Groceries, Meal Plans, and Prices

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Warning: This post may be super boring to you... Feel free to ignore it! :)


You may or may not have noticed that I accidentally posted my grocery list to my blog yesterday. It was totally an accident but it did give me the the idea to do a blog post about what I bought/paid at the grocery store and what I intend to make with it. I am trying to get back into a cash budget and meal planning so this post will hopefully be helpful to me later on.

This was my grocery list:


Here is what I ended up with and what I spent for each item:

Trader Joe's:
Organic Bananas- 5 @ $0.29/each
Organic Romaine Hearts 3pk- 4 @ $2.49/each
Organic Bagged Spinach- 2 @ $1.99/each
Bagged Kale- 1 @ $1.99
Organic Lemons 1lb- 1 @ $1.99/each
Organic Maple Syrup Grade B- 1 @ $7.99
Organic Grass-fed Cheddar Cheese 8oz- 3 @ $4.29/each
Habanero and Lime Salsa- 1 @ $2.29
Organic Sweet Potatoes 3lb- 1 @ $3.99
Organic Tortilla Chips- 2 bags @ $2.49/each
Organic Chickpeas- 2 cans @ $1.19/each
Organic Rice Milk- 1 carton @ $1.69
Organic Onions 2lbs- 1 @ $2.99
Organic Carrots 1lb- 6 @ $0.79/each
Organic Celery Hearts- 1 @ $2.29
Organic Frozen Broccoli- 1 @ $2.49
Curry Powder- 1 @ $1.99
Organic Wheat Tortillas- 1 @ $3.49
Organic Roma Tomatoes 6ct- 1 @ $2.79
Organic Pacific Brand Vanilla Almond Milk- 2 cartons @ $1.99/each
Organic Clif Kid Bars- 2 @ $0.69/each (My little helpers needed a snack)
Trader Joe's Total: $81.70


Fred Meyer:
Organic Strawberries- 4 @ $2.00/each (These are on sale right now!)
Organic Raspberries- 4 @ $2.00/each (These are on sale right now!)
Organic Amy's Black Bean Chili- 1 @ $2.99
Endangered Species Dark Chocolate Mint Bar- 1 @ $2.79
Pampers Size 3 Diapers 112ct box- $24.99
Pampers Sensitive Wipes 3 pk- $6.99
Organic Asparagus 1.29lb- $6.44
White Cheddar Pirate Booty- 2 @ $1.50/each
Fred Meyer Total: $65.95


Sno-isle Natural Foods Co-op
Organic Bananas- 2 free with kids banana card
Organic Cauliflower- 1.37lb @ $3.69lb - $5.06
Organic Thick Cut Rolled Oats- 3.08lb @ $0.89lb - $2.74
Organic Red Beets 0.28lb @ $3.89/lb- $1.09
Organic Cultured Coconut Milk Yogurt 16oz- $3.29 less 50% markdown- $1.64
Organic Strawberry Kombucha 16oz- $3.29
Organic Dried Black Beans- 3.52lb @ $1.59lb- $5.60
Organic Gala Apples- 6.74lbs @ $1.99lb- $13.14
Organic Cilantro Bunch- $1.59
Organic Lemon Juice- $1.99
Coconut Water 250ml 12pk- 3 cases @ $11.88/each less 5% case discount- $33.85
Co-op Total: $70.26 less 10% Member Discount = $63.23


Farm Stand
Local Raw Honey 45oz- $13.99
Peewee Avocados- 6 @ 3/$1- $2
Farm Stand Total: $15.99 less 10% Military Discount = $14.39


Total for all those crazy groceries: $232.30

  • Trader Joe's was out of their bagged organic apples that are $2.49 for a 2lb bag so that is why I had to pay way more for apples at the Co-op
  •  I also usually don't need to buy so much but I was trying to stretch us out until payday so that I could start fresh with the cash system hence why we were out of staples like maple syrup and honey
  • The Co-op was out of Stevia which I was planning to buy for a friend
  • Nowhere that I went had spaghetti squash. Bummer because I made this last week topped with poached eggs and have been thinking about that meal ever since! 
  • I forgot to buy corn tortillas so I will have to go back for those before Saturday





Now... What do I plan to make with all that? 

The apples, lemons, romaine, spinach, kale, carrots, and beet will most likely all be used to make our juices this week. I will actually probably have to go back to the store later this week for more juice supplies!

I always try to pack Brian lunches to take with him to school. His lunches usually include: Juice, an egg burrito, leftovers from the night before's dinner, sprouted almonds, and whatever dried fruit we have around. This saves money for us so he isn't having to pay for fast food and also keeps him feeling better because he doesn't have to stop for fast food :)

The Girls eat oatmeal for breakfast almost every morning. Claire eats hers plain while Kenley gets a drizzle of maple syrup on hers. Brian and I usually drink juice for breakfast.

Lunches are usually leftovers or something easy like tortilla pizzas, tuna salad, eggs, spinach salads, or burritos. I will definitely be having buffalo cauliflower for one of my lunches this week! I'll post the recipe after I make it again!!

Snacks that we will probably have this week will be: bananas (for the girls), sprouted almonds, pirate booty, berries, coconut yogurt with almond butter and defrosted frozen blueberries, and Chococado smoothies made with those peewee avocados. (I don't know why it is, but the small avocados taste so much better in smoothies than the full size ones). Claire also really likes coconut water so she gets a bottle of that almost every day.

Here is my dinner meal plan for the week:
Monday- Salmon Burgers (for her) + Venison Burgers (for him) w/ Grilled Asparagus- Grilled by my Dad {Thanks to Sean for the meats}
Tuesday- Shredded Chicken Tacos- This is a super easy crock pot meal! Just place chicken breasts and 1 jar of salsa in the crock pot and let it cook all day long. Shred and enjoy with taco fixings! I will be making a big pot of black beans to go with this. I just soak the dried beans overnight with lots of water and a bit of apple cider vinegar and then the next day I rinse them cover them with new water and let them simmer for a few hours until they are nice and tender. Then I stir in lots of chopped cilantro and a chopped jalapeno.
Wednesday- Chickpeas and Dumplings- This is a Mama Pea Recipe recommended by Emily! I will be swapping out the wheat flour for rice flour... lets hope it works!
Thursday- Spaghetti topped with Trader Joe's Organic Vodka Sauce served with Coconut Flour Cheese Biscuits and Steamed Broccoli- I will be using brown rice spaghetti noodles.
Friday- Chili Topped Roasted Sweet Potatoes- Preheat oven to 450 degrees with a baking sheet on the bottom rack. Place sweet potatoes on middle rack and cook for 20 minutes then lower heat to 350 degrees and cook for 1 hour. Top with chili and cheese!
Saturday- Tostadas- I really like putting dry corn tortillas on a baking stone and baking them until crisp for an oil free tostada shell! We top our shells with black beans, cheese, lettuce, salsa, and avocados.




What do you think? Should I continue with this kind of post? I may just for the sake of keeping myself accountable! 


Am I paying way too much for something that is way cheaper somewhere else? What's on your meal plan for the week? I need some ideas for next week! 

11 comments:

Goodfellows said...

Oh just stop rubbing it in that you can go to Trader Joes anytime you want!! I'm jealous! ;-)

Keri Ronk said...

Hahaha! Yes Melissa, I am very sorry for you! I told Brian that I really don't want to move anywhere where I will not have access to Trader Joe's :)

Goodfellows said...

well, if you will move back closer to us, I would promise to make a once a month trader joes trip to raleigh or wherever with you! :-)

Jolie said...

Keri, I enjoy posts like this so thank you! How long would these groceries last you? I ask because I am also working off of a budget each week as I plan / buy our meals. I have a crockpot lasagna going for dinner tonight, I can't wait. I also love to do sloppy joes on whole wheat buns. Both of those recipes I use ground turkey instead of beef. Thanks for the time that you put in to the post. Enjoy your day :)

Keri Ronk said...

Jolie- I am actually pretty curious about how long these groceries will last us too! Most of the produce will not last for very long at all. We go through at least 1 bag of romaine hearts and 1 bag of carrots everyday because of our juices.

I hope to continue these posts so that I can keep better track of what we are spending the most on and how meal planning is going.

Sidenote: 3 of the 4 raspberry containers are now empty.... I bought them 2 days ago.... Looks like I need to go back to Fred Meyer before that deal is over!

Keri Ronk said...

Melissa- I am definitely game for that if we move back!!!

Carol Blanchet said...

It's a great post! It's so great to learn from one another!
I am just getting into juicing - what are your favorites?
A tip for you...be sure whatever corn products you buy are organic - otherwise they are GMO. (That's just nasty stuff!!)
One - more question...at which fruit stand did you buy the honey?

Keri Ronk said...

Carol- I totally agree with you on the GMO's! Yuck! That is one of the main reasons that we try to eat only organic because we want to avoid that junk!!

I also only buy organic maple syrup because often times conventional maple syrup contains formaldehyde. Yuck!

I plan to do some posts about juicing soon! Our "usual" juice is 3 heads of romaine lettuce, 1 lb of carrots, 2 lemons, 5 small apples or 3 large ones, a big handful of spinach, and a big handful of kale. Sometimes we also add a lime, beet, some strawberry tops, pear, or kiwi. The base is usually the same though.

I am convinced that the key to juicing is adding lemons! Lemons totally help neutralize the "green" taste!

I don't know what the name of the Farm Stand is but it is on state street between 116th and Smokey Point. Its next to an espresso stand... I'll have to look next time I drive past!

Unknown said...

Keri, I meal-plan based on the sale fliers for the week. :) I'll do a post on this soon so you can see how we do it! :)

Anonymous said...

Keri, I know that post took you a long time to do! It is accountability.

I bought Organic Cilantro at FM and I want to say I got it for $0.99/bunch, so next time you go, at least take a look. We bought 5 cartons of strawberries, and one raspberry and totally need to go back before Sat. is over! That is an AMAZING price for the organic asparagus!!!

You sprout your almonds?

Carol Blanchet said...

Keri, Thanks for tips for juicing! I'll have to see if I can find that honey any closer to me. That's a great price for raw honey.
Tried your chococado yesterday - it was delish! :-)

 
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