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I’m not a huge fan of PB&J, though that is my go-to “I didn’t make anything else” lunch, ideally with a yogurt or whatever else I can scrounge up.
I like lunch to be something I look forward to and enjoy, even though I usually take short lunch breaks. I go through phases and make one thing for awhile, then I get sick of it and find something new. Salads and pastas are the easiest to batch cook, so when I’m busy, I make those a lot.
In the past couple months I’ve made a version of this Couscous Salad several times, but I skip the lentils mostly because I don’t feel like cooking them. For a more well rounded meal, you probably should keep them in. I also just mix a little arugula (or sometimes spinach, but arugula is better) right in instead of making it more of a leafy salad, and I’ve made something similar with no salad greens at all. (I’ve gotten a little more confident deviating from recipes.)
I also made this Red Pepper Fettuccine for dinner twice recently, and it is easy to set aside leftovers for work. We just bought ingredients again. It’s really easy and yummy. This Sausage with Rotini Pasta (via Money Maus’s tweet originally) also made a ton of leftovers to bring for lunch.
A couple weeks ago I made some gazpacho for a huge does of veggies, served with croutons for a crunch.
For next week, I’m planning on eating a tomoato, basil and mozerrella sandwich (which you can’t really batch cook), and I got ingredients for this baked quinoa dish that I can bring as a side dish.
Some non-lunch food notes:
For dinner tonight/tomorrow, I have ingredients for these portabella sandwiches. We are cheating and bought the roasted red peppers and pesto pre-made at Trader Joe’s, which will speed up prep time significantly. I’m already excited.
We’ve also been making these Parmesan Turkey Burgers (we make full size) pretty regularly, and they are delicious and easy too!
What are some of your latest hits in the kitchen? What has been in your lunch bag lately?
(This post is in response to LA Daze’s question on my previous post)
I’m totally bored of this challenge, but it was (probably) a success. Two days left, no spending planned.
I realized my grocery budget is really easy to stick to. I mean, I bought $6/lb meat (accidentally), chicken and ingredients for special recipes. Usually I don’t buy meat at all, so I must typically buy other crap. Like those Butter Waffle Cookies at TJ’s, YUM. However, I often splurge on going out to eat. And you know, I’m completely fine with that, I just want to stick to once a week. I’m taking down the tab for the February Food Challenge, and pasting the contents below.
Oh, by the way, I came across this post on how to cook and use an entire chicken and get 17 healthy meals for $25. I was inspired, but I’m not organized enough to pull it off any time soon. Maybe someday.
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I tracked my food purchases for February in hopes of staying under $200 for both grocery and restaurant spending. This challenge was hosted by Give Me Back My Five Bucks.
Total Spending: $$182/$200 = 91%
Notes on where I shop: I grocery shop at both Trader Joe’s and Ralph’s. Ralph’s is better for cereal and a few other things (only if on sale though), and TJ’s is best for milk, eggs, cheese, produce and a lot of basics. I’ve found Albertson’s to be cheaper than Ralph’s, but they aren’t conveniently located. There isn’t much for ethnic stores nearby either.
Week 1 notes: T paid for going out to eat (sandwiches ~$17). I bought ground beef (which wasn’t on sale like I thought) and made my first meatloaf ever and used it in sandwiches.
Week 2 notes: I bought 2.5 lbs of frozen chicken. I rarely buy meat so I’m not sure I’ll meet my budget goal. I figure this can be used in a variety of meals, starting with a huge batch of chicken fried rice that I’ll eat this week. My turn to pay for going out to eat this weekend!
Week 3 notes: Lots of extra spending in order to cook an interesting Valentine’s Day meal. Wow, I think I spent $10 just on cheese! This is balanced by the fact that we didn’t really go out to eat, but we did get some late night In-N-Out, the perfect end to a lazy Sunday. I still should be able to meet my goal.
Week 3 notes: Lots of extra spending in order to cook an interesting Valentine’s Day meal. Wow, I think I spent $10 just on cheese! This is balanced by the fact that we didn’t really go out to eat, but we did get some late night In-N-Out, the perfect end to a lazy Sunday. I still should be able to meet my goal.
Week 4 notes: Mmmmm, rediscovered oatmeal as a delicious breakfast, but I hate doing dishes so I now have no clean bowls.
Some things I ate:
Sausage Egg Casserole (good not very healthy)
Strawberry Avacado Salad (highly recommeded!)
Chicekn Penne (good, but not amazing)
PB&J – because I like it and I’m lazy, not really out of frugality
Chicken Fried Rice (somehow screwed this up and it was gross)
Apple & Gorgonzola salad with pecans
Pasta and tomato sauce
Apple salad (apples, yogurt, nuts…)
In January, I spent $120 going out to eat. That is just what I personally paid for–I don’t know what T paid. Additionally, $185 went towards groceries. I don’t remember buying anything special at the grocery store, though I didn’t have much for groceries after going home for Christmas. (I guess I do remember going out to eat a lot..)
That is a total of $305 for JUST food. I categorize toilet paper, paper towels, dish soap, etc as home. Any personal care items are in the personal category. Even the alcohol gets separated into “entertainment”. I should note that isn’t just for me–T and I both pay for meals out and groceries, but I have a hunch that I pay for more stuff that he eats, than vice versa. Still, it is mostly for just me.
Krystal is hosting a February food challenge, and I set my goal at $200 for February. My average last year was ~$225/month for grocery and eating out together, and February is a short month. I didn’t do anything sneaky and load up on groceries in the end of January, so I already spent $25 yesterday. I’m going to track my food purchases in glorious detail on my new tab (I’ll post/archive it the end of the month).
I stumbled upon and interesting article series at Allrecipes.com. The first step in spending less on groceries is planning, but planning takes effort, time and thought. Enter Single Servings, a monthly column which includes a weekly grocery list, recipes, and ideas on how to prep on Sunday to set yourself up for an easy week of good meals. I haven’t actually followed any of these plans, and I generally only wanted to try a couple of the meals suggested rather than the whole plan… but there are some good ideas. It isn’t frugal focused, but it is plan focused, which can help with frugality.
Anyway, here are some other easy, budget friendly recipes I’ve tried lately. I’m not a picky eater, and will eat anything that isn’t “boring”. All of these are easy enough for any beginner cook.
1. Mostacioli - easy basic pasta recipe. I like it better with mushrooms (trader joe’s has cremini’s for about $2 for a nice sized bag), and you can add whatever else you like. Here’s a similar recipe I tried that adds beans. I didn’t think it was as good, but it does add protein.
2. African Peanut Soup – I was skeptical of all the positive reviews, but made it anyway. It was actually really good! It takes a little while to make, but most of the time is just simmering, so it is pretty easy. I halved it, but it was so good I’m making the other half tomorrow!
3. Beans and Rice – Sounds boring, and I was scared of this just because “beans and rice” is the typical cheap-o food. But I liked this as well, and is easy to bring for lunch. There are many versions, basically, cook rice, add beans and whatever seasoning you like. This is a good one to make in bulk.
4. Clam linguine – A slightly fancier version of standard pasta. Clams aren’t too expensive.
5. Black bean burritos – Good and easy (add rice for extra bulk), but hard to figure out how to take to work. I use jarred jalepenos, which aren’t as good, but are much cheaper and easier to store (won’t go bad).
6. Homemade pizza – which can be a little more expensive to make. However, cheese was on sale for $2 (instead of close to $4), pepperonis were on sale, and pizza sauce is under $2 at TJ’s. It would be better if I had a pizza stone, but seriously, it was fine without one.
7. Hotdish: I had to include this, as a tribute to my midwestern roots. Any casserole recipe (we call it hotdish) can feed you for days, are generally cheap and easy. Says wikipedia, “Hotdishes are filling, convenient, easy to make, and well-suited for family reunions, church suppers, and potlucks.” I don’t actually make these often, but I did grow up on them.
8. Stir fry and fried rice, which I have no recipe for, but are pretty simple.
The less I plan, the more likely we are to pick up something frozen meals at Trader Joe’s. Or to eat cereal for dinner, college style. Or ice cream. 
When I complained to T about my lunch experience, he reminded me of the time we went out with a group of about 7 people a few months ago for sushi. The waitress did not separate the bill (what is with that?), so we each took turns getting out our calculators and figuring out our share. This seemed sensible since we had ordered a wide variety of meals, and some got drinks, and others didn’t.
Each share was figured out, and we wrote down how much to put on each card. Done!
Except the waitress brought the slips to sign, and she said to my friend “Oh, it didn’t all add up quite right, so I put the extra on yours. It was just a little off. I hope that is ok!”
First, it did all add up perfectly, the waitress just screwed up and charged another girl about $15 too little. I also think she gave herself a little bit extra tip, besides the gratuity that was already included (she sucked anyway). Second, no, it is not ok! Just a little off? It was almost $20 off!
What a pain in the butt!
I’m going out again tonight with a large group. You better believe we will get our own checks! (Or, I’ll just get on T’s check. Hehe.)
To say good bye to a summer intern, our whole group went for lunch today. It was a nice time, but I still pretty much wish I didn’t go.
First, the personal finance reasons. They took the total and divided it by the number of people who ate and said we each owed that much. The difference was pennies, but I think that is a stupid way of doing things on principal. I’ve gone out with large groups for lunch with work in the past, and everyone got their own separate bills. My share, $15, was about right with tip, I guess, but only because they screwed up and divided by one extra person. I was suddenly glad I didn’t order a salad to save money.
Second, apparently, company culture here is different than my last job. I didn’t realize that everyone would be prepared with cash to pay their share. Since I assumed I’d get my own slip, I thought I could pay with my card, or at least, they’d put $15 on my card. Instead I ended up borrowing money. It is fine, but I felt a little awkward about it. I was surprised everyone else had cash, even all the young people. Who uses cash these days???
Last, it took almost 2 hours, when my usual lunch takes less than half an hour. I knew it would take a long time, but 2 hours? I had to stay later than I planned, and I also didn’t get my extra hour in. (I’m trying to build up some hours to minimize the impact of my vacation.) Did everyone else stay an hour later than they usually do? I wonder.
Plus, we sat outside, and as time went on, the sun moved and shone on me, making me really really hot in my black top.
I hate work lunches. I felt I would be an outsider if I didn’t go. Can’t we just all meet in the conference room and brown bag it?
(I did notice my one coworker, who I think is not so bright when it comes to work, ate lunch first and sat and visited for 2 hours. Is that tacky? Or smart?)
I’ve been at my job about six months, and I still don’t know where the closest vending machines are (and no desire to find out!)
I regularly troll check out the break room around 1 p.m., because that is where people put the food left over from lunch meetings. This week alone I found some rice with a delicious spicy green sauce yesterday (there was also some meat, but I passed), a piece of bread Tuesday, a nice salad Monday, and some cake another day! They make nice bonuses to the afternoon, and I have to eat less of my food for lunch or dinner. This week was extremely fruitful, there usually is much less food, sometimes none for a whole week. I might be able to score more if I patrolled more than one floor, but that just seems greedy!
Anyway, today I discovered someone put an entire box of candy in there, selling for $1 for a fund raiser! If I’m going to pay $1 for chocolate, I’m not buying M&M’s! (I like to get those nice bars on the “impulse buy” stand next to the checkout at Trader Joe’s for $2.) Why must they taunt me?
I haven’t been thinking that much about my money lately. I have my budget and I’m working towards meeting it, and recording each purchase I make. The markets are up and down (mostly down) the economy makes me worry, gas prices are high, and I worry about my job. But for the most part, I just live my life, and the money mostly takes care of itself. This must be a benefit of having a plan.
My weakness this month has been groceries (already, again) but I’m making an effort to eat what I have. Despite my ban on groceries, I stopped by a new store the other night, but only because I was in the neighborhood (which is at least $5 from my neighborhood) and I wanted to see what it had to offer. It is a health food store of sorts, with a lot of organic products. I was mostly interested in their bulk food selection. I didn’t get much (less than $5) because I didn’t really need much, but I was impressed with the bulk bins and will be back someday, with a better plan.
I did purchase $1 worth of pastry flour, thinking it was something like bread flour and wanting to give homemade bread another go. It isn’t the same thing, not at all. However, I found a recipe to use it in since I had the other ingredients on hand. I don’t really recommend this quick bread, but if you happened to buy pastry flour and don’t know what to do with it, it is not bad. I also bought wheat bran (another $1) because I’ve been itching for some bran muffins. I’ve made these before and they were good. I did some Googling and found you could substitute a concoction of regular milk and vinegar for buttermilk, so I have all the ingredients I need for these too! (Except raisins, which I dislike.)
I’m still not entirely convinced that all this home baking/cooking really saves me money. Every bread I’ve tried has failed so far, so I am going to try actual bread flour. Yeast isn’t exactly cheap either. I need to find some yeast in bulk, those packets aren’t cheap. I should make sure they aren’t expired–maybe I have an excuse for my failures! At least I know exactly what went into my food, even if my pizza crust failed to rise.
Next week when I’m craving something sweet, I’m gong to attempt some Chinese steamed buns (Mantou) to eat with sweetened condensed milk (not the fried ones). I had them at Dim Sum once, and I looked up a recipe–there is almost nothing to them. They certainly aren’t a healthy dish (though here is a version that claims to be), but I can have them as a desert. I am making them partially out of nostalgia–I ate them on study abroad in Hong Kong. The cost of some condensed milk is small price to pay for a happy memory.
In other food related news, someone on my blogroll (forgive me, I can’t recall who) linked to Lynnae’s list of recipe’s for a month. She has selected quite a few recipes that are frugal and uses beans heavily. There may be a few new meals there to try out.
By the way, my dad gave my car a listen, and said I should take it to a muffler shop first, because he thinks it is in the exhaust. If it is the muffler, it will be much cheaper at a muffler shop. If not, I will take it elsewhere. He said I may simply need a new muffler (~$100) or it could be the catalytic converter (~$1000) or anything in between. I’m hoping for a muffler.
I finally got official word that I was accepted to the graduate program I applied to! It is somewhat anti-climatic. Since my employer is paying I wasn’t hoping for funding, so I sort of expected to get in.
What does this mean for my finances? Not a whole lot, actually. It’s a part time program, so I’ll continue to work. I’ll be considered a half time student so my student loans will go into deferment. Since they are subsidized, the rate will be 0%. That’ll free up $141 each month for savings, but I think I’ll continue to put $70 into my student loan payoff account. (This month, only $65 of my $141 payment went to principal!)
Long term, a M.S. degree in my field translates to roughly $10k-$15k more than a B.S. with similar experience. It’ll increase my expertise and help me advance more quickly. It’ll open more doors to have a top school on my resume. All good things!
T thinks I should take the next step and apply for a full time Ph.D for Fall 2009. I don’t even really want to go for my Ph.D., but I’m laid off in January and the economy is still poor, it is a reasonable back-up plan. Obviously, I wouldn’t go without funding. I know that graduate school should be a passion, not a back up plan. While I may be able to pull off a Ph.D. acceptance, I’m less confident about funding.
I suppose I have until fall to think about it. I have my GRE’s, my professors have electronic letters of recommendation that could be revived easily. No need to decide today.
Instead I’ll relish in my acceptance and enjoy my summer before my free time dwindles to zero!
P.S. – If I hadn’t banned myself from the grocery store, I would make Fettuccine with red pepper feta sauce, complete with homemade whole wheat pasta. The only ingredients I’m missing are chicken stock, eggs, and red peppers. It sounds like a meal T would enjoy as much as I would. He sometimes thinks my ideas of a good recipe to try are odd. I suppose it can wait a few weekends!
P.P.S – Sorry if all the food talk is too much. I am not talented enough to start a food blog, so I just sneak my food thoughts into my personal finance blog!
I refuse to tell you how many groceries stores I’ve been in between Saturday and Monday.
Ok, no, I don’t. Four different Ralph’s (they are everywhere!), Whole Foods once, and (the same) Trader Joe’s twice. That is SEVEN. Am I insane? Obsessed? I actually had a whole little meal plan for the week, complete with expected price and a column to fill in the actual price. I think I over planned! Or at least, failed to follow the plan!
On Saturday I did my typical shop at TJ’s, then went to Ralph’s (very close by) to finish off and get the things TJ’s isn’t good at. I forgot a key ingredient for my dinner, so I went back to an even closer Ralph’s to fix my mistake. Three for Saturday.
Sunday we found ourselves near a Whole Foods, so I took the opportunity to purchase some bulk granola. Later that day, we went to Quizno’s for lunch, and while T was getting our subs, I walked across the street to yet another Ralph’s to pick up some garlic. I swear it was in my basket on my first grocery run, but it didn’t make it on the receipt or in the bag. I think I left it in the basket at checkout by accident. Two for Sunday.
After spending so much time in grocery stores, I found myself looking online at a local food co-op I’m considering visiting later on. An ad for organic quinoa for $1.49/lb caught my eye. I’ve only just heard of quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) within the last few months, but suddenly I needed to try it. I was still obsessed with it by the time work ended yesterday, so I swung into TJ’s on my way home and picked some up.
To finish things off, I spent Monday evening with my dad, since he and my mom will be heading back to the Midwest within a week or so. We walked along the beach with his dog and had a dinner near their apartment. He drove me home, but wanted to stop at Ralph’s on the way home. I agreed, and picked up a few apples and a pastry sheet, planning on attempting my first tart sometime in the near future. So, two stores for Monday.
Whew! Now I have more food than I could possibly eat in a week (good thing too!) and have been to more grocery stores than anyone ever needs to go to in a 3 day span. Thus, I am hear-by banning myself from grocery shopping until Monday, June 16th or later! (Except if I run out of yogurt, I’m allowed to buy one of those. Or if T and I decided to share some beer/wine one evening. That’s it though, no other exceptions!) Writing this up only makes me see the utter craziness, and the craziness needs to stop!
However, at least I have some fantastic food coming up! Not only do I have a lot of new ingredients, I have plenty of rice, pasta and other staples, so I should be just fine until at least the middle of this month.
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