Frugal February Challenge – Week One Wrap Up & Week Two Planning

So last week went mostly well, although there were a few “issues”. First, I had planned on making the crispy rice cereal I had bought into chocolate peanut butter protein crispy treats, but I didn’t realize how little chocolate protein powder I had left. I wound up just eating the cereal with some leftover milk as a snack. It really tasted good, too!

I got deferred from my plasma donations both days last week, too, once because of low iron (thanks, female body needing to shed iron-related fluids once a month) and the second time because I had a low grade fever. I had been fighting a sinus headache for a few days before hand, and it looks like it’s turned into a mild case of sinusitis. So Friday I wound up staying home from work, which wouldn’t have been a food issue but for the fact I had already brought all of my lunches to work and they were sitting in the work fridge. Luckily I wound up using up some eggs, cheese, salsa and sour cream I already had in my fridge from the previous weeks and ate that on a piece of toast.

Lastly, I still haven’t eaten those strawberries I bought because they were on sale. I definitely need to eat those up before they go bad. And I bought a bag of mini chocolate rice cakes on a whim at work on Saturday, which set me back another $1.34, bringing my week 1 total up to $54.54. Lame.

What really worked was the cheese and turkey as a snack. I just wrapped four slices of that turkey around a string cheese stick and ate that as a snack. Really satisfying and filling.

Also I totally forgot I had my Foodie Meetup this past Saturday! We ate a delicious Spanish/Peruvian meal and I had two meals leftover to enjoy on Sunday, one from work from when I stayed home on Friday, and one from Saturday night.

What I’m working with this week:

• 8 lbs picnic shoulder
• 1 lb shrimp
• Paulo’s chili
• 4 Palestinian chicken legs
• 2 homemade frozen meatballs in sauce
• red pepper walnut dip
• swedish meatballs
• blueberry bbq sauce
• 6 oz. andouille sausage
• 2 4-pks pork chops
• 2 lbs. ground beef
• wheat germ
• wheat bran
• rye flour
• whole wheat flour
• gingerbread cookie dough
• sofrito
• 1/2 loaf sprouted protein bread
• frozen mixed vegetables (3)
• freekeh
• maftoul
• Israeli couscous
• penne
• spaghetti
• elbows
• rice noodles
• rice paper wrappers
• soba noodles
• sticky rice
• jasmine rice
• a little masa
• masarepa
• a little yellow cornmeal
• white cornmeal
• grits
• brown rice flour
• bulgur
• coconut flour
• unsweetened coconut flakes
• crushed pineapple
• jello
• marzipan
• craisins
• prunes
• pumpkins seeds
• almonds
• flaxseed meal
• crepe mix
• dried egg whites
• Swedish meatball sauce mix (2)
• PB2
• Dominican hot chocolate mix
• instant espresso
• orange drink mix
• sugar free Kool-Aid mix
• Lingonberry Jam
• A little steel cut oats
• old fashioned oats
• 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 28 oz. can tomato sauce
• pasta sauce
• kombu
• white flour
• white sugar
• granulated brown sugar
• sucralose
• honey
• 100 calorie packs – almonds, cocoa almonds, cashews
• some peanut butter
• some leftover pizza cheese from a few weeks ago
• scallions
• lemons
• limes
• carrots
• onions
• potatoes

My list this week was SUPER short. ShopRite had split chicken breasts on sale this week with a super coupon, which made them $0.99/lb! So I grabbed the biggest package I could find. I’m going to cut the meat off of the bones, saving the bones and skin for a broth for next week, and use the chicken with the leftover eggplant, scallions, and some Korean seasonings to make a nice stir fry and serve that with sticky rice for lunches. I’m also going to use the shrimp and coconut flakes to make baked coconut shrimp and serve those with sweet chili sauce from my fridge, frozen veggies and seasoned baked potato halves. Everything from that meal will be coming from freezer, fridge and pantry! I didn’t do a great job sticking to my list this week. The iBotta app had a rebate for Lenny & Larry’s cookies, which I love, and it turns out ShopRite had them on sale for 2 for $3. With the rebate that made them $1 each, which is about half of what they usually go on sale for. I grabbed two of those. And I had planned to buy Halo Top ice cream, since it was on sale for $2.88 a pint, but Friendlys was on sale for 2 for $5 for the “half gallon” size and then there was a $1 off digital coupon, so I decided this was the better choice, value-wise. I grabbed some eggs, because it’s always good to have eggs in the house, and for breakfast I got cottage cheese and blueberries for cottage cheese blintzes, and English muffins for egg sandwiches later in the week. As you can see I got some iBotta money back on the cottage cheese, too.

All I really needed from Walmart was some cashew milk (I use this is my coffee) and some canned pumpkin for a microwave protein brownie I want to try. I also grabbed a really cheap bag of potato chips which, sadly, are already gone. I’m having an incredibly emotional week and my body is paying for it with junk food.

So, as you can see, I spent a grand total of $24.43 for the week, or less than half of the previous week!

As for the rest of the menu for the week, I’m going to supplement the Korean chicken stir fry and coconut shrimp with meatball paninis and tomato salad (with those tomatoes I bought last week) and chili pasta with shredded cheddar. I bought the cheddar this week and have the pasta in the pantry and the chili in the freezer. Snacks will be leftover vanilla yogurt, protein brownies, turkey and cheese, apples and 100 calorie packs of nuts. Seems like I did pretty well this week! No planned dinners out this week, either, and no dates on the horizon, which I am A-OK with. I’m already ready to take a break with that, and honestly I don’t think I’m ready. My heart is still stuck on someone else.

Did you get any great deals last week? Let me know in the comments!