WWS & WWA | July 18th - 24th

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What We Spend (WWS) and What We Ate (WWA) is a recap of our weekly grocery spending and meals.  We do a mix of make ahead meal planning, meal prepping, and spontaneity! 

You will noticed that WWS does not always align with WWA. That's because we buy primarily what's on sale, along with some fresh items, and pull the rest from our pantry or freezer stock. These sale items go into the stock rotation. This is our secret to keeping our grocery spending low! 


Small Lunch Prep to Start the Week

Prep & Plan Recap

This week was a hot one in Southern Maine! 

Between the heat and general life, I've been feeling a little burned out in the meal prep area lately. This week I chose to focus on what needed using up in the freezer (bay scallops, turkey meatballs, and riced cauliflower had all been in residence for a while), and veg that needed to be cooked ASAP. Sunday I prepped what you see above, Tuesday night I cooked the bulk of the food for the rest of the week, and Thursday I rounded out the week with some veggie fills ins and a quick soup.

We did not get to the egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches again this week, instead Ben polished off the remaining egg and salsa burritos from about 6 weeks back.
 
Pan Roasted Summer Veg


What We Spent | July 11th - July 17th, 2020


Shaw's
  • 3 lbs. Ground Turkey - $6 (sale)
  • 3 lbs. Bacon - $2.97 ($0.99 each clearance)
  • 2 lbs. Butter - $1.74 ($0.87 each - sale & coupon)
  • 1 Quart 1% Milk - $0.89 (clearance)
  • 1 Quart Greek Yogurt - $1.99 (clearance)
  • 1.91 lbs. Chicken Tenderloin - $3.76 ($1.97/lb sale)
  • 1.01 lbs. Red Grapes - $0.99 ($0.97/lb sale)
  • 3 lbs. Elbow Macaroni - $1.32 (clearance)
  • 5lbs. Yellow Cornmeal - $1.74 (clearance)
  • (2) 1.5lb. Seasoned Turkey Breasts - $8.98 (clearance)
Total: $30.38

 Walmart
  • Canning & Pickling Salt - $2.38
Dollar Tree
  • Tortillas (12 count) - $1
  • 3 Can Black Olives - $3
  • 12oz. Bag Pretzels - $1
  • Cinnamon Breakfast Biscuits (6 count) - $1
Total: $6

Week Total: $38.76

Monthly Total: $165.54

Our grocery budget goal* is $50/week, so we came in nicely under budget this week! 

My goal for this month is to shop only fresh and mega sale/ clearance items. We've stocked up on strawberries, meats, and cheese, and our garden is starting to produce lots of fresh items (cukes, zucchini, summer squash, snow peas, green beans, and herbs).

 *Our budget is flexible, to take advantage of sales as they come up, and why we aim for an average. Some weeks or months are very light on spending, others are much heavier, depending upon the items we are low on and how the sales fall.

For eating out we have a separate budget. We have not gone out to eat very often since COVID-19 but we do try to support our favorite spots when we get the itch! I will make a note in WWA if we do eat out.

What We Ate | July 18th - July 24th, 2020

Most bloggers choose to focus on only dinners, but I think showing all three meals helps to better show where our WWS goes.

Breakfasts:
  • Granola Bars w/ Peanut Butter
  • Scrambled Eggs w/ Cheese
  • Freezer Burritos
Lunches:
Lunch Snacks:
  • Cukes (from the garden!)
  • Grapes
  • Veg Sticks w/ Hummus
  • Cheese Sticks and Crackers
  • Yogurt Cups
Dinners:
  • Tacos w/ Homemade Queso & Cukes
  • Ham Steak, Pan Seared Green Beans (from garden), Knorr Pasta Sides
  • Baked Bay Scallops, Lemon Herb Pasta, Green Beans, Chicken w/ Pesto, Side Salad
  • Mac & Cheese w/ Ham
  • Leftovers from the above meals

Snacks: crackers, cheese, popcorn, carrots, cucumber, various sweets

Food for Sharing - since I mention often that we make food for family gatherings on the weekend, I thought I'd put it here as well:
  • My Dad visited us for dinner this week and asked me to make him a mac & cheese to take home, so I doubled up and made one for us too!
Other
  • Mini Chocolate Cake with Whipped Cream
  • Friday night I canned 7 quarts of bread & butter pickles using cukes from the garden. This is batch number two for 2020.

Note, Ben and I often eat different lunches. My "likes" are more limited, so I get to have fun cooking and give Ben a larger variety that I typically wouldn't eat. I am also not much of a breakfast person, so I typically just have a snack and eat lunch a bit earlier.

Feel free to share your WWS/ WWA!

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