But are still going well. Jeremy and I have been going to the gym six days a week, which is not leaving me with a lot of free time. Winter is currently at her dad's for spring break. Last week I made a big batch of spaghetti sauce and a batch of lentil and mung bean dal in the crock pot, and we've been working on it since. We also made chicken teriyaki stir fry for dinner on Sunday, and some frozen seafood potstickers. They were not as good as my homemade ones I think, but pretty good for frozen.
I have been doing pretty well eating whole wheat, so I plan to stick with it. I am getting used to whole wheat pasta and I like it as much as regular pasta now.
We still have spaghetti sauce left. I think we'll have spaghetti for dinner night, and I'll have dal for lunches till it's gone. For breakfasts I've been making eggs, toast, sausage, smoothies, granola, and yogurt with fruit.
I'm finding it easier to stay in a budget. It's become pretty automatic, and I have figured out a lot of inexpensive recipes that work well within my time constraints. That leaves me thinking it might be time to end this blog. I will probably still keep track of spending on my phone or something. I'll put up a few more updates and continue tracking spending through the end of this month.
Here's what I ate yesterday:
Breakfast: smoothie with banana, strawberries, blackberries, almonds milk, yogurt and a PBJ with Dave's killer bread and low sugar raspberry jam
Lunch: left over dal and brown jasmine rice, two clementines, two whole wheat fig bars
Dinner: skipped, wasn't too hungry
Snacks/desserts: two pieces of PB fudge my boss brought me, a lemon ALT bar, a serving of jalapeno cheddar
Beverages: water
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Happy Easter!
Hope yours is going well. This morning Jeremy and I walked over to near Volunteer park to pick up some food items I got from the Buy Nothing Group. The weather is beautiful today. I got two instant soup cups, a split pea and a vegetarian lentil, a sample size packet of hemp hearts, a box of whole wheat spaghetti, and 3 lbs of brown jasmine rice.
Then we went home and a friend came by for a late breakfast and board games. I made French toast and we topped it with the rest of some blueberry apple compote Winter made yesterday to go with whole wheat blueberry pancakes. We also made devilled eggs with the eggs we dyed last night for Easter.
I think I will make granola today. Not sure yet what to make for dinner. I will be doing some crock pot meals this week as I will be working till 7:30 every night. I am planning spaghetti sauce with whole wheat spaghetti, and some kind of curried lentils or something. Maybe lentils, mung beans, and carrots with a tomato based curry. We can have brown rice with it.
Yesterday Winter and I did a bit of shopping. We went to Grocery Outlet and they had some awesome deals on cheese and yogurt. I got 8 Greek yogurts, a pound of colby and 12 oz provolone for just under $4. We also spent $8 at Menchie's while we were out.
Winter wanted to spend some of her money on ordering a pizza, so we decided to let her buy her own, and Jeremy and I ordered one to split. We went with a thin crust, veggies on my half, and Jeremy got ham, chicken, jalapenos, mushrooms, and bell pepper on his.
Breakfast: whole wheat blueberry pancakes (from a mix), blueberry Apple compote
Lunch: left over chicken soup with rice and quinoa, grilled cheese sandwiches with colby and Jack
Dinner: two slices of veggie pizza
Snacks/desserts: plain frozen yogurt with mango strawberries and blackberries, chocolate covered marshmallow egg (was included free in a package I ordered)
Beverages: lime sparkling water, water
Then we went home and a friend came by for a late breakfast and board games. I made French toast and we topped it with the rest of some blueberry apple compote Winter made yesterday to go with whole wheat blueberry pancakes. We also made devilled eggs with the eggs we dyed last night for Easter.
I think I will make granola today. Not sure yet what to make for dinner. I will be doing some crock pot meals this week as I will be working till 7:30 every night. I am planning spaghetti sauce with whole wheat spaghetti, and some kind of curried lentils or something. Maybe lentils, mung beans, and carrots with a tomato based curry. We can have brown rice with it.
Yesterday Winter and I did a bit of shopping. We went to Grocery Outlet and they had some awesome deals on cheese and yogurt. I got 8 Greek yogurts, a pound of colby and 12 oz provolone for just under $4. We also spent $8 at Menchie's while we were out.
Winter wanted to spend some of her money on ordering a pizza, so we decided to let her buy her own, and Jeremy and I ordered one to split. We went with a thin crust, veggies on my half, and Jeremy got ham, chicken, jalapenos, mushrooms, and bell pepper on his.
Breakfast: whole wheat blueberry pancakes (from a mix), blueberry Apple compote
Lunch: left over chicken soup with rice and quinoa, grilled cheese sandwiches with colby and Jack
Dinner: two slices of veggie pizza
Snacks/desserts: plain frozen yogurt with mango strawberries and blackberries, chocolate covered marshmallow egg (was included free in a package I ordered)
Beverages: lime sparkling water, water
Friday, April 3, 2015
March wrap up, and April budget
Blogging regularly is getting kind of hard. I've been going to the gym five times a week for about an hour each time, and that takes up a lot of what little free time I have. I'll keep doing what I can.
Tuesday was the last day of March. We ended the month at $463, which is $2 under budget. I made whole wheat macaroni and cheese with hot pepper jack and cheddar with Greek yogurt added to the sauce, and red and green bell peppers for dinner.
For a the Month of April our budget will be $410 because Winter will be gone for 8 days for Spring Break. Wednesday Jeremy and I went to Grocery Outlet. We spent $66. We bought another bag of whole wheat pasta, a pound of dates, sliced Monterey jack cheese, herb goat cheese, a quart of plain Greek yogurt, almond milk, whole grain tortillas, two bags of frozen turkey burgers, salsa, two small bag of sprouted whole wheat flour, some sparkling water and energy drinks, tofu, cauliflower, Oreos, two boxes of cereal and cereal bars, frozen strawberries, three dark chocolate oranges, hard boiled eggs, and some other stuff.
For dinner on Wednesday I made thin whole wheat spaghetti, tofu, bell pepper, and cauliflower sauteed in olive oil, and peanut sauce.
Thursday I had leftovers for lunch and dinner, and Jeremy and I went to the gym. We also spent $11 at Yogurtland after I got off work, and spent $18 at QFC on apples, bananas, carrots, organic whole grain bread, and bagel thins.
Breakfast: two scramble eggs with hot pepper jack in a whole grain tortilla
Lunch: leftover tofu, veggies, and noodles with peanut sauce
Dinner: leftover chicken and lung bean deal with plain Greek yogurt
Snacks/desserts: homemade cranberry apple walnut granola bars, plain frozen yogurt with strawberries and mango
Beverages: water, and lemon lime sparkling water
Tuesday was the last day of March. We ended the month at $463, which is $2 under budget. I made whole wheat macaroni and cheese with hot pepper jack and cheddar with Greek yogurt added to the sauce, and red and green bell peppers for dinner.
For a the Month of April our budget will be $410 because Winter will be gone for 8 days for Spring Break. Wednesday Jeremy and I went to Grocery Outlet. We spent $66. We bought another bag of whole wheat pasta, a pound of dates, sliced Monterey jack cheese, herb goat cheese, a quart of plain Greek yogurt, almond milk, whole grain tortillas, two bags of frozen turkey burgers, salsa, two small bag of sprouted whole wheat flour, some sparkling water and energy drinks, tofu, cauliflower, Oreos, two boxes of cereal and cereal bars, frozen strawberries, three dark chocolate oranges, hard boiled eggs, and some other stuff.
For dinner on Wednesday I made thin whole wheat spaghetti, tofu, bell pepper, and cauliflower sauteed in olive oil, and peanut sauce.
Thursday I had leftovers for lunch and dinner, and Jeremy and I went to the gym. We also spent $11 at Yogurtland after I got off work, and spent $18 at QFC on apples, bananas, carrots, organic whole grain bread, and bagel thins.
Breakfast: two scramble eggs with hot pepper jack in a whole grain tortilla
Lunch: leftover tofu, veggies, and noodles with peanut sauce
Dinner: leftover chicken and lung bean deal with plain Greek yogurt
Snacks/desserts: homemade cranberry apple walnut granola bars, plain frozen yogurt with strawberries and mango
Beverages: water, and lemon lime sparkling water
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Second hand gift card fuckery
So Winter and I went to Comic Con on Sunday. I had bought a $50 gift card from Raise.com for Subway (of which we had used $15 in January) and we planned to have lunch at Subway since there is one in the convention center. But when I went to use it I was told it had a zero balance. I had to use another form of payment. When I got home I did some detective work and found out that evidently the person who sold it had registered the card with Subway immediately after purchase, sold it, and then reported it lost or stolen. As such, the remaining balance was removed from the card.
I sent a screen shot of the evidence to Raise, and Monday morning I got a call from them saying they were refunding the amount I had paid for the card, which was $43.50. I am really mad that this person did this, and I hope Raise is able to recover the funds from that seller. They did the right thing, and I am happy to keep buying gift cards through them, but in the future I will be registering any cards I receive (which are able to be registered) immediately upon receipt.
The Con was fun, I guess, in as much as being in a huge crowd of people can be fun. Winter dressed up as Louise and I dressed up as Tina from Bob's Burgers. Quite a few people took pics of us, though I haven't seen any come up on Instagram yet.
After the convention I made soup for dinner, and then Jeremy and I went for a walk. They were having a good sale at QFC, so we decided to stock up on a few things. We got two boxes of whole wheat crackers, three boxes of whole wheat pasta, shredded cheese, frozen blackberries, reduced fat cream cheese, a lemon flavored Noosa yogurt (we plan to split it, and luckily Winter hates yogurt), and a box of cereal. Jeremy also got a diet Arnold Palmer drink. We spent about $18.
Here is what I ate Sunday:
Breakfast: smoothie made with almond milk, plain yogurt, banana, strawberry, blueberry and honey (was really good)
Lunch: six inch turkey sub on whole grain bread with lettuce, tomato, olives, oil, and vinegar (was kind of boring)
Dinner: chicken soup with carrots, celery, quinoa and wild rice blend and brown rice
Snacks/desserts: lemon ALT bar, blackberry yonanas
Beverages: water
Monday I had a busy day at work. Bought three Fage plain Greek yogurts on the way home for $3.
Breakfast: two lemon ALT bars
Lunch: leftover chicken rice soup, turkey and herb goat cheese sandwich with lettuce on GF bread
Dinner: leftover chicken deal with plain yogurt
Snacks/desserts: Easter candy at work (ugh again), wheat thins with PB and a drizzle of honey
Beverages: water
I sent a screen shot of the evidence to Raise, and Monday morning I got a call from them saying they were refunding the amount I had paid for the card, which was $43.50. I am really mad that this person did this, and I hope Raise is able to recover the funds from that seller. They did the right thing, and I am happy to keep buying gift cards through them, but in the future I will be registering any cards I receive (which are able to be registered) immediately upon receipt.
The Con was fun, I guess, in as much as being in a huge crowd of people can be fun. Winter dressed up as Louise and I dressed up as Tina from Bob's Burgers. Quite a few people took pics of us, though I haven't seen any come up on Instagram yet.
After the convention I made soup for dinner, and then Jeremy and I went for a walk. They were having a good sale at QFC, so we decided to stock up on a few things. We got two boxes of whole wheat crackers, three boxes of whole wheat pasta, shredded cheese, frozen blackberries, reduced fat cream cheese, a lemon flavored Noosa yogurt (we plan to split it, and luckily Winter hates yogurt), and a box of cereal. Jeremy also got a diet Arnold Palmer drink. We spent about $18.
Here is what I ate Sunday:
Breakfast: smoothie made with almond milk, plain yogurt, banana, strawberry, blueberry and honey (was really good)
Lunch: six inch turkey sub on whole grain bread with lettuce, tomato, olives, oil, and vinegar (was kind of boring)
Dinner: chicken soup with carrots, celery, quinoa and wild rice blend and brown rice
Snacks/desserts: lemon ALT bar, blackberry yonanas
Beverages: water
Monday I had a busy day at work. Bought three Fage plain Greek yogurts on the way home for $3.
Breakfast: two lemon ALT bars
Lunch: leftover chicken rice soup, turkey and herb goat cheese sandwich with lettuce on GF bread
Dinner: leftover chicken deal with plain yogurt
Snacks/desserts: Easter candy at work (ugh again), wheat thins with PB and a drizzle of honey
Beverages: water
Sunday, March 29, 2015
$38 left
This should go pretty easily. Since my last post I have spent $6 on bananas, milk, a bottle of Sprite, and a can of cream soda Zevia from the reduced for quick sale section. Winter liked it. I thought it was merely ok.
Tomorrow Winter and I are going to the Emerald City Comic-Con, and we finished with our costumes around 1 in the morning. I am crabby. have a Subway gift card purchased from Raise a while back, and there is a Subway in the convention center, so we'll go there for lunch. I think I will go ahead and start eating whole wheat a couple days early because salads at Subway are sad and wrong. I am sure their whole grain bread is processed as heck, but it will have to do. Winter wants to go see a panel with a couple of the actresses from Firefly, and stop at Matthew Inman's booth. Other than that we have nothing specific planned.
I made some mung bean deal with chicken a few nights ago that turned out good. Had leftovers for lunch a couple of days. Tonight I just made a sandwich. There are way too many dirty dishes. The con ends at 5 tomorrow, and we are a five minute walk from the convention center, so I will have plenty of time to wash dishes and make dinner when I get home. Was thinking I might do a soup in the crock pot or something. We'll see how early I wake up tomorrow. Since I am old now, I would guess I will likely wake up the same time I always do.
Breakfast: plain yogurt with honey and a sliced banana
Lunch: leftover chicken and mung bean deal with plain yogurt, two clementines
Dinner: sandwich with buffalo style deli chicken, avocado, and cheddar cheese, herb goat cheese and GF flax crackers
Snacks/desserts: dark orange chocolate, some Easter candy at work (ugh)
Beverages: water
Tomorrow Winter and I are going to the Emerald City Comic-Con, and we finished with our costumes around 1 in the morning. I am crabby. have a Subway gift card purchased from Raise a while back, and there is a Subway in the convention center, so we'll go there for lunch. I think I will go ahead and start eating whole wheat a couple days early because salads at Subway are sad and wrong. I am sure their whole grain bread is processed as heck, but it will have to do. Winter wants to go see a panel with a couple of the actresses from Firefly, and stop at Matthew Inman's booth. Other than that we have nothing specific planned.
I made some mung bean deal with chicken a few nights ago that turned out good. Had leftovers for lunch a couple of days. Tonight I just made a sandwich. There are way too many dirty dishes. The con ends at 5 tomorrow, and we are a five minute walk from the convention center, so I will have plenty of time to wash dishes and make dinner when I get home. Was thinking I might do a soup in the crock pot or something. We'll see how early I wake up tomorrow. Since I am old now, I would guess I will likely wake up the same time I always do.
Breakfast: plain yogurt with honey and a sliced banana
Lunch: leftover chicken and mung bean deal with plain yogurt, two clementines
Dinner: sandwich with buffalo style deli chicken, avocado, and cheddar cheese, herb goat cheese and GF flax crackers
Snacks/desserts: dark orange chocolate, some Easter candy at work (ugh)
Beverages: water
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Gah... I give up.
I am so far behind on posting. I have been keeping up with adding up the money we've spent at least. We have $44 left in the budget for the month. This should be more than adequate, as we have a ridiculous amount of food in the house. Jeremy and I cleaned out the cupboards today after I came home from the store, and rearranged them. I can't believe how much quinoa and quinoa wild rice blend we have. It's normally pretty expensive though, and doesn't show up often at Grocery Outlet, so it's probably a good thing. We also have lots and lots of pasta, dried beans, various grains and flours, peanuts butter, jam/preserves, protein bars, and barbeque sauce. We do not need to buy more for a while.
I made some granola bars on Sunday with almonds, walnuts, dried apples, dates, dried cranberries, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, and oats. I had two of them for breakfast this morning and then went to the gym. After the gym I bought two pairs of short and a 7 pack of socks at Goodwill, and then went to Grocery Outlet.
At Grocery Outlet I bought eggs, turkey burgers (Jeremy likes these for lunch), whole wheat bagels, whole wheat pasta, almond milk, shredded pepper jack, sharp cheddar slices, herb goat cheese, a quart of plain yogurt, a box of cereal, two cans of tomato sauce, a dark chocolate orange, three bell peppers, 1/2 lb sliced mushrooms, an avocado, Annie's taco mac, a box of cheese and PB filled crackers, a pack of two hardboiled eggs, a bag of bulgur, a bag of slivered almonds, and probably some other stuff I forgot.
Next month I'll be adding whole wheat back to my diet, so I have been getting whole wheat pasta, plus the bulgur, so I'll already have some at home. We also have some whole wheat spaghetti we never used up from before.
Jeremy has been doing his personal training certification at the gym I've been going to. He talked to the owner about joining, and decided to switch. We figured out that both of us can go for less than what Jeremy was spending on his membership at 24 hour fitness plus the once a week sessions with his powerlifting coach. For about $20 a month less he will train once a week with the gym owner, and I am doing twice a month training for now. I am trying to rebuild strength in my serratus anterior and teres major, both of which I injured in the last few years. The owner has really good credentials, and I like his training style.
Breakfast: two apple cranberry walnut granola bars
Lunch: chicken and cheddar sandwich with lettuce, two clementines
Dinner: chicken sausage with carrots and mushrooms, quinoa wild rice blend, and low sodium teriyaki sauce
Snacks/desserts: two hard boiled eggs, two pieces of orange dark chocolate, strawberry and blueberry yonanas
Beverages: water
I made some granola bars on Sunday with almonds, walnuts, dried apples, dates, dried cranberries, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, and oats. I had two of them for breakfast this morning and then went to the gym. After the gym I bought two pairs of short and a 7 pack of socks at Goodwill, and then went to Grocery Outlet.
At Grocery Outlet I bought eggs, turkey burgers (Jeremy likes these for lunch), whole wheat bagels, whole wheat pasta, almond milk, shredded pepper jack, sharp cheddar slices, herb goat cheese, a quart of plain yogurt, a box of cereal, two cans of tomato sauce, a dark chocolate orange, three bell peppers, 1/2 lb sliced mushrooms, an avocado, Annie's taco mac, a box of cheese and PB filled crackers, a pack of two hardboiled eggs, a bag of bulgur, a bag of slivered almonds, and probably some other stuff I forgot.
Next month I'll be adding whole wheat back to my diet, so I have been getting whole wheat pasta, plus the bulgur, so I'll already have some at home. We also have some whole wheat spaghetti we never used up from before.
Jeremy has been doing his personal training certification at the gym I've been going to. He talked to the owner about joining, and decided to switch. We figured out that both of us can go for less than what Jeremy was spending on his membership at 24 hour fitness plus the once a week sessions with his powerlifting coach. For about $20 a month less he will train once a week with the gym owner, and I am doing twice a month training for now. I am trying to rebuild strength in my serratus anterior and teres major, both of which I injured in the last few years. The owner has really good credentials, and I like his training style.
Breakfast: two apple cranberry walnut granola bars
Lunch: chicken and cheddar sandwich with lettuce, two clementines
Dinner: chicken sausage with carrots and mushrooms, quinoa wild rice blend, and low sodium teriyaki sauce
Snacks/desserts: two hard boiled eggs, two pieces of orange dark chocolate, strawberry and blueberry yonanas
Beverages: water
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Sunday and Monday
What is today even? Tuesday? Good Lord. I don't know what is going on with me but I am exhausted.
Sunday- It rained. Hard. I went to the gym in the morning and did some cardio. Jeremy and I went to Uwajimaya later. We spent $8 on a can of coconut milk, a large bottle of rice wine vinegar, a huge can of energy drink, and a melon flavored Ramune for Winter. Got soaked to the skin on the way home. Was awful.
I did a bit of cooking. Blueberry and apple compote with ginger, homemade granola bars with peaches, pears, plums, dates, pecans, sunflower seeds, teff grain, and oats. They are magical. Also made chicken fajitas pizza with cornmeal crust for dinner.
Breakfast: homemade granola bar (ginger and almond one), fried egg with a slice of cheddar between two pieces of GF toast
Lunch: plain Greek yogurt with blueberry apple compote and pecans
Dinner: chicken fajitas pizza
Snacks/desserts: dark chocolate, homemade granola bars (mixed fruit and pecan kind)
Beverages: water
Monday- Busy day at work. Felt very snacky. Much more than usual. Spent $4 on frozen yogurt at Menchie's. Ate all of the things when I got home. Decided I need more fiber. Ate way too much fiber.
Breakfast: fried egg and cheddar between two slices of GF toast, homemade granola bar
Lunch: left over chicken fajitas pizza, clementines
Dinner: leftover bean and veggie stew with a little bit of leftover quinoa and wild rice mixed in, leftover toasted grainy seedy bread with cherry preserves
Snacks/desserts: plain frozen yogurt with strawberries and blackberries, homemade granola bars, Korean BBQ rice crackers, dark chocolate, dried apples, apricots, and plums
Beverages: water
Sunday- It rained. Hard. I went to the gym in the morning and did some cardio. Jeremy and I went to Uwajimaya later. We spent $8 on a can of coconut milk, a large bottle of rice wine vinegar, a huge can of energy drink, and a melon flavored Ramune for Winter. Got soaked to the skin on the way home. Was awful.
I did a bit of cooking. Blueberry and apple compote with ginger, homemade granola bars with peaches, pears, plums, dates, pecans, sunflower seeds, teff grain, and oats. They are magical. Also made chicken fajitas pizza with cornmeal crust for dinner.
Breakfast: homemade granola bar (ginger and almond one), fried egg with a slice of cheddar between two pieces of GF toast
Lunch: plain Greek yogurt with blueberry apple compote and pecans
Dinner: chicken fajitas pizza
Snacks/desserts: dark chocolate, homemade granola bars (mixed fruit and pecan kind)
Beverages: water
Monday- Busy day at work. Felt very snacky. Much more than usual. Spent $4 on frozen yogurt at Menchie's. Ate all of the things when I got home. Decided I need more fiber. Ate way too much fiber.
Breakfast: fried egg and cheddar between two slices of GF toast, homemade granola bar
Lunch: left over chicken fajitas pizza, clementines
Dinner: leftover bean and veggie stew with a little bit of leftover quinoa and wild rice mixed in, leftover toasted grainy seedy bread with cherry preserves
Snacks/desserts: plain frozen yogurt with strawberries and blackberries, homemade granola bars, Korean BBQ rice crackers, dark chocolate, dried apples, apricots, and plums
Beverages: water
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