Someone messaged me this week to ask, so in case anyone else is wondering: WIS, WWA is just an abbreviation for What I Spent, What We Ate.
If I put “What I Spent, What We Ate” in the title every time, it makes for an awfully long title! So I usually just go with the abbreviation.
Also relevant if you are new: instead of posting a menu for the coming week, I do the reverse and share what we actually ate in the past week.
I think this makes the posts more honest; it’s easy to have a pie-in-the-sky menu plan, but it’s more helpful to share how our eating actually works out over the course of a week.
Because sometimes life does not go according to plan!
(Note: I am a fan of menu-planning! I just am also a fan of showing what application of a menu plan looks like in real life.)
What I Spent
- $20 at Safeway
- $50 at BJs
- $18 at Harris Teeter
- $30 at Target
So, $118 total.
What We Ate
Saturday
We had a dinner out for Sonia’s birthday. Funny enough, she picked Red Lobster, but I think that was mainly because she loves their raspberry lemonade. 😉
Please enjoy this throwback photo of a small Zoe at Red Lobster on vacation!
By the way, we had some Red Lobster gift cards, which is why this meal out is not added to my food spending total.
Sunday
We all ate random leftovers at dinnertime; the specifics evade me at the moment. But I probably ate mashed potatoes topped with a fried egg (we had a lot of leftover mashed potatoes to eat up last week!)
Ohh, wait! I do remember that Zoe ate her Red Lobster leftovers (a chicken dish, of course, since Zoe is allergic to most seafood.)
Monday
I made a main dish salad with brined chicken, fruit, and the dressing that I shared in this salad recipe.
We ate that with some leftover toasted homemade hamburger buns.
Which is kind of funny because just this week, someone in my Facebook Frugal Girl group was asking how to use up leftover homemade buns.
My favorite ways:
- toasted, spread with cream cheese and jam at breakfast
- halved, spread with garlic butter, and broiled
- cut up and used in an overnight French toast casserole
Tuesday
We ate leftover soup from the freezer, plus green salads, and the girls made ham sandwiches for themselves after their evening class.
Wednesday
Hasselback potatoes (working on using up my free ten pound bag from Safeway!), Budget Bytes’ herb butter chicken thighs,(using a pack of chicken from the freezer) and broccoli.
Thursday
We had enough leftovers from Thursday to make a second meal.
That was easy!
Of note: the sauce from the Budget Bytes chicken recipe really elevates leftover hasselback potatoes; I spooned it over my chicken and my potatoes, and it was a solid choice.
Friday
I need to chat with the girls to see what their Friday night plans are, and I will plan for dinner accordingly.
Becca
Sunday 13th of March 2022
Grilled chicken, baked beans, sautéed vegggies, salad.
Fried pork chops, white gravy, steamed carrots, broccoli, cabbage.
Beef stew with soda bread
Chicken Waldorf salad over lettuce
Breakfast for dinner: bacon, eggs, fried potatoes, fruit.
Breakfast burritos and apple slices
Cauliflower cheese soup and soda bread
Auntiali
Saturday 12th of March 2022
I think dh spent about $154 on groceries last week.
What we ate: Sunday: cheeseburgers from the grill and tater tots Monday: spaghetti with meat sauce Tuesday: salmon with mashed potatoes Wednesday: Egg souffle a casserole with egg, bread, sausage and chedder cheese Thursday: Baked chicken with rice. Friday: Daughter works a split shift so she makes herself dinner. Hubs and I had leftover egg souffle. Saturday: Ditto for daughter with split shift. Hubs had a salad and I had the last bit of egg souffle.
I had gastric sleeve surgery in December so I don't eat much. I did have a protein shake for dinner one night.
Lorraine
Saturday 12th of March 2022
I only spent $50 on food and household supplies last week. Unfortunately I didn't notice the ground beef had a sell by date of only a day after I bought it and by the time I went to use it later in the week it had gone bad. So that was a waste. Sigh.
I have been trying to do a pantry/freezer clean out a la Kristen by picking out a few things to use up each week. This week I used 2 chicken breasts, pizza dough and homemade pizza sauce, some frozen berries and a ramen bowl from the freezer and a slightly expired can of soup and some cowboy beans from the pantry.
Saturday - homemade pizza and salad Sunday - I tried Kristen's chicken and biscuits recipe with steamed asparagus on the side.
Monday & Tues - leftovers
Wednesday - ramen bowl and fruit smoothie
Thursday- chicken tacos with cowboy beans
Friday - a friend came over to hang out and we ate takeout from panda express.
mkmitch
Saturday 12th of March 2022
Friday - we were out of town to pick up our new puppy the following morning, so we ate out at a local Mexican place. Saturday - chicken and mushrooms in a creamy sauce with rice - one of my childhood faves that I recently introduced my kids to. Sunday - chicken legs, baguettes, salad Monday - chicken tortilla soup Tuesday - Chinese takeout so I didn’t have to cook on my bday Wednesday - crepes and breakfast sausage with the kids while I read them books (husband was late getting home due to weather traffic) Thursday - turkey tacos with the kids while my husband was at a work dinner Friday - husband and I had a fancy date for my birthday and went to a nice New American restaurant, and it was fantastic!
A lot more eating out than usual, but man that’s fun sometimes.
MommaL
Saturday 12th of March 2022
I normally have a lot of leftover hamburger and hot dog buns from company in the summertime. I found some in my freezer the other day and had to bring a breakfast item to work, so I made a giant frittata and used them up. I soaked them a whole day before baking and it was delicious. My new favorite way to use up old buns.