We have definitely been forced to be more creative with our meals doing the $30/week challenge, and boy will I be happy to have my full budget back! But, as an update, here’s what we’ve been having this week:
Salmon & Pesto – We may have cheated a little here. I bought this HUGE piece of salmon for our sushi, which we said didn’t count toward our $30 challenge. (Hey, it was better per pound AND better quality than the pre-frozen stuff.) But, we cut the rest up into 7 fillets. I guess this will have to come out of the budget for the later part of the month. The basil was from a friend’s garden. We had an avocado left from sushi, so Ansen found a recipe for avocado remoulade for the salmon. It was pretty great!
Teriyaki Stir-Fry – We used the last package of ramen (and threw away the MSG-full seasoning), some top-round steak we’ve had for a while in the freezer, and cleaned up a bunch of veggies in the fridge. Oh, and the teriyaki sauce came from Ansen’s mom. May not have been my favorite, but it was ok.
Baked Potatos – From the 5 lb bag I bought from Save-a-Lot. And we had some toppings: hamburger, sauteed onions, cheese, butter.
Louisiana Chicken, Fresh Potatoes & Swiss Chard – Honestly, I’ve never had swiss chard, but it wasn’t too bad a little wilted and sauteed with garlic and red pepper flakes. I’d eat it again. Also, I found a few more potatoes this morning when I pulled up the dying plant from my garden bucket, so I boiled them and we covered them with butter and salt. (I left one to try again and see if we can’t grow some more for later this summer.) And I coated a couple of chicken breasts (we have one left) with egg & milk and breaded them with Louisiana fish fry breading. I cooked them from pretty much froze, so they took a couple of hours, but they were nice and tender.
Enchilasagna – This might be cheating, but mom-in-law also gave us a freezer meal she made, which is a combination of enchiladas and lasagna that she calls “enchilasagna”. We’re going to have that tomorrow night since I’ll be working and that will be easy to throw in the oven.
I don’t have a meal for Friday or Saturday because at least Avie and I will be heading to Kansas, but it’s about time to go shopping again. We’re running out of milk for my cereal and iced lattes!! Oh, and while I got some things to make frozen burritos, apparently I didn’t get everything I needed, so I haven’t made those yet. Guess we’ll have to do that with this next shopping trip.