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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.
It’s almost birthday time! Yes, I still get excited about my birthday. I turn 33 this year – woot, woot! I’m totally okay with my age and getting older. Maybe it will change as the years continue to pass but right now I’m gladly taking any years that God gives me. Plus it means I get to pick a special meal and I really only choose one food anymore – SUSHI 😀 We ordered a big ol’ platter that Micah will pick up when he leaves work early on Tuesday. Then we’ve got the red velvet cheesecake in the freezer that we found at Sam’s Club a couple weeks ago. It’s going to be a great day!
It was our first week grocery shopping without the big boys now that they are back in school. It’s nice that we only have three to get in and out of the car but at the same time the getting in and out is all on us versus having help from the boys with the little kids that sit all the way in the back. At least we can easily remove Parker’s car seat before we go and have one less bulky chair to climb over. Someday we will be done with car seats but that’s nearly a decade away so I’m not even bothering to dream about it yet.
We found some really great deals this week and stocked up because of it. I was hoping to be way under budget this week but after finding bacon marked down so deeply and the half priced snacks at Target I used the buffer in our budget to grab those. I’m glad I had to the room because they are great deals!
Hornbachers
Eggs 6 @ 0.79 = $4.74
Grapes 2.26lb @ 1.79/lb = $4.05
Total: $8.79
Target
Sliced Cheese 2 @ 2.39 = $4.78
Laughing Cow Cheese Snacks 4 @ 2.64 = 10.56
– 50% off cartwheel offer = $5.28
Bacon 3 @ 6.99 = $20.97
– in store coupons 3 @ $4.00 = $8.97
– 5% Target RedCard discount (-$0.95)
*submitted receipt to ibotta for any item rebate (-$0.25)
Total: $17.83
Walmart
Sweet Potatoes 2.01lb @ $1.28/lb = $2.57
Bread 2 @ 0.98 = $1.96
Pretzels $1.98
Creamer $4.98
*submitted receipt to ibotta for any item rebate (-$0.25) (on Micah’s account)
Total: $11.24 after rebates
Costco
Watermelon $3.99
Brown Sugar $3.49
Cooking Spray $4.99
Total: $12.47
Sam’s Club
Tortillas $4.98
Celery $2.48
Chicken Breasts $12.02
Milk $2.73
Cheese Brick $5.68
Gardettos $5.98
– $2.00 instant savings = $3.98
Total: $31.87
Grocery Total: $82.45 after rebates
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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: Quesadillas – Don’t ever think your meals need to be extra fancy or elaborate to be worthy. Quesadillas are simple and easy plus you can pack lots of veggies inside and hide them with cheese 😉
Monday: Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup – Speaking of simple! I’ll probably throw some rice in the soup to jazz it up just a tad but this is totally an easy meal for our first full week of school.
Tuesday: Sushi – Happy Birthday to ME! We ordered a platter for all of us to share and I’m already drooling.
Wednesday: Pizza Muffins – I haven’t made these in quite a while and all the ingredients are always at home! And again, it’s a super simple meal but sometimes we really need a week of ultra easy meals.
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Homemade Pizza and Movie Night – pizza crust recipe here and pizza sauce recipe here.
Saturday: Grilled Pork Chops – We had these incredible pork chops for the 4th of July at Micah’s sister’s place and I’ve been thinking about them ever since. They go great with just about every picnic side so I’m thinking potato salad or perhaps this BLT salad.
What’s on your menu this week?
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