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, we picked a great weekend for a dinner party! Harris Teeter was having a 10% off all wine sale, and I also got a coupon for $20 off an order of $100 or more. Without the booze for the party, I would not have hit that $100. Yes, I know, it is justifying spending I didn’t necessarily have to make. But between the sale and the coupon, the alcohol was basically half price!
The party was on March 3rd, so I had a “3” theme. I made three dips: buffalo chicken, beet hummus, and vegan spinach artichoke dip, along with a nice antipasto platter. I had homemade pickles, bacon jam, olives, nuts, figs, dates, and prunes.
Then I had three different types of pasta (one of which was tri-color) and three sauces: marinara, pesto, and alfredo. That way people could mix and match with whatever they wanted; alfredo plus pesto was a popular combo.
And for dessert, triple chocolate brownies with chunks of dark chocolate, cocoa powder, and chocolate sauce drizzle, and a Tres Leches cake! It was totally awesome and delicious. We had a great time chatting, and playing games late into the night.
I paid for it on Sunday though! Good thing it’s supposed to be a day of rest, because I didn’t leave bed all day.
Monday:
Breakfast – Oatmeal with golden raisins & craisins. I don’t know if this is a different type of oatmeal, but the individual oats keep their shape and don’t stick together well. Even after multiple rounds of microwaving. I like my oatmeal to be more mashed-together like, so I was pretty unhappy with it. But I ate it anyways. I’ll have to try it as overnight oats and see if that goes better.
Lunch – Leftover pasta, made new by adding some veggies and shrimp from the freezer, with a lemon garlic sauce.
Dinner – Spinach Artichoke Melts + Tomato Soup. I had a ton of spinach artichoke dip left from the weekend, and read that one way to use it is to put it into a grilled cheese… well, hell yeah!
It turns out whoever wrote that is a flipping genius, and these sammies were hands down AHmazing. Not sure I can have a “plain” grilled cheese ever again…
Snack – a chocolate peanut butter granola bar in the car on the way home. Good thing I put one in the pocket of every coat…
*Soaked beans overnight in the crock pot for tomorrow’s chili
Tuesday:
Breakfast – Uh, so, I’m usually pretty behind the times with food trends. I’ve heard of “sweet potato toast” for years, where you thinly slice a sweet potato and just toast it like in a toaster. So I decided to try that. One of the slices ended up kind of charred on the end, and the other was evidently so thick that even putting it through the toaster four times, it was still crunchy… so I microwaved it for 2 minutes and that did the trick.
Once softened, it was pretty dang tasty. I spread a smashed avocado with lemon on one for the bougie-est toast ever, and then I had some more cooked white beans, so I figured, what the hell why not. DUDE. Why did no one ever tell me that white beans and sweet potato is a DELICIOUS combo?? With a squirt of lemon, sprinkle of salt, I was in heaven. New favorite.
Lunch – I had bits of random veggies all over the fridge, and a batch of cooked rice, so naturally I whipped up a super quick stir fry. The boy was funny, he goes “awww I got all excited because it smelled really good, but then I look and it’s just vegetables” 😛
Dinner – Slow Cooker 5 Bean Chili. We stirred in a few spoonfuls of spinach artichoke dip too, just for funzies, and it was pretty ok. Not a thing I’d be sad about not having, but it used up more dip, so, win.
Wednesday:
Breakfast – Pineapple Kiwi Green Smoothie! with a pear tossed in because it was bordering on spoiled.
Lunch – Leftover white bean soup and a big salad. I also used the lemon tahini yogurt dip from last week’s Turkish koftes as dressing
Snack – Beet hummus with cut veggies
Dinner – Bowtie pasta with meatballs, of course. We had a LOT of pasta in the fridge…
Evening snack – herbal tea and a Stroopwaffel!
Thursday:
Breakfast – Peaches & Cream Smoothie
Lunch – Pasta with meatballs, a salad, with roasted sweet and hot Brussels sprouts
Dinner – Roasted beet & sweet potato veggie burgers. I used cooked brown rice and breadcrumbs as the binders, and tossed in the little bit of cooked white beans left along with the roasted beets and sweet potato. These were softer than the last batch but I liked the flavor better. Still working on the exact right blend.
Friday:
Breakfast – Banana walnut bread
Lunch – Vurgers on rice cakes w hot sauce and lettuce
Snack – Beet hummus & veggies
Dinner – Pizzas! Pork and pineapple for the boy and a veggie for me using the last of the artichoke dip and some peppers and olives
The Weekend
Saturday is a lazy day for me, but the poor boy has to work the weekend. A big project launched this week, and he is ”on call” for fixing all the things. So I’ll be cleaning the house, lots of grocery shopping, and prepping for Sunday.
Sunday I’m having a tea party!! If you know me on Twitter you’re probably already aware, I am simply bursting with excitement! I adore parties, and tea, and tiny sweet and savory snacks. I’m super pumped to have a half dozen lovely ladies over in our Sunday best to sip oodles of tea, use terrible fake British accents, and talk about life. Hopefully it will be an absolute blast and become a regular thing.
And guys, I realized, I have a serious tea problem… I’ve always loved tea and everyone knows it, so between being unable to stop myself around new flavors and gifts from family and friends, I have amassed a formidable collection. The newest addition, of which I am most proud, is this gorgeous porcelain cup and saucer:
I was at the thrift store, and sifting through the housewares section (honestly, in search of a tiered serving tray for this party, which I sadly did not find). The cup jumped out at me with its’ royal pattern and those big yellow roses just immediately made me think of Beauty and the Beast. I had to have it.
I carried the cup around the store another 2 aisles, hoping to find a saucer that looked at least okay with it, but it was coming home with me regardless.
And then, when I was about ready to give up and leave with my few gems, I saw on a lower shelf THE MATCHING SAUCER! It was clearly meant to be. The universe wanted me to have this set. And for only $1.48 total, how could I say no?!?
Food Total: $75.52
Man I’m excited about this week, pretty much nailed it! Even with the impulse purchases and tons of produce we came in at our $75 goal. I’ve also decided that alcohol gets its own category now, so the booze we got for our dinner party was not included here.
| Dairy | $21.72 | Staples | $28.38 | Fruit/Veg | $22.63 |
| Greek yogurts 10 | 8 | Pretzel crisps 2 bags | 5 | Fresh beets 3 | 2.99 |
| 2lb sharp cheddar cheese | 7.99 | Canned tomatoes 12 | 5.64 | Bag spinach | 2.49 |
| Dozen lg eggs | 0.77 | Canned garbanzo beans 2 | 1.54 | Fresh stir fry veggies | 1.5 |
| Cream cheese 2 | 2.38 | Brownie mix | 1.69 | Stir fry veggies frozen | 1.98 |
| Evaporated milk | 0.59 | Yellow cake mix | 1.49 | 3lb clementines | 2.99 |
| Sweet condensed milk | 1.99 | Crackers 2 kinds | 5 | Bananas 8 | 2.12 |
| Northern beans 2 cans | 1.54 | Frozen spinach big bag | 2.99 | ||
| Stroopwaffel 8 | 3.49 | Bag spring mix | 1.99 | ||
| Pasta sauce 2 | 2.5 | Cucumber | 0.59 | ||
| 3color bowtie pasta | 0.49 | Basil plant | 2.99 |
Lessons Learned
I did totally give in to temptation at the store when I saw a whole shelf full of Stroopwaffles! I held a box in my hand, then put it back, almost walked away… picked it back up… and then put it in the cart. At least I checked the “per unit” prices, and though the bag full of tiny waffles was close, the not-individually-packaged box of 8 was the best deal, so that is the one I chose.
Part of me wants to add breakfasts into the meal plan. But then the other part of me knows it is currently the least predictable part of my day. Some mornings a smoothie sounds amazing, other mornings toast is the only acceptable answer. And more and more frequently lately nothing at all sounds good, so I just open the fridge and force something in my face because I can’t in good conscience not eat breakfast at all… c’est la vie, we all go through seasons of eating.
I must be waaay behind on the times because I have never heard of sweet potatoes being cooked in the toaster! They look really yummy with toppings though! I may have to try it some day. I love reading about your menu plans! I get so many great ideas!
Haha thanks Jennifer! I reallllly loved the white bean one. I bet it would work in an oven too, but a toaster is much faster for busy mornings.
So I also have entirely too much tea (why would one person ever need that much tea???) and LOVE the idea of your tea party. Maybe I need to host one myself (although sadly my pool of DC friends keeps shrinking which is why I have to keep talking to you lovely people on the internet since that’s my social life nowadays ?).
Girl, I didn’t think you could get more millennial/bougie than avocado toast and then you went and made regular avocado toast look like PB&J in comparison! Also that looks amazing and I’ll have to keep the toasted sweet potato thing in mind since I’ve never heard of it.
Meals last week were a planning failure. Still need to make my Turkish lentil soup. Hopefully that’ll happen this week now that I’ve finally acquired more red pepper paste.
SO MUCH TEA. Now we’re to the point that it all (mostly) fits into one big box again. So naturally I need to go get more…
Bahahaa right?? #ProudMilennial #CantOutMilennialMe
Awww it’s k, the red lentils will be there for you when you’re ready.
Oh, God! Why do I get so pavlovian when I read your weekly eating posts? Most intriguing thing you ate last week? Hands down, the spinach artichoke melts with tomato soup.
It makes me warm and tingly inside that I thrill you so much with our epicurean adventures each week. The SpinArt sammies (as I’m now calling them) were indeed SO. DANG. GOOD. Go get or make some dip, and make them. Do it. You won’t be sorry.
Okay, you didn’t mention the spinach artichoke on pizza! Now I need to make some dip because those are both super delicious sounding uses for it. Oh, and Bota Box is hands down the best boxed wine.
YESYES the pizza was reeeeeeeeally good too! I was kind of upset there was so much dip leftover, but now I’m like… why all the dip gone tho? 🙂