WIS, WWA | It was an expensive week.
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What I Spent
My fridge was a bit empty when I came home from Florida, plus it was Sonia's birthday party this week...so I spent a lot more than usual!
I spent $163 at Aldi alone.
I spent $7.31 at the trip where I got my free oranges.
And on the trip to get shrimp for Sonia's birthday meal last Friday, I spent $61 ($30 of which was on shrimp).
Lastly, a small stop ran me $13.
So, I spent $245. Whoa.
That puts me at almost $100 over budget.
(You never know when an outtake from a Stitch Fix post will come in handy!)
Which makes me think that perhaps an eat-from-the-freezer-and-pantry week is in order.
What We Ate
Monday
I grilled some pork tenderloins (used my newfound pork knowledge, of course) and topped them with a homemade chimichurri sauce.
To go with that, we had mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus with garlic butter.
(here as leftovers for a later lunch!)
Tuesday
I tried a new recipe from my latest Cook's Country magazine for slow-cooker Chicken Tikka Masala. It was pretty good, but my chicken was a little over 160 ° when I took it out after 4 hours. So, I think I'd check it at 3 hours next time around.
I also made a brussels sprouts salad that one of you recommended on instagram (after I did a few stories complaining about having too many brussels sprouts in my fridge!).
I give this a thumbs up because it was different, easy, worked as leftovers (just don't add the pecans...sprinkle them on as you serve it), and didn't involved cooking the sprouts.
(I hate cooking Brussels sprouts because they make my whole house smell terrible!)
Wednesday
I made 3 Cup Chicken stir fry from a Cook's Illustrated magazine, and we ate that over rice, with orange wedges on the side.
Thursday
I had the makings for chicken noodle soup in the freezer (cooked chicken and veggies), so I thawed those and a few jars of homemade broth. Easy peasy!
We had some raw veggies and fruit with our soup, plus whole wheat toast.
Friday
I was going to make Chicken Pizzaiola, but in typing this up, I'm realizing that that would make four days of chicken in a row. Which is a lot.
So, maybe I'll opt for something that doesn't involve chicken!
What did you eat this week? And how's your grocery budget doing?
(Hopefully better than mine this week.)
(!!!)
We often go four days (or more) in a row eating the same sort of protein. It's what happens when you buy whole or half animals. At the moment, it's almost all beef at our house. The exhaustive detailed explanation of all this is on my blog--I have countless words to expend on food, apparently--but here's the short version:
Monday: Hungarian goulash (beef!) with carrots, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, frozen peas
Tuesday: Pork chops (beef break!), fried cabbage/carrots/onion, leftover rice and mashed potatoes, microwave baked apples
Wednesday: Bacon cheeseburgers (beef!), random fried eggs (for my husband, because I didn't have a whole lot of meat and he eats a whole lot of meat, but also likes to put eggs on top of his hamburgers--I will refrain from comment on that), vegetable soup using up the last of the goulash sauce rather than broth, cheddar cheese (what I and my eldest son ate in lieu of hamburgers), bread and butter
Thursday: Ribeye steaks (beef! from the ridiculous whole ribeye my husband purchased last week and that is almost gone, because, as I said, he eats a whole lot of meat), pasta with tomato sauce, roasted butternut squash/onions/garlic, green salad, baked apples
Tonight: Thankfully, the Church says no beef today. Eggs it is. Haven't decided if I'm going to scramble them or make an omelet, give the kids leftover pasta or fresh bread (I have to bake the bread right around dinnertime), steam broccoli or nuke some frozen peas. Depends on how the day goes, I suppose.
Saturday-Mom made dinner for my birthday- Ham, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, pickled beets. Birthday cake for dessert.
sunday- home made chicken Alfredo. (think I had some salad with.
Monday (birthday) ate out 5 guys, and stone cold creamery.
Tuesday - Dh and I had homemade stew, kids had pizza rolls
Wednesday- Chicken cutlet, carrots, stuffing
thurday- Chinese take out.
Friday- no meat, so either eggs or pancakes,,,,, something breakfast. I think!
Yummy as always! The photo is epic hehe.
My MIL and hubby make lots of fried and stir fried food at home. I have been encouraging them to eat more steamed dishes and soup, but it's been challenging since that's not what they are used too. We use one whole bottle of oil almost every 2-3 weeks!
That's a lot of oil (unless they buy the 4 oz bottles or somehing.) How much oil do they use in their stir-fries?
Cooks Illustrated recommends using a flat, nonstick pan for stir-frying, unless you have a special, extraordinarily-high BTU gas burner. (This is higher than any commonly-available gas stove will provide.) It's sacriledge (sp!) I know, but here's their resaoning:
A proper Asian stir-fry has extremely intense heat at the bottom of the wok. Western stoves aren't powerful enough to do that. So there's no point in trying to use a wok because it'll use a ton of oil and won't come out right. So go flat. Once you go flat, use a nonstick so the oil is part of the flavor rather than part of the cooking medium.
Maybe your MIL would be willing to give it a try?
Your comment make me laugh out loud.. I know you meant the best by your advice.. The poster has a blog.. she is 100% Vietnamese and her husband and Mother in law are 100% Chinese...I figure they know what they are doing with their cooking! You should check out her blog!
Thank you for checking out my blog, Jessica! My hubby and MIL seem to know what they're doing with the cooking, but I still have a lot to learn. 😀
Thank you so much for the suggestion! They indeed use the wok a lot and complain about the electric stove all the time.
I don't remember the exact ounces of the oil bottle, but it's the regular one you get at the grocery store for $2-3. We often get the huge can of Canola oil from Costco since we use so much oil. My hubby and MIL say that they're used to using the wok to stir fry stuff. I think it's just a matter of habits. You seem to know about about Asian cooking. 🙂
Oh, no! An electric stove? That doesn't make stir-frying any easier. The one year I had an electric, not only could I not do decent stir-fry, I even messed up rice (I hang my head in shame). By then I had seen the single-burner, high-powered propane rings for sale in various Chinatowns. I was consumed by desire but didn't have room in my tiny kitchen.
Ms. FAF - I know a little about Asian cooking. I lived for a bit in China but that was in a hotel so no cooking for me. On the plus side, there was a vibrant street food culture which I took full advantage of. I learned more about How To Do It Right by watching home cooks and street food vendors (notice a theme here?) on my vacations to rural areas, such as Guangzhou and Yunnan.
Now I'm missing good Chinese food. Most restaurants do Westernized versions that just aren't as good.
My meal plans got a little messed up this week because I kept coming home late for one reason or another.
I don't remember the order or quite what we had -- my menu isn't with me.
Backing up:
Last night we had chicken tenders and parsnip and sweet potato "fries." We had grain free blueberry crumble for a dessert. It's rare for us to have dessert.
Night before I was very late getting home: I ate a leftover AIP-friendly taco, while my husband tried a frozen eggplant parmesan that he ended up not finishing. He loves homemade eggplant parm, but this dinner left the peel on the eggplant, which cooked up tough and bitter in the oven. I always peel eggplant.
The night before that I think but am not sure, was leftover pork chops from the night before that. I served roasted veggies both nights and one night we had a salad, too.
I went over budget last week, and so this week we will also be eating more from the freezer. I usually shop on Friday after work, but I shopped last night (Thursday) instead. So far, I've only spent $56, but I might end up having to pick up more next week. I hope I can get by without that.
Do you have a recipe for the grain free blueberry dessert?
It's actually a crumble recipe from The More With Less Cookbook. Put 2 to 3 cups of fresh or frozen fruit ( like berries or fresh peaches) in a lightly greased casserole dish. Top with the following mixture: 1 cup cassava flour such as Otto's Cassava Flour (original was all purpose flour) , 2 eggs (originally 1 egg) dash salt, 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon, 1/2 cup sugar (I use coconut sugar) and 1 tsp. Baking powder, blended till crumbly. Sprinkle over fruit. Pour 1/4 cup melted butter or fat of your choice over topping. Bake 25 minutes at 375 deg.
Thank you!
I too have makings for chicken noodle soup in my freezer....that is what I am making tomorrow....
I was wondering if you have your chimichurri sauce recipe posted somewhere? I'd love to try it.
Hey ya'll
Monday - Ranch chicken (prepped ahead), cucumber pepper and grape tomato "salad", bread sticks (dough in bread machine)
Tuesday - Scrambled eggs with ham and scallions, strawberries and bananas, wheat berry toast
Wednesday - Veggie spaghetti (ragu done ahead of time), greens salad, breadsticks(leftovers)
Thursday - Turkey burgers with spicy lime mayo (got idea from simple living magazine that friend had), roasted potatoes with horseradish dipping sauce
Friday - Intend on making beef rice o roni (I know, I know but we like the stuff in the box and its simple enough to throw together), corn, avocados, rest of bread sticks
Saturday - The plan is to ignore the weather, fire up the BBQ and grill up salmon, cob corn, asparagus and have some french bread on the side...my favorite meal
Everyone have a good weekend
That "oops" face in the pic is so good for so many situations, lol
Monday - I had leftover Chinese (yes, we did takeout on Sunday for lunch, but I ate leftovers Sunday dinner, Monday lunch, & Monday dinner!) and I made my husband Shepard's pie using 2 frozen burger patties and bagged mashed potatoes that were free and had been in my pantry for awhile.
Tuesday - I went to my parents to take a 3 hour online exam. I knew my house would have too many distractions! So my mom cooked for me and it was delicious as always. I'm guessing my husband ate cereal (not a punishment - he loves it).
Wednesday - Got a free appetizer from Noodles & Co. from a survey I took on my last receipt. 10 BBQ Korean Meatballs. I put them over rice and veggies and we both got dinner out of the freebie.
Thursday - I had made a beef roast in the Instant Pot on Wednesday evening so we ate from that for dinner. My husband had Mongolian Beef & Broccoli and I had it with spaghetti and veggies.
Friday - Need to eat from the freezer. I have been stocking up on great deals but it's only a great deal if you actually eat it! ibotta gave me a great deal on low-carb frozen personal pizzas, so I bought 5. I plan to eat one tonight. My husband is working from home today so he may or may not be hungry for dinner since he snacks all day 🙂
Saturday - Our nephews 4th birthday party. My parents are grilling steak and salmon (even though I don't think the temps will be out of the 30s). Excited for summer when grilling will be more often!
Yesterday was a doozie so I'm going to limit myself to that: in honor of National Cereal Day, we had cereal, milk or yogurt, strawberries/blueberries/bananas, and - inevitably - rice crispie treats for dessert.
I thought you were being facetious but I googled that for fun anyway and I did not know that is a real day but then in Melbourne we have an annual state public holiday for a horse race so who am I to question 🙂
America LOVES declaring each day several esoteric things. If you can think of it and it is legal in the whole country it probably has a day. Just about every food has one, plus innumerable activities, interests and groups of people. Not to mention all the famous to slightly well-known people. Most days have several options to choose from for your celebratory efforts.
It's one of a zillion silly, "official" days, decided by some mysterious authority that few can identify. No doubt Cereal Day was nominated, sponsored, and promoted by General Mills, Kellogg, and Quaker Oats. I excuse my falling to crass advertisement by considering it one of my occasional breakfast for dinner days.
My week was super frugal because it was a "eat from the freezer/pantry" week. I didn't visit the store at all which helped things. But I'm running low on supplies so I should head out on Saturday to restock.
I'm also just 100 lbs so I don't think it costs too much to feed me 🙂
Sunday: rice casserole
Monday: steaks, salad and veggies
Tuesday: fajitas courtesy of friends
Wednesday: stir fry
Thursday: chickpea tagine and ksra (learned I know nothing about cooking artichokes)
Friday: chipotle chili
This week we were easily under budget because friends helped us with meals late last week while we were at the hospital, and I bumped those meals to this week.
Sunday we went to Quaker Steak and Lube at the birthday request of the twins...Not sure why that was their choice.. but Oh well...
Monday was leftovers from Friday night Including birthday Pecan Pie and Birthday Peanut butter frosted chocolate brownies...
Tuesday-I breaded some chicken breast filets and we had Chicken parm with pasta and italian bread
Weds- Meatloaf, corn and hash brown casserole ( I experimented using 3 boxes of Hungry Jack dehydrated hashbrowns... worked great!) Canned fruit
Thurs- Chicken stuffing casserole with oven roasted carrots, leftover hashbrowns, the last tiny roll of crescent rolls...
That concluded the available food supply.. My fridge was so empty I was able to put everything on 1 short counter and scrub the thing sparkling... Then I took my oldest to musical practice and hit Aldi and Giant Eagle... lolol It was much easier packing lunches this morning!
Friday- I am planning homemade pizza and green salad.. I just friend up a package of sausage so it is ready.. Will to pep/saus and cheese.
Monday: chicken and mushrooms in a butter/wine sauce, tossed with gf tagliatelle, steamed and buttered green beans
Tuesday: eldest son had his final basketball game of the season and the socializing ran late so we ate at Noodles & Company (very gf friendly)
Wednesday: leftovers...chicken krahi from the in laws (amazing) and chickpea salad (also from the in-laws and my favorite), rice, grilled sandwiches and canned pineapple for the anti-spicy contingent.
Thursday: bacon/onion/potato quiches, roasted broccoli
Tonight: roasted salmon, crispy oven potatoes, buttered peas
All in all a delicious week. I AM out of butter now. Obviously.
Well, what a week it was..............................ugh
Monday - Baked fish, wild rice, asparagus with lemon butter, Asian cucumber salad, oranges
Tuesday - Grilled steak, riced veggies (cauliflower and sweet potato), salad, apples
Wednesday - Parmesan chicken, noodles, peas, fruit salad
Thursday - Leftovers as the fridge was full of choices : )
Friday - Planned dinner out
Saturday - Will be sheet pan sausages and veggies, fruit, wheat rolls
Sunday - Hurts my brain to think that far ahead!! lol
I too came back from Florida to an empty fridge. And, spent $245 restocking last week. But, that's for eight of us and just makes it within our budget. Plus, since I haven't left home for two days (Nor'easter round 2) and have the necessary weekend dinner items already, my grocery bill for this week should be nice and low. It all balances out!
Monday - Coq au vin, french bread, carrot sticks/jicama sticks/tomatoes
Tuesday - Early: chicken nuggets & green beans, late: leftover shepard's pie or Welsh Rarebit
Wednesday - Enchiladas (Kristen's recipe) & corn
Thursday - No power early so I only had access to the stovetop. That group had macaroni & cheese with green beans. The power came back just before we were going to grab take out for the late group so we had homemade pizza.
Friday - School is out again today which postpones the event we tonight that would have covered dinner. So, I'm thinking chicken nuggets for the early group and homemade pizza again for the late group, but things are a bit up in the air.
Monday - Fish, asparagus, wild rice. This meal was actually a big win for me. The day before and a couple of days later my 4yo complained about not liking asparagus. (My 1yo loves it.) But when it was paired with fish and wild rice instead of something like fruit, they were all "ok" foods and she ate a ton of asparagus and wanted more than we had. That made me happy.
Tuesday - Meatloaf, salad, pineapple
Wednesday - Sloppy joes, asparagus, cantaloupe
Thursday - At the last minute this turned into a daddy/daughter and mother/son date night. Since restaurants with a 1yo can be sketchy, I went through a Rally's drive-thru and got a pint of ice cream at Aldi (the Brookie Dough was AMAZING!) and with my Rally's coupon I spent less than $7 for all of it.
Friday - Fajitas. Probably a side of strawberries.
Saturday - We will most likely have what I was going to make last night, which was chicken with Aldi's Brew Pub seasoning, roasted cauliflower, and a corn/zucchini saute.
Sunday - Either chicken salad croissants, vegetable beef soup, or crunchwraps. Undecided at the moment. 🙂
Busy week for me for a lot of reasons but we bought almost no groceries, which was interesting.
Monday: Wife was seeing her family so I went to my parents' house to do their taxes. Shout out to TurboTax as for whatever reason TaxAct wouldn't let them do it with my dad's retirement income without bumping them up to a higher cost version. Oh well!
Anyway, my mom made me dinner for helping them with their taxes. She made steamed hams (we aren't far from Albany after all.)
Tuesday: Wife and daughter with her family again (I wasn't invited) so it was leftover chicken from Sunday.
Wednesday: We had a bit of a snowstorm here in the Northeast so we opted for simple and had frozen fish, salads and baked potatoes.
Thursday: Pork chops, scalloped potatoes and vegetables
Friday: Homemade pizza tonight. I'm not sure if I'll do anything else but I may make salads.
I do need to make an Aldi run after work as we have no fresh produce left in the house.
What are "steamed hams" and what's the Albany reference?
Jsut curious-
I LOVE scalloped potatoes
Thar chimichurri sauce is making my mouth water! I can't wait until the summer when I can grow parsley and make chimichurri!
I love parsley but am not familiar with chimichurri; it looks delicious
I don't own a stand alone freezer. Since we have freezing temps for 6 or more months a year in Fairbanks, we put plastic totes out on the back porch in October and use them as stand alone freezers, keeping in mind that by mid March we need to be eating up anything that won't fit into our fridge freezer. Well, about a week ago we had a day where it suddenly went to 32 during the hottest part of the day, and although it was 8 degrees at night, we moved everything indoors. Except for two huge whole salmons someone had traded me for tomatoes last August. So, we have had salmon for the last six days---salmon salad for lunch sandwiches and baked or broiled salmon for supper each night. We also invited someone over for dinner one night, which we wanted to do anyway, but needing another mouth to eat salmon was what prompted the invitation this week. And when we had salmon for dinner, we ate only vegetables, no starch, so we would eat more salmon to get full...finally done. I love salmon but will be glad to not eat it again until this summer's fishing season! Tonight we are having potato pancakes, for our Friday Lent meal. I am not an especially observant Christian, in terms of church, but I like Lent because I give up chocolate and cheese for the season, which forces me to be mindful of how much I take for granted. I also try to do one nice thing for someone each day, but, frankly, it is easier to give up my two favorite food groups than it is to be nice to random people.
That is so funny. I have a terrible time giving up favorite foods. I then want ONLY those foods, whereas before I ate them in normal amounts. Doing nice things for strangers is easier. I don't typically do major things. Small kindnesses make the world feel cozier to me.
Last week I actually stuck to my grocery budget. It helped that there was a big snow storm and so whatever I didn't pick up on my short trip home in the ice just didn't get bought this week (no bananas for a whole week! I can't remember the last time that happened.)
Saturday/Sunday - Chicken, rice and broccoli casserole.
Monday - homemade nachos
Tuesday - Ham steak, pan-fried potatoes, applesauce and cornbread
Wednesday/Thursday - Tacos and beans.
Friday - Ususally reserved for leftovers (had none) or an omelet (not in the mood) so I stopped and picked up a sub sandwich. (The sandwich came out of my spending money for the week, not my grocery budget.)
That's what I do when I have take-away - I treat myself to take-away once a month and deduct it from my entertainment budget; it works great for me as I know what I am spending on essentials and I can just really enjoy the treat because it's well within my spending budget
I've had a 'grab what I can find' kinda week & mostly didn't write it down but I've averaged out what I've spent each week since the 1st of Jan & it works out to be just under what I hoped I would spend. I have been gradually changing my diet over the last year & ramped it up this year trying to add lots more fruit & veg & collecting really delicious recipes that are really good for me & I really wasn't sure how much this would change my expenditure especially for work lunches & snacks but this has also really cut down my trips to the work cafe which has also slashed my weekly spend so I am rapt.