WIS, WWA | Not a stellar cooking week
What I Spent
It was a week of serious randomness with our food spending. And it wasn't a blue ribbon week for my cooking either!
But despite the fact that I did not have a fantastic week in the kitchen, our food spending was actually a little below budget.
- $7 at BJs (for dishwasher soap)
- $8 at Giant (a milk and English muffin stop)
- $16 at Lidl (milk and fruit)
- $7 at the produce stand (peaches and corn)
- $17.50 at Trader Joe's
- $18 at Harris Teeter
- $25 on a Hungry Harvest box
- $35 on takeout (see Sunday and Wednesday)
That adds up to $133.50.
(In general, my grocery spending averages out to $150/week over the course of a year.)
What We Ate
Saturday
I have a $100 Panera gift card that I'd gotten through Sixth Continent when they had a 50% credit back offer. Sadly, that offer is now gone, but if it pops back up again, I'll let you know!
Anyway, we went there for our date night and used $23 of our gift card.
Sunday
We spent $15 on waffle chicken sandwiches from a local place.
Monday
We had ravioli with tomato sauce and on the side, we had fresh peaches and some raw veggies.
Tuesday
I baked a bag of orange chicken from Trader Joe's, cooked some rice, and cut up some fresh produce.
Wednesday
A combination of factors messed up my dinner plans, the main one being that Zoe and I got stuck in standstill traffic for an hour and a half because of an accident on a bridge.
We didn't get home until 6:30 and Mr. FG had evening plans, plus Zoe and I had to go feed the shelter cats. So we spent $20 on fast food and called it good.
Thursday
I finally did an actual cooking night! I made the Swiss mushroom chicken that I'd planned to make on Wednesday and I tried a new recipe for some oatmeal dinner rolls.
Friday
The weather promises to be lovely again today, so I think I will make pizza.
The cooler weather means I can heat up the oven to 500° without worrying about making the house stiflingly hot.
I don't think your week was bad at all! Everyone was fed, happy, and you stayed under budget. I'd call that a success!
We had:
last Friday night: date night at home - we had some cheese and ham as an appetiser, steak and Caesar salad for the main, and chocolate mousse for dessert.
Saturday: I made breakfast burritos to freeze, and had one for dinner to "check the quality". I usually eat the same thing for breakfast for months, then get bored and end up hungry and cranky in the mornings until I can find my next thing. Glad I finally landed on burritos!
Sunday: I tried Sohla El-Waylly's chicken and rice method. You make a sort of "sauce" to flavour the rice and cook it right in with the chicken, rice and vegetables. Delicious! I love Sohla's techniques.
Monday: leftover chicken & rice
Tuesday: pasta with broccoli, cipolata sausage and onion
Wednesday: leftover pasta
Thursday: Chicken Tinga Rice Bowls
Friday: we're going to watch Ted Lasso and will make each other surprise sandwiches. I'm going to make a avocado and egg sandwich on ciabatta. I have a feeling he might make a BLT.
I'm very proud of not having take out this week - in fact we actually have leftovers to last us through the weekend. This is a rare occurrence so I'm quite proud of myself. But still, I'm happy to trade off cooking duties for next week!
I forgot to add: I also made shortbread for the first time (a nod to Ted Lasso). I don't think Ive ever actually eaten shortbread, so I'm not sure what it's supposed to be like, but I think mine came out a bit overbaked. Does anyone have a recipe they swear by?
@a curious reader, Shortbread is hard. It's supposed to be easy, but with only three ingredients, it's easy to mess it up. For me, anyway. My main problem seems to be that it's always too dry when I'm mixing it. I've never made any that's better than Walker's.
@a curious reader,
Ha, we love Ted Lasso and I just shared your riff on the sandwiches with my husband who laughed out loud. Great idea.
@kristin @ going country, I've tried making shortbread, I agree with you, it never turns out right and never tastes as delicious as Walker's.
Now you all have me curious! I've made shortbread a bunch of times here at home and thought it was delicious, but I've never had Walker's. Maybe I'm missing out.
@Kristen, Ooo I do love Walker's -- but I seem to remember someone's grandma from my youth who made it and it was pretty sublime
@a curious reader,
Preppy kitchen for a wonderful shortbread recipe.
@a curious reader,
Hah! Ted Lasso has forever enshrined the humble but delicious shortbread -- that show is so darn cute!
I have never watched Ted Lasso, but now I'm curious!
@Kristen,
It is funny and touching and silly -- I had to binge the first season. Ted has a good heart, and finds the good heart in everyone around him. And shortbread 😉
@kristin @ going country, (and others), thanks for the tips! I will see if I can find Walker's here to figure out what they're supposed to be like, and then I think I may try the preppy kitchen recipe!
I certainly do not miss traffic of any sort. It's amazing to me that I used to routinely tune into those traffic reports on the radio when I lived in Phoenix. The very idea raises my blood pressure now.
Anyway! Food.
Saturday: Husband and eldest son gone to a football game, so the remaining kids and I had leftover spaghetti with meat sauce, leftover chicken salad with crackers, cucumbers, and Larabars, because they wanted what their older brother had in his football bag.
Sunday: Pork loin medallions and gravy, garlic bread, caramelized cabbage, raw cabbage for the kids who prefer that, roasted carrots, and brownies
Monday: Breakfast sausage patties, mashed potatoes, beet greens, carrot sticks
Tuesday: Pork stir-fry, rice
Wednesday: Another rooster came to us, so I pressure-cooked it and added some previously cooked curried split peas to the meat for a sauce. We had that with leftover mashed potatoes, leftover beet greens, and raw green beans
Thursday: We got home very late from my son's football game, so I quickly heated up some of the leftover rooster meat--some I had saved plain, not the curry--in tortillas with cheese and salsa. The kids ate apples at the game and it was 8 p.m., so I didn't bother with a separate vegetable. Salsa counts anyway, right?
Tonight: Husband is taking all four kids camping. Hooray! I'll make them packs of bunless hamburgers and boiled potatoes in foil to heat in the campfire. Plus whatever other things I can find that would be appropriate camp food. Usually carrot sticks, bread and butter, nuts and raisins, etc. I might even be able to find all the things for s'mores, if my bag of Halloween candy in the freezer (yes, from last Halloween) has any little Hershey bars in it. In any case, I know I have marshmallows, which is the most important thing. And I will eat whatever I feel like, because I will be HOME ALONE, YAY!
@kristin @ going country,
Enjoy having the evening to yourself. I remember how special that time is when you are balancing the demand of children.
@kristin @ going country,
Aw, enjoy!!
We are having seriously unlovely weather here, so lucky you! The Girl and I are back to eating pretty regular sounding meals:
Monday - Boneless Pork Chop, pinto beans, peppers and onions
Tuesday - Thai chopped salad with rotisserie chicken
Wednesday - Crockpot Mississippi Pot Roast, skinny mashed potatoes, green beans {going back to work}
Thursday - Skillet Tilapia, zucchini
Tonight - Meatball and rice skillet with peas
Saturday and Sunday are TBD.
The siren song of take-out is calling my name. Returning to work was as hard as I thought it would be...but I will wait for the weekend to enjoy a Mexican breakfast!
We spent $120 this week at the supermarket. Of that, $82 was for food, so that was under the $90 a week I budget for food, which is mostly my husband and I. I pick up a few things for our adult son who lives with us, but he's mostly self-sufficient. The extra cost was an $11 bag of cat food, a big bottle of dishwasher rinse additive, five jars of baby food sweet potatoes for our dog with allergies, and some other thing I can't remember now.
For supper this week, we've been eating a spaghetti with a big pot of marinara sauce jazzed up with mushrooms, onions and black olives. Anyone who did not want spaghetti could have a cheese and tomato or peanut butter sandwich with fruit/fresh veggies on the side.
Saturday - pizza at a birthday party
Sunday - neighborhood potluck bbq, we brought Buffalo wings
Monday - chicken patty sandwiches, corn on the cob, French fries
Tuesday - fancy takeout for our anniversary, he got streak, I got lobster Mac n cheese, and a few appetizers, kids just ate bits of ours.
Wednesday - chicken pot pie
Thursday - shrimp burgers, pearl couscous, steamed broccoli and carrots, canned biscuits
Friday - determined to make pizza today! I haven’t made pizza from scratch in at least a couple years but I loved the recipe I used when I would make it before. I have mushrooms, cheese and sauce, need to think of another topping from what we have, maybe chicken or bacon.
Let's see - I spent $33 at Publix and $44 at Sam's so very underbudget there.
Saturday - my hubby requested lasagna so I whipped one up. This was
Sunday - I roasted a turkey breast from the freezer and we had mashed potatoes, peas, cornbread dressing, and corn on the cob
Monday - I revived the leftover turkey in a quick pan gravy and we had leftover sides to go with it
Tuesday - we had a big homework project, an errand and some rain which meant take out pizza
Wednesday - I pulled a batch of homemade spaghetti sauce from the freezer, threw together a salad and toasted garlic bread from the freezer. I will be freezing spaghetti sauce in the future...I had a great homemade dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes - I recommend this to everyone.
Thursday - Baked pork chops, broccoli with lemon, rice, and chickpeas stewed with Cilantro, onion and a variety of peppers from the garden.
Friday - Friends I have no clue what is for dinner tonight but I think it will be a clean out the fridge sort of supper.
Happy weekend!
@Angie, girl, I’m with you on freezing spaghetti sauce! We love to make a huge batch and freeze several servings for future use. It’s easy to freeze garlic bread/cheese sticks and buy a bagged salad for on the side. Tastes like you spent hours when you really spent about 15-20 min! Big kid pleaser, which is a big bonus!
Well I have overspent my grocery budget since mid-July due to buying & preserving our farmers’ market favs, truckload meat deals, & finding often used items on sale at the grocery. We can afford it, thankfully, & we will be under budget in the coming months, so it all evens out in the end. I’ve been dealing with vertigo since Sunday so we did take-out twice, which was meh at best. (This is why we don’t eat out often.) Otherwise we ate-
Lasagna, salad, garlic knot bread
Hamburgers, French fries
Fried fish, French fries
Homemade pizza
Sushi from grocery for DH & spaghetti for me
Sunday - bison tacos
Monday- nachos with leftover taco meat
Tuesday-Hoisin pork lettuce wraps
Wednesday-leftovers
Thursday-Italian sausages with pasta
Friday-homemade chicken tenders
Sides included copious amounts of salad, as well as sautéed shishito peppers, sautéed zucchini, broccoli, peaches, and watermelon in varying combinations.
I have spent approximately $85 this week on groceries.
Last Friday night I bought a rotisserie chicken.
Saturday - I made a large green salad w/ rotisserie chicken, gala apples from my farm bag, figs, candied walnuts and feta
Sunday - Fried rice with the remaining rotisserie chicken.
Monday - I made sheet pan fajitas to use up peppers from my farm bag (This idea came from Hawaii Plan. Thank you.)
Tuesday - I helped my sister move so we had Sloppy Joe’s and salad. I had made a big batch of sloppy Joe’s previously and had frozen them.
Wednesday - Baked potatoes and salad
Thursday - Husband cooked so we had hamburgers, French fries and raw veggies
Friday - I defrosted a Pork loin. I’m not sure how I will prepare it.
@Bee, so happy you tried it!
Sunday: salmon, couscous, roasted sweet potatoes and broccoli
Monday: pioneer woman veggie chili from the freezer and cheesy breadsticks
Tuesday: mini pepper nachos with tortilla chips
Wednesday: chicken blt sandwiches with chips
Thursday: pulled pork bbq sandwiches and tots/fries
Friday: either chili from the freezer or breakfast sandwiches with hash brown sticks. Freezer meal toss up!
My lesson this week was: If I'm cooking for the freezer, I should leave out some portions for dinner.
Friday: Split pea soup. It's not the kind with a ham hock; it's a lighter vegetable soup with noodles.
Saturday: Pizza and Caesar salad.
Sunday: Quiche. It was delicious, but neither of us felt that the crust was necessary, and I find pie crust a pain to make. Next time, I'd just make it without the crust. I'll definitely add it to the rotation, though. Without the crust, it's insanely easy.
Monday: I finally made the pad prik king and rice that I'd intended to make last Friday, and froze half.
Tuesday: Leftovers.
Wednesday: Pasta with homemade tomato sauce.
Thursday: I made a lentil and squash stew, but froze the entire thing and then couldn't summon the energy to make dinner. Oops! I had a fried egg sandwich, husband bought sushi at the grocery store.
Friday: We're headed to our local market this evening, so we'll either pick up sandwiches or grab a piece of fish to cook, with potatoes and sauteed cabbage and carrots.
Yes, I so agree about pie crust. I hate making it and I don't even think it's that tasty. Not worth the effort for me!
@Meira @meirathebear, Do you have a recipe you could link to for the split pea soup? Or just the ingredients. I have literal pounds of split peas (thanks, neighbors, for sharing the commodities food with us!), and I've never much cared for the mortar-like version of the soup with the ham bone.
@Kristen, I find traditional pie crust too finicky and have always made the stirred pie crust recipe in the Fanny Farmer cookbook. It's also online:
https://www.familycookbookproject.com/recipe/3369772/stirred-pastry.html
It's super-easy and not finicky at all. I usually just press the bottom crust out in the pan with my fingers and turn the top crust into strusel by chopping the dough with some brown sugar until it turns into little balls of pastry-sugary goodness to sprinkle over the fruit filling.
@kristin @ going country, Sure thing! Like all soups, it's very amenable to variation. It's my grandma's recipe, so I'll just write it out:
1 large onion, diced
2 c. carrots, sliced
2 tbsp oil or butter
Saute the above.
Add:
10 c. vegetable or chicken broth, or water + 2-3 tbsp chicken soup powder
2 tbsp. pearl barley (If I don't have any around, I leave it out)
3/4 c. green split peas (I double this quantity with no ill effect; the original recipe also calls for 1/4 c. baby lima beans which I've never even seen)
1 tsp. dried dill
salt and pepper to taste
Simmer. When the peas and barley are cooked, add:
1/4 c orzo or other small pasta and cook until done.
Can serve with soda crackers.
It often needs a splash of water when being re-heated, though it keeps well in the fridge. I often add potatoes, too. If I'm keeping it for another day, I might boil the noodles separately, but often I don't bother. I love it because it's hearty (and cheap!), but it really doesn't feel as heavy or winter-y as a beef stew.
@Meira @meirathebear, I first made a crust less quiche because a guest couldn’t eat gluten and I have made them crust less ever since! So good much easier and don’t even miss the crust!
@Kristen and @Meira I don’t love making traditional pie crust, but I do use Muffy Aldrich’s pie crust recipe from her blog Salt Water New England all the time to top pot pies all the time. Super easy, using oil and milk, just just mix, and roll out in parchment paper. If you do equal parts oil and milk, it turns into a light biscuit crust.
I was overbudget in August, but I actually bought for the first week and a half of September as well as the last half-week of August, so I am not feeling that bad about it.
What we ate:
We had roast chicken with honey carrots for both, mashed potatoes for him and kale for me. I don't like kale, but I make myself eat it on occasion. Thank heavens I'm just about finished with it.
Pork chops with cinnamon mashed sweet potatoes and sautéed okra.
Leftovers of the pork chop meal for him, the chicken meal for me.
Sloppy joes (no tomato for me) and made-from-scratch baked beans. Sliced cucumbers on the side.
Gluten-free boom boom shrimp with a salad.
Burgers with sweet potato fries and jicama sticks. Cassava tortilla "bun" for me.
Tonight will be sweet Gulf of Mexico scallops, harvested locally by my daughter and her fiance. I'll make scallop scampi or something like that out of them. Yum! People from Georgia, Florida and Alabama flock here every summer to go scalloping in our shallow area of the Gulf - it's one of our few local attractions.
Ooh, I love scallops. Usually the ones I eat are sea scallops; is that what your local ones are like?
@Kristen,
Well, they are picked up from the bed of the Gulf, so I assume they could be sea scallops. I've never had any other kind than the Gulf scallops from here so it's hard to say! My daughter and her fiancé have a boat, and they go out and snorkel around in "scallop season," diving and picking up scallops in the shallow Gulf waters in our area. I don't know if that's considered sea or bay scallops, honestly.
Do u have a recipe for the oatmeal bread?
I don't have one posted for the rolls, but this bread has a very similar texture and flavor: https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/molasses-oatmeal-bread/
Here's what I remember:
- Lentil stew
- Eggplant parmesan
- Baked pasta e fagioli
- Buttered noodles and broccoli
- Corn on the cob and baked potatoes
- Popcorn and fruit
Kristin, I think you did pretty well 🙂
Did good for myself this week since I made most of our dinners at home. I’m more of a semi-home made cook which is different from my fantasy self which is an at home chef who loves to cook. Something is better then nothing right?
What We Ate
Mon - Tacos for the grown ups and Tacos Salad for the kids
Tues - Chicken pot pie
Wed - Spaghetti with sausage and jarred tomato sauce
Thurs - Sandwiches for the grown ups and leftover spaghetti for the kids
Fri - TBD since I don’t meal plan which surprisingly doesn’t cause me stress. I just figure out what’s in the fridge, the amount of time it takes to cook, and my energy level which has been low lately because of lack of sleep and taking care of 3 small kids.
Monday: We had tacos made from a kit and using a package of ground turkey I found in the freezer. Also, lettuce and cheese and garden tomatoes for toppings.
Tuesday: Tortellini with pesto. Used one of the many containers of pesto I made and froze in July.
Wednesday: First Day of School! We always have pulled pork sliders, slaw and chips on the first day of school, so that's what we had.
Thursday: Chicken sausages over linguine
Friday (tonight): My husband's work end of summer potluck cook-out event. We are bringing a pasta salad with fresh mozzarella in it and some cupcakes/muffins. I made both things yesterday.
Saturday: We will be out of town all day going to the funeral for my husband's 96 year old grandmother and our plan is to order a pizza when we get home.
Saturday-poached egg, breakfast potatoes, biscuits
Sunday-pizza, salad
Monday-chicken pot pie, brownies
Tuesday-soup, bread
Wednesday-french toast with blueberries
Thursday-baked potato, salad
Friday-not sure
So we had a crazy week too. It was even crazier despite the fact that I've been off all week (not looking forward to going back to work on Tuesday, just sayin'!)
Saturday: Went to a county fair and was going to get dinner there but holy cow was everyone overpriced, more than usual. I get that last year was a wash but boy oh boy was it pricey! In a weird way I didn't have to deal with it as the place we were going to get food from ran out. So we got nothing and ate at home that night (we had brought snacks and stuff with us.)
Sunday: Cooked chicken out on the grill. It came out quite nice if I do say so myself.
Monday: Breakfast for dinner: Eggs, sausage, fruit, potato pancakes etc.
Tuesday: Went to Costco with the wife and kid. We ended up getting a pizza there. It was good but not knock your socks off good. I think next time we go I'll just get a hot dog.
Wendesday: Went out to a different county fair and was initially going to get something nice with my daughter but Ida made us all go home earlier than we wanted to. We ended up eating leftover Costco pizza.
Thursday: Had some clams and fries from the air fryer. I also made tossed salads now that I was finally able to get some fresh produce (which was oddly hard to get for a while.)
Friday: Really not sure yet. I'll figure out something as the day goes by.
Yours rolls look beautiful sorry about the salt. I too had a bread issue this week. I make sourdough bread every weekend. I'm kind of used to making it so I was on autopilot when my husband interrupted me with a news story. The distraction worked because I forget to begin the recipe with my sourdough starter. I had the ball of dough done when I realized that I had forgotten the sourdough starter. I too tried to add it at the end, punching it into the dough (if you make sourdough, you know that punching the dough is not good if you want the bread to rise). Final product was good enough to use for toast but definitely not my best effort. Have a great weekend!
I have forgotten the yeast in dough before too! And you are right; adding it in later is not quite the same.
Sat-Out for lunch and had half of a Caesar chicken wrap with French fries. I ate the second half for dinner later.
Sun-Pancakes and sausage patties for dinner
Mon-Frozen pizza
Tues-Ham and Swiss rolls with Mandarin oranges
Wed-Ham and Swiss rolls with oranges again
Thurs-Home made cheesy meatballs with sauce and spaghetti and garlic bread
Fri-Friday night fish fry most likely
For those of you who think short cakes are too dry, as I do, try Bisquick’s Velvet Crumb cake. The recipe is sometimes on the box of Bisquick and probably on their web site. It is so moist and tastes great with strawberries or any other fruit on top, as well as plain. My family prefers it over shortcake, and it is simple to make.
@SueW, Kristen, etc. So are we talking about shortcake or shortbread? I’m not familiar with Walker’s. To me, shortcake is between a biscuit and a dry, not too sweet cake. It could be little ones like individual biscuit-things, or a big blob that would be cut in portions… and you could put strawberries or peaches and cream on top, or plain with butter. Shortbread is more like a cookie, not really sweet, but pretty rich; pricked with a fork, could be big or small, and would be eaten plain.
No grocery shopping this week...but that doesn't mean we spent zero on food. My birthday was Tuesday and my husband's was Wednesday. We took each other out for dinner. But, we also had leftovers for lunch and another dinner...so, I'm justifying the two nights of non-home cooking.
Here's what we ate:
Saturday - Chicken tacos, refried beans and rice
Sunday - We were exhausted after moving our daughter back to college and the four hour drive that entailed. My husband had a bowl of cereal and I had an English muffin with avocado.
Monday - Leftovers from Saturday.
Tuesday - Dinner out for my birthday.
Wednesday - Dinner out for my husband's birthday.
Thursday - Yummy leftovers.
Friday - Planning shepherd's pie.
Last Saturday we harvested a 4.7 pound cauliflower. We spent the rest of the week trying to eat it up because our freezer is so full that I cannot possibly cram another item in there (We eat the stem and the leaves around the head, too, so nothing goes to waste). So, I made cauliflower tots and we ate them with grilled salmon on Saturday. Stir fry moose and cauliflower on Sunday. Pizza with cauliflower crust on Monday. Tuesday I gave up and used the rest to make a giant pot of cheese and cauliflower soup and we ate that on T/W/Thursday. Tonight I am having Filet 'O Fish and the husband is having a pot pie from the case of 18 he bought last month. (He loves them so every so often he buys a case and eats them when I have my Friday fish.)
@Lindsey,
That's a truly impressive cauliflower!
I did not go to the grocery store last week.
Thursday I stopped in to get some bread $7+
I am still hitting up the freezer.
Saturday: Steak, baked potatoes; vegetable
Sunday: Frozen pizza, salad
Monday: Tuesday: My husband had egg salad and I had my favorite--cheese and crackers.
I had gone to a retirement party on my way home from work.
Wednesday: BLT sandwiches
Thursday: Chicken salad sandwiches, chips and strawberries
Friday: cold chicken, rice pilaf, baked beans
I am not sure how much I spent -- I believe it was under $100 (just the 2 of us) -- and we ate in all week except for Friday treat night. I mostly assembled and didn't cook much, either:
Friday -- take out pizza (18.00)
Sat. -- Rotisserie chicken and big salad
Sunday -- Rotisserie chicken and big salad redux
Monday -- Chicken breast from freezer and big salad
Tuesday -- Um, more chicken breast from freezer and, hmm . . .big salad
Wednesday -- Discounted hamburgers and big salad
Thursday -- Turned the last of the hamburger into tacos using up all kinds of things, including 2/3 zucchini that was on it's way to compost, and lo carb tortillas that have been sitting in my 'frig. Also, onion, red bell pepper, sour cream, avocado, and canned refried beans. Delish
Tonight -- treat night! trying to stay out of crowded restaurants again so may take out. Happy Friday!