4.45 a Day: Week 4

The idea of running out of food has been in the back of my mind for the last two weeks simply because I'm used to spending a minimum $100 a week at the store. Emphasis on minimum.

However, I continue to be amazed at home much food I still have in the freezer and in my pantry.

I'm a little embarrassed to say I've never really tracked out food budget so I have no idea of how
much I normally spent at the store each month.

This week I spent  $26.38. I did have a shopping list but I'm not going to include it here because, as you can see from the picture above, it was very short.

Breakfast this week was homemade museli and berries. I'm going to devote a whole post to that with my plans for December.


On to this week's food...

Ham and Bean Soup
Still eating ham. The pictures that accompanied this recipe gave me lots of hope for this dish but it was so boring that I'm not even going to post the recipe. However, I was thrilled with the way the whole wheat biscuits turned out. I made a lot of white bread this month so I thought I'd try to add some more whole grains to our diet.





Gobi Matar-Cauliflower and Peas
After the success of the butternut squash curry a couple of weeks ago I decided to try one with cauliflower and peas for our vegetarian dish this week. So easy and so delicious! Here's the recipe.



 



Mac and Cheese Gnocchi
I used the gnocchi because I didn't feel like making pasta. It was delicious. This is seriously the richest, creamiest mac and cheese I've ever made. You can find the recipe here. I cut it in half and it was easily enough for 4
people or two people with leftovers. I added some ham to my dish since I still have quite a bit of it on hand.






Peanut Butter Bacon and Banana Sandwiches (a.k.a. The Elvis)
I remember eating peanut butter and banana sandwiches as a kid. The addition of bacon is a revelation. I always thought this sandwich was a bit gimmicky because of the Elvis connection. I was wrong. This sandwich is straight up legit. And easy. I used the whole wheat raisin pecan bread I made this week with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter, two strips of bacon I cooked in the oven, and 1/2 a banana. I could seriously eat 3 of these without any remorse.



 
Thanksgiving Dinner
I spatchcocked the turkey (cut the backbone out and flatten) which allowed me to cook at 14lb turkey in about 80 minutes. I also made garlic green beans, spice orange cranberry sauce, gravy, whole wheat sage stuffing, and sweet potatoes with brown sugar, chipotle, bacon, and pecans. For dessert, Charlie's favorite: spiced pumpkin roll.



 

Turkey Pot Pie
I used whole wheat crust, left over turkey thigh, green beans, peas, carrots, and gravy. Yum! I got the inspiration from this recipe but then did my own thing since I made them from leftovers. The pie crust was 2 cups whole wheat flour, 1 stick or 1/2 cup butter, and just enough water to hold the dough together. The dough came together easily in the food processor but was a bit difficult to roll out. I had enough ingredients leftover to put a 9inch pot pie inthe freezer as well as two more individual pot pies.





Turkey and Cranberry Sandwiches
Turkey, horseradish cheddar cheese, homemade cranberry sauce. Homemade Bread.








Since we weren't doing a big Thanksgiving this year, I cooked my turkey on Tuesday. So, we had "turkey leftovers" before we actually had Thanking dinner. After cooking the turkey, I went ahead and broke down the bird, portioned and froze some of the meat, and then made a few dishes for the freezer. Having the bird done and out of the way make Thanksgiving so much easier!

We also had some stew that was in the freezer from the first week of November for dinner one night.

I'll be back on the 30th of the month with a final total and some things I've learned. I want to make sure I actually make it to the end month without spending any more money before I declare the project a success.