Grocery Spending/Menu Plan | I’m back in the game!

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.

At least, I am more than I was last week. I still feel like I haven’t quite gotten my life back together post-vacation, but I’m working on it.

I was too hungry for lunch to bother unpacking my groceries for a picture.

As you can see from these two items, this week has not been a typical week. After thinking about the stuff I needed to get done, though, I decided that homemade bread and homemade yogurt could be taken off my to-do list.

I’m pleased to say that things are a little more back to normal now…this is my kitchen counter yesterday. 😉

I spent $107.81 at Aldi and $35.05 at Weis for a total of $142.86. That means I’m under by $57.14, which is good because I forked over a big fat check for a quarter of a local cow this week.

My quarter had a hung weight (a pre-butchering weight) of 179 pounds, and the price was $2.99/lb. So, I spent $536 on beef this week, but my freezer is delightfully stuffed, and I shouldn’t have to buy beef again for a very long time. Yay!

Since I was a little under budget this week, my beef purchase has “only” put me over budget by $478.86. I figure if we just don’t eat anything for the next month, we’ll be right back on track. 😉

Actually, my more serious plan is to, well, plan better for the next time I need to buy beef. I’m going to take money from another category to pay for the beef this time around, and I’m going to try to spend $80/week instead of $100, at least through the end of the calendar year. If I do this, I should have enough grocery money saved up to buy another quarter without putting myself behind.

Because I won’t have to buy a whole lot of meat, I think this could be manageable, and I think I can do it without compromising on the quality of food we eat (if we had to subsist solely on ramen to stay on budget, I’d be opposed!).

I really want to make this work because I’m so on board with the idea of supporting small, local farms, and because I think this beef is healthier for our family.

(Hello! If you were a cow, wouldn’t you want to live here??)

Ok, I think I’m done with pictures now. This has been an unusually picture-heavy Saturday post, hasn’t it?

Breakfasts this week will be chosen from the usual options…toast, fruit, yogurt, scrambled eggs, cereal, oatmeal, and pancakes.

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. 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.

And here’s what’s on tap for dinner:

Saturday

• We’re having a misc. night to use up some leftovers.

Sunday

• Pizza with Mr. FG’s grandma (we get together with her every now and then to share a meal and play some games)

Monday

• Beef au Jus sandwiches
• Spinach salad

Tuesday

• Cilantro Chicken Pasta Salad
• Whole Wheat Rolls
• fruit

Wednesday

• Meatball Subs
• green salad

Thursday

• Fish-I have some salmon and some tilapia that need to be used
• garlic bread
• fruit

Friday

• Homemade Pizza

Today’s 365 post: This is what has become of our tree