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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.
Um, how are we approaching our final full week of summer break? I haven’t made homemade ice cream even once! So you better believe that’s on our activity list this week. What’s the point in owning an ice cream maker if I don’t use it?
As much as I enjoy summer foods like grilled burgers and fresh veggies I’m really looking forward to the comfort foods that take over during fall and winter. I love soups, casseroles, and all those hearty dishes. I’m ready for roast with potatoes and gravy or a big bowl of chili topped with cheese and sour cream. Anyone else ready for fall? Or are you hanging on to every bit of summer and will continue to grill until the snow flies?
Hornbachers
Ground Beef 3.02lb @ 1.99/lb = $6.01
Corn 12 @ 6/2.00 = $4.00
Pepper 2 @ 2/1.00 = $1.00
Total: $11.01
Costco
Watermelon $3.99
Mayo $6.99
– 2.00 instant savings = $4.99
Total: $8.98
Walmart
Watermelon $3.49
Eggs $5.33
Potatoes $2.77
Apples 2 @ 4.44 = $8.88
Tortilla Chips $1.98
Creamer $4.98
*submitted receipt to ibotta for any item rebate (-$0.25)
Total: $27.18 after rebates
Sam’s Club
Lettuce $3.98
Mushrooms $3.91
Cheese $5.68
Cheesecake $9.91
* This was marked down and is going to be my birthday cake in a couple weeks. Yay!
Chicken Breasts $9.78
Heavy Cream $4.58
Celery $2.48
Carrots $3.40
Total: $43.79
Grocery Total: $90.96 after rebates
This is the highest week we’ve had in quite some time! I blame the second watermelon from Costco (at 3.99 they were too cheap to pass up!) and my birthday cheesecake. Usually I make my dessert but this is my FAVORITE cheesecake and at less than $10 it was totally worth it. I can’t make it for that!
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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, 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: Bang Bang Chicken – This is quickly becoming a favorite in our house, especially with Jamison and Micah. The other kids usually eat one piece with the Bang Bang sauce and eat additional chicken chunks with sweet & sour sauce.
Monday: Salad Bar – I would love to make this a repeat meal every week but the kids aren’t on board with that… yet. Maybe by the time they are all in school they will enjoy it more. Or maybe I need to keep adding it to the menu so they are forced to deal with it. Ah, parenting.
Tuesday: Honey Mustard Chicken – This is a creamy chicken dish with diced chicken, mayo, mustard, cream of chicken soup, and honey to create a wonderful topping for rice. I like to serve it with a side of steamed veggies or sometimes throw the veggies right in with it!
Wednesday: Thai Chicken Pizza – When I asked for dinner ideas from the kids this was one of the first requests. Clearly it’s loved by everyone!
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Homemade Pizza and Movie Night – pizza crust recipe here and pizza sauce recipe here.
Saturday: Sticky Chicken Wraps – I’m sure it hasn’t been that long since we ate these but MAN do they sound amazing. I think I’m going to keep the chicken unbreaded this time to save a little time on prep and a few calories 😉
What’s on your menu this week?
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