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WIS, WWA | Thumbs up to Local Flavor

See Saturday’s eats for my thoughts about Local Flavor.

What I Spent

I did not get a Hungry Harvest box even though it was my week. And that’s because our credit card number got stolen, so we had to get a new number, and now we are finding out all the places we have to update this number!

So, my payment didn’t go through. No Hungry Harvest for me.

Hungry Harvest produce on a countertop.

But I got the card updated now, so in two weeks, I’ll get my box.

Aside from that, it was a very here-and-there grocery shopping week at our house:

  • $35 at Trader Joe’s (me)
  • $10 at Target for two bottles of conditioner (the ones I mentioned in this curly girl post)
  • $4 at Lidl for a frozen pizza (Mr. FG)
  • $27 at Weis (Mr. FG)
  • $16 at Harris Teeter (me)
  • $39 at BJs (Mr. FG, obv. He is the BJ’s shopper here!)
  • $32 at Giant (Mr. FG)

And all of that adds up to $163.

What We Ate

Saturday

Mr. FG and I used a LocalFlavor voucher for a sandwich place, where I tried a Nashville hot chicken sandwich.

Hot chicken sandwiche in a box.

It was really tasty, and also very filling because it had two chicken breast fillets on it.

Mr. FG had a Philly cheesesteak; a date night is a perfect time for him to eat one of those because I do not really like cheesesteak sandwiches. This means I am very not-prone to making them at home!

By the way, we’ve found quite a few good 50% off vouchers on LocalFlavor recently, and they’ve been helpful in stretching our date night budget.

Local Flavor is a site that’s a lot like Groupon or Living Social, but it’s mainly for food in your area. Go give it a look before you go out next time; as long as you’re not super rural, there’s probably one for your area.

Sunday

I made French bread pizzas to use up a loaf of bread from the food pantry extras.

How to make French Bread Pizza

I’ve been using Cook’s Country’s version lately, which calls for brushing the bread with garlic butter and baking it for a few minutes before adding the tomato sauce and cheese.

This definitely upgrades the experience a bit!

Monday

Monday was the day I tried making fish sticks with the frozen catfish.

I wrote all about the experience here, but suffice it to say, it was not good.

Mr. FG was the lone one who thought the catfish was edible, and God bless him, he even ate some as leftovers for lunch the next day.

I could not. Blech.

Tuesday

I tried an orzo recipe that someone had posted on Instagram from a TikTok user who reviews Trader Joe’s products.

I had to make a TikTok login in order to see the ingredients, so now I have a TikTok account but I am not planning to actually use it. I just wanted a recipe!

(I need more social media distractions like I need a hole in my head.)

Orzo and spinach in a pan.

Anyway, it was chicken sausage, orzo, chicken broth, cream, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and spinach.

It turned out pretty similar to the orzo and ground sausage dish I often make, but the sun-dried tomatoes made it a little different.

Wednesday

I made these Korean lettuce wraps (we got a package of ground beef in the food pantry extras) and we had some frozen Trader Joe’s potstickers on the side.

Korean Beef Lettuce Wraps

Thursday

I used an ATK recipe for pork tinga meat, and we used it to make tacos in corn tortillas.

Friday

I’m planning to make pasta alfredo.

pasta alfredo with roasted tomatoes.

What did you have for dinner this week?

P.S. If you’ve read the comments here over time, you are probably familiar with Gina, who blogs at The Cannary Family. Gina suddenly lost her husband recently, and if you’d like to send some support her way, you could leave a comment on her blog.

P.P.S. I have oodles of posts in the archives that I’d like to update and reshare. So, I’m going to start a habit of re-publishing an older post every Saturday. Some of ’em might be new to you!

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Jenny

Saturday 28th of August 2021

How spicy was your Nashville hot? When I tried something similar, it was physically painful (my lips!) and I couldn’t eat more than a few bites. And did you have a bad Philly cheesesteak experience? I think you must have- they can vary, but a good, real one seems like something you would like. Looking forward to the nostalgic archives posts!

Kristen

Saturday 28th of August 2021

Mine was spicy, but definitely edible!

Cheesesteaks are just so...greasy. At least in my experience.

Angie Day

Friday 27th of August 2021

$145 @ Costco but only $80 of that amount was actual food. Saturday…skirt steak marinated with sofrito and lime, sautéed onions and peppers, cheese dip and home canned salsa verde and tomato salsa. We ate this with tortillas. Sunday…batch cooking day. I made a large pot of vegetable soup using up lots of garden veggies, double chocolate muffins, cornbread muffins, roasted chicken with a lemon parsley pan sauce, squash casserole. Monday…smorgasbord of soup, cornbread, steak tacos. Tuesday…got some not so great news. Hit the easy button and went to a local Mexican spot for empanadas. Wednesday…browned ground beef added to remaining veggie soup, cornbread. Thursday…another rough day. Little guy had a happy meal. Hubby ate a sandwich and I had a scoop of ice cream. Friday…Grandma took the little one for a date and fed him dinner…I think a milkshake was involved. Hubby and I had Lebanese food at a local spot. The weekend is here. Hubby has requested lasagna so I think that will be our plan for Saturday. Happy weekend everyone!!

priskill

Friday 27th of August 2021

It was just me this week so I spent moderately on fresh stuff and used up lots of pantry/'frig/freezer items:

Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues/Wednes : Homemade chix soup and either salad or steamed broccoli. It did get a bit tiresome but I soldiered on ;) Thursday : Spouse returned and I attempted chicken flautas. Realized I do not know how to fry. They were okay and he seemed to like them. With salad and guacemole. Tonight -- Friday -- treat!

oh and catfish -- yeah, I hear ya Happy Friday to all!

Meredith

Friday 27th of August 2021

I stopped using Groupon and the like since the restaurants & other businesses really lose out: let's say it's $20 for $50 worth of food. The restaurant *maybe* gets $10, and the site takes 50%. Then, if people don't become customers, it's an outlay without any ROI. Do you know if the one you mentioned has the same pricing structure?

Kristen

Friday 27th of August 2021

Hmm, I don't know! My understanding is that restaurants offer these as a sort of one-off, to introduce people to their restaurant, hoping they'll become a regular. Sort of like a loss-leader, to get you in the door.

But I don't have any inside info about this!

bettafrmdaville

Friday 27th of August 2021

It is a week of using up food before leaving for vacation. WWS: .65 cents (one can of cat food to get $5.00 store credit). WWA: Sat.: Shortened trip #1 early to try to make it back to New England before "the worst hurricane in 30 years" (we had a lot of rain and some wind but it was no hurricane....). Tried White Castle for the first time. Meh, at best. Sun.: Toast? Mon.: 3-cup chicken (Woks of life website), rice, sautéed summer squash, chopped cucumbers and red peppers with Ippudo dressing (pantry No. 7 website) Tues.: out to eat Wed.: pasta alla norma (tomatoes & eggplant from garden, added capers, subbed feta for ricotta salata) Thurs.: Gazpacho Córdobes (tomatoes & cucumber from garden, epicurious, my favorite gazpacho recipe) Fri.: fridge remnants. I also canned 9 pints of tomato sauce. First time canning without a more seasoned canner and I'm still feeling a bit giddy that all sealed and none broke....

Kristen

Friday 27th of August 2021

Yes, such a good feeling when all the lids seal!

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