$30 Weekly Shopping and Menu 9-3-18

The holiday weekend means great holiday sales!

Meijer had chicken breasts on sale for $1.49/pound, and 80/20 ground beef for $1.59/pound. Unfortunately, they were out of ground beef when I went on Friday; but the sale ends today, so I may try to go back and see if there’s any left. If I can snag some, I’ll have enough meat to last us awhile because I learned that a half pound of ground beef goes just as far as a whole pound if you add enough fillers- rice, beans, veggies, etc.

We’re still enjoying the freezer meals that our church friends made for us, many of which are providing tons of leftovers! That really helps cut down the cost of our grocery trips, which we’re so appreciative of right now. It’s helping us buy a few things to tide us over for awhile, like meat and other miscellaneous items.

I also received this jar of organic Classico pasta sauce from Influenster to try, so I’ll be using that in our meal plan this week as well!

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.
• My menu may have more vegetarian meals, or just less meat in general- But I still aim to keep my diet high-protein due to my workouts, which is why you’ll see lots of Greek yogurt, eggs, and cottage cheese.

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Kroger

Coffee: $5.99. Anyone know of a good brand that makes half-caff?
Gum: $2.19
2 boxes Oreo pudding: $1.59 each
Gatorade: $1.00
Peanut butter M&Ms: $2.99. I use these as fuel during my long runs!

Total: $15.42, but used almost all of my Kroger gift card to pay for this

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Aldi

Bananas, 2.16 pounds: $.45. I didn’t realize they were 21 cents a pound until I got home! I would have bought more!
Juice boxes: $1.79
Diced tomatoes: $.45
Russet potatoes, 5-pound bag: $2.79
Milk: $1.45
Red grapes, 2.47 pounds: $2.35
Eggs: $.48
Spinach: $1.19

Total: $10.95

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Meijer

Shampoo: $1.79
Bananas, 2.04 pounds: $.80
Red onion, $.83 pounds: $.82, used a $.25/1 coupon I received in the mail
Matchstick carrots: $1.69. Apparently Allison will eat these, so we’ll see!
Coconut milk: $2.19
Chicken breasts, 4.98 pounds: $7.42
Sour cream: $1.50
White whole wheat flour: $1.74, on clearance

Total: $17.83
Weekly Total: $30.78. Not pictured are two bags of brown rice I got at Dollar Tree. I still have about a $12 overage.

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Menu

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

Dinner
Labor Day dinner at my parents’ house: Making the Oreo pudding
Baked potatoes topped with Bush’s Sriracha Baked Beans* and cheese*, fruit
Pasta* with jarred sauce*, frozen veggies*
Taco casserole from freezer*, fruit
Vegan dinner for family coming over: Coconut Chickpea Curry (Using dried chickpeas I bought previously) with rice, banana ice cream (Blending frozen bananas with either PBFit powder or cocoa powder, haven’t decided yet!)
Chicken Corn Chowder from freezer*
Leftovers

Breakfast
Hash brown casserole from freezer*
Cereal*
Scrambled eggs with spinach, banana

Allison’s Lunch
Mini blueberry muffins– Blueberries are in the freezer. Gonna try blending the mixture with the blueberries inside, because Allison likes the taste of blueberries but not the feeling of them. *Shrug*, string cheese*, raisins*, Gogurt*, matchstick carrots

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