Wednesday's "What We Ate Feb. 25- March 3, 2013"

I've been wanting to do an experiment like this for a little while now, & this week gave us the perfect opportunity. We had just came back from a lovely weekend with friends & our food budget was long gone. I don't know if you're like me, but whenever we have friends in town or see friends in another town, or even our town... OK whenever we're around friends, we have a hard time sticking to our $50 a week food budget. Weekly meal planning most definitely helps, but when we vacation, we like to live it up a bit (especially when we camp, but that's an entirely separate post).

When we went away, we didn't go crazy, but I will say that we made a bunch of whole wheat coconut chocolate chip cookies to share. I made a double batch of granola because what happens if we hiked & got super hungry? We stocked up on Annie's mac 'n' cheese for Ruby because I anticipated her being especially picky. We treated ourselves to a large quantity of (alcoholic & carbonated) beverages. And then there was eating out the first night we were there, brunch the last day we were there, & just the cost of the cabin we rented.

All that to say, when we came home, the idea of running to the store again to buy more food made me shiver. So I decided that I would skip shopping for a week. It was sort of out of neccessity, but I also wanted to see what I could whip up with the food that we already had. I will say that I ran out to buy butter one day (who can wait a whole week without butter), but that was it. And you know what? We survived! The menu wasn't as exciting as other weeks have been, but it just reminded me how blessed we are to have not only been able to eat out of our cupboards & freezer, but to have eaten pretty well (minus my pretty nasty wild rice side from Friday's dinner). We weren't forced to eat canned refried beans or ramen every night & I finally used up that pumpkin that's been sitting on my counter for, oh, months.

Monday's dinner: tuna melts

What We Ate Feb. 25- March 3, 2013
Monday: Tuna melts & raw vegetables (carrots, celery, red & green peppers)
Tuesday: Fish tacos with red & green peppers, onions, black beans, cheese, Greek yogurt, salsa, & corn tortillas
Wednesday: Baked potatoes topped with broccoli, cheese, black beans, turkey bacon, Greek yogurt, & salsa
Thursday: Pumpkin curry with rice
Friday: Herb encrusted salmon with a disappointing wild rice side (mixed with carrots, celery, mushrooms, & rosemary)
Saturday: Whole wheat spaghetti with homemade sauce, corn, & edamame
Sunday: Homemade mini cinnamon rolls, fried eggs, hash browns, & cuties

I also made a batch of graham crackers this week with my new alphabet cutters, more Greek yogurt, & some peppermint lip balm for the first time.

*stay tuned for some exciting news that I will be sharing tomorrow morning*