$2 Over...

I wrote this post last week and never got around to posting it. Some of our meals changed last week. My mom brought over a couple flank steaks she didn't have time to make (I wrote a little bit about my family popping in here), and I used those one night. Also for Mike's birthday we decided to check out OktoberFest in Carmel and then we ate a $5 pizza in the evening. We are yet to have the pork loin; it is marinating now for tonight using this recipe. It smells delicious!

September 30, 2013

I always try and spend around $40 at the grocery store for our weeks worth of dinners (If I get a lunch they are usually left overs, PB&J sandwiches, or hard boiled eggs). This week I was $2 over, which was a bummer, but it was exciting because that still means I was under budget. Remember my goal is always $35 to $40, but our budget allows for more (a little more). I have turned it into a game for me and I am trying to save as much money as we can since we have little room for excess in our lives.

So this week I was happy to report I got 2 lbs of ground beef, 3 chicken breasts, a pork loin, fruit and some grains to get us through the week. This week's menu:

Monday: Ramen Noodle Pad Thai (We tried this as a side, and cheated and went to my mom's for a rotissarie chicken.)
Tuesday: Chili Mac with side of cauliflower
Wednesday: Sweet and Sour Chicken with rice and mandarin oranges
Thursday: Spaghetti and Meatballs and apple slices
Friday: Mike's Birthday Dinner Out (or maybe pork loin)
Saturday: Left overs
Sunday: Pizza Night

I am continuing to go through recipes that I have pinned on Pinterest, so I am not always going back to the same few meals. Tonight's sweet and sour chicken was a little heavy on the sour side, but bless my husbands heart he ate the whole thing. That is love.

Each night I try my best to have a fruit and veggie, this week I bought a huge thing of grapes, so we have been heavy on the same fruit. We did try some roasted cauliflower with red pepper. I don't usually like to use canned fruit, but I opened up some mandarin oranges one night as well.

I used one pound of the meat to go in the chili mac, and the other pound is going to go into the spaghetti and meatballs tomorrow night. You remember the recipe I told you about here. Well I have been craving those things so badly, I decided I needed to have them by themselves instead of in the meatball sub casserole. The chili mac was great, and it made a ton of food. I called my parents to come over and help us eat it, and I still had left overs for Mike for lunch and put some in the freezer.

I used the chicken tonight to make this sweet and sour chicken recipe, I would recommend using a little less vinegar than what it calls for. I only used two breasts for the recipe because they were pretty large. I baked one chicken breast using garlic and brown sugar for my husband (He loves this recipe but I was out of italian seasoning packets). I don't always have a back up meal, but tonight I wasn't sure if my husband would go for the sweet and sour so I baked the rest of the chicken.

The pork loin will be made later this week. I usually have a special spice that my mom brings me from up in Michigan, but we are all out. SO that means I will be trying a new recipe for the pork loin. I'll let you know how it turns out.