Ready for a peek in our food lives this week?
(That makes it sound more exciting than it actually is. Be forewarned.)
This week, I spent $125.25 on my main shopping trip, $84.77 of which was at Aldi.
Of note:
I purposely bought the butter package with the loose end. The interior wrappers were unmarred, and I bought it so Aldi wouldn’t have to throw it away.
I’m not much of an impulse shopper, but when tea is on sale, I cannot resist. Tea is a fairly frugal splurge, after all. I mean, $2.50 gets you 20 cups of hot goodness, which is hard to beat.
I found a few packages of marked-down chicken legs. They were only about $1 apiece, so I bought them and immediately put them in the freezer when I got home. I’ll probably brine and grill them when we get a warmer day.
I have no beef with grilling in the cold, exactly, but it does use a lot of propane to heat a grill up in 25 ° weather. So, I prefer to do that on a warm-ish winter day.
My spending this week includes our traditional January gingerbread house kit. 😉
Also, I had to stop in at Costco, and I spent $54.40. And before our field trip this week, I needed a few portable foods, so I spent $9.57 there.
The bottom line: $189.22.
Soo, my first two weeks in January have been on the high side if I want to average $200 over the course of a year. I think I’ll see if I can manage a lower-spending week this next go-round.
Not going to Costco would help with that. 😉
January Spending
Week one: $195.93
Week two: $189.22
Monday
I made a pot of tortellini soup and thawed a loaf of English muffin bread from the freezer.
I feel like we ate a vegetable with this but I cannot for the life of me remember what it was.
Tuesday
We were out all day, so I put a chuck roast (from the freezer) into the crock pot and made Crock Pot BBQ Beef sandwiches with store-bought buns.
I served those with veggie chips from Aldi and cut-up fresh pineapple.
I ate my beef on a salad because (embarrassed face) I feel like store-bought buns are usually not worth eating. If I’m going to eat refined carbs, I want them to be darn tasty.
(The one exception to this is a Five Guys burger. I do eat the bun there!)
Wednesday
Mr. FG wasn’t with us for dinner, and the kids and I had to be at church, so we did kind of a fend-for-yourself thing.
There was leftover tortellini soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, eaten in a hurry.
Thursday
We had Swiss Mushroom Chicken, a green salad, and a braised red potato recipe from Cook’s Illustrated.
(placeholder picture of Swiss Mushroom Chicken. We did actually have a salad and potatoes, not green beans and pineapple.)
I made the potatoes to use up the last of the bag of red potatoes I’d bought for clam chowder. Cook’s Illustrated’s website is so handy for things like that…I just typed in red potatoes and chose from the list of recipes that popped up.
Friday
It’s a pizza night, although the three girls are at a sleepover, which means I might opt not to make homemade pizza just for the three of us. We shall see…
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Cristina
Saturday 16th of January 2016
Hi! I read you all the way from Tijuana, México. I love your writing and your so down to earth aproach to every day living. I just wanted to stop by and say hi. I read you every day!!
Kristen
Sunday 17th of January 2016
Aww, thanks for saying hi! I love to hear from readers...don't be a stranger. :)
Katie
Friday 15th of January 2016
I enjoy your grocery posts, but I miss the stuffed animals. The first time I read your blog 7 years ago there were stuffed animals all over the food, and I thought "why does she buy stuffed animals every time she buys groceries?" Then I saw a note about your kids adding them into the pictures. Your kids grew up!
Kimberly
Friday 15th of January 2016
Inspiring post--and comments--as usual! Thanks everyone.
The butter at Aldi may have qualified for a markdown for the asking....I've had success there with getting discounts in several situations.
Kristen
Friday 15th of January 2016
I did ask a few years ago about a markdown, but I was told that they don't mark down damaged goods. I wonder if that varies Aldi to Aldi or something.
Holly
Friday 15th of January 2016
Sun- chicken pot pie and fruit Mon- pork chops, field peas, collard greens Tues- chicken spaghetti, green beans Wed- beef and broccoli stir fry Thurs- black bean and corn enchiladas, peas and carrots Friday- homemade pizza and salad Used up all leftovers and had an essentially empty fridge before shopping!!!! Also made it nearly two weeks before grocery shopping which ends up saving us more $, though I don't like doing it
Elena
Friday 15th of January 2016
The Swiss mushroom chicken recipe sounds good, but a bit fattening. Do you think it would still be good if I use egg whites instead of a whole egg and maybe a little bit healthier sounding crackers than butter flavored crackers? Thank you Kristen.
WilliamB
Friday 15th of January 2016
I'm going to pop in here because I love cooking challenges.
0. Since all these changes tend to make the chicken less flavorful, I recommend brining the chicken before cooking. Small pieces brine faster; if you brine after slicing/pounding, it'll take maybe 20-30 min. The brining will make the chicken more flavorful and less inclined to dry out.
1. Instead of ritz crackers, use Panko or dry bread crumbs. Ritz crackers will make a softer, sweeter breading; dry bread crumbs will make a crisp-ish breading, Panko will make the most crisp breading.
2. I wouldn't mess with the egg for the egg dip. The yolk+white is a much better binder than just the white, and the 50-cal yoke is split amongst 4 breasts plus whatever's left in the bowl - so maybe 10 cal per piece of chicken. But if you want to experiment, beat the white well enough that its smooth, but not so much that it's bubbly. Or beat it smooth and bubbly then wait for it to settle down.
3. You can make a bigger change to strip the calories, with a commensurately larger change in the food, by changing the breading a lot. Rather than doing two-step breading, dip damp chicken directly into flour or finely-mashed bread crumbs (Panko won't work here). The coating will the thinner and less crisp. Or go further and not bread the chix at all. In which case, dry the chix with paper towel and sprinkle with salt before cooking. See #4 for ideas about cooking.
4. Use olive oil rather than butter. Same calories but more nutritious profile. Or try baking the chicken rather than pan frying. It'll come out crispiest if you bread the chix, then spritz with oil (or nonstick spray) before baking.
5. Use turkey han rather than pork ham. Thin slices will have fewer calories and, by the same token, less flavor.
6. Use low-fat cheese. And use good cheese - good cheese has a stronger flavor so you don't need as much to have the same cheesy flavor. Good cheese costs more but, if you use less because of the flavor impact, it'll last longer.
Kristen
Friday 15th of January 2016
You could certainly try it that way! All the kiddos at my house are pretty far on the skinny end of the spectrum, so I've never tried tinkering with the recipe myself.
I'm all, "Here! Have some more butter! Heavy cream, in your tea, perhaps? Pile on the cheese! Want some whole milk?"