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.
If you follow me on Facebook, you already know this, but I did something unusual and went grocery shopping after dinner last night. I don’t think I’ve done that in eons, except on vacation. But, you gotta do what you gotta do.
The kids and I just went to Aldi instead of to Aldi and Weis. Here are the fruits/veggies I bought. (Well, mostly fruit, since I have a number of veggies still in my fridge.)
And here’s the rest of my food. Can you tell I’m bringing cheese and crackers to the church lunch on Sunday?? And that’s we’re planning to roast marshmallows over our fire pit to make s’mores?
I spent $65 at Aldi, but I had run out of milk a day before I went shopping, so in addition to these groceries, I also made a $20 trip to a local store to buy two gallons of milk (one for cereal, one for making yogurt) and several other things.
Breakfast options this week will be yogurt, granola, cereal, toast, eggs, and fruit.
Our evening meals 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. And Mr. FG eats leftovers for this meal pretty much every day.
Here’s the dinner plan, which includes weekend nights and weekday noon meals (during the week, we eat our big meal of the day at noon, before Mr. FG leaves for work.)
Saturday
- Takeout date night for Mr. FG and me, something simple for the kids
Sunday
- Grilled Hamburgers (this got bumped from last week)
- chips
- raw veggies
- grapes
Monday
- takeout pizza (sometimes you know ahead of time that’s just the right choice to make!)
Tuesday
- Seafood Subs
- Zucchini Patties
- green salad
Wednesday
- Teriyaki Chicken
- Cheese bread
- green beans
Thursday
- Baked Potato Soup
- Cheese Bread
- spinach salad
Friday
- Pizza (homemade this time!)
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Today’s 365 post: Zoe didn’t do this.
Joshua’s 365 post: Jack be Little, Jack be Quick!
priskill
Tuesday 1st of November 2011
Just catching up this week -- not a twitterer or facebooker -- but TFG continues to cheer, educate, amuse and beckon. There are zillions of frugal blogs, but very few genuinely cheerful world views, warts and all. TFG is special -- Gosh, I'm a horrible crab monster sometimes, and it's actually helpful to come here and take a deep breath and remind myself of how i want to be in the world. You never seem prideful to me -- just happy and eager to share. "Look - it's a beautiful day!" and "My kids crack me up!" and "Gee, I am thankful my husband has a better job!" I can't explain it but that glee about ordinary, wonderful things is just so charming, and with a bit of effort, catchy. So, thank you!
Kristen
Tuesday 1st of November 2011
As always, you are a dear, Priskill. :) Mwah!
Donna Vargas
Monday 31st of October 2011
Excited to receive my ebook. Still haven't received the download link but I'm sure it will arrive soon.
Kristen
Monday 31st of October 2011
If you don't get it, let me know, and I'll get it sorted out!
michele
Sunday 30th of October 2011
i used to prefer to do my shopping after dark until recently when someone tried to run me over in an empty parking lot so now i go early in the morning. The stores here have regular times when they mark down their meats and that too is a good time to go. you can usually call and ask the butcher when he does it and you might explain your personal circumstances like i am on social security. the meat is quality and some of it is still in date. an excellent way to save.
Just Gai
Sunday 30th of October 2011
(Explanatory Note: Oops! I mistakenly posted this in last week's post, where it wouldn't make much sense. Please feel free to delete it from that date!)
I've been away for a few days and have only just caught up on the recent furore in your comments box. As one of your regular followers I confess to mixed reactions to your posts. I applaud your efforts to live cheerfully on less and recognise the positive impact this has had on hundreds (thousands?) of your readers. I also empathise with your accounts of family life, particularly valuing the insight it gives me into a culture surprisingly different to my own. However there are issues on which I admit to not seeing eye to eye with you – your religious views and views on homeschooling tomention just two. I also have problems with your public endorsements of various products. But these are not serious enough to stop me from subscribing to your feed.
When I read something with which I disagree I usually ignore it. Only on a few occasions have I felt strongly enough to comment, when I hope I came across as politely and respectfully as I intended I always put considerable thought into my words to prevent offence. As a fellow blogger, although not nearly so prolific, I have to accept that if I choose to air my views in the public domain, then my readers have the right to comment accordingly. It goes without saying that they should do so in an appropriate manner and that you have the right to block them if they abuse their freedom. And while it is flattering to receive an outpouring of endorsements, I would much rather scroll through a well mannered debate, particularlyin response to a controversial topic.
It would be a shame if, following the recent spats, your followers felt that they could not express their own personal contradictory views, without bringing the collective wrath of your readership down on their heads. I'm sure that's not what you would want either.
PS I hesitated before writing this comment, but I have proceeded because I think it needed said and in the hope that you will understand where I'm coming from.
Kristen
Tuesday 1st of November 2011
I definitely don't mind hearing opposing views, and neither do I mind it if someone respectfully endeavors to correct me on something.
What I do mind (and I'll put this in a document about commenting soon), is when people treat me in a manner inconsistent with the way I treat them and inconsistent with the tone that I set here (calling names, trying to shame me, etc). I also am not ok with complaining just for the sake of complaining...that's really different than constructive criticism.
Another thing that sent me into a distressed state of mind the other day was the fact that despite my pointing out multiple posts where I'd shared my flaws, people were still writing to tell me I should share my flaws sometime.
I heartily appreciate the fact that you ignore posts that aren't helpful to you or that you mildly disagree with. I definitely don't expect everyone to agree with me, and I don't expect to agree with everything I read on blogs either.
If you don't mind me asking, I'm curious what product endorsements you are uncomfortable with? I try to be really, really careful to only endorse products I have personally bought or would personally buy (for instance, ING savings accounts, Vollrath baking sheets, Canon cameras, etc), and I turn down oodles and oodles of advertising opportunities for the sake of a clear conscience (Payday loan ads? Um, no. Disposable products? Nope. Ridiculously unnecessary products? No. And so on.).
If you're not comfortable with bloggers ever endorsing products, though, I can understand why you are unhappy with what I do.
maria in chicago
Sunday 30th of October 2011
Hehe, you are braver than me; I see your family has been eating cantaloupe. I still have listeria fears. ;)