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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.
Please tell me I’m not the only one that chokes a little bit when the grocery total is WAY higher than normal? It was even expected and planned for this week and it still made me nervous!
Why is the number so high this week? We aren’t going grocery shopping next week! We are going on a mini vaycay to celebrate our three October kids! But this means that we need to have enough food in the house for when we return. I actually expected to spend more this week. I gave myself $120 to get the shopping done so I’d have about $30-50 to spend at an Aldi on our way back to get some produce, bread, and milk and a few other staples. Otherwise, two weeks worth of groceries are contained in this shopping trip. Oh, and there are two birthdays in this trip as well because a few days after we return the twins turn three! They each chose a meal so I had to plan for those as well.
Well, here we go!
Walmart
2 Liters 3 @ 0.84 = $2.52
Creamer $2.48
Tater Tots $4.48
French Fries $3.84
Rice $1.38
Baked Beans $1.97
Frozen Veggies 7 @ 0.84 = $5.88
Carrots $3.22
Maple Extract $2.98
*submitted receipt to ibotta for any item rebate (-$0.25)
Total: $28.50 after rebates
Costco
Cheese Bricks 2 @ 4.99 = $9.98
Brown Sugar $3.49
Powdered Sugar $3.49
Total: $13.47
Sam’s Club
Salt $1.64
Beef Franks $23.98
BBQ Sauce $5.79
Popcorn Shrimp $11.48
Go-Gurt $6.98
-2.00 instant savings = $4.98
Eggs $3.94
Tortillas $4.98
Animal Crackers $5.98
Total: $62.77
Grocery Total: $104.74
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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: Honey Sesame Chicken and Fried Rice –
Monday: Baked Fiesta Ranch Chicken Tacos – Soft taco shells in this house but otherwise the same idea. The chicken for these sounds incredible!
Tuesday: Creamy Broccoli Chicken Bacon Pasta – What’s not to love when you combine chicken, broccoli, and bacon?
Wednesday: Ham & Honey Mustard Sauce Cheese Sliders – I’m pretty sure I could eat a whole pan of these right now. I’ll definitely need to make more than one pan for this hungry family!
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Homemade Pizza and Movie Night – pizza crust recipe here and pizza sauce recipe here.
Saturday: Burgers & Hot Dogs – Birthday Party day for our three October kids! Both sides of the family are getting together for one crazy celebration and we are keeping the food simple and kid friendly – but still delicious.
What’s on your menu this week? What’s your favorite birthday party food?
Do you want to get your kids in the kitchen with you? Check out Kidstir! They offer a monthly subscription box with kid friendly recipes and tools so you and your child can work side by side in the kitchen creating healthy meals and fun memories. You can watch my unboxing video of our first kit here.
