Saturday, August 2, 2014

What we ate + grocery shopping 08-01-14



This is the salad we had for dinner. For the dressing I whisked together the juice of two limes, 1 T honey, 2 T peanut butter, 1 t chili garlic sauce, and 1/2 t cayenne pepper. I dipped the chicken into beaten egg, and dredged it in a mixture of breadcrumbs, parmesan, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. I then baked it for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. 

I also went to Menchie's during my lunch break. Unfortunately I missed the happy hour pricing by 10 minutes. 


Breakfast: banana bread
Lunch: peanut butter and honey sandwich, banana
Dinner: salad with crispy baked chicken, radishes, black beans, cheese, and spicy peanut lime dressing
Snacks/desserts: lemon meringue frozen yogurt with gummy bears, Butterfinger ice cream
Beverages: A&W Ten with half and half, water

Jeremy ate leftover chicken, rice, and veggies with cheese sauce for lunch.

We went to QFC after dinner and got:

Dreyer's Butterfinger Ice Cream $2.50
bag of frozen mixed berries $2.49
2 Lean Cuisines ($2.00 each) $4.00
28 oz jar of light mayo $2.99
18 oz jar of crunchy peanut butter $1.49
Salsa flavored Wheat Thins $1.49
Powerbar wafers (Free Friday download) $0.00
8 oz. shredded cheese $1.99
2 lb bag of carrots $1.29
1 head of cabbage $2.08
3 limes (reduced for quick sale) $.99
2 Anaheim chilis $.78
1 jalapeno pepper $.16
2.21 lbs celery $2.19
Multigrain bread $2.50
bunch of spinach $1.79
4 nectarines $2.64
4 boxes of protein bars ($1.00 each) $4.00

total: $35.37

But we used a QFC gift card which we bought for 3% off the face value, so the actual total spent was $34.31

Friday, August 1, 2014

August's goal, and miscellany

Winter comes back this month, late on the 25th. So we get an additional $30 in August for the six days she will be here. I will have to make sure I leave a decent amount got the end of the month, because it's not fun to have $15 left a and a teenager on her way.

Mom said the family is planning a reunion in Texas in early October. I will be in San Diego till the sixth, so I am not sure if we'll be able to make it or not. If we can it will cost around $1000 in airfare. I am a little stressed out about missing that much work all at once, but Winter and Jeremy were not able to go last time, and I don't think Winter has ever been there, come to think of it. So if we can make it this time I would like to do what we have to to go. Grandma is 84 and Winter has only seen her a handful of times. I have some aunts and uncles she has never even met.

Looks like we made it

The goal for July was $310, and the total amount spent in July was $307.83. That is right around $4.97 per person per day. Whew! We'll definitely be picking up a few groceries tonight after work and dinner.

Here's yesterday's food:

Breakfast: banana bread
Lunch: vanilla latte flavored yogurt, the rest of the pepperoni pasta, banana
Dinner: chicken, rice, broccoli and carrots with cheddar cheese sauce
Snacks/desserts: peanut butter chocolate oatmeal cookies
Beverages: A&W Ten root beer with a little half and half (it's like a really easy already melted root beer float), water

Thursday, July 31, 2014

What we ate and what we bought 07-29-14

Yesterday I worked in Bellevue. I picked up 16 oz of cornstarch and a Cherry Coke Zero before work. They were $1.02 and $1.59 respectively, but I got 5% off with my Target Red Card, making the total $2.48. I bought 3 cherry cordials on markdown from Rite Aid at $.16 each during my break. And after work I stopped by Safeway and bought 3 bananas for $.75 and a 2 liter bottle of A&W Ten for $.79.

Breakfast: banana bread
Lunch: leftover pepperoni pasta
Dinner: turkey and havarti sandwich with dijon mustard, salad with lettuce, radishes, and raspberry walnut vinaigrette
Snacks/desserts: protein bar, cherry cordials
Beverages: Cherry Coke Zero, water

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Recipe for slow cooker pepperoni pasta



This was intended to be soup, but after cooking the pasta absorbed most of the liquid, so it was not soup like at all. It was basically a normal pasta dish. It was a little on the salty side to me since I used regular canned tomatoes and pepperoni, so if I made it again I would probably use no salt added tomatoes.That would also cut the amount of sodium by a little more than half.

2 oz turkey pepperoni slices, halved
1 zucchini, halved lengthwise and then sliced
14 oz can tomato sauce
14 oz can diced tomatoes
1/3 cup red wine
2 T olive oil
2 T dried onion
1 T Italian seasoning
1 T dried garlic
2 1/2 cups water
5 oz dry pasta

Combine all ingredients except pasta in a slow cooker. Cook on low for at least 4 hours. About 15 minutes before you are ready to eat, turn off the slow cooker and stir in the pasta. Once the pasta has cooked, it's ready to go.  It will cook down to about 6 cups or so. Nutrition info is for about 1 cup.



What we ate 07-29-14

We're so close to the end of the month! We still have about $6.50 left in the budget, but I need to pick up corn starch tonight after work. I might get bananas too, but maybe not. There is so much lettuce and radishes left, I may just make salads to go with my lunches instead.

I found out that Jeremy had never heard of timecube.com (I told him it seemed like someone I went to school with had been doing bath salts and reading timecube.com based on some recent Facebook posts).

I got about 3 hours of sleep the night before last because it's been very humid and kind of hot outside. It took all of my resolve not to buy coffee or soda at the airport, where I worked yesterday. The cheapest caffeine option there is a can of soda for $1.65, and I can't bring my own in. I kind of wanted to be able to sleep when I got home too. I did take some Tylenol for a headache I had, and managed to get an 8 minute nap in during my break. That helped. 

Breakfast: apple pie flavored Greek yogurt, banana bread
Lunch: sandwich with turkey, caraway havarti, lettuce, and dijon mustard
Dinner: slow cooker pepperoni pasta, the rest of the homemade white bread
Snacks/desserts: none
Beverages: Crystal Light, water

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

What we ate 07-28-14



I made a loaf of banana bread yesterday. I mostly stuck to this recipe but used vegetable oil instead of butter, and I added a teaspoon of vanilla and 3 tablespoons of banana liqueur. I am pretty sure I forgot to add the salt too. It turned out delicious and moist, and I probably had more of it than was wise.

We also did laundry yesterday, and people from our building often leave unwanted belongings in the laundry room. There was a big box of stuff in there last night, mostly things we had no use for. But there was a 14 oz can of black beans and a 14 oz can of tomato sauce, which I took. They will definitely be put to use!

Breakfast: two packets of apple and cinnamon instant oatmeal that have been languishing in our cupboards for probably around a year or more
Lunch: leftover yellow split peas, leftover Spanish rice, last of the sour cream
Dinner: chicken soup with whole wheat couscous, leftover white bread
Snacks/desserts: peanut butter chocolate oatmeal cookie, banana bread, last of the German chocolate cake ice cream
Beverages: Crystal Light

Monday, July 28, 2014

What we ate and what we bought 07-27-14

We did a little grocery shopping yesterday. Here's what we picked up:

Broccoli $.73
Zucchini $.55
Red leaf lettuce $1.49
Bay leaves $.48
Thyme $.30
Kroger peach flavored sparkling water $.79

Total $4.42

We shared the sparkling water on the way home, because it's a half hour walk, and it was hot out. We also went to see Sex Tape in the afternoon, where I bought a handful of Skittles from a vending machine for $.50. We enjoyed the movie. Very funny. Besides us there was only one other person in the theater.

this bread is so good

Yesterday I made homemade bread. Since I had lots of flour, lots of yeast, and the day off, I decided it was time to finally try it. I had always worried that you would have to do everything perfectly or it wouldn't work, but my experience with pizza crust has taught me that leavened baked goods are fairly forgiving. I used 3 cups of flour, 2 T honey, 1 packet of yeast, 1 t salt, 3 T olive oil, and 1 1/4 cups water. I let it rise while we were at the movie, and then kneaded it for a few minutes when we got back. I then put it in the loaf pan, turned the oven on to the low setting, and let it rise for another half hour. Then I turned the heat up to 350 and set the timer for 35 minutes. It turned out absolutely perfect. It was moist, dense, and very soft. The crust wasn't tough or crunchy, which I liked. We ate almost 2/3 of the loaf. We will have the rest of it with soup tonight.

I will give fair warning that the dough ball was very sticky with that much water in it. You want to oil your hands, and flour the counter before kneading it. I might cut down on the water ever so slightly next time. But it turned out so good that I am hesitant to mess with it.

For breakfast I combined 1 cup of leftover Spanish rice with the Hormel Compleats egg and sausage thing I got for free, and warmed it up in a saucepan with the last little bit of pepper jack cheese. I split it with Jeremy. The egg thing looked pretty horrible, and adding rice and cheese to it did not help any with the appearance, but the flavor was decent, and the texture was fine if not a little mushy.

Breakfast: Hormel Compleats eggs and sausage with leftover Spanish rice and cheese
Lunch: cherries, peanut butter and honey sandwich
Dinner: salad made with red leaf lettuce, radishes, grilled chicken marinated with garlic and balsamic vinegar, parmesan cheese and dressing, and homemade white bread
Snacks/desserts: peanut butter chocolate oatmeal cookie, Skittles
Beverages: peach sparkling water, Crystal Light

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Meal planning on a shoestring

We've all been there. You have a week left before you get paid again, and your checking account has $17.42 and some cobwebs in it. If you have never had this experience or something akin to it, then GTFO. Seriously.

Don't panic. You can make this work without resorting to selling a kidney (But if you do decide to sell a kidney, LMK ok? I can Paypal you.) Here are my tips to working through a budget crunch without having to eat your cat.

1)  Figure out what food you already have:

Chances are you have some. Go through your cabinets, fridge and freezer. Throw out anything that is moldy or smells bad, and isn't supposed to smell bad or be moldy. Now write down everything you have left. Everything. You might be surprised at all the odds and ends you find that have been forgotten by time.

2) Figure out what you can make with what you already have:

Paying particular attention to any perishable items you have, start brainstorming. If you are comfortable with cooking without using recipes, now is the time to bust that out. Keep an open mind. If you normally do one pot meals, consider doing a main dish and sides, or vice versa. If you don't usually do much baking, try some. Think outside the box. Can you use tortillas to make sandwich wraps instead of burritos? Can you serve some veggies and peanut sauce with spaghetti instead of rice? Yes you can.

If you have an ingredient you are not sure what to do with, Google that item + "recipes" and see if you don't find something you can work with. If you are missing an ingredient you need to make a particular dish, see if there may be something you already have that will work as a substitution. Google is your friend. Don't go crazy with the substitutions trying to make something fancy though. Keep it simple, and don't stray too far outside of your comfort range. This is not the time to screw up and wind up with a big pot of something inedible.

3) Figure out out what you still need and buy it:

Here is where you really want to maximize your tiny little budget. If you need a small amount of a particular ingredient, see if you can buy just what you need from bulk bins. If you need any seasonings, definitely buy those in bulk (which you should be doing anyway). If you only buy as much as you need to get you through the week, it will just cost you a few cents per baggie usually. Use less expensive produce. Potatoes, broccoli, zucchini, summer squash, lettuce, bananas, greens, celery, carrots, plum tomatoes. You get a lot of bang for your buck out of these. Check the sales flyer too. Something that is normally more expensive might be super cheap this week. Frozen produce can be very cost effective as well.

If you are short on protein foods at home, go vegetarian as much as possible. Eggs, peanut butter, beans, and lentils are good cheap and healthy sources of protein, and are also pretty versatile. If you want meat, check to see if there are any packages that have been reduced for quick sale. Cut up meat into small pieces and incorporate it into a larger dish (like a soup or stir fry) instead of just eating a big chunk of meat. You can get away with using less this way. These are both great ways to use up odds and ends of vegetables too.

4) If all else fails there is oatmeal, beans and rice

A canister of oats, a pound of rice, and a pound of beans or lentils will cost you around 5$ and will keep a single person alive for a week. All of these things bulk up substantially once you add water and cook them, so you get a lot of food for your money. Add a little sugar to the oatmeal, and a little salt to the beans to make them more palatable. If you have a bit more to spend, use it on some carrots and canned tomatoes to cook with the beans/lentils. And get some bananas to eat with your oatmeal.

What we ate and bought, 07-25-14 and 07-26-14

We didn't buy anything 07-25. I made a small batch of cookies out of peanut butter, honey, an egg, oats, and cocoa powder. For dinner we baked the two mini pizzas we had frozen last week.

Breakfast: protein bar
Lunch: leftover yellow split peas, leftover carrots and green beans
Dinner: pizza with turkey pepperoni and green bell pepper
Snacks: German Chocolate cake ice cream, cookies
Beverages: water, Crystal Light

Yesterday Jeremy made chicken with salsa and sour cream, and some Spanish rice. I topped mine with some shredded pepper jack. I was very hungry when I got home as it had been busy at work so I didn't have time to eat my entire lunch.

Breakfast: vanilla latte yogurt
Lunch: leftover yellow split peas, cherries
Dinner: salsa chicken with cheese and Spanish rice
Snacks: protein bar, cookies, German Chocolate cake ice cream
Beverages: water, Crystal Light

I stopped at QFC and picked up the Free Friday Download item, which was a Hormel Compleats breakfast entree (I got the sausage and egg one), and I also got a bag of Kraft shredded cheese. I had a coupon loaded to my QFC card for $1.50 off, and since I bought the QFC gift card for 3% off, the grand total was $1.45.