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!
Well, Brofest week was a great success! All the guys made it in at various times on Saturday, staggered but close enough together that we had to take only one trip to the airport. It warms my heart to see the genuine affection for each other present in lifelong friends.
The whole weekend was filled with games of various kinds. Mostly video, but also console and board. A couple walks around the block were taken, and I even got them out of the house to visit my favorite all you can eat sushi place. I was quite proud of the fact that even though I was with 6 grown men, my plate stack was the tallest!
I also had a blast cooking in huge batches. I definitely have strong hosting genes from my catering and party planning relatives. I made a huge breakfast strata, apple pie oatmeal, 2 pans of enchiladas, a burrito bar, top your own pizza night, banana muffins, grilled cheese and tomato soup.
By the time we got through Monday, I think we had used up about 9 pounds of ground beef, 4 pounds pork roast, 13 pounds chicken, 4 pounds pasta, about 1 pound of rice, a whole jar of salsa, some number of cans of beans…
Monday:
Breakfast – Since it was a holiday, this is the morning when I made a big batch of banana muffins. I had just ordered and gotten a set of silicone muffin pan molds the week before, so I was super excited to try them out! They are so pretty, and worked like a charm.
Lunch – RocknRolls Sushi! Between 7 of us we nommed quite a mountain of fish and rice.
Dinner – I made pizza dough when we got back home to give it time to rise. Then I rolled out a base and set out toppings and let everyone choose their pizza. Mine was definitely the only one that had any green on top…
Tuesday:
Breakfast – breakfasts will be boring this week, because literally every single day is banana muffins!
Lunch – I also had prepped 2 more kale and chickpea salad bowls, and took one for lunch today. I felt like that wouldn’t be quite enough on its own so I also dipped into my emergency work food stash and added a can of lentil veggie soup.
Dinner – Roasted chicken quarters with fresh pico di gallo and rosemary potatoes and corn on the cob
Wednesday:
Breakfast – there were boys sleeping on the couch and in the other rooms, so breakfast had to be quick and quiet. Banana muffins to the rescue!
Lunch – The other kale and chickpea salad
Dinner – The only dinner out so far, we all went to Tyler’s Taproom in the Tobacco campus of Durham for burgers and garlic fries
Thursday:
Breakfast – banana muffns, no way!
Lunch – my leftover pizza: marinara, thin sliced potato, kale, peppers and onions, and goat cheese
Dinner – I tried a new recipe with mac n cheese, cause I had a hankering for BBQ pulled pork mac, and OH MY GOD IT WAS AMAZING. The boy agreed, best mac n cheese I’d ever made. Of course it was like: 1 1/2 stick butter, 1 pound of 3 different cheeses, 1 1/2 pounds pasta, garlic salt…
Friday:
Breakfast – sweet potato waffle with candied pecans. Just kidding, banana muffins!
Lunch – leftover enchilada with Spanish rice and charro beans
Dinner – one of the guys shared a recipe his family makes called Bayou chicken, and everyone agreed it sounded amazing, so I picked up the ingredients at the store on the way home. I agree, it was indeed amazing!! Heavy cream will do that.
The Weekend
We had a small amount of time left with one on Saturday, so we looked at a list of things to do in the Triangle. Turns out there was a free Greek Fest in Raleigh, so we checked that out.
There was music and dancing, Greek things for sale, and of course the food (which is really the reason we went). We also tried ouzo and Greek beers. Not a fan of anything licorice so the ouzo was meh, but the beer was good.
And then they had a baklava sundae!! It’s basically mashed up baklava over ice cream, and it was seriously one of the most amazing things I’ve ever had. Of course I totally love baklava and anything with honey in it, so, unfair advantage.
Then we hung out at a bar in downtown Durham called the Atomic Fern, where they have a huge wall of board games you can borrow and play while you sit and drink. We played some we knew and tried some new ones, and now I’ve got some ideas for my Christmas list this year.
We will probably spend some time Sunday cleaning up from all the tornado of boy that happened this week, but are also planning on getting a cleaning service. But I gotta say, I’m gonna miss having everyone here.
It was really fun to have a full house, always someone to talk to, cooking in huge amounts… I can better understand now why my mom always loved hosting giant dinner parties and family holidays, and why my grandmother continued catering long into her 70s.
Food Total: $23.79
This is just from the couple things I picked up for the bayou chicken. Thank goodness that big $300 shopping spree was more than enough to make it through the week. The meals out are not included either, as those come from the ‘eating out’ or fun part of the budget.
Lessons Learned
I think our society has lost something primal and satisfying by no longer having large families all living under one roof, or a community of people that live near each other and all cook and live together.
The last night especially, on Friday, the 4 of us left were all cooking together. My kitchen is teeny tiny but we made it work. Someone was chopping onion, someone else was shredding the Parmesan, someone else dicing the chicken breasts.
It just felt so nice, so right, so comforting. Maybe I do need to open a restaurant someday, and create a team that feels like family.
How about you guys? Did you have a learning week or an awesome week of wins?
