I got back from my trip last night at midnight, and given the time zone adjustment, I had a very slow start to my day today!
I never type posts at 1 pm but here we are. 😉
I don’t know quite what all happened food-wise while I was gone, so I’ll just write this up about my own eating.
What I Spent
Well, I didn’t really buy much of anything this week! I did buy a $6 coffee yesterday and a $12 sub (oh, airport prices!)
We ate a breakfast of eggs, bacon, oatmeal, toast, and fruit at the condo in the mornings, and that tided me over pretty well during the ski day.
I didn’t buy any food or drinks at the ski lodges; I just stuff granola bars/nuts into my coat pockets for when I do get hungry, and drink the free water they have available at the lodge.
What We Ate
Saturday
My younger brother and I flew out to Tahoe on Saturday with my parents, and we all went out to eat the first night.
Sunday
My brother made a fancied-up version of a cheesy noodle casserole we used to eat when we were kids, and we made a green salad to eat on the side.
Monday
Leftovers from Monday, plus a big salad again. My parents are EXTREMELY regular salad-eaters. 🙂
My brother’s salad always looks like this:
Actually, almost everything he eats looks like that. His breakfast eggs are quite the peppery experience as well. 😉
If you dispense with the lid altogether, it’s easier to cover your food in pepper.
Tuesday
The rest of the crew arrived (my older brother and his wife, my sister, and my niece), and my mom made fish tacos with mango salsa.
This time we had broccoli on the side instead of a salad.
Wednesday
My mom made a spicy sausage and shrimp soup, which we ate over black beans and rice. And…we had a salad.
(No one was surprised.)
Thursday
This was my flying-home day. I ate a $12 Jersey Mike’s sub during my five hour layover in Vegas, and by the time I got home at midnight, I still wasn’t faintly hungry.
I thought the lights through the wet plane window were kind of beautiful!
Friday
TBD! I need to go to the grocery store and get some menu plans figured out.
Orrrr actually, I should reverse that order. Menu plans, then the grocery store.
Becca
Sunday 20th of February 2022
Three days we took a vacation to a water park with some friends of ours. We had takeout pizza one night, went out for burgers the second night, then Tuesday I made pulled pork carnita tacos which we ate with cowboy caviar and chips and fruit.
Had leftover pork in burritos with cheese and beans and lime crema.
Made bibimbap with leftover pork and sautéed veggies and a fried egg
Picked up a nasty cold on vacation so hubby picked up chick fil a because I was napping instead of cooking
Today we are using up the last of the pulled pork by mixing it with bbq sauce and putting it inside of pillsbury crescents. Will serve with a side salad and some cole slaw
J NL
Saturday 19th of February 2022
We had meat/ meatless dinners with braised veg and potatoes on most days. Yesterday, when storm Eunice battered homes, trucks, and trees I felt restless and uncomfortable so we settled for pea soup from the freezer, ultimate bad weather food! And today was a busy day taking stock of our damage, which needs repair with priority to prevent leaks. It could have been much worse though. I made quick and easy pizza. Tomorrow will be cod and salad, and I need to do something creative with a sweet potato.
Julie
Friday 18th of February 2022
We too are regular salad eaters! Probably four or five times a week ...
Sunday was the Superbowl so we had brats, baked beans and slaw plus some veggies and dip. Valentine's Day we had hassleback potatoes, crab cakes and roasted Brussels sprouts. Tuesday we had pasta with meatballs and sauce Wednesday was teriyaki shrimp tacos Thursday I made a simple turkey meatloaf and we had that with roasted veggies and salad. Tonight we had leftover pasta.
Becca
Friday 18th of February 2022
Your parents sound like my kind of salad-eating people! ;)
WWA: Sun: leftovers and salad Mon: stir fried orange pork with peppers, salad Tue: leftovers and salad Wed: peppers and beyond sausage stir fry on buns, cantaloupe Thu: potato and leek soup, ham and cheese sandwiches on sourdough bagels, salad Fri: focaccia with mozzarella and ricotta, watermelon and steamed broccoli
WIS Aldi: 155.86 Hungry Harvest: 68.35 Total: 224.21 So far I'm not really seeing the savings of switching back to Aldi yet, but I think I'm overbuying a bit out of the excitement of choosing my own produce again. I'm also out of the habit of shopping so I ended up adding a few things to my Hungry Harvest order after forgetting them at Aldi.
My neighbor told me today that she routinely spends about 350.00/week for her family of four right now, and she also shops almost exclusively at Aldi, so I think there's also a bit of price creep. She buys more meat and prepackaged items than I do, and I buy way more pricey produce than she does and tend towards hoardy stocking up, so it's a bit tricky to compare.
I was trying to remember what things cost about two years ago at Aldi, and no individual items on my receipt really stood out to me as higher priced now, but maybe my memory is covid-fuzzy. Kristen, I wonder if readers would find it at all interesting to see you compare the prices of things you routinely buy between then and now? Presumably you have a sort of record from your blog? Although I think it's been a long time now that you haven't posted pictures of the groceries like you used to with all the hidden stuffies. Tell your young people that I miss those pictures!
Becca
Saturday 19th of February 2022
@Kristen,
Sixteen!?!?! How is that even possible? And happy belated birthday, Zoe!
Kristen
Saturday 19th of February 2022
I don't think I have any specific records of prices, sadly; just some grocery totals! But things are definitely more expensive, and that's true at every store, not just Aldi. It does still seem to me that the prices at Aldi are pretty hard to beat, though.
Zoe, my youngest kiddo, turned 16 yesterday, so yes, it's been a long time since the stuffed animal grocery photos. Sigh. How time flies!
Becca
Saturday 19th of February 2022
@Liz B.,
Hmm, yeah maybe the milk was more expensive, but I honestly can't tell because for the last year and a half I was ordering milk from a dairy for delivery and it was way expensive, so Aldi is much cheaper than that. I did notice that the organic milk was twice the price of conventional at Aldi, and although the farm milk was more expensive overall, the difference between conventional and organic was less, so I splurged on organic more often. My hours at work are going to decrease next year, so I will need to start paying more attention to prices.
Liz B.
Saturday 19th of February 2022
@Stephanie, I agree about price creep at Aldi. The price of milk has gone up significantly, but it's still cheaper than my local national chain grocery store. The produce, steel cut oats, yummy Italian bread, and pretzels that I typically buy at Aldi have gone up in price (I'm sure there are other items, too, but those are the items I can think of off the top of my head).
Stephanie
Friday 18th of February 2022
@Becca, Aldi has def price creeped in my area. I still like shopping there because the store footprint is small and cashiers are fast!!
Abigail
Friday 18th of February 2022
You visited Nevada!! It was fun to read this because I lived in Vegas for 8 years and Reno/Tahoe for 7 years. And then I’ve been back multiple times every year since! It was like I kind of visited with you! I can even picture that jersey mikes inside the terminal in Vegas!
Kristen
Saturday 19th of February 2022
Ohhh, fun! I have skied at Heavenly three times now; such a lovely view from both sides of the mountain.