$30 Weekly Shopping and Menu 9-24-18

Friends, it’s Fall! Saturday was perfect; the first day of Fall brought the first cool weather and it was a lovely day to visit the park. Now I’m looking forward to hoodies and actually being able to drink hot coffee in the afternoon without dying. I did some helpful meal prep yesterday afternoon (Check out the picture on Facebook!) so now we have snacks and breakfasts for the week!

Last week we were incredibly blessed with a Kroger gift card, given to us by a dear friend. We were able to stock up on random pantry items with some of it this week, including what felt like 50 bags of dried beans. Dried beans are super cheap and I can turn one bag into a few meals; so this will definitely last us awhile. I was also able to buy peanut butter because we were on our last jar. Now if you know me, you’ll know that I like to keep 10-12 jars of the stuff because we go through it so fast. Kroger now sells their natural peanut butter for $1.79 instead of $2.29; it’s awesome, but not their stock-up price, so I bought just 2.

We’ve been so lucky and blessed with all the help we’ve received, and we’re looking forward to when John gets a job again so we can return the favor to those who really need help! No real leads yet; just lots of interviews and prayer.

As usual, here’s a disclaimer about my $30 weekly menus:

• I’ve lowered our grocery budget by choice. We’ve chosen not to pursue food assistance from the government.
• My pantry contains essentials such as rice, pasta, peanut butter, and baking items, as well as a little meat in the freezer. You may not be able to recreate this menu for $30 as I’m not exactly starting from scratch every week.
• I’m buying whole foods as much as possible- I won’t be perfect, but I’ll do what I can with the money we have.

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Sam’s Club

Paper towels: $18.24
Toilet paper: $17.98

Total: FREE thanks to a gift card from Swagbucks!

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Kroger

3 boxes whole wheat pasta: $1.00 each
2 bags dried black beans, 1-pound each: $1.29 each
1 bag lentils, 1-pound bag: $1.49
1 bag dried pinto beans, 1-pound bag: $1.19
1 bag dried kidney beans, 1-pound bag: $1.49
2 jars Kroger natural peanut butter: $1.79 each. These are their new price, down from $2.29. I love it!
Peatos: $2.99. I thought this was the Free Friday Download, but I accidentally bought the bigger bag.
Hot sauce: $.89
Tabasco hot sauce: $3.79
Plain Greek yogurt: $1.99, marked down
Strawberry jelly: $2.50
2 pints Halotop: $1.99 each, marked down

Total: Free thanks to a gift card

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Aldi

Milk: $1.45
Applesauce: $1.89
Butternut squash, 3.08 pounds: $1.51
Yellow onions, 3-pound bag: $1.59
Peaches, 2-pound bag: $1.98
Bananas, 3.34 pounds: $1.27
Cooking spray: $1.49
Cottage cheese: $1.59
Bouillon cubes: $1.69
4 cans tomato paste: $.39 each
1 can tomato sauce: $.25
Pretzels: $.79
2 dozen eggs: $.59 each
Raspberries: $2.49
Pepperoni: $2.19
Rolled oats: $1.99, their new price down from $2.39!
String cheese: $2.79

Total: $28.69
Weekly Total: $30.84. Not pictured are two food containers bought from Dollar Tree.

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Menu

Lunch is always leftovers. Items marked with an asterisk (*) were purchased in previous weeks.

Dinner
Healthy Black Bean Soup with Rice, Cornbread Muffins (Doubling the recipe to take to a friend)
Pasta with spaghetti sauce* (I froze some leftover sauce from last week), frozen veggies*
Homemade pizza with Bread Machine Pizza Dough and Slow Cooker Pizza Sauce, fruit
Whole Wheat Waffles topped with peaches
Baked beans* with cut up hot dogs*, leftover Cornbread Muffins, fruit
Buffalo chicken grilled cheese* (Shredded chicken with buffalo sauce), roasted butternut squash
Leftovers

Breakfast
Cinnamon Sugar Baked Oatmeal
Cereal*
Scrambled eggs
Yogurt with homemade granola bars crumbled in

Allison’s Lunch
Pretzels with hummus* or cream cheese*, raspberries, string cheese, energy bites* (In freezer)

What’s on your menu this week? Share in the comments below!