WIS, WWA | stuffed fridge
What I Spent
I spent:
- $7.50 at Safeway for a rotisserie chicken
- $35 on a Hungry Harvest box
- $11 at Giant
- $77 at Aldi
That makes $130.50 for me this week. And my fridge is a little full right now, which means I'm gonna have to be on top of my game this week if I want to avoid food waste.
(and we know I always dooooo want to avoid food waste!)
What We Ate
Saturday
We had a food truck at work with free food for employees, and I wanted to get a sandwich there after work. But the line was quite long and it was my third shift in a row, so I just decided to go home.
The sandwich would have been free, but 30 minutes is too long to stand around outside waiting.
So, I came home and made a sandwich.
And then I ate it and happily went to bed.
A solid decision in the end.
Sunday
I'm drawing a blank. I kind of think I ate some squash soup? But honestly, I am not entirely sure!
Monday
I made a green salad with avocado and some seasoned chicken, with some toasted pita on the side (because I found a few in the freezer that needed to be used.)
Tuesday
I made some stuffed shells with a green salad on the side for the night.
By the way, here is the stuffed shell recipe I use; quite a few of you had asked after I wrote about these the other day.
Wednesday
After work, I made some French toast.
Thursday
I had a short day (just 8:00-1:00) because it was a nurse residency class day.
So, I had time to make a quick dinner that was basically these Korean beef lettuce wraps, except as a salad. And I cooked up some frozen potstickers from Aldi.
Friday
I'm working a regular 12-hour shift today, but I'm unsure if Zoe will be here tonight. If she's not, I might just have cereal and call it good. 😉
Happy Friday, everyone! We spent $124 ($100 at Trader Joe's and $24 at Barrio Bread).
- Popcorn and fruit
- Stuffed portobello mushroom
- Baguette, cheese, olives and nuts
- Salad
- Pasta and roasted carrots
- Focaccia (Becca: I thought of you! I miss your menus and hope you are well.)
- Veggie-rice casserole
Yes, Becca, hope all is well with you and your family!
Happy Friday! So far I have managed to continue my no-takeout streak!
Saturday: Veggie burritos with black beans and rice.
Sunday: I really wanted takeout but remembered I had some stuffed pasta parcels in the fridge. They were spinach and ricotta and were pretty tasty!
Monday: Baked sweet potato with some veg and leftover black beans on the side.
Tuesday: Burritos again!
Wednesday: Chilli mac and cheese.
Thursday: Leftovers.
Friday: I'm thinking a mushroom omelette with a baked sweet potato.
We spent $237 at our main grocery store.
Saturday—I tried a new recipe for crispy orange tofu with brown rice and broccoli. It was pretty good, but too much work for me to make again. I like easy!
Sunday—leftover tofu and rice
Monday—chicken thighs, butternut squash, and spinach with raisins
Tuesday—Amy’s tomato bisque and a grilled cheese sandwich
Wednesday—another new recipe, 20-minute meatless chili. Good, but we prefer a different recipe with ground turkey
Thursday—succumbed to takeout pizza
Friday—leftover chili
Saturday: I simmered a fairly small rooster until I could pull the meat off, then used that and the chicken stock to make a chicken and rice dish with a ton of caramelized onions in it. Raw cucumbers.
Sunday: Breakfast sausage patties with an onion and milk gravy, pinto beans, bread and butter, cucumbers. For Sunday dessert, I used the extra bag of pumpkin pie filling that I always freeze when I make a double recipe on Thanksgiving, plus an extra pie crust from the freezer, to make pumpkin pie.
Monday: Pizzas--one cheese, one pepperoni and pickled onion. Carrot sticks and ranch dip, leftover pumpkin pie.
Tuesday: I had enough pizza left for everyone to have a couple of pieces, and then I filled in with scrambled eggs and leftover pinto beans. Very random, but that's fine. My family is used to random. 🙂
Wednesday: Pork butt, cornbread, frozen peas, baked rice pudding
Thursday: I oversalted the chickpeas with tomato and caramelized onions I was making, so I turned it into a stew with collard greens, potatoes, more water, and leftover pork. A happy and delicious accident, as it turned out.
Tonight: Maybe pork and bean burritos to use up the last of the pork butt. I also have leftover pasta from a lunch I made the children, plus more of the chickpea stew, so I'll cobble something together for everyone.
I cooked up some roosters this week, too! Maybe. We had quite a few butchered, but also some old hens. It was broth time since I'm out of homemade. I intended to can some for future use, but we've been drinking it. And my husband made a big pot of random soup last night (which tasted really good!). So I'm thinking that chicken broth won't last long enough to be canned.
Roosters make the best stock. I don't know why. Their orneriness adds extra flavor, I guess. 🙂 I don't really can the stock anymore, either. It gets used fast enough now that I don't have to.
Your cooking is amazing.
Thanks!
We are fully settled now in a very HCOL country where it is currently a chilly summer. We are working hard to use every bit of food we have (not exaggerating when I say we need to walk 20 minutes uphill to the grocery store). WWA:
Saturday - made flatbread pizzas to use up leftover pasta sauce
Sunday- roast of beef with potatoes, carrots, and onions
Monday - leftovers
Tuesday - sheet pan Hawaiian sausages in buns
Wednesday - pancakes with maple syrup and bacon
Thursday - sautéed chicken thighs in buns, corn on the cob
Friday - fried rice using up leftovers Hawaiian sausage fixings
Wishing all a happy weekend
Whoops. My mistake for putting my response here… very sorry.
I guess it's better that the uphill portion is on the way there, so on the way home with heavy groceries you're going downhill. 🙂
I haven't gone shopping yet this week, but I was considering picking up some items today. Last week I spent $99 at Aldi to stuff my freezer and pantry a little. I bought those same potstickers and might have some for lunch with a salad today. So its not like I don't have plenty to eat here. This week:
M - kitchen closed. I had CFA mac and cheese with a chicken filet and some spicy sriracha sauce, which is my favorite CFA combo.
T - the second steak from NYE, plus a sweet potato, and some grilled onions and peppers (I baked three small sweet potatoes for the week)
W - Mediterranean chicken patty, sweet potato
Th - Rosemary pork roast, sweet potato (last one), peas
F - tonight I want to make cheese enchiladas with chili gravy, refried beans, and a Spanish rice kit. So I will make a couple of extra servings for the freezer and future me will be very pleased. (:
No cooking on Saturday or Sunday as I have meals ready to go in the freezer.
Happy weekend!
WWA, travel edition:
Friday: on the road, we packed water and baked turkey bacon and stopped at a store for string cheese and blueberries for the cooler. Lunch was Chick Fil A, and I think we got it for dinner as well.
Saturday: Hotel complimentary breakfast (oatmeal and eggs). Back on the road, and probably got Chick Fil A again for lunch. It's our safe place when traveling. Fast, and reliable, and tasty. Grabbed groceries before reaching the house and I made a super fast pasta meal at 8:30 that tasted beyond delicious after two days of road food. Very happy to find Jovial pasta at the store.
Sunday: DH made tuna burgers, and we had that plus leftover pasta (I joked that the pasta pot must be like Strega Nona's, as it seemed to have spawned more leftovers than we thought possible).
Monday: Taco bowl night.
Tuesday: pizzas made with tortillas--this is our simple go to meal when we travel, usually.
Wednesday: Repeat, but I picked up some Publix salami for a treat.
Thursday: Using up what's in the fridge--tortilla pizzas for the guys, egg salad for me.
Friday: tonight will again be using up what we've got before leaving.
We had cereal with a side of fruit one night. A big pot of hambone veggie soup for three days and quesadillas one day.
Well, the temperature got down to 21F last night after a chilly, windy day. Welcome to North Florida!
I spent $105 last weekend but ordered about $60 more from a farm, an order which I don’t have yet so should I even count it? Anyway:
WIA:
I planned on shrimp from the freezer last Friday but instead I made a pot of chicken-carrot-yellow curry soup. I had that and the pea soup a few times this chilly week.
I had a casserole that was a type of pot pie but topped with tater tots at the vulnerable youth party. Salad on the side.
Beef short ribs with mashed potatoes and green beans, twice.
We had lunch out at work on the company dime at a dive burger joint the guys love. I ate all I could of an enormous burger with a side salad as big as my head. So my supper that night was some fruit and a few cucumber slices.
Last night was leftover soup with some low-gluten homemade toast.
Today is TBD.
It is cold! I spent yesterday bringing in the orchids, bromeliads, and succulents. I wrapped and covered the tropicals. Hoping everything makes it through five days of freezing temps. Stay warm. (I know there are some of you find 30s to be warm.)
At the end of the “lunch out at work" dayI thought you would say, “So my supper that night was the rest of the enormous burger and a side salad the size as half of my head.”
Whoa, you are having a Freeze. We haven’t had one for several years, but I know how that creates a lot of scrambling, extra work, and uncommon extra caution.
I spent about $180 at Costco, $160 at Harris Teeter, and $15 at Food Lion.
Sunday - Spatchcocked chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots, Brussel sprouts.
Monday - Cold cut sandwiches with leftover sides.
Tuesday - Chicken meatballs from Costco, pasta, and broccoli.
Wednesday - Hot dogs, baked beans, peas (or leftover mashed potatoes and meatballs).
Thursday - Enchiladas using the milk-braised-pork-shoulder-fail
Friday - leftover enchiladas or On-Your-Own (for the kids this means air fryer dinner, but they do make it themselves!)
I just noticed we have been eating a lot more meat lately - I am trying to keep my athletic, 14 year old son full. The spatchcocked chicken was really good and economical (chicken is farmed here, so I got a fresh 5 pound bird for $9 at HT). I need to do this more often!
WWS - $32 at the fish market, $41 at Trader Joes, $30 at Whole Foods, and $122 at Costco. So another whopping total of $225. Whenever I see a number like this, I am shocked. I used to be able to feed a feed family of 5 on that for 2 weeks. But there is a silver lining. I have found these expensive weeks are usually followed by less expensive one.
WWA
Saturday - It was my husband's family birthday dinner. We had build your own tacos for a 10. My son cooked on the Blackstone grill - chicken and shrimp, flour and corn tortillas, peppers, onions, zucchini and all the fixings.
Sunday - DS1 treated DH to a playoff game for his birthday. I ate Saturday's leftovers in salad form. DH ate tailgate food.
Monday - shrimp provencal over GF pasta and green beans.
Tuesday - roast chicken, rice, and lima beans
Wednesday - hamburger, sweet potato, broccoli
Thursday - I had leftover chicken and rice with raw veggies. DH had a beef and rice dish of his own creation that I could not eat, but he liked it. ( He is a bit challenged in the kitchen, but getting better).
Friday -- I'm not 100% sure. There are quite a few bits and bobs in the refrigerator, so we may eat those. However, it is quite chilly this morning - below freezing, in fact. I really would like homemade vegetable soup with a grilled cheese sandwich. We will see how the day progresses from here and make the call.
I didn't spend anything on groceries this week! I overspent last week and I'm having serious problems with an overstocked pantry and fridge. (They're both small!)
My meals this week, with close attention to using what needs to be used up:
Saturday: tuna melt
Sunday: hamburger
Monday: pork stir fry
Tuesday: mushroom pizza on naan
Wednesday: same
Thursday: spaghetti, veggies on side
Friday: planning on spaghetti soup; will add veggies and broth to leftover spaghetti.
My kidney doctor has told me to lose weight, so going forward I'm going to eat smaller portions of the entree and larger portions of veggies and fruit. And go easy on the sugar, which I love.
I'm with you on free food at work. If it's convenient, it's great. But nothing is as great as going home on time 🙂
F: I made a sweet potato challah, baked eggplant parm, and baked breaded cod.
Sat/Sun: Mind is blank. I think one day was schnitzel?
M: Mr. B made pancakes, eggs, and fruit.
T: Chicken fajitas with avocado and sort-of Pico de gallo.
W: Chicken broth (freezer) with chicken pieces (freezer) and fruit salad (mix of frozen and fresh fruit.)
Th: Snow day. Takeout pizza.
F: Mr. B is making something.
Perhaps think of it this way: the sandwich cost 30 minutes, a price you weren't willing to pay at the time.
I have almost no recollection of what happened on Friday, but luckily, I track my calories & was able to look back. Apparently, I had leftover roasted vegetables & a piece of pizza we were trying to use up. No wonder I didn't remember it. 😉
We also had:
-Buffalo chicken (crockpot) x2
-Chicken Alfredo x2
-DH made pot stickers & chicken wings last night, as I was late coming home from a workout class.
As for tonight, DS19 is working & DH & I are going out to dinner. I leave for London for a work trip tomorrow, so we are having a date night. We are going to a place where they have a fabulous salad, so I'll be having that. Without a glass of wine, because we are doing dry January.
WIS: $28.50 at Wegmans and $19 at Ollie's.
WIA: The best effort of the week was the shrimp curry I described in Tuesday's FFT comment, which enabled me to clear some ancient stuff out of the back of the fridge. Not quite as exciting as the search for King Tut's tomb, but useful. 🙂
I made stuffed shells this week, but stuck them in the freezer for a future meal. Recently we made lasagna and have a container of ricotta cheese left that I didn't want to freeze on it's own, so hence the stuffed shells.
I didn't grocery shop this week as we have lots of food in the house and I want to use a bit up....
Last Saturday: we made chopped beef subs and had them with fries (our daughter and her boyfriend were over)
Sunday: friends treated us to wings as we watched the Buffalo Bills game. They were delicious and the company was great!
Monday: pulled pork nachos
Tuesday: bacon wrapped beef pinwheels, parsley potatoes, green beans
Wednesday: Polish sausage, parmesan flavored noodles, peas
Thursday: chicken salads with fries and croutons. I also had a cannoli for dessert. I also made pumpkin breads and had a piece of one for snack. Hubby took a few to work today for breakfast with his coworkers.
All my nurse friends work 12-hour shifts. This seems too long… aren’t nurses too tired at the end of those shifts?? Or is the idea that the nurse can follow the patients’ progress and provice consistent uninterrupted care for a longer period?
There is a twofold answer to this question: 1) Yes, on continuity of care. 2) In our midwest area, it has more to do with staffing. I don't quite know the logistics of HOW it is done, but stretching fewer people over more hours is the goal. And especially younger nurses appreciate the three days on (which is full time) four days off. I am old and not one of those 12 hour people...
Friday: My husband and son had Dude Night – they made brats and home fries and then watched a movie I had no interest in. I enjoyed dinner out with a friend. We split a couple of appetizers, a bread basket, and enjoyed a scoop of gelato each.
Saturday: My parents took our family out to celebrate our 5th anniversary. We went to a new-to-us restaurant that serves delicious Southern Food.
Sunday: In the afternoon we had my husband’s extended family’s Christmas. It is potluck with tons of food. We brought the wine (normally I would cook something but my husband already established that he brought wine before we met and there was plenty of food). To make life easy we took the frozen chicken noodle soup base out of the freezer and added noodles for dinner.
Monday: Chicken Zucchini Poppers, Home Fries, fresh veggies
Tuesday: Ropa Vieja over rice
Wednesday: Ropa Vieja leftovers turned into a taco bar
Thursday: Swedish meatballs over mashed potatoes, green beans
I spent $92 and that included 2 large pork butts. I will smoke one this weekend for bbq for the freezer. The other is being ground up today for italian sausage.
We ate:
Saturday: hibachi style chicken/steak/rice on the blackstone with the kids
Sunday: fish and tater tots with salad
Monday: philly sandwiches with baked fries and salad
Tuesday: roast/carrots/potatoes
Wednesday: leftovers
Thursday: we went out to a new place for us. DH had a fish and shrimp basket. I had a chicken sandwich with sweet potato fries
Friday: We are having arroz con pollo and refried beans
The highlight of my week was actually breakfast. I tried a swim biscuits recipe and that is soo much easier than regular biscuits and less mess.
I love swim butter biscuits!
Add spinach to the cheese mixture for a change of pace - it is quite good
WIS: $64.12 for groceries. Not including two (2) bottles of wine and two (2) potted plants. And $24 (including tax and tip) for lunch out with one friend (I had the “Short Rib Philly” sandwich which is a braised short rib, mushrooms, peppers and onions, Swiss cheese, au jus on a butter brioche split top, with a fruit salad on the side, which was so big it was dinner as well as lunch), and $15 (including tax and tip) for a two and a half hour lunch with another friend at a Mexican restaurant. (She had a “buy one get one” coupon and we had a lot to talk about.)
WIA@ Home: Spaghetti tonno e burro (tuna + butter) from a recipe I printed out a year ago because I had bought (by mistake) two (2) cans of “Solid Light Tuna with Lemon Dill in Extra Virgin Olive Oil”, instead of my usual and much more boring tuna in water. This was delicious. I much prefer it to pasta with red (tomato) sauce. It takes a pound of spaghetti (that I already had) cooked al dente, as well as the olive-oil-packed tuna (that I already had), as well as a stick of unsalted butter (that I already had) as well as freshly ground black pepper (that I already had), so this made several completely “free” sunk cost meals. To make up for the lunch splurges. And the wine. And the potted plants….
Two grocery trips this week:
Fred Meyer $158.76
Albertsons $65.08
Total $223.84
I have a large stash of beans from Rancho Gordo so I cooked 2 pounds of beans (1 pound of Bayo Gordo and 1 pound of Cassoulet) and made a few things-
Saturday
Bayo Gordo beans with bacon & lime juice and chicken flautas with salsa & guacamole
Sunday
Sausage & white bean soup with bread & salad
Monday
Steak w/mushrooms & onions, baked sweet potatoes & cucumber & tomato salad
Tuesday
Leftover sausage & kale soup w/bread & salad
Wednesday
Leftover Bayo Gordo beans w/bacon & lime juice, fresh fruit & tortillas
Thursday
Leftover steak, tomato, cucumber,
& avocado salad
Friday
Cassoulet w/lots of vegetables,
Caesar salad, & french bread
We won’t need to buy groceries next week- lots to work with from this week’s purchases
Hope everyone has a great week!!
Two grocery trips this week:
Fred Meyer $158.76
Albertsons $65.08
Total $223.84
I have a large stash of beans from Rancho Gordo so I cooked 2 pounds of beans (1 pound of Bayo Gordo and 1 pound of Cassoulet) and made a few things-
Saturday
Bayo Gordo beans with bacon & lime juice and chicken flautas with salsa & guacamole
Sunday
Sausage & white bean soup with bread & salad
Monday
Steak w/mushrooms & onions, baked sweet potatoes & cucumber & tomato salad
Tuesday
Leftover sausage & kale soup w/bread & salad
Wednesday
Leftover Bayo Gordo beans w/bacon & lime juice, fresh fruit & tortillas
Thursday
Leftover steak, tomato, cucumber,
& avocado salad
Friday
Cassoulet w/lots of vegetables,
Caesar salad, & french bread
We won’t need to buy groceries next week- lots to work with from this week’s purchases
Hope everyone has a great week!!
That sandwich looks delicious. Probably every bit as good as one from a food truck.
I spent $18 at Sprouts (they had good sale prices on some of the specialty items I needed) and $29 at Aldi for more basic groceries.
My most memorable meals this week (not all were dinners) were burrito bowls topped with coconut milk yogurt as a sour cream substitute, vegetable soup and cornbread, ham and eggs and potatoes, and blueberry pancakes.
Hi! Do you have the recipe for the baked ham and swiss sliders that you make a lot? Thank you 🙂
Here ya go! https://kingshawaiian.com/recipes/hawaiian-ham-swiss-slider
Speaking of Squash Soup....
I served your butternut squash soup at a dinner I hosted last month. Everyone commented on how good it was. Maybe they were just being polite to their hostess, but when two of them asked me for the recipe, I knew they seriously wanted to make the soup for themselves. Thanks for sharing it.
WIS: $0 on people food.
WWA: Spaghetti with meat sauce made from scratch. Pan- fried tilapia with baked potatoes and corn on the cob. Chili with cheddar-herb corn muffins. A rice cooker meal of spicy yellow rice, black beans, corn, chicken and store-brand Rotel tomatoes. Ham sandwiches for anyone who wanted something else. Fruit on the side. Chocolate pudding and muffins as desserts.