There’s a full slate on tap today!

First, here’s a recap of the past week’s groceries.  I had planned to go to pick up our farm share and go to BJ’s this week.  It worked out that I made a few other small stops.

On Tuesday, I stopped at Wegman’s first.  My primary reason to be there was tissues.  They carry the brand and size we prefer; BJ’s has discontinued the size that fit in our bathroom drawers.  Tissues aren’t in this number, but I spent $34.92 on some food restocking.

Then I went over to BJ’s and spent another $156.65.  I’m not sure if this will be my only trip there before Christmas, but it might be.  Somehow I missed the perishables in the picture.

On Thursday, I spent $57.87 on my farm share.  The paper bags are fingerling potatoes.  I’d never cooked them before, but my oldest asked for them after eating them at a restaurant.  It turns out that I only needed one bag for a meal for us.  But, they went over well and so will probably be added to the regular rotation.  The cheese was on special this week, so I thought I’d give it a try.

I also spent $17.68 on sale items at Stop & Shop.

Finally, we made a milk stop at BJ’s on Satuday, spending $40.36.  Missing from the picture are five gallons of milk, 36 eggs, two cases of seltzer water.

That brought me to $307.48 for the week, which is manageable given it included the trip to BJ’s.

So, that brought my November spending to:

October TOTAL: $1,509.82

• Stop & Shop: $188.82
• Wegman’s: $370.20
• BJs: $264.71
• Local: $652.08
  • Walden Local: $234.00
  • Farmers to You: $391.35
  • Other Local: $26.73
• Other: $34.01
  • Star Market/Shaw’s: $34.01
  • Target: $0
  • Other: $0

That was a high month.  But, it did include Thanksgiving.

Finally, what did we eat this past week?  I got sick midweek so things tailed off a bit.  I’m still coming out of it, and everyone else has had this bad cold in one fashion or another, so I’m still catching up on what I planned to eat before getting sick.

Monday:
Meatball subs, tater tots, spinach salad
I planned a relatively easy meal for the first one back after the holiday.

Tuesday:
This was polish off the leftovers day.  The younger ones had turkey and brocolli.  Us older folks had turkey, stuffing, butternut squash, and Brussels sprouts.

Wednesday:
Coq au vin, mashed potatoes, carrots
This was my first day really feeling the effects of the cold.  But, it wasn’t too bad and this meal is fairly straightforward.

Thursday:
Early: Chicken nuggets, carrots
Late: Tuna noodle casserole
I was really feeling the effects today so my original plan went out the window.

Friday:
Early: Macaroni & cheese, spinach salad
Late: Homemade pizza
Standard Friday for us, though the cold was still having an effect.

Saturday:
Dunplings, broccoli, rice
This had been the plan for Wednesday, but its rather involved.

Sunday:
Roast chicken, fingerling potatoes, canned peas
The kids don’t like peas so we have them rarely.

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving and a relaxing weekend.  We hosted a total of fourteen people, which went remarkably smoothly.  And, it left us with not a crazy amount of leftovers.

Because I had pre-shopped last week, I didn’t have to buy too much this week.  My only pre-Thanksgiving stop was to pick up our Farmers to You delivery on Wednesday.  That totaled $197.15 with two 16.5 lb turkeys (not pictured).  The pickup is usually on Thursday, but was moved for the holiday.

So, why did I choose the above items?  The sage, cider, onions, and Brussels sprouts were for Thanksgiving.  The Asian pears were on special.  We enjoyed the first bag so I got another.  The tomatoes were also on special and we have many tomato eaters.  They turned out to be fine, but mine prefer the campari or heirloom varieties.  The bread and butter were nice splurges for the holiday weekend.

I had hoped this would get me through the weekend, but we ran out of milk very quickly with so many people here.  So, on Friday I spent another $95.21 at Wegman’s.  That brought the total for the week to $292.36.  Entirely tolerable with the holiday spread.

I can already tell that milk will dictate when I next go shopping.  I expect to be at BJ’s (monthly shop with coupons) and Stop & Shop (a few sale items) this week.  I may go to Wegman’s depending on what I decide to do for meals next weekend.  Apart from milk, we’re all set through Friday.

And, what did we eat this week?

Monday:
Pasta with Sunday sauce, spinach salad
I used the beef sausage from our meat delivery this time.  It worked ok, but folks preferred the spicy Italian in this recipe.

Tuesday:
Green tea poached salmon with soba noodles, cut peppers
I thought folks who wanted could put the peppers in their soup, which did work.  They also added some color interest.  Right now Tuesdays include swimming and baseball so while a split dinner is not required, a somewhat fast one is.

Wednesday:
I can’t remember.  I know it wasn’t snacky, but it also wasn’t complicated because Thanksgiving was coming up.

Thursday:
For Thanksgiving we had apple cider and herbs de provence turkeys.  We also had two types of stuffing, Brussels sprouts, green beans, mashed potatoes with gravy, butternut squash, braised leeks, prunes and apples, and cranberry sauce.

Friday:
Early: Macaroni & cheese, spinach salad
Late: Homemade pizza
I took a break.

Saturday:
Turkey soup

Sunday:
Roasted pork belly with sage & apples, mashed potatoes, and broccoli.

I made a few stops, but nothing huge.  In fact my biggest spend was the farm share pickup, which included a number of items that will last us at least another week if not more.

I started the week with two stops on Tuesday.  First, I spent $66.51 at Wegman’s.  There were two gallons of milk that didn’t make the picture.  Unlike the farm share, these items were largely for this week.

Tuesday afternoon I spent $8.97 at Stop & Shop for a few sale items.

I picked up my farm share on Thursday.  At $76.49, it was bigger than last week, but should have us covered for veggies for a while.  As of now we’ve eaten half the turnip and an Asian pear.  I put the chicken in the freezer to go with the chicken left over from the previous week’s order.  We still don’t have enough for one meal for us though so I’ll need more before we eat it.  It’s part of the exercise of leveling the amount of money spent on the farm share each week.  That being said, there are plans for most of this between now and Thanksgiving.

Finally, I stopped at the farm stand on Friday, primarily for the tomato, apples, and green beans.  But, I brought the total to $26.73 by buying salsa, avocados, and black beans so I didn’t have to make an additional stop at a grocery store.

That brought me to $178.70 for the week, way under usual!

I’m still trying to focus on the proteins in the freezer.

Monday:
Early: Chicken nuggets and applesauce
Late: Homemade pizza

Tuesday:
Pasta with Sunday Sauce and spinach salad

Wednesday (ate the same thing at multiple times:
Chili with corn bread

Thursday:
Early: Chicken nuggets and carrot sticks
Late: Tuna noodle casserole

Friday:
Early: Leftover pasta with Sunday Sauce
Late: Homemade pizza

Saturday:
Texas carnitas with black beans, Mexican rice, roasted corn, and avocado slices

Sunday:
Chicken pot pie