$75 Weekly Shopping and Menu 8-12-19

We’ve come out of a busy weekend and are officially in the single digits until Allison starts Kindergarten! I’m still wondering how this even happened.

I’ve been filling our days with all sorts of fun activities to make the most of the last days of Summer. Friday was Kings Island with just the two of us, and Saturday she came to work with me to participate in Pint-Sized PiYo! I co-taught a PiYo class for little ones, and we had 5 girls show up to jump, dance, and have a blast. I loved it!

Last week I attempted to go to Kroger almost every day to use marked-down produce for that night’s dinner sides. Follow me on Instagram and see my Highlights to find them! It was fun seeing what I could come up with, but ultimately I’m not sure if doing that every day will save me money in the long run. I ended up buying a couple things I didn’t really need.

When Allison goes to school, I’m going back to work 3 days a week. This means I need to start thinking of easy dinners I can quickly throw together on those nights, so I’m experimenting with my Instant Pot! This week is chicken thighs, but I’m also looking for suggestions. What are your favorite things to put in your Instant Pot?

Here’s what I bought over the weekend:

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Mr. Mac’s Grocery Outlet

Box of 12 K-Cups: $3.50
Nature Valley Bars: $3.00
Nature’s Bakery fig bars: $3.00
2 bags Birdseye Protein Blend: $1.00 each
Aidells chicken meatballs: $2.00
Snack-size Chex mix: $.35

Total: $13.85

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Aldi

Box of cheese crackers: $1.49
Tub of Greek yogurt: $3.45
Cottage cheese: $1.59
Milk: $1.89
Grape tomatoes: $1.49
Bananas, 1.78 pounds: $.77
Flour: $1.15
Almond milk: $1.79
Eggs: $.58
Sweet potatoes, 3-pound bag: $2.79
Olive oil: $2.49
4 cans tomato paste: $.39 each
Parmesan cheese: $2.29
Wheat tortillas: $1.59
Pepperoni: $2.19
2 boxes blueberries: $1.29 each
Whole wheat hamburger buns: $1.29
Romaine hearts: $2.19
2 blocks cheese: $1.69 each
2 boxes strawberries: $1.29 each
Spinach: $1.39
Green grapes, 2.36 pounds: $1.86
Tomato sauce: $.25
Broccoli: $1.69

Total: $44.32

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Meijer

Frozen veggies: Free with a Meijer coupon from the mail
Coconut milk: $1.89
Butterball turkey bacon: $1.99
Miniature cookies: $3.49, for the PiYo class
Chicken thighs: $4.76, they were only $.79/lb!
Extra gum: $1.99, used a $.45/1 Meijer coupon from the mail
Vinegar: $2.29, used a $.50/1 Meijer coupon from the mail
Frozen breakfast sausage patties: $4.99
Marzetti dressing: $3.00

Total: $22.95
Weekly Total: $81.12, I had some overage from last week. I also set aside $5.00 for a Sam’s Club run, so now I’m up to $20.00 for that!

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Menu

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

Dinner
Small group- Making Bread Machine Breadsticks topped with mozzarella cheese*
Chicken burgers* (Patties bought last week), sweet potatoes in the air fryer
Chicken sausages*, Birdseye Protein Blend, frozen veggies*
Lentil Curry*- All I had to buy for this was coconut milk!
Chicken thighs in the Instant Pot, quinoa*, roasted broccoli
Pizza Quesadillas (Updating pictures for my blog post!), frozen veggies*
Leftovers

Breakfast
Banana Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cups with sausage patties
Scrambled eggs
Yogurt with berries

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