Back to weekly shopping/menu planning

I've been doing my menu planning and shopping monthly for close to 6 months now.  There are several advantages of doing this, but I'm seeing more disadvantages as summer approaches.  First, it's hard to plan what to eat a month ahead when you don't know what you'll be doing activity-wise.  This past month, I had to change several meals because of practices and meetings that I didn't know about when I planned the meals.  Also, we really want to focus on being more active, so many times heavy evening meals won't work for us.  It will be easier to plan just for the next week, as we'll know what we're doing and when (theoretically).

Second, since I'm really focusing on buying local, it will be easier to head to the farm/farmers' market first and pick up a few things and plan around them rather than hoping that I can find what I need.  I did that this week for the first time and it worked really well.  I think that if I go with a good idea what I already have on hand and with a few ideas in my head (or scratched on the back of an envelope), I will do ok.

Third, my budget it out of control.  I've been overspending by about $100 the past three months.  The first couple of times I blamed buying in bulk or stocking up on good meat sales, but I really have no excuse.  I need to do better.  My income drops in the summer and I'm determined not to alter my budget-I have to make it work.

The new plan is $500 for the month.  The first week I get $100 for Sam's Club to stock up on items that will last all month.  Then each week I will get $100 for groceries.  When it's gone, I'm done.  I've found this a little more challenging since I'm doing gluten/diary free for one of the girls.  I don't have a lot on hand, but we'll make it work for this week at least.  My goal is to really cut back on the gluten and dairy, so if I don't have an acceptable alternative, she will get to eat what we do this week.  I'll make sure to pick up some alternatives next week when I shop.

Menu plan for week of May 30 - June 5

Monday:
Breakfast:  Omelets, Bacon, Toast with homemade strawberry jam, Grapes
Lunch:  Turkey on Grinder Rolls, Crackers w/ Cream Cheese Radish Dip, Grapes, Cheese Stick
Dinner:  Lasagna, Salad, Carrot Sticks

Tuesday:
Breakfast:  Apple Muffin, Strawberries
Morning Snack:  Cheese Cubes
Lunch:  Spaghetti, Salad, Watermelon
Afternoon Snack:  Smoothie
Dinner:  Chicken and Wild Rice Soup, Roll

Wednesday:
Breakfast:  Pancakes, Oranges
Morning Snack:  Smoothie
Lunch:  Meatballs, Corn, Cantaloupe, Roll
Afternoon Snack:  Chocolate Chip Cookie
Dinner:  Chicken Stir-Fry w/ Rice

Thursday:
Breakfast:  Omelets, Banana
Morning Snack:  Nuts
Lunch:  Quesadillas, Refried Beans, Mango, Spanish Rice
Afternoon Snack:  Peanut Butter Sandwich
Dinner:  Pork Chops, Potato Salad, Green Beans

Friday:
Breakfast:  Granola Bar, Juice
Morning Snack:  Carrot Sticks
Lunch:  Tuna Casserole, Peas, Apples, Yogurt
Afternoon Snack:  String Cheese
Dinner:  Leftovers

Saturday-Sunday:  The kids and I will be out of town.  Hubby will be on his own.  He will eat breakfast from the freezer stash, have a quesadilla or sandwich for lunch and leftovers or eat out for dinner.

We'll be back Sunday afternoon and I'll shop for next week then.  I'll get something for Sunday evening dinner at the store.

Here's my grocery list for this week:

Farmers' Market (the good one)
3 heads of lettuce (1 Romaine, 2 misc. green leaf)-$6
1 bunch of radishes $2
1 pt. gooseberries $4
1 pt. sugar snap peas $3
1 bunch green onions $1.50
2 huge slicing tomatoes-$4.65 (such an unnecessary splurge, but they look so good)
2 pounds local, raw honey-$12.75
Total = $33.90

Local Farm (which I am sooooo excited about)
1 gallon raw milk $4.50
Total = $4.50

Sam's Club (monthly stuff bolded)
Finish Dishwasher Tabs - $12.98
3 pounds cashews $11.68
3 pounds organic spinach $3.97
1 giant bag of babybel cheeses (the kids have been asking for these FOREVER) $8.98
2 pounds strawberries $3.48
1 watermelon $3.98
4 pounds butter $9.33
2 gallon whole milk (for daycare kids) $6.54
5 pounds shredded cheddar cheese $11.82
5 pounds cut corn $4.88
5 pounds green beans $5.98
5 pounds peas $5.49
4 pounds broccoli florettes $5.68
Total = $99.78 (although I forgot maple syrup which runs $14-I'll be driving by next week, I'll put in on next week's budget)

Aldi
4 pounds oranges $2.49 (will last 2 weeks)
1 Cantaloupe $.99
1 bag mini chocolate chips $1.79
3-4 pounds bananas $2.63
2 pounds carrots $.99
2 pkg. string cheese $5.98
2 pounds green grapes $2.98

Total = 18.69

Hy-Vee
4.76 pounds apples $7.09
2 pkg. whole wheat tortillas $6.58
1 jar organic salsa $2.50
1 bottle non-GMO soy sauce $3.29
1 bag organic corn tortilla chips $2.59

Total = $23.10

Schnuck's (emergency trip for picnic with the kids today)
2 pkg. nitrate/nitrite lunch meat $6.00
1 box organic wheat thins $3.09

Total = $9.52

Total for week 1 = $189.49

I am out of eggs and my regular supplier's chickens aren't laying, so I'll be heading back out to the farm this week to pick up eggs.  I can't function well with no eggs.   I will probably go ahead and get 5 dozen if they are available which will run me right up to my limit.

Since I'm starting the weekly meal planning, I linked up to orgjunkie.com's Menu Plan Monday.  There are tons of weekly menu plans.  I might spend the next couple of hours checking them out! LOL

It's official...

I am a grocery nerd!  I get totally excited about great food purchases.  This weekend I did my big monthly grocery shopping trip to three local grocery stores and made a Sam's run, and came out $4 under my projected total!  One of my stores, Hy-Vee, was having a big two day sale on a few items that I regularly purchase:  shredded cheese (Kraft, $1.25 for 8 oz. bag) and strawberries (2 pounds for $2.18).  For strawberries in particular, that is a good price this time of year, so I put it on my list.  When I got to the store last night, they had already sold out of the two pound clamshells and were offering 2-1 pound clamshells instead (limit 2).  No problem, I picked out two packs and put them in my cart. 

It was only when I put them up on the belt at the checkout that I realized I had picked up organic strawberries.  I asked the checker to price check them, because my budget couldn't handle the $3.99 that the organic ones were selling for.  Nope, they were $1.09 each (no wonder they were limit 2).  I went ahead and paid for them, but was so excited about my great luck that I went back in and bought 2 more to freeze!  Woo-hoo!  I now have two-and-a-half pounds of organic strawberries washed, sliced and flash freezing as we speak.  I cut the others up to eat for breakfast and send in lunches tomorrow.  Very few people I know get this excited about getting a good price on anything, much less groceries.  I just had to share.

What's the best food deal you've picked up lately?  I love talking about food deals! LOL

I made an oops!

This morning I got ready to finalize my grocery list for next week.  We are headed out of town on Saturday morning and probably won't be back until later Sunday afternoon.  I wanted the list ready to go, so when we got home, I could just run out and pick up the few things (produce and milk) that we needed.  The problem?  I didn't make a menu.  When I did my initial menu for the month of March, I made it for four weeks and needed it to be for five.  Oops!

Since I have no money coming in next week, it meant that I had to do a "from the pantry" week.  This wasn't be too hard since I have several staples that I purchased in bulk.  My biggest thing was to use up what we already have so I don't have to buy much.  I think I did a pretty good job.  You will notice several of what would be considered to be more convenience meals.  They will still be from scratch, but they are made from the basics that we always have on hand.  Also, there are a lot of "eggy" dishes.  I have 9 dozen eggs.  I purchased 10 dozen at the beginning of the month, my father-in-law has brought me another 6 and we've been/will be out of town for two weekends, so there is no shortage of eggs in this house.  That's ok-we love 'em and eggs are very versatile.

So, here it is:
Monday-3/28
Breakfast:  Oatmeal, Strawberries
Morning Snack:  Veggies and Hummus
Lunch:  Spaghetti, French Bread, Clementines, Salad
Afternoon Snack:  Smoothie, Graham Crackers
Dinner:  Taco Salad, Spanish Rice, Corn

Tuesday-3/29
Breakfast:  Pancakes, Smoothie
Morning Snack:  Almonds
Lunch:  Cheese Pizza, Green Beans, Cantaloupe
Afternoon Snack:  Carrots with Peanut Butter
Dinner:  Fried Rice, Teriyaki Chicken

Wednesday-3/30
Breakfast:  Egg Muffins, Apple Juice, Toast
Morning Snack:  Smoothie
Lunch:  Chicken Strips, Broccoli, Blueberries, Breadsticks
Afternoon Snack:  Squash Oatmeal Muffins
Dinner:  Ham & Beans, Cornbread

Thursday-3/31
Breakfast:  Granola Bar, Oranges
Morning Snack:  Raisins
Lunch:  Waffles w/ Cranberry Syrup, Smoothie, Apple Slices, Corn
Afternoon Snack:  Popcorn
Dinner:  Cheese Omelets, Bacon, Toast, Fruit (whatever misc. fruit is around)

Friday-4/1
Breakfast:  Freezer muffins (I have a few of several different kinds hanging out in my kitchen freezer), Orange Juice
Morning Snack:  Cereal
Lunch:  Egg Salad, Peas, Banana, Crackers
Afternoon Snack:  Brownies
Dinner:  Grilled Cheese, Pretzels, Cut up veggies

Saturday-4/2
Breakfast:  French Toast Casserole
Lunch:  Meatball Sliders, Pea Salad
Dinner:  Chicken Lasagna

Sunday-4/3
Breakfast:  Leftovers
Lunch:  Leftovers
Dinner:  Will pick up when doing monthly grocery shopping or we will eat out if I do well budget-wise while shopping! :)

Grocery List
Strawberries $1.18
Carrots $1
Broccoli $3
Grape Tomatoes-if I can find some at a reasonable price $2
Lettuce $7 for 2 pkgs.
Spinach $4
Apples$5
Bananas $2
Mushrooms $1
Crackers-one of our stores has these B1G1Free $4
Sour cream-for making ranch dressing and for taco salads $1.25
Organic tortilla chips $3
Small container plain yogurt (to use as starter-I forgot and ate all of my batch without saving some to start the next batch) $.50
3 gallons whole milk (2 for drinking/baking, 1 for yogurt) $10

Total = almost $44

This is about average for what I spend on "off" weeks.  Plus, grocery prices are increasing every week it seems.  It is getting harder and harder to spend less on groceries and still maintain quality.  I am trying to justify the cost with the hope that eating better will mean less spent on medical.  Of course, as I type this, I'm dealing with a horrible sinus infection and have spent well over $150 treating it in the past two weeks and I'm no where near healed.  Ugh!

My small grocery shopping victory

As I type this, I realize that I'm completely loony for getting this excited about groceries.  Bear with me, I don't get out a lot! LOL

This afternoon, I called a semi-local Dutch bakery and bulk goods store to order my 50 pound bag of whole white wheat flour.  The guy said it wasn't a problem and it would be in the store on March 8th (and it only costs $27.49, for organic whole white wheat flour, woo-hoo!).  Then he said that the week of March 7th was the store's anniversary sale so everything in the store is 10% off.  So, the 50 pound bag of evaporated cane juice, 50 pounds of rolled oats, brown rice, dried beans, almonds, walnuts, spices, etc.  It's all an extra 10% off.  Since all of those things are cheaper anyway, the 10% is a bonus.  Plus, I won't have to buy these things for another 2-3 months, so even though I've already resigned myself to blowing the March budget, at least I know I will have a great quantity of high quality food stored up for future months.

And, I ordered my Celtic sea salt from Amazon today using my Swagbucks, so it was free!  Yea for that too!

Trying out organic produce

Last night I headed to the store for apples.  I really dislike the unplanned trips to the store.  It always seems like money spent and not much gained.  Of course I bought things that we didn't really need, but the purchases will make my trip this weekend much shorter.  My big find was organic apples for $.77/pound.  That's awesome as most on the non-organics are around $1/pound.  Add to that, we've been eating apples like crazy, so I picked up 6 pounds of those.  Then I also got a few other organic items that were within a few cents of their non-organic counterpart.  I picked up romaine hearts, baby carrots, celery, grape tomatoes and tortilla chips.  Then I also got some broccoli, cauliflower, and a couple peaches (all non-organic).  I've spent another $30+ that isn't in the budget and I will still need bananas and milk for next week.  At this point, I'm just trying to minimize the damage. :)

The big grocery trip

I've been to three stores today completing the big monthly shopping trip.  It was big, expensive and depressing.  Usually grocery shopping is my thing.  I often get to go by myself and it's my "me" time, so even though it is grocery shopping, I enjoy it.  Today was not one of those days though.  We spent all weekend at my parents' and while I had a great time with the family, I spent a lot of time thinking about the amount of junk I was consuming.  The ice had a funny taste which made the water gross, so I drank milk instead.  Well, let's just say consuming large quantities of milk is not good for me.

On the way home, we stopped at Sam's Club and I was armed with a list and $175 in gift cards (bought ahead of time through my church).  I spent $169.41 which was within my bugdet, but there were several key items they didn't have or didn't carry an organic alternative.  I'm coming to the conclusion that Sam's organic offerings are really lacking. 

We made it home one hour before Aldi's closed, so I hopped out of one vehicle into another (and let hubby and the kids unload the van) and headed there for the second part of the list.  Again, several items that they usually carry (whole grain pasta for one) were out of stock and the produce selection wasn't that great.  I still managed to spend $61.59 there though.

Last stop was Hy-Vee.  It is a regional chain store and has a great natural foods section.  I hit the bulk bins and picked up more natural sugar (organic was $1.49/pound which I thought was a good price).  I also got unsweeted coconut and flax seed for homemade granola.  I made it about half-way through the store when my husband called and requested lunchmeat and bread for a quick supper (by this time is was 7:30 and the girls head to bed at 8:00).  Could a find a reasonably price nitrite free lunch meat or bread without tons of gunk.  Of course not and I couldn't bring myself to buy the cheap stuff, so I spent $6 on lunchmeat and $2 on bread (picked the best of the worst there).  Organic produce, ugh.  High side was organic romaine hearts were 2/$5 instead of the usual 2/$6, but everything else was really expensive.  And then there was the maple syrup.  Since I learned that most commercial syrup has fermaldahyde in it, I had a hard time bringing myself to buy it and the store didn't carry organic.  I went ahead and bought it vowing to not buy it again.  But, I've looked online and I cannot find an affordable organic at this point.
Anyway, I'm a bit let down because I spent a lot of money, but I still need to get on Amazon and see if I can find decent alternatives for the items I need.  Thanks for letting me vent.  Hubby thanks you to, because I doubt that he wanted to listen to me rant about it! :)

An itemized list can be found in the grocery list tab.