What I Spent
Hungry Harvest’s delivery schedule was a little off, which means that I haven’t gotten a produce box for a few weeks.
Plus, I put off grocery shopping until mid-week.
That made for a good food waste situation…having so having almost no new produce coming in made me really dig through my fridge to use up the odds and ends that I might otherwise have ignored.
So, my fridge is fairly cleaned out at the moment, which means when I do fill it up again, I won’t be burying food that needs to be used up!
Anyway, on the grocery front, I just made one smallish stop at Aldi, where I spent $59.
January Grocery Spending
Week 1: $101
Week 2: $59
What We Ate
Saturday
I made a quick alfredo sauce for some leftover pasta for Sonia and Zoe:
And I used the last of the homemade French bread and garlic butter (leftover from making homemade French bread pizzas) to make a little garlic bread for them, and they had oranges on the side.
Mr. FG and I got Bertucci’s pizza for our date night, and we ate it in the car.
And that was fortunate because right as we were finishing eating in the car, a young guy and his girlfriend in the parking lot needed a jumpstart and had no cables. We always keep jumper cables in our cars, so Mr. FG was able to get him up and going.
Sunday
We got sushi from a local spot, continuing our efforts to support local restaurants while they’re struggling.
Monday
I got out some spiral ham from the freezer, I roasted some sweet potatoes, and I tried a Cook’s Illustrated recipe for dinner rolls made with tangzhong (more on that here).
a photo of a previous ham dinner because I didn’t take one this time!
Tuesday
I made quick Cuban sandwiches (a Cook’s Country recipe) which we ate with applesauce from the freezer and a fruit salad.
Wednesday
I made quesadillas with a lime-cilantro-corn filling, and we ate those with chips and salsa and sliced kiwifruit.
Thursday
At that quick Aldi stop, I was supposed to buy a pork butt so I could make pork tinga (a Sonia request).
And I bought exactly no pork butt.
So we had French toast instead. And luckily I had bought OJ at Aldi, so, there’s that.
Friday
I could go get a pork butt and make pork tinga. Or maybe I will just make burgers, because I have ground beef already!
Liz
Sunday 10th of January 2021
I have been inspired by my recent library loan of "Cook Once, Eat All Week." We have since had to return it, but it was an eye-opening lesson in simplifying the ingredients line-up and prepping in advance. This past week, on our own without the book and also just cleaning out the fridge/freezer, we had... --soup using kale/swiss chard from the garden, sweet potato cubes, leftover hoppin john, excess chicken broth, and a package of sweet italian sausage --bbq casserole (bbq rib meat and extra bbq sauce from the freezer, excess plain-mashed sweet potato, and cheese) with a side of reduced-price sugar snaps in butter --frozen lasagna
I'm looking forward to trying out a new round of this kind of meal prep for the coming week.
Tracey
Saturday 9th of January 2021
You are exactly right! I read everyone's posts for meal inspiration. After more than 30 years of making meals for my family, we definitely have our favorites, but I sometimes feel like we get in a rut. I like seeing what others have made and try them out myself. Here's what we ate this week:
Saturday: Refrigerator leftovers
Sunday: Homemade bean soup loaded with vegetables and cannelloni beans. I topped it with fresh grated parmesan cheese and added italian sausage to the non-vegetarian bowls. We had the last of the homemade Christmas butterhorn rolls to go with it.
Monday: Build your own omelette using whatever you can find in the fridge. Mine was garlic, brussels sprouts and swiss cheese. My husband's was american cheese, peppers and onions. My daughter's was a mix of cheeses. We ate them with fried potatoes.
Tuesday: Lemon and butter broiled scallops with rice, corn and peas (frozen from our garden).
Wednesday: BLT (and a PB&J for the non meat eater) sandwiches with tater tots.
Thursday: Chicken (one veggie) patty sandwiches with french fries and green beans ( frozen from our garden bounty)
Friday: Our local restaurant support went to the Chinese restaurant this week. It is not a chain, but a small place owned by a family of wonderful people.
Becca
Saturday 9th of January 2021
Sun: salad, fresh baked bread, turkey soup with carrots, parsnips, celery, leftover turkey from New Year's Day as well as the pan drippings and onions from the roasted bird-very tasty! Mon: leftover turkey soup, salad Tues: beef and broccoli over jasmine rice, pomegranate seeds and green grapes Weds: pomegranate seeds and grapes, buttered artisan rye toast, leftover turkey soup with parm cheese on top (I said it was weird to put cheese in turkey soup, but my husband insisted, and I have to admit that it was pretty good, although I still maintain it was a waste of parm that could have been saved for a different meal!) Thu: leftover beef and broccoli with rice (the first batch was a bit too salty-too much soy sauce, so I steamed more broccoli and added it in to dilute-made it perfect!), carrot sticks Fri: baby greens salad and foccacia with red peppers, tomatoes, red onion and provolone cheese Tonight: leftover focaccia and salad-might add some shredded turkey to the salad because I have a bowl of it left still. Will eat the last of the soup for lunch.
April
Friday 8th of January 2021
My meal list is a little anemic this week.
Saturday-fend for yourself/leftover Sunday-homemade smoked brisket sandwiches with leftover blackeyed peas and fruit Monday-Spatchcock chicken (our local grocery has a premarinated one so nobody think I’m getting fancy on a work night) with rolls and something?? Tuesday-corned beef hash but with brisket as the meat (good work night hack is using frozen potatoes O’Brien to save prep time) Wednesday-local restaurant Thursday-hot dogs and fries Friday-bakes potatoes with brisket filling
Have a great week everyone!
Suzan
Friday 8th of January 2021
How I wish I was clever about using up leftovers but I try. This week we have had pasta with meat balls, spaghetti Bolognese, lots of chicken and salads. In fact I am eating this for lunch right now. There has been smoked salmon and picky bits as well.