A number of people I know are completely flabbergasted when contemplating sticking to a budget while eating a primarily “paleo” diet. I’m hoping to shed a little light on that issue for those of you on the fence about eating healthfully in this manner – it *can* be done – and done well – without spending all the money. All it takes is a little planning. 

A little background: I live in Brooklyn, NY, and the grocery prices here are definitely not the same as what you will find in other areas of the country. If you live in say, Raleigh NC for example – you may very well be able to cut this grocery bill by a third, depending upon where you shop. For where I live, where I shop and what I buy, $100 a week is a doable budget without having to sacrifice the quality I want too much. My DH thinks $130 is probably more realistic with our morning smoothie supplies, but I want to shoot for $100. I aim to make 4-5 dinners for two and 5 lunches per week, plus two smoothies per day six days of the week with my budgetary allowance and update you all weekly on what’s going on. Let’s see if I can make it. 

Last Week (Week of April 14-18)

The Plan vs. Reality

Monday

• The Plan – Lemon thyme chicken thighs with Spanish asparagus
• Reality – Boneless, skinless breasts were what was available – so those got the lemon thyme treatment; and capers were out of the budget, so I broiled the asparagus with some lemon and shallot and served a fresh tomato salad

Tuesday

• The Plan – Carolina rub pulled pork with Korean bbq sauced broiled green beans and onions
• Reality – The pork was fantastic, as were the green beans – I forgot the onions

Wednesday

• The Plan – Indian spiced meatballs with smashed sweet potatoes
• Reality – Really successful. You’ll see the recipe for the balls here soon.

Thursday

• The Plan – Carolina rub pulled pork tacos with spice-crusted carrots & harissa crema
• Reality – Pretty successful. I made my favorite taco wrappers with the Paleo Magic Wonder Dough and the carrots were tasty. The crema wasn’t really a crema – more like a thin sauce – but it was good.

Friday

• The Plan – The last of the Carolina rub pulled pork with spicy broccoli slaw and vinegar sauce
• Reality – Broccoli was not to be had this week, so I picked up shredded brussels sprouts. None of that ended up mattering, since we decided to go grocery shopping early and ate while we were out.

Lunches

• The Plan – Nom Nom Paleo’s Egg Foo Young (2-3 lunches)
• Reality – Still didn’t happen for me. Leftovers.
• The Plan – Leftovers
• Reality – The balance of this week’s lunches incorporated a hodge-podge of leftovers combined in .. interesting ways. I planned poorly again this week on the protein front, and ended up scrounging lots of hard boiled eggs.

Extras

• The Plan – Nothing planned here.
• Reality – And nothing accomplished.

This Week: April 21-25 

It’s another ‘source what you can as best you can’ week – and I don’t have any freezer meat to fall back on. I bought most of Easter dinner last week, and I’ll be buying the meat for it with this week’s budget. Hopefully.

This Week’s Proposed Menu

• Holiday Dinner: A small amount of lamb with an herbed crust, lemony thymey smashed fingerling potatoes, peas, some version of a wine sauce, maybe rolls for the hubbs
• Monday: Shredded chuck tacos with roasted broccoli
• Tuesday: Leftover beef hash with eggs
• Wednesday: Leftover beef “shepherd’s pie”
• Thursday: Carrot ginger lime pasta with crispy ground poultry nuggets
• Friday: Banh mi pork with some sort of side
• Lunch: Nom Nom Paleo’s Egg Foo Young (2-3 lunches) – hey, maybe it will happen this week
• Lunch: Ham and cabbage steaks

Shopping List & Cost Breakout

Grocery Store Key: TJ = Trader Joe’s, WF = Whole Food, O = Optional if budget allows

This week, I have $100 to spend for my weekly groceries, and dammit, I’m sticking to it.

Shopping List

Rolls – $2 est – ($1.69 @ TJ)

Lamb for Easter – $16 est – (ended up with ham instead – $14.14 @ WF)
Chuck roast – $30 est – ($21.25 @ WF)
ground poultry – $7 est – ($3.99 @ TJ)
ground pork – $7 est – ($6.85 @ WF)
Ham – $5 est – will use some from Easter dinner
Eggs – $3 est – ($2.99 @ TJ)

Onion (3) – $3 est – ($2.37 @ TJ)
Sweet potato – $1 est – ($0.98 @ TJ)
Pepper – $1 est – didn’t end up needing
Guacamole or avocado – $2 est – did not get
Ginger – $1.50 est – ($1.39 @ TJ)
Limes – $3 est – ($2.79 @ TJ)
3 avocados – $4 est – ($4.17 @ TJ)

Root veg or cauliflower – $3 est – ($2.49 @ TJ)
3 bags carrots – $3 est – ($2.67 @ TJ)
Peas – $3.50 est – didn’t end up needing
Cabbage – $3 est – ($1.69 @ TJ)
Radish – $2 est – ($1.49 @ WF)
Cucumber – $1 est – ($0.69 @ TJ)
Lettuce or other wrap – $1.50 set – O – did not get
Side dish for banh mi – $3 est – didn’t end up needing
1 bag kale – $2.50 est – ($2.29 @ TJ)
1 bag spinach – $2 est – ($1.99 @ TJ)
Cilantro – $2 est – ($1.99 @ WF)

1 coconut water – $4 est – ($3.69 @ TJ)
Olive oil – $5 est – O – ($6.99 @ TJ)

Estimated expenditure: $120 – cut olive oil ($5), cabbage ($3), and see what I can do about the rest — this week’s grocery shopping looks like it’s going to be challenging.  

Last-minute extras: Dark chocolate peanut butter cups ($0.99) and 1 apple ($0.69) at Trader Joe’s + gouda for the hubbs to snack on ($4.32) and dinner for the evening ($13.33) at Whole Foods.

Total TJ: $44.64
Total WF: $64.10

Total For The Week: $100; dead on budget. On paper, this week looked impossible. I had $120 in estimated cost, and not a lot of wiggle room for making things less expensive. But, I switched some things around, ran up on a little luck, and managed to fit everything I needed – plus a few extras. And I even ended up having enough left over to cover most of dinner for Saturday night. The balance was rolled into our weekly entertainment budget.

Pantry/items repurposed from last week: fats, spices, broccoli, brussels sprouts, pepper, peas.