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 spent $50.90 at Aldi and $16.86 at Weis, plus $2.50 for a dozen local eggs. So, my total for this week is a mere $70.26. Whee!
I apologize for how blurry this picture is…I accidentally used a really wide aperture, so only the front portion of the photo is in focus. And I’m sorry that you can’t really see my groceries…my kids chose some really large stuffed animals this week!
Saturday
Sunday
- French Toast
- OJ
- scrambled eggs
Monday
- Chicken Tacos
- Fruit Salad
Tuesday
- Roast Beef and Mushroom Paninis (I promise I will take pictures of the process this time, like I’ve been promising to do for, um, a really long time!)
- Spinach Salad topped with Spiced Pecans
Wednesday
- Asian Tilapia (bumped from last week)
- green beans
- probably some rolls
Thursday
- Zucchini and Chicken Pasta Salad
- Challah
Friday
- BBQ Chicken Pieces
- Grilled veggies
- whatever bread I happen to feel like making!
Oh, and several of you asked how to make the croutons in one of my 365 posts from this week. I actually posted about that way back in this blog’s infancy, though the croutons pictured in my 365 post were made without garlic, and I used a 50/50 combination of olive oil and butter. Because I used salted butter, I didn’t bother adding any salt. So, the ingredients in my pictured croutons were just bread and butter…simple, yet delicious.
Deb
Monday 24th of May 2010
How do people come up with fresh ideas for their menus? And how do you grocery shop for menu planning Kristin - do you plan the menu based on what you have available in your freezer/pantry? Or do you buy groceries based on your menu plan?
I'm in a rut, and I'm so sick of my own cooking. My hubby used to do the majority of our cooking, but his work schedule has changed. It's just the two of us, and we mostly use chicken, ground poultry, and seafood for our meats. Honestly, when it comes to chicken, I'm about out of ideas. I'd love some input on menu planning - any fave book or website recommendations? Help!
ksmedgirl
Sunday 23rd of May 2010
this is off topic, but I think it's funny. When I open your blog as an email, all I can see besides the title is the top of the pic of the piece of paper, and I always think it's a pic of those toe separators for pedicures. Then I scroll down to actually read the post and it makes me giggle when I realize(again!) it's really supposed to be a picture of notebook paper. I'm weird like that!
Vanessa
Saturday 22nd of May 2010
I messed up a loaf of wheat bread this week (punched down twice, oops, and my yeast never fully recovered) and turned that whole loaf into croutons. I used olive oil, salt, garlic and onion powder. They're a little dense, but still very tasty. Love to see I'm not the only one make homemade croutons. I mean, they're what $3.50 for a bag with 6 oz.?... or I could just use my own bread before it goes bad! :)
Question: because you're under your weekly budget, will you move those funds to a savings, pay a bill, or use them in another grocery week if you need to go over? How do you reallocate unused funds?
Kristen
Saturday 22nd of May 2010
Well, I was $26 over last week, so this just kind of evens things out! lol
Last month I had some money left at the end, so I used it to go stock up on some nuts at Costco....that's usually what I do when I have food moola left (invest it in some food that's a little expensive).
Molly
Saturday 22nd of May 2010
I think the weekly pictures with stuffed animals are really fun. :-)