Gastography

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.

—

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. 

This Week’s Menu

Monday

Breakfast: Breakfast was supposed to be a green smoothie per weekday usual, but I ended up having a Thai Sweet Chili Kind Bar

Lunch: Leftover double meat egg foo young (no sauce) from the weekend + a little bit of leftover beer-braised brisket + the last of my leftover broiled cabbage wedges

Dinner: Bunless burger & baked sweet potato fries

Tuesday

Breakfast: Green smoothie + coffee with cashew milk

Lunch: Leftover avocado/chicken/green bean bowl

Dinner: Italian sausage with carrots, orange bell pepper and sweet potato hash

Snack: Olives

Wednesday

Breakfast: Thai Sweet Chili Kind Bar + coffee with almond milk

Lunch: Shredded cabbage with pistachio oil & apple cider vinegar dressing

Dinner: Leftover beer braised brisket with broccolini

Snack: Avocado & egg salad

Snack: Trader Joe’s Thai Lime & Chili Cashews

Thursday

Breakfast: Almond Butter Perfect Bar + coffee with cashew milk

Lunch: Shredded cabbage with pistachio oil & apple cider vinegar dressing + a hard boiled egg

Dinner: Traveling – Tropical Smoothie, and that was a mistake

Snacks: Grande Coconut Cafe Misto, Inka Plantain Chips

Friday

Breakfast: Traveling – Grande Coconut Cafe Misto, Starbucks Protein Box

Lunch: Traveling – Small portions of chicken tikka masala, cabbage & peas, spinach, another chicken curry, and gulab jamon at an Indian buffet (no naan, no rice)

Dinner: Traveling – Veal-stuffed beef roll with tomato sauce and a side salad with vinaigrette + a glass of wine

Sunday

Breakfast: Traveling – a bunch of cobbled-together snacks and crap all day – 3 coconut cafe mistos + extra coffee with almond milk because I woke up at 4 am to run around downtown Raleigh in support of my DH’s marathon.

Lunch: Traveling – More snacky crap. Italian black truffle almonds from Starbucks, a Yawp! coconut chai bar, trail mix.

Dinner: Traveling – Finally! Real food. The inlaws grilled chicken breasts and steamed some green beans. My body was really tired of snacking by this time. Mental note: next time, pack food for marathon by standing.

 

This Week’s Grocery List

This was a short week, and I really didn’t want to plan anything with vacation brain, so I planned on eating our left over bits and bobs for dinners. And I bought travel snacks, because the best part of a trip is the food.

Travel Snacks

For me: Thai Sweet Chili Kind bars, plantain chips, coconut milk for coffees, Kahuna Krunch mixed nuts, Dark Chocolate Espresso grainless granola bar from Steve’s Paleogoods. I plan to supplement this stockpile with cured meats, sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes, and probably another of those granola bars if I can con someone into taking me to Whole Foods. And pork rinds. Got to have meat snacks for the hangries while shuttling back and forth between the groups we need to visit.

For my DH, who needed to carb load for his marathon 3 days after traveling: gluten-free pretzels, cheddar almond nut thins.

Smoothie Supplies

Ginger ($1.39 @ Trader Joe’s)
Coconut water ($3.69 at Trader Joe’s)
4 Apples ($2.76 at Trader Joe’s)
1 lb. limes ($1.49 at Trader Joe’s)
2 Avocados ($2.78 at Trader Joe’s)
Bagged kale (2) ($4.58 at Trader Joe’s)
Bagged spinach ($1.99 at Trader Joe’s)

Totals

I spent about $30 at Whole Foods getting road snacks

 

Budget Breakout

This week, I spent $30; $70 under budget. I more than made up for it the next week while traveling.

 

Leftovers From This Week

At the end of the week, I have half a bell pepper, a few small carrots and a hand full of cheese left over. I need to incorporate these items into my menu for next week.

—

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.