What We Ate April 16 - 22

I did some freezer restocking this week but not as much as I’d planned to because I was too busy to get to the grocery store.  Perhaps there’s a lesson there:  Busy people spend less money??  We’ll have to see how that plays out in the coming weeks.

The weather is warming up here and it has me wanting to do more grilling.  At this time of year I start to crave salads too.  Salad greens are not yet in season in our area so finding that crunch can be a challenge on our budget. I did splurge and buy a head of romaine last week.  We enjoyed it very much but we’ve mainly been satisfying our craving for fresh greens by growing sprouts, pea shoots, and sunflower shoots to use in our lunchtime salads and sandwiches.  They add lots of crunch and fresh flavour but are far more affordable than imported lettuce and spinach.

A friend of mine shared some fresh basil from her windowsill garden this week.  (Don’t you just love the fragrance of basil?)   The flavour was a lovely reminder that summer is on its way. I chopped some of the basil to make a compound butter I used in tomato sandwiches on Monday.  It was delicious.  The rest of that butter is now tucked away in the freezer for another day.  I’m sure we’ll enjoy it just as much the second time around.  

Including meat for the freezer, I spent $42.54 on groceries this week, bringing our monthly total to date to $179.56.  Considering the amount of food I’ve put in the freezer and the panty, I’m very happy with that number.

Here’s what we ate this week:

Monday:

Breakfast – Applesauce bran muffins (from the freezer), oranges

Supper – Lettuce and tomato sandwiches on whole wheat bread (made with basil butter!), cottage cheese, fruit salad

Tuesday:

Breakfast- Oatmeal cooked with raisins, apples, brown sugar and cinnamon

Supper – Grilled pork steaks, sautéed mushrooms, brown rice, steamed corn, canned cherries

Wednesday:

Breakfast – Rice and beans

Supper – Cauliflower and potato soup, whole wheat crackers, date and nut pudding cake

Thursday:

Breakfast – Yogurt and canned peaches

Supper – Toad in a hole, roasted broccoli and carrots, leftover date and nut pudding

Friday:

Breakfast – Pineapple ginger muffins, yogurt

Supper – Cheese omelettes, steamed brown rice, carrot and celery sticks, oranges

Saturday:

Breakfast – Oatmeal and applesauce

Supper – Vegetable curry, brown basmati rice, canned pears

Sunday:

Breakfast – Poached eggs and toast, grilled oranges

Supper – Spaghetti and meatballs, garlic and rosemary foccaccia, oranges