I have a little time to cook actual food now. This was easy and delicious. Chicken cutlets with a red wine mushroom sauce over couscous with peas and zucchini.
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Author lauralynne
Um, hello?
This meme made me laugh. Because it’s basically true. But. There is light at the end of the tunnel. And exciting, normal things will be completely under my control again. Like…sleep and cooking and doing things that aren’t work or school or internship. I really look forward to that day.
Groceries, Life: Jan. 21st & Jan. 28th
1000 piece puzzle that we started over Christmas and finally finished. We really like the Charles Wysocki puzzles, but this one was a bugger! Sorry for the glare…
It sure didn’t take long for the semester to get busy! My internship hours fluctuate quite a bit, so I feel like I’m constantly adjusting to that. And the dominoe effect is of course that I end up juggling a lot of my other obligations to fit into the time I have left. Going forward I want to try to post here at least once a week, because it’s helpful as a record of what’s going on. And I think the juggling has more or less slowed down for now (I hope!).
One thing that I have been making time for this semester/month is sewing/creating. I find that setting aside time to work on creative projects is a really important part of self-care for me. As a bonus, I’ve been able to complete or move forward on some projects that have been sitting around for years. I’m thrilled to see that progress and it provides a lot of motivation to keep on making time for myself in that way. Here is a picture of a quilt top I finished this weekend:
As an additional way to stay motivated in terms of knocking out old sewing projects, I also joined APQ’s 2018 UFO (Unfinished Object) Challenge group on Facebook. Each month they pull a number and you work on the appropriate project based on a list created at the beginning of the year. I have two lists that I’m working from (so yes, that’s 24 projects that I’ve started at some point or another…). I’d really like to get this top fully quilted, but I’m not sure if that will happen this month or next.
I’ve also been working on decluttering and being intentional about taking decluttered items to Goodwill or wherever the appropriate donation site is. I thought I’d be able to manage weekly trips to Goodwill, but for now it looks like every other week is more realistic. The good news is that I’ve decluttered over 100 items this month and shouldn’t have a problem maintaining that pace next month, too.
As far as groceries and meal planning is concerned — I have been doing both, but adapted. I often really only need to make one or two dishes each week and then we can eat leftovers or simple meals for the remaining days. By simple meals, I’m referring to sandwiches, quesadillas, ravioli, etc. It works for now. I also haven’t been taking pictures because more often than not I’m eating in front of the computer while I work on one job or another. I have been pleased that my grocery budget has stayed pretty low this month — while I’m not planning to change my budgeted amount ($300), I am also trying to really only buy what we’ll eat in a week or two. Now is not the time to worry about stocking the pantry, and in fact I’m also concentrating on moving stuff out of the pantry. Below are my two most recent grocery trips.
January 21, 2018
- Frozen Veggie Burgers, $4.49/2 (BOGO)
- Cheese Tortellini, $4.29
- Pesto, FREE (w/purchase of tortellini)
- Barilla Pasta Sauce, $5.50/4 (BOGO)
- Naked Juice Smoothies, $3.29/2 (BOGO)
- Maple Honey Ham, 1/2 lb. @ $5.19
- Smoked Gouda, 1/2 lb. @ $4.00
- Half & Half, 1 pint @ $1.73
- Cornmeal, 2 lbs @ $1.29
- Mayo, $2.24
- English Muffins, $1.50
- Bread, $4.29/2 (BOGO)
- Donut Holes, $3.99/2 (BOGO)
- Limes, 3 for $1.99
- Flatout Foldit Bread, $.99/2 (BOGO + coupons)
- Bananas, 2.47 lbs @ $1.61
- Ranch, $2.79 (Aldi — not pictured)
- Sweet Potato Chips, $2.99 (Aldi — not pictured)
- Tortilla Chips, $1.59 (Aldi — not pictured)
Total: $50.68
January 28, 2018
This photo is really blurry, sorry!
- Apples, $3.29
- Taco Seasoning, 2 @ $1.34
- Half & Half, $1.99
- Milk, $2.95
- Tomato Sauce, 2 @ $.29/ea
- Everything Bagels, $1.79
- Granola, $2.79 (Michael was with me…not something I’d normally buy!)
- Hot Dog Buns, $.83
- Green Grapes, 2.47 lbs @ $3.19
- Seedless Cucumber, $1.29
- Jalapenos, $.69
- Avocado, $.79
- Yellow Onions, $1.79
- Dried Mango, $3.89
- Spinach, 2 bags @ $1.49/ea
- Tortilla Chips, $.99
- Pineapple, $1.29
- Mushrooms, 3 @ $.79/ea
- Grape Tomatoes, $2.49
Total: $37.32
I’ll probably run into Publix between now and Wednesday in order to pick up a few things they have on sale this week, but otherwise I’m pretty much done with my grocery shopping for January. Right now my total for the month stands at $204.78, well under my $300 goal. So that is pleasing to me for sure! I did end up buying fast food/takeout this past week more often than I wanted to and that had nothing to do with available food in our house but with me just having an off week and not planning very well. Still, our eating out expenditures are under $100 for the month which is also my goal, so…2018 is off to a good start!
Meal Plan: January 14 – 20
Clockwise from top left: oven fajitas, spaghetti & meatballs, breakfast potatoes & eggs, vegetable korma
Last week I mostly stuck to the menu. I didn’t take a picture of the hot dog meal. I misread the vegetable korma recipe and peeled way too many potatoes, so we had breakfast for dinner one night (not on the original menu). And I didn’t make the pumkin and black bean soup because really what I wanted was pumpkin chili, and for that I needed ground turkey. Also I scheduled that recipe for Thursday, which is a no cooking day since I am out of the house from 7:15 am to 9:30 pm. Michael can obviously choose to cook something for himself that day, but more often than not there is a ton of leftover food available. And I’ve acknowledged that I usually just have to purchase at least one meal on that day — I’m not organized enough to manage packing three full meals. But overall I stuck to the menu and we didn’t eat out (aside from my day on campus).
This week I’m planning to take advantage of the extra day off and make up two recipes ahead of time, which should significantly cut down on our cooking duties the rest of the week. I’ve also got two soup/stew recipes on the menu for the week — it’s that time of year and since we love them, I decided not to worry about feeling repetitious. Do you have anything exciting planned for the week, meal-wise?
Meal Plan
- Meatball Subs, Salad, Berries
- Turkey & Pumpkin Chili (make ahead), Cheesy Cornbread
- Baked Spaghetti (make ahead), Steamed Broccoli
- Squash and Chickpea Curry, Rice
- Stuffed Pepper Soup, Salad
Prepped
- hard boiled eggs
- salad base
- chex mix
- veggies for various recipes
- ham, broccoli & cheese egg muffins
