Budget battle

It’s easy to forget your wins, small or big.  Time to celebrate something for me.  Tomorrow marks one year since I purchased the domain gardeninginhighheels.com.  I didn’t do anything with it until….6 months later….but the idea is that I bought it.  I had the idea.  I went for something different.  And I loooove it.

And it took me a while, but I finally made the leap and opened a blog-specific Instagram account.  Can you tell that I need to mull things over for a while before I do them?

Ironically, for big things like buying a car, I decide I want a car, then I go buy it.  I can’t/don’t want to take time thinking it over.  I wonder what that says about me..

So for this week’s Project:Food Budget, I was pretty good.  I spent $39.34 total at Giant Eagle.  I purchased a few cleaning products (on sale with coupons) so when I deduct $5.99 for Lysol (totally not edible so I’m totally not counting it!) and tax, I came in at $32.93.

I should have another dollar off of that because the sign on the hamburger buns said they were free at Giant Eagle.  Whatevs.

I also bought 4 lemons in the Strip for $2, so grand total for all food is: $34.93, $15.07 under budget.  Can I roll that over to next week?  I think it’s going to be stock up week.

I still haven’t made it out to Trader Joe’s or Aldi, but the Trader Joe’s circular did advertise chia seeds 12 oz for $4.99.  I normally pay about $10 for 16 oz and I go through chia seeds in my water, Emily’s banana bread, and these summer staple lemon ricotta chia muffins from Table for Two.

In case you’re wondering, I buy bananas just so they’ll get old and I can make banana bread.  I love banana bread.

Other things I made this week include this amazing chicken meatball recipe.  I cheated and used pasta instead of zucchini.  Also, instead of ranch dressing mix, I used fresh herbs from the garden.  I can’t wait until my zucchini is finally ready for harvest!  I split the pound of ground chicken and made patties for “burgers” and enjoyed on my not-free buns.

I also made Laura’s sweet and tangy macaroni salad.  It is amazing and a staple of my lunch this week, I’m sure.  I used flavored oil and vinegar from The Imperial Olive and it’s incredible.

I’ve also been making a batch of brown rice and using it for a side dish one night and any leftovers get turned into Emily’s rice and pear porridge for quick breakfasts that I take to work.

I put it in a mason jar and someone literally asked me if I eat anything not served in a mason jar.  The answer is no.  It was during my jar-salad kick.  I think I may have a slight hipster problem.

I still have to figure out a menu for this week, but I know at least on Wednesday,  I will again be mooching a meal off of my family.  For the past few weeks, I’ve been driving to my aunts’ house where my father has been staying and spending some time with them.  I always leave with leftover and they always ask me why I need to go grocery shopping afterwards.

Well this week, he’s moving back into his house for a while.  Mostly independent, with the exception of the first night getting used to the environment again.  So that meal is covered.  I think.  Either way, yay for independence and progress in health.

If you need some budgeting illumination, check out what these other budgeting beauties are up to! Emily Levenson / McGinnis and Bean / Red Pen Mama / Seeking White Space / facepalmmama / Gardening in High Heels / Melissa Firman / Copy & Post / Rachel Olive Miller / Shea Lennon

Have you joined the budget battle? How did you do this week?

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