I stopped at Walmart, where I bought tofu, instant decaf, cabbage and bananas, spending $7.78. Those 2 stops brought my week's spending up to $24.35. This weeks spending plus last weeks of $31.34 comes to $55.69 of February's budget, leaving $70.25 for the rest of the month.
We're doing well with our food supplies this week. I keep finding foods that need using, such as Friday's turnips, canned tuna, and potato chips. At some point, we will have depleted our supplies of special or less usual foods.
Here are this week's dinners:
Friday
tuna fish sandwiches, with fresh garden watercress on homemade whole wheat bread
orange wedges
potato chips
roasted root vegetables (turnips, onions, carrots)
Saturday
bean, cheese, and ham tacos in fried homemade flour tortillas
carrot sticks
orange wedges
Sunday
turkey (Thanksgiving), carrot, and potato soup
scratch biscuits
orange wedges
Monday
beef and bean chili from the freezer
fully-loaded cornbread
pumpkin pie
Tuesday (daughter's night)
scrambled eggs
boxed stuffing mix
canned green beans
Wednesday
homemade black olive pizza
cole slaw
orange wedges
leftover pumpkin pie
Thursday
cheesy tuna casserole (with beet greens from last summer)
baked Hubbard squash
fruit salad (bananas, oranges, marshmallows, coconut, pecans, and grapes -- daughter bought)
I bought Thursday's Hubbard squash on November 1st. It was likely harvested in August or September. I've been keeping it in our pantry at room temperature, and it has not developed any soft spots 5 to 6 months post-harvest. I cooked it because I wanted some variety in our veggies this week and not because it was desperately needing to be cooked. I guess it could have lasted in our pantry another several weeks.
The selection of winter squash at my local grocery stores seems to be limited to acorn squash, butternut, pumpkin, and delicata squash, all of which tend to develop soft spots by January in my house. In my experience, produce stands and markets tend to carry a wider variety of winter squash than typical supermarkets, which means long-keepers like Hubbard squash are more likely to be available in early fall at a produce stand or produce-only market than in the grocery store.
I paid 33 cents per pound for Hubbard squash. In the moment, that seemed like a good deal, but nothing extraordinary. Now in February, 33 cents per pound for fresh vegetables sounds like a real steal. If I could have done anything differently on November 1st when I was shopping the last day at the produce stand, I would have bought 1 or 2 more Hubbard squash, as I know they would have kept in my pantry (or fridge, if need be) at least until mid-March, about the time I find cabbage at a rock-bottom price per pound. This is information that I'll use next fall.
I feel like our week's meals continue to have a lot of variety. I hope to keep this up throughout this month, even as some of our stores begin to deplete. In March, we'll return to a higher budget for groceries, which will allow more variety in my purchases again.
How was your week? Anything interesting on your menu? Have a wonderful weekend, everybody!
