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.
Menu for Last Week (Week of October 13 – 17)
The Plan vs. Reality
I didn’t really have a plan for this week’s dinners – mostly just combo something from the CSA with some meat. Exciting stuff.
Monday
- The Plan – Pernil pork with something
- Reality – Boo! I didn’t make it to the store that sells the pork, so none of that was had. I did, however, eat out because we needed to grocery shop.
Tuesday
- The Plan – ?????
- Reality – I made a cauliflower mash, which I served with sautéed chard and pork chops. Simple but good.
Wednesday
- The Plan – ?????
- Reality – I made pepita miso crusted butternut squash (recipe shared last weekend) + chicken tenders. Y-U-M.
Thursday
- The Plan – ?????
- Reality – Flank steak with roasted broccoli
Friday
- The Plan – ?????
- Reality – Bunless burgers with potato rounds
Lunches
- The Plan – Leftovers.
- Reality – I comboed leftovers with the rotisserie chicken I ordered in on Monday all week and did a Napa cabbage sautee on Friday to get a jump using that CSA veggie up.
Extras
- The Plan – Nothing planned.
- Reality – And nothing happened.
This Week: October 20 – 24
I have leftover CSA veggies this week and $75 to spend on groceries. This week’s shopping was convenience-based. Amazon has just started offering delivery groceries to my area and is offering a free trial, so we opted to try them out. Delivery was accomplished when promised, everything looks great, and the prices were good – I’m waiting to see what happens after the free trial period runs out before deciding that Amazon delivery groceries is right for us (currently we use Fresh Direct if there is zero time or desire during the weekend to shop).
This Week’s Proposed Menu
- Monday: Shredded potato and scallion waffle with pulled pork, spicy cabbage/chard slaw and sriracha
- Tuesday: Cauliflower pizza bowls
- Wednesday: Stuffed peppers
- Thursday: Pulled pork with CSA veggies
- Friday: No plans.
- Lunch: Leftovers & Napa cabbage in butter
- Extras: Pear & almond tart
Shopping List & Cost Breakout
Grocery Store Key: WF = Whole Foods, AM = Amazon Delivery
Shopping List
Lemon – ($1.19 @ AM) (slightly more expensive than TJs)
Scallions – ($0.99 @ AM) (about the same price as TJs)
Garlic – did not get (no pork)
Pepperoni nuggets – ($5.49 @ AM) (no comparison for TJs)
Sausage – ($5.39 @ AM) (price per pound more expensive than TJs – not sure if quality is better)
Pork – did not get – WF was out (chuck roast $24.97 @ WF)
Extras: Fancy mayo ($4.99 @ AM), “real” (Huy Fong) sriracha ($3.99 @ AM), ketchup ($1.99 @ AM), top round steaks because they were on sale ($13.81 @ WF).
Total AM: $45.86
Total WF: $38.78
Total For The Week: $84.64; $9.64 over budget. I’m not too terribly upset about the overage this week. I bought some staples needed to round the shopping cart up to free shipping (staples we wouldn’t be able to find at our regular haunt anyways), plus got some sale steak for a week we need to be leaner. Plus, I’ve been under budget the past couple of weeks. So, win-win.
Pantry/items repurposed from last week: fats, spices, CSA veggies.
Gastography 