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 November). 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 27 – 31)
The Plan vs. Reality
I had zero plan going into this week, other than I wanted to make Hasselback potatoes and thought about broiling some cabbage “steaks”. And I wanted pulled pork.
Monday
- The Plan – Pulled pork with CSA veggies
- Reality – My big meat for this week was a citrusy pulled pork. I served tonight’s portion with a spicy butternut squash puree.
Tuesday
- The Plan – Pulled pork with CSA veggies
- Reality – I served tonight’s pork with broccoli and cauliflower that was supposed to be orange and gingery, but in reality was half-burnt and kind of tasteless. At least the pork was good.
Wednesday
- The Plan – Something with CSA veggies
- Reality – I had some leftover steak in the freezer, so I made that with hasselback potatoes & balsamic vinegar chard
Thursday
- The Plan – Something with CSA veggies
- Reality – I also lucked up and had some chicken, so I made a stir-fry with peppers, chard, broccoli and carrots
Friday
- The Plan – Eat out
- Reality – Mmmm….. Halloween bbq.
Lunches
- The Plan – Leftovers & fresh csa veggies
- Reality – I had some particularly good lunches this week – Mystery greens salad with yellow pepper, beef & apple; apples & carrots with beef; leftover butternut squash puree with shredded beef; and cabbage in butter with shredded beef, apple & kimchi.
Extras
- The Plan – Nothing planned.
- Reality – And nothing happened.
This Week: November 3 – 7
I have leftover CSA veggies this week and $75 to spend on groceries. I planned pretty much nothing this week, since it’s a: my last week of CSA veggies, and b: we’re going on a mini-vacation at the end of the week. And life got in the way of planning last week.
This Week’s Proposed Menu
- Monday: Meat with CSA veg
- Tuesday: Meat with CSA veg
- Wednesday: Meat with CSA veg
- Thursday: Eat out
- Friday: Eat out
- Lunch: Leftovers & apples
- Extras: None
Shopping List & Cost Breakout
Grocery Store Key: TJ = Trader Joe’s
Shopping List
Extras: Cheese for the hubbs to snack on ($5.82 @ TJs), and something worth $7.49 that’s a non-taxable grocery item from TJs. I can’t remember for the life of me just wtf this was.
Total TJ: $51.70
Total For The Week: $51.70; $23.30 under budget. See? It all works out in the end. I was slightly over budget last week; this week I’m raking in the savings.
Pantry/items repurposed from last week: fats, spices, CSA veggies, sausage.
Gastography 