Psst, I make money on some of the links in this post at no cost to you. It keeps the lights on around here. Amazon links are affiliate links. 

Oy, what a week! I returned to work after two glorious and far-too-short weeks off. Later in the week I attended a work retreat, which slightly changed our food plans. Still, this week we crushed it on the food bill front, although we could have done more creative and healthy dishes. 

See what we ate this week and how much we spent.

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

Monday

Breakfast: Eggs, bacon, and cinnamon rolls.

We were at Mr. Picky Pincher’s folks’ house today after celebrating a very chilly and windy New Year’s Eve together. We enjoyed bacon and eggs with cinnamon rolls. Hom nom nom.

Lunch: Green smoothie.

Instead of drinking myself under the table for NYE, I instead chose to overindulge in cheese dip. Breakfast was also a touch heavy, so I prepped a big batch of green smoothie once I got home that afternoon. Here’s my favorite green smoothie recipe. I love that it isn’t crazy sweet and still packs in lots of veggies. 

Dinner: Green smoothie leftovers.

I had smoothie leftovers and wasn’t hungry, so I finished off the smoothie. It sounds like a depressing meal, but it was just what I needed to feel better after all the heavy holiday eating. 

Tuesday

Breakfast: Chorizo potato hash – with homemade caramel macchiato! I wasn’t happy to return to work this morning, so I made an extra tasty breakfast to lift my spirits.

I pre-cooked this meal on Monday so it was ready to go today. I popped it in the microwave and we had breakfast on the table in minutes. Since I needed an extra pep in my step, I used our cappucino machine (Amazon link here) to make a homemade caramel macchiato.

It’s as easy as pouring Torani vanilla syrup in my cappucino glass, brew the coffee, top with frothed milk, and a ribbon of caramel (it’s in a squeeze bottle bought in the ice cream aisle).

This was most tasty! As an added bonus, I used up the other half of chorizo sausage that I didn’t use during my chicken paella cooking video (check it out here if you missed it).

Lunch: Leftover chili.

Mr. Picky Pincher’s parents sent us home with mighty tasty chili leftovers, which we happily enjoyed. One less meal to cook!

Dinner: Bean and cheese tostadas

I kept Dinner simple tonight since I knew the first day back at work would be rough. I mean, waking up at 5 am again after sleeping in over the holidays is rough, y’all. I could barely stay awake today!

Anyhoo, we topped tostada shells with homemade black beans, cheese, pickled jalapenos, and hot sauce. It came together super fast and it tasted great. As a bonus, it used up items we had in our pantry.

Wednesday

Breakfast: Dutch baby with blueberries.

After trying a Dutch baby (it’s a huge, fluffy pancake if you’ve never heard of it) last week, I wanted to make one for Mr. Picky Pincher. This week I topped it with blueberries and powdered sugar.

It was really good! Here’s the recipe I use. We’ve decided we like this way more than crepes and will be eating it again.

Lunch: Leftover tostadas

Dinner: Mediterranean chicken panini. This was our wild ‘n’ crazy new meal of the week. This is the recipe I used. It came together super fast! I was skeptical of the pea hummus, but I’m a convert! This stuff tastes better than chickpea hummus by a mile.

I don’t have a panini press, so I got a crusty sear on these sandwiches by putting them in the pan on medium-high heat and pressing them down with a pie pan. It’s not perfect, but it works. 

Today I also realized we had three bananas that were about to spoil. As it so happened, I also had a frozen pack of pie dough that I got for free from the grocery store. I decided to bake us a homemade treat of banana cream pie.

I had extra dough after rolling the crust, so I rolled it out and cut it into flower shapes for a little decoration. This was really tasty! Here’s the recipe I used. I loved how it used up more items in our pantry that were about to go bad.

Also, piiiiiiiiieeee.

Thursday

Breakfast: Savory bagels.

I was bad about taking pictures today – sorry y’all! For breakfast we made savory bagels. I pre-cooked sausage patties and topped the bagels with homemade egg patties, provolone cheese, hot sauce, and bacon. Mr. Picky Pincher loved the double meatiness.

Lunch: Freezer meals.

Mr. Picky Pincher had a work luncheon today. We were out of ingredients to make the Mediterranean chicken panini, so I opted for a freezer meal of tomato cream sliders with rice (recipe here). 

Dinner: Company dinner / venison steak with rice pilaf and salad.

I attended a company retreat this evening and all day Friday, so dinner was covered at the boss’s house. Mr. Picky Pincher took this as an opportunity to eat foods that I would normally veto, namely deer/venison. My dad gave him a few deer loins, which he turned into a deer steak dinner with rice pilaf and salad.

I’m not much for deer; I think it’s too lean. But hey, hunting for food is quite frugal!

Friday

Breakfast: Hotel breakfast / breakfast tacos.

I snagged a quick hotel breakfast of oatmeal today before starting work. Mr. Picky Pincher made bean and cheese tacos. 

Lunch: Company lunch / leftovers.

Another company lunch for me! Mr. Picky Pincher had deer leftovers.

Dinner: Fast food / Chicken wings.

Our company retreat ends right before dinner, so I’ll grab fast food on the drive back home. I have a Chikfila coupon for a free 8-count nugget, so I might do that. Mr. Picky Pincher is thrilled that he has another opportunity to make himself chicken wings.

Grocery Costs

Let’s see what we spent this week!

On sale: $0. Boooo.

Coupons: $0.75

Total: $60.64

Goals for next week

Look at that grocery total! I focused on pantry-heavy meals this week, mostly because I wanted to keep our costs low. I also knew it would be a rough week with returning to work after two weeks off. For that reason, we didn’t get crazy-adventurous with our meals. 

I know not too many meals were healthy this week. Next week I’m aiming to have a more eclectic and healthy menu, now that I’m back in the swing of working (ugh). I’d love to keep our food total below $80 next week, too!

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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