baked potatoes | Budget Epicurean

Hey y’all! Welcome to the series Weekly Eating.

Here is where I’ll talk about the week’s meal plan versus reality, what we ate for the week, and how we did budget-wise. I hope it gives readers a behind-the-scenes look into our life through the lens of food, and it’s also a way to keep us on track with meal planning and grocery budgeting.

Feel free to share your wins and lessons in the comments below!

As promised, I spent a big part of the weekend planting the fall things and ripping up the summer things. Tomatoes and beans are now composting, and kale/beet/radish/broccoli/cabbage are in the ground. Fingers crossed we get something edible. I’m already planning next spring’s garden.

Monday:

Breakfast – Avocado and egg sandwich, quite filling and tasty

Lunch – Leftover from the weekend roasted vegetables, with a small piece of steak under there (hah, I bet at least one person thought “under where?”)

Snack – homemade creamy hummus and raw veggies (I ended up not being hungry enough to eat the peaches I canned)

Dinner –

Tuesday:

Breakfast – Peach oatmeal

Lunch – out to lunch with a coworker

Dinner – Lentil sloppy joes! My new favorite. With dill pickles and homemade purple sauerkraut

Wednesday:

Breakfast – A friend at work keeps chickens, and she brought me a gift of a dozen free range eggs! I was so thrilled, because happy healthy free range chickens make the best eggs. I had a tasty breakfast burrito with bell peppers and onions and hot sauce and eggs and cheese. Nomnom.

Lunch – Leftover lentil sloppy joes! Not mad about it.

Dinner –I made a big batch of my crispy oven baked tofu

And whipped up a quick teriyaki stir fry to go with it

Oh and I also have a jar of homemade apple cider vinegar that’s finally getting going! It’s a great way to use apple cores and peels and scraps. Just fill a jar 2/3, cover with water. Add about 1 tbsp sugar per cup of water needed, and cover. That’s it. Let it sit in a dark place for 2 weeks, strain, and let it sit again until tart enough.

Thursday:

Breakfast – Another breakfast burrito!

Lunch – Out again! Shocking, I know, twice in one week. The down side of trying so hard to make friends for 2 years is that now I have them haha but at least our work meal card gets us 10% off so this was just over $4

Dinner – Ya’ll! Remember how when I went home for a wedding shower, I ended up coming home with a pressure cooker my mom didn’t want? I finally used it! My first item: baked potatoes.

The good news is, it didn’t blow up! The better news is, it steamed perfect soft potatoes in 15 minutes. These things are pretty legit. And WAY less energy used than an oven at 350 for an hour.

Friday:

Breakfast – At the grocery store, I found an insane sale on smoked rainbow trout (like 75% off). Given my love of smoked salmon, I figured it might be similar. So I got it, because luckily for me someone brought leftover Panera, and I nabbed an everything bagel with cream cheese, the perfect lox canvas. Turns out, definitely not the same as salmon. But pretty good.

Lunch – Leftover tofu teriyaki stir fry

Dinner – My second experience with the pressure cooker. Some tiny acorn squash that came with my Produce Box.

Took 15 minutes yet again, perfectly fork-tender. They got whipped into a creamy cheese sauce for acorn squash mac n cheese.

Dessert – Wooo what a crazy week, out for lunch twice AND dessert on Friday! I had 2 peaches that desperately needed used up, so I cut them into a bowl with an also-near-death banana and some frozen pineapple. Topped it with some butter/brown sugar (crack) and granola, then I microwaved it for about 8 minutes and bam. Instant sweet tooth satisfaction.

The Weekend

Saturday is a busy day! My pal Steveonomics is in town, his company is trying to convince him to move here. And so am I. 🙂 Then I have a downtown Food Tour afterwards. So definitely getting my steps in!

Then Sunday is the opposite, no plans whatsoever. Well, just getting down the Halloween decorations from the attic, because you know I’m having a party! Gotta brainstorm a good costume.

Food Total: $98.19

Uhhh… oops. I swear I went to the store with a list in hand… and then there were just a lot of good sales. At least most of the things I got were staples and fruits & veggies. The canned goods will stay for a long time, and we were down to almost nothing on rice. We had like 3 rice based meals this week, and burritos are a main way the boy stays alive, so running out of rice would be a disaster.

Meats	$23.57	Staples	$40.27	Fruit/Veg	$30.32
smoked rainbow trout 4oz	2.97	wheat bread	3	bag spinach 2	4
frozen whiting fillets 2lb	4.97	tomato sauce	1.18	bananas	2.28
frozen cod fillets 2lb	9.97	tortillas	1.48	avocados 4	3.58
Stew meat 1.5 lb	5.66	long grain white rice 10lb	2.99	cucumber	0.69
		basmati rice 5lb	8.99	carrots 10lb	5.99
		brown rice 3lb	4.49	sweet onion	1.21
		cereals x3	5.89	bell peppers 9	8.91
		Pasta – various x4	3.96	Limes	0.99
		4pk org garbanzos	3.29	Pears 2	1.88
		Pasta sauce x3	5	Lemon 1	0.79

Lessons Learned

Ugh guys. I need to admit that I am not doing as great with Zero Waste as I’d hoped. But this blog is supposed to be safe space though right? How do I get better? My biggest issues continue to be cheese (sliced and shredded) and anything frozen. The boy is the main cheese consumer, and he will definitely not shred or slice his own, I’ve tried buying blocks before and they just get moldy. And I’m not that much of a saint to do it for him weekly.

How about you guys? Did you have a learning week or an awesome week of wins?

Do you love tasty food?

Do you love having fewer dishes?

Do you love meals that you can make in under 30 minutes?

You guys. You have to try this recipe. If you only try ONE recipe from this blog, make it this one. (Unless of course you are vegetarian or allergic to potatoes or whatever.)

This dish was inspired by one of my favorite blogs Don’t Waste the Crumbs, but upon Googling I found oodles of variations! You can use any vegetable your heart desires, change up the type of hot sauce, and add as much or as little of any type of cheese that you want. And the best part is that I nearly always have all the ingredients in the house already, so no extra trips to the store.

Combined with the fact that the ingredients are all pretty darn frugal, that makes this dish an instant hit with me. Using on-sale potatoes, frozen on sale mixed veggies, and even with all the fixings, a 9×13 pan costs me under $10. It is now on my “mental rotation of last-minute meal ideas” along with stir fry, chili, and tortilla soup.

The crispy roasted potatoes, the tasty shredded chicken, spice from the hot sauce with the cooling sour cream, added health boost from the carrots and veggies… mmmm now I want some!

As for the additional vegetables, I’d recommend things that you or your family like of course, and things that are quick cooking. Try spinach, peas, or thawed frozen veggies.

I used okra because I had some and I love the flavor, but go wild with mushrooms, peppers, zucchini, cauliflower, or broccoli. The more veggies you sneak in and slather in hot sauce the better!

Ingredients:

6-7 medium potatoes
1 cup shredded carrots
2 cooked chicken breasts
2 cups vegetable of choice
1/4 – 1/2 cup hot sauce
Optional: 1/4 – 1/2 cup sour cream or Ranch
Optional: 1/2 – 1 cup shredded cheddar

Step 1: Dice the potatoes to about 1-inch cubes, and spread them in an oven-safe pan sprayed with cooking oil. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, until soft inside and crispy outside.

While the potatoes bake, cook your chicken breasts by baking, broiling, boiling, or sauteing. Or you could start with already-cooked chicken to be ahead of the game.

Step 2: Shred the cooked chicken and spread it over the baked crispy potatoes. Add the shredded carrots and other veggies.

Step 3: Layer on the hot sauce and sour cream or Ranch, if using.

Step 4: Add the cheddar (or other cheese) if using. Bake at 350 for another 10-15 minutes.

Step 5: Try to stop yourself from devouring the whole ooey-gooey pan all at once.

You are welcome.

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Budget Epicurean

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Weekly Eating – 10/1/18