Sonia’s birthday comes up next week, but this week? No birthdays.
What I Spent
I spent $166 this week, including a chicken stop at the organic market.
Grocery Spending Summary
Week One $242
Week Two $18
Week Three $224
Week Four $166
So, I’m at $162/week for the month of February. Considering that I averaged $200/week last year, I’m pretty happy with $162.
YTD Summary
January: $680.55
February: $650
What We Ate
Monday
I tried a grilled pork kebab recipe from a Cook’s Illustrated magazine, which went a little bit wrong.
I mean, the recipe was fine. The problem was that I bought what I thought was a plain pork tenderloin, but it was only after I followed the “salt the pork” directions in the recipe that I realized my pork was pre-seasoned.
Whoops.
So our kebabs were pretty salty. I threw together some chipotle chicken kebabs to round our plates out with something slightly less salty, and things worked out all right.
We had applesauce and fresh pineapple with our kebabs.
Tuesday
I made chicken enchiladas with red sauce, and my heart was happy.
I love enchiladas. And chipotle chilies.
They are my favorite.
We had a fruit salad with these.
Oh! I figured out a way around the fact that Joshua and I prefer our food to be way hotter than Mr. FG and the girls do. I put fewer chipotle chilies into the enchilada filling, and then when I served the enchiladas, I mixed some chipotles into a bowl of sour cream, and Joshua and I ate that on our enchiladas.
We were happy, and the other four family members walked away without a fiery experience.
Perfect.
Wednesday
I made shrimp lettuce wraps, and Joshua and I used chipotle sour cream again.
(Photo courtesy of Bev Cooks)
Have I mentioned how much I love chipotles? They make my heart sing.
Thursday
I made a crock pot pork noodle soup recipe from an ATK cookbook I have. I could have sworn the recipe called for bone-in country ribs, so I passed up the boneless ones on sale and paid more for the bone-in.
Then I got home and realized that the recipe called for boneless. Gah!
This is my week for making pork mistakes, I guess.
The bone-in worked fine, and my soup is probably tastier and more nutritious due to the bones, but, I did pay extra for that. Oh well.
Friday
I haven’t made deep dish pizza in forever (and the photos on that recipe could use some re-doing!), so I’m thinking about maybe opting for that.
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Karen
Sunday 28th of February 2016
I am new to your blog and would like to keep track of food going to waste, eating out too much and over buying at grocery store. Today is the first day of the grocery bill challenge for me. All savings go to college fund for daughter. Thanks for the info and support.
Stephanie L
Saturday 27th of February 2016
Mmmmm, enchiladas.... I have some shredded salsa chicken in the freezer, corn tortillas on the fridge and if I just get milk and cheese we're goin' to Enchiladatown!
Today I got some beautiful bone-in pork chops . I made orange-ginger pork, rice, Vietnamese spinach, and served the last of the fresh pineapple on the side.
We have homemade chicken stock and loose turkey sausage, so I'll make a big pot of minestrone tomorrow for Sunday dinner. I can (finally) put that frozen Parmesan rind in the soup pot. We'll have a salad on the side.
This was a dreadfully busy week for both of us, but we did manage to sit down to two work-night meals. One was chicken with marinated artichokes (jarred), GF pasta, and goat cheese. The other was Odds & Ends quiche, which used up the random veggies and cheese. The leftovers made two great lunches.
Kristen
Saturday 27th of February 2016
I'm comin' over! I can never have too many enchiladas.
Tina
Saturday 27th of February 2016
I really trying to focus on menu planning and I haven't tallied up the grocery bills yet. We live in California so I'm guessing ours will be more.
Sunday - Sunday Night Roast beef with gravy, pan roasted potatoes & broccoli (roast beef made a ton of leftover sandwiches for the week. Definitely a splurge on beef this week) Mon - fettuccine chicken with broccoli Tues- So Addicted Chicken Enchildas with cucumber, tomato, avocado salad Wed - Asian Peanut Noodle salad with chicken Thurs - Mahi Mahi Fish Tacos with spicy avocado sauce Fri - out to dinner night Sat - not sure but leaning towards pizza and house salad
I had a few bakery items I wanted to make that I never did like pumpkin scones and raisin cinnamon scones. Trying use up some buttermilk and canned pumpkin that I have. Hopefully this week...
I love your recipe shares this week. I love spicy so the shrimp tacos are up my alley. Thanks for posting your week.
Stephanie L
Saturday 27th of February 2016
I figure food splurges are relatively minor in the scheme of things. The splurgey pork that cost me $7 at the butcher today made a meal that would easily be $15 (each!!) at a restaurant. Enjoy the beef!
Oceana
Saturday 27th of February 2016
Sorry this is off-topic, but does anyone recall what recent post (in the last two weeks) was there a discussion about cell phones in the comments section? I've looked and looked and can't find it. I think the topic for that day was something else, but the conversation took a turn in the comments section. There was discussion about something called Ting. Thank you very much!!
Kristen
Monday 29th of February 2016
Sure! It's Ting Wireless, and here's the post where I wrote all about it. https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/2014/02/lower-smartphone-bill-21month/
mommabee
Saturday 27th of February 2016
The shrimp lettuce wraps look so tasty! Reminds me of shrimp fajitas......only had those a few times at a restaurant but I think about them alot.....
For the past week, here's what we had and for the upcoming weekend, here's what I'm planning on making:
Mon- single crust chicken pot pies with leftover chicken Tue- Roast beef & mashed potatoes & spinach & pumpkin pie Wed-Eggs & Sausage Thur- BLT's & leftover roast beef/potatoes Fri- Frozen breaded fish and fries (I had sushi at work ) Sat- baked ziti with pepperoni bread from the bread machine & pumpkin pie Sun- chicken stromboli Mon- sloppy joes
We stock up on meats as sales come around and I'll buy a 1/4 cow on occasion.