Sorry about missing a few weeks of what we ate! The first week was CRAZY and I just forgot to write down what we ate. This week I chucked my receipts after balancing my checkbook (what the heck, self?). This weekend I hope to get back on the wagon. So instead I'll just do a little life update!
My husband got a new job (woo! a dollar more an hour to start!) which is exactly what he's been looking for. It's a great opportunity and the extra money will help us further our mortgage payoff goals. We've also been saving to revamp the skirting on our trailer this spring. I've also been hoarding all our change to pay for our seedlings (usually I just buy tomatoes and sometimes basil) and some new baby chicks. This past weekend my husband spent in the garage puttering to make a really nice brooder out of some things we already have, which is great! I'm hoping this weekend he'll help me put a few things up on craigslist. We've also sold some eggs for extra income. I've got almost 6 dozen in the fridge right now so hopefully our regular comes again soon. :)
I've decided to spend most of today in the kitchen. I am sick of buying (clearance at least) already made snacks for my husband's lunches so I decided to bake some muffins to use up some of the buttermilk I have leftover from baking soda bread. My veggie scrap bag in the freezer was full so I put them in the slow cooker to make broth. I also cooked up a big pot of pintos! I'll use half for chili tonight and half for refried beans.
On the crafty front I've been crocheting a bunch of cute cupcake shaped dish towels and a whole mess of little bunnies. I also found a treasure trove of (clearance from last year) Easter ribbons, signs, and eggs so I made up a wreath for both myself and my mom. They came out really cute! I did have to buy a grape vine wreath to make my mom's but it was only 1$ at Goodwill.
Well, that's what I've been up to lately! Now I'm off to the Post Office to send a box of Easter goodies to my best friend in California. :)
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Sunday, March 6, 2016
What We Ate This Week
Phew, another week down! It was a pretty uneventful one at that. I've started the Dave Ramsey cash envelope deal and it's helped my spending IMMENSELY. By giving us a "blow money" budget I'm going to save a lot. You know when you feel like you can't be sure what to spend? Yep, that always makes me spend too much. So at least now I know if we want to see a movie or grab sandwiches that we have that in the budget. If you have any tips on the cash envelope budgeting I'd love to hear it. Now onto what we ate this week!
Sunday : We had a bit of leftover quinoa in the fridge so I made quinoa/kale/mushroom bowls with fried eggs on top.
Monday : I made a big ol' loaded enchilada pasta skillet. This is another one from the Budget Bytes cookbook. It is super delicious and I was really surprised we had leftovers because my husband has a hollow leg and loves this stuff. There was enough for both of us to have it for lunch the next day though!
Tuesday : We had a giant salad to use up veg, a spinach/onion/bell pepper frittata, and homemade cheddar beer bread (again, from the Budget Bytes cookbook). The bread was great and really easy so I'll definitely be making it again. It would be great with a stew or soup for dunking.
Wednesday : Another Budget Bytes recipe (do we sense a theme here) of chana aloo masala. It was great and made a ton. My husband had it for lunch two days this week.
Thursday : Oh gosh, another Budget Bytes recipe...zucchini pasta bake! I don't actually bake it in the oven though, I just make it in a covered skillet to melt the cheese and call it good. I also thawed some meatballs from the freezer for my husband and he had those with it.
Friday : Neither of us really felt like a big meal. I had gotten some fancy bread in the discount bin so we had rosemary toast with greens and eggs on top. You're going to be seeing a lot of eggs eaten in the next few weeks because the laying is picking up.
Saturday : We had my husband's cousin over for dinner (as we often do) and I made them elbow pasta and red sauce with bits of sausage. I had rosemary toast with greens and eggs again (can't get enough of that bread!!).
I can't believe it but by taking cash out this week and starting up the envelope system I ACTUALLY STAYED IN BUDGET! I spent $9.76 at the grocery store by my mom's house, $2.64 at Big Lots, and $35.50 at the grocery store by my house making a total of $47.90. I actually have $2.10 to spare but I'll put it in our savings towards new flooring instead! Sadly, I did go over on the pet budget and had to borrow from our blow money. I'm no longer shopping at Wal-Mart so we had to change the dogs over to a food they stock at our pet store. We also needed guinea pig litter and food plus a new dog brush. While we did go over budget this new food comes in a much bigger bag so at least it'll last quite a bit longer. I'm still new at this whole cash thing so I'm sure I will fine tune it.
Thanks for reading! Did you have any great meals this week?
Sunday : We had a bit of leftover quinoa in the fridge so I made quinoa/kale/mushroom bowls with fried eggs on top.
Monday : I made a big ol' loaded enchilada pasta skillet. This is another one from the Budget Bytes cookbook. It is super delicious and I was really surprised we had leftovers because my husband has a hollow leg and loves this stuff. There was enough for both of us to have it for lunch the next day though!
Tuesday : We had a giant salad to use up veg, a spinach/onion/bell pepper frittata, and homemade cheddar beer bread (again, from the Budget Bytes cookbook). The bread was great and really easy so I'll definitely be making it again. It would be great with a stew or soup for dunking.
Wednesday : Another Budget Bytes recipe (do we sense a theme here) of chana aloo masala. It was great and made a ton. My husband had it for lunch two days this week.
Thursday : Oh gosh, another Budget Bytes recipe...zucchini pasta bake! I don't actually bake it in the oven though, I just make it in a covered skillet to melt the cheese and call it good. I also thawed some meatballs from the freezer for my husband and he had those with it.
Friday : Neither of us really felt like a big meal. I had gotten some fancy bread in the discount bin so we had rosemary toast with greens and eggs on top. You're going to be seeing a lot of eggs eaten in the next few weeks because the laying is picking up.
Saturday : We had my husband's cousin over for dinner (as we often do) and I made them elbow pasta and red sauce with bits of sausage. I had rosemary toast with greens and eggs again (can't get enough of that bread!!).
I can't believe it but by taking cash out this week and starting up the envelope system I ACTUALLY STAYED IN BUDGET! I spent $9.76 at the grocery store by my mom's house, $2.64 at Big Lots, and $35.50 at the grocery store by my house making a total of $47.90. I actually have $2.10 to spare but I'll put it in our savings towards new flooring instead! Sadly, I did go over on the pet budget and had to borrow from our blow money. I'm no longer shopping at Wal-Mart so we had to change the dogs over to a food they stock at our pet store. We also needed guinea pig litter and food plus a new dog brush. While we did go over budget this new food comes in a much bigger bag so at least it'll last quite a bit longer. I'm still new at this whole cash thing so I'm sure I will fine tune it.
Thanks for reading! Did you have any great meals this week?
Sunday, February 28, 2016
What We Ate This Week
Looking through my receipts for this week I'm a little disgusted with myself. I am so totally over budget! It's funny because when I feel like we have "more money" I end up spending more of it. I know this is a common thing (lifestyle inflation and all that) but it's driving me crazy. I'm cutting down to ONE STOP PER WEEK at the grocery store. Anyway, here's what we ate this week!
Sunday : My husband's cousin was over for dinner so we bought frozen pizzas as a treat. It was very tasty, and at $8 was much more affordable than take out (but still more expensive than homemade!).
Monday : I made an egg bake (aka strata) with a loaf of stale bread and a can of mustard greens for my husband. For myself I made the rest of a bag of frozen meatless tenders and oven fries with a potato.
Tuesday : We had white rice, stir fry veg, and a bag of frozen meatless beef strips. I'm actually not usually one for meat alternatives but I've been able to find some for a steal.
Wednesday : Huevos rancheros bowls. I let my husband pick from a list of meals and somehow I knew he's pick this one!
Thursday : I had run tons of errands all day so I was pooped around dinnertime. I made 2 boxes of Annie's mac and cheese and added a bag of peas and carrots.
Friday : After grocery shopping I always have lots of great fresh veg so I made a HUGE salad with homemade croutons. Our neighbor had a big meat order so he brought my husband a steak and a few burgers so I made the steak to go with his salad.
Saturday : My family was visiting from out of state so we had a late lunch/early dinner at my mom's. She made her veggie lasagna which is so totally delicious!! I brought the noodles, a loaf of garlic bread, and some frosting for my aunt's birthday cupcakes.
All in all a pretty normal food week until we look at the numbers. I spent $66.29 at the grocery store, $6.27 at the dollar store, $7.40 at Big Lots, and $4.44 at Ocean State Job Lot which totals to a WHOPPING $84.40!!!! I can remind you here that my tip top budget for the week is $60. I didn't need a lot of staples and we didn't even eat a lot of food this week! I'm getting a little frustrated with myself for buying things just because they look good. When I went to the grocery store this week on Friday I really stuck to my list and had a rough meal plan so hopefully I'll do better this week. Yikes!
Do you ever go WILDLY over your grocery budget? It'd be nice to know I wasn't the only one. :)
Sunday : My husband's cousin was over for dinner so we bought frozen pizzas as a treat. It was very tasty, and at $8 was much more affordable than take out (but still more expensive than homemade!).
Monday : I made an egg bake (aka strata) with a loaf of stale bread and a can of mustard greens for my husband. For myself I made the rest of a bag of frozen meatless tenders and oven fries with a potato.
Tuesday : We had white rice, stir fry veg, and a bag of frozen meatless beef strips. I'm actually not usually one for meat alternatives but I've been able to find some for a steal.
Wednesday : Huevos rancheros bowls. I let my husband pick from a list of meals and somehow I knew he's pick this one!
Thursday : I had run tons of errands all day so I was pooped around dinnertime. I made 2 boxes of Annie's mac and cheese and added a bag of peas and carrots.
Friday : After grocery shopping I always have lots of great fresh veg so I made a HUGE salad with homemade croutons. Our neighbor had a big meat order so he brought my husband a steak and a few burgers so I made the steak to go with his salad.
Saturday : My family was visiting from out of state so we had a late lunch/early dinner at my mom's. She made her veggie lasagna which is so totally delicious!! I brought the noodles, a loaf of garlic bread, and some frosting for my aunt's birthday cupcakes.
All in all a pretty normal food week until we look at the numbers. I spent $66.29 at the grocery store, $6.27 at the dollar store, $7.40 at Big Lots, and $4.44 at Ocean State Job Lot which totals to a WHOPPING $84.40!!!! I can remind you here that my tip top budget for the week is $60. I didn't need a lot of staples and we didn't even eat a lot of food this week! I'm getting a little frustrated with myself for buying things just because they look good. When I went to the grocery store this week on Friday I really stuck to my list and had a rough meal plan so hopefully I'll do better this week. Yikes!
Do you ever go WILDLY over your grocery budget? It'd be nice to know I wasn't the only one. :)
Sunday, February 21, 2016
What We Ate This Week
After last weekend being so stressful with the furnace and plumbing problems it was nice to have an easy one for a change. I had a wedding on Saturday night which was a total blast and today was spent running some errands with a rare lunch date with my husband. Now my husband's cousin is visiting and we'll have a fun low key night of board games and frozen pizzas. So, what did we eat this week?
Sunday : Frozen pizza, cake and ice cream. We had no running water this day so we splurged at the grocery store on a real fancy Valentine's day dinner. ;)
Monday : I made a big salad (water still wasn't right, pressure was very low) and cooked a New York Strip steak for my husband. He was supposed to have it for Valentine's Day but with no water I really didn't feel like making any dishes.
Tuesday : Leftover salad with a frittata made with our own eggs, gardein sausage patties from the freezer, discount broccoli, onions and a sprinkle of cheese. Plus, our water got fixed and was finally back to normal, hooray!
Wednesday : Pasta with marinara sauce and gardein meatless meatballs from the freezer.
Thursday : Chickpeas, diced potatoes, and green beans in a store bought pineapple coconut curry sauce.
Friday : Leftover Minestrone soup from last week with a take and bake loaf of bread from the discount bin. I've never made that before and it was pretty good. It tasted a lot like the bread you get as an appetizer at some restaurants.
Saturday : I had dinner at the wedding and I threw beef stew together in the slow cooker for my husband. It made a huge amount so he'll be able to take it for lunch a few days this week.
I spent $8.75 at Wal-Mart, $4.17 at Big Lots, $8.98 at BJs Wholesale Club, and $50.98 at the grocery store. So my total spending was TOTALLY over budget at $72.88!!! The whole water fiasco had a lot to do with it because I bought some convenience foods so we wouldn't have to make dishes. I've also been hitting up the clearance rack for way too many baked goods lately. It's time to reign in it because it's getting ridiculous and we don't need any more junk in the house.
About the whole water issue; we had super cold temps last Saturday into Sunday which froze our filter solid. Even after thawing and putting a brand new filter in we didn't have running water. We have a friend of my husband's we usually call for plumbing issues but he was quite busy with the weather. We called another nearby plumber and he screwed us, BIG TIME. Didn't fix our problem, charged us an obscene amount at $930 dollars (still our water wasn't right). He showed up unannounced the next morning asking how it was going and saying it was likely he would have to replace our well pump (he had already checked it when here the day before and told us it was fine). We've had well pump issues in the past but I was skeptical. My husband got a hold of his friend, told him our issues, and he said he was almost positive what the problem was and came over the next morning and was here 5 minutes and it was fixed. There was a ball of teflon tape stuck in our filter housing...which to me was a bit suspicious. I ended up putting a stop payment on our check to the plumber and my husband called the plumber and said no way no how are we paying you. At first he seemed reluctant but after my husband mentioned the actual problem being the ball of tape he seemed quite okay since "they didn't fix our problem we shouldn't have to pay". The whole situation was fishy to all we talked to about it and we learned the lesson that you should always deal with who you know, even if you'll have to wait a few days. Our bill went from a whopping $930 to a $20 stop payment fee and $40 to my husband's friend (he asked for $20 but I gave him $40 for just being so great). We dodged a bullet there, thankfully, and we are so very glad. I just can't believe there are such dishonest people out there!
Anywho, with our water being fine again I hope that this week our grocery shopping will be much lower without having to buy convenience foods. I'm also planning to stay away from stores as much as possible because you can't buy if you're not in a store!! What causes your grocery spending to inflate?
Sunday : Frozen pizza, cake and ice cream. We had no running water this day so we splurged at the grocery store on a real fancy Valentine's day dinner. ;)
Monday : I made a big salad (water still wasn't right, pressure was very low) and cooked a New York Strip steak for my husband. He was supposed to have it for Valentine's Day but with no water I really didn't feel like making any dishes.
Tuesday : Leftover salad with a frittata made with our own eggs, gardein sausage patties from the freezer, discount broccoli, onions and a sprinkle of cheese. Plus, our water got fixed and was finally back to normal, hooray!
Wednesday : Pasta with marinara sauce and gardein meatless meatballs from the freezer.
Thursday : Chickpeas, diced potatoes, and green beans in a store bought pineapple coconut curry sauce.
Friday : Leftover Minestrone soup from last week with a take and bake loaf of bread from the discount bin. I've never made that before and it was pretty good. It tasted a lot like the bread you get as an appetizer at some restaurants.
Saturday : I had dinner at the wedding and I threw beef stew together in the slow cooker for my husband. It made a huge amount so he'll be able to take it for lunch a few days this week.
I spent $8.75 at Wal-Mart, $4.17 at Big Lots, $8.98 at BJs Wholesale Club, and $50.98 at the grocery store. So my total spending was TOTALLY over budget at $72.88!!! The whole water fiasco had a lot to do with it because I bought some convenience foods so we wouldn't have to make dishes. I've also been hitting up the clearance rack for way too many baked goods lately. It's time to reign in it because it's getting ridiculous and we don't need any more junk in the house.
About the whole water issue; we had super cold temps last Saturday into Sunday which froze our filter solid. Even after thawing and putting a brand new filter in we didn't have running water. We have a friend of my husband's we usually call for plumbing issues but he was quite busy with the weather. We called another nearby plumber and he screwed us, BIG TIME. Didn't fix our problem, charged us an obscene amount at $930 dollars (still our water wasn't right). He showed up unannounced the next morning asking how it was going and saying it was likely he would have to replace our well pump (he had already checked it when here the day before and told us it was fine). We've had well pump issues in the past but I was skeptical. My husband got a hold of his friend, told him our issues, and he said he was almost positive what the problem was and came over the next morning and was here 5 minutes and it was fixed. There was a ball of teflon tape stuck in our filter housing...which to me was a bit suspicious. I ended up putting a stop payment on our check to the plumber and my husband called the plumber and said no way no how are we paying you. At first he seemed reluctant but after my husband mentioned the actual problem being the ball of tape he seemed quite okay since "they didn't fix our problem we shouldn't have to pay". The whole situation was fishy to all we talked to about it and we learned the lesson that you should always deal with who you know, even if you'll have to wait a few days. Our bill went from a whopping $930 to a $20 stop payment fee and $40 to my husband's friend (he asked for $20 but I gave him $40 for just being so great). We dodged a bullet there, thankfully, and we are so very glad. I just can't believe there are such dishonest people out there!
Anywho, with our water being fine again I hope that this week our grocery shopping will be much lower without having to buy convenience foods. I'm also planning to stay away from stores as much as possible because you can't buy if you're not in a store!! What causes your grocery spending to inflate?
Monday, February 15, 2016
Book Review
Two posts in one day! It's a miracle! ;) In all honesty, it's great to have something to do because we are still having water issues. Between my stressed out organizing and reading I should be able to keep my sanity (what little I have, anyway :) ).
So, today I received the book "Little Felted Dogs" by Saori Yamazaki. Talk about ADORABLE! I am still a felting beginner but being 1) all about craftiness and 2) obsessed with dogs this book is totally awesome. Each pattern has approx wool weights for each part of the dog, as well as amounts of each color needed. There are also plenty of diagrams (plus a bunch of really cute pictures showing off the finished product). I think they would make great gifts for the dog lovers in your life, especially because there are plenty of different breeds of dogs. My favorites (of course) are the miniature Dachshund, followed by the Shetland Sheepdog. I'm thinking of giving this as a gift to my mom for Mother's Day, since she's a HUGE fiber enthusiast. Either way I think it's a great book!
Thanks again to Blogging For Books for providing the book free of charge for my honest review!
So, today I received the book "Little Felted Dogs" by Saori Yamazaki. Talk about ADORABLE! I am still a felting beginner but being 1) all about craftiness and 2) obsessed with dogs this book is totally awesome. Each pattern has approx wool weights for each part of the dog, as well as amounts of each color needed. There are also plenty of diagrams (plus a bunch of really cute pictures showing off the finished product). I think they would make great gifts for the dog lovers in your life, especially because there are plenty of different breeds of dogs. My favorites (of course) are the miniature Dachshund, followed by the Shetland Sheepdog. I'm thinking of giving this as a gift to my mom for Mother's Day, since she's a HUGE fiber enthusiast. Either way I think it's a great book!
Thanks again to Blogging For Books for providing the book free of charge for my honest review!
What We Ate This Week
Well, here I am a day late again. This time I had an excuse though! For anyone who lives in the northeast, I just want to say I feel your pain. We woke up Sunday without water (still no water; plumber coming today) and our furnace wasn't working correctly. Turns out the kerosene in our outdoor tank (we live in a mobile home) was gelling up. My husband went and got the 911 additive and my dad came over to help him bleed the lines and lo and behold I believe we are okay now. Sadly, even after thawing our water filter (it was a hunk of ice) still no water. We've narrowed it down to either the pressure switch or the water pump for our well. If it's the water pump, that will be the 4th one in 4 years so I'd think we have ANOTHER problem. Either way, it was a stressful day. Our neighbor is letting us fill up buckets to bring over to our place so we have water for the animals and for ourselves. I'd really like a shower, though! ;) Hopefully whatever the case we get our water back today. We are keeping our fingers crossed for it just being the pressure switch because that will be a lot cheaper! Onward to simpler, less complicated issues...like what we ate this week!
Sunday : I was feeling a bit under the weather so I just ate some fruit and my husband cooked half the pack of bacon our neighbor gave us and made himself bacon grilled cheese sandwiches. Always the health-nut, that one.
Monday : Vegan hoppin' john with brown rice on the side. One of our favorites!
Tuesday : Leftover sloppy joe filling (from last week) on top of baked potatoes with a bag of frozen broccoli on the side.
Wednesday : Breakfast for dinner! We have TONS of eggs from the ducks and chickens so this helped make a dent in them...until the next morning anyway. I used the last of the Bob's Red Mill mix I had to make pancakes (with frozen blueberries), scrambled eggs, and cooked the last of the bacon for my husband.
Thursday : I put a pork roast I got on super clearance in the crockpot with an onion, the last of the wine jelly, and a jar of pear and apple chutney I canned a few years ago. It made the house smell amazing! My husband had that with rice and I had rice and beans.
Friday : My husband's phone had died so I cooked soup and he got Subway for us...whoops.
Saturday : The aforementioned minestrone soup with clearance foccacia rolls that were fantastic!!
I spent $52.60 this week total; $24.72 at Big Lots, $12.74 at the grocery store by my house, $8.14 at the grocery store by my mom's house, and $7 at the dollar store. A bit above my usual spending but I end up spending more when I go to Big Lots since they have such great deals. This week I'm going to skip the trip there, as well as to the dollar store (I went to stock the freezer with bread). I only took out $25 for groceries this week since I made two big orders on Vitacost. We will see how I do this week!
I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day!
Sunday : I was feeling a bit under the weather so I just ate some fruit and my husband cooked half the pack of bacon our neighbor gave us and made himself bacon grilled cheese sandwiches. Always the health-nut, that one.
Monday : Vegan hoppin' john with brown rice on the side. One of our favorites!
Tuesday : Leftover sloppy joe filling (from last week) on top of baked potatoes with a bag of frozen broccoli on the side.
Wednesday : Breakfast for dinner! We have TONS of eggs from the ducks and chickens so this helped make a dent in them...until the next morning anyway. I used the last of the Bob's Red Mill mix I had to make pancakes (with frozen blueberries), scrambled eggs, and cooked the last of the bacon for my husband.
Thursday : I put a pork roast I got on super clearance in the crockpot with an onion, the last of the wine jelly, and a jar of pear and apple chutney I canned a few years ago. It made the house smell amazing! My husband had that with rice and I had rice and beans.
Friday : My husband's phone had died so I cooked soup and he got Subway for us...whoops.
Saturday : The aforementioned minestrone soup with clearance foccacia rolls that were fantastic!!
I spent $52.60 this week total; $24.72 at Big Lots, $12.74 at the grocery store by my house, $8.14 at the grocery store by my mom's house, and $7 at the dollar store. A bit above my usual spending but I end up spending more when I go to Big Lots since they have such great deals. This week I'm going to skip the trip there, as well as to the dollar store (I went to stock the freezer with bread). I only took out $25 for groceries this week since I made two big orders on Vitacost. We will see how I do this week!
I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day!
Sunday, February 7, 2016
What We Ate This Week
Phew, talk about crazy weather we're having. One day this week it was in the mid-50's and we were seeing green grass and then 8 inches of snow on Friday. It's been a mild winter all around and we'll take it. Last year I got such a late start on the garden since winter wouldn't quit. Maybe this year spring will be early and I'll get to dig in the dirt earlier! I will keep my fingers crossed. Anyway, onto what we ate this week!
Sunday - We ran errands for most of the day and I just didn't feel like cooking. Boxed mac and cheese (with frozen broccoli added, gotta get the veg) came to the rescue!
Monday - A big pot of black bean and corn chili. Yummy!
Tuesday - I threw together a greek pasta salad with olives, pepperoncinis, roasted red peppers, scallions, and dressing. Some chicken tenderloins made it out of the freezer for my husband as well.
Wednesday - Curried potatoes with eggs. Since the animals have been laying we've got loads! This is one of my favorite dishes to cook. The tomato based curry sauce is super yummy!
Thursday - I broke open the last box of meatless sloppy joe mix (bought on clearance for 75 cents!) and baked the last of a bag of frozen fries. There is still a big container full in the fridge so I'm thinking leftovers this week.
Friday - French bread pizza on 1/2 price day old roasted garlic bread. I used olives, pickled jalapeno slices, and pepperoncinis as toppings. We haven't had pizza in awhile so it was an extra treat.
Saturday - Huevos Racheros bowls with no beans. Again, we had been running around all day and I just didn't feel like cooking. The only real cooking involved here is boiling water, adding grits/polenta and frying eggs. This is my go to super quick fix meal (also, it's VERY DELISH).
This week I spent $35.02 at the grocery store, $8.21 at Big Lots, and $9.88 at Ocean State Job Lot (a New England store which is very similar to Big Lots). I am beginning to really like these posts because they allow me to look back at my grocery spending and see what needs improvement. I am becoming a HUGE fan of Big Lots. My husband's work snack basket was looking low so I headed over and found a whole bunch of healthy and organic snacks in their clearance bin. There were some great cracker packs for 65 cents a piece and some organic snack sized granola packs for 1.25 a box. Snacks always feel like a huge grocery budget buster so I really enjoy being able to find cheap stuff. I also received the "Good and Cheap"cookbook I bought off Amazon (used, of course) and am looking forward to trying some of her recipes. I had used the PDF version a few times but I find I enjoy having the cookbook in my hands much more than using it digitally.
Have you found any cookbooks that help stretch your grocery budget? Did you make any fantastic dishes this week?
Sunday - We ran errands for most of the day and I just didn't feel like cooking. Boxed mac and cheese (with frozen broccoli added, gotta get the veg) came to the rescue!
Monday - A big pot of black bean and corn chili. Yummy!
Tuesday - I threw together a greek pasta salad with olives, pepperoncinis, roasted red peppers, scallions, and dressing. Some chicken tenderloins made it out of the freezer for my husband as well.
Wednesday - Curried potatoes with eggs. Since the animals have been laying we've got loads! This is one of my favorite dishes to cook. The tomato based curry sauce is super yummy!
Thursday - I broke open the last box of meatless sloppy joe mix (bought on clearance for 75 cents!) and baked the last of a bag of frozen fries. There is still a big container full in the fridge so I'm thinking leftovers this week.
Friday - French bread pizza on 1/2 price day old roasted garlic bread. I used olives, pickled jalapeno slices, and pepperoncinis as toppings. We haven't had pizza in awhile so it was an extra treat.
Saturday - Huevos Racheros bowls with no beans. Again, we had been running around all day and I just didn't feel like cooking. The only real cooking involved here is boiling water, adding grits/polenta and frying eggs. This is my go to super quick fix meal (also, it's VERY DELISH).
This week I spent $35.02 at the grocery store, $8.21 at Big Lots, and $9.88 at Ocean State Job Lot (a New England store which is very similar to Big Lots). I am beginning to really like these posts because they allow me to look back at my grocery spending and see what needs improvement. I am becoming a HUGE fan of Big Lots. My husband's work snack basket was looking low so I headed over and found a whole bunch of healthy and organic snacks in their clearance bin. There were some great cracker packs for 65 cents a piece and some organic snack sized granola packs for 1.25 a box. Snacks always feel like a huge grocery budget buster so I really enjoy being able to find cheap stuff. I also received the "Good and Cheap"cookbook I bought off Amazon (used, of course) and am looking forward to trying some of her recipes. I had used the PDF version a few times but I find I enjoy having the cookbook in my hands much more than using it digitally.
Have you found any cookbooks that help stretch your grocery budget? Did you make any fantastic dishes this week?
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