It's a grocery shopping/menu plan post! (Whaaaa?)
These will be popping up about once a month, since so many of you said you missed this feature.
Grocery Shopping
I've been shopping every week of late, but in the interest of saving time, I'm giving the shop-every-two-weeks (with a stop for milk and produce in between) thing a try again.
Here's what I bought, and it's mostly from Aldi.
(My girls hid two clothespin dolls in there, by the way. 😉 )
And after I snapped the photo, I realized I forgot to include these:
(Yup, Aldi carries buttermilk now. Super pleased about that.)
My total was $190.61, which isn't too shabby at all, as I usually budget $125/week, and this should mostly cover two weeks. I think I'll just have to buy some milk and bananas and such next week.
Zee Menu
I think menu plans are a little bit more fun with photos, so instead of posting a planned menu, I'm going to post a menu plan from the past week.
We ate:
-a smoked turkey, bacon, apple, and cheddar (ok, I used colby-jack) salad, and I believe we had some fruit with this as well.
-broiled whiting fillets, smashed potatoes, and applesauce
-Parmesan-Crusted Chicken, Sauteed Green Beans, and applesauce (it's applesauce season. What can I say??)
-Ravioli and Shrimp with Pink Sauce, and a green salad
(except, I was cleaning out the freezer/cupboards, so I was using up a partial bag of ravioli and a partial box of fettucine. So, some of us had ravioli and some of us had fettucine.)
So, that's five meals.
Not pictured: a date night meal for Mr. FG and me (here's how we do takeout date nights) and a Sunday night snacky meal (stove-popped popcorn, deli ham, fruit, veggies, cheese cubes, etc.)
I'm interested to see how this two-week shopping thing works out for me. Hopefully I'll be able to stick with it, because heaven knows grocery shopping is really not my most favorite thing to do.
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Joshua's 365 post: Some days...
Always enjoy these posts. Are the others archived? I am having my family visit for a week or two in December and am at a loss as to what to feed them. (4 adults, an eight and three year old). I am single and not much of a cook. All of the other adults cook so I thought I would do menu planning and the shopping. Any suggestions or links would be appreciated.
Thank you!
Yep, you can see them here: https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/category/menu-plans/
Only two at a time display (still trying to figure out how to change that), but you can click through others by clicking "previous entries".
Kathy M...if your family likes soup, try Kristen's clam chowder. It is delicious!
Yes! Soup is always one of my go-to things for company. Add some good bread and a salad and you're good to go.
I thought something was wrong when I saw only two posts at a time? I like it better with more on a page so I don't have to keep clicking as much.
Hey Kristen,
I've been cooking my green bean your way since I read the original post. They are great! Company loves them.
Patti
They're so good, aren't they?? Way better than steamed beans.
Please say there was malt vinegar on those smashed potatoes. 😉
Um, nope. But we do frequently put vinegar on french fries!
Cooks Country did a Salt and Vinegar Smashed Potato recipe in the magazine last year. It's so amazingly good!
Also, did you know you can culture your own buttermilk (kind of like what you do with yogurt.) http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2010/03/24/homemade-cultured-buttermilk/
Interestingly enough, I used a Cook's Illustrated recipe for the potatoes!
I have read that about buttermilk...just haven't gotten off my duff and tried it. Heh.
I must say that I like this post. The photos are very appealing and it definitely helps give me some ideas. Thanks!
The two week grocery shopping thing can be tricky sometimes, but I could jump for joy on my off week! It's almost like being given a "free" day, or at least half day, every week.
Thanks for the grocery/meal post.
The two week grocery shopping thing can be tricky sometimes, but I could jump for joy on my off week! It's almost like being given a "free" day, or at least half day, every other week.
Thanks for the grocery/meal post.
Oops. I thought I stopped that first comment from going through. I hate it when I double post! But I meant every OTHER week, of course!
Funnily enough, Aldi is the only place I've seen buttermilk for sale here in Australia.
Those smashed potatoes look really good 🙂
Thank you. This is my favorite part of your blog. We live in Santa Monica. I hope someday we get Aldi out here. I love shopping there when we visit family in Chicago.
Totally off-topic, but I have to say I just loved Santa Monica when we visited my daughter in Los Angeles in August. Such a great town you live in! We went to the pier, of course, but my favorite part was just walking around downtown, seeing the farmers market, and the street entertainers.
Hi SandyH. We are blessed to live in Santa Monica. I enjoy it even more since having kids.
Mr. FG and I stopped there when we visited CA, and when we were there, there was an art installation happening in the area, where people had put crazily-painted pianos in public places, and one was on the pier. So of course I had to sit down and play it. 🙂
I love it. I wish I was there to see you playing the piano. I love your blog, and your grocery posts. You help me stick to my grocery budget, which is one of my challenges. We just switched from budgeting $500 every four weeks to $300 every two weeks. So far it is working much better. The increase helps, plus knowing that in two weeks I will have more grocery money.
I'm so happy to see this feature back once in a while. I love the meal ideas, and since I haven't been in Aldi as frequently, I didn't know about the buttermilk!!! That's awesome. I used to go to Aldi every week or two, but in the name of time savings, I've taken to ordering my groceries from our local store that delivers. It's actually very reasonable and I'm happy with it, mostly, but I do miss my frequent Aldi trips in some ways. I try to go once a month to stock up on certain things.
Yay! This made me so happy as I was one of the people missing these posts. The new menu format with photos is a great idea.
I've been doing the "shopping every two weeks" thing for years and I LOVE it! I still need to stop at the store to pick up milk and fresh fruits/veggies in between my shopping trips but I don't think I could do it any other way. I menu plan on Wednesday, make a shopping list on Thursday and go shopping on Friday (payday). The first week has meals made from the more perishable products and the second week has meals made from more pantry staples. I've found this is the best way for me to keep my grocery spending under control since there is less opportunities for me to grab impulse items.
I always look forward to these posts! Grocery shopping isn't my favorite thing to do either, and I've narrowed it down to just once a week. I'd like to go every two weeks instead, but we've got a teeny-tiny kitchen and storage space is at a premium. I may try it again yet, though! 🙂
It all looks great but what caught my eye - the laundry detergent from Aldi. I have never tried it. I am pretty loyal to tide, since I wear my clothes until they fall apart. I find that off brand detergent fades colors and seems harsher on my clothes. I know lots of people make their own detergent but that is just not my thing.
Sun Free & Clear works Great too 🙂
I use to be a Tide & Gain Fan
But Me Hub has skin sensitivity latey to both the tide & Gain &'I came across the Sun product
My Daughter is also working on a HE Homemade Laundry Detergent for us 🙂 she has a Sandlewood 1 that smells Great !
I have been happy with Aldi's laundry detergent. However, I don't like their dish detergent so much.
I'd agree with that...nothing is quite as good as Dawn!
Ok, I give...where are the clothespin dolls hiding? I can't seem to find them. I do enjoy these type of posts as well. I often get ideas from what is in other peoples baskets.
Well, I know there's in the bananas. I forget where the other one is!
On How you & Hub do Date night ...
I think it's Great that You guys get a bit of a Break from the Kids & it's Good for The Kids Too they need a Break from the parents as well.
Too much Time together can be Hard on everyone 🙂 & I don't mean this in Any Bad way at all.
I'm a stay at Home mom for almost 18-1/2 yrs now my son just turned 18.
But we All need Time Alone, parents away from the Kids, the kids away from the parents.... Me Time for everyone 🙂
I grew up eating popcorn for dinner every Sunday evening, usually accompanied by a plain yogurt/frozen banana/frozen strawberry smoothie. Thanks for the fun memory 🙂
Is the other clothespin doll by the cartons of 1/2 and 1/2?
I guess you're just able to transform the mundane into something interesting!
Mwah!
two words for you: stuffed animals
Thanks for bringing this back... I actually love the new format for the meal recap... instead of the meal plan. It seems more realistic because we get little details about the two different types of pasta, etc. It motivates me to continue with what my husband calls, "the good enough dinner." Sometimes what we end up eating is healthy and makes everyone happy, but it's not necessarily worthy of a "published" menu. For example, we would totally eat chicken, green beans and applesauce.
I am so happy this post is back,even it is just once a month. I love seeing what you buy and what you make from that and from is around the house. I also have two questions: 1) What recipe do you use for the Parmesan-Crusted Chicken? and 2)Where do you get your pepperoni? Is it Aldi?
I get my pepperoni at Aldi, and I use Cook's Illustrated's recipe (but of course!) for the Parmesan-Crusted Chicken.
This feels like a "Where's Waldo?" search. 🙂
I haven't seen buttermilk at our Aldi's yet but I will be ecstatic if they start carrying it. The old adding-lemon-juice-to-milk trick just doesn't produce the same results for me.
thanks for posting again! I do like the menu meals! 🙂
Yaay! I found the clothespin dolls! Tell the girls thank you for the exta fun. I enjoyed searching for them.
I had to laugh when you said snacky Sunday. Our family (6 kids, 2 adults)(I was the oldest kid) didn't have a "meal" on Sunday nights either. The afternoon was my day to bake cookies, and we ate odds and ends of leftovers, and a BIG bowl of popcorn. That was a long time ago:) And I like Aldi's, too.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank!
I love these posts and your wonderful pictures 🙂
I have been doing the shop every two weeks thing for probably 9 or 10mo (since we had our second child) and I love it! We probably spend about a third less on groceries and if I have to go on the off week it's usually just for fruit or veggies which is no biggie. I can't imagine going back to every week. Wish I could do once a month!
Another thing to consider with buttermilk is buying the powder form. This way it is always on hand and you don't have to make alot of it if your making it from scratch and you don't have to buy it in the carton/jug. I keep mine in the freezer till I need to use it. But I will definitely try the homemade recipe that was posted. I make my yogurt that way too 🙂
As for Aldi we have one here and wasn't too impressed with the size of the fruit/veggies compared to cost/size at other stores. One store I just started trying for the past month is Price Cutters. It is the cheaper sister store of Harps here in Arkansas. Love their 5 pkgs of meats for just $25.
Anyway I do my shopping every 2 weeks...... I've done it like forever now...
great posting !!
Been Shopping at Aldi for a few months. How's the frozen fish? Is it a good deal?
Thank you for this site. We learn through each other. We are never to old to learn. I need to work on meal planning. I do great for special occasions. But, I never planned for a week much less two. Any advice would be helpful.
GOD BLESS