What I Spent
I spent $171 at the grocery store, plus $25 on my Hungry Harvest.
So I’m at $196, which is on the high side again. Partly this is because I keep having to buy all my proteins for the week since I don’t have a stash in my freezer!
But I’m slowly adding some staples in there…for instance, this week I bought a big pack of chicken breasts and froze what I didn’t use this week.
January Grocery Spending
Week 1: $115
Week 2: $92
Week 3: $216
Week 4: $196
That adds up to $619 which is just $19 over my goal of $150 a week.
So, I’m good!
What We Ate
Saturday
Date night for Mr. FG and me! We went to Five Guys, which works very nicely for our $20 budget.
Sonia and Zoe ate mac n cheese, and Lisey was at work.
Sunday
Mr. FG and Sonia made pasta alfredo with chicken (for Zoe) and shrimp (for the rest of us).
We had a fruit salad with the pasta.
Monday
I tried a recipe from Cook’s Country for pork meatball Bahn Mi sandwiches.
Verdict: tasty, but difficult to eat because the nature of meatballs is that they make a sandwich tall and gappy, which makes other parts fall out during eating.
So next time I will try a bahn mi sandwich that calls for sliced, roasted pork tenderloin, and that should be better.
The meatballs and marinated veggies made for a good lunch the next day, though.
So there’s that.
Tuesday
This is Zoe’s dance night, so I needed something to make ahead. Pulled chicken sandwiches it was!
I salt and pepper chicken breasts, cook them in a cast iron pan, let them cool, shred them, and heat them up with BBQ sauce.
EXTREMELY EASY.
I also cooked some broccoli from Hungry Harvest..
Wednesday
I tried a new recipe from Dinner Illustrated; some vegetarian corn quesadillas.
Verdict: A yummy filling, but baking the quesadillas made the cheese dry out too much. They were better when I tried cooking one on the stovetop (my usual method).
Thursday
I tried another new recipe from Dinner Illustrated!
This one was a chicken and sweet potato curry, which used the Thai red curry paste I’ve been loving recently.
Verdict: Not quite as tasty as the Thai chicken soup, which is weird, because a lot of the ingredients were similar! I will definitely go heavier on the salt if I make this again.
Funny coincidence: I posted this photo on my Instagram stories last night, and a reader messaged me to say she was making the exact same thing last night. What were the odds?
Friday
I have kind of a packed day today, so I think we will get some carryout pizza, which we haven’t done in quite a long time.
Elaine
Tuesday 20th of August 2019
We love our library! They have passes for museums, activities for kids and adults, classes through Lynda, rb digital for reading magazines and hoopla for streaming movies, craft classes and so much more. They have speakers as well. One woman does meal planning and menus with lots of ideas. EST tax money spent.
Jennifer Y.
Tuesday 29th of January 2019
I cannot remember all our dinners last week, but I remember the last half of it.
Wednesday: scrambled eggs and fruit Thursday: flounder with side of arugula salad Friday: Japanese take-out: veggie rolls, miso soup Saturday: homemade chana masala over brown rice Sunday: baked salmon and side of orange slices (we had a late lunch)
Julia B
Sunday 27th of January 2019
I am listing here what we plan to eat this coming week. It's been a lonnggg month as we got paid early (due to the holidays). I have no money left until Friday's pay day but we have enough food for these meals. Also, I've been diligently tracking my spending this month and it appears that I spend less on groceries for my husband and me than I spend on food for our three pets (all of whom have some medical issue that requires high quality food)! Crazy.
Sunday (tonight) we will have shepherd's pie made from lentils, with steamed green beans
Monday: "fish" (Gardien nuggets), chips, and veggies
Tuesday: veggie stir fry with tofu and rice (rice frozen from a meal we had last week); home-made sauce with peanut butter, lime juice, and chili/garlic paste
Wednesday: Cauliflower gnocchi (from Trader Joe's--so good) with pesto and broccoli
Thursday: lasagne made from lentil pasta, homemade tomato sauce, spinach and ricotta
Friday: pay day, so I think we might go out to eat
Colleen
Friday 25th of January 2019
Monday - Saw one of those videos on FB where they show a recipe being cooked and was excited that I actually already had all the ingredients! So we had Italian Sausage, Potatoes, and Carrots that were cooked in the oven with a nice gravy.
Tuesday - My husband had chicken stir fry and I had leftovers from Monday
Wednesday - HOMEMADE PIZZA - compliments of thefrugalgirl! I have literally never made dough or anything using yeast. I actually found myself wondering what container the yeast would even come in but I found 3 packets of it for $0.99 so figured it was worth trying. I used the recipe from this site and was THRILLED when the dough actually doubled, like it was supposed to. One question I have, though, is is it supposed to be SO sticky? I lost quite a bit of dough between what was stuck to the bowl, then my hands, then the counter. I don't have a mixer though so maybe that has something to do with it? Anyway, I froze the other half of the dough for later. I was really pleased with how it turned out and proud of myself for doing something I don't think my mom ever has (and she is an excellent cook)!
Thursday - I have class after work so I pulled chili out of the freezer for my husband and went to Panera bread with a $2 off coupon that I got and a gift card that I got discounted from raise.com.
Friday - Earlier in the week I bought a rotisserie chicken that was on manager's special for $2.99. I pulled all the meat off the bone and froze it. Tonight I will use some for pesto pasta (pesta?) with veggies.
Everyone have a nice weekend!
Kristen
Friday 25th of January 2019
YAY!!! I'm so glad your pizza was good.
The dough should not be super sticky...did you use the King Arthur bread flour, or another flour? It should be soft, but not unmanageably sticky.
Kristina
Friday 25th of January 2019
Saturday: homemade hamburgers (veggie ones for me) Sunday: chili with cornbread (from soaked beans, slow cooked) Monday: oven roasted root veggies, sweet potato and bean/meat gravy Tuesday: tortellini and green beans Wednesday: coconut lentil stew on brown rice Thursday: egg, feta, and red pepper frittata, chicken thighs and roasted potatoes
We are a part vegetarian family, so we cook either meat on the side or two versions of the same meal.