Tuesday, April 7, 2009

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!).

7 comments:

  1. I think, by looking at what you bought, you feed your children excellent nutritious meals. So please don't feel guilty about the Cheerios! They are not that bad and they are like, a childhood staple! :) You should be proud of yourself for feeding your children so well.

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  2. WOW, that is some great prices on all the fresh produce, love the pictures!

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  3. Awesome! What a great list, and excellent meal planning!

    Looking forward to seeing the updates...

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  4. Found you @ GCC -- and wow, you don't need to worry about the Cheerios - looks like you buy wonderfully healthy food for your family!

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  5. Good work - I rarely keep the prices that low for our family. We get organic food delivery each Friday, so it might be a little pricier than at the store, but it's amazing quality and the service, well, nothing beats it COMING to my house :)

    I debate the cereal too, all the time. I often give in b/c it's fast and easy and I know all three kids will eat it. But it really can be expensive - some boxes are $5.00 or $6.00!!! I also make my own granola - the kids love it and we eat alone or on top of yogurt or something. And we do a lot of muffins (I have a few recipes on my recipe blog) where I throw in lots of flax and veggies or whatever and the kids usually can't taste it. I'd say once a week at least they have a muffin for breakfast. I make pancakes too, every weekend, and they LOVE them and it's nice to know the ingredients going into everything instead of popping open a box.

    I'll be checking back for sure to see how it goes, and I will be SUPER impressed if you stay within $400 this month :)

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  6. Great post. Did you shop at more than one location? Did you follow the sales in particular or did you make your list and those things just happened to be on sale. Enquiring minds want to know :)

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  7. @Loukia Ah, but wait til you read what I have to say about processed cereals. (shudder

    @Rebecca So far I'm two for two and have been taking pictures to post on the weekend. It's great motivation to stick to my meal plan.

    @Crafty Mom I'd love to get in on a CSA, but I hope to grow a lot of my own veg this summer and buy others direct from the farmer. I try not to spend more than $2.50 ($2.99 at the most) on boxed cereal. Having said that, I going to really, really try not to buy anymore than we already have in the house. My goal is to phase it out completely. And I'll be super impressed if I can keep it under $400 too!

    @Chantal Yes, I shop at more than one store. Luckily, they're all pretty close together here in Gatineau and I do it all in one morning. Each Wednesday when the fliers come (woo hoo, that's today!) I go through them and write down what I deem to be good sales at each store. Then I sit down with that master list and plan my meals for the week.

    Make sense? Should I post my list when it's done this afternoon?

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