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’m making up for those weeks when I’m too lazy to take a grocery picture!
Here’s my produce (notice my produce bags?? I stopped at Dollar Tree and spent $2 for them.) Thanks for all the advice!
Plus, I have the local apples that I exchanged for my icky peaches. And I also bought some tomatoes when I got the apples.
These are my non-perishable groceries.
And my refrigerated/frozen stuff.
I did actually use a few coupons, (one for OJ and two for deodorant), but as I look through these pictures, I’m noticing that even if I did have the desire to get back into lots of couponing, there’s really not a whole lot here that you could buy with coupons.
I spent $54.35 at Weis and $107.32 at Aldi. So, I’m at $161.32. Oh, and I also spent $2 on the tomatoes at the orchard. That makes my total $163.32. Hopefully I can get by with just a produce/milk run next week so that I can be on budget.
Breakfasts this week will be granola, yogurt, fruit, cereal, and scrambled 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 our dinner plan:
Saturday
- Mandarin Chicken Wraps
- I’m not sure what we’re having with these…I need to rummage through my fridge and figure out what produce needs to be used first.
Sunday
- Buttermilk Waffles
- fried eggs
- OJ
Monday
- Pizza Bagels
- green salad
Tuesday
- Creole Shrimp Stew
- Whole Wheat Rolls
- broccoli
Wednesday
- Lemon Pepper Salmon
- glazed carrots
Thursday
- Fettuccine with Chicken and Tomatoes
- Fruity Green Salad
Friday
- Takeout Date Night with Mr. FG
By the way, I was recently featured in a podcast series that interviews homeschool graduates. I’m much better at writing than I am at speaking, and I can’t STAND to listen to myself talk, so I personally haven’t listened to the podcast. Hee. So, I’m just going to apologize for any lack of coherency in my talking, and I will totally understand if you prefer to stick with reading me instead of listening to me. 😉
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Today’s 365 post: Sienna
Joshua’s 365 post: Froggies
Donna Flood
Thursday 29th of September 2011
Kristen, Just a suggestion. I'm an author and promote my books. I got so tired of standing up before people, talking to them about my books. Instead, I bought a cam-corder and made videos that pertained to the book I was promoting. My "audience" seemed more connected and definitely enjoyed the video much more than my talking to them. My husband was an electronic engineer and helped me to narrate on the film. My voice is still there but seems easier to take with a picture with it. I need to do a video on my last book, "Lee's Passion," http://www.publishamerica.net/product25623.html My books are on Amazon.com and are filled with the frugal living of early day Oklahoma pioneers, my family. The first is How to keep up with the Joneses. http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1R2ADFA_enUS395&q=how+to+keep+up+with+the+joneses+donna+jones+flood&oq=How+to+keep+up+with+the+Joneses&aq=2v&aqi=g1g-v2&aql=&gs_sm=c&gs_upl=169063l179109l0l184750l35l25l1l5l5l0l703l2469l2-1.3.1.0.1l6l0 On Alastair McIntyre's Electric Scotland I share many frugal related stories. They are written as entertainment (rough draft) but the theme is the same, "frugality." Donna Jones Flood Oklahoma
Diane
Thursday 29th of September 2011
Donna, Is this advice for Kristin or a plug (or multiple plugs) for your books? Frankly, if I carve time out of my schedule to hear an author speak live and in person, I expect it to be live. If I want to watch a video, I can go to youtube at my convenience. Perhaps if you're really "so tired of standing up before people" you might want to reconsider your whole marketing approach.
Julia
Wednesday 28th of September 2011
Thanks again for these dinnerplans- sounds healthy and btw. salmon is our favourite- easy to make, delicious, healthy. But often a weekend food. Our 'dinners' are rather flexible mondays to fridays. Cold foods, apple pie, lots of soups, salads etc. Everything goes if there is plenty of fresh bread. :-) (That someone else was baking, of course..) And how about favourite apple pie recipes?
Stephanie
Tuesday 27th of September 2011
Kristen, I think you did a fabulous job on the interview! I loved hearing your voice, and wish you would do things like that more often!
WilliamB
Monday 26th of September 2011
My food plan for the week: use up the fridge-full of leftovers!
I had dinner with my parents, who inevitably order at least 1.5 entrees per person. I hosted brunch for 20 and I always overestimate how much people eat = tasty cold cut sandwiches for the week, and more chips than I can shake a stick at. Before I realized I was having dinner with my parents I defrosted my last happy chicken[1], a happy ham steak, and 4 lbs pork belly. I can put the ham steak back in the freezer, but refreezing does nasty things to chicken's texture, and the pork belly is to become bacon for a friend's housewarming.
So I expect to eat - lots of sandwiches for lunch - roast chicken for 2 dinners - yogurt dip for 1 dinner - leftovers for 2 dinners
One night I must make bread, because store-bought would diminish the tastiness of cold cuts.
[1] For Cook's Illustrated's most recent recipes for weeknight roast chix
Alicia
Sunday 25th of September 2011
Great job on the podcast! I don't know anyone who was homeschooled, but I love reading about it on your blog and enjoyed hearing the interview. I made your whole wheat rolls for a potluck today and they were a hit! Thanks for your lovely blog and recipes.