Hi, I'm Lauren. I live in North Dallas, Texas, in a brick ranch house with my husband Matt, our boys Wyatt and Eli, our youngest, Rosie, and Biscuit, a red heeler mix who has never once missed a dropped tortilla.
Before kids I spent six years cooking for a living, first on the line at a Tex-Mex restaurant in Denton and then for a catering company in Dallas. These days I work part-time as the bookkeeper for our church's preschool, which explains the other habit you'll notice here: I've tracked every grocery receipt in a spreadsheet since 2022.
Thrifted Table is where those two habits meet. Every week I plan dinners for five, shop mostly at Aldi and Kroger with a Costco run when we need it, and write down what it all cost, the good weeks and the bad ones.
What you'll find here
- Weekly Meal Plans: what we ate this week and the real grocery total.
- Budget Recipes: Tex-Mex, smoker and weeknight dinners that feed five without much fuss.
- Groceries & Savings: store comparisons, meal kits, delivery, cash-back apps and our monthly numbers.
- Kitchen Gear: the tools and appliances that earned their spot, and a few that didn't.
- Freezer & Batch Cooking: Sunday cooking sessions and the chest freezer that keeps busy weeks fed.
- Hosting & Holidays: Thanksgiving, cookouts, birthday parties and Friday night football, on a budget.
A few honest notes
I'm a home cook with restaurant habits, not a dietitian, doctor or financial professional. What I share about food, prices and budgets is our family's experience, not advice for yours. Prices change by store and by week, so check before you shop.
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Say hi any time: lauren@thriftedtable.com.