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A peek at our weekly grocery shopping
Each week I plan on sharing a picture of our cart at each store along with a breakdown on what we bought and what we paid. Thankfully we have zero dietary restrictions or allergies which helps us keep our budget on the low side. We try to stick between $80-90 each week for our family of seven. A lot of times what is on the menu doesn’t directly correlate to what we buy because I like to plan our meals from what we have on hand currently and use our budget to stock up on good buys plus produce and dairy products.
Happy New Year weekend! We are repeating a few of the same appetizers from Christmas Eve (we prepped extra when we made them the first time) plus we are adding in french fries and mini tacos in place of meatballs and shrimp. But that’s about as exciting as we get around here. The kids will still be in bed at a fairly normal hour and while we might see midnight, it’s mostly because we don’t need to leave the house the next day and not because we we want to see the year switch over.
I’m really pumped about the new Meal Planning Facebook group I started. It’s small right now but I think it’s going to be a fabulous place to share ideas, strategies, and problem solve with each other about feeding our families meals that are good for us and aren’t incredibly repetitive. If you want help with menu planning or have great ideas you want to share come check it out here 😀
Walmart
Mini Tortillas 2 @ 1.76 = $3.52
Pepperoni $6.94
Ham $5.85
Fries 2 @ 2.14 = $4.28
Lunch Meat $3.00
Eggs 2 @ 0.48 = $0.96
*submitted receipt to ibotta for any item rebate (-$0.25)
Total: $24.30 after rebates
Aldi
Romaine $1.89
Eggs 4 @ 0.73 = $2.92
Tomatoes $0.99
Tortillas 2 @ 1.79 = $3.58
Sour Cream 2 @ 0.89 = $1.78
Cream Cheese $1.29
Creamer 3 @ 1.89 = $5.67
Apples $2.89
Avocados 4 @ 0.69 = $2.76
Oatmeal 2 @ 2.39 = $4.78
Tortilla Chips $1.79
Bread 4 @ 0.89 = $3.56
Total: $39.81
Sam’s Club
Mushrooms $3.98
Bananas $1.38
Gogurts $6.98
– 2.00 instant savings = $4.98
Smokies $6.98
Tater Tots 2 @ 7.28 = $14.56
– 2.00 instant savings each = $10.56
Total: $27.88
Grocery Total: $91.99
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Menu Plan
I love menu planning and seeing other’s dinner plans! I’m weird like that 😉 As I’ve shared before, being in the kitchen is my happy place so I love finding meals that are new but I also never forget our favorites! These will link to the author’s original recipe unless it’s my own recipe/creation that I don’t have a link for… yet.
If you need some inspiration for how to create menu plans you can read here where I go into detail about how I make a plan for our food week and here to read how I create our grocery list.
I don’t make specific plans for breakfast and lunch but these are the basics I rotate between while throwing in a few other things for special days or weeks when I have the right ingredients.
Breakfasts: Pancakes, Coffee Cake, Egg Sandwiches, Sausage Balls, Eggs (various ways), English Muffins, Banana Bread, Biscuits and Gravy, Oatmeal, and various types of muffins.
Lunches: Leftovers, PB&J, Meat and Cheese Wraps, Cheese Quesadillas, and Mac ‘n’ Cheese.
Dinners, however, are always planned for since they tend to take the most ingredients and prep time.
Here’s what’s on our menu this week:
Sunday: Appetizers!
Monday: Homemade Chinese Buffet (sweet & sour chicken, bang bang chicken, fried rice, potstickers)
Tuesday: Pizzadillas
Wednesday: Broccoli Cheese Soup
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Homemade Pizza and Movie Night – pizza crust recipe here and pizza sauce recipe here.
Saturday: Family Christmas Dinner (my family is in town and we are celebrating Christmas with them today!)
What’s on your menu this week?
In 2018, it’s time to kiss this kitchen scenario goodbye: you make it all the way home, unload and put away the groceries, start cooking dinner and realize… you forgot a key ingredient… again.
Whether you have a special diet (like keto, vegan, paleo, or gluten-free), need to save money, or have a crazy busy lifestyle that calls for freezer cooking or an Instant Pot, we have what you need to eat healthy, save time and money, and hold onto your sanity.