Labor Day weekend! We are getting together with friends tonight at our house, and tomorrow night at our neighbor's house.

Tonight - I have a huge crockpot of chili bubbling away. My friend is bringing a salad and cupcakes. I'll have tortilla chips and sour cream and cheese. I figure I spent $30 on all of the ingredients, and the sour cream and cheese will be used for other things as well. We should also have at least one more meal for the freezer out of this depending on how much we eat.

Tomorrow night - Not sure what I'm bringing, but I always have the ingredients for a nice Mary Berry Tunis Cake on hand.

The rest of the week:

Tuesday - F is leaving for her class trip on Wednesday, so she requested Stir Fried Cauliflower and Rice for Tuesday night (she is afraid there won't be much to eat on the trip that she likes, and that is probably true, but they've already talked to her about her GF diet and there are two GF teachers). Anyway, the ingredients for this recipe totaled $5.62. I already have ginger, garlic, green onions.

Wednesday - F will be on her trip (eating frito pies; they told her the menu) so we'll have frito pies, too. We'll use some of the sour cream and cheese from chili night, some of the green onions we already have. We have all of the ingredients for red chili sauce on hand (we do live in NM afterall!) and probably have a side salad with it. Total $3.78.

Thursday - F still on her trip (by this point I will be missing her so much!). She is having pasta that night (they are buying GF pasta for the three of them since the others are having pasta), and so are we. We already have peas and pasta, lemons and garlic. Just needed bacon, goat cheese. So $5.48, and the remaining goat cheese and bacon can be used for other meals.

Friday - F requested kebabs for when she gets back. We have chipotle kebabs with chicken, courgettes, red pepper and mushrooms and a really yummy yoghurt sauce. Ingredients totaled $5.80 because we already have plain yoghurt and other ingredients for the marinade and sauce. We just needed veggies and a lime.

Saturday - We're having tortilla espanola. We have a housewarming party to go to, so we may put this off to Sunday if there's enough to eat there. We will probably bring a salad. So... maybe this is Sunday. Anyway, I bought more mayo for the sauce, but obviously we only use a little bit. Half a thing of eggs, and three potatoes. $8 (and that includes the entire jar of mayo).

I still spent a ton on groceries this week even though are dinners aren't super expensive. I had to get F snacks for the trip because the other kids will be given things she probably can't eat. Also bought GF graham crackers so she can participate in s'mores. They told me no nuts of any kind (there is a severe nut allergy) so I opted for chickpeas, dried fruit, and a fruit/chia bar. I spent a lot on snacks.

Total grocery bill this week is $141 which is a lot more than usual, probably due to the snacks for the trip. And some staples. And feeding chili to everyone tonight! But it's so worth it to hang out with our friends!