Guys, I think anatomy and physiology is really taking it out of me. Shew.
me being dramatic about my homework
I technically have time to cook dinner, but I have been spending so many hours studying (on top of all the usual stuff I do), I feel entirely out of motivation at the end of the day.
And it’s not like anyone else in my house suddenly has a lot of dinner-cooking time either…for instance, Sonia is super busy with work + college.
So, we are routinely getting fed, but it’s nothing fancy, and there’s some takeout help in there too.
I kind of wonder if I am spending more time studying than I really need to; I could study less and probably still get an A in the class.
Or I could put earbuds in and listen to lectures while I cook.
Or I could do some dinner prep early in the day while my motivation is not entirely sapped.
Stay tuned to see how I figure this out!
What I Spent
I spent:
- $11 at Noodles and Company
- $39 at Giant
- $26 at Harris Teeter
- $10 on sushi
- $25 on a Hungry Harvest box
And that adds up to $111.
October Spending
Week 1: $110
Week 2: $148.50
Week 3: $111
What We Ate
Saturday
Date night for Mr. FG and me! I had a hankering for a very vegetable-heavy pizza, so I suggested Mod Pizza. Why do I love Mod? Well, since they serve individual pizzas, I can customize my pizza to be precisely the way I like it.
This is perfect because a Venn diagram of my ideal pizza and my family’s ideal pizza is basically two separate circles.
Also perfect: a pizza night is pretty always right around our $20 budget.
Sunday
Zoe ate pizza with some friends, I was not hungry because I had a late lunch that was an enormous bowl of sweet potatoes, black beans, zucchini, and eggs, Mr. FG picked up some Korean food for Sonia, and he got $10 of sushi for himself.
I have no idea how much the Korean food cost because I don’t see it on our credit card statement at all.
Maybe they didn’t charge us? I dunno!
Monday
I made skillet ziti, using a Cook’s Illustrated recipe:
I am not happy the sun is down at dinnertime. I AM happy that my basil plants are still alive.
I made two loaves of homemade French bread as well, and we ate one with dinner. I put the other one in the freezer for later use.
And I made a green salad.
Tuesday
I made ham panini, heated up some canned chicken noodle soup (for everyone but me because I hate canned chicken noodle soup!), and cut up some produce.
Wednesday
This was the day I gave blood, and I was feeling pretty drained after that.
(Ahahaha. I did not mean to make a pun, but here we are.)
I managed to do my classwork, help Zoe with algebra, take care of the shelter cats, and get Zoe to youth group and back. But there was no energy left for dinner, so we all did a fend for yourself type of thing, and I got a Japanese steak noodle bowl at Noodles and Company while Zoe was at youth group.
It was actually very lovely…I ate all by myself and I read a library book, just for fun. No studying!
Thursday
I made easy BBQ chicken, which we ate on buns with potato chips and raw produce on the side.
Friday
I think I will thaw the other loaf of French bread that I made and I’ll use it to make French bread pizzas.
lisa
Monday 18th of October 2021
Kristen- Keep up on the studying and the dinner ideas are great, even if they aren't long drawn out meals..Who needs that when school comes first....
This week, dinner was chicken parm with french bread, mexican chicken casserole, chicken/mozzarella ravioli, pizza and breakfast for dinner. I can't remember anything else.....
Liz M.
Sunday 17th of October 2021
That skillet ziti looks so good! Also, hang in there with the studying, Kristen. You'll figure something out :). Best wishes.
a curious reader
Friday 15th of October 2021
Kristen, when I was in grad school, what helped me cook at home was pre-chopping all the vegetables for the meals I was planning to make throughout the week the Sunday before. I'd put them in the fridge with a label reminding me what meal each vegetable was supposed to go into. That made me much more likely to cook in the evenings because the most time consuming part was already done. On Sundays, I didnt mind spending some time chopping - I treated it as a rewarding study break. I usually listen to a podcast I like.
Not my best week, cooking wise, because work has been crazy. I think I'll cook something nice this weekend though.
Saturday: we celebrated my birthday early with some friends and had a fancy meal, even though it was a typhoon! Sunday: We treated ourselves to some frozen pizzas, my guilty pleasure :-) Monday: It was my actual birthday and my boyfriend made burgers at home. Tuesday: don't remember Wednesday: another typhoon came through the city! I made pasta with tomato sauce (another guilty pleasure) because we had the ingredients at home Thursday: I made a big pot of soup with all the random vegetables in the fridge and freezer, homemade frozen chicken stock, and grated firm tofu. A very frugal meal! I also made a batch of blueberry muffins. Friday: Grocery store sushi after work
Julie F
Friday 15th of October 2021
Girl…. Cut yourself some slack! The prereqs and nursing school courses are no joke. They are exhausting. You know how much you need to study. Your family is of the age that they will figure it out if you are busy and it looks like it’s flowing well and you are in your budget. You got this!
Lindsey
Friday 15th of October 2021
I am out of energy and interest in cooking, so we had a pretty boring week of meals. Thankd heavens my husband will eat the same thing day after day. Sat/Sun/Mon/Tuesday---chili and apple/rhubarb sauce for dessert. Wed/Thursday---Russian mushroom and potato soup. Oranges for dessert. Friday---today is a birthday day so we are having steak, mushrooms, onions and baked potato, with cheesecake for dessert.
The soups and chili are boring but pretty healthy because I hide shredded zucchini and carrots in them, in addition to the vegetables in the recipe. And the chili has half the required hamburger with the other half made up with chopped mushrooms.
I wish I could feel more inspired.
Kristen
Friday 15th of October 2021
Well, happy birthday to either you or your DH! :)