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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.
This last week really threw me off, you guys. I was all set for fall meals to start and then we had these outrageous temps in the 90s! Um, excuse me? That’s not what I want in the middle of September. I’m ready for boots and sweaters and changing leaves and comfort food. And now this week when it will be classic fall temps I don’t feel like cooking fall foods. But I’m trying.
What do you make when you get in a food rut? It’s not that I don’t want to cook because I’d spend hours in the kitchen playing if I could but I just have no clue what sounds good right now or what I want to make. The kids always want breakfast foods but with our schedule I’m making most of their favorite breakfast items at breakfast time every week so I don’t want the same thing for dinner. I fall back on classics that we’ve been making for years when I’m feeling uninspired so we’ve got several on the menu this week. I think I need to spend some time browsing Pinterest for new ideas!
Walmart
Creamer $2.48
36ct Eggs $3.73
Apples $4.94
Ham $3.00
*submitted receipt to ibotta for rebate (-$1.00)
Tomato 0.27lb @ 1.48/lb = $0.40
Bread $0.98
French Bread 2 @ $1.00 = 2.00
*reduced to 0.52 each = $1.04
*submitted receipt to ibotta for any item rebate (-$0.25)
Total: $15.32 after rebates
Target
Mushrooms $1.87
Parmesan Cheese $3.34
Sargento Cheese Slices 2 @ 2.99 = $5.98
– 20% off Cartwheel for Sargento Cheese Slices (-$1.20)
*submitted receipt to ibotta for rebate x2 (-1.00) = 3.78
– 5% Target RedCard discount (- $0.50)
*submitted receipt to ibotta for any item rebate (-$0.25) (used Micah’s account)
Total: $8.24 after rebates
It was free pizza sample day at Sams!Sam’s Club
Chicken Bouillon Cubes $8.96
Chicken Breasts $10.65
Mozzarella Cheese $10.44
Yogurt $1.98
Tortillas $3.58
Sour Cream $4.23
Bananas $1.38
Cheese Brick $6.38
Total: $47.60
Grocery Total: $71.16 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: Tacos – Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy. Nothing fancy here, just regular classic tacos using this taco seasoning recipe.
Monday: Chicken Tortilla Soup – Yay, soup! This soup tastes really similar to the chicken enchilada soup at Chili’s but without the peppers, onions, and tomatoes in it. A cheesy base with enchilada sauce and lots of diced chicken. It’s excellent paired with southwestern egg rolls or keep it simple with tortilla chips. I should really work on getting my version typed up for a post!
Tuesday: Chicken Parmesan – I was surprised when Micah requested this since he’s not a fan of Italian food but he really enjoyed the Chicken Parmesan sliders from a couple months ago so we will skip the buns this time around and have the more classic version.
Wednesday: Brown Sugar Ham Sliders – I can’t even remember the last time we had these so clearly it’s been too long!
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Homemade Pizza and Movie Night – pizza crust recipe here and pizza sauce recipe here.
Saturday: Hot Dogs & Beans – I’m at a women’s retreat this weekend so I’m making things really simple for Micah. It’s a dish that requires no prep and no fights with the kids to eat what’s on their plate.
What’s on your menu this week? What do you make when you get in a dinner rut?
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