Welcome back to my WWATW series, where I share what we ate and how much we spent on groceries and dining out for a full week in July, all while hosting my dad —and getting into a delicious rhythm of sourdough discard baking. It’s a fun, practical look into what feeding a family of six actually looks like day-to-day.
A Week of Real-Life Meals 🥑🍞🍗
This week was a bit out of the ordinary in the best way. My dad was in town, which meant extra help—and extra mouths to feed. My local cousin is just getting into sourdough baking, so we spent a lot of the week experimenting with discard recipes. Here’s what we cooked:
Sourdough Discard Recipes We Made 🍪
- Sourdough brownies (MUST try — I’ll link it below!)
- Sourdough chocolate chip cookies
- Sourdough tortillas (a huge hit for quesadillas!)
- Sourdough pita (didn’t turn out great — think I left it in the fridge too long before cooking)
I’ll link the brownie, cookie, and tortilla recipes below 👇
Also: hard-boiled eggs (24 per week!), plus all the usual fruits and veggies.
Day-by-Day Meals 🗓️
Sunday
- Lunch: My dad fed the kids turkey & cheese sandwiches while I went to a mom brunch event.
- Dinner: Skipped grilling marinated chicken thighs due to a heat wave. My dad brought home a gourmet grocery spread (mac & cheese, pasta, salmon, baked beans—so good!).
Monday
- Lunch: Gourmet grocery leftovers.
- Dinner: Grilled Greek-marinated chicken thighs (Greek yogurt, lemon juice, oregano, paprika) with store-bought tzatziki, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and store-bought pita.
- ⭐ This was such a summer hit I made it again the next week.
Tuesday
- Brunch/Lunch: Late breakfast at First Watch with my dad and younger two kids.
- Dinner: Stuffed mini bell peppers with:
- Ground beef, onions, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, taco seasoning
- Leftover quinoa + frozen corn
- Topped with shredded cheese and served with Greek yogurt (aka “sour cream”) and avocado 🫑🥑
- Froze half for a future dinner 👏
Wednesday
- Lunch: Unrecorded — probably leftovers.
- Dinner: BBQ-marinated grilled chicken thighs over salad (lettuce, black beans, corn, cheese, avocado salsa, “sour cream”).
Thursday
- Lunch: Homemade quesadillas on the griddle using our sourdough tortillas.
- Dinner: Roasted salmon + asparagus with a cucumber strawberry red wine relish and lemon + Parmesan. Served with sourdough & butter. 🍓🧈
Friday
- Lunch: Special outing with just our two older kids at a nursery café. ($60 total)
- Dinner: Dinner at a friend’s house. I brought challah, wine, gluten-free cookies, and a huge fruit salad (watermelon, kiwi, pineapple, cherries). 🍒
Saturday
- All Meals: Leftovers + fruit salad day (Shabbat = lazy kitchen day). 🍉
What We Spent 💵
Groceries:
- Trader Joe’s (Mon): $178
- Costco (Mon): $40
- Target (Midweek): $60
- Trader Joe’s (Midweek): $80
- Total: $358
Dining Out:
- Friday lunch with older kids: $60
- Friday breakfast burrito + latte: $25
- Total: $85
Yes, it’s a little more than usual—but we had guests, special outings, and, you know… four kids. 😅
Recipe Links 🔗
Life Lately 🪴🐛
Oh, and quick life update: We’re now the proud (and slightly terrified) owners of a praying mantis egg sac. It came in a plastic container from a nursery, and supposedly will hatch 1–200 baby mantises within 2–6 weeks. They’re just… sitting on my kitchen counter. So. Stay tuned 😳
Thanks for listening, reading, and being here. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend and take 30 seconds to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify—it means the world to me.
See you next week!