This month I spent $189.64 on groceries and $83.33 on dining out. We did spend a few days out of town, and all of my food costs for those days were categorized under travel, plus we used some gift cards on a few nights out. Overall we did good cooking most meals at home, but I wouldn’t call this month a win for the budget on food spending. But it was a win for my stomach.
We tried eating less meat this month and were pretty successful until the last week. We also tried out a few new recipes, used up some pantry staples, and bought a good amount of on sale meat to freeze and use later.
Dashes represent meals that we skipped (not a great practice, but sometimes the day just gets away). Meals that say “work” are free meals included in some kind of work event.
Week 1:
| Lunch | Dinner | |
| Sunday 2/02 | Pizza | Pasta and salad |
| Monday 2/3 | Pasta | Salad |
| Tuesday 2/4 | Scallion herb chickpea salad and naan | |
| Wednesday 2/5 | Scallion herb chickpea salad and naan | Roasted veggie bowl |
| Thursday 2/6 | Roasted veggie bowl | Dinner out with a gift card |
| Friday 2/7 | Roasted veggie bowl | Tacos |
| Saturday 2/8 | Bagels | Nachos |
I made my own naan! We stuck with pretty simple easy stuff for the first week and tried to lean a little more veggie heavy. However, we used beef for the tacos and nachos. Y’all, the nachos were so good.
Week 2:
| Lunch | Dinner | |
| Sunday 2/9 | Brunch Out | Nachos |
| Monday 2/10 | Salad | |
| Tuesday 2/11 | Orzo salad | Creamy White Bean & Spinach Quesadilla |
| Wednesday 2/12 | Orzo salad | Creamy White Bean & Spinach Quesadillla / Orzo Salad |
| Thursday 2/13 | Out of town | Out of town |
| Friday 2/14 | Out of town | Out of town |
| Saturday 2/15 | Out of town | Out of town |
We we’re out of town the second half of week two and I always categorize all of my out of town food spending under travel. Easy stuff using some pantry staples before we left town. The orzo salad is a regular in our house that we typically make at least once a month. This was the first time we made these quesadillas though, and they were super easy and tasty, definitely will be making again.
Week 3:
| Lunch | Dinner | |
| Sunday 2/16 | Out of town | Salad |
| Monday 2/17 | Work Lunch | Chicken Pot Pie (frozen from Whole Foods) |
| Tuesday 2/18 | Chicken Pot Pie | Salad |
| Wednesday 2/19 | Work Lunch | Salad |
| Thursday 2/20 | Salad | Dinner out |
| Friday 2/21 | Random stuff I packed (yogurt, fruit, cheese, etc.) | Pineapple Shrimp Fried Rice |
| Saturday 2/22 | Pineapple Shrimp Fried Rice | Pineapple Shrimp Fried Rice |
We got home Sunday night and ran to the store to grab some salad supplies and a frozen pot pie to get us through the first couple days back in town. We also had some shrimp in the freezer and added it to what we were originally going to have be a vegetarian fried rice. This made super great and easy left overs — a priority when I’m planning meals.
Week 4:
| Lunch | Dinner | |
| Sunday 2/23 | — | Lasagna |
| Monday 2/23 | Lasagna | Lasagna |
| Tuesday 2/24 | Lasagna | Lasagna |
| Wednesday 2/25 | Lasagna | Chinese Take Out (gift card) |
| Thursday 2/26 | Leftover Chinese | Lasagna |
| Friday 2/27 | Leftover Chinese | Work Dinner |
| Saturday 2/28 | Chicken Noodle Soup | Dinner out with Friends (gift card) |
| Sunday 2/29 | Leftovers | Conference Dinner |
We limped into the last week of the month and Cassie made a giant lasagna with quality ingredients. I ate it for days. So much lasagna. The rest of the days we used gift cards to eat out. Time to plan for March!
