This year’s CSA is from Paisley Farm, a 25-acre operation located in Tivoli, NY. Paisley Farm grows organically and plants with the chef in mind. The 22-week CSA runs from June – October and I purchased the standard vegetable share. This share includes 8-9 vegetables and herbs per week (8-12 pounds) – enough to provide a family of three with 3-4 dinners’ worth of veg. The price equals out to $25 per week, the cost of which will be calculated in my weekly Adventures In Budget Paleo Cooking posts.

Paisley Farm 2014 CSA Box 6

Leftover From Last Week

Carrots (non-CSA)
Spring onions – all of them. Every spring onion in 300 miles now resides in my fridge.
Garlic scapes – I think I’m up to 3 bunches?
Kale
Tokyo turnips
Spring garlic
Roasted beets

How I Used My Share

I had the leftover beets with zucchini leftover from last week and some of that dill + horseradish vinaigrette and chevre for lunch in some form or another for 5 days straight.

I used the turnips and a few of the 9999 carrots I have on hand up in a franken notato salad (recipe coming soon) with sausages for dinner one night.

I’ve used spring onions in pretty much everything I’ve made for the last month – and I still have a whole bunch left over.

The kale was used in a dish with zoodles, ground turkey and coconut sauce – with a topper of garlic scapes.

I used more zucchini in a zucchini & meatballs skillet.

And I’ve used bits and pieces of the bush basil here and there in different dishes.

I plan on having a salad for lunch incorporating half of the lettuce and I’ll throw in as much as I can in the way of spring onions, garlic scapes, basil and parsley so they don’t go to waste. And cucumber. I need to use up some of that cucumber.

I intend to zoodle the last zucchini for dinner and serve it with chicken and an avocado creme sauce.

My Favorite Dish From This Box

Plain zucchini & butter with pulled pork. Simple and delicious. Or the lunches I’ve been having with the horseradish dill vinaigrette. That stuff is delicious.

Going into next week, I have aging carrots, a fairly sad looking bunch of kale, at least half of the lettuce (that might go to waste), a ton of spring onions, a ton of garlic scapes, and some cucumbers leftover.

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 July 7 – 11)

The Plan vs. Reality

This week’s meal planning was efficient – I ended up making pretty much what I set out to make.

Monday

• The Plan – Zoodles with roasted beets, dill + horseradish vinaigrette, chevre and chicken
• Reality – This was delicious.

Tuesday

• The Plan – Roasted beets and beet greens with grapefruit and pistachio butter & pulled pork
• Reality – The pistachio butter didn’t happen, so I subbed almond butter – and I threw zucchini in with the beets. This was also a delicious dinner.

Wednesday

• The Plan – Sausages with turnip “potato” salad
• Reality – This turned into a franken notato salad and was fabulous. Recipe coming soon for this one.

Thursday

• The Plan – New CSA veggies with leftover pork
• Reality – I did pork with zucchini diced and cooked in butter. Yum.

Friday

• The Plan – New CSA veggie with leftover pork if we don’t eat out
• Reality – We ended up eating out.

Lunches

• The Plan – Some sort of salad and lots of beet and zucchini leftovers
• Reality – Yum. I ended up making more of that dill + horseradish vinaigrette and eating that on pretty much everything last week. Delicious.

Extras

• The Plan – Nothing.
• Reality – Nothing made.

This Week: July 14 – 18

I have leftover CSA veggies this week and $75 to spend on groceries.

This Week’s Proposed Menu

• Monday: Zoodles with coconut, ground poultry, kale & garlic scapes
• Tuesday: Zucchini and meatballs
• Wednesday: Zoodles with avocado cream sauce, chicken & spring garlic
• Thursday: Meat with CSA veggie
• Friday: Meat with CSA veggie
• Lunch: CSA veg salads, leftovers
• Extras: None planned

Shopping List & Cost Breakout

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

Shopping List

Extras: I had enough leftover, so the hubbs got a snack – pistachios ($7.49) and I got coffee ($4.99).

Total TJ: $69.09

Total For The Week: $69.09; $5.91 under budget. Whoo hoo! I love the weeks when it’s easy to come in under budget.

Pantry/items repurposed from last week: fats, spices, CSA veggies.