WIS, WWA | with a Sonia birthday
What I Spent
Let's see. I know this is gonna be a high week!
I spent:
- $114 at Aldi
- $35 at Safeway
- $12 at Target
- $30 on a Hungry Harvest box
And that makes $191 for me this week.
What We Ate
Saturday
We all were out with friends/family in various places for dinner; no cooking for me!
Sunday
I made burgers, and we had potato chips and fruit on the side.
Monday
Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, and fruit.
Tuesday
We did a breakfast-for-dinner night: waffles, fruit, whipped cream, bacon, and orange juice.
Wednesday
My Hungry Harvest box came with both kale and potatoes, so it seemed like a good night to make a pot of zuppa toscana.
That soup is basically a one-pot meal, but I also cut up some fruits and veggies to eat on the side.
Thursday
Sonia turned 19! She wanted to go to Red Lobster for her birthday, so that's where we went.
After dinner, we came back to my house for present opening.
And I made hot fudge pudding cake (which we ate with ice cream, of course!).
Hot fudge pudding cake is not ideal for candles, but we did the best we could.
I didn't think to buy candles, but I remembered that I had a package of birthday candles that I'd rescued from the abandoned house. Perfect!
Friday
I will probably make a decision on this after I organize my fridge; I need to figure out what needs to be used in there!
Happy birthday, Sonia!!! I'm notorious in my house for saving and reusing birthday candles. It's a whole thing...
WIS:
132.73 @Aldi, 20.42 on a box of wine and 26.37 on a Hungry Harvest box for a total of 179.52 this week.
WWA:
Fri: salad (mixed greens, blueberries, orange peppers, pepitas, balsamic vinegar and olive oil), focaccia (topped with extra veggies at my request: tomatoes, canned mushrooms, onions, garlic, peppers, plus parmesan and mozzarella cheeses and pepperoni)
Sat: salad (mixed greens, strawberries, feta cheese, pepitas, balsamic vinegar and olive oil), homemade chicken soup ladeled over egg noodles.
Sun: salad (red and green lettuce, blueberries, almonds, cashews and dark chocolate bits from an Aldi trail mix, strawberry mootube dressing), air fried leftover focaccia pieces.
Mon: sweet and spicy swiss chard, leftovers: chicken noodle soup as well as cuban rice and beans.
Tue: crudites (carrots, celery and peppers and ranch dip), cheeseburger ring from Taylor Elmore's YouTube channel but made all kinds of differently. Husband made the pastry dough from scratch, then used ground chicken instead of beef and added sauteed onions and kale to the meat mixture along with the mustard, ketchup and pickle juice. He topped it with shredded cheddar cheese and then baked at 375. It was so delicious and the kids inhaled it! No leftovers. We had pickled green snap peas alongside it which cleared out a jar that had been in the fridge for definitely years.
Wed: salad (mixed greens and a handful of trail mix that contains cashews, almonds and dark chocolate bits), brown rice and pork roast cooked with spices and onions-husband had a name for it that I can't remember at the moment, but it was kind of like barbecue pulled pork without the barbecue sauce.
Thu: salad (mixed baby greens, cherry tomatoes and feta cheese with balsamic and olive oil drizzle) and gnocchi casserole-this was two bags of clearance Aldi holiday gnocchi, about a pound of browned ground beef (clearance from freezer), some pasta sauce and added veggies: onions, garlic, carrots, peppers, celery, topped with shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheese and baked in the oven. It was delicious, and made enough for about two dinners so we will have it again as lefties.
Tonight: salad and focaccia, of course, but I probably won't be able to argue for as many veggies this time since I'm no longer sick.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Ooh, I love gnocchi, so I would like to have been at your house on Thursday.
So glad you are feeling better! I finally am feeling more like myself too. Whew.
@Becca, your focaccia always sounds so good! I'm a little tempted to make it, but I'm not the baker at my house so it's more likely I'll bug my husband to make it haha.
@Becca, I always read your salad entries with interest--I have never tried putting chocolate on a salad, and I probably will never do so, but I salute your adventurous nature! I am wary of even putting fruit on a green salad, so there you go.
@Becca, you mean some people DON'T recycle birthday candles? 🙂
@Kris, I reuse all of ours. Especially the fatter ones. 🙂 It is a perfectly normal thing.
@Becca, is the pork called carnitas? I make that a lot and my husband is preparing it for our dinner tonight!
@Molly F.C.,
I just asked him and he said it's Moroccan spiced pork and onions.
@Karen A.,
To be fair, even I thought the chocolate would be weird, but the combination of laziness and not being able to get enough of this specific trail mix from Aldi (called retreat trail mix, if you're interested) propelled me to try it and it's actually pretty good. Nothing like putting candy on your salad. 😉
@Becca, are they cacoa nibs? They have a satisfying crunch and they are a touch bitter, not sweet.
@Jan,
Nah, they're just little rectangles of dark chocolate. They're definitely sweet, but not too sweet. I have a craving and I just ate the last of the bag...sigh...I may need to make an emergency quickity trip to Aldi tomorrow...
@Becca, "quickity"?? I'm stealing this word! Thank you
Happy birthday to Sonia, and high five to you for definitely not burning your grilled cheese. 🙂
Saturday: Ground beef and bean chile, cornbread, chocolate cookies made with some gritty fudge
Sunday: Pizzas--one cheese, one with bacon and onion--green salad with vinaigrette, and a maple/mocha pudding in which I completely forgot to put in the maple syrup. Which was the only sweetener. I didn't realize this until we were actually eating it and I was all, "Huh. This is kind of tasteless." Which is what happens when you make a maple pudding and forget to put in the maple. Ahem.
Monday: Leftover hamburgers, hot dogs, and pizza, frozen green beans, and bread and butter for those who were still hungry
Tuesday: Meatloaf, baked potatoes, roasted sweet potatoes, sauerkraut for the adults, raw cabbage for the kids
Wednesday: Leftover meatloaf, the leftover baked potatoes chopped and fried in olive oil and butter, more raw cabbage
Thursday: Steaks, rice, green salad with vinaigrette
Tonight: Tuna/salmon patties. I have a lot of cans of salmon, slightly fewer of tuna. We prefer the tuna, but I've been getting the salmon from commodities, so I think I'll try mixing the two to make the patties. Also mashed potatoes, pureed calabaza from the freezer, maybe frozen peas. We're pretty low on vegetables at the moment, so the freezer is going to be our produce department for awhile.
@kristin @ going country,
I made carrot cake once and then found the grated carrots in the frig later that day. It turned out to be a spice cake, which I took to work and it was eaten.
Man, I hate it when I do stuff like that!
@kristin @ going country,
I have more than once forgotten to put brown sugar in my apple crisp topping....yes, the apple filling is sweet, so it wasn't the end of the world, but it was definitely *missing* something.
Happy Birthday!!!! I am currently (frantically) trying to plan my day as my babies turn 18 tomorrow! I need to prepare a batch of brownies for one and an Almond Pound cake for another!
This week the husband and I ate the last 2 steaks in the freezer with some baked potatoes when all 3 kids worked the same night!
Spaghetti and meatballs with salads and garlic bread another night...
Pork roast with kraut, mashed potatoes and veggies one night
buffalo sauced chicken tenders and the leftover baked taters diced and fried off
leftovers eaten by all after work shifts...
one night husband and I grabbed sandwiches while running errands.
Tonight will probably be random freezer stuff pulled out since we are going out to a fancy burger place Saturday for the twins dinner!
@jes, You made me think of the old expression "When the cat's away, the mice will play." When all the kids are away, Mom and Dad eat steak!
This has not been a stellar week, food-wise. Mostly because there is upheaval here at Camp Rustown in the form of me being under the weather, and Son #2 moving back home, which is a story for another day. However! I did buy groc and cook. Spending for the week was $91!
Monday - Beef Fajita Quesadillas with onions and peppers
Wednesday - Pork Chop, spinach, twice baked potato
Thursday - Pizza, and I added extra cheese, some seasoned beef crumbles, and the rest of the O&P from Monday
Tonight - (freezer) Lentil Soup, garlic toast
Saturday - OUT, in the form of fried chicken that I will debone so I can make broth with the bones, and I have plans to visit my mother if I get to feeling better
Sunday - TBD, but maybe ramen noodles with deboned chicken and broth
Happy Weekend!
https://cannaryfamily.blogspot.com/
One of the many benefits of being a long-time reader is that I've been making and enjoying that pudding cake since you initially shared the recipe. It's out go-to birthday cake! Happy Birthday to Sonja!
Dinners this week included:
1. Baked cod with garden salad
2. Shrimp & grits, with roasted peppers
3. Tofu/slaw scramble with rice
4. Ham & cheese club sandwiches w/sweet potato fries & brussel sprouts
5. Ham, rice, broccoli & cheese casserole & garden salad
6. Minestrone soup & garden salad
7. Not 100% sure, but probably some sort of soup with salad (my go-to easy meal)
Happy birthday Sonia! This week was back to normal after last week being full of snow days and sickness.
Sunday: I was still on a homemade crouton kick (so easy and so good!) so we had tomato, cheese, and chicken soup with homemade croutons
Monday: Pizza salad, which doesn't really remind me of pizza but is delicious. The cookbook the recipe came from called it pizza salad so it stuck.
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: Preschooler choice! Which meant mac and cheese and some strawberries that I impulse bought. She was excited to see them, and they were on sale, so win win!
Thursday: Homemade French dip Sandwiches, with canned peaches on the side that were rescued from the depths of the refrigerator.
Friday: We were supposed to have leftovers, but we don't really have a lot this week. So we'll probably have some Italian wedding soup that I impulse bought and stuck in the pantry a few weeks ago, along with the leftover bread from the sandwiches.
Saturday: We have a friend visiting from out of town, he stays with us once a year to go skiing. We'll be taking him out to dinner tomorrow.
Have a safe weekend everyone!
WIS: $16.50 at Wegmans, $6 at the bakery outlet, $13.50 at the adjacent grocery outlet, $59 at Price Chopper, and $6 at Aldi. (I was doing a bit of restocking after low-spend February.)
WIA: The week's standout was the beef barley soup I made with one of the two unusually small chuck roasts I cooked up, as mentioned earlier. I used a new-to-me Martha Steward recipe (remember that I have a love/hate relationship with Martha) that calls for, among other things, a bottle of Guinness. I used one of the five unopened bottles of Guinness I found last year in someone's recycling bin. At any rate, I thought this was one of the best soups I ever made, and the Bestest Neighbors agreed.
@A. Marie,
One of our local “Irish Pubs” uses Guinness in its beef stew and shepherd's pie. I understand that it adds a wonderful depth of flavor to the beef. My husband gives these dishes rave revues Unfortunately, as someone who is allergic to wheat, I have never tasted either of these. In fact, there is little at this fun little restaurant/bar that I can eat, but they have great music.
@A. Marie: I forgot to add best birthday wishes to Sonia. And I do admire her current hairstyle.
Also, the spelling above should have been Stewart, not Steward, of course. Chez A. Marie regrets the error.
@A. Marie,
I make a chocolate Bundt cake that has Guinness as an ingredient (well, you can use any brand of stout beer, but I tend to use Guinness). it is, hands down, the best chocolate cake I've ever made, and gets rave reviews from everyone who eats it. Several of my co-workers request it for their birthdays every year. 🙂
@A. Marie,
I love that your WIS paragraph is like a mini primer on how to be frugal:
1. You shopped at five different stores.
2. Two of them have outlet in the name, one is called "price chopper," and one is Aldi.
3. You spent literally a dollar over one hundred in this insane economy and then added on a note that you were restocking after a low spend month.
I seriously bow down to you, oh frugal one! 😉
@Becca, thank you kindly for the compliment. But remember that I'm shopping for just me. Those of you shopping for families have far greater challenges.
@A. Marie, I had a Russian boar as a pet once and we named him Martha Stewart. I may have posted before that I tried to potty train him according to an article I read, where you put the pig in the bathroom all night so he can poop in there if he cannot hold it. Husband forgot about the pig, stepped in pig poop in the middle of the night, fell and got the poop on other parts of him. Martha ran out of the bathroom, I tried to open the door to let her out but never got the screen door opened before she smashed through it, ruining a screen we had put up about a week before. Martha eventually lived in the giant pen we had and the people who bought the house wanted him so he stayed behind while we left. End of my pig adventures.
@Lindsey,
Oh. My. Goodness. This is the best pig story ever. It has it all! A hilarious name! Poop! General mayhem! More poop! Five stars!
@A. Marie,
Hmm...far greater challenges like kids with bougie tastes? 😉
@Lindsey, if you posted the pig story before, I'm glad you posted it again. I wouldn't have missed it for the world!
@Becca, actually, I was just thinking of the challenges of feeding multiple mouths in these troubled times. But I'll give you extra credit for the offspring's tastes.
@Lindsey, I'm really happy to have come back this morning to read about other people's menus and found Martha the Pooping Boar story! Ha ha, loved it.
The abandoned house continues to provide!!!
Happy Birthday to Sonia!
WIS = $94.50 at my budget grocery store (No Frills). Plus $23.71 at the pharmacy for calcium & magnesium supplements that I've been told I have to take.
Friday - salad with leftover roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes, green pepper & cauliflower.
Sat - Turkish Pizza (Pita halved cross-wise, cut side up. Brush with olive oil, sprinkle with paprika. Cook spinach separately, place on pita half, make a well in the middle, crack an egg into the well. Sprinkle with crumbled feta and bake).
Sun - Turkish pizza.
Mon - Portabello Pita's
Tues - Take out pizza for a late lunch. Dinner was a salad with garlic pita strips.
Wed - Same as Tuesday.
Thurs - Soup (Chicken broth, Buckwheat Soba Noodles, leftover Portabello mushrooms, broccoli, green onion).
Tonight - Sweet and Sour Meatloaf, smashed potatoes, and broccoli. Roast some red pepper strips and sweet potato fries at the same time.
Happy weekend to all!
@Linda in Canada, mmm, I've never heard of Turkish pizza before but that sounds delicious.
@Linda in Canada,
I'm intrigued by the sweet and sour meatloaf. Is it just sweet & sour mixed in or maybe on top as a glaze?
This was kind of a fun week for meals, as I tried something new. I don't normally do that.
We stocked up last Saturday for the week ($261), and I only made one trip in to the grocery store because we were low on seltzers, which is kind of an emergency around here 😉 and on that trip I spent $20. Not bad for us.
Monday I made lasagna; always a hit around here, but with my husband out of town three pans seemed like a lot. Still, the kids were firm on three pans. I had lots of leftover beef, so I made two pans of beef and cheese, one of just cheese. Weirdly, my youngest always votes for lasagna but will not eat leftovers of it. It's a little frustrating, but he's never liked leftovers of anything except maybe reheated burgers and tuna patties.
Tuesday we had a lot of leftover lasagna, but I wanted something a little different as well, so I made a pot of kale and lentil soup. The onion I had was huge, so I only used half in the crockpot, chopped the rest and cooked it and froze it (per Kristen of Going Country's advice to Just Cook the Onion!). My youngest had been talking wistfully about corn dogs, so I made cornbread muffins with hot dog pieces poked into them. The hot dogs kind of sunk, which wasn't my hope for them, but the muffins were tasty and everyone loved them as a side to their soup and leftover lasagna.
Wednesday was burgers and tater tots, a perennial favorite around here. A simple meal I didn't have to cook was welcomed, since we went on a hike that day and then I decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood as well--the weather was just so gorgeous--and I was tired.
Thursday, taco night, again, a staple that I don't have to cook. 🙂
Friday, tonight, will probably be a combo of leftover burgers and taco stuff and if there isn't enough I'll make some salmon patties. I'm fasting, so I'm just going to let the boys decide what they want. And Saturday will be homemade personal pizzas, as always!
@Karen A., Hot dogs inside corn muffins? Genius!
Happy bday SONIA!
74 at Kroger pick up. 52 at ALDI
Monday: leftover meatloaf. Pepper feta tomato salad cottage cheese
Tuesday: air fryer fish stick tacos with cabbage and crema ( really yummy). Leftover salad
Wednesday: breakfast sandwiches air fryer roasted sweet potatoes
Thursday: pizza and cabbage salad
Friday: classic old school tuna noodle casserole ( love it. Make it once a year!) LENT. Steamed peas.
Tomorrow I am making something with chicken.
Let's see
Sunday: pot roast
Monday: burgers and fries
Tuesday: more burgers and fries
Wednesday: biscuits and gravy
Last night: orechiette with sausage and broccoli rabe
Tonight: i feel sick thinking about food. Maybe a green salad with chicken, or something like that. Maybe take out.
And happy birthday, Sonia! For my daughter's birthday, we use the same Teletubbies candle we've been using for 24 years.
Happy Birthday Sonia! Good save on the candles. I too have a stash of odds and ends candles. Comes in handy.
Monday- sausage & zucchini skillet dinner….broccoli on the side.
Tuesday- crockpot chicken tacos w avocado, salsa, and cheese. Mexican rice and salad.
Wednesday- leftover chicken taco….as bowls this time.
Thursday- Buffalo chicken meatballs w oven roasted green beans.
Friday- on the road to visit kids….so probably a burger.
Saturday- bought tamales and chili…..cheaper than taking everyone out.
Sunday- celebrating son’s early birthday…..made a key lime cheesecake and chicken & sausage gumbo. Froze both, so Sunday will be easy.
Enjoying nice weather, and getting ready to clean out for a garage sale or donation.
Saturday - Broccoli cheddar soup with bread bowls
Sunday - We celebrated my brother's birthday. I didn't have to provide any food, but I helped my mom make fajitas and we had fruit salad, cake, and ice cream.
Monday - Brats/hot dogs, broccoli with cheese, and pineapple
Tuesday - My husband ate dinner at a meeting at church; I had a salad; my kids had macaroni and cheese, cucumbers, and applesauce
Wednesday - This was our power outage day and my husband encouraged me to make it easy and pick up pizza. I'm so glad he did!!! I was trying to do too much that day.
Thursday - Slight adaptation to one of Kristen's recipes: Orzo with sausage, broccoli, and red peppers with peaches and applesauce on the side (Which prompted a discussion where my 6yo declared that when he's an adult he will can 100 jars of peaches in the summer so he can eat peaches all the time)
Friday - Probably chili with baked potatoes
Peaches are an elite fruit. I like the canned ones, but man, nothing beats a fresh August peach.
@Ruth T, My sons feel the same way about home-canned peaches. They did learn how much work they are this summer, however, when I got them at the sink peeling all the peaches for me. Then they saw why I didn't can every single peach our very generous neighbor gave us. 🙂 (I froze most of the rest, many of them just halved with the pit out. The skins slip off when they thaw, just like frozen tomatoes, which is very handy and WAY easier than the boiling water/cold water peeling method.)
Yes! I only had time to can about 6 quarts of peaches this summer, so we treat them like gold.
@Ruth T,
We canned between 75-100lbs of peaches last summer. I love canned peaches!
@Kristen, We were driving through Georgia once in the middle of peach season. I had no idea peaches could taste that good!! Since then, I cannot buy/eat the peaches that make it to northern Alaska, unless I am making peach amaretto jam.
I can imagine that peaches which travel so far are not worth eating! I personally almost never eat peaches unless they are local ones in July and August.
Saturday - takeout burgers from a local burger place
Sunday - we were supposed to go to a kids birthday party around dinner time but it was canceled due to illness. My kids were very disappointed so I made them a giant snack platter (mostly fruits and veggies with some cheese, pickles, crackers) and some deviled eggs, which my 2 year old recently discovered she loves. This seemed like plenty of food, but they later asked what was for dinner, so I made them some pb&js too.
Monday - turkey corn chowder using some leftover smoked turkey my husband had made for a work potluck. Served with crescent rolls
Tuesday - the last of the leftover turkey was used in yakisoba. This also used a lot of vegetables I had left in the fridge, like half a cabbage and some old carrots.
Wednesday - I don’t label freezer leftovers so the week before I defrosted something that I thought was soup for my lunch and it ended up being filling for enchiladas. No soup then but made a very easy dinner with the filling already made. I just needed to fill the tortillas and cover them with sauce and cheese and bake.
Thursday - went out with some friends so had cheese plate and wine, microwaved some leftover Mac and cheese and peas for the kids and husband had cereal for dinner.
Friday - probably a frozen pizza
@LB, freezer roulette! When I was a kid, every once in a while my mother would pull all the unlabeled tin foil wrapped leftovers out of the freezer and put them on a tray in the middle of the table. You had to pick one and just hope it was what you thought it might be. No give backs! It was terrifying.
@LB, The husband got so tired of being told we were having chili, only to have the thawed item turn out to be pumpkin pulp, that he bought a 20 pack of black Sharpies and put one in every place I might possible be wrapping stuff for the freezer. Every drawer, hanging off the side of the fridge, on every shelf of the cupboard...and still I manage to convince myself that I will remember what this container holds.
@Lindsey, haha that’s a great idea. I continue to be overconfident in my ability to remember what’s in each container.
@JDinNM, I assume it was all leftover meals? Or could you get say frozen overripe bananas? That is one way to clear out the freezer!
@JDinNM, we used to call that Freezer Smorgasbord and it got very mixed reviews, but it was better than what was in second place.
Those hamburgers look so yummy….WWA:
Saturday - Greek shrimp over couscous
Sunday-roast beef, roast potatoes, CSA beets from the freezer, salad, butter tarts
Monday-roast beef on homemade buns
Tuesday-oven baked crispy chicken, cornbread
Wednesday-freezer meals (chili/chicken curry)
Thursday-polish sausage on buns with sauerkraut, frozen French fries
Friday-freezer meal (likely sausage tortellini soup) and sourdough bread
Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend
@kj, huh- frozen beets! What are they like?
WIS:$0
This week has been crazy with my being in the office for two extremely LONG days and then our eldest pup being neutered on Wednesday.
WWA:
Saturday: I made tacos with ground turkey and romaine lettuce as the shells. Yum.
Sunday: Italian Turkey Sausage with mozzarella, onions and peppers; penne pasta
Monday: Creamy Italian Pasta with Chicken; I went out for dinner with colleagues
Tuesday: Dinner out at a local spot
Wednesday: This was the day the pup had surgery & we got takeout pizza
Thursday: Chicken and Rice; green salad
Friday: probably leftovers tonight since a pup having had surgery means Mom has not slept in 2 days
Happy Friday!
Happy birthday to Sonia! Celebrate!
Happy Birthday, Sonia!! I hope it was an amazing day!! 🙂
Now onto our WWA (very condensed):
We had gotten into the habit of doing a weekly takeout during the pandemic to support some of our local restaurants that were struggling, but now we're realizing with increasing food costs and restaurant costs, we can't do it every week!
This week we had stir fry noodles, sisig pork, jaegerschnitzel pork chops, and creamy Italian sausage soup.
Instead of takeout tonight we will have homemade macaroni and cheese!
@Kristen, I also used your trick to put my lettuce in ice water to perk up some wilty Romaine! Works like a charm every time!!
The cost of groceries and dining out is prohibitive at best and impossible at worst. We live on a fixed income and are having trouble affording food. I don’t know what people who are unemployed, part time, etc doing.
Friday - Usually pizza and movie night, but the kids had had a lot of pizza that week and we'd gotten takeout tacos the night before, so I made a blackened fish salad that I thought was delicious ... but they did not approve of the meal substitution. Ha!
Saturday - We got dinner out after a day of skiing.
Sunday - Chicken tortilla soup
Monday - Random conglomeration of bagged sweet kale salad with some roasted sweet potato, toasted leftover quinoa, and leftover pork chop. It was delicious!
Tuesday - Mac and cheese with chicken nuggets with the younger two while husband and oldest son were out at different things.
Wednesday - Pan seared shrimp with white rice and peas.
Thursday - Grocery store had half price whole chickens, so I got two and roasted both so that we'll have leftovers, along with carrots, green beans, and a few leftover brussels that were languishing in the crisper. Oldest son made biscuits to go with it.
Friday - I shall relent and do pizzas tonight, you're welcome children 🙂
I ran out between the storms and spent about $50 at Trader Joe's and another $50 at Walmart last weekend. And a good thing I did because the trucks couldn't get through for days and it became hard to find fresh food this week.
Saturday I had chicken tacos.
Sunday/Monday I had chicken Alfredo and asparagus.
Tuesday I had grilled cheese and an apple
Wednesday I had grilled chicken salad.
Thursday I sprained my ankle so I couldn't stand to cook. I ate a yogurt and a piece of cake a friend from work sent home with me.
Tonight it will have to be something simple again. Probably cheese and crackers and fruit.
And since I didn't cook much I have plenty of food for next week which is good since more storms are in the forecast!
Happy Birthday to Sonia, and I love her haircut. I love those curls, being a curly girl myself.
Let's see, I went shopping last week, after already getting some farm orders, so last week was high. The 3 farm orders were about $175, I remember that, and I spent around $83 at the stores. Ouch.
I left my menu out of my purse, so here's what I remember:
I know I had steak a couple of nights - I got a more steak than I expected in the package from the farm. I cooked onions and mushrooms and had mashed celeriac with it. One night I added a green salad with homegrown lettuce.
I had a hamburger with cucumber slaw and cassava chips.
I had Christmas ham from the freezer with cauliflower and cranberry sauce.
I had ham with, uh, other sides, and more cranberry sauce.
Oh, and on my un-birthday, my daughter took me out for a large lunch, so that night I just ate a small plate of some leftover vegetables.
Tonight? Possibly deviled ham. I still have some leftover ham.
Sonia does a great job with her curls!
@Kristen, maybe a guest post from her? Hair tips? My nieces are curly girls! Sonia looks beautiful, and nineteen will be an amazing year!
WIS: $65.71 at Sprouts for a ton of fresh (and frozen) fruit and produce including a pound of organic asparagus labeled “asperges biologiques” (because everything tastes better – and costs more – with a French accent), a dozen free range eggs (the range was free but the eggs were not), 2 pounds of unsalted butter for $3.99/pound (for the freezer until needed), a loaf of multigrain bread, and some thinly sliced “ham off the bone” that is so much better than packaged cold cuts. $54 at Albertsons to stock up on taco shells, refried beans, organic tomatoes, ultra-pasteurized milk (which keeps longer), 5 pounds of ground beef (for about $4.25/lb), some junk food, and a bottle of generic low-dose aspirin. And $30 (including tip) for brunch at the Santa Ana Café in the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort & Spa located on the Santa Ana Pueblo. It’s a lovely place; visit when you can. So $149.71 altogether (high for me) but with judicious cooking and freezing this should be enough, together with what’s already here, for the month, except for fresh salad fixings.
WIA: Friday and Saturday dinners were leftover restaurant fare (pan fried trout, grilled shrimp and green beans) from the previous Thursday dinner out with friends (3 meals for the exorbitant price of 1). Sunday was the brunch with 2 friends to celebrate (belatedly) our 3 December birthdays. I had Green Chile Corn Chowder and a chicken quesadilla, wonderfully strong black coffee and a complimentary cheesecake for dessert from our lovely young waitress for our birthdays. Monday was leftovers from Sunday brunch. (I’m sensing a theme here.) Tuesday was a grilled chicken salad, Wednesday was tuna salad on hard-boiled egg white halves, and Thursday was a spinach omelet with a side of fruit. Tonight? I have a salmon roast stuffed with spinach and goat cheese that was part of a Christmas gift from a client that came from Mackenzie Limited, a self-described “Importer and Purveyor of the World’s Finest Foods”! I’m thinking I will roast that with some of the “asperges biologiques” from Sprouts.
I rarely eat out, but February had 3 meals out with friends (in different configurations) because we had not been able to get together since early December. Very unusual, a little pricey, but very necessary.
"asperges biologiques"...haha! Was it labeled in a fancy font as well?
@Kristen, Mais oui!
Happy birthday to Sonia! We had a bit of a scrambled week, so we relied on the freezer a lot.
Monday: I was off, so I made chicken broth and added chicken wontons from the freezer, along with some tofu and vegetables.
Tuesday: I made pasta with tomato/eggplant sauce, a new recipe which was a dud. And salad.
Wednesday: Crustless quiche with spinach and leeks, plus carrot soup with the on-their-last-legs carrots.
Thursday: Pasta with meat sauce from the freezer.
Friday: soy/ginger/green onion tilapia, rice, and sauteed cabbage.
A question: when you tabulate your grocery spending, especially from a place like Sam's Club, do you deduct non grocery items, like toilet paper, personal care items, etc?
@Roslyn, she includes them in her total, and lists those items as grocery spend
Yep, what Rachel said! I just include it all in my groceries; toiletries, cleaning products, and paper products.
Happy Birthday, Sonia! The pudding cake looked delicious! Love that the abandoned house is continuing to provide treasures.
I know, right? I use things from the abandoned house every day!
Thank you everyone for the comments on yesterday's post. I truly had no idea that so many of you were worried about me. It just make me love this little community we have here so much more.
Most of this week was spent snow bound. CA got hit with some crazy storms and the Sierra's were pretty much a white out for a few days. I don't know how you Midwesterners deal with, I was going insane after a few days stuck in the house.
Sunday- abridged soup. I took the Trader Joe's Italian Wedding soup, added kale, white beans and some more broth and now I have a syuper filling soup that will last a few days
Monday- See above (I was really craving comfort and warm but needed some veggies)
Tueday- Home early after taking an ambulance 275 miles (we still have to get pt's out even if we can't fly). Made easy rigatoni with bolognese from the freezer
Wednesday- midweek date night. A pizza place opened up in LA by the chef that won "best pizza in the world" so we made reservations months ago
Thursday- Spent the day making hamentaschen for Purim with my niece so I got home late, made eggs with leftover veggies and potatoes (almost a luxury meal these days)
Friday- I had defrosted salmon yesterday (before Purim cookies got away from me) so we will have that in some way tonight
Saturday- no idea. We are still working in floor replacement and running water/gas lines for the laundry hook ups so will see how dead to the world we are before I make promises on dinner
I had a menu planned but we only stuck to it 2/7 days. It’s amazing that one unplanned meal caused a domino effect all week!
Friday – Husband and I went to a friend’s birthday party. Dinner was provided but we purchased our drinks. My son stayed home and had a breakfast sandwich and too many snacks.
Saturday – Husband called right before I started cooking dinner to suggest bringing home pizzas from his favorite pizza place. He brought home their frozen pizzas because a fresh one would be a 2 hour wait (It IS worth the wait, the restaurant was featured on Netflix’s Chef’s Table: Pizza).
Sunday – Steaks, poblano au gratin potatoes, salad. I picked up the salad from Trader Joe’s and didn’t notice that it had nori included in the mix. It was delicious but the flavor didn’t mix well with the potatoes.
Monday – Barley and Andouille sausage with bell peppers. I had planned on Trader Joe’s orange chicken but I made Saturday’s planned dinner instead.
Tuesday – Soup night! I had planned on making a bean soup but I took the leftover barley and andouille sausage and added it to the slow cooker along with chicken stock and dill.
Wednesday – Spaghetti squash taco bake. The only way I can feed my son spaghetti squash with no complaint!
Thursday – Leftover spaghetti squash bake and pineapple. I had planned on fish but husband had to work late and reheated fish is not delicious.
Happy Birthday to Sonia! Her hair is absolutely gorgeous, those curls and that color. She has style.
Since our boys have become grownups, we use a special little candle over and over for birthdays. Seeing that candle has become prized by all.
Man, that burger looks delicious.
Happy Birthday to Sonia. It's amazing how they all went from little kids to (almost) all grown adults!
We have managed to eat ALL of our prepped freezer meals (I think we went from about 25 to 3 single serving containers). This was our goal for Jan/Feb, and I'm super impressed with our diligence, but it also means that I'm out of my "in a pinch" meals. We have them a lot, due to schedules. So, I need to get back to more regular cooking, and less relying on freezer staples.
We ate:
-Butternut squash soup + bacon wrapped chicken
-Fiesta chicken rice
-Baked chicken & pasta
-Grilled burgers (x2)
-Chicken shawarma
Tonight will be our semi standard, we're busy, it's Friday dinner. We're having wings with gyozas. We serve all of our dinners with salads, and often our hungry teens have a protein smoothie as "dessert".
Happy birthday, Sonia! Her cake looks so yummy!
WIS: $89.68 at Food Lion.
WWA:
Sunday was pancakes, eggs, bacon and applesauce.
Monday was pan-fried salmon with green peas, baked potatoes, a small dish of mac and cheese for our son and applesauce.
Tuesday was homemade beef-barley-veggie soup with cheddar-herb muffins and applesauce.
Wednesday through today: Leftover soup with leftover homemade bread, tangerines, crackers and peanut butter (I was a bit under the weather).
We did not eat out.
Happy Birthday, Sonia!!
WIS: Restaurant Supply - $38, Costco - $79
S: Beef & Broccoli over rice, banana custard for dessert
S: Grilled burgers in the snow, pizza oven fries b/c power outage/snow/high wind
M: Asian Cabbage Salad, ginger cake for dessert
T: Leftover cabbage and veg stir fry w/hoisin glazed salmon
W: Fajitas and citrus/jicama toasted walnuts salad
Th: Fajita soup and cornbread muffin tops
F: Green salad w/citrus vineagrette, almonds and cranberries and homemade french bread
It is such a great feeling to fill my shopping bag with home canned goods, freezer items and pantry goods. I brought in a dozen eggs, a quart of salsa, frozen walnuts, cabbage and potatoes from the cold storage and the various meats, it brings me such joy knowing that the hard work of growing, canning and presserving pays off in the winter months.
I started tomatoes, cucumbers, winter squashes, cabbage, beans, broccoli, peas (for split peas) and summer squashes this week in the greenhouse. I will be planting more strawberries in the next week or so.
We've been eating carrots, beets, rainbow chard, romaine and broccoli out of the raised/hooped bed.
Happy birthday!
Sunday: American Chop Suey. We also enjoyed this for lunches throughout the week.
Monday: Chicken Noodle Soup and homemade oatmeal honey rolls. I had been saving chicken bones, etc. and realized over the weekend I had a good amount to make soup so I did.
Tuesday: Meatloaf with honey glazed carrots and sauteed green beans. I took the leftovers and portioned and froze 3 meals for the future.
Wednesday: Make Your Own Tortilla Pizzas (great way use up all kinds of little leftovers!) and one teen was babysitting and ate dinner there.
Thursday: Homemade ramen and an assortment of frozen dumplings. We had several bags that just contained a few dumplings so I cooked all and it was fun to have a mix.
Friday: Some kind of take out...I would like to get bahn mi but will see what everyone feels like!
WIS: Farmer's Market-$50; Neighborhood-$27; the Star-$50; Butcher shop-$17; Fish Delivery-$26; Milk Delivery-$19; Cheese shop-$17; TGTG-$6; Girl Scouts-$40 Total:$252 (Shows that little things-and Girl Scout cookies-add up but overall not too bad)
WWA: Saturday- Mozzarella sticks and chicken nuggets (late night after a play)
Sunday- ???
Monday- Eggplant parm, pasta, green beans
Tuesday- Sesame tuna (a waste of expensive tuna as we chose to overcook it again), shredded cabbage, and rice
Wednesday- Leftover eggplant parm & pasta
Thursday- Chicken soup & saltines
Friday- As much as I want leftover chicken soup...its Friday so Shrimp tacos and whatever veg we can add to it it is
Wow, i have been reading your blog a LONG time. I remember when Sonia and Zoe were quite small! Time flies!
Happy Birthday, Sonia!
I want to see her hair--it looks beautiful from the angles of the photos!!! Is she being camera shy, or will she allow you to post a photo?
I'm sure she wouldn't mind! I will ask her.
@Kristen, Ooh, I would love that, too. My hair skews curly but nothing as lovely as Sonia's. All tips are welcome!
Sat/Sun/Monday: Yakamein, from the New York Times, which said this soup draws from both Asian and African American cultures. New to me but very tasty. As usual, made too much so we ate it for three days. Sumo oranges
Tues/Wed : Chicken Paprikash. Sumo oranges
Thursday : Homemade cheddar potato pierogi. Sumo oranges
Tonight: Lent Friday so Filet-o-Fish for two. Cherry dump cake, to use up more of old cupboard items. No idea how I ended up with so much cherry pie filling; I don't even like cooked cherries so husband eats it for the next two weeks. For me, Sumo oranges. I hate to see the season ending!
I have birthday candles that are at least 31 years old. Used over and over and then some. I do have to admit that my trick birthday candles, the ones that re-light -are slowly dying. Sob!
Kristen, I got a hot fudge pudding cake recipe out of a Mother Earth News magazine about 100 years ago! It used oat bran, vegetable oil, and hot coffee. . . but the process and results were the same (well, caffeine. . .) Awesome. This was back in the day when fat was the enemy but if it was vegetable oil, then you got a pass for the fat. It is fascinating to see how food fads keep changing.
Oh yes, I am old enough to remember when vegetable oils were king!
It was moving week for me, so I gave myself a lot of grace. My favorite things:
--3/$11 sale salad bowls, the kind that come with forks because cutlery wasn't a priority item for me to leave with
--$25 on pasta and pizza (w/ tip) delivery! because my old place was too out of the way so delivery wasn't even an option
--$20 on a burger-and-fries night w a beer, and live music
I'll get my items sorted and "take stock" before shopping.
Happy birthday, Sonia. My birthday is the 3rd, so we almost share a birthday.
I never remember what I ate or how much I spend. I am being more aware and using up the things that need to be eaten because of this group. Thank you.
I eat ham and cheese sandwiches made with publix bread I like. I put sweet onion slices on it and slice an apple to eat with it. I can eat the same thing over and over. It doesn't bother me
Expensive week for us, which is not surprising after some low ones. But most of that was at BJs where I only go once a month; it should balance out.
$185 at Wegmans plus $44 at the farm stand makes $229 in typical week shopping. Then, there was $347 at BJs and $75 at Shaw's, both of which I only go every 4-6 weeks, for a long term total of $422. So, something like $350 total applies to this week.
At this point I don't remember meals well, but we had homemade pizza; scallops with braised potatoes and green beans; pork roast with braised potatoes and salad; beef tenderloin with parsnip puree and spinach salad; and something unknown!