Menu Plan and Grocery Shopping | January Edition
So, normally I share a menu plan and a grocery shopping report once a month, but I totally skipped doing this in December.
Whoops.
And I'm barely squeaking this in for January, come to think of it!
The Groceries
Here's what I bought at Aldi for $130:
And here's what I picked up at a regular grocery store:
I seem to have misplaced my receipt for that trip, but it wasn't super expensive...between $10 and $15, I'd say.
The Menu
1. Swedish Meatballs (from The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook)
and a green salad
2. Swiss Mushroom Chicken, sauteed green beans, and fresh pineapple
3. BLT Salad (from The America's Test Kitchen Quick Family Cookbook
) and Broccoli Cheese Soup
You combine the bacon, chicken, and greens with a dressing and top with the croutons...it just all happened to be in separate bowls when I photographed it.
4. Seafood Casserole (a Cook's Illustrated recipe that includes clams and fish) + a green salad with blackberries and oranges (I used the dressing from this Strawberry Green Salad)
('scuse the not awesomeness of this photo and the next...this is the most horrible time of year for photographing dinners because it's dark so early!)
5. Mexican Beef Wraps (in lettuce leaves with guacamole, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime)
We had these with grapefruit halves (so good and so inexpensive from Aldi!) and cucumber slices.
Here, have a better photo! I took this the next day at lunchtime.
6. Pizza
I did make thin crust pizza two weeks ago, but this past week, I ran out of time to make dough and we got two pizzas from a local pizza place.
7. Date night!
We got our takeout from Panera, which has been our favorite of late. We've known they had good breakfast food for a while now, but I recently discovered the Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich, and Mr. FG is quite in love with the turkey, bacon, and avocado sandwich.
And happily, a meal from Panera brings us in way under our $20/week budget.
So, there ya go. A week of meals from Chez FG.
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Joshua's 365 post: Golden Light
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Your family must have small appetites. I think I've made the same Swedish meatball recipe and it wouldn't serve 6 in my house of starving teenage zombies. Do you serve any carbohydrates with it, or just the meatballs and a salad?
I would say that we're not really the world's biggest eaters, although Joshua and Lisey have hit the hungry teenager stage in just the last month, it seems! Sometimes I serve noodles with the meatballs, but that time I didn't (I think one or two of my kids were at a friend's house for dinner, so there were fewer of us.)
Can you post your sweedish meatballs recipe? 🙂
I haven't yet, but someone else posted it on the web: http://www.food.com/recipe/cooks-illustrated-swedish-meatballs-345440
Two changes I make: I use all ground beef, because I have a ton in my freezer from a local farm and I don't fry mine in very deep oil.
You know, now that you've done one of these again...I realize I have kinda missed them. I've become 300% more of a cook since I've had kids. (That really isn't an exaggeration. I really did not cook at all when I got married.) I've worked hard at learning how to plan meals and cooking. I have a long way to go yet though, and these menu posts of yours always push me towards trying some new things. I just picked that American Test Kitchen book you mention in the post a few months ago off a bargain shelf at the book store. It's a bit challenging for me at times, but we really have enjoyed the dishes we've tried out of it.
Oh yes, picking and trying new recipes always requires extra effort. But then when you make that dish again (and again and again), you get faster and it's so much easier.
Those Mexican Beef Wraps look yummy! I think I want to give that one a try.
Our Aldi here in Central Ohio had ruby red grapefruit for .25 cents/grapefruit! I snagged a few and was in citrus heaven!
Growing up we lived in Florida and had a grapefruit, orange, and kumquat tree in our back yard. When we were hungry we would gorge ourselves on them! Now that we live in Ohio, I miss that fresh picked fruit and the fact that it was free!
I really need to start revisiting Aldi instead of my closer grocery store. I just spent $120 on groceries on Sunday (for 2 adults) which is more than I normally spend although it included a lot of meats and fish that I can extend for numerous meals. I buy most of my things on sale and/or buy store brands and still...the prices are outrageous!
My family would love the Mexican beef wraps. I've made something similar with ground lamb, curry seasoning and raisins. The kids like eating out of lettuce leaves!
Are those fresh green beans I see in your Aldi shopping photo?! My Aldi has never carried them!!
Yup! Mine has them here and there, but not every week.
I really like this new grocery post format with the photos of the actual dishes and recipes. This seems like it would actually be more work for you since you have to take photos of dinner every night for a week.
First thing I noticed with the grocery photo is that there are no stuffed animals! LOL
Ah, but I only have to do it once a month instead of every week. So overall, it's less work.
There are a few small guys in the photo...check on the toilet paper. 😀
That is a great post! I thank you! I will try the beef recipe and with the yummy radishes! What a great way to eat them atop-a wrap! I am making this tomorrow! I also would love to have the clam and fish casserole recipe! please.... Pics look great!!! And your shopping went wonderfully!
I buy my meat from a local supermarket once a month and the amounts I buy probably last us longer than a month. I get the best price for good meat this way. Oddly I buy nothing else there as I can get a better deal elsewhere.
I made broccoli cheese soup (with carrot, potato, onion and such) in homemade bread bowls on Sunday-definitely a treat-but a very hearty an inexpensive meal.
We don't have an Aldi here yet, but I've heard they want to come to our town. I hope they do because it always looks like the Aldi shoppers get such great bargains and we could stand some grocery competition here. We moved from Dallas to a small(ish) town and our grocery costs nearly doubled.
Now I need to go write down what I need to buy for the Mexican beef wraps - they look wonderful!
I will try your Broccoli cheese soup one of these days, looks yummy!
Interesting....I order the Mediterranean Veggie and my husband orders the Bacon Turkey Bravo!
It's like we're the same couple!
I'm impressed because I've realized that I tend to make one or two tried and true recipes from each cookbook I own (thankfully, many were gifts). When you consider the cost of the cookbook, each recipe is pretty expensive.
You seem to make MANY recipes from your America's Test Kitchen book. You are definitely getting your money's worth.
I found the same thing with my cookbooks, so I photocopied the one or two "keeper" recipes, and put them in plastic page protectors in a 3-ring binder, then I donated the cookbooks to my church rummage sale. The binder, over the years, has become a book of family favorites.
My daughter started her own binder, too. So far, her recipes are pretty simple: scrambled eggs, cheese sauce for mac n'cheese, simple lasagna. But the point is she's learning how to cook.
that turkey bacon avocado sandwich at Panera is GOOD!
sounds like some neat meals - not sure about the seafood casserole LOL and I know we wouldn't have been this adventurous as kids..my poor mom could never get creative with new stuff- even as adults I think she was shocked the day she tried taco soup and my dad and I both said we liked it better than chili! It became a staple...
Wow, I wish I could budget my grocery trip that well. Though, I recently have been introduced to food shopping online, which not only saves me money but the effort of going to the store (I'm currently car-less).