Grocery Spending & Menu Plan |
The groceries
This is some free produce I got from my parents' garden. I've gotten a few tomatoes from my plants, but nothing quite like this.
My kids love to snack on tomatoes (especially the cherry/grape kind), and they also are big fans of cucumber slices sprinkled with salt, so they're thrilled with our haul.
We also shopped at Weis and Aldi, and I'm pleased to say that I actually had cash (and even if I hadn't, I'm now the proud owner of an up-to-date debit card), so our shopping was much more pleasant than last time.
I spent $95.51 at Aldi and $50.87 at Weis for a total of $146.38.
The watermelon in that picture was actually rotten inside when I cut it open last night, so I'm going to stop back by Aldi today to exchange it for a new one. I've had overripe watermelons before but this one was just way beyond what you could possibly eat.
What are we eating this week?
Breakfast options are granola, cereal, yogurt, fruit, toast, and eggs.
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.
Here's the dinner plan:
Saturday
- Pizza. I think. I'm also considering making something portable and having a picnic dinner at a park, but I haven't decided yet.
Sunday
- Buttermilk Waffles
- OJ
- fruit
Monday
- Mr. FG probably won't be back for dinner, so I'm going to make a snacky/lunchy kind of dinner, which will make my kids very happy (popcorn, fruit, raw veggies, cheese, and the like)
Tuesday
- Parmesan Crusted Chicken
- green salad
- breadsticks
Wednesday
- Pan-Sauteed Tilapia
- Pull-Apart Garlic Bread
- green beans
Thursday
- Aussie Chicken
- Whole Wheat Rolls
- green salad
Friday
- Takeout date night for Mr. FG and me, something easy for the kids
Kristen, one thing I wonder about: when you give a dinner as Parmesan crusted chicken and salad, is that all you will have at the meal, or are there other veggies or grains alongside? Your menus kind of surprise me.
We'll have the chicken and salad plus the breadsticks alongside of that. We may also have some fruit with that meal, depending on what I have around the house at that point.
Would you serve another grain dish even with the breadsticks? I try not to overdo it with the grains/starches.
I think it would be great to have several vegetables with dinner, but I can only handle preparing so many different kinds of food (gotta keep my sanity!), so I usually aim to have one vegetable with dinner....a bowl of salad, a helping of green beans or broccoli, for example.
Ah. No, I ordinarily don't serve two grains, but we often have two or even three vegetables even with meats. But then we also often eat vegetarian, though not always. I guess I aim for a colorful plate with greens and yellows, reds or blues if I can manage it. We don't always achieve it, though. (I do get caught with corn, which is typically served as a vegetable but is actually a grain. Many times that trips me up and I end up with two grains.)
I was just curious, that's all.
Gotcha! I do try to feed my family a variety of produce, but we don't necessarily cover the color spectrum at dinner alone (although I suppose a green salad comes the closest with tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, avocado and so on).
I think it's awesome that you eat more colorfully than we do, though...go for it!
I guess I should have said we try to eat well beyond the 5 Fruits and Veggies a Day plan. Besides, I both feel better and have fewer issues with weight when I ramp up these good colorful foods.
I think I'm going to go ahead and get that ebook! I think this will be the first time I have ever actually paid for an ebook.
I have made that Aussie Chicken before and it is yummy! I might make it this week myself! I actually think I have all of the ingredients except that I only have canned mushrooms, and my bacon is turkey bacon.
I looked at the b1g1 free coconut oil and its not really b1g1. If you buy 1, its 29.5 and two cost 40.00. Thats a bit deceptive in my opinion.
Oh, that's weird. I didn't look at it that closely, so thanks for the heads up. 🙂
Pull apart garlic bread and Aussie chicken sounds amazing.
I've been at Aldi twice now when someone was bringing back a rotten watermelon. It's made me a little more hesitant to buy one there, even though I had luck the past couple of times I picked one up. Not sure why that seems to be the case!
That's interesting...this is the first rotten one I've ever bought from any store period. I guess I should feel thankful it's taken me this long to find a rotten one!
If I see a watermelon that loooks icky, I go to the produce manager and say that if they cut it in half to make sure it is okay and it is, I will buy it. If not, they will have to eat the cost of cutting it. I live too far away from the store to go back, so I end up keeping bad produce if I take it home.
When watermelon is on sale, I buy a ton and dehydrate it. Cut in 1/4 inch wide slices and dry it. The consistency is sort of like a fruit roll up but with no added ingredients. Kids love it (so do I!)
Finally, I have been trying for over ayear now and cannot bring my groceries and household supplies in at $100. I have finally decided that living in Alaska that is just no possible unless we eat casseroles every night. I manage in July, but only because I have a large garden and it all comes to maturity in July. We usually have our first snow at the end of August, or at least a hard freeze, so by then I am canning and dehydrating and freezing. (An advantage to living in Alaska---by November, even October, I put a cooler outside and keep our frozen things in there! Until early April, no problem using the great outdoors as the freezer.)
Anyway, I have decided that trying to keep my spending at your level is making me crazy, so I am going to increase it to $125 a week. But you are still an inspiration!
And that's exactly what I would have told you to do if you'd asked me! I definitely, definitely don't think $100/week is a good budget for every family in every place. Do what works for you!
I live in Alaska and we do it on $100 a week, including paper products and booze, but there are only two of us. We do spend about $300 once a year for local beef, so I guess that's another $6 or so a week.
So I'm squinting at your groceries and trying to figure out what you buy/make to put in your lunchtime sandwiches.
Nothing too fancy...peanut butter, honey, jelly, cream cheese, jam and that sort of thing. 🙂
I'm extremely inspired with your writing abilities as well as with the structure for your blog.
When did you learn to do all this stuff? Did you learn to cook before getting married or were you thrust into it once married?
I once read a great book called "From Caterpillars to Butterflies" by DR. J.L Rachel Mcgibboney Lewis. It encouraged me to get back to the basics and to rear a strong family. (I do not have a family of my own yet, but its a good read for the future) Is cursing and broken families an African American problem (not be sound racist I love all cultures and believe race is a myth) or is it an American problem? (You are a positive role model, you and Mr. Frugal for healthy family life)
I did learn to cook before I got married...I spent a lot of time in the kitchen when I was a teenager.
I think the world is broken because of sin, and sin affects people of all races. So, no...I don't think broken families are simply an African American problem, and I know a lot of broken white families.
The relationship Mr. FG and I have with each other the relationship we have with our children is a result of our faith in Jesus and of the work God is doing in our lives (and that's not to say it's all perfect here because it's not!).
Hi Kirsten,
Thank you for the information about the ebook. I just buy the ebook.
Great Sale! Thanks.
I Am verry happy whit your blog
Lots off Blessings for your Family
Thanks so much for posting the pull apart garlic bread recipe. I'm going to a spaghetti pot luck tomorrow and bringing that! I've been trying to make my bread more lately, since the cost of organic bread is so high here. Thank you also for all your insights.
Not so long ago I too had a bad watermelon from Aldi. I just told my "Aldi guy" the next time I went in and he asked me if I wanted a new melon or my money back... he made it "right" ... no problem. I did get a good price at Aldi on watermelon a couple of weeks ago...$1.88 ...and it was huge and delicious. Very cool idea ...dehydrating watermelon....never thought of that...gonna give it a try. When I have an abundance of tomatoes I have dehydrated them, put them in bags and placed them in the freezer. Boy in the winter a bit of these in a spaghetti sauce or chilli...really livens it up.
Question....I have found as time goes by that I spend more money at Aldi and less at my regular full service grocery store. Do you find this to be the case?
Oh, definitely! I almost always spend more at Aldi than at Weis these days, and overall, it's easier to stay within my budget since I found Aldi.
Gotta love free (natural!) produce!! I live in an apartment where it is impossible for me to start a garden (which I would love to do, as I HATE supermarket fruits and veggies), so I've recently started trading homemade wine with one of my restaurant regulars for fresh and organically grown zucchini, green onions, romaine lettuce, tomatoes and more. It's a win-win situation for both of us! I think the barter/trade system is sadly underused in this country. Best wishes for you and your family, I love your blog and I've been reading it off and on for quite some time!
It amazes me how little fruit you actually buy! My counter is FILLED with fruit at every grocery shop - and it NEVER goes to waste! Are your kids just not big fruit eaters?
They do eat a fair amount of fruit, and when I went shopping this time, I already had a fair amount of fruit in the house.
It's quite possible that fruit makes up a greater proportion of your diet (which is great), but it's also true that my children just eat less overall that most kids do. I probably buy less cereal, less milk, less meal, and just less everything than you because my kids aren't big eaters. 🙂
p.s. there are several bags of frozen fruit in there which may not have caught your eye at first. I use those for our almost-daily smoothies (love me some mango in those!)
I should add too that when we have a lot of garden vegetables, we eat a little less fruit...my kids will happily snack on the tomatoes and cucumbers.