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Holy Spring Break, Batman! How in the world is it already Friday? I’m so grateful that I had this week off work (thanks, education industry!), but so unhappy that it’s coming to an end.

This week was … weird and challenging. If you missed last Friday’s post, I had surgery last week and spent this week recovering. As the meal planner and chef of the house, that meant our food was wonky and full of fails. But hey, we’re frugal during the easy parts of life so we don’t have to be so hard on ourselves when the going gets rough.

See how we (attempted) to feed ourselves this week, and how much it cost.

Did you try a cool, new recipe this week? Let us know in the comments!

P.S. Be sure to check out The Picky Pinchers Cookbook! 

Quick health update

Thank you all so much for your kindness and well-wishes while I was out! And thanks for bearing with a bit of radio silence on the ol’ blog.

I won’t bore you with the ins and outs of the entire experience (I plan to make an in-depth video later on YouTube for those interested). But just as a general update, I’m feeling wonderful!

I’m 243% scared of doctors, hospitals, and needles, so I was very anxious about the entire experience. But the hospital staff, doctors, and nurses were all just amazing. I had a very positive experience during surgery and it couldn’t have gone better.

Recovery wasn’t too bad, but I was out of commission until Monday, when I started to feel better. Now that it’s Friday, I’m back to feeling like my old self again. I do have limited use of my neck, but I’m finally able to wash my hair by myself, which is a big win, y’all.

As far as long term issues, the only problem I foresee is vocal strain. I’m not able to talk for extended periods of time, which totally blows. I also occasionally have a weird, choking sensation that’s supposed to go away after, oh, a few months. I joke that it feels like getting Force-choked by Darth Vader. Again, this stuff will go away eventually and I shouldn’t have any long term issues.

I’m happy to have a good conclusion after this annoying six-month ordeal. Now to wait for the bills to roll in!

Monday

Breakfast: Smoothie, then an omelet.

After a weekend of eating mashed potatoes and soup, I wanted REAL food. At first I had a smoothie so I didn’t have to strain myself.

But y’all. I was SO HUNGRY. Like, eat-all-the-food-in-the-world hungry. I drank an entire smoothie shaker of smoothie and was still famished.

I put together an omelet with odds and ends from the fridge. I admit I prooobably shouldn’t have done this. It took a lot out of me, but good lawd was this real food amazing.

I didn’t take a picture because I was so relieved to get something edible on the plate.

Lunch: I don’t remember! I think I rifled through the fridge to nibble on leftover soup and mashed potatoes.

Dinner: Gnocchi soup.

Reader Jenny sent me this recipe a while back and it was time to put it to work! I didn’t cook it in the Instant Pot because I ain’t got the patience for that. Stovetop works fine for me.

This meal was so delicious! I loved the pillowy lightness of the gnocchi in the thick, hearty soup stock. It had plenty of veggies, too, which was just what I needed.

Thanks Jenny!

Tuesday

Breakfast: Chai cake.

Yesterday’s omelet took way too much out of me. I stuck with something easy and defrosted a pre-cooked homemade chai cake. Here’s the recipe I used. I cooked these in mini bundt cake tins and froze them for occasions like this.

Lunch: Leftover soup.

Dinner: Failed jambalaya with sausage. Then Subway.

Oh, lawd. I just did not have it together this week, guys. All the meal planning in the world couldn’t save me from myself. I accidentally grabbed a box of rice pilaf from the pantry instead of jambalaya box mix. By the time I realized, it was too late. I thought I could salvage the meal, but it just wasn’t happening. It tasted really weird.

I used my Hail Mary: Subway coupons. I ordered through the app and hubby simply picked up the sandwiches. It was much easier than writing down my order and having him try to replicate it.

Wednesday

Breakfast: Fancy toast.

I opted for the easiest and tastiest breakfasts this week. I decided to do toast two ways. One piece simply had mashed avocado with lime juice, and the other was a mixture of butter and my sister’s homemade jam. Easy and tasty.

Lunch: Leftover sandwiches. I always buy footlongs at Subway so we can get leftovers.

Dinner: “Spaghetti” and meatballs, then Panda Express.

Another weird dinner!

Mr. Picky Pincher cooked meatballs last weekend, so I thankfully didn’t have to cook them today. I did notice, however, that we were out of homemade marinara sauce (recipe here). I tried my best to whip up a homemade marinara in one hour with limited ingredients, but … it wasn’t good.

I’m trying to reduce the amount of carbs in my diet, so I used spiralized butternut squash as the “spaghetti.” That part was good, but the meatballs AND the marinara just … had a weird taste to them. I really tried to choke this one down, but I couldn’t do it.

We used a coupon to pick up Panda Express instead.

Thursday

Breakfast: Pumpkin Chai Smoothie.

When I made the March menu, I realized we have a crazy amount of pumpkin puree in the freezer. It’s time to use it up!

I created a creamy pumpkin chai smoothie. I didn’t follow a recipe, but it was essentially pumpkin puree, yogurt, almonds, protein powder, and maple syrup for sweet. It wasn’t my favorite, to be honest, but it was food.

Lunch: Leftover Panda Express. The bowls are way too much food for me to eat in one sitting, so they’re great for leftovers.

I was bored to tears and had a lot of my strength back. And you know what that means! Baking.

I found a recipe in Good Housekeeping for jelly donuts. I’ve never been able to successfully make donuts before, and wanted to take on the challenge. I’m pleased to report that these jelly donuts are uh-mazing.

Dinner: Whole grain penne with bacon and peas in cream sauce.

I was a fan of this meal, but Mr. Picky Pincher wasn’t too thrilled about it. I forgot to defrost chicken to go with it, so bacon was the only protein. Oops!

At any rate, this was a super easy meal to put together. I just boiled pasta and tossed it in a homemade bechamel (cheese) sauce. Then I topped it with pre-cooked bacon crumbles and stirred in peas.

I did make a salad on the side with carrots and parmesan crumbles. I found I eat more salad if it’s fancy-looking.

I was feeling stir-crazy and lonely today. I’m not allowed/able to drive so I’m essentially house-bound for at least two weeks. I flipped through my Book of Free and found a BOGO deal on tickets to our local aquarium, which is just down the road.

After dinner we paid $15 to go through the aquarium, which was something we both needed. It’s a touch-all-the-animals kind of aquarium, so we both got to pet a sting ray for the first time!

It was a great stress reliever for hubby and a much-needed trip out of the house for me, so it was well worth the $15.

Friday

Breakfast: Pumpkin tahini porridge.

This is another attempt to use up my ridiculous stockpile of pumpkin. And you know what? This was absolutely tasty. I used this recipe. 

This breakfast was filling and came together in minutes. I blended oats in my food processor to make them smaller. Then I poured them into 1 cup of bowling water with pumpkin, a pinch of salt, and brown sugar. Once the oats cooked, I topped them with a bit of tahini (a paste from sesame seeds that is used to make hummus) and dried cranberries.

Tahini seemed like a weird choice, but once I took a bite, I understood. The tahini gives everything almost a peanut butter kind of taste without peanuts. And the cranberries give a much-needed bite of acid to everything.

All in all, I’d say this was the most successful recipe of the week! Definitely going to make it again.

Lunch: Leftover pasta.

Dinner: Burgers ‘n’ tots.

It’s time to griiiiiiill! Hubby makes the best burgers. I looked for broccoli tots at the store as an alternative to traditional potato tots, but we couldn’t find them. I have a hunch that we may find a bag at Costco. So, oh well, traditional potato tots it is for today. I’m not complaining.

Grocery Costs

Let’s see what we spent this week!

On sale: $0

Coupons: $7

Total: $45.23

Goals for next week

Woohooooo! I mean, even though it was a rough week on the food front, at least we hit our grocery total goal. If the meals had worked out, we would also be at budget on takeout. Unfortunately I couldn’t get my shiz together, so we ate out A LOT this week.

But I’m not going to beat myself up over this. We did our best to save money where we could, using coupons. It was a hard week with me not operating at 100%, so I’m not upset that we ate out more. Next time something like this happens, I think we just need to plan for affordable takeout options. I did feel like I pressured myself to cook when I didn’t feel up to the challenge.

As far as next week, I would reaaaaally love to not eat out. We’re already at budget for takeout this month, all thanks to this past week. I’m not too sad about that because it was needed, but still. I’m feeling much better, so I should be able to swing with the punches better next week.

I’d also like to keep our grocery total around $50 if possible, so we can come in at budget this month. We’ll see how we do!

Also, If you’re interested in our grocery shopping system, I go over it in depth in this eBook.

We want to know: How did you save or spend money this week?

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