A bit of background. Like many young couples, Andy and I were terribly wasteful and had horrible diets when we were newly married. I shudder to think of all the money we wasted - and all the pounds we put out on! - eating out constantly and eating processed food at home. We thought we were busy, which is hysterical in retrospect. We are plenty busy now. I work full-time. Andy works 60+ hours per week in a physically exhausting job. We have two very active kids with lots of homework, practices, rehearsals and games.
Today nearly everything we eat is prepared at home - breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks for all four of us. The kids pack lunches for school. Andy and I take our lunches to work. We might eat a meal out twice per month. I mention this because our weekly grocery budget may seem high, but I don't think it's too bad considering how well (and now healthy) we eat and that it is virtually our only cost of food for the week.
I know a lot of people choose eating out for convenience. In general, the food is not good for you - it's high in sodium and fat, and the portions are way too big. And it's expensive. It's gotten to the point for us that one decent meal out for our family, including tip, is between $75-$100. I can buy so much real, good food for $100! And I swear if you do some of your planning up front, it is not inconvenient to prepare your meals at home. I put in about one hour of planning per week. And then we shop. We usually go to 3 stores per week, but we only go once and rarely have to stop at any point during the week to pick up an item. Also I never have the "oh god, what will I make for dinner" thing. I know exactly what I'm making, have everything on hand, and can usually have dinner on the table 45 minutes after I decide it's dinner time. It's not really stressful or inconvenient.
I sit down once per week (usually Wednesday night) and plan out our next 6-7 dinners. I go through my recipes on Pinterest, in cookbooks and take family requests. Additionally, I always plan to make one cold salad (or a soup ) per week that hangs out in the fridge for lunches or extras for my bottomless pit children. I plan whatever baked goods and special snacks I will make for the week. I don't really plan breakfast and lunches. We are all creatures of habit with breakfast so that doesn't take much planning or thought. The kids have usual items they enjoy for lunches, and Andy and I often eat leftovers.
Here's what I came up with for the coming week:
Saturday: dinner at Mom's - bring whole wheat spaghetti noodles, "big italian salad" with homemade dressing
Sunday: slow cooker pulled pork with homemade kansas city style bbq sauce and mashed potatoes and roasted broccoli
Monday: chicken a la Ceci, wild rice and green beans
Tuesday: breakfast for dinner: pancakes (BL pancakes for grownups), bacon and eggs
Wednesday: sweet potatoes stuffed with chick peas, spinach and mozzarella cheese
Thursday: whole wheat pizza (homemade sauce) with lots of veggie toppings
Friday: beef curry with brown rice (purchased from my friend Kim's at home meal prep business!) and salad
extras to make: black bean and couscous salad, granola (adult) and granola bars (kids), whole wheat banana bread, hard boiled eggs, and kale chips. I tend to make many of these extras on Sunday night. Helps get us ready for the week,
***** Everything written above meets clean eating/real food guidelines**************
When I plan these meals, I sit in my kitchen so I can double check the fridge and pantry and make a list of all the items I need to complete each meal. I then add additional items we need for the week.
On Thursday, I receive an email from The Basketeria, our favorite produce stand at the West Side Market , that details their specials and what's available for the week. I pre-order anything I need from my grocery list.
For instance this week, I ordered the following for a grand total of $37.50:
2 pints of blueberries (organic)
1 lb bag of kiwi (organic)
3 red grapefruit (organic)
flat parsley
1 bucket of basil
Romaine lettuce
1 pint grape tomatoes
1 english cucumber
3lb bag of sweet potatoes (organic)
1 box of baby spinach (organic)
1 head of broccoli
1 lb green beans
1 pack of white mushrooms
1 bunch of cilantro
1 bunch lacinato kale (organic)
3lbs bananas (organic)
4 limes
4 lemons (organic)
1 dollar bag of red peppers (you get 3 red peppers in a bag for $1!)
On Saturday morning by 7am, we are on our way to the beautiful West Side Market! Here's what else we bought/spent.
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| Some of the wonderful options at Cleveland's West Side Market |
Additional produce not available at Basketeria (grapes, clementine oranges, additional grapefruit because it looked good and big baking potatoes) - $15
DW Whitaker - 2lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts (fresh, all-natural, hormone free) - $11
Meister's Pork - 3.5lbs boneless pork loin roast - $15
Meister's Cheese - 1.5lbs whole milk mozzarella and fresh ground peanut butter - $9.25
Christopher's Bakery - 1 loaf of organic whole wheat bread, 1 loaf crusty Italian (to take to a family dinner) - $7.25
Ohio City Pasta - fresh whole wheat pasta noodles - $3
Rita's - 8 ounce gouda stuffed green olives (OMG) and 8 ounces pepporicini poppers (OMGer). - $10
Pierogi Palace - 6 potato cheese pierogi (for kids because they love them) - $4.50
Frickaccio's - 2 organic whole wheat frozen pizza dough - $4.50
A grand total of $117 for the all the meat, cheese, produce and bread we will consume this week. Not bad!
The dinner I will purchase from my friend's home business will cost $20.
The rest of the items on our list - things like black beans, couscous, honey, tomato paste, eggs, yogurt, cereal, oatmeal, nuts for granola, lunch items for kids, two junk food snacks for kids (we let them pick one each per week...hopefully, one day we will eliminate that) plus all household cleaning supplies will be purchased at Aldi and Marc's, local discount store.
Andy does that shopping solo. He's awesome at it. The man can follow a list, and will not waiver. I will waiver, which is why I don't go. We really do have a great and natural division of labor. I do all the planning. He does most of the shopping. I do all of the cooking. He does all of the after meal clean-up. It works very well for us!
This week at Marc's we spent $50. At Aldi's we spent, $48.
That puts us at right around $240 for the entire week. This represents breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for two adults, 1 teen boy, 1 tween boy. My kids both play sports and eat a lot. My husband works a physical job. We eat a lot of food! This week was a bit high for us. We are usually a bit under $200.
We could probably do better with the budget. It's definitey a work in progress!
Wow! I thought my boys ate different foods, your boys have us beat!
ReplyDeleteWe eat out four times a month. Usually on Sundays after church.... or Saturday nights.
You take great plannig and you show it physically.
Ok.. need to ask what are adult pancakes? ;-)
Thanks, Rosie! My kids do still really like junk food,and they get a junk food treat in their lunch every day. I feel a bit guilty about that, but would also feel guilty about eliminating and replacing it. This really is a process!
ReplyDeleteOh, the pancakes...I'm trying a new recipe for us that was on The Biggest Loser - pancakes made with rolled oats and cottage cheese. Got to admit, I am terrified. LOL. The reviews were good, but I won't put the kids through that experiment. They'll get the buttermilk pancakes they love. We've all switched to real maple syrup and gotten rid of pancake syrup. That was an easy switch to make!