This Week’s Menu
Monday
Breakfast: Thai Sweet Chili Kind Bar + coffee with almond milk
Lunch: Delivery rotisserie chicken + steamed veggies + coleslaw
Dinner: Delivery Indian – tandoori mixed grill with grilled veggies and sauces
Tuesday
Breakfast: Thai Sweet Chili Kind Bar + coffee with almond milk
Snack: Hawaiian Crunch trail mix
Lunch: Leftover rotisserie chicken
Snack: Inka plantain chips
Dinner: Broiled London broil with green beans
Snack: Cheddar flavor almond nut thins
Wednesday
Breakfast: Raw mixed nuts + green seedless grapes + coffee with cashew milk + more nuts when the first batch didn’t kill my hangries
Lunch: Fennel & orange slaw with rotisserie chicken
Dinner: Ghee-sauteed cabbage with double-smoked bacon and rotisserie chicken
Snack: The last of the cheddar cheese flavored almond nut thins
Thursday
Breakfast: Finally! A green smoothie! + coffee with cashew milk
Lunch: Leftover salad from yesterday with rotisserie chicken
Dinner: Pork chops with brussels sprouts & double-smoked bacon
Snacks: Green seedless grapes, salt & vinegar pork rinds, Kahuna Crunch trail mix
Friday
Breakfast: Green smoothies
Lunch: The last of the big salad I made with rotisserie chicken
Dinner: Out
Snacks: Salt & vinegar pork rinds
Sunday
Breakfast: Raw nuts from my snack stockpile
Lunch: Out
Dinner: Out
This Week’s Grocery List
Schaller & Weber double smoked bacon, 0.65lb. ($10.39 @ Fresh Direct)
Silk cashew milk, 1/2 gallon ($4.29 @ Fresh Direct)
Cara Cara oranges, 2 ($2.98 @ Fresh Direct)
Green seedless grapes, 2.03lbs. ($5.05 @ Fresh Direct)
Grass fed London Broil, 2.11lbs. ($25.29 @ Fresh Direct)
No antibiotic center cut pork loin chops, 1.08lbs. ($7.54 @ Fresh Direct)
No antibiotic boneless skinless chicken thighs, 1.28lbs. ($6.39 @ Fresh Direct)
Broccoli rabe, 2 heads ($7.00 @ Fresh Direct)
Brussels sprouts, 2 16-ounce bundles ($7.00 @ Fresh Direct)
Cilantro, 1 huge bunch ($1.99 @ Fresh Direct)
Dill, 1 huge bunch ($1.99 @ Fresh Direct)
Fennel ($2.49 @ Fresh Direct)
Green beans, 1lb. ($1.99 @ Fresh Direct)
Italian parsley, 1 huge bunch ($2.49 @ Fresh Direct)
Rhubarb, 0.38lbs. ($0.95 @ Fresh Direct)
Savoy cabbage, 3.45lbs. ($5.14 @ Fresh Direct)
Smoothie Supplies
Ginger, 6oz. ($2.99 @ Fresh Direct)
Zico pure coconut water, 1 liter ($3.99 @ Fresh Direct)
4 Granny Smith apples ($3.99 @ Fresh Direct)
6 limes ($3.00 @ Fresh Direct)
2 Avocados ($4.00 @ Fresh Direct)
Satur Farms cut mixed kale, 5oz. (2) ($6.00 @ Fresh Direct)
Earthbound Farms baby spinach, 5oz. ($3.99 @ Fresh Direct)
Simply Orange orange juice, 59 oz. ($4.49 @ Fresh Direct)
Totals
Fresh Direct: $125.42
Budget Breakout
This week, I spent $131.69 (with delivery charge); $31.69 over budget. This week’s grocery shopping was a mess. I should have ordered groceries on Sunday, but we were traveling all day and I get carsick easily, so that was out. Monday morning, Amazon Fresh had like 3 things out of 20 in stock, so they were out. I spent half the morning trying to order meat from a local butcher through Delivery.com, but that didn’t work. And then I gave up and just ordered random stuff from Fresh Direct. I spent a lot, but on the plus side I will have a bunch of extra veggies and some extra meat going into next week, so I should be able to recoup the added cost.
Leftovers From This Week
At the end of the week, I have a couple small carrots, a dinners’ worth of London broil, chicken thighs, 2 dinners worth of broccoli rabe, 1 dinner worth of brussels sprouts, rhubarb, lots of herbs, bacon, some cabbage and some green beans left over. I need to incorporate these items into my menu for next week.
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Think eating healthfully is too expensive for you? Think again. According to the USDA, to ensure a nutritious diet as of December 2014, a family of two aged 19-59 years should spend between $388.90 and $776.10 on food per month, or $89.80 – $179.30 per week. Source
For my family of two adults, I spend roughly $400 a month on groceries or $100 a week – and we eat well. Not caviar and lobster well, but I do manage to serve a predominately paleo diet with little to no processed foods, and I get to throw in a few luxuries here and there (like expensive snacks for the hubbs and the occasional ridiculously expensive bag of coffee). We even manage to buy “good” meat (grass fed beef and free-range chicken) most of the time – and I make this budget work even on the weeks we pay for convenience by getting delivery groceries. I make: 10 breakfasts, 5 lunches, and 10 dinners a week – plus enough snacks to satisfy and fuel two active adults.
I’m hoping that this series will help shed a little light on the day-to-day things a “paleo” person really eats — and how that way of eating can work on a budget. I want to nudge anyone sitting on the fence right over the edge by showing that it *can* be done and that you don’t just eat meat, meat, meat and more meat.
Gastography 