Grocery Challenge - Week 2 Begins

We wanted to start our grocery buying off on Monday when we realized we were out of chocolate syrup (aiee! my morning coffee drinks!) and needed a cucumber to make a batch of Chilled Tomatillo-Cucumber Soup before the tomatillos bit the dust.

It was not, however, meant to be. We wound up going to Walmart today with our usual shopping trips to Rancho and Winco because of problems with a UPS delivery. (If you watch my Twitter feed, you probably saw me bitching up a storm.)

We Spent: $8.94 (Rancho) + $4.27 (Del Taco) + $30.55 (Winco) + $3.21 (Walmart) == $46.97 Budget Remaining: $3.03

Yikes! We've spent almost our entire budget this week. Part of that was buying $SUPER_SECRET_INGREDIENT for Saturday. We did get a moneymaker though at Winco -- flyer coupon for Bar S Hot Dogs for 28c each + $1.00 off 2 Bar S Hot Dogs == 44c cash back! (They're really bad as hot dogs, but if you chop 'em up finely, they do okay when fried up. And free + cash back isn't something I'll turn down!)

But! On the upside, I won another $20 Jason's Deli gift card in the Tuesday Trivia Challenge!! I'm so excited! XD Interestingly enough, both of the challenges I won were American history related - the first was regarding the Scopes trial and the second was about President Madison's purchase of Thomas Jefferson's library.

Anyway... How are we doing on eating healthily and using up old pantry items? I think we're doing great on eating well, even if right now neither of us is inspired to do much that's original. I'm way too stressed over my senior project, but things should improve once I hand that in during July. My husband has been sick for a few days too. Not great for creativity. As for the pantry, we're slowly using things up.

Sunday: Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, Breakfast Sausage, hot fruited oatmeal (from The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook) Lunch: Maltas gaļas mērce over cheese tortellini, sauteed leek and carrots on the side Dinner: Mom invited us out to Applebee's

Monday: Breakfast: Fried egg, turkey bacon, apple and savory bacon/olive cornbread (no recipe yet, husband was inspired Sunday night) Lunch: Random fridge stirfry of broccoli, tomato, carrot, cabbage and mushrooms with black beans over steamed quinoa and bulgur. Dinner: Vistas karbonāde ar sieru, šķovēti kāposti, vārīti kartupeļi (Chicken cutlet with cheese, braised sauerkraut and boiled potatoes)

Tuesday: Breakfast: Omelette with strawberry hot fruited oatmeal Lunch: Del Taco -- because I was pissed off and hot so I missed the turn for the taco truck (on the plus side, we only spent $0.27 more than we planned) Dinner: Beef/TVP kofta/meatballs, baked potatoes, sauteed zucchini and carrots, plus roasted fresh sweet corn (just because they looked great)