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 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 July 28 – August 1)

The Plan vs. Reality

This week’s meal planning was efficient – I ended up making pretty much what I set out to make.

Monday

• The Plan – Basil cucumber gazpacho with pork rind crusted chicken tenders
• Reality – After searching high and low for pork rinds and coming up empty, I made almond-crusted tenders instead. The tenders were great; the soup was so-so.

Tuesday

• The Plan – Big salad with steak and leeks
• Reality – This was good.

Wednesday

• The Plan – Cucumber tuna salad
• Reality – This was great, though it was really light.

Thursday

• The Plan – Meat with CSA veggies
• Reality – I bought ground beef – turned it into burgers and served alongside baked zucchini fries (which were great, if a bit salty).

Friday

• The Plan – Eat out
• Reality – That happened.

Lunches

• The Plan – Salads & leftovers
• Reality – Lunches this week were light on salads and heavy on leftovers again.

Extras

• The Plan – Nothing.
• Reality – Nothing made.

This Week: August 4 – 8 

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

This Week’s Proposed Menu

• Monday: Big beef with spicy broccoli slaw and lettuce cups
• Tuesday: Paleo lasagna
• Wednesday: Chicken & kale zucchini harissa pasta
• Thursday: Big beef with CSA veggie
• Friday: Meat with CSA veggie or dine out
• Lunch: CSA veg salads, leftovers
• Extras: Pickles or veggie stock if I have enough leftover. 1 ingredient ice cream.

Shopping List & Cost Breakout

Grocery Store Key: TJ = Trader Joe’s, O = Optional if budget allows

Shopping List

Extras: None.

Total TJ: $60.69 – I lost this week’s receipt; luckily I had logged the total.

Total WF: $17.37

Total For The Week: $77.86; $2.86 over budget. Boo. Over budget again. We need to have another string of under budget weeks!

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

This year’s CSA is from Paisley Farm, a 25-acre operation located in Tivoli, NY. Paisley Farm grows organically and plants with the chef in mind. The 22-week CSA runs from June – October and I purchased the standard vegetable share. This share includes 8-9 vegetables and herbs per week (8-12 pounds) – enough to provide a family of three with 3-4 dinners’ worth of veg. The price equals out to $25 per week, the cost of which will be accounted for in my weekly Adventures In Budget Paleo Cooking posts.

Paisley Farm 2014 CSA Box 8

Leftover From Last Week

Carrots (non-CSA)
Cucumber
Spring garlic
Spring onions
Beets
Lettuce
Zucchini
Garlic scapes
Parsley
Kale
Chard

How I Used My Share

I used up the zucchini, parsley and garlic scapes in a tomato-less zucchini salsa verde, which I served with a quick stir-fry of the kale, chard & 1 head of baby garlic and pork chops.

For breakfast one day, I had leftover zucchini salsa with half an avocado and sliced cucumber as the “chip”.

I had a big lunch salad, using up some cucumber and beet one day.

I had a big salad, using up some lettuce and cucumber + a side of sauteed leeks with steaks one night.

I made a cucumber gazpacho with a bunch of the cukes for dinner.

I plan to use a bunch of cucumbers, as well as the last of the spring onions in tonight’s dinner. Fingers crossed that we don’t get spring onions again this week!

The bush basil was wasted – it turned black within two days and I just wasn’t fast enough. Boo!

My Favorite Dish From This Box

The zucchini salsa verde was pretty good and I’ve ended up eating it here and there all week.

Next Week

Going into next week, I have aging carrots, two pathetic looking heads of lettuce, 1 sad bunch of dandelion greens, a few beets, some zucchini and cucumber left over. I think fridge pickles are in order for some of those cukes and I need to buckle down and force myself back onto the lunch salad train.