For the first time in ages, I forgot to put my reusable bags in the car. Fortunately, I had a few stuffed into a back-of-the-seat pocket, but only enough for my Aldi groceries.
So, I came home with 4 plastic bags from Weis.
Also, I made the mistake of eating only a smallish bowl of cold cereal for breakfast, so by the time we got home from shopping, my blood sugar was kind of low, and I was in straight to lunch mode (granola sticks with me way longer than regular cereal. Must make another batch.).
So, that’s why my groceries are still in the bags in the picture. I didn’t feel like unloading them, snapping a picture, and then putting them away.
I spent $44.74 at Weis and $87.27 at Aldi. Plus I spent $6 at a farm stand to buy local corn and cantaloupe. And I spend $0 to get a bunch of tomatoes and peppers from my parents’ garden.
My total for right now is $138.01, which leaves me with $42 to spend until my next bi-weekly shopping trip. I’ll use that to make a milk run, a produce stop at a local farmstand, and also to buy some local packaging-free chicken at our local organic store.
What are we eating this week?
For breakfast, I’m going to make some more granola because most cold cereal doesn’t keep me full long enough. In addition to granola, our other options are whole wheat toast, homemade yogurt, fruit, scrambled eggs, and maybe some pancakes because I need to use up some buttermilk.
Lunch options are sandwiches made with whole wheat bread, homemade yogurt, yogurt smoothies, cottage cheese, fruit, raw veggies, nuts, cheese, and leftovers as necessary (Mr. FG eats leftovers almost every day).
And here’s the dinner plan:
Saturday
- Pizza Bagels (it’s still too hot to turn the oven on to 500 ° and too hot to stand outside grilling pizza)
- green salad (uh, hopefully. See my confessions post.)
Sunday
- I think we’re going to have a cold snacky dinner instead of breakfast for dinner…popcorn, cheese, raw veggies, fruit, ham roll-ups, and such.
Monday
- Bacon Cheddar Quesadillas
- green beans
- watermelon
Tuesday
- Chutney Chicken Sandwiches
- sliced tomatoes
- watermelon
Wednesday
- Pan-Sauteed Tilapia
- Zucchini Patties
Thursday
- Mandarin Chicken Salad (bumped from last week)
- garlic bread
- probably some fruit, since the chicken salad is a green salad
Friday
- Takeout date night for Mr. FG and me, something easy for the kids
Sarah
Sunday 31st of July 2011
Bummer about the chicken. Good menu plan. I put chicken on my plan for the week with BBQ sauce. Yum. Enjoy this week.
Karyn
Saturday 30th of July 2011
See everyone is in agreement we love the honest shortcomings of the Frugal Girl!
I am truly sorry that you forgot the re-useable bags and that your breakfast wasn't filling enough for you, but the honesty is SOOOOOOO refreshing. Now I can even image you rolling your eyes at yourself a little bit to for having forgot the bags. Way to reveal your lazy streak too by taking a picture of the food still in bags!
I've realized that your disciplined/scheduled nature is what I'm envious of. I'm not a schedule girl at all. I will get the grocery store sometime this week but the thought or picking a day and planning to go on that day each week, makes my skin crawl. So I will appreciate and highly esteem the way you are created. However, I'm realizing that I deeply respect that but I'm not going to meal plan or have a specific day for grocery shopping. That's not the way God created me to be, I'm too free spirited or rebellious.
Thank you for hearing my critique and responding in love in an open transparent discussion. :-) Karyn
Kristen
Saturday 30th of July 2011
And that's exactly what I would say to you and have said on my blog...that we're all made differently, that we have different strengths and weaknesses, and that the way I do things is NOT the way that everyone else should do them. :)
If something I share can be adapted to work for you and bless your family, great! If not, then just pass that something on by. You have your own unique flavor to add to your family and I have my own unique flavor and one is not necessarily better than the other....just different, with its own set of upsides and downsides.
WilliamB
Saturday 30th of July 2011
I discovered that sellers of happy chicken will give a substantial discount for offering to buy many at once. It's generally $1/lb when I ask to buy 10 whole chickens. That's 25% - works for me.
PS - I appreciate the realness of your imperfection theme this week.
Therese Z
Saturday 30th of July 2011
Buttermilk freezes fine, by the way, if you're going to cook with it. It might get a little streaky, but it stirs right back together. I can't get through a whole container, and I always freeze the rest, sometimes in the right amounts for dressing or baking.
Paula in the UP
Saturday 30th of July 2011
I went shopping yesterday, had my bags in the cart and forgot to hand them over. I realized this and then repacked them myself, luclily it was just 2 bags, well 2 plastic bags fit in my 1 cloth bag!!
I'm stealing your Mandarin Chicken Salad recipe, the dressing sounds yummy. I'm always looking for salad dressing that doesn't have HFCS in it, so I end up making my own.
Kristen
Saturday 30th of July 2011
The dressing IS really good. Lots of ingredients, but very tasty.