WIS, WWA | strategic mask placement
What I Spent
Part of my spending this week involved a $10 Mezeh bowl, which I ate while I waited for Zoe to be done at class.
While I was eating, I studied my cardiology chapter, which, unfortunately, has actual cadaver heart photos.
My seat was near where people stood in line, so I used my mask to cover the possibly offending photo. I assume most people do not want to see a preserved human heart before they order their dinner. 😉
Anyway!
This week I spent:
- $53 at Aldi
- $9 on fast food
- $10 on a Mezeh bowl
And that adds up to $72.
What We Ate
Saturday
I made Swedish meatballs, which we ate over egg noodles. And we had a green salad, plus a fruit salad on the side.
Sunday
We had Reuben sandwiches (well, Reuben-esque sandwiches for those of us who don't like sauerkraut. I am not "those of us".)
I don't remember specifically what we had on the side. A salad, maybe?
Incidentally, I think leftover rye/pumpernickel swirl bread + Swiss cheese makes for a very good grilled cheese sandwich!
Monday
We had a spicy shrimp and sausage stew over rice (no shrimp in Zoe's, obviously). Broccoli on the side.
Tuesday
We ate leftover Swedish meatballs (I made too many on Saturday!), with a green salad.
Wednesday
It's a rotating leftovers week! We had the leftover shrimp and sausage stew, although Zoe opted for a ham sandwich since the soup was a bit on the spicy side for her.
Thursday
This was a day when eating at home was nigh onto impossible. Part of the issue is that it is taking forever for Sonia to test negative (required for returning to campus) even though she feels all better.
So, the class she was supposed to drive Zoe and herself to, which is at dinnertime? I keep needing to drive Zoe myself!
I got Zoe some fast food ($9) before class, and while I waited for her, I got a bowl at Mezeh ($10). Sonia was home (where else are you while waiting to test negative?) and I honestly don't know what she ate.
Probably popcorn. Ha.
Friday
I think it might be just Zoe and me here for dinner, in which case I will make something for the two of us that involves cheese.
(If Sonia isn't around at dinner, I try very hard to take advantage of the opportunity to cook with cheese!)
This week was light in the cooking department for me thanks to some batch cooking. I suppose if you stretched out all the things that I made when batch cooking it amounts to me cooking all week! Oh well - we ate & that is what is important.
I spent $106 @ Costco getting some fresh items to go along with meals created from our freezer and pantry.
Saturday - I made a large pot of chicken noodle soup, a large pot of split pea soup with the last of the leftover ham & a double batch of pumpkin muffins. We all ate soup for dinner and it was lovely.
Sunday - leftovers
Monday - I thawed a chicken and roasted it with a bit of olive oil and spices. We had a mix of chicken, some soup, leftover veggies from the fridge.
Tuesday - I hit the easy button and we got takeout pizza.
Wednesday - I pulled the last of the ground beef from the freezer and made a batch of stroganoff using the last bit of a box of elbow macaroni & the last of a box of shell pasta. Again we ate this with leftover veggies.
Thursday - Leftovers for the hubs and son & Costco hotdogs for the rest of us.
Friday - Porkchops in the crockpot, rice, squash, & steamed broccoli.
Happy weekend!!
It has been one of those crazy work/school weeks that slammed into a crazy winter storm so we are just rolling with the punches here. Nothing has gone to waste which is always the most important part!
Last weekend I made beef tips and they were eaten over noodles. I also marinated chicken and cooked it on my cast iron flat top and served that with black beans and rice.
Monday night I used a package of Brioche rolls from the freezer to make Ham and Cheese Sliders served with onion rings and green salad...
Tuesday was leftovers for the girl and I at home, Burger King for dad and Son who had to run an errand almost an hour away.. and IDK what the kid at work ate...
Wednesday I cooked a beef roast in the crock pot but it was still too tough so I let it cool and I finished leftovers from the fridge while the others who were not at work ate popcorn shrimp and chicken from containers in the freezer!
Thursday I shredded that beef and reheated it in the broth.. made a gravy and served over boxed mash taters, canned corn and some homemade bread I tossed together...( while watching the snow fly)
Friday- I had to drive my son to work this morning since his car was iced to the driveway.. I went into the store with him and found some meat mark downs.. I think I will roast the chicken this afternoon and make some sides and everyone will eat what they want!
If I remember correctly, we spent $86 this week on groceries, which is $4 under our weekly budget of $90. Of that $6 and a few cents was for Boston butt pork roast pieces that were on manager's special. I trimmed them up -- there was a good bit of fat and silver skin -- and made a big slow cooker meal herbed pork and vegetables for my husband on Sunday that he finished up yesterday. The trimmed pieces were rendered down, yielding about 6 ounces of pork fat for cooking, and a nice handful of hard, chewy bits for dog treats.
My big meal of the day is lunch, which this week was composed of rescued food from meals delivered to our office last week that no one wanted. For supper, I had either peanut butter sandwiches with fruit and hot tea, or toasted cheese sandwiches livened up with some real bacon bits from a bag my boss gave me.
"The Masked Cadaver" sounds like a good thriller.
We had a lot of leftovers this week, too. Every single night involved some leftover, actually . . .
Saturday: Leftover white chicken chile or barbecue beef sandwiches, green salad, and the kdis had frozen peaches and peas when they were whining for food while I was cooking
Sunday: Bunless cheeseburgers, pasta with pesto (finally starting to use the pesto I froze last summer--I tend to hoard it), green beans, leftover broccoli, crispy rice treats
Monday: I had made two chuck roasts on Friday and saved one for this after-work dinner. It was already sliced, so I fried the slices with spices and salsa and made it into tacos.
Tuesday: We got home late after an unexpected outing to the school basketball game, so I made the fastest dinner possible for the starving children: Scrambled eggs with cheese, leftover pot roast taco meat for those who don't like scrambled eggs, bread and butter, and carrot sticks with curry dip
Wednesday: I made up for the night before's meal with this one. Strips of lamb (the ram we butchered awhile ago, actually) from a boneless leg roast, marinated and then seared; homemade sourdough pita bread; homemade hummus; yogurt sauce (plain yogurt, lemon juice, minced garlic, salt and pepper), and butter lettuce with vinaigrette. The resulting gyros were the best thing to come out of my kitchen in some time.
Thursday: Lamb stew made with the gnarlier bits of the leg roast, plus carrots, potatoes, and peas, hamburgers made with the remainder of the ground beef from earlier in the week for those who don't like stew.
Tonight: My mother-in-law sent me a copycat recipe for Grandma Brown's Baked Beans (a New York state favorite that she told me has gone out of business--boo), which are my sons' favorite baked beans. They are very plain and not very sweet, so we'll see how it goes. I had a bag of dried navy beans someone gave me, and this seemed like a good use for them. I also took out of some breakfast sausage to make into patties, and we'll have rice and, if my produce delivery gets here today (it's two days late due to the weather), probably cucumbers and tomatoes.
@kristin @ going country, there may be hope for Grandma Brown's Beans! See this article (https://www.syracuse.com/business/2022/01/grandma-browns-update-your-baked-bean-prayers-may-have-been-answered.html). But let us know how your MIL's recipe compares.
I hope we see some Grandma Brown's soon!
After my post last week about the Swedish meatballs, I decided I would participate in this as a way to encourage myself to meal plan. Me and the Dear Nephew have been going kinda feral lately.
Spent $64 at Aldi, and another $43 Thursday, pre-snowstorm, which is for this coming week. We may need a few supplements during the week. Also received our produce delivery a week ago yesterday - $28.
Saturday- had a PB&J before going to a hockey game, DN ate stadium snax at the game, on his dime.
Sunday- Mexican quinoa, which leftovers I had for lunch most of the week.
Monday - quiche, to use up some eggs. Another couple of lunches from this.
Tuesday - baked chicken breasts and green beans
Wednesday- I ate Taco Tater tot casserole at my mom's; DN was happy with a frozen pizza
Thursday - leftover quiche for me, leftover pancakes from Sunday for DN
Friday - Budget Bytes' black bean slow cooker soup and tortilla chips on this snowy day.
https://www.food.com/recipe/grandma-browns-beans-494315
@A. Marie, I think I added a little too much sugar (I ran out of brown sugar and used just the last of the maple syrup in my bottle, which I think pushed it over just a bit), but the recipe was pretty good. What it was lacking, even after many hours of cooking, was the extreme softness-verging-on-mushy that beans get when they're canned. I actually love that texture, so maybe I should try pressure cooking them.
I'm very happy that the company might starting their factory up again. We used to drive by it all the time in Mexico, NY on our way from our home in northern NY to my mother-in-law's in central NY. But now that I'm in New Mexico, my only hope is to replicate it myself. 🙂
Made potato soup and cooked chicken breasts with peppers & onions. Since it's just the two of us, and we're getting older, we do not go through near the food we used to. It's still hard sometimes to cut down the amounts I cook. Husband is, fortunately, good with eating leftovers! Also made a batch of your banana/chocolate chips muffins to use up a couple of brown bananas.
I am one of those who would have not enjoyed a photo of a cadaver heart when trying to eat. Thank you!
What I ate...
AIP Pulled pork from the pressure cooker with homemade vegan slaw and sweet potato salad
Pork chop with slaw and sliced cucumbers with homemade ranch dressing
Chicken and vegetable soup made from a chicken carcass
Cassava spaghetti with nomato sauce and a side salad that included homegrown lettuce and the ranch dressing
Turkey hot dog, no bun, with cut up vegetables
Hamburger, and I was going to have a salad, but my body was warning me that I had been eating too much of raw vegetables and salad, so I just ate the hamburger with a cassava flour "bun" that I made based on a flat bread recipe.
No shopping this week, as I shopped for two weeks last Friday. The price jumps were shocking on some items.
@JD,
How do you like the cassava spaghetti?
I spent 86 dollars this week but found Chuck roast BOGO.
Sunday: hot beef sandwiches , Brussels sprouts and veggie chips
Monday: leftover hot beef with broccoli slaw from a bag
Tuesday: pepperoni baked pasta and flatbread
Wednesday:leftover pepperoni baked pasta and cucumber salad
Thursday: cheddar broccoli potato soup and hummus and flatbread
Friday: semi homemade pizza and salad from a bag
Your dinners sound good to me. I made a plan, but didn't exactly follow it well...
Monday - Freezer meal (chicken enchiladas and poblano rice), salad
Tuesday - Grilled Boneless Pork Chop, chopped salad
Wednesday - Pulled a steak from the freezer and baked a potato because the traffic was so bad that I knew I didn't even have time for take-out before a 6 p.m. counseling meeting. So the steak thawed and the potato baked until 7 p.m.
Thursday - made chicken veggie soup in my little crock pot and there is enough leftover for a lunch. I also called out because I don't drive on icy streets. Nope.
Friday - I planned on tilapia, but if it warms up enough for me to go get a burger, I will!
Saturday - TBD but I have plenty in the freezer to cook
Sunday - Bacon-wrapped Chicken Tenders, Caesar salad, and a dessert for me and The Girl
Also...what is a mezah bowl?
Stay warm!
Your meals sound great, and now I want to put Swedish meatballs on the menu! We've been keeping our grocery spending largely in check, which is pretty surprising.
I batch cooked over the weekend, and made ground beef tacos & spaghetti sauce (with meat). I put 1/3 in the fridge for the week, and 2/3 in the freezer.
We had tacos & spaghetti 2x each, and I also made a big chicken curry on Sunday. We had that & rice x2 as well. No one really loves that much leftovers, but it was a crazy week with multiple school soccer games (I have to drive them, because #covid) & work meetings & schedule shenanigans. I think tonight will be pizza. Either delivery or frozen, because it's going to be that kind of a day, with another away soccer game. We typically don't have this many in a week, but we are making up for cancelled games due to COVID earlier in the season.
This was a week of exciting mushrooms, weirdly.
Sunday: My husband made roasted chicken breasts with sauteed mushrooms (cremini) and carrots.
Monday: Tofu and broccoli stir fry on brown rice.
Tuesday: I was at my parents, my husband got sushi at the grocery store.
Wednesday: Fried rice with maitake mushrooms that I bought at Costco to try; they were tasty but very expensive, so I don't think I would buy them again. We also had a salad kit from Costco--I buy the cashew salad kit every time I go as my Costco treat 🙂 Unfortunately, me eating cruciferous vegetables twice this week gave the baby a tummy ache. Sigh.
Thursday: Chicken soup with the last of the frozen matzah balls, and my mom brought one enormous dried white Chinese mushroom. I popped it in the soup for the last few minutes, let it rehydrate, and cut it into pieces. Three of us shared it--they really are big! They are beautiful with a great texture but not much flavour. I don't buy them due to the cost, generally. Instead, I stock dried shiitake mushrooms as amazing sources of savoury flavour and meaty texture.
Friday: My husband has taken over the weekend cooking; this means that I only make dinner on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday (since I spend Tuesday at my parents') and he's taken over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Hurray!
Saturday - we get takeout on saturdays and weren’t feeling that drawn to anything. My husband decided to take our 3 year old to the grocery store and let him choose some prepared foods. My 3 year old loved this since he rarely gets to go into stores, we ended up having a rotisserie chicken, scalloped potatoes, orzo salad, sugar snap peas and white peaches. He also chose individually packaged mochi for dessert.
Sunday - kielbasa, egg noodles, steamed carrots and green beans
Monday - the usual salad with chicken, pearl couscous with veggies and chicken for kids.
Tuesday - ground turkey tacos, Spanish rice, corn
Wednesday - I had a very draining day so my husband picked up a pizza
Thursday - I prepared a birthday dinner for my sister. It was a burrito bowl/taco bar. I made good use of the instant pot and cooked the pinto beans and chicken in it. I also made Spanish rice and Pico de gallo. I served all this with tortillas, tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole, sour cream and cheese. Everyone loved it!
Friday - We’ll probably have leftovers from the burrito bowl/taco bar as I made a lot so there’s plenty left.
$52 Market Basket; $8 Aldi
Sat: duck confit with cherry & balsamic sauce, celeriac remoulade, sautéed cabbage, farro
1/30: leftover Dijon and Cognac stew (mostly sauce, so we added a can of cannellini beans) over polenta, cabbage
Jan. 31: I was on the road and ate fast food
Feb. 1: at parents: garlic and rosemary crusted rack of lamb, roasted potatoes, broccoli
Feb. 2: mac and cheese (which had broccoli and kielbasa added) from freezer; apple and cherry crisp
Feb. 3: white chicken chili -- inspired by many menus mentioned here last week!
We are currently in California visiting family so the first part of the week was eating down from the fridge. We had some VERY interesting food combos. On Wednesday we ate at the airport. Thursday was veggie pizza at my niece's house. Tonight will be Thai food rather than our typical popcorn and fruit.
Frozen pizza and green beans
Homemade lasagna. I’ve never made it from scratch before with homemade noodles, ragu, and bechamel but it turned out really good.
Pesto chicken flatbreads
Chickpea and vegetable stew with cornbread
Leftover stew.
Snack/cheese/sausage/crudite/dried fruit tray picnic style on the floor while watching a movie. I had other better plans but it ended up being a super busy day with us running around in the car all day and we all needed a break to slow down and chill.
Tonight is breakfast for dinner. Puffy apple pancake, sausage, and maybe some potato tart thing.
Oh my word, you made your own lasagna noodles?? I am so impressed!
Meals we had over the last week:
Friday - homemade pizza
Saturday- waffles, bacon fruit- love love love our new Breville waffle maker
Sunday- appetizer night-deviled eggs, chips & salsa, hummus and ranch dip with veggies
Monday- Chic-fila takeout which wasn’t preplanned but we had an emergency kitchen sink plumbing issue which my husband was able to fix but it impacted our ability to make dinner- still cheaper than getting a plumber
Tuesday-soup night with homemade sourdough- I pulled 2 containers of soup out of the freezer instead of making new soup
Wednesday- pork chop casserole (my husband loves this because his mom made it when he was growing up), green beans with bacon, fruit- I froze half of the casserole for a future dinner
Thursday- hot dogs and homemade baked beans ( I’m planning the baked beans for Saturday night with pulled pork I will be making)
Tonight will be garlic knots and chicken Caesar salad I think.
On another note, I had someone access my debit card (x2!!) last night via The Habit (burger place) app last night. I will get the money back and I’m getting a new debit card but still a big pain. Just a warning to others to be careful if you use apps and have your debit/credit card loaded for payment. The two transactions happened within 10 minutes of each other- first in CA and next in NJ for a total of over $100.
I like my corned beef sandwiches the way I like my women: Rubenesque.
(I don't know if you knew that there's another meaning to Rubenesque but there is. The TL;DR is that the artist Peter Paul Rubens liked to paint his women in a certain way.
As for dinner this week:
Sunday: Homemade Detroit Style Pizza.
Monday: I'm struggling to remember but I want to say soup and sandwiches.
Tuesday: Pork chops, potatoes and vegetables.
Wednesday: Japanese Curry Rice. My daughter had leftover pork chops and potatoes.
Thursday: We made pancakes and other breakfast foods. I decided to try a corn cake recipe as well and modified them a little by making them in English muffin rings. They came out fantastic and now I've gotta write down the recipe so I can do it again.
Friday: My daughter has been asking for clams and we have some in the freezer so probably that, along with salads,
@Battra92,
Rubenesque - good one!
If you can eat after seeing cadaver hearts, you will be just fine in nursing. I joke with my husband that after 10 years of nursing, I am un-grossout-able. This week was a huuuge grocery shopping (like $200+) but I haven't been to the market in almost three weeks and I needed to get a lot of pantry staples as well (plus LA cost of living is pretty steep)
Sunday- chicken sausage, white bean and kale soup with bread from a local bakery
Monday- Lunar New Year dumplings and noodles
Tuesday- leftover soup and dumplings...weird but worked for us
Weds- too tired after 4 shifts in a row so frozen pizza and salad
Thurs- cauliflower rice stuffed poblanos
Fri- not totally sure bc I am in the middle of huge painting project so either bolognese sauce if I can get my life together or using a restaurant gift card for an impromptu date night
Yep; I am just never bothered by medical stuff. I am pretty un-gross-out-able as it is, and I imagine I will be even more that way after I get into nursing!
Your dinners always sound good! We dined out a lot this week.
We ate a Puerto Rican skirt steak and onion dish with rice on Sunday
Monday we picked up 5 guys.
Tuesday my husband made steak and sweet potatoes.
Wednesday I made Zuppa Toscana.
Last night - Thai take out.
Tonight - maybe more take out! buried in work this week so pressing the easy button.
I used to be one of those “I do NOT like sauerkraut” people- until I made my own. My objections were the tinny taste or overpowering saltiness of store bought brands.
Hearing of a daughter’s success in fermenting her own, I tried a mini batch. What a difference! Crunchy, tasty, balanced flavors - I was amazed! Adding it to bratwurst or other sausage brings a briny zing to the party. I’ll find the link and post it here later.
https://www.makesauerkraut.com/salt-by-weight/
Link to sauerkraut mentioned above.
I spent $138.90 on food purchases this week, which means I busted the $100/month challenge already. Which is okay because we all know how expensive food is right now. I will just have to re-think this goal.
We ate in no particular order: homemade chicken noodle soup, hamburgers & fries, hamburger steaks with brown gravy & dirty rice & creamed corn, fried teriyaki chicken with baked potato & salad, meat loaf with fried potatoes & green beans. Might do chili or some type of fish tonight.
I think $100/month would be very, very hard right now!
Strategic mask placement... That's so funny!!!
Saturday - My friend brought us lasagna, garlic bread, and Caesar salad with a cookie cake for dessert. She makes the best chocolate chip cookies!
Sunday - Frozen Banquet pot pies (which took me back to my childhood in a hurry! My brother and I had so many of those growing up.)
Monday - Leftover lasagna and garlic bread with broccoli
Tuesday - Chicken thighs, cajun potatoes, and a broccoli/cauliflower mix
Wednesday - Hot dogs, brats, cranberry apple sauce, and chips
Thursday - A much needed Date Night!!!! We went to Applebee's.
Friday - I've got a thawed turkey and am making turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and corn
I majored in a medical field and we got inured to the gory photos and stories. It was kind of fun to have the comradery of classmates to talk about things like that and destress after a few hours in anatomy lab or pathophysiology classes. When I took neuroanatomy and neurophysiology, our lab was in a 100 year old building without air conditioning, in the summer in Texas (luckily in the morning, so it was hot but not as hot as the day got later). We'd come out stinking of formaldehyde with just enough time for lunch before lectures in the afternoon. I made some lifelong friends in those classes--I think, in part, because we all went through that together.
I'm glad you've connected with some people in your classes, these friendships will be a good support through nursing school.
Ohhhh, a lab with no A/C sounds awful! Yikes.
I am lucky that my labs are in a brand new building at the college; all state of the art!
This is tech week for my middle school teen! We ate late and around her schedule. So excited to see the play this weekend.
Monday: BBQ pulled pork sandwiches -an easy crockpot meal!
Tuesday: Chicken with a Dijon cream sauce over rice.. Hubby found a recipe and made dinner - it was yummy!
Wednesday: nacho bar- with all the fixings: ground turkey with taco seasoning, tomato, onion, jalapeno slices, cheese.
Thursday: spaghetti and meatballs- using up a jar of sauce
Friday: Homemade pizza using the leftover BBQ pulled pork with caramelized onions.
We had a plan but I did not stick to it strictly every day. We did cook at home though.
Most days we had a kind of boiled/baked/pureed potato with either salad or braised veg and fish or meat. Also vegetarian noodles once, and "cowboy chili" on the other.
Tonight we will have some takeout, for the first time in months. I'll let the guys decide what to have and will probably make a fruit salad on the side.
Just a question on the term produce: does this refer to any kind of fresh food or strictly to vegetables and fruits?
@J NL,
Not sure if this is the generally accepted definition, but I know most farm shares consider anything produced on the farm produce. This would mean usually fruits and vegetables, but also can include mushrooms, herbs, flowers, eggs, meat, honey, etc. The term may even cover things like wool and feathers, but I think that's stretching it a bit.
@J NL, I actually looked it up, because I never have, and see that it has a general meaning of anything produced on a farm. But I use it to refer to only fruits and vegetables, and I think that's the more-common use.
Thanks both, I was wondering about that!
Agreed with the others who responded; I always think of "produce" as fruits and veggies, probably because that section of the grocery stores here is always labeled, "Produce". 🙂
Hubby was in the mood to use the smoker, so he smoked whole chickens and a pork shoulder. We had those with cornbread and peas/carrots.
I'm using the leftover chicken for a mexican layered casserole.
I'll be thawing a tube of sausage for baked ziti.
Leftover pork will be eaten as pulled pork sandwiches, added to fried rice or in cuban sandwiches.
As a squeamish about all things medical person, thank you for the strategic mask placement!