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Dietbet and grocery shopping

April 3rd, 2015 at 05:25 pm

I lost this month's round by .3... .3 lbs!!! I was bummed but this is about long-term. Realistically, I only have 3 more lbs. until my 10% and that is my end goal weight. It's actually a bit under where I want to maintain. Those last few pounds are always the hardest, but I'll keep plowing away.

SO and I went bulk shopping yesterday. I increased our food budget to $400 for this month. We spent $300 at BJ's. The goal is to use the remaining $100 to round out our meals each week. In future months, I expect to put our grocery budget back at $300. We got laundry and dish detergent and paper towels on this trip which account for about $50 of the total amount. SO and I each get one 'throw-in' during joint trips. SO picked a pretty expensive item, so we'd have been even better had he not gotten it. It was meal replacement bars. While expensive - $20 for 12 - SO loves them and often does not have time to eat the lunch I packed him. I'd much prefer him have these on hand rather than come home 12 hours later having had nothing since breakfast (which he's done several times).

Fridge and Pantry Raiding

March 31st, 2015 at 08:28 pm

I ran out of our food budget about two weeks ago. I actually went a few dollars over on our last trip, but definitely better than the $350+ I've been averaging. I had made a meal plan for dinners through tonight, but what I hadn't accounted for is how much of the basics we'd run out of. We are currently out of sandwich meat, bread, sliced cheese, butter, eggs and bagels. I've definitely had to get creative, but we made it. Tonight is pasta, meatballs, and sauce. And tomorrow, we get to go shopping. We have a 60 day trial to BJ's that we're planning to spend the majority of the budget on, so we'll have to see how that shakes out for the rest of April.

Frugal food

March 13th, 2015 at 05:01 pm

Last night was stir-fry using the leftover rice and a bag of broccoli, cauliflower, carrots mix. To accomodate SO's taste for meat, I cut up my last piece of lemon pepper chicken and threw that in there along with a couple of leftover roasted veggies from Monday. We then threw in some soy sauce, duck sauce packets from previous chinese take-out nights, and scrambled two eggs in the middle to mix in.

It. Was. Delicious!!!

That was the first time I've ever just completely made it up and it worked perfectly. Tonight is also leftovers, so I get to relax a little.

Plus, my lunch today is free Smile

Food Updates

March 12th, 2015 at 03:25 pm

I've been really happy with the progress I've made in terms of cooking. It really helps that SO seems to enjoy everything I make which boosts my confidence. Some of my better meals have been a quinoa, broccoli, chicken casserole; bang bang shrimp pasta; and last night, lemon pepper chicken with brown rice and cheddar bay biscuits. I even carved out a meal plan to get us through the rest of this week and next week since my food budget ($300) is pretty much gone. I'm hoping to make it through most, if not all, of the rest of March with only 1 or 2 trips for staples (I'm running low on milk and eggs).

Out of my own account, I will be shifting some priorities around. I'm going to pull $100 from one of my credit card payments for food. My mom is going to the Philippines next month to bury my grandmother. My brothers will be on their own for two weeks for food. While they will cook some small things on their own, I imagine they will rely a lot on fast food/take-out. Since one brother doesn't work and the other makes very little, I anticipate phone calls asking for money for food. To make this a bit easier on myself, I have decided to make ahead 4 meals that they can quickly pop into the oven and will last 2-3 days for them. This and their simple home-cooking skills should cover most of the 2 weeks. I will be making the aforementioned quinoa/broccoli/chicken casserole, crunchy tex-mex casserole, enchiladas, and baked mac & cheese with cut-up hot dogs and peas. My intention is to double-up on these meals where possible, so that SO and I can also enjoy them at home. It wouldn't come out of our own account's grocery budget, but would help us make it to the end of March.

Free Lunch and Housewarming Party

January 15th, 2015 at 03:36 pm

There is such a thing as a free lunch! We're being treated today for our work on the re-appraisal. SO actually packed me lunch this morning, but my pb&j with frozen bananas will have to wait until tomorrow.

This Saturday, we are throwing an impromptu housewarming party. It will probably be about 10 people. Any suggestions on frugal, delicious servings? SO mentioned a couple of his friends will probably bring something along, but I feel like we should have some sort of entree/food available as his friends always feed us full meals when they have us over.

Has anyone figured out how to put more days in a week?

July 29th, 2014 at 07:19 pm

I was looking at my fall schedule and it's a hot mess. 3 days/wk babysitting, 3 days/wk cheer practice, 2 days/wk other cheer practice, Saturday practices/games, and my normal full-time job, plus occasional Saturday shows with Sunday dance practices. Obviously, I'm going to have to work out the practice/babysitting situation, but I think it's safe to say that none of my weekday obligations will end before 9 or 10 pm.

What on earth does this mean, finance-wise? That I need to plan, plan, plan!! In the past, it's always been so easy to grab McDonald's or Taco Bell on the way to practice. Since I'm trying to save (and keep the weight off), I'll need to have food. Since I will not have time to run home, I'll need to have both lunch and dinner planned. Dinner will have to be something lighter, but filling enough to hold me until I get home around 9 or 10.

Any quick and easy ideas out there? Preferably ones where you can eat on the go as most of those dinners will probably be in my car...

On a more positive note, I texted SO because I was feeling really overwhelmed/my schedule will leave me very little time for him, and he was ridiculously supportive. That's something I'm not at all used to, but it was a very nice surprise.

Food challenge update

May 31st, 2014 at 03:59 pm

I've been crazy busy, but I thought I'd pop in and give a quick update on how the food situation is going. I brought back a bunch of stuff from my mom's, so this week wasn't too bad. For lunch two days, I had a cheese flatbread with some mashed cauliflower and grapes. By Friday's lunch, I was running lowon momovers, but scrapped together a garlic biscuit, the last of the mashed cauliflower and pineapple slices. I cooked up a box of mac and cheese Wed. night, so dinner Wed. and Fri. was mac and cheese (one night with garlic biscuits; the other with chicken tenders). Tues. and Thurs. nights were frozen pizzas.

Overall, I haven't had a bad meal yet and haven't touched my bank account all week! I also somehow only managed to use a quarter of my gas tank so far, so double win.

The food thing is about to get significantly harder though, as I took inventory yesterday. I have half a bag of frozen chicken tenders, a pack of chicken that has to be cooked, a frozen meal, 2 bags of frozen veggies, one tortilla, and then 10 or so pantry items like mac and cheese, ravioli, and ramen. (Remember, I live in a basement, so I never keep too much food on hand.)

Tough challenge coming up

May 22nd, 2014 at 04:11 pm

Today's payday! Unfortunately, it's all already spent. I'm talking every dollar (and then some...). So for the next two weeks, I'm attempting to spend nothing outside of gas money. No nights out with friends, no fast food, nothing. This will be a real challenge as my pantry is pretty bare. Last night I cooked up a chicken breast, so I have that with some leftover broccoli and rice for lunch today.

The only other fresh food I have is a pack of chicken tenders in the freezer. Everything else is processed/prepackaged....think mac and cheese, ramen, ravioli, etc. Luckily, I'm visiting home this weekend and my babysitting family buys fruit from Costco and doesn't mind if I occasionally have a little, so I'll have some fresh fruits and veggies. Wish me luck!