With a little help from my friends: Food Budget Diary #4

Monday

Breakfast/Lunch

Coffee and then a salad with leftover chicken for J. I have my leftover chicken and rice. It holds up really well. Sometimes rice will get dry but I think due to the fat content here, it was all good.

This morning, I put a pork shoulder in the slow cooker that I marinated overnight following this recipe. It was super easy and I just love knowing that a hot meal is waiting for me come dinnertime.

Dinner

I’m about to pile some pork into some cabbage leaves when my friend Allie texts me to come over for grilling. Instead, I throw some pork in a container and we head to her house. We had a literal feast: salmon, chicken, beef, salad AND mind blowing lemon bars. Thanks Allie!

Tuesday

Breakfast/Lunch

Coffee, and then a salad with pulled pork for J. I finish off the last of the chicken and rice.

I need a few things so I fire up the Amazon Prime:

1 lb heirloom tomatoes: $4.99

5 oz mixed supergreens: $3.99

1 bag Frozen Chicken potstickers: $4.99

1 cucumber: $1.59

10 flour tortillas: $2.99

1 red onion: $1.06

18 oz local raw honey: $7.99

1 package whole wheat English muffins: $2.79

1 chunk parmesan cheese: $3.87

1 bag Stumptown Coffee: $13.99

1 red bell pepper: $2.50

1 lb ground dark meat chicken: $5.99

Total spent on Amazon/New Seasons: $64.74

The honey is a bit of a splurge, but after I melted my cheap plastic honey bear of honey in the micro last time, I’m a little weirded out to keep eating it. The bear goes in the trash. This new honey comes in a glass container.

Dinner

We get a text from an old friend who we never get to see (thanks babies) so we meet him at our neighborhood bar. For food, we order in takeout burritos.

Total spent on burritos: $13.50

Wednesday

Breakfast/Lunch

Coffee and then a salad with pulled pork for J. I have my pulled pork with a little melted cheese on top and sour cream.

Dinner

For dinner, we pile the pulled pork into crunchy taco shells and top with cabbage slaw, cheese onion and sour cream. I know it’s not a traditional way to eat a taco, but there’s something about those crunchy shells that just satisfies me. The slaw was simple: julienned cabbage, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper.

taco fixings

See those red things? They prop up your taco for you…what! You can get them on Amazon here.

Thursday

Breakfast/Lunch

Coffee and then a salad with pulled pork for J, a pulled pork quesadilla for me.

Dinner

We have cocktails with a couple of out of town friends who have come for the eclipse. Afterwards, I am famished so we decide to walk down the street to one of our favorite restaurants. We have an assortment of small plates and everything comes with peak season tomatoes. Delicious!

Total spent eating out: $88

Friday

Breakfast/Lunch

Coffee and then a salad with pulled pork for J. It’s the last of the meat so I have an English muffin with peanut butter.

 Dinner

We take our out of town friends to our favorite Ethiopian place and they pick up the tab for us. Thanks y’all!

Saturday

Breakfast/Lunch

We have leftover Ethiopian food so J and I split fir fir and have coffee out on the deck.

Dinner

J has an invite to a barbecue and I am going out to sushi for a friend’s birthday. It’s been a heavy eating out week but I have also seen so many old friends which is good for the soul

Total spent on sushi: $21

Sunday

Breakfast/Lunch

Eggs, bacon and toast for J. English muffin with peanut butter and almonds for me.

Dinner

I had ambitions to make a meatloaf but J is starving so I go to my favorite quick dinner: spaghetti carbonara. It looks and tastes fancy, but comes together in less than 15 minutes with only four ingredients! Recipe to come this week.

 Total spent on groceries: $64.74

 Total spent on eating out: $122.50

Despite eating out, we are under our $200 budget this week, yay! I use the remaining money to try out Imperfect Produce. More info on that service soon. Thank you for reading!

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