WIS, WWA | with some fancy ramen
What I Spent
I spent:
- $51 at Aldi
- $11 at Giant
- $30 on ramen and bubble tea with Zoe
So, $92 for me!
What We Ate
Saturday
Ravioli with peppers and tomatoes and a quick pan sauce.
Sunday
I spent the whole afternoon at Starbucks studying with two classmates and when I got home I made a quick grilled cheese sandwich before hopping on a study call with another classmate.
Monday
This was my exam day and afterward I had to do a bunch of schoolwork to prep for the module that started the next day. No rest for the weary!
So when Zoe came home from work, we went out and got some fancy ramen. And lucky for me, Zoe shared her soy-marinated egg with me.
Tuesday
I had some asparagus that really needed to be used up so I made a pot of pureed asparagus soup (which handily used up some of the chicken broth I'd recently made), and I also made some croutons out of the heels from my loaf of sandwich bread.
Wednesday
Leftover asparagus soup, sans the croutons. I know this doesn't look terribly delicious, but it is tasty! And it's very handy if you have asparagus that is getting a little elderly.
Thursday
I know lots of people were eating pancakes earlier this week but I ate them last night with bacon. 🙂
Friday
Zoe's working during dinnertime tonight so I'll just be feeding myself and then going to bed early because I have clinical tomorrow.
(Ok, really, who are we kidding? I go to bed early pretty much every night. Ha.)
My to-do list for today includes "Organize fridge" so after that I will have a better idea of what I need to throw together to use up my fridge contents.
I also need to pack lunches for my weekend clinical days so hopefully I can come up with something for dinner that is also packable for lunches!
The fridge is also on my To Do List for today. My kids are off school today and this week has been extra full, so this is a great day to tackle the fridge.
Saturday - I catered an event and ate there. My husband took care of dinner at home.
Sunday - Pizza and breadsticks
Monday - Pork fried rice, roasted brussel sprouts (I thought I'd be eating these alone, but two others joined me!), broccoli with cheese, and cantaloupe
Tuesday - I went out to McAlister's with the other pastors' wives from our church. There are four of us, ranging in age from 28-58. It was a lot of fun!
Wednesday - Chicken, salad, and fruit
Thursday - I changed my plans last-minute due to a lack of time and mental space... we had tortellini and skillet corn. Easy peasy.
Friday - Tonight will either be tater tot hot dish or taco crescent casserole. I might see if one of the kids wants to make dinner.
I can't find my book and am feeling a lack of motivation this morning, so I think I'll go back through yesterday's post to read everyone's thankfuls for a pick-me-up!
@Ruth T, "tater tot hot dish" sounded so appealing when I read it just now that I looked up a recipe and wrote the ingredients on my shopping list.
WIS: $62 at Food Lion, $8 at Dollar Tree, and $20 at Walmart Market.
WWA: Pork ribs and carrots. Ham and cheese. Chili. I got tired of my own cooking and had a couple of frozen pizzas for one. They were pretty decent and were eaten with oranges.
@Ruby, ha! I get sick of my own cooking, too. I get some good ideas on the comments section here, tho.
I haven't been grocery shopping in over a week so nothing spent. My daughter and I have been share cooking. She makes an entree or two and so do I, then we split them into serving size portions to share. This week I've made Dr. Martin's Mix with broccoli on the side, Minestrone soup, and Chicken Enchilada casserole with rice and beans. She made Spaghetti with Italian Sausage Marinara and Chicken with Broccoli and Rice casserole. I also made one dish I didn't share, Chicken Cabbage Slaw with Thai Peanut Dressing. This gives both of us a nice variety to choose from. Another dinner for me was Beef and Barley Soup from the freezer. All in all, a cheap week using food we already had in the refrigerator, pantry, or freezer.
@Sandra, Love the idea of share cooking!
@Sandra, great idea!
WIS: $85 at Wegmans.
WIA, week's highlight: Scrambled eggs with salmon. The seafood department in my Wegmans occasionally sells salmon trimmings (a lot of skin, but more flesh than you'd think) for $2.99/lb., and I pick up a package whenever I can find one. Yesterday, I sauteed the contents of a small package until the skin was turning crispy, and then I scrambled eggs (I was lucky enough to find these at Trader Joe's for $4.59/dozen a couple of weeks ago) in the salmon renderings, with some spinach thrown in. And I had some of the crispy skin on the side. Nom nom nom!
@A. Marie, I used to buy bags of crispy smoked cod skin for my sweet little dachshund who was allergic to nearly everything. She could eat fish, though, and loved those things, with the side benefit of cleaning her teeth. They actually smelled pretty good!
@A. Marie, my tj's on nyc has eggs for $3.49 a dozen. how are you feeling?
Fridays are my day for food prep, too. I use up all the dibs and dabs of leftovers, paired with whatever I have in the freezer. Then by Tuesday I can shop. Inspired by you, my grocery cart was at least 50% fruit and veg. this week. I think the total was around $132, but as usual, included some non-food items.
Monday - ChikfilA grilled nuggets and mac and cheese
Tuesday - (freezer) Chicken Chili
Wednesday - Tilapia, (freezer) seasoned rice, zucchini
Thursday - Butter Chicken Soup with extra onions, peppers, chicken
Tonight - probably taco salad as I have all the fixings, plus some no salt tortilla chips
Saturday and Sunday are kitchen closed
Happy weekend!
Monday: Friends came for dinner! We’re the halfway mark between a couple of families, so we hosted. Someone brought some roasted drumsticks with Indian spices and rice, I made a green salad from whatever produce needed used up, and another brought raspberry cupcakes.
Tuesday: Philly cheesesteak skillet with Texas toast
Wednesday: baked potatoes with chili and other toppings
Thursday: stroganoff and tomato/cucumber balsamic salad
Friday: pizza/movie night!
Saturday: tomorrow is a ladies’ night to celebrate an older friend’s upcoming wedding. I met her when she was very recently widowed (4 years ago), and now she’s found a wonderful man with whom to spend this next chapter of her life. We’re celebrating her with charcuterie and an ice cream sundae bar!
@Kyndra,
How wonderful for your widowed friend, and what a nice (and delicious) way to celebrate with her!
What I spent: $26 at Kroger for a quick fill-in trip, then another $41 at Kroger for a more standard weekly grocery run. So $67 total.
What I ate:
I haven't had much time to cook this week, so lots of easy dinners.
Friday pasta salad
Saturday a chicken and rice bowl
Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday Hormel Compleats microwave dinners
Fat Tuesday dessert was raspberry sorbet and Junior Mints
Wednesday a gf df "cheese" sandwich and potato chips, raspberry sorbet for dessert
Thursday another Hormel Compleats dinner
Tonight, no idea. It can't be another microwave dinner because all the ones I bought have meat in them and it's Friday. Maybe just a sandwich. Or maybe a quick pasta dinner.
@Elizabeth M,
I can't think of Junior Mints without thinking of that Seinfeld episode where Jerry and Kramer are watching a surgery. 🙂
@Liz B., hahahajajjahahajhahahahha
Fancy ramen makes life feel better :). I am still using up freezer contents as much as possible. WWA:
Saturday - a proper shepherd’s pie with Branston pickle
Sunday - leftover shepherd’s pie before going to the symphony
Monday - chicken skewers (drizzled with chili crisp), Spanish rice
Tuesday - homemade hamburgers, air fryer french fries
Wednesday - leftover hamburgers, Greek village salad
Thursday - homemade pizza
Friday - have thawed the meat to make beef stew
Wishing everyone a peaceful week
@kj, oh, I love Branston pickle!
Let's see, meals were chicken and rice bowls, spaghetti and meatballs, tuna or salmon with broccoli cheddar rice, steak and potatoes, cottage pie. I think I cam get by with just a light top up shop this week.
I spent $84
We seemed to eat a lot of the same stuff this week, but I was cleaning out the fridge before my BIL comes to visit today.
Saturday: we ate out...I had nachos. Tried a new place and nothing was great.
Sunday: hamburgers/tater tots/salad
Monday:bbq chicken, mashed potatoes, salad
Tuesday:butter chicken, ric, and asparagus
Wednesday: gyros and greek potatoes with greek salad
Thursday:leftovers for Dh and ramen for me
Friday: grilling out steaks, baked potatoes, salad, green beans, and chocolate cake
I marvel at everyone’s meals! I cook something veggie, baked potatoes and steamed broccoli last night, with enough to repeat tonight. I’m vegetarian, so love my steamed veggies. My husband is a committed carnivore so he grills meat for himself (and a bite for our canine sous chef) around my veggies. I always try for a cook once, eat twice. I cooked a little more when my kids were young, my food must’ve been nutritious yet uninspiring since both my kids love to cook and turn out amazing meals. I thought when I retired I might be more interested in the whole meal thing, but (sadly) no!
I am loving those bagged chopped salads lately.
I happened to be with someone in one of those dollar stores and I was looking around noticing they really had some cheaper prices on food and other items. I need to keep these places in mind in the great money disaster ahead. When everyone is fighting over the last 4 dollar avocado at Walmart maybe I can try some non traditional grocery stores. Online there’s a website of salvage grocery stores I plan to check out too.
@Tiana,
I tried a store called Discount Freight and Grocery. I couldn’t believe how good the prices were and everything was clean and neat and good quality.
Large gluten free frozen pizza-2.99
Gluten free sourdough bread-2.99
Jimmy dean frittata egg thingys 12 oz-3.99
Package little smokies-1.99
Truffle salt Marcona almonds-1.99(these are soooo good)
32 oz jar red cabbage and apples-1.99
Hersheys chocolate bar-70 cents
14 oz veggie straws-1.99
and a few other things like deli meat and some beans
I may have found a new food source. The place was very busy.
@Tiana, good prices!
Saturday: I made chili beans this day--it pintos spiced like chili--made we were grinding meat, so I used some of the ground ram meat with the pinto beans to make a burrito filling.
Sunday: I used more of the ground ram to make curry, because the ram meat is more strongly flavored and is thus better in strongly flavored meals. For our Sunday dessert, we had the king cake my mother sent us. The one child who doesn't like king cake had the cookies I had made earlier in the day.
Monday: Two people had leftover curry and rice. One child was sick and not eating. Two children had Snow's clam chowder. I had also made garlic bread the day before, and I cut up some cucumber. More cookies, too.
Tuesday: Fat Tuesday jambalaya, butter-swim biscuits (these are baked in a pan with a ton of melted butter, so they soak it all up), green salad with vinaigrette, and pecan pie with vanilla ice cream.
Wednesday: Spanish tortilla, leftover biscuits
Thursday: Hunter's pie--made with ground elk--plus carrot sticks with curry dip.
Tonight: Cheese pizzas, green salad with ranch dressing
Asparagus doesn’t last long enough at my house to find itself in soup. Your soup does look delicious!
I can’t remember what I spent, but it wasn’t much, since all I bought was fresh vegetables. Once again, my freezer is bursting and I need to clear it out.
The meals:
Black eyed pea soup using black eyed peas and ham from the freezer. I served it with slices of sourdough bread (from the freezer) which I toasted in the oven with cheese on top.
Meatballs from the freezer with tater tots from the freezer. I served it with steamed broccoli.
Salmon from the freezer, with zucchini and homemade dinner rolls.
Chicken noodle soup with freezer components. The rest of the dinner rolls. Salad.
I haven’t decided on tonight’s dinner!
@Ann on the farm, asparagus doesn't last long for me either. In fact, I usually steam it as soon as I bring it home. For anyone old enough to remember the BBC "I, Claudius" series from the late 1970s, the Emperor Augustus (the step-grandfather of Claudius) was always storming around saying, "I'll do [whatever] quicker than boiled asparagus!" For me, that refers to both the getting-it-into-the-steamer time and the cooking time.
All that said, Kristen's asparagus soup does look delicious, and I'll try it if I can manage to keep my hands off the goodies for longer than 10 minutes.
Ugh, my phone decided to die this week, so I lost all my dinner pictures and this will be testing my not-so-great memory. Here goes. . .
WIS: Nothing.
WWA:
Fri: Husband was still feeling too sick to cook or eat, so I made chicken noodle soup for me and the kids.
Sat: beanie weenies using dried pinto beans and a couple leftover hotdogs, and salad.
Sun: I made spanish rice topped with pico de gallo and cottage cheese.
Mon: leftover spanish rice fried with eggs on top. Salad on the side.
Tue: younger son made personal pizzas on flour tortillas. He used leftover salsa for the "Mexican" ones and sliced tomato on the "Italian" ones. They were all topped with peppers, olives or tomatoes to make faces. We had salad on the side.
Wed: salad and waffles (using up sourdough discard) and scrambled eggs.
Thu: older son made turkey burgers with marinated cucumber slices on them (I made pickles to rescue some cucs that were going earlier in the week), tomato, greens and cheese on homemade buns.
Tonight: Husband is better, so focaccia is back on the menu! Hurray!
Have a great weekend, everyone!
This week has been a doozey so there is takeout and I am 100% giving myself grace. This is the exception, not the rule.
WIS: $445 @ Walmart but this included a restock of all of my laundry supplies plus 8 mega boxes of cereal to be donated to my son's school for an upcoming party, and some bandaging supplies for my husband. I would say about $300 was actual food for our household.
WWA:
Saturday: beautiful weather! I grilled some steaks, sausage and bbq chicken, roasted a bunch of veggies and made a ginormous salad. We had a great dinner with family and lots of wonderful leftovers.
Sunday: leftovers
Monday: leftovers
Tuesday: Soup for one and leftovers for everyone else after we recovered from a 911 call
Wednesday: Takeout pizza for some & Mexican for my husband, son and myself before church
Thursday: dinner out at Texas Roadhouse
Friday: Roasted Garlic Kielbasa, jasmine rice, Okra and tomatoes, and butterbeans. I'm thinking that cornbread might appear as well.
Everyone have a lovely weekend! I hope rest finds you in some way and refreshes you.
@Angie, I hope everyone is ok.
Sunday: Takeout from Texas Roadhouse as we were tired from working on a house project all day
Monday: pasta Fagioli with breadsticks
Tueday: grilled seasoned chicken, cheddar broccoli noodles, peas, fresh pineapple
Wednesday: Chopped cheese sandwich, pickles, pineapple, french fries
Thursday: homemade pizza
Tonight will be sticky fingers chicken, rice and a veggie
My mother-in-law and I are taking turns making the main meals:
1. Baked chicken and veggies
2. Chicken Noodle soup
3. Fried rice
4. Bean soup
5. Brisket
6. Pizzza
7. Hummus, pita bread and salad
The only thing I bought last week was a gallon of raw milk, and you don't want to know how much that cost.
WIA: I ate a big lunch at work last Friday and ended up just eating some gluten-free chocolate-filled pretzels that evening. Not the healthiest, but it was my almost-a-birthday, so there.
Saturday was kind of the same thing. For a birthday lunch for me, my kids made baked fish, boiled crawfish, salad, baked beans and roasted new potatoes, with homemade banana pudding for dessert. My son-in-law, who is also talented in the kitchen, made homemade banana pudding the way I like it - whipped cream instead of meringue and chocolate sauce for drizzling. After that, I didn't want anything for dinner.
For the rest of the week:
Roasted pork sirloin chops with roasted cauliflower, beets and broccoli. A second time with carrots in the place of beets.
Blueberry pancakes for Shrove Tuesday!!! I make them with cassava flour and a bit of coconut flour.
After fasting till dark on Wednesday, I made bacon, turnip greens sautéed in some of the bacon fat and sweet potatoes.
Skilled fried venison backstrap, a big ol' pile of green beans and a bowl of some leftover blueberries.
Tonight, I'm not sure yet. I'll go shopping today plus I pick up my Azure Standard order around lunch time, so I'll have multiple choices.
@JD, I’m guessing $17/gallon for the raw milk. I’m so curious about how it tastes and what the benefits are. I hear about all the horrors and reasons to avoid it, but I know someone with a raw milk dairy (in Arizona—never been to the dairy) and their standards for cleanliness exceed normal dairies. Can you tell me more?
@Central Calif. Artist Jana,
You guessed a little high - it was $11.99 but it goes as high as $16 depending on the farmer. I get it from local farms where the cows are rotated on different grass crops, there are no pesticides or chemical fertilizers used, the cows aren't cooped up except to milk them, then back out they go, and the farmer and his family all drink the same milk and eat the dairy products they produce. My usual dairy farmer is former Amish. He is huge on natural soil improvement, healthy animals and clean food. Per Florida law (Florida has commercial dairies), it can only be sold as pet food.
I really like the taste, and my family who drinks some when visiting says it tastes good to them, too. My main reason for getting it is that not-raw milk bothers my stomach a good bit, but raw milk doesn't bother me at all. I've been drinking it for about 15 years, about a cup a day. However, raw dairy is not a choice some would make, and I fully understand and accept that.
We had to make some pivots with this week’s menu. Multiple evening events, a sick kiddo, a snowstorm, and unexpected oral surgery changed things up but everyone was fed.
Friday: Date night – we tried a new to us restaurant. The staff call it a steak house, the menu says Louisiana comfort food. My husband and I shared frog legs, a cup of gumbo, cornbread, crawfish etouffee, and lobster gnocchi.
Saturday: Cast-iron pizza – I made a quick Greek yogurt dough and all the toppings were in the freezer. The pizza came together in less time than even trying to pick a pizza place to order from.
Sunday: Beef stew and garlic bread.
Monday: Pulled pork over baked potatoes, Caesar salad.
Tuesday: I planned Red Beans and Rice for our Mardi Gras meal, but the weather made my commute home longer than expected and my son had a concert at school. My husband and I split a box of mac and cheese before the concert and my son had leftover beef stew after the concert.
Wednesday: SNOW DAY – I made the red beans and rice for lunch. Dinner was Pickle Brined Chicken Tenders, mashed potatoes, grapes.
Thursday: Red sauce from the freezer over pasta.
WIS: $81.66 for groceries. $0 eating out.
WIA: Tuscan Butter Mushrooms, to use the organic cremini (Baby Bella) mushrooms I bought at Sprouts and the bag of spinach and the cherry tomatoes in the refrigerator that were getting ready to cross over into “oops! I forgot about you” territory. The recipe calls for a pound of mushrooms (which is a LOT of mushrooms), so this was the gift that kept on giving all week (breakfast, lunch, dinner, midnight snack, what have you). With Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits (because many of the restaurants may be gone but you can still buy the biscuit mix in grocery stores; “the music died but the melody lingers on”). A chicken fajita and chicken quesadillas to use up some shredded rotisserie chicken and some peppers and onions. Oatmeal, craisin and walnut bars for dessert.
Friday - DS17 & I flew out Denver, and met up with my BFF & her family. They had pizza & salad waiting for us.
Saturday - we went to dinner in Fort Collins, after our admitted students day. I had a delicious Mediterranean style bowl.
Sunday - We had leftovers for dinner (pizza & various leftovers from Saturday's dinner)
Monday - got home late from the airport, so I went to bed without dinner
Tuesday - still not feeling well, so I skipped dinner & made DH baked chicken & salad
Wednesday - went to dinner with fellow soccer moms, as it's the end of an era for us. I had a chicken pesto pasta (brought half home for lunch yesterday)
Thursday - DH & I had orange chicken, cauliflower rice & edamame. DS17 wanted to eat late, because he had tennis practice & needed to study for a physics test. I made him chicken patty sandwiches & a large bowl of fruit.
Friday - we have DS17's soccer banquet tonight. Another mom has planned it, so I'm not sure what will be available.
Good job with using up your "elderly" asparagus! hahaha Picturing a shrived up old asparagus stalk with a cane now. P.S. Chiquita is such a darling little thing!!
WWS: $285.79 at Kroger. Doing better!
WWA: I went off script a little when I found 12 frozen salmon filets in the freezer and said to myself, "Self, wouldn't this be a nice change from chicken?" and I agreed with myself, and happily, everyone else did too, especially the Commodore, who has been known to receive tributes in small portions of cooked salmon.
Saturday/Sunday: DH was fasting this weekend, as he does once a month, but the rest of us had homemade pizzas as usual.
Monday: I am not remembering Monday super well, but because DH had fasted, we had more leftovers than usual, so we ate those up for dinner, I think.
Tuesday: Chickpea burgers (or tuna burgers, which we had, diner's choice), rice, asparagus.
Wednesday: I taught DS#2 how to make Hungarian potato soup and he baked the salmon to go with it. I also made Kristen's chickpea/edamame salad.
Thursday: DS#1 made burgers and baked potatoes.
Tonight is Mexican night.
Ooh I think that green soup looks delicious.
Saturday: I cooked something, but I don't remember what.
Sunday: We were at my parents' for dinner and they gave use salmon, rice, spanakopita, salad, and roasted veggies.
Monday: I made crunchy chicken, French fries, and raw veggies.
Tuesday: We had pasta with meat sauce that I'd made and frozen.
Wednesday: I was working, so I got sushi with my meal voucher.
Thursday: Mr. B made crunchy chicken, French fries, and frozen vegetables. All from the freezer.
Friday: I don't know, but Mr. B will be cooking 🙂
Aha--I just remembered what we did on Saturday. I'd done all the cooking last week because I was on vacation and Mr. B was working a lot, and I was DONE. We went to the grocery store and bought a pizza.
@Meira@meirathebear, I have a mental picture of you standing just outside your kitchen waving a white flag of surrender.
Saturday: Friend's birthday party
Sunday: Roll your own "sushi"
Monday: Taquitos and guac
Tuesday: Rice, dal, samosas, chole (chick pea curry)
Wednesday: I wanted a break from cooking and cleaning so we grabbed some take-out on the way home
Thursday: it was rainy here so we had some warm udon. I skipped the noodles and basically had broth and veggies and some tofu.
Friday: I had thought of something I could make but now I can't for the life of me remember what. Maybe I'll just hit the easy button and make some quesadillas or something like that for dinner.
My goal is do some meal planning and prepping this Sunday. It just makes life easier so I don't know why I don't have better discipline around it. Hoping to make some hummus, quinoa salad, and some french onion soup lentils, and to chop up fruits and vegetables so that they're ready to go.
@CrunchyCake, Sunday is my prep day. I make a salad or soak beans, bake something that might be dessert or a breakfast bake, peel carrots, prep lettuce. It makes a big difference.
the soy egg is THE BEST part of the Ramen.
I’m in solid agreement here!
@Ginger, I agree and that’s saying a lot because all of it is delicious.
This week, we enjoyed:
- Popcorn and fruit
- Noodles with peanut sauce, peas and tofu (x2)
- Roasted vegetables
- Homemade tomato soup with croutons made from hot dog buns received from Buy Nothing
- Baked potato and steamed broccoli
- Vegetarian enchilada casserole
WIS: Butcher shop-$60; Flashfood-$38; Milk delivery-$20.50 Total: $118.50
WWA: Sat- Apple cider pork and farro salad
Sun- Oscars Night! Mardi Gras edition- Muffuletta Wellingtons, jambalaya, King Cake, and Hurricanes
Mon- Chicken cordon bleu, scalloped potatoes, and green beans
Tues- Hush puppies & gumbo w/ rice, King cake
Wed- Eggplant parm and spaghetti
Thurs- Lemon chicken thighs, pasta, and carrots
Fri- Leftover eggplant parm and spaghetti
We've been good about eating from the freezer and pantry--BUT--we both got that bad cold and the plan went to hell.
Take and Bake Pizza from last weekend carried us into the week. We had ravioli from the freezer Monday night, and since then it's been chicken soup, chicken soup, chicken soup. I currently cannot eat any more chicken soup, maybe ever.
Husband ran an errand (while sick) and came home with a 12 pack of Pepsi and some candy bars. This is why he's not in charge of shopping.
I ordered another T&B pizza because I was sick of chicken soup and too sick to think. We have it in the fridge for leftover. We're not eating on any schedule just now.
My sick breakfasts have been toast (homemade loaf) with butter and jam (homemade) alternating with grits; plenty of teas in the pantry. Husband continues with his frozen bkfst burritos every day.
Today I ran out of steam and ordered groceries from Safeway, about $150 including tax, delivery fee and tip. The order includes orange juice, lemon sorbet (for my poor throat), a cooked chicken, a couple of NOT chicken soups, and some cut up fruit and premade salads.
Not thrifty, not frugal, but necessary given that Husband doesn't shop well and we are both sick. I was annoyed that I broke my no-spend month and boycott of Safeway but they are the only one that delivers. I am paying for the privilege for sure.
Here's hoping we both get better soon (I have had to cancel not only two days of important work, but our spring training vacation to Arizona).
I'll get back on the frugal pony again when I can get a deep breath and a good night's sleep.
womp womp!
@Julia Tracey,
I hope the two of you feel better soon! Sometimes, life just plain gets in the way of our frugal endeavors. Give yourself grace.:-)
I spent $55 at Trader Joe but had a $25 gift certificate so, $20!! YAY
Spent $44 at Winco.
I shopped wiht a 2 week menu plan so I should only need some fresh fruit,maybe, next sweek.
Menus last week to now:
Saturday: Air fried tilapia, mashed potatoes leftover from a previous meal, green beans
Sunday: Pasta Broccoli, yum.
Monday: Cheeseburger Pie from old bisquick cookbook.Used 1 of the 99 cents on sale Pillsbury pie crusts ready made.Bought 5 pkgs a couple of months ago and froze when they went on sale.
Tuesday: Air fryer mustard. honey chicken thighs,roasted carrots and potatos,broccoli/kale slaw from Trader Joe
Wednesday: Linguini with homemade red sauce from freezer with some some sauted mushrooms sliced into it. Greek salad on side
Thursday: Leftover chicken thighs,broccoli kale slaw and orzo with sprinkle of feta
TODAY: We went to a lunch date at our fave Indian buffet so tonight is “pick night” from refrig.I will prob eat a big fruit salad with some cottage cheese.Hubby will finish off the cheeseburger pie and have some fruit with it.
AND I have plenty of groceries left for next week.
Shopping for TWO WEEKS and having good menu plans helps me save money!!
I’m making meal plans for the first week I will be home from a hip replacement surgery in a few weeks. My husband is not a great cook.But can follow directions and is willing to do what it takes. I don’t want to live on takeout .My Doc says I will be able to make a simple meal maybe by day 3 or 4.
So my plan is to have freezer foods available, a little take out, and a little easy making by ME.I want to keep good nutrition to help healing.
Day 1: Meat lasagna from trader joe (frozen) and a bagged salad from TJ on the side
Day 2: Chicken pot pie frozen Marie Callendar.Broccoli kale slaw from TJ
Day 3: Make spaghetti with sauce from freezer,salad on side
Day 4: Son will stop by with my favorite take out stir fry eggplant meal
Day 5: A Costco chicken,cole salw, roasted patato and carrots
Day 6:Chicken tortilla soup using chicken leftovers.Takes 10 minutes to put together. cornbread from TJ mix.
Day 7: Salmon pinwheels from Trader Joe, bagged salad from TJ and brown jasmine rice in rice cooker.
There will be rye bread,turkey breast and tuna in refrig for lunches and eggs or oatmeal for breakfast as usual.Will do the grocery shop right before surgery..it’s outpatient and NOT a general, just a spinal with sedation, so I should not have upset stomach or be groggy much.
I told my husband I also want a frozen Marie Callendar peach pie for some desserts along the way..I will be needing a few little rewards for doing my exercises!!
Here’s to a good recovery!
@Madeline, Hoping you do have a very good surgery and that recovery is swift and steady!
Fiddly stuff for us this week -- mostly using up leftovers, and trying to 'eat down' the freezer. LOTS of rice, for some odd reason...maybe because it stretches a small jar of 'crack chicken' (chicken breast, cream cheese and enchilada sauce in the crockpot all day) and other stuff?
We had to play at a funeral this afternoon...and Husband got the flu last night. Bad. He made it through, but lost his voice on the last song. (Fortunately, no one seemed to notice.) I dragged him back home, and will tuck him in bed. Poor baby. Maybe some chicken/rice soup for soupper.
Memory is not so good about this week's eats but here goes.
1) Sunday (night): had ordered lunch at work. Ham, hashbrown casserole, cooked spinach w bacon and onions, hot roll, coconut cream pie. A bargain for $3 if you ask me and quite tasty. I brought the pie home.
2) Monday: still had salad fixin's so had that w turkey, ham and cheese.
3) Tuesday: Aldi Beer battered fish, a wedged roasted potato and some cremini mushrooms fixed in the air fryer.
4) Wednesday: Drove thru MickyD's for filet of fish meal.
5) Thursday: Iron skillet burger (no bun), steamed cauliflower w cheese sauce.
6) Friday: Still have some gr. beef, maybe a repeat of last night or Spanish rice w beef,
Dessert many nights: vanilla ice cream with or without hazelnut spread or a cookie. Got some homemade style cookies on the way back from getting car recall repaired and have been rationing them out.
Boy, I am tired of meal planning, feeding myself, cooking, all of it. Thought the meal delivery services like hello fresh aren’t frugal, I may need to get a few weeks because I’m just beyond burnt out with kitchen-ing. I know it’ll pass but in the interim, I don’t want to be grabbing takeout and spending so much mental energy on this. We did good this week though!
Monday - quinoa, tofu, corn, black beans, avocado taco bowls
Tuesday - salmon with rice chickpeas and eggplant in jarred butter chicken sauce
Wednesday - tuna or dealers choice sandwiches with raw vegetables and hummus
Thursday - ramen noodles with ground turkey and veg in an Asian sauce
Friday - sweet potatoes, chicken, chickpeas, avocado, salad for the grown ups/red pepper for the little
I spent $65 at Kroger on Old Lady Tuesday (5% off for seniors)
We we ate:
Monday --homemade chicken soup and ham & cheese sandwiches.
Tuesday -- more soup, baked chicken, steamed carrots, boxed stuffing mix.
Wednesday -- hubby ate leftover chicken, etc. from Tuesday. We ate lunch when we were out and I wasn't very hungry so I ate the leftover soup.
Thursday -- ham steak, Haluska, which is sauteed bacon, cabbage, onions, garlic mixed with cooked egg noodles, garlic bread.
Friday -- frozen, baked ziti I had put in the freezer a few weeks ago, salad.
Monday we were driving home from a trip and ate lunch out along the way so just had a quick plate of nachos when we got home. Too busy unpacking and doing laundry to get ready for work on Tuesday to exert much effort on dinner.
Tuesday- Husband made chicken & Vegetable curry with rice.
Wednesday- Husband made teriyaki salmon and fried rice (using the leftover rice from the night before-he’s learning!)
Thursday- husband made baked potatoes which we topped with shredded cheddar, broccoli, bacon, green onions, and sour cream.
Tonight I made mini meatloaves, roasted potatoes, and broccoli.
Tomorrow night will be leftovers
Sunday-likely a pot of soup. Which variety will depend on my survey of the fridge!
Amazon subscriptions can be painful on the grocery budget, but.... I had an email from Amazon that they were raising the price on my canned herring a LOT, so I cancelled the subscription and searched for a less expensive alternative. Lo and behold, there was the very item I'd just cancelled for almost half of the price that I was just being charged--so I made a subscription for 6 boxes (12 cans each). Now I have fish to last a long time, and I'll push the new subscription out to the max length. The individual cans in a store can be $3, but mine came in at $1.25 each 🙂
So a $238 week (eek!) but that's longterm buying.
And I really don't remember what days meals belonged to, but:
sandwiches, quesadillas, salads, turkey/veg stew, chicken noodle soup, pasta with meatballs and sauce, egg sandwiches
WIS: Fred Meyer - 81.18; Trader Joe’s - 65 ish; plus lunch out on Sunday.
WWA: Still eating down the freezer!
M - Asian lettuce wraps w/ground pork from the freezer & homemade plum sauce
T - Shrove Tuesday: pancakes, bacon, fruit
W - Crust less quiche w/duck eggs & rest of bacon, feta, radish leaves (I rinse, sort, & freeze when I buy a bunch), olives, & artichoke hearts plus fruit salad.
T - Turkey (from the freezer) soup with leftover brown rice (frozen), spinach, etc. It’s a riff on a Giada DeLaurentis recipe. Corn bread in my new toaster oven, which I burnt. We still ate it. I’m learning!
F - Leftover quiche & more fruit salad.
S - I’ve got a roast (marked down & in the freezer) in the crock pot with onions, garlic, & carrots. I’ll make mashed potatoes. There wasn’t room in the crock pot for the potatoes.
S - I’m going to make sausage, fried potatoes, & sautéed peppers & onions. We’ll probably go out for lunch after church.
Sat - HM pizza for better half, leftover steak (from freezer) with potatoes, mushrooms, red peppers, onions
Sun - dine out Mexican
Mon - burgers out (fast food NOT Mickey D’s) as plan was to start cultivator shopping - we’re not getting younger and this will assist in weeding the garden. Better half moved a lot of wood that day so we just headed home.
Tue - leftover Mexican
Wed - round steak cooked in crockpot with potatoes, carrots, onions, and mushrooms
Thu - burger and potatoes
Fri - looks like steak and salmon with leftover potatoes
Do you have a recipe for the asparagus soup? I need to do the same with my HH asparagus that we have not yet eaten this week! Thanks!!
The one I used as a basis was from America's Test Kitchen and I can't find it outside of a paywall!
@Kristen, no worries! I found a simple one online as a base….