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.
I haven’t done one of these posts in what seems like a really long while!
And I haven’t posted a picture of my groceries in an even longer while.
That’s really a partial picture…I put my shrimp and fish and dairy products away before I managed to snap a picture.
Speaking of my shrimp…
Weis has a policy that states if a product doesn’t ring up at the sale price, you get the item free, up to $10. Well, my bag of shrimp rang up at the wrong price, so I got two pounds of 31/40 raw shrimp for a total of $6.98. Sweet.
As far as my spending goes, I can tell you that I spent $81.88 at Aldi, and $21 at the organic store (for the packaging-free chicken, some nitrate-free bacon, and some cilantro), but I cannot locate my Weis receipt at the moment. I’m not entirely sure where I put it after I got my $10 price adjustment at the customer service desk.
If I find it, I’ll update this post!
Saturday
- Pizza. I think I’m going to try a new Cook’s recipe. I’ll let you know how it comes out!
Sunday
- Snacky stuff…crackers, veggies, dip, popcorn, fruit and fruit dip, etc.
Monday
- Asian Meatballs and rice (trying a new recipe from AllYou magazine
- grapefruit halves (they were $0.35 apiece this week at Aldi!)
Tuesday
- Chicken Parmesan Risotto
- green salad
- garlic breadsticks
Wednesday
- Shrimp Burgers (a new recipe from Cook’s Illustrated)
- veggie chips
- green beans
Thursday
- Chicken Teriyaki
- Cheese bread
- green salad (don’t you love my uber-traditional accompaniments to Chicken Teriyaki??)
Friday
- Takeout date night for Mr. FG and me, something easy for the kiddos
Have a lovely Saturday, and check back here tomorrow because I’m going to give away 5 Seeds cds!
Today’s 365 post: I replaced this with something from Goodwill…
Paula
Monday 10th of January 2011
I made the pizza from the Latest Cooks Illustrated Magazine on Friday night and we just loved it! Hope yours turns out great too!
Rebecca Kipe
Monday 10th of January 2011
could someone post that recipe? :)
Dmarie
Sunday 9th of January 2011
wow, keeping an eagle eye at checkout really pays off. must do that!
Kristen
Sunday 9th of January 2011
Absolutely. Never assume that the cash register or cashier got it right!
tina
Saturday 8th of January 2011
I am so glad I found your blog!! You have a bunch of terrific looking recipes that I will be trying. I look forward to reading all year long!! have a wonderful weekend!
tina
Alison
Saturday 8th of January 2011
Kristen, About your nitrate free bacon: I was buying ALL nitrate free lunchmeats (at higher price, of course) for several years. Last year I read an article in Cook's Illustrated that had done a comparison on regular vs. nitrate-free and they said that the "naturally occurring nitrates in celery juice, etc." released MORE of the nasty chemicals in our body than the chemical nitrates, or something to that effect. I was SO discouraged. You might want to go back and look up that article for your reference. I'm still on the fence about what to buy, so for now, I just buy LESS processed meat. I don't know what else to do.
Kristen
Sunday 9th of January 2011
Bleah. I just read the Cook's article and am feeling the same way you were. Argh.
It does sound like there's not much point in paying for the expensive bacon.
WilliamB-they tested nitrites AND nitrates, and the "nitrate-free" bacon was just as high as the regular on both counts. Boo.
WilliamB
Saturday 8th of January 2011
There's nitr_a_tes and nitr_i_tes. If you eat cured bacon (most cured meats, really) you'll get nitrite one way or another: from the added chemical, from pink salt (aka pickling or curing salt, and is sodium nitrite and salt, dyed pink to distinguish it from other salt), or from celery juice.
NitrAtes, on the other hand, can be avoided and, according to many sources, should be.
Kacy
Saturday 8th of January 2011
The chicken parmesan risotto sounds really good. I LOVE risotto, and am always looking for new ways to do it - would you mind giving the recipe for it? Also, just curious if you're done with the 2 week shopping trips? I'm in the middle of a 2 week meal plan for the first time, and I have to say it is such a relief that I don't have to worry about groceries this week!
ps. I love your blog. I've been reading for a few months now, and really enjoy all of your posts. thank-you so much!