*Below are some pictures of our fridge, and on the table are some items purchased on Saturday*
I had a number of responses to my post $75.00 per week grocery budget post, (http://thejoyfulhomemaker.com/?p=612). I had a few people ask me to post my weekly menu plan so they can see how it translates to $75.00 per week.
This week my purchases included the below food items:
- 2 Almond milks – $4.98
- Organic Apple Juice – $1.39
- Mozzarella and Cheddar Cheeses – $3.58
- Organic Blueberry Apple Sauce – $1.59
- 1 Can of Black Beans – $.59
- 2.27 lb of Bananas – $1.68
- Organic Roma Tomatoes – $1.69
- Organic Grape Tomatoes – $1.99
- 3 lbs of Carrots – $.79
- 1 lb Strawberries – $2.99
- 3 lb Clementines – $3.99
- Mixed Lettuce – $2.49
- Unsalted Peanuts – $2.39
- 1 Jar Salsa – $1.49
- 1 Can of Coffee – $5.49
- Whole Chicken – $4.34 (.95 per lb)
- Rudi’s Gluten-Free Wraps – $5.99
- Chicken Wings – $5.99 for 3 lb bag (Target – on sale)
- Lay’s Potato Chips – $2.50 per bag (Target)
- Sour Cream – $1.65 (Target)
Total Food Purchases This Week : $57.59
Menu Plan For This Week
Saturday 1/18/14
Breakfast: Banana, clementine, cashew butter toast on gluten-free bread.
Lunch: Leftover chicken taco mix and cut up strawberries
Dinner: No dinner cooked at home – we were without power.
Sunday 1/19/14 – Football Sunday
Breakfast: Kind granola and coconut yogurt. Jack and John had rice cereal, almond milk, and some strawberries on top.
Lunch:Â Banana, handful of mixed nuts, and spinach pancake
Dinner:Â Chicken wings, venison burger, and grilled pineapple (our friends brought the pineapple and some buffalo wings). The buns were non-gluten free buns we had leftover from Christmas. I froze them and we thawed them for the burgers. Easy! Don’t throw away those leftover bread items. They can be easily frozen.Â
Monday 1/20/14 – MLK Day
Breakfast: Bacon, Cinnamon Honey Quinoa with Blueberries and Almonds, Jack also had a banana and a bowl of rice cereal with almond milk.
Lunch: John – leftover venison burger and green salad, no bun. Jack – cut up venison burger, humus and veggies. Me – Green salad with humus on top. I make my own humus. I have  a HUGE stash of chickpeas I purchased on sale at BJ’s during the summer.
Dinner: Roasted chicken, carrots, potatoes, and small salad. I have a massive supply of baby red potatoes from my parent’s garden.
Tuesday 1/21/14
Breakfast: Gluten-free breakfast sandwiches, egg and venison sausage on GF bread, fruit salad.
Lunch: Chicken salad on greens, humus and veggies.
Dinner: Rice and black beans, salad.
Wednesday 1/22/14
Breakfast: Sunshine smoothie, handful of mixed nuts.
Lunch: Chicken salad lettuce wraps.
Dinner: Chicken pot-pie.
Thursday 1/23/14
Breakfast: Rice and beans with scrambled eggs, frozen berry and kale, smoothie
Lunch: Bone broth soup, humus and veggies, fruit.
Dinner: Leftover chicken pot-pie
Friday 1/24/14
Breakfast: Hemp seed banana smoothie, mixed nuts, clementine
Lunch:Â Bone broth soup, humus and veggies, fruit.
Dinner:Â Gluten free pasta and sauce, salad
Saturday 1/25/14
Breakfast: Hemp seed pancakes, bacon or chicken sausages.
Lunch: Leftover pasta, cut-up veggies, fruit.
Dinner: Venison steaks on the grill, potato on the side, salad.
Summary of How This All Adds Up:
- We eat simply, and try to keep things easy. I don’t plan for snacks or desserts in my menus. We don’t typically eat desserts, but have fruit, nuts, and the occasional treat on hand.
- Whole chicken – this purchase feeds us for the entire week, from the night it is cooked, to the chicken salad, pot-pie, and bone broth.
- Chicken wings, chips, and sour cream were bought specifically for Sunday Football
- Lettuce, tomatoes, and carrots are for salads, wraps, and even side vegetables (carrots) to go along with main dish.
- Clementines, peanuts, apple sauce, and cheese are all snack items for the week, along with some fruit, like the berries.
- Beans used for beans and rice. We have tons of rice in our bulk supplies.
- Bananas, almond milks, coffee … these are our weekly staples.
- We currently have bacon, chicken sausages, blueberries, already in house, so I didn’t need to purchase them this week. We have a surplus of apples and a watermelon in the fridge. We have mini peppers, lemons, and a Bolthouse Farms pre-made smoothie we got for free at Target last week (I had a coupon).
This is our food plan for the week and how it correlates with the purchases above. I have extra money in my weekly food budget. I typically leave extra money for extra produce purchases during the week. We will need extra greens and cucumbers. I was unable to purchase cucumbers at Aldi on Saturday; therefore, I will hit Stop and Shop tomorrow to grab those.
Keep in mind, this is the plan that works best for us, and may not be suitable for your family. Also, my plan changes here and there. I typically move things around and sometimes change an item all together, based on what I feel like eating or making. 🙂
We keep a pretty decent overflow of certain items, like eggs, GF bread, frozen veggies and fruits, protein powders, etc. We have a chest freezer and another refrigerator in the garage. I stock up on things when they are on sale.
Again, I am not claiming we are perfect or eat perfectly. We eat as healthy as we deem appropriate and are always striving for healthier. When I worked part-time, we were able to spend roughly $120 to $130 per week on food. This allowed us to buy all organics, special meats, and more extras. We had to scale down and figure out how to make this work on a more limited budget once I stopped working. A lot of my 365 posts are healthier food choices and it is also a learning process for me. 🙂
Happy Menu Planning,
The Joyful Homemaker
