groceries and meal plan - April 6th

As I mentioned in my post about accountability, my goal for this month is to keep our grocery budget to under $400. I'd planned to shop Saturday afternoon, but didn't want to shop in the rain. Instead I shopped yesterday. IN THE SNOW.

Snow in April. Welcome to Canada.

Here's the breakdown from today:
- 5lbs of russet potatoes ($1.50)
- 5 lbs of apples ($2.99)
- 3 lbs of carrots ($1.50)
- 3lbs of oranges ($4.99 - spendy, but Peter likes to take one for lunch each day)
- an ENORMOUS head of romaine lettuce ($1.29 - for the potluck at church)
- 14 bananas ($.69/lb)
- 2 pineapples ($1.99 each)
- 1 head of napa cabbage ($.99/lb - then I found it for $.69/lb at the next store. argh.)
- 2 pints of cherry tomatoes ($1.29 each)
- 1 cauliflower ($1.99 each)
- 4 yellow, 1 orange, 1 red pepper ($1.99/lb)
- 3 zucchini ($.99/lb)

- 2 x 1L juice ($.99 each - for the potluck)
- 1 box of Cheerios ($3.99, more than I'd usually spend, but there's a FREE magazine subscription)
- 500ml bottle of rice wine vinegar (I forget the price, but it'll last for a long while)
- 250ml bottle of flax oil (why? see this post and all of the recommendations in the comments)
- tea tree oil shampoo for Peter ($10.99 -yikes!- but he goes through it very slowly)
- 500ml of goats yogurt for Simon ($3.79, expensive but worth it since he's allergic to both soy cow dairy)
- 2 legs of lamb (normally $6.99/lb, on for $2.99/lb!)

- 4 bags of spinach ($1.29 each)
- 2 bags of rice pasta ($2.99 each)
- 1 container of mushrooms ($1.29)

Not pictured:
- 1 Delissio Ultimate pizza (normally $8.49, on for $6.99 - $3 coupon from save.ca = $3.99!)
- 4L of milk ($5.58)

My total was around $111. I'm sure anxious for summer produce prices and to be able to grow some of our own food. I'd say that about $6-7 of this was directly due to Simon's allergies. Also, the shampoo, rice wine vinegar and flax oil probably could've been cut. They will be used, but weren't necessities I guess.

All of that spinach is for green smoothies (here, here and here)

I stood in the cereal aisle for several minutes debating the Cheerios. I don't like to spend more that $2.50ish on cereal, but was wooed by the fee magazine offer. The more I read about processed cereal like this, the more guilty I feel feeding such garbage to my kids (this issue deserves its own post). I already make pancakes a couple times a week, but would really like to add oatmeal, eggs, and some muffins/fruit/yogurt to the mix and cut out the cold cereal all together. Or maybe keep it for Saturdays only so Peter will have something easy to feed them while I, um... cough, cough... sleep in.

MEAL PLAN *will use many ingredients from the fridge/pantry, but groceries bought today will be in parenthesis*

Monday - homemade pizza on rice/sorghum crust (spinach, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, and intended to use some of the peppers but forgot)

Tuesday - roasted chicken, pasta salad and fresh bread (rice pasta, rice wine vinegar, peppers, tomatoes, carrots)

Wednesday - roasted yellow pepper and carrot soup using homemade ham stock with fresh bread (carrots, yellow peppers, maybe a couple potatoes)

Thursday - leg of lamb with Simple Stir-Fried Cabbage, some sort of potatoes -ideas?- and roasted zucchini and cauliflower

Friday - Caesar salad with real bacon and homemade croutons for potluck at church (giant romaine)

Saturday - leftovers

Sunday - quiche (any roast veggies that are left)

If all goes well, I'll post pictures of everything on the weekend.

How's that for pressure?

Click here for hundreds more meal plans an here for more grocery lists (most under $50/week!).