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.
You know by now that grocery shopping isn’t really my favorite activity, mostly because I’d rather use that time to do school with my kids (fitting shopping AND school into an afternoon is busy!)
Earlier this week, I really, really, REALLY didn’t feel like going shopping, and as I looked over my menu, I realized that I could probably make it through the week without doing a grocery trip.
Then I was very happy.
And I heard angel choirs.
It’s actually turned out to be quite a good thing to have an unplanned off-week because it’s forced me to use up a lot of the food I had in the house (of course, that’s aside from the benefit of not having had to drag myself to the grocery store!)
Of course, the downside is that I have no grocery photo for you. So, here’s a photo of something I’m going to tell you about next week.
Breakfasts this week will be cranberry bread, granola, cereal, fruit, and yogurt smoothies.
Lunches (we eat this meal at night during the week and at noon on the weekends) 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 lunch pretty much every day.
Our main meals (which we eat at noon during the week and at night on the weekends) will be as follows:
Saturday
- Date night for Mr. FG and me, something easy for the offspring
Sunday
- We didn’t make crepes last week, so I think we’re going to try to get it done this week.
- Orange Julius
Monday
- Chipped Beef on Toast
- green salad
- oranges
Tuesday
- Chicken Parmesan Risotto (bumped from a previous week. Chicken will be from local organic store.)
- green beans
Wednesday
- Shrimp and Ravioli in Creamy Tomato Sauce (because I found some ravioli in my freezer)
- french bread
- green salad
Thursday
- Onion Braised Beef Brisket (a new recipe from my new Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook
, and I’ll use my local beef)) - English Muffins
- steamed broccoli
Friday
____________________________
Today’s 365 post: All the boys
Joshua’s 365 post: Afternoon School
jen S.
Monday 12th of December 2011
I was so happy to see the link to the Cranberry Bread recipe. I have been in a banana bread/pumpkin gingerbread mode and was trying to think of something else for Christmas time! Yeah~ After reading the post, I could not remember if you ever ended up blogging about the Cook's recipe? Do you remember? :) Blessings!
Sarah
Monday 12th of December 2011
I made the Cook's Illustrated brisket for my daughter's christening brunch this summer and it was fantastic. I think it didn't make as much sauce as I was expecting, but I'm that was my fault and not the recipe's. I hope your family enjoys it too. We used beef from the 1/2 beef we bought from a local farm though, so I'll need to wait until we get the next beef to make it again.
Joy
Monday 12th of December 2011
You've probably answered this many times but when you say Mr FG eats leftovers for his meal at work, do you mean you deliberately cook a little extra the night before (or whenever) and take his out before serving the meal? If so, it must save a lot of time.
erin
Sunday 11th of December 2011
I love avoiding grocery shopping! I've been pulling lots out of the freezer lately (and making big batches to put in the freezer so I don't have to cook later).
Thrifty Mom in Boise
Sunday 11th of December 2011
We've been using up our leftovers in our freezer since Thanksgiving weekend. I ran out of milk though and we needed light bulbs so had to go get some on Wednesday. I have to say it has been nice having a break from grocery shopping. I am planning my regular trip next Friday after work, however. I'll be ready by then. :)