I thought eating well and trying to stay on budget without an oven would be sort of tricky, but other than having to pay crazy prices for {less than stellar} store bought bread and going without homemade cookies and biscuits, it hasn’t been too hard.
Those doughnuts last week though, they set me back a little. 😉
Luckily, we’ll be able to move the fridge and oven back into the kitchen tomorrow and life will get back to pretty much normal {if you call having half of the cabinets in your kitchen removed back to normal that is}.
Hannaford $53.39
Asparagus was on sale last week for $1.69 a pound so we loaded up and pickled about 10 pounds worth. We love snacking on pickled asparagus {they taste kind of like pickled beans} and pickled asparagus is an especially fun way to spice up pasta salads and winter quiches.
Whole chickens were also on sale for $0.99 a pound so we bought 3 of those {2 for the freezer, 1 for the Crock Pot}.
With only a little over $13 left in my budget for the month {to stay on track for the year} I’m pretty sure the only thing I’ll be buying is milk and maybe something else small if I see a deal somewhere.
Here’s a look at some of the things we ate last week:
Leftover beatloaf, buttered rice and potatoes.
Pot roast, buttered rice, potatoes and carrots.
Leftover pot roast stew. {Basically, the leftover liquid in the Crock Pot, meat, 1 can of Rotel and 1 cup of dried beans + a cup or two of water.}
Crock Pot chicken, buttered rice, potatoes and carrots.
Leftover chicken, buttered rice, salsa and some frozen avocado from the bottom of the freezer.
The HH fired up the griddle on saturday and made breakfast! {Maybe I can get him to make us some fried rice this week.}
And last but not least… hairdryer nachos! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Yes, you CAN melt cheese with a hairdryer. Chalk this up to things you need to know in case you’re without an oven for a few weeks. 🙂
That’s it. That’s all I’ve got. So how did YOU do this past week? Any cooking adventures you want to share? Maybe you found a good deal? Do tell.
Have a good one,
~Mavis
Total Spent This Past Week on Groceries $53.39
- Total Spent in April on Groceries $81.49
- Total Spent in March on Groceries $114.12
- Total Spent in February on Groceries $94.64
- Total Spent in January on Groceries $96.58
- Total Spent on Groceries in 2022 $386.83
Mel says
My big cooking success of the week was that the individual freezer meals I made my dad to eat after surgery appear to have worked out really well. I knew the stuff like individual soups, lasagnas, and pot pies would work, but I also made him homemade tv dinners in sectioned trays (with meatloaf, mashed potatoes, a vegetable, and a dessert) as a sort of experiment, and he said those worked out great as well, so that opens up some more freezer possibilities.
It’s so funny about the hair dryer too. We were making quesadillas last night, and my husband requested a kitchen torch to help melt the cheese and speed along the process.
Mavis Butterfield says
I love the TV dinner idea.
Deborah says
I’ve made them for our pastors wife for after her surgery. I’ve also made them for here with leftovers (aka encore meals).
Wendy Clark says
Nothing exciting on the eating front here. Chicken fried rice, spaghetti, seared tuna, rice, crockpot meatballs, chicken pot pie. Thankful for it all though. Right now I am eating backed oatmeal for breakfast which has become a new fave of mine. I just want to say Mavis, I really really enjoy your blog each day. You are an inspiration with the meals you show us and your projects.
Pauline in Upstate NY says
You are managing just magnicently without your stove – kudos to you!!! (But, may I add, I can only imagine how much you might be wanting a little green on your plates again…)
A question re the pickled asparagus — your description of it as similar to pickled beans got my attention. I *love* fresh asparagus, and I love our frozen asparagus through the winter, but I have unfortunate childhood memories of (commercially) canned asparagus. It was slimy, stringy, and utterly limp. Can I assume that home canned, PICKLED asparagus is different from that?
Brenda says
If you refrigerator pickle it, then they say crunchy (just like a regular fresh pickle). If you can them, they get kind of soft, but not as totally mushy as commercially canned asparagus… at lest in my experience
Holley says
You slay me!!!! Great ingenuity!
Christie says
The hairdryer nachos. LOL!!
Diane says
I’m surprised you’re not doing more outside cooking with your husband’s nice griddle. Heating up pre-made dinners and even the nachos could be made on that if you put foil on top to hold the heat in long enough for it to melt. Pretend you’re camping, or I should say Glamping since you get to sleep inside!
Cindy Brick says
Boy, you had a real thing for rice last week, didn’t you…
We are trying hard to get the fifth-wheel cleaned up and things put away. Which means I go on subsistence meal-making. Ham was 87 cents a pound at Safeway, so that has figured high in our food — plus you can quickly slice and fry it. I also made nachos, homemade pizza (which turned out weird…don’t add yeast to self-rising flour!), carrot cake for Easter — and some amazing chocolate chip cookies I made a second time, because Husband and Son loved so much. (They ARE good.)
Maybe I’d better make some rice tonight.
Mavis Butterfield says
I LOVE rice! It ranks right up there with beans and pie.
Monica says
I have not had an oven for a few months. It went out and I just haven’t had time to call and make an appointment with my landlord for him to come out and look at it (sick spouse, lots of different types of appointments, plus different hospital stays). I am surprised how well we have managed. I use the air fryer for a lot of things I would normally put in the oven, just need to figure out how to make cornbread in there…ha! I did not think of using my hair dryer for nacho’s, game changer!
Brianna says
Love the cooking creatively! It reminds me of my college days. We could not have microwaves or fridges at the residence halls, so I would use my desk lamp with a strong bulb and heat up a mug of instant Lipton soup mix. I also had a small espresso machine (no hot plates or kettles were allowed) and I would brew the hot water to make Easy Mac, noodle cups, and use the steam side to reheat tea or other things. It wasn’t always cooked perfectly and took patience, but the cafeteria was not open on the weekends and I had no car to go anywhere. I survived and learned quickly what worked and did not work.