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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 week’s grocery trip is a little weird if you try to look at it and figure out what we are eating. Honestly? Most of what I bought will not be used for meals this week but rather I was stocking up on items that were a really good buy or things we were out of at home. I planned all our meals based on what we had in the freezer and cupboards so we could those great buys and start setting aside any extra funds for our holiday food budget. This helps make sure we don’t blow our budget on fun treats and special meals for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years!
One of my October goals was to get my holiday menu plans finished (I did that, I just haven’t updated about it!) so now I know what groceries we need to buy to make it happen. Plus, we finally got an Aldi near us! It’s still about a 20 minute drive and in the opposite direction of where we usually shop so I’ve got to figure out how to do once a month trips to make it worth our drive. The other stores we like have locations near Aldi, just not the same locations we go to normally. I’ll figure it out – I usually do!
This week’s shopping haul is also super scattered. We went to FIVE stores. Each one had items that I wanted at a certain price and even though Walmart’s price catcher is supposed to find the lower prices in ads and refund me the difference I simply don’t trust it. I didn’t want to buy the eggs for $1.48/doz there and then not get the $0.49 back for each carton. I’d rather run in quick while Micah stays in the car with the kids (or vice versa) and grab a few items to make sure we are getting the right price. Of course, this is also why I don’t have pictures of the first two stores because we were in there alone and the other person wasn’t there to remind about a picture. We definitely work better as a team 😉
Cash Wise
Sausage Patties 3 @ 5.68 = $17.04
– 5.07 (part of 5/$19.99 meat promo) = $11.97
Chicken Tenders 2 @ 8.88 = $17.76
– 9.78 (part of 5/$19.99 meat promo) = $7.98
– 1.00/1 manufacturer coupon = $6.98
– 1.50/1 manufacturer coupon = $5.48
Apples 5.64lb @ 1.48/lb = $8.35
Total: $25.80
Hornbachers
Eggs 5 @ 0.99 = $4.95
Sliced Cheese 2 @ 2.50 = $5.00
Total = $9.95
Costco
Cheese Brick $4.79
Tomato Sauce $2.99
Total: $7.78
Walmart
Mushrooms $1.87
Creamer $4.98
Olives $1.54
Pineapple $0.96
Oil $2.28
*submitted receipt to ibotta for any item rebate (-$0.25)
Total: $11.38 after rebates
Sam’s Club
Peanut Butter $9.98
– 2.25 instant savings =
Milk $2.81
Bananas $1.38
Tortillas $4.98
Total: $16.90
(the steam pans don’t come out of the grocery budget – they are also on instant savings and great for freezer cooking!)
Grocery Total: $71.81
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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: Sloppy Joe Grilled Cheese – I make these less sloppy otherwise it all oozes out on the griddle but the buttery and crispy outside of the bread is a perfect match for melty, cheesy, sloppy insides!
Monday: Broccoli Chicken Cheddar Braid – This is why I buy the big bags of broccoli from the freezer at Sam’s – it’s perfect for meals like this! I’ve already got cooked chicken in the freezer as well and I’ll use my homemade pizza dough for the outside.
Tuesday: Teriyaki Chicken Casserole – Precooked chicken in the freezer to the rescue again! Plus frozen veggies, rice, and a super simple teriyaki sauce means this meal comes together in a snap! It also makes great leftovers.
Wednesday: Bacon Cheeseburger Tater Tot Casserole – This is going to use the last of our tater tots but it’s a fantastic meal. Now that I know how to make a homemade version of canned cheese soup I love this meal 😀
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Homemade Pizza and Movie Night – pizza crust recipe here and pizza sauce recipe here.
Saturday: Sticky Chicken Wraps – It’s been quite a while (and by that I probably mean a month or two) since we’ve had our favorite wraps on the menu. The kids tend to stick to BBQ sauce or ranch for their wraps but Micah and I love the sweet and spicy sticky sauce the recipe calls for on our chicken.
What’s on your menu this week?
Have you put any thought into holiday meal plans yet? How do you balance normal food budgets with holiday food budgets?
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.
