Groceries and Menu-last one for May
Here's most of what I bought this week at Weis and Aldi.
And in addition to that, I got three packages of the Tyson boneless skinless chicken breasts, which were on sale for $1.49/pound.
I spent $38.87 at Aldi and $34.28 at Weis for a total of $73.15.
Since I'm aiming for $80 a week, I was under budget until I saw that butter was on sale at a local store for $1.66 a pound. That's a hard price to beat, so I bought 6 pounds for $10. That puts me at $83.15, $3.15 over budget, but I'm still pretty happy with that.
Here's what we're eating this week. Only my dinner plans are here, but my grocery budget includes all breakfasts and lunches too. We eat choose between cereal, toast, oatmeal, and fruit at breakfast, and lunches are a combo of leftovers, yogurt/fruit smoothies, bread, nuts, and raw fruits and vegetables.
Saturday
- Grilled Bratwurst
- Watermelon
- Strawberries
- Cucumber slices
Sunday
- French Toast, since we didn't end up having this last week
Monday
- Swiss Mushroom Chicken
- English Muffins
- steamed green beans
Tuesday
- Hibachi Chicken and Shrimp
- Brown Rice
- whatever fruit needs using at that point
Wednesday
- Pulled Chicken Sandwiches on homemade buns
- fresh pineapple
- green salad
Thursday
- Pizza
- green salad
- root beer
Friday (I have to play for a wedding rehearsal that night, which is why we're having pizza a day early. This way, I can leave a made-ahead dinner for my husband and kids, which would not work so well with pizza.)
- Grilled Chicken and Tortellini salad (I use this recipe but I add grilled chicken to mine)
- English Muffins
First Things First...is the black spider on the left hand side of the pineapple? Joshua is really getting good LOL!! I have a Food Saver and when I find chicken breasts on sale I divide the packages into portions that is manageable for me. The Food Saver is GREAT!! I can freeze all most anything. If I'm only working an eight hour shift instead of a 12 hour...I put the chicken in the frig. to thaw and when I get home I can fix the chicken with some veggies...a lot less time. I have SAVED buying chicken this way. Let me know what you think.
Out of curiosity - your pix tend to be of perishables and snacks. I don't see a lot of old-fashioned staples: flour, sugar, canned tomaotes, bread, etc. When do you get those? How much food do you have in your pantry?
In the interests of reciprocity, I'll give my answers, too. I get staples in quantity, especially rice. As I regularly eat three kinds of rice (white long grain for western food, white medium grain and brown medium grain for asian food) and I like to be able to bake when the mood strikes, my pantry contains a lot of staples. And a lot of other foods as well: canned, snack, dried, sauces, beverages. My fig leaf is that it's my emergency stash as well but I'm not fooling anyone - including myself. ;-P
Kristen you have inspired me to do better with meal planning and buying food! I kept track of every penny I spent on food this month and it was $198.53. That's for two people, two meals a day. I guess that is not so bad, but I am mightily impressed with your food budget and meal planning!
Keep up the great work!
I'm interested in the fact that you don't seem to eat a big meal on Sundays. Do you always just have breakfast for Sunday dinner? I find that fascinating.
My husband would go for that on a weekday, but on a Sunday...I think not. French Toast sounds great for Sunday breakfast, though. 🙂
Is the creature on the left side of the bananas a turtle?
I really like the blue bunny peeking behind the box of crackers. Speaking of which, how do they compare to the Ritz variety?
@WilliamB
Don't feel bad about combining your staples with your emergency stock. They say "Eat what you store, store what you eat" The only food I have other what I normally eat in my emergency cupboard are the superconcentration bars you can get on survivalist sites.