My husband and I were re-going over our budget for this month. A broken pipe and a hefty $700 water bill later (even after the water company adjusted our bill) threw us off course quite a bit. We've been talking about how we can pinch and scrape to get things paid off. I told my husband that I thought we could try and chop our usual $100/week grocery allowance down a little this time as we still had some things left over in our pantry. I made up a menu and ran it by the family to see if it sounded appetizing, and headed to the store sure that I could get the bill down. We'll that didn't go as planned. I stuck strictly to my list and plan, but I guess I under estimated what all the fruits and vegetables would add up to as it still came out right to $100. I know I've been able to make previous grocery runs for closer to $70. I started to drive home a little defeated in my mind. But then when I got home, my husband and I calculated it and we realised just how cheap $100 for a family of 5 that eat (Our 9 month old, Amy, is still exclusively breastfeeding with only nibbles of vegetables here and there). I know I could still get it cheaper with coupons or better sales, or eating less fresh of food, but after doing the math, my husband and I are pretty happy with what we found.
$100/7/3/5 = .95
Groceries, divided by 7 days, divided by 3 meals, divided by 5 people = .95 per person, per meal. That's pretty stinkin cheap! Especially for food that is healthy and going to give us energy and make us feel good after it's consumed.
Even just looking at beautiful fresh food makes me feel giddy inside!
I wouldn't say we are on a particular diet. (Besides Meg, who is allergic to any form or hint of Dairy), but we do like eating raw food, and we do like eating Paleo type meals, but we just don't classify ourselves by any of these things. We just try to eat healthy when we can. I've been battling really strong postpartum depression really since the first was born. My midwife told me diet can really help with helping you feel better, so I've been slowly working on that. I've liked the change I'm feeling now. Like literally. . . I'm feeling again. I've been numb for so long. Anyways, this really should be in a post by itself, so I will stop here for now, and get on to sharing my Menu this week, and the run down of what I had to buy to make it all. I don't normally list what day I will eat what. I just list what I have to eat by category, and then the night before, I choose what I want from my list of possibilities. That's just how my brain seems to work best as I'm the product of of a Type A, list making father, and a spontaneous in the moment no lists mom. Haha!
Menu for the week of 2/15-2/21
Snacks:
Fruit and nut bars (just like the delicious Laura Bars in Store, but homemade)
Fruit
Banana Chips
Breakfast:
Milk & cereal (Homemade Almond milk for Meg.) x3
Dairy Free Dark Chocolate Waffles and fruit x1
Banana Bread x2
Fresh Green Juice (Pineapple, Orange, Apple, Cucumber, Kale) x1
Lunch:
Turkey Sandwiches x2
Berry Smoothie x1
Tuna Sandwiches x2
Apples Bananas and nut butter for dipping x2
Dinner:
Rainbow Salads x1
Cauliflower, Green Beans, and Sweet Potato (planning to roast the cauliflower just as I would if I was cooking chicken) x2
Crock pot Tortilla Soup x2
Mango Avocado Noodle Salad x2 ( I may have accidentally made cucumber noodles instead of Zuchini noodles last night! Whoops! No wonder they were so moist and mushy! Don't make my mistake! Haha!)
The Grocery Bill Breakdown
Chicken Tenders for 1.99/lb -$3.10
2 bags frozen Berries $5.98
Cashews $4.63
Banana Chips $1.97
Turkish Apricots $1.29
Unbleached White Flour $2.22
Sprouts Milk $3.49
Tortilla Chips $2.49
Fire Roasted Tomatoes $2.49
Panda Puffs $8.49
Free Range Broth $3.49
Bananas $3.53
Oranges $4.29
Watermelon $4.48
Red Radishes $.69
Organic Kale $1.50
Apples $9.63
Jewel Yams $5.08
3 Hass Avocados $5
Green Onion $.69
Lettuce $1.69
Green Beans $1.95
Grape Tomatoes $1.50
Cucumbers $2.50
2 Cauliflower $2.77
Broccoli $1.23
2 Baby Pineapple $5
Baby Carrots $1.25
Looking over this list, I see several items I know I could have gotten cheaper on a better week of sales, but this is how it came out this week. I feel good that our family will be filled and happy!
No comments:
Post a Comment