5.11.2009

Meal Plan Monday - Grocery Challenge Week 2

Last week's menu worked well, something came up Friday so we pushed all our meals back and we had shepherd's pie yesterday instead of Saturday. It worked out perfectly as we ended up having Craig's office over and I needed a meal that would feed seven people (hence the 3 loaves of bread, that would have been a little too much for just Craig and I). That means I couldn't save the other half of the recipe for later in the month so our intake of red meat will be quite limited for the rest of the month but that is typical for us anyway. I used to worry about it but the last time Craig gave blood the lady remarked at how high his iron levels were. I guess it is all those meals with beans and spinach.

You will also notice that our menu is for more than a week. I wanted to get all the way to Tuesday as next Wednesday Craig and I will be leaving on a little trip. I had to buy a few more staples this week and I splurged on strawberries and heavy cream to make ice cream, but the strawberries were on sale and smelled delicious and I wanted to make a treat for Craig as he puts up with all those bean meals. But I'm still doing much better than I anticipated and I am not willing to scrimp on fresh fruits and veggies, especially when they is so much in season now.

Breakfast/Lunch: Same as last week

Dinners:
Sunday - Shepherd's pie, 3 loaves bread, green beans, lemonade, a friend brought dessert

Monday - Parmesan chicken (not chicken Parmesan, this is a baked breaded chicken recipe), brown rice/wheat pilaf and squash

Tuesday - Mac 'n Cheese, kale (never had kale before, we will see how we like it)

Wednesday - Navy bean/vegetable soup - making up a recipe, but I have beef broth, beans and lots of veggies from last week and the market

Thursday - B4D French toast, smoothies (with kale instead of spinach?)

Friday - Chicken spaghetti (from the freezer), salad

Saturday - There is a concert at a local park so we will be picnicking with homemade bread, chicken salad with garbonzo beans, and cut up fruits and veggies

Sunday - Salmon spinach pasta (no recipe, but I've seen similar things before, I'll just make a roux and add to that)

Monday - Chicken quinoa curry, green beans

Tuesday - Leftovers, clean out the fridge before we leave (eggs and toast if nothing else is still around)

This week I bought:

Farmer's Market = $4.25
Onions
Multiplying onions (farmer said it tasted like a cross between an onion and a shallot, I'll try it in the pasta and soup)
Tomatoes (I have no cans of tomatoes like I normally use for shepherd's pie so I'll be dicing fresh tomatoes and adding a can of tomato sauce)
Squash

Grocery Store = $29.26
Yogurt
Heavy Cream
Bananas
Apples
Potatoes
Green Beans
Strawberries
Bread
Peanut Butter
Jelly

Walgreen = $0
Fish Oil (perfect timing for a free item, I ran out of my capsules earlier this week!)

Weekly total =$33.51

Monthly total to date = $46.88

Check out more meal plans here.

4 comments :

  1. How do you fix your garbanzo beans? Or do you just eat them plain?

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  2. I mix them into the chicken salad. I've never actually done that with chicken salad before, but I like garbanzo beans in my tuna salad, as they aren't very noticeable that way. Despite what my menus sometimes let on, "Not very noticable" is still my favorite way to eat beans.

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  3. I wouldn't try the kale in your smoothie; kale has much denser leaves than spinach!

    Thanks for the Shepherd's Pie recipe. I am going to try it for my special dinner for the Eastmans. Did you like the carrots mashed in with the potatoes?

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  4. awesome! I have leftover beans from a hummus recipe and didn't really know what to do with it :)

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