Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Say Cheese (Kinda) & Grocery Savings

May 8, 2013

My daughter packed the rest of the leftover pasta salad for lunch today. My son packed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We threw in some yogurt, fruit, and drinks and they were all set. My hubby mentioned last night that he hasn't had many options for lunches. I felt bad so I grabbed out some veggies to cook up for a sandwich filler for him to pack. Thankfully he jumped in when it was time to cook it though because he put an entire habanero and a part of a ghost pepper in the mix. It choked me out of the kitchen!

Remember my many morning stories that began with me curled up on the couch, clutching my coffee cup, and not wanting to move until I could shake the fog from my head? I feel like I'm on my way to the real me. I can't begin to tell you the difference in how I feel these past two weeks. One of the many differences is the way I feel in the mornings. I have so much more energy. I don't feel like I NEED coffee. I am able to get moving for the day so much easier. I had four errands done by 10:30 this morning and had grocery shopped and was back home by 12:30!

My pre-challenge weekly grocery average was $175. Today I spent $22.45 on toiletries and cleaners. I doubled up on two items because I had a dollar off of two coupon for both of them. I spent 89 cents on impulse items. This morning my son wanted his favorite can of pasta for lunch (ABC's). He was so disappointed when we didn't have any. It wasn't on my list today but I figured that he needed it. :) I spent $99.71 on food. I splurged on two kinds of yummy cheese. I spent $3.69 for Boursin. If you have had Boursin, then you know that it would be worth it to spend $10 on that stuff. Ok, maybe not but it is so delicious. I also spent $3.59 for some fresh mozzarella for a new recipe I have planned for this week.  I spent $2.18 on a gossip magazine. After adding in their surcharge and taking out my coupons, I spent $125.68 out of pocket. This is a savings of $49.32. My pre-challenge restaurant weekly average was $80. This week we went to lunch at Subway, dinner at Chipotle, and let the kids get McDonald's (yuck yuck ew ew). We spent $52.34 which is a savings of $27.66. The kids packed lunches and saved $14. Our total weekly savings is $91.98. This brings our grand total savings to $3,360.85 in 203 days!

I needed to use up another can of refrigerated biscuits. I made mini pizzas today for lunch. I used home canned pizza sauce, onion, mushrooms, spinach, green pepper (frozen from farmer's market), and mozzarella cheese. On a few of the pizzas I tried soy cheese for the first time. I wanted to get my daughter a cheese alternative seeing as she wants to go vegan. I figured I should give it a try before I give it to her. It actually didn't taste that different from regular mozzarella. It didn't brown up as much as regular though (it is the pizza on the front/right in the picture).

This afternoon I made a quinoa fruit salad. I saw a recipe on Two Peas and a Pod that I somewhat followed. I cooked quinoa and added craisins half way through the cook time. I let it cool and then added strawberries, peaches, mango, mint, honey,lime juice, and a little salt. Yum. Now my hubby will have something to take for lunch tomorrow!

I needed a quick dinner for tonight because the kids had activities. The stir fry that I usually make has sauce all over the veggies. I decided to keep the sauce separate today. I sauteed carrots, broccoli, celery, napa cabbage, and red cabbage. I stirred in edamame and baby corn. In a separate pan, I sauteed onion and mushrooms. I added in white wine. Once that was reduced, I added our favorite teriyaki sauce and a little soy sauce. It was served over sushi rice and a side of sushi ginger. The kids liked it much better having the veggies free of sauce.

No comments:

Post a Comment