First - here is my stupid whine: wah, wah, everyone I know has a better car than I do! Wah, wah, all I want is heated seats. And a USB socket so I can plug my phone in and listen to the music on my car's stereo. Wah! I wish I had an SUV; not a big SUV, just a small SUV.
The reality - My car is fine. It's got a good safety rating. It runs fine. Oh - and it's paid for! When I was whining, I realized that a lot of the nice cars that I see up at school are probably leased, or still have loans on them. So I'm happy with my car again.
Here's the other thing - I don't have a lot of food budget left for this month. This is partly my fault - Sprouts was having a gf sale, so I stocked up. This was a smart move, I think, since these are products I use and they were much less expensive. They're not fancy things, just basics: tortillas, bread, pizza bases and flour.
I have to be careful about the budget, though.
Here's the meal plan for the next little while to accomplish that:
S - soup and cheddar bay biscuits
(this is a soccer practice night, and we don't get home until 8! - need something easy; I will mix up the dough for the biscuits before we leave)
M - fish with aioli and broccoli
I already have the broccoli; need to use it before it goes off. Dinner is about $9 for the three of us; one of our more expensive dinners.
T - pasta carbonara with salad
Basketball game night; easy and inexpensive dinner (turkey bacon $3, pasta, 4 eggs and some parmesan - about $6 total)
W - chili with cornbread
Soccer practice night. Will have this bubbling away in the crockpot, and make the cornbread when we get home (it's an easy recipe! Since I have turkey burger, I'll use that, but last time I made it veggie; I may bulk this out with some carrots and corn). This will create two dinners: one for the freezer.
T - crustless quiche with salad
This is a basketball practice night, but if I do the prep ahead of time, D can transfer this from fridge to oven as we're leaving the practice. I chop up olives (already had a can in the pantry), cheese (I have some herbed goat cheese on hand), sundried tomatoes (those are in the pantry, too) and lots of eggs - makes enough for dinner and lunch the next day. And vegetarian.
F - lettuce wraps
I got bamboo shoots and water chestnuts on sale the other day. Add to that shitake mushrooms and a little bit of chicken (with soy sauce and other stuff I already have on hand). We all love lettuce wraps.
S - Tostadas
One of our least expensive dinners - corn tortillas, refried beans, a little sour cream, a little salsa, a little lettuce. Vegetarian.
S - cauliflower cheese
Already have cauliflower, need an extra cheese, maybe broccoli. This is a soccer practice night, and we'll need to eat lat. I can make the cheese sauce and have this oven ready to go when we get home (oven timer!). Another vegetarian dinner. Will probably serve with toast and butter.
M - mahi mahi burgers with chips
We usually make the burgers on the bbq; hope it doesn't snow!
T - asian meatballs
This is a basketball game night, and this can all be made in the crockpot and rice cooker. We already have turkey in the freezer and some jasmine rice (I mix it with plain white rice). Also have green onions on hand.
W - french dinner
This dinner is basically cheese, crackers, olives and a small salad. We splurge on boursin cheese. Perfect for another basketball game night, and another vegetarian dinner.
T - roasted veggies and brown rice
We already have cauliflower and red onion. I can buy a few assorted veggies. I can pop the veggies into the oven with the timer and time to rice in the rice cooker, since this is also a basketball game night. Vegetarian meal.
F - posole from the freezer and peas
This will carry us through to the next shopping day...
I Whined a Little Today + Meal Plan
January 22nd, 2017 at 10:32 pm
January 22nd, 2017 at 11:11 pm 1485126696
Or what about something like this? I just remembered my friend had something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-12-Volt-Cushion-Temperat...
{We put USB/bluetooth in our 2001/2005 vehicles}.
January 22nd, 2017 at 11:19 pm 1485127191
January 22nd, 2017 at 11:46 pm 1485128782
(I looked it up and we only paid $275 to upgrade my husband's entire stereo with bluetooth and USB?? Installation and everything. Mine was $415, for a similar setup. It depends on the car. The older one was cheaper, because the new stereo just fit right in. Mine was a different size or shape and so it was a whole thing).
January 22nd, 2017 at 11:47 pm 1485128869
January 22nd, 2017 at 11:53 pm 1485129196
January 23rd, 2017 at 12:25 am 1485131127
January 23rd, 2017 at 02:23 am 1485138192
January 23rd, 2017 at 07:52 am 1485157933
January 23rd, 2017 at 10:52 am 1485168728
January 23rd, 2017 at 11:37 pm 1485214638
January 24th, 2017 at 03:54 am 1485230073