This week, I’m digging in on no-spend September and trying to buy nothing whatsoever for our weekly meals.
I started this week with a readymade list of pantry and freezer items that I had made in preparation for week one plus some leftovers in the fridge.
Leftovers and My Plan for the Week
Leftovers in my fridge:
- Baked zucchini pancakes (my people did not love my interpretation of this recipe, so I had quite a bit of this leftover from my experiment on Saturday)
- Green beans with feta and almonds
- Ramen noodles and broth
- A small amount of chicken noodle soup
- Two containers of potato soup
- A bunch of fresh zucchini, green beans, and peppers picked from the garden at the start of the week
My plan:
- I had no steep discounts or other deals to use for my mom’s meals/meal kits, so she planned to use items from our freezer: a frozen pizza; some remaining frozen coconut shrimp and potatoes; a steak and some frozen mashed potatoes
- To start the week, we would use up leftovers
- For meals later in the week with the kids, I would make:
- Crockpot enchilada quinoa
- Pasta with fresh tomato sauce
- Coconut mung bean curry (beans previously cooked so this would be quick and easy) with either bread or rice
- Some kind of meal using loads of zucchini and tomatoes – probably a stuffed zucchini recipe
What I Made
Monday
- Breakfast: overnight oats with a fruit puree Robyn made and shared with me
- Lunch: a salad and fruit in the dining hall at my work (my boss treated me to a working lunch)
- Dinner: leftover green beans and zucchini pancake
Tuesday
- Breakfast: an apple leftover from Monday’s lunch with almond butter I had in the pantry; French bread
- Lunch: smoothie bowl made using items in my freezer and pantry
- Dinner: one slice of my mom’s frozen pizza, some more French bread, the rest of the green beans with feta and almonds
Wednesday
- Breakfast: 1 cup steel cut oats with 2 T almond butter and fruit puree
- Lunch: a taco salad in the dining hall at work (two working lunches in one week!)
- Snack: a cup of grapes, 2 mandarin oranges, small blueberry and yogurt parfait (take out from the dining hall)
- Dinner: spaghetti-zoodle combination with fresh tomato sauce from garden tomatoes and a side of garden green beans; French bread
- Dessert: dark chocolate
Thursday
- Breakfast: waffles (shared with me by Joy and Robyn)
- Lunch: half a PBJ, seaweed, and a handful of dried prunes
- Dinner: crockpot enchilada quinoa (recipe to come!) with garden fresh salsa
- Dessert: Larabar brownie
My middle son had a dentist appointment on this particular day, and I popped into a grocery store on the way home to grab cilantro (so I could can more homemade salsa using garden tomatoes). He ended up requesting plums and there was some other fruit on sale.
I ended up spending about $40.00 total: peaches, plums, a few bananas, mandarin oranges, a large can of my mom’s favorite coffee, the cilantro.
Friday
- Breakfast: honeydew melon (another garden melon) and some zucchini pancake bites (leftover in fridge)
- Lunch: leftover crockpot enchilada quinoa with tortilla chips
- Dinner: mung bean coconut curry with brown rice and French bread
- Snack: red grapes
Saturday
- Breakfast: banana baked oats
- Lunch: leftover mung bean coconut curry with brown rice
- Dinner: date night in – rice bowls and wings with A; kids had unstuffed peppers that I made in the InstantPot plus fruit
Sunday
- Breakfast: blended zucchini baked oats (not as good as the banana ones)
- Lunch: homemade fresh tomato soup, bread, and a kale salad with apples and pumpkin dressing (made at A’s parents’ house so the dressing ingredients and the apple were courtesy of their fridge/pantry)
- Dinner: last few bites of baked oats, some leftover unstuffed peppers, chocolate
The Week in Review
Between my impromptu trip to the grocery store so I could make more canned salsa and our date night in on Saturday, I definitely didn’t meet my initial goal of spending $0 on groceries this week.
Nevertheless, I have continued to use my pantry items really well to stretch the grocery budget.
At the end of the week, I improvised well to use the zucchini, tomatoes, and peppers that we were still getting from our garden.
The unstuffed peppers was a great way to stretch the peppers and some diced zucchini with rice and a bunch of chopped tomatoes.
I actually made the fresh tomato soup on the same day as the unstuffed peppers too, so I used the tomato juices from cooking down the tomatoes in place of the regular beef or chicken broth called for in the recipe.
I love repurposing ingredients, and so far, this shelf-cooking no-spend September challenge has been fun on the kitchen side of things!