On Saturdays, I share my menu plan for the upcoming week along with a photo of my groceries and a tally of my spending. My goal is to spend $100/week for our food, toiletries, and cleaning products. I’m currently in the midst of trying to buy more local, sustainably-produced food while sticking to my budget. Can it be done? I don’t know, but I’m going to try, and I’ll share what I learn as I go along.
So far, we’re doing fairly well at adjusting to Mr. FG’s new schedule, but I have to say, I really haven’t quite figured out my ideal grocery shopping routine. I went at night last week and didn’t love it to pieces, so I’m hoping not to continue that.
This week, I made a couple of random grocery runs…one to a local grocery store, one to the local organic market for some local, unpackaged chicken, and one to Target, since I had to be there for a few other things anyways. So, I actually haven’t been to Aldi OR Weis. Highly unusual.
I think I’m going to try going on Mondays for a while to see how that works….we don’t usually have anything else scheduled for Mondays, so fitting in shopping shouldn’t be a big problem.
Actually, grocery shopping is sort of a big problem no matter when you go, isn’ t it? Especially when you’re trying to make sure you get school done.
Whenever I am tempted to heartily complain about the shopping process, though, I think how fortunate I am to live in a day when food is abundant, and I can just go buy it instead of having to grow and process it all myself. Compared to that, grocery shopping is pretty easy.
I spent $18.33 on food at Target, $15 on chicken at the organic market, $6 on eggs from a local blog reader, and $30.31 at the local grocery store. So, $60.64 altogether.
Our lunch meals (which we eat in the evening, due to Mr. FG’s work schedule) will be comprised of sandwiches made with whole wheat bread, homemade yogurt, yogurt smoothies, cottage cheese, fruit, raw veggies, nuts, cheese, and leftovers as necessary. Of course, we don’t eat all of that every single day…it’s just a list of the things we choose from for lunch each day. And Mr. FG eats leftovers for this meal pretty much every day.
Aaand, here’s our dinner meal plan for the week. It includes quite a few meals that got bumped from last week, but I’m pleased to say that none of the bumping resulted in takeout meals..I just cooked something different than planned.
Saturday
- Takeout date night. Oh yes. I love these nights! I’m thinking maybe sushi this week.
Sunday
- I’m really not sure yet! I do have buttermilk and flour and eggs, though, so I can always make a batch of pancakes or something.
Monday
- Grilled hamburgers
- Grilled veggies
Tuesday
- Teriyaki Chicken
- fruit salad
- green beans
Wednesday
- Baked Potato Soup
- Cheese bread
- green salad
Thursday
- Fish Sandwiches
- cucumber slices
- steamed broccoli
Friday
- homemade pizza
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Today’s 365 post: Sienna is growing, indeed.
Jennifer
Tuesday 15th of November 2011
Just another zombie.. JUST kidding! Love your blog! Thanks for sharing :) I have a schedule that doesn't allow me to shop during the day and I really dislike grocery shopping on weekends. I try to take a friend occasionally. Even if we end up splitting up for part of the actual shopping it's a few minutes of adult conversation without kiddos around and it makes going to the grocery store at night feel less lonely! Of course I can't always go with a friend but it's a fun treat. Not a bad time to enjoy a cup of coffee together before you get busy in the main store. Feels like a girlfriend date! Blessings!
Elaine
Monday 7th of November 2011
I'm single, with 2 dog-children, and I would love to be able to do the grocery shopping after work. However, I have to get right home because the dogs are in the house all day, and need to get outside. I used to go to my favorite grocery store at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning (and get meat marked down from the previous day), but I got tired of getting up early and jumping into action right away, AND the store plays country music really loud. I spoke to 2 people about that, asking if they would turn the volume down, but they wouldn't even listen to me. I take my shopping to a different store now.
Susan
Monday 7th of November 2011
Could you incorporate grocery shopping into your home-schooling routine? When my daughters were young, we made a game of grocery shopping, and they tell me now (ages 31 and 20) that those "games" we played in the grocery store help them out tremendously with saving money and menu planning. If you want more details, just let me know, and I'll share with you what we did.
Kira
Monday 7th of November 2011
Um...I hate to point this out, because I fear I'll come across as snarky, which is not how I mean it. But I think your math is off? I come up with a total of $69.64. Honestly, I only mention it because I am so tickled with myself for catching a math error. That's like a Kardashian noticing a moral failing. I love, love, love the picture of your daughter doing her school work. I never can get a picture of my kids doing school that accurately reflects how it feels to me. Just a lovely pictire.
Kristen
Monday 7th of November 2011
Ooh! I must have typed something into the calculator wrong.
And your Kardashian comment is hilarious. :)
Cary
Monday 7th of November 2011
Yummm, we had baked potato soup and cheese bread last week because you had it on your meal plan and it was delicious! Thanks for the inspiration. And I was reminded when I took the lovely braided bread out of the oven that I would never have attempted bread if I hadn't stumbled upon your blog and wonderful directions. So thanks from me and my whole family (who now always assign me bread for family get-togethers!)