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!
The weekend was great, I led a really fun Durham food tour on Saturday. 4 of the visitors were a young man touring colleges and his family, and the others were 2 couples visiting as well (a mom and daughter, and old friends) so none had ever been to Durham before. I entertained them all night with stories and things I’ve learned.
We got a crazy huge spread at Neomonde. I cannot say enough nice things about them! Their food is amazing and super fresh and tasty, it is Mediterranean/Lebanese. Best hummus I’ve had in a long time.
And I looooove that we end the tours with the chocolate dippers at The Little Dipper now. I just love their staff and atmosphere, as well as the food of course! We had the Fluffer Nutter (chocolate, peanut butter, and marshmallow fluff) and the Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel. Mmmmm… they even gave me a to-go cup of the leftover chocolate! I had joked about it with my group, but they insisted…
And I am just so so thankful to finally have farm friends! To be able to visit the chickens and guinea hens, and have my own quail… the magic has definitely not faded, not yet! Every time I go out to the coop and find an egg, it is a tiny miracle.
Monday:
Breakfast – this was a holiday, so we slept in! Black coffee
Lunch – I had some small corn tortillas that needed using, so I brushed them with lime and toasted them in the oven, then loaded them up with refried pinto beans, salsa, red sauerkraut, and avocado for some tasty tostadas
Dinner – Refrigerator soup! Basically bits of whatever veggies are about to go south, some beans, dried mushrooms, and veggie broth. With the rest of the toasted corn tortillas crushed on top.
Snack – We had a really awesome mixed berry ‘soup’ haha and a cup of turmeric golden milk for a nightcap
Tuesday:
Breakfast – pear and raisin oatmeal with flaxseed
Lunch – I forgot I’d ordered a lunch that got cancelled and rescheduled a while ago… so we had Panera today. Conveniently the same day Angela decided we would start tracking trash again… ?
Snack – local greenhouse strawberries and orange slices
Dinner – mango tempeh and roasted veggies with black rice, and a garlic tahini hot sauce
Wednesday:
Breakfast – pear and raisin oatmeal with flaxseed (hey, I had 2 pears)
Lunch –mango tempeh and roasted veggies with black rice
Snack – local greenhouse strawberries and orange slices
Dinner – giant salad of mixed greens & arugula, with seasame seeds, dried apricot, and walnuts. Dressing of tahini, lemon juice, garlic.
Snack – mixed berry smoothie with flaxseed and amla and spinach. I found it amusing, the size difference of our cup and spoon.
Thursday:
Breakfast – cinnamon raisin bagel with almond butter
Lunch – I had some black beans left from the weekend batch cook, so I just added some dried onion, cumin, lime juice and salsa and used my immersion blender to make it a soup. Plus a big salad.
Snack – faux Oreo cookies
Dinner –Instant pot baked potatoes smothered in vegan chili with vegan cheddar and fresh guac
Friday:
Breakfast – big rainbow smoothie: canned beets, my last persimmon, spinach, frozen pineapple, a fresh banana, frozen mixed berries, flax seed, amla powder, coconut water
Lunch – the rest of the leftover mango tempeh with roasted veg
Snack – homemade garlic hummus and cucumber slices
Dinner – Went out with a friend for dinner on Friday for some awesome girl talk and Mexican food. This local place called Toreros has really good food and decent margaritas. I got a vegetarian burrito that was so enormous, I literally just started laughing when she put it on the table.
The Weekend
This weekend we have no set plans really. Just relaxing at home and taking it easy. Doing some cooking projects, and maybe going out for the end of Triangle restaurant week.
Food Total: $164.99
Oof. Y’all.
I have totaled up January food spending, and it is not pretty.
We need to reign it in. Maybe I will ban myself from grocery shopping for a few months.
| Dairy | $6.48 | Staples | $69.77 | Fruit/Veg | $57.68 |
| greek yogurt | 3.99 | diced tomatoes 12 | 6 | frozen fruits 3lb x5 | 39.95 |
| almond milk | 2.49 | canned beans 4 + 2 6pk | 8.38 | brussels sprouts | 2.5 |
| can pineapple | 2.38 | bananas | 0.99 | ||
| progresso | 0.97 | kiwi 6 | 1 | ||
| spinach bags 2 | 5.98 | ||||
| frozen pizza | 9.49 | avocados | 1.79 | ||
| salad mixes 2 | 3.98 | ||||
| lemons | 1.49 |