The thermometer on the garage wall read 88 degrees at four o'clock last Sunday, and I had a pot of chicken tortilla soup going on the back burner anyway. October in Dallas does this. The stores have pumpkins stacked by the door, Eli's flag football team shows up to Saturday games in hoodies they peel off by the second quarter, and the afternoons are still in the upper 80s. So fall dinners at our house split the difference: the soup pot when the evening cools off a little, the grill when it doesn't, and the Crock-Pot on the days I'm at the office.
It was also the week our new electric plan kicked in, on Thursday the 16th. October's bill won't tell me much, since the AC has finally stopped running all afternoon, but I'll be watching November's.
Last week's dinners
I wrote these on the paper plan at the kitchen table on Sunday afternoon and stuck it to the fridge with the Texas magnet. The costs are the groceries each dinner used, from my receipts.
- Sunday: chicken tortilla soup. Two pounds of bone-in thighs simmered in the stockpot with onion, garlic, a can of diced tomatoes with green chiles and cumin, then shredded back in. Crushed tortilla chips, cheese and avocado on top. It bubbled away next to the five pounds of taco meat I was cooking down for the freezer. $12.60.
- Monday: tacos. From the bag of that taco meat I kept in the fridge. The beef was on the previous week's receipt, so this night only cost $5.75 in tortillas, lettuce, tomato, cheese and sour cream.
- Tuesday: charro beans and cornbread. Office day plus flag practice. Pintos, bacon, onion, a jalapeño and tomatoes went into the Crock-Pot on low at 7:15 a.m., and a skillet of cornbread went in the oven when I got home. $7.85.
- Wednesday: chicken thighs and corn on the cob. Meant to be a grill night. More on that below. $10.90.
- Thursday: skillet rice bowls. Another office day, so the second bag of taco meat thawed in the fridge overnight and went into the 12-inch skillet with black beans, corn and salsa over rice. $3.85 in new groceries.
- Friday: Cody's game. Sandwiches, chips and apples in the cooler, counted with the lunch groceries.
- Saturday: Matt's grill. Burgers on the Weber after Eli's game, with buns and cheese from Monday's Aldi trip.
What went sideways
Wednesday a line of storms rolled through right around four, the way fall storms do here: a wall of wind, pea-size hail bouncing off the patio, the lights flickering twice. Matt was not about to stand at the kettle in that. The chicken thighs went into both baskets of the air fryer instead, 380 degrees for about 25 minutes, skin side up, and I boiled the corn on the stove. Nobody noticed. The skin was crisp and Wyatt ate three thighs.
The other miss was Tuesday. Eli took one look at the charro beans, said they were "touching the bacon," and ate a cheese quesadilla instead. I knew that was coming when I planned it. The beans were for the rest of us, and there was enough left over for Matt's lunch on Wednesday.
Where the groceries came from
Most of the week came from my usual Monday morning Aldi trip with Rosie in the cart. A Kroger pickup on Wednesday filled in what Aldi didn't have and what we'd already run out of, and a Walmart+ delivery on Thursday brought the heavy things: paper towels, dish soap, a case of water for the Friday cooler and two of the week's three gallons of milk.
- Aldi, Monday: $171.40
- Kroger pickup, Wednesday: $48.27
- Walmart+ delivery, Thursday: $27.51
That's everything for the week: dinners, breakfasts, two packed lunches a day, the cooler, the milk and the two dozen eggs. The five planned dinners came to $40.95, which only looks that low because the taco meat was paid for the week before. Counting the meat, it's closer to $60, or right around $2.40 a serving.
The week came to $247.18, just under our $250 budget.
The last bag of taco meat turns into stuffed sweet potatoes this Thursday. The forecast for Halloween says 79 degrees, and I'm making chili anyway.
