Grocery Spending/Menu Plan | I guess that means I should plan a menu?
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.
This is why blogging is so good for me. I was thinking about what I was supposed to write on my blog today, and realized I'd forgotten to plan my menu for the coming week. Whoops!
If it wasn't for blogging, though, I might have forgotten about it until Monday morning, and that would have been a much worse time to remember.
Oh! If you're new around here, you might be wondering why I bother with this menu planning thing. Or you may want to know how I plan my menus. Well, the answers to all that and more are in the menu planning category. Go check it out and be inspired!
I haven't really gone grocery shopping recently, so this will be a menu-plan only report. Since I have no grocery photo, here's a random picture of Onion Braised Beef (a recipe from my The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook
).
It's related because, um, we're talking about food? And Onion Braised Beef is food.
Yes.
Let's see.
Breakfast options will be granola, fruit, yogurt, cereal, 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 main-meal-of-the-day plan for the week!
Saturday
- It's a takeout date night for Mr. FG and me. Shweet. The kids will eat something easy.
Sunday
- We're having a games/pizza get-together with Mr. FG's grandma.
Monday
- Beef Au Jus Sandwiches (I have the meat in the freezer, already cooked)
- green salad
Tuesday
- Tortellini Soup
- breadsticks
- green beans
Wednesday
- Panini
- spinach salad
Thursday
- I think I want to make something with chicken, but I'm not entirely sure what! Perhaps Teriyaki Chicken. Or Chicken Tacos.
Friday
- Pizza...maybe thin crust?
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Today's 365 post: Repetition of the Roll Variety
Joshua's 365 post: Hooray! And the answers.
What kind of cheese do you typically serve? Specialty cheeses (like Brie, etc.) versus plain Kraft or store brand? We seem to eat a lot of cheese (in recipes and sometimes snacks) and it's kind of a budget buster. Just wondering what you use!
This is a great question! I used to work behind a cheese counter and have developed a taste for some quite expensive cheeses. However, the frugal part of me reserves them for very special occasions. On the other hand, I think the absolute cheapest cheeses (giant blocks of cheddar, etc.) are so flavorless (and sometimes have weird things in them) that it's barely worth the little money they cost and certainly not worth the calories. So I am always striving for a balance... flavorful and good quality, at a reasonable price. I also try to buy cheeses that last a long time in the fridge. Some of our favorites are cheddar, gruyere, havarti, smoked gouda or smoked cheddar (a little smoked cheese goes a long way!) parmesan, feta sold in a bucket as a solid block sitting in brine, and aged mozzarella in a big block.
I would also love to hear what others do about cheese!
I agree with Margaret - cheese is too expensive and caloric to waste my time eating bad stuff. So I buy little but when I do I get the really good stuff. For me that's a strong but smooth blue/gorgonzola/other moldy, a strong cheddar, or something smoked. I like goat cheese but 95% of what's sold is underripe so I generally don't bother.
The exception to my rarely rule is parmesan. There's always a hunk of Parmigiano-Reggiano in my fridge. It's so strong and flavorful that I only need a little at a time. It may be cost effective and it certainly tastes better.
I have a question about the cookbook. Does it have a lot of recipes made from scratch? I'm assuming it does and I think I am going to buy it. I just don't want a cookbook that is full of recipes that require cream-of-something soup or packets of ranch, etc.
Elsa,
I got this cookbook for Christmas and everything is from scratch. I haven't seen a recipe with cream-of-anything soup yet. Cooks Illustrated is know for it's use of fresh ingredients. No mixes, no boxes. Closest you'll get is a box of pasta. It's a wonderful cookbook for those who want to move way from processed foods.
Thanks so much for the info! I am buying it now. 🙂 Can't wait to try it out!
Thin Crust definitely!
I'll have to look up the braised beef recipe. It looks really good. I still haven't made it through the entire cookbook yet. So many good recipes, it's very time consuming to go through.
Can you share the Onion Braised Beef recipe? It looks delicious!
You crack me up!
"It's related because, um, we're talking about food? And Onion Braised Beef is food.
Yes."
I just love it!
I'm planning on baking some potato rolls tomorrow, and I can't wait to try more of your bread recipes.
Thank you for taking the time to show us those recipes, by the way. I can only imagine how time consuming it is, but wow, it really inspires me to try to make all those fresh breads!
My husband thanks you as well, lol! At least, if they turn out!