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 29 – October 3)

The Plan vs. Reality

This week’s meal planning was decent, though I had to completely rethink one dinner when the grocery was out of ingredients I needed.

Monday

• The Plan – Cauliflower mash with steaks
• Reality – We ended up eating out

Tuesday

• The Plan – Chicken salad with aioli, apples, cucumber and dill + trevisio
• Reality – The cucumbers I had planned on using had gone over to the dark side, the trevisio wasn’t quite what I thought it was (I was thinking radicchio), and I didn’t end up buying enough apples for this dish + smoothies – so, burgers with sweet potato fries made a great substitute.

Wednesday

• The Plan – Pulled pork tacos in Napa cabbage leaves
• Reality – Yum! With an added apple/pepper slaw – And I ended up eating this for 3 meals in a row

Thursday

• The Plan – Squash “cheese” sauce? A mash? ???
• Reality – I opted for pulled pork over a simple cauliflower & chipotle mash – which was delicious.

Friday

• The Plan – Try to revisit the mussels plan
• Reality – Yay, we made it! And they were magnificent.

Lunches

• The Plan – Leftovers.
• Reality – I did a bunch of leftovers, plus ended up creating a few things – most notably, a Napa cabbage bowl topped with pulled pork and a fried egg. I also had to get creative in the early part of the week with protein, since I planned poorly and didn’t have anything planned for Monday & Tuesday’s lunch. Monday I did an avocado egg salad; Tuesday I served eggs over sauteed eggplant with balsamic vinegar. Both were delicious.

Extras

• The Plan – Nothing planned but almond milk.
• Reality – Almond milk is my new favorite jam.

This Week: October 6 – 11

I have leftover CSA veggies this week and $75 to spend on groceries. This is also a short cooking week – I’ll be out of town Thursday – Sunday recharging my paleo batteries.

This Week’s Proposed Menu

• Monday: Delicata squash & fennel salad with harissa & kale + duck breast
• Tuesday: Cauli rice with peppers (green rice style) + chicken
• Wednesday: Tomato sauce with eggplant & ground beef over squash mash
• Thursday: No plans, though the hubbs may do burgers
• Friday: No plans, though the hubbs is planning on eating something carby in preparation for the half marathon he’ll be running this weekend
• Lunch: Leftovers.
• Extras: None.

Shopping List & Cost Breakout

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

Shopping List

Extras: Old Amsterdam Gouda ($7.47 @ TJs) and Pita Crackers ($2.69 @ TJs) for the hubbs.

Total TJs: $43.86

Total For The Week: $73.94; $32.14 under budget. *happy dance* I’d say this makes up for the slight overages and close calls as of late.

Pantry/items repurposed from last week: fats, spices, CSA veggies, chicken, duck breast, ground beef.