I went out for lunch yesterday, this was already planned for in the 2 eating out occasions. It was so nice to chat with a good friend of mine and I love that I am now able to go out for lunch instead of dinner.
I used up more of the meat from the freezer but also 1 portion of frozen lasagna, a good friend of mine did a whole sheet pan last time she visited and I froze the delicious stuff, 3 more in the freezer 
I will bake a casserole with brussels sprout today and tomorrow, that will also use up a package of minced beef. This is good for two dinners for me.
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trying to decide what level is āuntil the final 2 weeksā for the freezer. We have started on the butter chicken sauce.
Summary
Commercial bags
frozen blueberries x3
frozen mango x3 (found bag, not added) x2 + partial (for real this time)
frozen peaches x1
frozen mixed fruit x1
frozen kale (partial)
brussel sprouts (partial)
frozen corn (partial)
frozen cauliflower
frozen green beans x2 x1
added: frozen broccoli
Ziplocs
roasted peppers (small)
roasted cauliflower (medium)
roasted tomato (large)
melon pops (medium)
Meats
pork belly x4 x6 (found)
pork tenderloin pieces x 3 x2
steak x1 / x2 (added) x1
bacon 1kg x2
bacon 375g x1
ground beef 1lb x3 x2
shrimp (partial)
added: chicken thighs x4
2 cup meal prep
cauliflower coconut x3 x1 + partial
cauliflower coconut red lentil x2 x1
onion soup x2 x1
butter chicken sauce x2 x1
carrot red lentil x1
curried tomato soup x1
1 cup meal prep
shredded pork shoulder x4 x3
butter chicken sauce x3/x2 x3 (a cup decanted from the 2 cup section)
white beans x2
beef curry x2 x1
beef rendang x1
curried tomato soup x1
1 cup ingredients
stock x2
coconut milk x1
blood orange juice x1
roasted pears x1
random ingredients
hot peppers
pomegranate seeds
chipotle paste
chopped celery
ginger
chopped lemongrass
tomato paste
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Hubby commented āThereās getting to be some room in the fridge these days.ā
My reply? āGood!ā
There most certainly is more room. And in the freezers too. Though we still have a long way to go there. Yay! For Snackuary!
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Goal of meal prepping on our first day in the new apartment did not happen because it took us a day to figure out how to turn the gas on for the stove! Also realized we have no toaster.
After the weekend we now have a partially stocked fridge and I have leftover fried rice to take as a work lunch tomorrow and also washed and prepped a bunch of strawberries. Will try to cook a few more times this week and fill up the fridge a bit more.
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Both of my trackers are up-to-date as of yesterday! So far I have spent $233.31 on food for January, which is about half of my total budget. Thatās more money than I wouldāve liked to spend by this point, so Iām going to eat down my fridge and pantry as much as possible next week. I will need to grab a few things for work lunches, but I can keep that shopping trip minimal.
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Have been eating up some older condiments in the fridge (mango chutney!). No recent grocery runs or things thrown out since last check-in.
Holding strong with fiber. Now need to start focus on protein, which has been lacking. I need to look into Lilyās apps because I would normally track on paper/in my head but neither of those are good options for the parent of a 3 month old apparently.
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Grocery total this week was much closer to normal, $77.16 and $35.43 was spent on GF alternatives.
MTD totals: $585.50 total and $140.28 on GF alternatives
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This week:
$200 at Costco, $40 at Hong Phat
Defrosted and reorganized the deep freeze! I have a good stock of one mealās worth of soup/risotto/other leftovers that Iām going to hang on to for busy times coming in February and March. Pulled some neglected berries and veggies to the top of the fridge and will be using them as meal planning inspiration
Also:
- made a batch of freezer burritos with leftovers from earlier in the week
- thawed last weekās pumpkin to bake with
- started rendering a bunch of miscellaneous pork fat from the freezer
- Making pizza tonight that will use up some freezer pesto and leftover fancy olives from the holidays
I really need to sort through the fridge and deal with all the poorly labeled jars.
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Week 2? Not doing great on the budgeting! But doing well on cooking at home and other food goals.
Since weāre trying to cook new recipes, our weekly grocery shop that usually holds us all week hasnāt quite cut it. Weāve had to do supplemental shopping this week which isnāt our norm. I guess we also bought coffee beans so that upped the price for the week.
Groceries is already at $166/300 for the month.
For eating out, I was right on target, but then we had a work lunch yesterday at a fairly pricey place. I was happy with my meal choice for price and tastiness, but I spotted a co-worker for her expensive meal expecting sheād venmo me back. She thought I was treating her. Usually Iād just clarify, but we went out to eat cuz things are really bad at work and I donāt have the heart to ask her for the money.
Eating out: $183/400
Ready to do my meal plan for next week and try more new recipes!
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I fucking nailed my okonomiyaki base recipe so i have that as a solid addition to my lunches. Itās tasty with some slices of ham, an egg, flavoured pre-made tofu or some chicken as a protein.
This week is brainstorming and printing off recipes to fill a Lunch Recipes folder of stuff we already know how to make, and I will see how many more I need to get to 10.
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week 2 check-in:
- I have not made the pantry inventory but I thought about making the pantry inventory. itās going on my to do list for next week. ate 3 meals that were from the freezer/pantry though! and planned 2 meals for next week that include pantry items (butter chicken and bean/sausage skillet
- caved and got delivery already. not going to beat myself up about it. not sure if Iāll be able to stick to 2 meals, but weāll see.
- I have spent $178/550 on food for the month.
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Week 2 check-in!
I forgot to mention that one of my goals for snackuary was to minimize grocery store trips. Max one per week. Last week I went once, it cost 60$. This week I went five (!) times(lack of planning on my part) it cost 120,17$!!!
I made the last recipe for a while. I had some leftover carrots and a broccoli that I bought weeks ago, and they were making me nervous by looking at me everytime I opened the fridge, so I made a soup. Now my freezer is full, so it will be time to empty it and not putting stuff in loll.
For fun I checked my grocery spending from 2018 to now. In 2018 i was spending 230$ a month on average and I never checked flyers specials 
those were the days! It slowly crept up and since 2021 it skyrocketed . Inflation has a role but also a change in my habits. It was interesting to check.
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- Just caught up with my tracking. Yesterday was a no food spend day
granola bar (gift from a friend) on the way to a birthday lunch, then brought home leftovers for dinner. - Found more tea in a secret 4th location (boxes that hadnāt been opened in at least two years). Will update my list once I finish translating the text and figuring out the weights.
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Week 2 check-in
Cook dinner 3x/week: I made dinner for the adults in the house twice this week. The middle of the week was rough and I was pretty sapped on energy. I made toddler dinner every night.
Donāt buy booze for the home: I did not buy any. My husband did. But itās an IPA so it will remain untouched by me. As is becoming a theme on my posts here, I only take responsibility for what I do, not him, because that would be an exercise in futility and Iād go insane
Always stick to the list: I didnāt go this week; husband did. So I did not stick to anything
Overall spending: We spent $86.51 this week on groceries. Overall spending for the month comes to $157.51. The total cap is $475. While I am not crushing my sub-goals, this one looks fine for now.
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A generally important thing to know and do!!!
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eat down the freezers and pantry,
less that $75 CAD/week on groceries (food only, for 2 adults),
more protein; less carb.
Freezers and fridge are definitely looking emptier.
Total spent on groceries so far this month is about $60 CAD.
Eating more protein, less carb. Cookies have gone to new homes. Carb = fresh fruit and breadstuff. Trying to control the latter.
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Thus far, weāre still quite stocked up and doing a halfway decent job at eating down the pantry. 12 days into the month, thus far spent $15.28 on groceries - thatās all fresh food. weāre going to need to start getting more creative soon but happy to be finally getting through things
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Share please?
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Just finished menu planning for the next week. I think we need to buy one item at the grocery store.
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Ended up with a slight change of plans last week, got invited to a friendās for a post-holiday dinner/bitch fest (their holidays were considerably more stressful than mine) so no pot pie got made. Instead I contributed some potatoes/onions/celery/carrots to the roast and got leftovers that lasted several days in return.
For this week thereās a pot pie in the oven using up the odds and ends of vegetables and chicken and a couple random cans of cream of <whatever>, plus the last of the breakfast berries were blended into a couple random containers of pineapple yogurt that I bought by mistake for a couple non-egg breakfasts. No shopping, although Iām about out of fresh vegetables now and next week will be my turn to host cooking club so Iāll need to figure out something for that.
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