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What I Spent
My fridge was a bit empty when I came home from Florida, plus it was Sonia’s birthday party this week…so I spent a lot more than usual!
I spent $163 at Aldi alone.
I spent $7.31 at the trip where I got my free oranges.
And on the trip to get shrimp for Sonia’s birthday meal last Friday, I spent $61 ($30 of which was on shrimp).
Lastly, a small stop ran me $13.
So, I spent $245. Whoa.
That puts me at almost $100 over budget.
(You never know when an outtake from a Stitch Fix post will come in handy!)
Which makes me think that perhaps an eat-from-the-freezer-and-pantry week is in order.
What We Ate
Monday
I grilled some pork tenderloins (used my newfound pork knowledge, of course) and topped them with a homemade chimichurri sauce.
To go with that, we had mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus with garlic butter.
(here as leftovers for a later lunch!)
Tuesday
I tried a new recipe from my latest Cook’s Country magazine for slow-cooker Chicken Tikka Masala. It was pretty good, but my chicken was a little over 160 ° when I took it out after 4 hours. So, I think I’d check it at 3 hours next time around.
I also made a brussels sprouts salad that one of you recommended on instagram (after I did a few stories complaining about having too many brussels sprouts in my fridge!).
I give this a thumbs up because it was different, easy, worked as leftovers (just don’t add the pecans…sprinkle them on as you serve it), and didn’t involved cooking the sprouts.
(I hate cooking Brussels sprouts because they make my whole house smell terrible!)
Wednesday
I made 3 Cup Chicken stir fry from a Cook’s Illustrated magazine, and we ate that over rice, with orange wedges on the side.
Thursday
I had the makings for chicken noodle soup in the freezer (cooked chicken and veggies), so I thawed those and a few jars of homemade broth. Easy peasy!
We had some raw veggies and fruit with our soup, plus whole wheat toast.
Friday
I was going to make Chicken Pizzaiola, but in typing this up, I’m realizing that that would make four days of chicken in a row. Which is a lot.
So, maybe I’ll opt for something that doesn’t involve chicken!
What did you eat this week? And how’s your grocery budget doing?
(Hopefully better than mine this week.)
(!!!)
Deidre
Saturday 10th of March 2018
I've had a 'grab what I can find' kinda week & mostly didn't write it down but I've averaged out what I've spent each week since the 1st of Jan & it works out to be just under what I hoped I would spend. I have been gradually changing my diet over the last year & ramped it up this year trying to add lots more fruit & veg & collecting really delicious recipes that are really good for me & I really wasn't sure how much this would change my expenditure especially for work lunches & snacks but this has also really cut down my trips to the work cafe which has also slashed my weekly spend so I am rapt.
Lorraine
Friday 9th of March 2018
Last week I actually stuck to my grocery budget. It helped that there was a big snow storm and so whatever I didn't pick up on my short trip home in the ice just didn't get bought this week (no bananas for a whole week! I can't remember the last time that happened.)
Saturday/Sunday - Chicken, rice and broccoli casserole. Monday - homemade nachos Tuesday - Ham steak, pan-fried potatoes, applesauce and cornbread Wednesday/Thursday - Tacos and beans. Friday - Ususally reserved for leftovers (had none) or an omelet (not in the mood) so I stopped and picked up a sub sandwich. (The sandwich came out of my spending money for the week, not my grocery budget.)
Deidre
Saturday 10th of March 2018
That's what I do when I have take-away - I treat myself to take-away once a month and deduct it from my entertainment budget; it works great for me as I know what I am spending on essentials and I can just really enjoy the treat because it's well within my spending budget
Lindsey
Friday 9th of March 2018
I don't own a stand alone freezer. Since we have freezing temps for 6 or more months a year in Fairbanks, we put plastic totes out on the back porch in October and use them as stand alone freezers, keeping in mind that by mid March we need to be eating up anything that won't fit into our fridge freezer. Well, about a week ago we had a day where it suddenly went to 32 during the hottest part of the day, and although it was 8 degrees at night, we moved everything indoors. Except for two huge whole salmons someone had traded me for tomatoes last August. So, we have had salmon for the last six days---salmon salad for lunch sandwiches and baked or broiled salmon for supper each night. We also invited someone over for dinner one night, which we wanted to do anyway, but needing another mouth to eat salmon was what prompted the invitation this week. And when we had salmon for dinner, we ate only vegetables, no starch, so we would eat more salmon to get full...finally done. I love salmon but will be glad to not eat it again until this summer's fishing season! Tonight we are having potato pancakes, for our Friday Lent meal. I am not an especially observant Christian, in terms of church, but I like Lent because I give up chocolate and cheese for the season, which forces me to be mindful of how much I take for granted. I also try to do one nice thing for someone each day, but, frankly, it is easier to give up my two favorite food groups than it is to be nice to random people.
Chris
Saturday 10th of March 2018
That is so funny. I have a terrible time giving up favorite foods. I then want ONLY those foods, whereas before I ate them in normal amounts. Doing nice things for strangers is easier. I don't typically do major things. Small kindnesses make the world feel cozier to me.
Terri
Friday 9th of March 2018
Thar chimichurri sauce is making my mouth water! I can't wait until the summer when I can grow parsley and make chimichurri!
Deidre
Saturday 10th of March 2018
I love parsley but am not familiar with chimichurri; it looks delicious
Battra92
Friday 9th of March 2018
Busy week for me for a lot of reasons but we bought almost no groceries, which was interesting.
Monday: Wife was seeing her family so I went to my parents' house to do their taxes. Shout out to TurboTax as for whatever reason TaxAct wouldn't let them do it with my dad's retirement income without bumping them up to a higher cost version. Oh well!
Anyway, my mom made me dinner for helping them with their taxes. She made steamed hams (we aren't far from Albany after all.)
Tuesday: Wife and daughter with her family again (I wasn't invited) so it was leftover chicken from Sunday.
Wednesday: We had a bit of a snowstorm here in the Northeast so we opted for simple and had frozen fish, salads and baked potatoes.
Thursday: Pork chops, scalloped potatoes and vegetables
Friday: Homemade pizza tonight. I'm not sure if I'll do anything else but I may make salads.
I do need to make an Aldi run after work as we have no fresh produce left in the house.
Deidre
Saturday 10th of March 2018
I LOVE scalloped potatoes
Jenny
Friday 9th of March 2018
What are "steamed hams" and what's the Albany reference? Jsut curious-