Hi Friends! Hope you’re having a great weekend! The hubs and I started Whole30.
Basically you eliminate certain food groups in your diet for 30 days. We are entering our 2nd week and hopefully we’ll be successful! I totally miss my coffee creamer in the morning and my rice, while the hubs misses his milk consumption. I’m so impressed with him though because he hardly complains about missing his favorite drink, unlike me! HA. He just decided to join this with me for “moral support” haha! I’ve been thinking about doing this since February (since I got the whole30 book) and decided last week, to try the challenge and just do it!
Since starting this challenge, we’ve been to 5 grocery stores (not in the same day though)! Trader Joe’s, Safeway,Winco, PCC,Whole foods! I just want to make sure we have fresh produce always:) We both feel good and are looking forward to finishing this challenge. I’ve already had my meal plans this week. You have to prepare as much as you can so you will not be tempted to just give up when you’re in that “hangry” time of day!
Grocery Hauls from Trader Joe’s
Some of the meals we had during our week 1:
Chicken Adobo with mashed sweet potato (recipe from the whole30 fast and easy cookbook). We really liked this one,and will make this again.
Hello friends! It’s Tuesday evening ( almost midnight) but I can’t sleep because it’s so windy and it’s freaking me out! I decided to just post our meals for the last couple of weeks in the month of February. Can you believe it’s already March? Where did the time go?! Anyways, back to our meals. I didn’t go to the grocery store in the last week of February but I got some Smith brothers delivered. I’m under budget this month (not by much though), so this made me happy. A little savings is always good!
we did a couple nights of take out these last two weeks (especially Friday and Saturday nights). Chilling out with good food and watching some good T.V. / Netflix is one of our fave weekend things to do. We got a generous gift card from my In laws to one of our fave local sushi places so we used that. We also had Italian for dinner, courtesy of the In-laws. Thank you God for such a generous family!
Hi Friends! How’s your day going? I hope it was a great one. Mine was awesome! I did my grocery shopping today, I usually do it after my Ladies Bible study on Tuesdays but it’s winter break this week at our local school (the church follows the school district schedule, so no study for us this week). I got some good deals at the grocery store but the cashier forgot to scan some of the coupons (I only noticed it when I got home) that were on the products. $6 worth of savings 🙁 I’m not really sure if it’s worth going back to the store tomorrow, we’ll see. Anyways, the first 2 pictures are of my grocery hauls last week, I’m thinking that I probably don’t need to go grocery shopping for the rest of the month because we’re pretty stocked up. Maybe I’ll just buy some fruit (we have frozen veggies that I really want to use) and we’re good. I’m excited because if I’m going to stick to my “plan” I will be under budget this month. It’s always a good thing when I’m under budget with my grocery money! Happy cooking, eating and savings friends!
Hi Friends! How’s your Friday night going? The Hubs and I are watching a Filipino show (On the Wings of Love), I’m so sad it’s going to end soon:(. We’re also watching some NBA games, and maybe Netflix later! We are staying home because the weather is crappy tonight. Windy and raining and Riley is not loving it.
Anyways, I wanted to share my groceries this week. I’m really trying to save in this area because food is getting expensive and if I don’t monitor this it’s so easy to blow the budget in this area. So far our January food expenses have been under budget. I want to continue this trend in February.
Was out and about this week and I stopped at Ross and found these Skechers shoes. I have a similar slip on pair like this gifted by my sister and it’s really comfortable. Once I tried them on the shoes had to go home with me! I’ve been wearing them nonstop!
I’ve been watching the Gilmore Girls on Netflix this week. I’ve seen the first 2 seasons years ago (I was still in the Philippines). So far I’ve been enjoying it.
Have a great weekend friends! Happy Superbowl weekend too! The Seahawks are out so I will be rooting for the Denver Broncos.
Hi Friends! Happy Monday:) One of our “goals” this year is to really be intentional with our family budget. I’m responsible for budgeting, paying bills, getting groceries, and making meals while the hubs earns the money! We’ve already talked/made plans this past weekend about our financial goals for the year so I’m glad that is taken care of. Anyways, I wanted to share our dinners last week (after Christmas) and our menu plans for this week. I did the grocery shopping this week and came under budget (YES!). We have well stocked refrigerators right now and I plan to use what we already have for the coming weeks. Here’s to saving money and cooking at home!
Here’s our meal plans for the week:
M: Leftovers (we had beef caldereta; it’s a filipino version of beef stew)
T: Pasta with truffle butter (Ina Garten recipe),salads
w: Pork chop, rice, green beans
Th: Leftovers
F: Take out/Pizza
S: Chili
Sun: Salmon,veggies
*Our breakfast are usually :coffee and toast,yogurt,cereals,oatmeal then sandwiches and leftovers for lunch.
My groceries this week. The fridges are already stocked so I only bought produces that will be good this week, and I got some meat that was on sale that I can freeze for consumption in the coming weeks. Meat prices are getting ridiculous so I try to save money this way.
Hello Friends! Happy Friday:) I wanted to share my “recent” hauls for the last couple of months (some products I got around April) just because! I personally enjoy watching these kind of videos on youtube or blogs to get some ideas from the product reviews which I find very helpful. Most of these I ordered online and were on sale because, just like the majority of people, I like me some good deals!
I went to Bath and Body works for their semi annual sale (last June) because I got a good coupon and wanted to use it. I rarely use their products now (aside from their candles) because I’m trying to use more “natural” and organic products (slowly trying). I know my sister (Hello Ate!) wanted me to get her some of these, so these are for her. I bought 2 candles and I regret the Rio Red Guava because it sure gave me a headache after burning it for 3 hours. I hated it, but the hubs likes it. I will probably throw this one out, but I’ve read somewhere that you can actually return a candle even after burning it and get a new one (exchanged it) but I’m not sure if I want to do that! It’s not their fault if I don’t like the scent of the candle I picked it…smelled great at the store.
I’m trying to drink less ‘real’ coffee now (it’s so hard!) so I started drinking Teeccino Herbal coffee. It’s a great alternative to coffee because IMO it taste like coffee without the caffeine. I’ve had this before so I decided to just buy it in bulk on Amazon (I think it was on sale when I got them). My favorite is the French roast dark!
I got this on Amazon together with the Teeccino coffee, and I love the white chocolate wonderful one! A more natural version of peanut butter than what we’re used to eating at home. They’re all good, so creamy and the prices at amazon were decent too. I’ve checked it at our local grocery store and there’s no way I’m buying them there.
Henri Bendel had a summer sale last June, it’s one of my favorite brands because the quality is superb. I like it because you can only buy their products at their stores and online. It’s not “everywhere” unlike Michael Kors or Kate Spade. I feel like every woman on the planet has an MK bag or something. The prices are affordable so long as they are on sale:)
I dropped some donations at our local Value Village last weekend, they gave me a coupon that I can use in the store as a “thank you” for my donations. I checked their books section and found these goodies. I think I paid $6 after my discount. I’m looking forward to trying some recipes in the coming weeks.
Nordstrom had their Anniversary sale last month and I decided to get these Nike shoes. They got decent reviews and I’ve been wanting to get a pair of “light” sneakers for a while now. So with the sale I thought I would just get this and return it if I’m not into it. I’ve used them already and they’re so perfect for me! Super comfortable and light weight. I know I will get a lot of use out of these shoes in the coming months. Happy savings friends!
*For the month of August, I’m joining the #buynothing challenge! This means I’ll only buy the necessary (no starbucks coffee for me or things I’ve mentioned above!). So far so good for me, the first week was easy, I avoided Target and Homegoods (these stores are my weakness!). We’ll see how I will do in the coming 2nd week:)
I went to 3 Grocery stores this week because QFC (I rarely shop there) had a pretty good deal on their “mix and match” promo. I’ve read in some couponers/bloggers that this is the time to visit the store because some of the products have “rock” bottom prices. I hardly use coupons now so I was interested to see if they still have cheap prices even without coupons. So after we had dinner at the Outback, I asked the Hubs to go check it out with me. We got a lot of his fave cereals. We stocked up actually because they were like $1.50 each (with coupons, it’s probably $1). He normally has cereal twice a week, so this will last him for a while.
I had rewards points that will expire today,so I wanted to use them. I went to walgreens and wasn’t really planning on buying a specific product. I was planning to get coffee (they’re on sale) because we always drink coffee, or I can send it to the PI in my next balikbayan box. When I checked the clearance they had their detergent soap for very cheap prices,so I grabbed a few and decided to just forget the coffee! I got 4 cheap lipsticks too($2.50 each,on sale for 69 cents), and packing tape (for packing balikbayan boxes).
After Wags,off I go to Fred Meyer (they’re just in the same area) to get some ingredients for butter chicken. My hubs requested it this week,and I’ve been looking at Youtubes videos on how to make it. It’s his favorite Indian cuisine and I really wanted to do something nice to him especially that he’s really busy at work and lots of meetings and decisions to make this week!
Happy Labor Day Weekend Friends! With all the labor day sales going on right now,I just wanted to share my recent “hauls” that I purchased within the last 2 months (with the exception of the groceries of course!). I rarely buy things full priced, I always try to wait for sales/clearance and I love going to discounts stores like HomeGoods, Ross, and Marshalls. I also checked online shops like Groupon, LivingSocial, Zulily for good deals. I have several gift cards (from bday gifts, Christmas) that I wanted to use before the cards were completely drained. I forgot that I even had them!
I’m so loving this Dyson vacuum cleaner. It’s really light and powerful. I only use this for the second floor of our house (no wood floors). I got this in a Groupon deal for $251 (it’s refurbished but works like new). I’ve checked the price in amazon it’s around $449 new!
I have gift cards from Homegoods/Marshalls and I saw these perfumes on clearance, they looked like a pretty good deal. Speaking of perfume, I also used my Nordstrom gift card and bought Jo Malone perfumes. They smell so good and light. I love it! I got the Nectarine Blossom and English Pear.
And now to the more “exciting” parts, my grocery this week. I shopped at Fred Meyer and another local discount store in Issaquah, Champion Grocery. I think Champion Grocery is my new go to store, they don’t sell fresh produce but they do have the basic staples like coffee, dried fruits and household stuffs.
It’s been a while since I posted my grocery haul, with my sisters visit last week I didn’t shop at all because we ended up eating out most of the time. I also decided to join Smith Brother’s Farm Milk delivery (they’re a local company). I noticed a lot of our neighbors have this service so I wanted to check it out. This is our second week of delivery and though it’s pricey compared to our local grocery, I think it’s worth the price for me and the milk taste “fresher” in my opinion. So far I’m liking the idea of our milk delivered and I don’t have to get it from our grocery store and who knows how long it’s been in their refrigerator. I only shopped once this week because I still have a lot of meat in our freezer, so I bought mostly produce this time. Happy shopping and savings friends!
This was my grocery haul for the last 2 weeks but due to the Holy week I didn’t want to post any of my hauls. I shopped at 3 stores Walgreens, Fred Meyer, Grocery Outlet. The deals are over now except maybe for Grocery Outlet because they don’t have a weekly ad they’re more of like “while supplies last” kind of store. I really like shopping at Grocery Outlet because you never know what you’ll find in the store. Happy savings friends!