What I Spent
I started out April with $115 of spending.
I have been on a roll with low spending, and you know what my trick has been? Sending Mr. FG instead of myself.
If I just have him pick up odds and ends that we need, he pretty consistently sticks to the requests and doesn’t make a bunch of impulse buys.
Whereas if I go to the store, I tend to throw a bunch of just-in-case things into my cart.
So, this is working out well; I get to skip more of the shopping, and less money is being spent!
And another win is that Mr. FG likes to be out and about way more than I do, so he doesn’t even mind running the shopping errands. Perfect.
(I know this is not the case in every marriage; if your spouse is the just-in-case buyer and you’re not….then you are the person who will be more responsible at the grocery store!)
What We Ate
Saturday
Mr. FG and I got takeout from a local spot we’d never been to before. I got a blackened shrimp burger and he got a crab cake sandwich.
That was tasty, but definitely over our usual $20 date night budget!
Sunday
Sonia really wanted poke bowls again, so that’s what we did.
Monday
Sonia made shrimp viennese, and we had raw produce (cucumber slices and apple slices) on the side.
Tuesday
I made chicken tacos on corn tortillas. Chips and queso on the side, plus cut-up fruit)
I used the chicken taco recipe from Dinner Illustrated, which calls for chipotle chilies. Here’s how I store my chipotle chilies so I have them always at the ready.
(Full review of Dinner Illustrated here)
Wednesday
I spent the afternoon helping my cousin, so I planned a super easy meal of grilled hamburgers and roasted baby potatoes.
Unfortunately, I did a very bad job of greasing the grill grates, which meant one of my burgers ended up looking like this.
Since it was my fault, I went ahead and served that particular burger to myself.
Thursday
I smoked some marked-down chicken leg quarters I had in the freezer, and we ate the smoked chicken on buns.
Friday
Since Sonia is now eating gluten again, and also since the weather is not hot (perfect for a 500° oven!), I’m going to make some homemade pizza.
Here are my best tips for making homemade pizza that is not disappointing. 
And here are 5 reasons your homemade pizza might be terrible.
Sarah G says
All this talk of shrimp burgers, crabcake burgers, and poke bowls is literally making me salivate….. sooo hungry.
Saturday- We got take out sandwiches from a sweet little mom and pop diner in our town.
Sunday- dinner at in-laws’
Monday- random leftover buffet
Tuesday- sausages, pierogies with bell peppers and onions, also fried cabbage with onions to use up some extraneous cabbage from our corned beef dinner ingredients
Wednesday- leftovers from Tuesday for the kids. At-home date night for us after the kids were in bed. We made the most amazing grilled cheese sandwich ever made (Hello, Andy Dwyer!) and watched Northern Exposure, the series were currently rewatching.
Thursday- spaghetti bolognese
Friday- waffles and eggs, fruit on the side
JEG says
WIS: $2 on cantaloupe for Sunday. I was going to the grocery store today to pick up the rest of the fruit for Sunday after my 2nd vaccine shot but the traffic was awful. Hopefully no side effects and I will get up early tomorrow morning. Pineapple is on sale for $1.
WWA
Sat: Burgers, oven roasted potatoes, lettuce with tomatoes & feta for him and with beets & feta for me.
Sun: Half-priced turkey breast tenderloin from Aldi w/butternut squash, cornbread souffle, mashed potatoes, and homemade cranberry sauce. When my kids left for a soccer tournament for their daughter, I told them I would cook up the tenderloin. I looked through the pantry to see what I had. I think they will be happy because my daughter called home to ask us to close their windows and turn up the heat—it has been rainy and they are cold. I am sure the heat from the drive home will warm them up.
Mon: Left over from Sunday. There was just enough left.
Tues: Pasta, meatballs, sausage
Wed Marinated steak, baked potato, broccoli
Thurs: (Childcare day) Leftover pasta. Childcare days need to be quick and easy. The 2+ year old can wear me down.
Fri: Fish sandwiches, oven roasted potatoes, salad
Made it the whole week out of freezer.
Happy for Sonia that she can eat the family pizza.
Ruth T says
Yay!! Congrats on the return of your Friday pizza night!
We had…
Monday: Cheeseburgers, cantaloupe, asparagus
Tuesday: Spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic bread, green beans
Wednesday: Chicken nuggets, colorful carrots, broccoli with cheese
Thursday: Burrito bowls, pineapple
Friday: My husband’s birthday! Steak, macaroni and cheese, peas, and dessert will be carrot cake with vanilla ice cream
Bee says
My husband has taken over the grocery shopping since last March. Working from home has nearly driven him crazy, and trips to the grocery store have given him a reason to get out of the house. However, he is not the most cautious shopper. Although he doesn’t always get the best deal, I have been happy to relinquish this task.
This week’s menu —
Saturday – We fended for ourselves. I think that I ate yogurt and my husband had a stuffed baked potato.
Sunday – I cooked a 16 pound Turkey that was in my freezer. I served it with smashed potatoes and broccoli.
Monday – We had a family birthday. I brought a salad and the cake.
Tuesday – I made two Turkey pot pies. I served one for dinner and froze one for later. I also used the carcass to make stock which I also put away for later us along with some sliced Turkey.
Wednesday – Homemade GF Pizza
Thursday – Pork loin roast with mushroom ragout, roasted potatoes, and asparagus.
Friday – Bar-b-que pork sandwiches made with last night’s leftovers. We will eat some of the leftovers sides that are in the refrigerator. This should make room for Easter lunch.
michelle says
Did I miss the recipe for the poke bowl on a previous post? Because yum!
Kristen says
Sadly, no! I haven’t ever made a poke bowl; we’ve just gotten them several times on the Sundays when we support a local takeout place.
Ruby says
We spent $90 and some change, which was entirely for people food. We did stock up on a few items, which made the total a bit higher than usual.
I made an enormous pot of chili Sunday, which we had for supper. My husband had the leftovers for his supper for the next four nights, and I took some for lunch one day. My supper was usually a toasted cheese sandwich. Our sides were fresh carrot sticks, sliced sweet peppers, fresh fruit, nuts or cheese. We had some homemade applesauce for dessert.
Meira Bear says
Sunday: 2nd seder, we had brisket, meatballs, potato kugel, kale salad, green beans, with fruit and almond cookies for dessert
Monday: Leftover meatballs and potato kugel.
Tuesday: Matzah lasagna, based on the Epicurious recipe.
Wednesday: Tofu and broccoli stir-fry; I used potato starch in the recipe and it was a disaster! It made a weird jelly around the tofu instead of a crispy coating.
Thursday: Matzah ball soup and an apple. I was too nauseated for more.
Today: I’ll try a new recipe, laab gai. Hot Thai Kitchen has a nice looking recipe, and we have a lot of lettuce hanging around. I’m also hankering after Vietnamese mango salad, so maybe that, too.
BarbG says
Saturday-pizza, salad
Sunday-meatloaf, roasted potatoes, black-eyed peas, applesauce
Monday-leftover meatloaf
Tuesday-leftover pizza
Wednesday-bean soup, french bread
Thursday-more meatloaf, potatoes, peaches
Friday-bean soup, bread
Betta from daVille says
I love going grocery shopping! WWS: $18 fish monger; $2 Market Basket. WWA:
Sat: eggplant “schnitzel” over tomato sauce; green bean and fresh mozzarella salad with arugula dressing.
Sun: Sheet-pan roasted salmon and Brussel sprouts (with thrown in broccoli) with citrus-soy. SO light, easy & delicious! (NY Times)
Mon: Homemade macaroni and cheese; chicken sausage; cabbage & herb salad
Tues: dinner out
Wed: veal piccata meatballs; cauliflower puree; arugula (this was delicious and simple: tasteandsee website)
Thurs: leftovers
Fri.: Baked beans with slab bacon (epicurious). I’ll add cauliflower, leeks, and carrots; arugula.
Jessica says
The high school kids and I are on Spring Break this past week(college kid still had online classes much to his dismay) I decided that I was using this week to get the freezer/pantry organized and use up stuff we have on hand! I think we were kind of successful!
Saturday- salsa chicken tacos , rice, chips and queso
Sunday- Pulled pork shoulder in the crock pot.. most made bbq sandwiches, salad or oven fries.
Monday-Had to meet up with the grandparents and they bought Sonic
Tuesday- First High school track meet of the season so we grabbed the hungry kids subway sandwiches on the way home. Husband and I worked on the random stuff in the fridge/freezer- corndogs, fruit, chips and queso! lol
Wednesday- Pork chops in gravy with carrots, thick egg noodles and corn
Thursday- Wings in the airfryer.. AKA the supper hour that never ends… You can only cook so many in the AF at a time…so we made multiple batches.. 2 had tater tots cooked in the oven and the other 2 of us ate salads. SO much cheaper than ordering them in as I found 2 large packages on manager markdown and broke them down myself!
Friday- Not gonna cook! All 3 teens working.. so likely a date night!
Snacks this week included the kids plowing through a few boxes of girl scout cookies, homemade rice krispie treats, some ice cream in the freezer, canned fruit and some yogurt!
Hawaii Planner says
We are back to a lot of activities these days (I’m not used to it, after a very quiet year), so we had:
-Crockpot pot roast
-Crockpot tacos el pastor
-Egg roll in a bowl
-Salmon with coleslaw
-Leftovers of all of the above
JD says
My husband can no longer go grocery shopping these days, but when he used to go to the store, with me or alone, he was the world’s worst to put extra treats in the cart, adding anywhere from $20 to $40 to the bill. Praline pecans, fancy chips, a new type of cracker, a jar of roasted peanuts, four types of jerky… yeah, he was not the way to keep us frugal.
Even without him, I went over budget in March
What we ate:
Fish that was cleaned and given to us, with French fries for him and cut up raw veggies and something else I’ve forgotten for both of us. I was going to do more, but I’d had a very long day.
Roasted, seasoned pork chops, with cooked cabbage plus a skiillet of squash n’ onions.
Hamburgers (bunless for me) with potato chips for him, grain free chips for me. Another long day. I had a lot of them this past week.
Leftover pork chops, okra, mashed sweet potatoes with cinnamon and coconut sugar.
Tacos with the rest of the ground beef, taco salad for me, raw carrots, olives and fruit for dessert.
Polish sausage, cabbage and baked white potato for him, cabbage and the last of the mashed sweet potato for me.
Beth says
Your dinners look delicious and thank you for the reminder about storing chipotle peppers! After a week with way too much takeout 2 weeks ago, we have been doing much better. This week we had:
Beef bulgogi with asian slaw
Lamb tagine with couscous with dried apricots and toasted sliced almonds
Chicken and veggie kebabs with farro salad,
Baked chicken thighs with glazed ginger carrots and garlic Parmesan cauliflower rice.
I also had some blueberries to use and made a delicious low carb blueberry cream cheese crumble last night. I think it will also make for a delicious breakfast with a bit of Greek yogurt on top.
Shannon says
WWS:
My spending was outrageous this week – $170 – this includes our easter dinner, which will have leftovers for at least half of next week. Going to skip our usual grocery pickup on Monday and eating what we have in the house already.
WWA:
Friday: Leftovers
Thursday: Leftovers
Wednesday: Pizza from a local restaurant
Tuesday: Steak, potatoes, mushrooms, zucchini, and rolls
Monday: Naan pizzas
ann a says
We love your pizza dough and sauce recipes! My husband makes the dough, and I make the pizza (including sauce, often with your recipe! Other times, with Katy’s kale pesto recipe (or butter or olive oil mixed with hot sauce, ie buffalo sauce))! He made dough last night, and this morning it was perfect as always. Bagged up in the fridge ready to become at least two meals this weekend.
On grocery shopping: we always go together (or in COVID times, collaborate on an online order). This helps us be sure we both get our most important items and also keeps both of us from impulse shopping (because we can nix each other’s impulses!). Grocery shopping is kind of our date.
Kaitlin says
Saturday-ate out at a burger joint (outside, with no one else since it was pretty cold and so windy menus didn’t stay put) because house was showing and I didn’t make a good plan
Sunday-Steak and hot dogs for the kids courtesy of friends, partially because the house was showing, and partly because we didn’t want to leave our friends’ home because we were having so much fun.
Monday-Thai take out. Again, I failed to have a plan and it showed. And I was exhausted so I couldn’t even think of easy thinks like brinner.
Tuesday- homemade pizza (saved us from going out!)
Wednesday- Rotisserie chicken (thanks Costco!) with frozen veggies, salad, and potato spears
Thursday-hot dogs and frozen veggies for the kids and salad with left over chicken for me; husband worked late
Tonight we’ll have non-kosher unleavened bread and possibly lamb to teach our kids about the connection Passover and Good Friday.
Angie says
Saturday…steak, corn on the cob, sautéed spinach with garlic and onions. So YUM.
Sunday…leftovers along with some
Chicken salad I whipped up with dill, tarragon & green grapes.
Monday….corned beef hash, rice,
Roasted broccoli, and fresh pineapple
Tuesday….salmon patties which my
5 yr old son loves and calls fish cookies plus leftover sides from Monday’s dinner
Wednesday…leftovers and a green salad
Thursday…takeout from a local spot for my
Husband and I as a treat following a vaccine appointment & my Mom took care of dinner for the little one.
Friday….not sure yet. Something simple for sure.
Saturday…ham, pineapple casserole, asparagus, potato salad, rolls, deviled eggs, sprinkle cake and goodness me I know there will be chocolate and jelly beans.
Happy Easter everyone!!
Gina says
We were only slightly off on our healthy eating plan for Tuesday afternoon, since I was helping my mother with an eye doc appointment. Something tells me we will also have beer tonight at a local place. Maybe even a pizza. I will justify it by working like a fiend to finish up all of the yardwork I have on the agenda! We ate:
Monday – Lemon Garlic Chicken, broccoli, tiny bit o’ rice
Tuesday – Tilapia with zucchini and green onion, the last of the twice bakes
Wednesday – Pulled Pork and Beans crockpot, with chopped onion and leftover potato salad from yesterday’s lunch
Thursday – Asian Lettuce Wraps
Tonight- Weeknight (turkey) Lasagna Toss, skillet eggplant and garlic – this is a big MAYBE
Saturday – Taco meat, queso, chips, pico de gallo snackfest
Sunday – Pork Tenderloin, Corn Casserole, Copper Pennies, deviled eggs, rolls, Nana’s Lemon Pie with raspberries and Redi-Whip, white wine
Three day weekend for me!! Happy Easter from our peeps to yours (:
Sarah says
Dinner’s this week:
Chicken Cordon Blue/Rice/asperagus
Shrimp Pasta/Salad
One evening I was the only one home, so I made myself an egg/cheese/spinach wrap
Leftovers-We try to do this at least once a week to avoid food waste/clean out the fridge
Sloppy Joes/FF/Salad
Dinner Out
Tonight-Tostadas probably
kristin @ going country says
My husband is always (like, ALWAYS) the one to go to the grocery store now, with a list that I make for him. He buys only what is on the list. This is helpful in keeping spending down, not so helpful if I forget to put something on the list. If I’m there, I’ll probably remember as I’m going around the store. He will not. But no one has perished yet because I forgot to put canned tomatoes on the list.
Friday: Cheese omelets, fried leftover roasted potatoes, cucumber slices
Saturday: Breakfast sausage patties, rice cooked in rabbit stock, frozen peas
Sunday: Meatloaf, leftover rice, cucumber slices, mashed squash from the freezer
Monday: Carnitas-style pork, bread and butter, green salad with vinaigrette
Tuesday: Leftover meatloaf, leftover rice, frozen green beans
Wednesday: A bunch of different leftover meats, assigned to family members based on preference, plus bread for the children, and carrot sticks with curry dip for everyone (curry dip+mayonnaise and sweet curry powder)
Thursday: Had I had ANY option for takeout this night, I would have taken it (ha). But I don’t, so I instead I dumped a bag of frozen stir-fry vegetables in a skillet with a quart jar of pressure-canned bull meat, added soy sauce, vinegar, ginger powder, and peanut butter, and served the resulting ugly but tasty stir-fry with rice. Fast food, my way.
Tonight: Tuna melt sandwiches for the kids, tuna salad for the adults, green salad for all
Hadilly says
Ginger freezes really well if you want to use it instead of powdered ginger. I buy it, peel it and freeze it. Grate or chop as wanted.