Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for Late October: The Indoor Garden is Paying Off Already

juicy, sweet, new-crop oranges

Cheap & Cheerful posts show, week by week, how a budget of $135/month for groceries works out for our family of 4.

This week, I bought a 40-lb case of oranges and a 10-lb bag of carrots at Cash & Carry, spending $26.54. That brings our October grocery spending up to $159.67 for October, $11.36 over our allotted amount for this month (the budget of $135 plus the extra from previous month.) I knew I would go over when I saw the oranges on sale. However, I don't regret the purchase. Both the oranges and carrots were within my price range for fruits and vegetables. The case of oranges is actually heavier than 40 pounds. It's closer to 42 pounds, yielding oranges at 52 cents/lb. And the carrots were 45 cents/lb. These have been very welcome in our house. 

Friday

Friday
barbecue lentils and ham (from Easter) over toast, topped with grilled onions 
tossed garden salad of lettuce, baby radish greens, sorrel, baby chard, and tomatoes in a scratch vinaigrette
apple (from our tree) and almond salad
peanut butter cookies

Saturday

Saturday
homemade cheese pizza
carrot sticks and homemade 1000 Island dressing/dip
peanut butter cookies

Sunday

Sunday
tostado salad bowl -- fried, homemade flour tortillas topped with refried beans and ground beef, salsa, cheese, lettuce, and plain yogurt (tostado salad bowl made with flat tortilla)
steamed carrots
these scratch brownies -- a favorite recipe that we think is better than any mix

Monday

Monday
hamburger soup, using rest of ground beef from previous night, canned tomatoes, onions, carrots, garlic, oregano, and salt
scratch drop biscuits
cole slaw
orange wedges

Tuesday

Tuesday daughter's night
lasagna, with beef and cheese
steamed carrots

Wednesday

Wednesday other daughter's night
chicken (59 cents/lb leg quarters - Walmart) and vegetable stir fry over steamed brown rice
orange wedges

Thursday

Thursday
Mexi rice bowls (but on a plate): steamed brown rice, cooked pinto beans, grilled onions seasoned with chili powder, canned corn, cheese, homemade salsa
garden salad with lettuce, sorrel, baby chard, baby radish greens, watercress, lentil sprouts, and tomato in leftover  (Saturday) 1000 Island dressing
hot fudge pudding cake


We had what seemed like a lot of meat this week. It was more than I like to eat, as I'm not a big meat-eater. However, I do think everyone else was happy about the level of meat consumption. Daughter1 bought lasagna noodles at Dollar Tree and cottage cheese at Walmart to use in making Tuesday's dinner and Daughter2 bought some peppers and celery to use in making Wednesday's dinner. Daughter2 showed me a new way to make steamed rice which keeps the grains separated instead of glomming together. I used her method on Thursday. Mine didn't turn out as well -- I'll have to work on this. It's always nice to learn something new.

Breakfasts, lunches, and snacks
My breakfasts continue to be a small dish of homemade yogurt (I add sugar and vanilla) plus a piece of homemade whole wheat toast with jam or jelly, most days. This is my favorite breakfast, as it's easy. We also did a couple of days of overnight steel cut oats in the crockpot. 

For lunches, we've been making a little extra dinner each night to use for our lunches. Leftover soup is my favorite kind of lunch when it's chilly. We also use eggs, cheese, peanut butter, bread, carrot sticks, and oranges in our lunches. Basic stuff but always easy to prepare. For snacks, we made popcorn a few times and had leftovers, fruit, and various peanut butter concoctions. You can make something that resembles peanut butter fudge in a bowl with peanut butter, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar -- satisfying chocolate cravings in the moment.

peanut butter cookies: Bisquick-like baking mix, peanut butter, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla

Desserts this week
I usually bake a cobbler, crisp, or pie each week. Early this week, however, I was in the mood for cookies and bars. My daughters baked brownies for us over the weekend. We're watching our butter use, so I asked them to use all oil in place of butter. The brownies turned out perfectly with oil instead of butter. Who would've guessed? I made a batch of peanut butter cookies on Friday. I used the homemade sweetened condensed milk that I made earlier in the week, along with some homemade Bisquick, dollar store peanut butter (that cheap stuff that was $2 for a 64 oz jar), and a swig of vanilla extract. The cookies were delicious. Then on Thursday I made a fudge pudding cake. Always yummy and very easy.

radish greens in a trough on the deck

The garden
I've been surprised at how many of our fall garden greens make for tasty salads. The garden is still eking out some lettuce, Swiss chard, watercress, sorrel, kale, and radish greens. The radish greens I planted thickly to use just for their greens -- faster and greater production in a small footprint this way. In addition, we've been letting the kale grow as big as it can this month. When November comes, we'll use the kale until it's picked bare. In our maritime climate, we don't pull up kale or chard plants when they're done. Instead, we leave them in the garden. Then in spring, the plants put on new leaves, which I can use in cooking, before going to seed. I consider it a bonus crop. 

The tomato and squash plants have been pulled up. I laid some straw over those beds during planting, which I'll now dig into the soil to decompose. We discovered the straw in our attic in a large garbage bag this past winter. We've been sorting through the attic and finding all kinds of things about which we'd forgotten. The straw was a purchase from a local farmer, oh, about 20 years ago. We thought this would be great to keep weeds down. Little did we know that the straw had its own seeds. Soon enough, the garden was covered in tiny hay plants. Even after 20 years, some of those seeds were still viable. I pulled up those plants as they sprouted this summer. 

So, that's the 2 back beds (out of 4.) I need to find some time to work some good organic material into the 2 front beds this spring. Those beds currently have the chard and kale, which means that I'll need to wait until April to work that soil.

lentil sprouts ready for use -- about 10 cents worth of lentils grew all of this!

In addition to the outdoor garden, our indoor garden is just swell. The sprouts are surprisingly quick to grow. And my kale micro greens are now baby seedlings. It was mild enough yesterday and today to give them a sunbath on the deck just outside the kitchen door. Free sunlight, no need to use the grow light for such a small batch. You may have noticed, Thursday's dinner salad contained the first of our lentil sprouts. A nice addition to the outdoor garden greens in the salad bowl. 

itty bitty kale seedlings, soon to be micro greens

At dinner, the 4 of us sit around talking about how fortunate we are. We enjoy our dinners greatly and are constantly surprised by how much we are able to find in the garden, pantry, freezer, and fridge. There's so much for which to be thankful.

How was your week of meals? What's your favorite home-cooked to-go lunch? Do you have any particular containers that you prefer for to-go lunches?