Adventures In Budget Paleo Cooking – Week of September 29 – October 3

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. 

—

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.

Current Box of CSA Veggies

Menu for Last Week (Week of September 22 – 26)

The Plan vs. Reality

This week’s meal planning went so-so – We had the last of the season’s corn, a bunch of cleanup to do CSA veggie-wise and my big recipe meal didn’t quite pan out.

Monday

• The Plan – Chicken stir-fry with bok choy, carrots, eggplant, pepper and kale
• Reality – Burgers and corn on the cob

Tuesday

• The Plan – Green curry meatballs
• Reality – The chicken stir-fry from Monday’s plan (which worked out well – hidden eggplant FTW)

Wednesday

• The Plan – Burgers & corn on the cob
• Reality – Steaks with a roasted corn/pepper/feta salad

Thursday

• The Plan – No actual plan; just need something quick
• Reality – Asian pork meatballs in a red curry sauce with eggplant, peppers and chard (this was a less successful use of the eggplant – I got cocky and didn’t dice it)

Friday

• The Plan – We had planned on taking a trip up to Whole Foods so we could do mussels
• Reality – And it didn’t end up working out. Ate out instead.

Lunches

• The Plan – Leftovers.
• Reality – Had a bunch of leftovers.

Extras

• The Plan – Nothing planned but almond milk.
• Reality – The almond milk turned out awesome.

This Week: September 29 – October 3

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

This Week’s Proposed Menu

• Monday: Cauliflower mash with steaks
• Tuesday: Chicken salad with aioli, apples, cucumber and dill + trevisio
• Wednesday: Pulled pork tacos in Napa cabbage leaves
• Thursday: Squash “cheese” sauce? A mash? ???
• Friday: Try to revisit the mussels plan
• Lunch: Leftovers.
• Extras: None.

Shopping List & Cost Breakout

Grocery Store Key: WF = Whole Foods, TJ = Trader Joe’s

Shopping List

Extras: Thai Lime Chili almonds ($6.99), a bunch of travel snacks I’m happy don’t have to come out of this budget, plus some decorative gourds because I couldn’t resist.

Total TJs: $42.54
Total WF: $31.40

Total For The Week: $73.94; $2.06 under budget. Whoo hoo! With some juggling of travel snacks, I was in budget this week. Yay.

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