means only liquids for a while. This afternoon I will finally be able to eat - carefully!- again. Such is life with an IBD. I hope that's not TMI. My husband had a pot pie from the freezer one night and a McDonald's hamburger with fries one night, while I had water, juice and broth.
What I cooked on the nights I could cook was pretty simple:
Cauliflower and cheddar cheese soup
Pulled pork from the freezer, carrot-raisin salad, and cucumbers
Sloppy joes with salad
Something else I've forgotten.
I am so over budget it's not funny. Let's see if I can pull it back in this month.
I'm sorry! That sounds very uncomfortable! Only liquids is so limiting but fortunately it's over!
Perhaps some lentil or bean dishes for next week? I made some lentil-based bolognese sauce that was so delicious my SO eat it all in one sitting. No complaining about missing meat and only half the price than the "classic" meat bolognese. 🙂
Aww, that sounds awful! I hope that you are feeling better soon.
Monday: roast chicken and sweet potato traybake
Tuesday: pasta with Roasted veg and pesto sauce
Weds: lentil patties with sweet potato fries
Thurs: tortilla wraps with hummus and salad
Fri: frozen pizza!
Have you tried browning the butter first when you make Rice Krispies treats? It is SO worth the extra few minutes. Crazy good.
Browned butter is SO good. I'll have to try this!
My favorite recipe is from the Smitten Kitchen. You brown a whole cube of butter and then add a quarter teaspoon of sea salt before melting in the marshmallows. I am drooling just thinking about them. Ha. I am never going back to the original recipe.