Living on a Budget: Week One

A couple notes about my calculations:
1. I am not counting the cost of things like olive oil, butter, flour, milk, salt and pepper, garlic or other similar items in the recipe calculations. Of course they cost money. I have them in my kitchen already, and I'm too lazy to do the math to figure out how much 1 tablespoon of flour costs.  I'll just count it when I have to buy new replacement items.
2. My husband doesn't really eat breakfast or lunch each day. He has a glass of chocolate milk in the morning, then he devours whatever I make for dinner. I make a lot at dinner. I do send him to work with snacks; I'll count those in bulk as I buy them.
3. I won't be able to remember every snack I consumed. I'll include fruit and other miscellaneous things at the end in a miscellaneous post.


Monday (10/1)
Breakfast: Fage yogurt - $1 (I am so addicted to this stuff.)
Lunch: Leftover enchiladas from Sunday.- Free
Dinner: Lemony Garlic Pasta with Chicken and Salad - $4.62

I modified this recipe for the pasta. --I ditched the walnuts and used angel hair instead of a "shapes" pasta. I also roasted the chicken separately rather than cooking in the same pot.
I roasted a whole chicken in the crockpot. This is scary. And messy. I didn't take pictures; I never would have gotten the grease off my phone. I used the carcass to make chicken broth for a later recipe. Carcass is a gross word. I used this website as a guide.
Salad: Lettuce, Tomatoes, Balsamic Vinegar and Olive Oil
Brownies from a box for dessert

The cost break down:
1/2 box of angel hair pasta: $.50 [on sale = $1/box]
1 cup parmesan: in my fridge
1 broccoli crown: $.40 [on sale - $.88/lb]
Chicken: $1.80 [on sale - $.99/lb]
Chicken Broth: in my fridge
Lemon:  $.33 [on sale - 3 for $1]
Lettuce: $.44 [on sale - $.88/head]
Tomato: $.15 [on sale - $.99/lb]
Brownie mix: $1 [on sale for $1/box]

Grand total for the day:$5.62

Tuesday (10/2)

Breakfast: Fage Yogurt - $1
Lunch:  Lemony Garlic Chicken. Leftovers. Free! Brownie. Leftovers. Free!
Dinner: Roast chicken, Mac 'n cheese, and Salad - $4.16

I used the roast chicken from yesterday. I significantly modified this mac 'n cheese recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/baked-macaroni-and-cheese-recipe/index.html. I didn't use milk because I had heavy cream that I needed to use; so I used a cup of heavy cream and a cup of water. I also used about 1/3 of a brick of cream cheese that I had. And, who has powdered mustard? I just used a healthy squirt of regular yellow mustard. I also did not buy paprika.

Elbow macaroni: $.50 [on sale - $1/box]
Cheddar: $.83 [on sale - $5/8cup bag]
Heavy cream: in my fridge
Chicken: $1.80 [on sale - $.99/lb]
Lettuce: $.44 [on sale - $.88/head]
Tomato: $.15 [on sale - $.99/lb]
Cucumber: $.44 [on sale - $.88/cucumber]

Grand total for the day: $5.16


Wednesday (10/3)
Breakfast: I forgot breakfast. Oops! I did go to Starbucks, but that comes out of my fun money not the family budget. I also had a brownie. Who needs a diet? Free!
Lunch: Lemony Garlic Chicken. Leftovers. Free!
Dinner: BLTs with Macaroni and Cheese and Corn on the Cob - $6.57

Bacon: $3.99 [on sale - $3.99/pkg]
Bread: $.66 [on sale - $1.75/pkg]
Lettuce:$.44 [on sale - $.88/head]
Tomato: $.60 [on sale - $.99/lb]
Avocado: $.50 [on sale - 2/$1]
Mac 'n cheese: Free!
Corn on the Cob: $.38 [on sale - $.19/ear]

Grand total for the day: $6.57

Thursday (10/4)
Breakfast: Safeway brand Greek yogurt (yuck!): $.89
Lunch: Mac 'n cheese: Free! Hot dog: $.23
Chili with Cornbread: $7.31

Chili beans:  $2 [on sale - 10/$10 can]
Ground beef: $1.49 [on sale = $1.49/1lb]
Tomatoes: $1.66 [on sale - $.99/lb]
Green pepper: $.50 [on sale - 2/$1]
Red pepper: $.50 [on sale - 2/$1]
Bacon: Free!
Onion: $.20 [on sale - 3lbs/$1]
Spices: On my shelves
Sour cream: In my fridge
Cheddar: $.63 [on sale - $5/8cup bag]
Cornmeal: $.33

Grand total for the day: $8.43

Friday (10/5) - Monday (10/8): I went to Missouri, so very little food was made at home. 

Other miscellaneous things we ate as snacks:
Grapes: $5.17
Clif Bars: $10
Almonds: $3.05
Bananas: $.63
Apples: $1.79
Pears: $2.09
Raspberries: $3.98

Grand total for miscellaneous: $26.71

Total for this post: $52.49