Nature’s Amazing Bounty
Posted: June 23, 2009 Filed under: Food Lists, Phil Wrote It, Veggies 7 Comments
Like Tina said in the last post, a colleague of mine went out of down this week and donated her West Village CSA share to us. I went down to pick it up this afternoon and came away with the following items:
Bright Lights Swiss Chard: 1 bunch
Summer Spinach: 1 bunch
Napa Cabbage: 1 head
Red Leaf Lettuce: 1 head
Escarole: 1 head
Garlic Scapes: 6
Oregano: 1 bunch
Chives: 1 bunch
Needless to say, we are all set for produce this week, so we’re free to use our budget to stock up on some staples that are running low, like olive oil, soy sauce, salt, and maybe some Sriracha (which is honestly a staple for us).
The only thing is that we are going out of town this weekend for a wedding, so we need to use up these veggies stat, at least to make some food that we can freeze and eat when we get back. So far, we’re thinking we might try a spinach lasagna, and maybe some caldo verde. The cabbage, garlic scapes, and herbs will hopefully last until we get back.
If anybody has other suggestions for how to use this stuff in a hurry, let us know.
This Week’s Receipt
Posted: February 5, 2009 Filed under: $ Left, Food Lists, Tina Wrote It, Weekly Rundown 6 CommentsI didn’t get everything that I put in my basket. Which was a bummer because I was looking forward to some grape tomatoes and string beans, but looks like I’ll be making something with almonds and string beans instead. C’est la vie!
- Money Spent This Week: $28.90
- Money Left: $1.10 (hmm, could have bought corn flour)
Emergen-C! Poll Results
Posted: January 29, 2009 Filed under: Food Lists, Polls, Tina Wrote It 2 CommentsA week and a half ago, I posted up our receipt and a poll as to whether or not we should be counting Emergen-C packets as part of the grocery receipt. The results are in and it turns out that 72% of our readers clicked on the second option: “No. You guys need to spend $ on food-stuffs.”
This is interesting as it pertains to preventative measures to protect ourselves from colds and nasty bugs that have been slaying office-mates. A lot of people who commented made the point that if we got sick, would we count medicine or doctor’s bills to our budget? Well, no, we wouldn’t. My doctor’s copay would probably be about $20, so that’s not saving money. Then again, our $30/Week is supposed to be a challenge. It was tough to decide, which is why I made a poll about it. With the results overwhelmingly in favor of our not using our grocery budget for Emergen-C’s, I will be going out and buying a bulk pack…eventually.
For comparison, 24% voted that they should be included in the bill and 4% thought it was a tough question and they didn’t know the answer.
This Week’s Receipt (oops!)
Posted: January 7, 2009 Filed under: $ Left, Food Lists, The Rundown, Tina Wrote It Leave a commentI lost the receipt. Somewhere between getting it at the checkout counter at the coop, using the restroom and running to catch the bus in the rain, it’s gone. I am very sorry folks, because that is one of my favorite parts of the site. I can tell you that I spent $21.14. Here is what I got:
- 4 pinklady apples
- 1 empire apple
- 1 lacinato kale
- 1 fennel bulb
- 1 head of red cabbage
- 2 russet potatoes
- 2 leeks
- a lot of rolled oats
- 12 eggs
- salad mix
- 1 kirby cucumber
- 1 lemon
- 1 bunch of celery
- 3 beets
- 2 turnips
- chamomile tea (loose)
- peppermint tea (loose)
- rosehips (loose)
Because of the NYE party, we’ve been eating a lot of leftover chili and since we had a house-guest, we also went out to eat a bit more and went to a dinner party or two. Our guest was nice enough to provide the tangerines for the Tangerine Sherbert, so we have a whole bunch in a big box left over. Winter is an excellent time for citrus. I realize lately that I’m fruit-starved.
Can’t Win ‘Em All
Posted: December 29, 2008 Filed under: $ Left, Food Lists, Phil Wrote It 3 CommentsBeing gone for the holidays last week left us with a substantial $19 of weekly budget left over to combine with this week’s $30. Normally, this would be pretty luxurious, but it so happens that we are having a bunch of folks (maybe about 10?) over for dinner on New Years Eve and we needed to get some extra food. We’re making chili, which is generally an extremely economical meal – and one that I’ll post about separately when we actually make it – but when you’re serving that many people, a couple of the more expensive items add up quick. On top of that, we were out of coffee and also needed wheat gluten flour to make a batch of seitan – again, a very economical process in itself and one that we’ll write about soon, but the gluten tacked on about $6 to our already strained grocery bill this week. Anyway, I present to you our first undeniably overbudget grocery receipt. It clocks in at $57: eight bucks over even our expanded budget.
The silver lining is that if you take out all the stuff that we bought specifically for the chili, we get down to $34.16, which is way within our budget if you take into account the money left over from last week.
Money left over: Wah-Waaaaah
This Week’s Receipt
Posted: December 10, 2008 Filed under: $ Left, Food Lists Leave a commentWe still have to use last week’s swiss chard…
Money Left w/surplus: $12.78
This Week’s Receipt & Recap
Posted: December 2, 2008 Filed under: $ Left, Food Lists, Tina Wrote It 1 CommentWe were fortunate enough to be invited to our friends’ apartment last night for Julia Child’s Potato and Leek Soup and some crusty bread and cheese. Thanks ladies! This meant that we didn’t go food shopping last night, so I went before work today. The Coop is a different beast early in the morning. It’s not full of people, all the produce is fresh from the morning delivery and there are no lines. A great shopping experience. We actually have about $60 to spend this week because of last week’s trek to our families. I think we had something like another $4 or so leftover too, but forget about it. This week, I spent $30.91. I didn’t want to blow the whole $60 and was still trying to stay completely under $30, but my plans hit a snag when I couldn’t find any tortillas for less than $3.38. Arg.
So, now we have $29.09 left. I really want to use it to buy staples since we’re just about out of sugar and various grains, but maybe it should just sit around for when we really need it. Or maybe I should throw a fondue party.
Anyways, here is this week’s receipt.
This Week’s Receipt and Last Week’s Recap
Posted: November 11, 2008 Filed under: $ Left, Food Lists, Tina Wrote It, Weekly Rundown 1 CommentSo, below is this week’s receipt (so far). Last week we had a surplus of almost $4, but used it over the weekend to buy some bread, 2 tangerines and some coffee (Cafe Bustelo, $2.39, to be exact). Things are going pretty well! I am getting nervous as my stock of frozen butter is low, which means no impromptu cookie making. AHHH! We still have quite a few grains, chickpeas, tofu, flour, two turnips and a lone carrot in the crisper.
11/3 Receipt
Posted: November 3, 2008 Filed under: $ Left, Food Lists Leave a commentNothing too crazy here. A total of $22.58, leaving us $7.42 for incidentals. The few dollars we had left from last week went to some milk and faux cold cuts.
Updated: Money Left
Posted: October 23, 2008 Filed under: $ Left, Food Lists Leave a commentI went to Trader Joe’s and then to Key Foods today and got some more foodstuffs. I saw the no boil lasagna noodles and thought that a swiss chard lasagna would be nice. Plus I found some frozen mozzarella and leftover broccoli pesto in the freezer that could be utilized. TIP: Search through your freezer, fridge and pantry for things to use. You might be surprised what’s edible and useful or what you actually have. Case in point: after ransacking the pantry for some pickling spice, I found packets of yeast. Bread baking baby!
The lists:
Trader Joe’s
- Lasagna Noodles: 1.99
- Rice Sticks: 1.39
- Frozen Edamame: 1.69
- Pizza Dough, Whole Wheat: .99 (that’s actually probably cheaper than making it at home…maybe)
Total: 6.06
Key Foods
- Gold Medal AP Flour (5lb): 1.99 (ON SALE w/card)
- Sclafani Tomatoes: 1.00 (ON SALE w/card)
Total: 2.99
The Week:
- 20.35 (previous Coop Bill)
- 6.06
- 2.99
GRAND TOTAL: 29.40
$$ LEFT: .60
30 Bucks a Week 
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