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.
The Shopping
I’m not gonna lie…I’m pretty glad that Joshua’s birthday isn’t at the same time of year as the girls’ birthdays. I need a little break before another one of these rolls around! 😉
I spent $76.40 at Weis, $90.52 at Aldi, and $12 at a local grocery store yesterday because I forgot a few things when I went shopping earlier in the week.
Soo, that’s a whopping $178.92. Part of that is because of a birthday week…Lisey asked for a lot of things that don’t normally make it into my grocery budget, but it IS her birthday, and that only comes once a year for her.
And since I skipped a lot of grocery shopping last month, the overspending this month isn’t an enormous deal.
The Menu
Since Mr. FG works second shift, we eat our dinner meal at noon during the week, and at night on the weekends. And our lunch meal happens at night during the week and at noon on the weekends.
We do eat breakfast in the morning, though, all week long!
Breakfast options are homemade yogurt, granola, scrambled eggs, oatmeal, fruit, and cereal.
Lunches 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.
Here’s the dinner meal plan:
Saturday
- Takeout date night for Mr. FG and me, something easy for the kids
Sunday-We’re celebrating Lisey’s birthday, so this meal is of her choosing. 😉
- Fried Shrimp
- Rolls (I’m not sure yet what kind she wants)
- Mandarin Orange Jello Salad (which is more like pudding than anything else, but it’s a birthday, so we will eat pudding and call it salad)
- Ice Cream Cake
Monday
- Stuffed Shells
- leftover rolls
- green salad
Tuesday
- Chicken Enchiladas
- chips and salsa
- spinach salad
Wednesday
- Hibachi Chicken and Shrimp (with zucchini and onions)
- fruit salad
Thursday
- Seafood Quesadillas (these got bumped last week)
Friday
- Pizza
April
Sunday 25th of March 2012
I noticed your cooking oil bottle size....I buy ours buy the gallon or 2 gallon size. Do you buy items in bulk? In bulk I buy rice, dried beans, oatmeal, flour, sugar, cooking oil, yeast (believe it or not I can get the yeast in a one lb size for the same price the local high priced grocery store wants for a strip of 3 packages of yeast), powered milk (for baking use), salt, spices and pastas. The last time I bought wheat flour, I paid $18 for 50 lbs. The local grocery wants $5 for a 4 lb bag, so that is a huge savings. On craigs list, I got a free small sized deepfreezer that does not work. I have that in my garage pantry and keep my large bags of flour and sugar in it. The gaskets on the freezer ensure items inside it stay bug free.
Lauren B
Saturday 24th of March 2012
I made "your" homemade hibachi tonight! (for the second time). I have learned so much from you. Thank you so much for creating/writing this blog!
Out of curiosity, why don't y'all go out to eat for birthdays? I read your post on frugal/low key birthdays, but noticed that you went over your normal allotment of 100$.. I love how you let them choose the menu, but I guess I am just curious how you decided to do that for birthdays rather than going out and allowing you a night out of the kitchen since you spend more than normal anyways. I hope my question makes sense.
:)
Kristen
Monday 23rd of September 2013
Well, for the six of us to go out to eat at a midgrade restaurant (think TGIF), we usually have to spend almost $100. And my kids' birthday meals generally do not cost me that much extra.
Eating out with six people is just so crazy expensive.
Michele
Saturday 24th of March 2012
Nutella.......yum :)
Jo@simplybeingmum
Saturday 24th of March 2012
Really shouldn't read menu plans just before lunch. Am so hungry now! Done my Aldi shop today - almost £7 over my £50 budget. I ended up buying 5 packets of chocolate bunnies for a draw I'm going to do tomorrow (but they'll get used up on Leah's 7th Birthday which is Easter Sunday this year - we'll do a bunny hunt at her tea-party). Plus there were some ice-creams (which wasn't on the list) that the Hubby will like. I'd have been about 7p under had I not splurged! Oh well!
NMPatricia
Saturday 24th of March 2012
I just love it when your children ask for and you provide the birthday dinners. I bet it truly makes a great celebration. They have such creative minds and must feel so loved to be able to ask for what they do.