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.
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My CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) shares are going strong, so I will be doing things a little differently with the vegetable portion of my meal planning for the next few months (until October). My share averages out to $25 a week, which will come off the top of my budget allotment and will comprise the bulk of my non-smoothie-related vegetable purchases. If you’re curious to see how I use my CSA veggies up, check out my What To Do With A Box Of Vegetables posts.
Last Week (Week of June 30 – July 1)
The Plan vs. Reality
This week’s meal planning was back on track and not too far from reality.
Monday
- The Plan – Roasted beet greens & chard with pork, sage & apple burgers + caramelized onions
- Reality – The greens were great, and so were the burgers – even if they ended up being turkey instead of pork.
Tuesday
- The Plan – Some sort of meat my DH picked out while shopping + CSA leftover veggies
- Reality – The DH brought home rack of lamb, so I cooked that up and served it with broiled radishes from the CSA & carrots from the crisper. Decadent and delicious.
Wednesday
- The Plan – Big salad with green beans, red onions, espazote, kale, tomatoes, olives, etc. with sage and bacon wrapped chicken thighs
- Reality – The chicken was good (but not as good as the sweet potatoes), and the salad was the exact CSA cleanup dish I needed it to be.
Thursday
- The Plan – New CSA veggies with leftover barbicoa
- Reality – It was just me for dinner, so I ended up having 2 zucchini cooked in butter with a little seasoning + a leftover pork chop and dinner was fantastic.
Friday
- The Plan – New CSA veggie with leftover barbicoa
- Reality – We actually ended up grabbing burgers & sweet potato chips at the store while grocery shopping – much more 4th of July-ish.
Lunches
- The Plan – ????? + that big salad
- Reality – I had leftovers all week and they were great.
Extras
- The Plan – Sage lemonade
- Reality – Y-U-M.
This Week: July 7 – 11
I have leftover CSA veggies this week and $75 to spend on groceries.
This Week’s Proposed Menu
- Monday: Zoodles with roasted beets, dill + horseradish sauce, chevre & chicken
- Tuesday: Roasted beets + greens with grapefruit & pistachio butter + pork shoulder
- Wednesday: Sausages with turnip “potato” salad
- Thursday: New CSA veg with sauteed peaches + mint and leftover pork
- Friday: New CSA veg with leftover pork
- Lunch: CSA veg salads
- Extras: Mint lemonade, bourbon mint drink
Shopping List & Cost Breakout
Grocery Store Key: TJ = Trader Joe’s, WF = Whole Foods, FT = Food Town, O = Optional if budget allows
Shopping List
Extras: I had enough leftover, so we got spinach for the smoothies ($1.99 @ TJs). I also forgot to list limes ($1.79 @ TJs).
Total TJ: $35.30
Total WF: $27.43
Total FT: $6.98
Total For The Week: $69.71; $5.29 under budget. Whoo hoo!
Pantry/items repurposed from last week: fats, spices, CSA veggies.
Gastography 