we have a few threads around (or you can use this one) for inspiration on those types of items. This month I am exploring anchovies. (Today’s penne with spinach/garlic/almond/anchovy pesto and toasted breadcrumbs didn’t smell great during prep but tasted delicious)
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I drove to work again and didn’t get breakfast!
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Thanks @plainjane
I love Anchovis. Your pasta sounds delicious. I once tried a recipe from Sicily that combined Anchovis and raisins with pasta and roasted breadcrumbs, which was ‘interesting’ but nothing I would make again.
I just found a recipe for pudlas that are made with chickpea flour. I am thinking about throwing some chana dhal into my blender to see if I can blitz them into flour. Has anyone here ever tried this?
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Pork shoulder took too long to cook last night and the smells were making us hungry so I pulled it out early and finished it this afternoon
Ended up with quite the colorful presentation
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This looks really good! I love the presentation.
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I tried a new grocery store! The food was great but too hard to get there. Our local butcher finishes Christmas break on Monday, YAY. I will also be trying another new grocery store.
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1 week into January, so let’s see how things are going.
My goals were:
- Track spending per category
- Track protein intake for 1 week of the month to get a general overview of how I’m doing
I didn’t do the protein tracking yet as the first week of the year isn’t ever the most ‘typical’ one, although looking back it would’ve been fine. I may do it for the coming week, starting tomorrow or Monday.
Regarding spending:
So far I spent €23.82 in a week so that’s not bad at all and even on track with my older grocery budgets in the €100-150/month range (it’s been more like €200/month recently).
Category wise I spent most (24%) on ‘sweet snacks’, oops. Although half of that was a pricey protein bar I got at work after a morning workout so maybe I should categorize a protein bar differently? It was a cookies & cream flavored one though so it felt like a sweet snack. Any suggestions? I don’t get them frequent enough to give them their own category.
Overall I don’t think the categories are all that representative yet because it’s only been a week and besides a bottle of olive oil I didn’t need to stock up on any staples yet.
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Well, I’m out folks! I signed up for HelloFresh starting next week. They had a starting special with three weeks of discounts that equal less than my normal grocery bill.
I was prompted by having an article published in a magazine for which I was paid in USD. I put it towards further education in my field of endeavour by signing up for an online weeklong series of workshops the end of this month and into February. The conference is intense and the last three times I’ve taken it we’ve been ordering food in, doing curbside pickup at restaurants, or just plain been arguing over meals. Hubby can cook, but he chooses not to, and expects I will do it for him. He’s not against ordering in from restaurants by any means, and our budget takes a big hit during the workshop week as a result.
At any rate, those are my excuses.
I’m figuring four weeks on HelloFresh will cost us about $360 CAD in supper and lunch meals. We’ll still have to buy fresh fruit and breakfast foods. My budget is $500 CAD this month.
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Have added 2 lbs of ground beef and some chicken since I accidentally bought way too much meat.
Not bad for week 1 (and it really only started Tuesday). I’m updating the challenge to include washing the inside of the freezer once the food is eaten because the popsicles melted and there’s sticky raspberry goop all over. I have vague plans for everything but the blackberry soup, veggie burgers and juice. Suggestions welcome!
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I bet you could make a delicious bread or rice pudding with that blackberry soup.
ETA: or put it in tea, like jam.
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I’ve successfully started reusing my tracking form! I added a column for things going in/out of the freezer, since every time I do a freezer inventory I spend a lot of time and then don’t use it or keep it up to date.
I’m better about using the form. I generate the weekly shopping list from it too.
I tried a cut/paste, but it was an ugly thing.
Here’s a brief explanation: I have the date, what we ate, and indicators of we changed of food from the fridge, pantry, freezer, or dry storage. A description of long-term storage changes, and the new column: a list of items in/out of the freezer.
The last 2 rows each week are:
Possible needs – Anything we’re low on or out of (including indulgences). Shopping list – I note what’s needed.
Separating actual needs from the indulgences helps keep the food bill down. This week, for example, we need salad greens and BE peas. We could indulge and get shallots, ice cream, corn crackers, beef kidney, bacon, cinnamon roll mix, or mushrooms.
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Ooooh bread pudding sounds incredible. Or maybe French toast type meal. Thank you!
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Ohhhh rice pudding, yum.
I bet oatmeal and ice cream would enjoy the blackberry soup too…
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Week 1 Checkin: We did not meal prep this week BUT we got a targeted offer in the mail for Purple Carrot (a plant based meal prep kit we used last time we had an offer, making it almost free). With the offer, it’s roughly the same price as getting the ingredients from the store, and we enjoyed the meal ideas last time. So, we have that coming on Tuesday and that’s my plan for the week.
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Well, I did my best to meal plan this week, but there’s a solid chance I have omicron right now so it did kind of fall apart a little. We ended up getting takout twice since food didn’t sound great to me unless it was super duper delicious. 
My partner went to the store for us today so I’m hoping we (I) can resist takeout next week (we got some treat things like frozen pizza and box mac and cheese), but if I’m stuck at home the whole time I think I also might give in to the hub of grub…
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Changed categories a little bit after shopping:
After one QFC run:
Processed: 3.49
Dairy: 1.49
Meat: 5.29
Veg/Fruit: 18.74
Snax: 5.99
Condiment (includes salsa): 19.48
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blackberry soup jello?
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Feel better ASAP!!!
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I do have gelatin…
If I don’t manage to get quality bread for bread pudding I will try this. I’m not sure what the alcohol content of the soup is (I think it’s like 1/3 wine but also was simmered)….
Lifehacker did a series where they turned a bunch of drinks (like coffee, tea, beer, wine) into jello and rated them. I’m newly intrigued by that.
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the reason I have gelatin atm is
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