Adventures In Budget Paleo Cooking – Week of July 13 – 19

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BudgetPaleo

This Week’s Menu

Monday

Breakfast: Green smoothie

Lunch: Leftover roasted chicken with leftover spicy chard salad

Dinner: Plantain crusted buffalo turkey breast with olive/rosemary/bacon mustard greens

Tuesday

Breakfast: Green smoothie

Lunch: Leftover spicy chard salad with leftover plantain crusted turkey breast

Dinner: Slow cooker pork ribs with roasted grapefruit beets & radishes

Wednesday

Breakfast: Green smoothie

Lunch: The last of the leftover spicy chard salad with 3 fried eggs

Dinner: Ate dinner out

Thursday

Breakfast: Vacation!

Lunch: Vacation!

Dinner: Vacation!

Friday

Breakfast: Vacation!

Lunch: Vacation!

Dinner: Vacation!

Sunday

Breakfast: Vacation!

Lunch: Vacation!

Dinner: Vacation!

 

This Week’s Grocery List

Rosemary ($1.99 @ Brooklyn Fare)
Grapefruit ($1.49 @ Brooklyn Fare)
Olives ($3.79 @ Brooklyn Fare)

Smoothie Supplies
1 lb. Apples ($1.50 @ Brooklyn Fare)
3 limes ($0.60 @ Brooklyn Fare)
1 Avocado ($1.67 @ Brooklyn Fare)
Satur Farms mixed kale ($3.99 @ Brooklyn Fare)
Bagged spinach ($1.99 at Trader Joe’s)

Impulse Buys
Brew Free or Die beer ($12.99 @ Brooklyn Fare)
Granny Smith Polar seltzer ($1.00 @ Brooklyn Fare)
2.25 lb. Cherries ($6.73 @ Brooklyn Fare)
Talenti gelato ($3.99 @ Brooklyn Fare)

 

Budget Breakout

This week, I spent $41.51; $59.49 under budget. Finally! An under budget week. Of course it helps that this is a short week + I had a bunch of CSA goodies left from last week.

 

Leftovers From This Week

At the end of the week, I have ground beef, eggs, collard greens and romaine lettuce 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. 

July 20, 2015

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This guy had a rough day full of panic every time his dad left his sight, and a tense me when that brought on whining and barking with every breath.

  

July 19, 2015

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Mont Royal, Montreal

  
A stop off in Vermont to feed my hubby’s beer nerdedness

  
Followed by a ferry ride

  
  
And home.

July 18, 2015

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Explored Montreal’s old city, waterfront and downtown areas today. Lots of cobblestones, tourists, ice cream & poutine.

Blistered Lemon Green Beans

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Lemon! This is one of those bright, punchy side dishes that calls to mind hot summer evenings spent draped over the arms of furniture because it’s wilty outside, potluck barbecues with friends, and the bounty of an overflowing CSA box.

In short, it’s delicious and will wake your tastebuds up. Plus, it’s safe for pretty much everyone if you want to bring it somewhere.

Gluten-free, paleo, Whole30, vegetarian, vegan

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Blistered Lemon Green Beans

1 lb. beans (I used a mix of yellow and green)
2-3 lemons
2 tsp. FOC (fat of choice)
4 cloves roasted garlic
1 Tbsp. tahini
2 Tbsp. chopped basil
Kosher salt & pepper
Water

First, tip your green beans and put your broiler on high. Add the green beans in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Slice one of the lemons in half, and then into thin rounds (peel and all). Pick out the seeds of the rounds and place on the cookie sheet with the green beans. Sprinkle with your fat of choice, salt and pepper.

Broil until the green beans are starting to blister and the lemons are starting to burn – roughly 5 mins., turn the pan and 3 mins. (at least in my oven) – start with 5 minutes and watch from there.

While your green beans are burning, make the dressing. Dice the garlic and add to a small bowl with 2 Tbsp. lemon juice, the tahini, and a shot of salt & pepper. Stir to combine and add a little water (about a Tablespoon) to loosen up a little if needed. Chop the basil and add to the dressing. Stir again.

When the beans and lemon slices are ready, remove from the pan. Dice the lemon (peel and all) and add to the dressing.

Toss the dressing with the beans well to combine (I massaged the dressing into the beans with my fingers).

Serves 2-3 as a dinner side

July 17, 2015

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Olympic Stadium

  
Bugs!

  
& Joe Beef

  
A fantabulous day.

July 16, 2015

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Dinner in Montreal: 1 hard & 1 soft raw milk cheeses, pork & duck pate, baguette and cured meats – all made locally and enjoyed in the park. 

  

July 15, 2015

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Dobby was nervous about the thunder, bags on the bed, cleaning, and multiple sets of clothing being layed out – I had work to do and couldn’t hold a 20 pound house elf in my too-small-for-him lap all morning. Compromise reached.

  
And yes, I know, I’m a sucker.

Look at that face …. 

July 14, 2015

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Delicious. 

  

Adventures In Budget Paleo Cooking – Week of July 6 – 12

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BudgetPaleo

This Week’s Menu

Monday

Breakfast: Green smoothie

Lunch: Leftover sandwich stuff (deli meat with collard green wrapper) + fruit salad from the weekend

Dinner: Another sandwich because I clearly have an addiction and can’t be stopped

Tuesday

Breakfast: Green smoothie

Lunch: Boo! No sandwiches left – had a fruit salad with the last of my leftover spicy beef + radishes + watermelon/blueberry/strawberry mix + sriracha + salt

Dinner: Grilled London Broil with sautéed broccoli raab

Wednesday

Breakfast: Green smoothie

Lunch: Leftovers

Dinner: Attended a wedding and ate dinner there

Thursday

Breakfast: Green smoothie

Lunch: Leftovers

Dinner: Roasted bird breast (which turned out to be half a chicken) with lemon balm and basil + a side of green & yellow beans with whole roasted lemon & basil

Friday

Breakfast: Green smoothie

Lunch: Leftovers

Dinner: Out

Sunday

Breakfast: Out

Lunch: Out

Dinner: Out

 

This Week’s Grocery List

I was good this week and had enough to limp along for dinner on Monday and Tuesday before my CSA box came in.

Smoothie Supplies

Ginger (Brooklyn Fare)
4 Apples (Brooklyn Fare)
4 limes (Brooklyn Fare)
2 avocados (Brooklyn Fare)
Clamshell kale ($2.99 @ Brooklyn Fare)

CSA Meat Impulse Buys

This crazy good sounding supposedly raw milk cheddar cheese ($9.00 @ LW)
Eggs ($4.29 @ LW) – mental note: hurry up and eat the eggs I already have

Totals

CSA Veggies: $25.50
CSA Meats: $53.29
Brooklyn Fare: Ummmmm …. ??

Budget Breakout

This week, I spent an undisclosed amount; $0.00 under budget. Ok, so this week I was a budget breakout failure. I forgot to keep my receipt for smoothie supplies, so I don’t know how much I spent – I’m guessing it wasn’t more than $21.21, because that would be crazy. I know the kale cost $2.99. Other than that, I wasn’t paying attention; I was busy picking up a whole bunch of fruit, beer, “chips” and deli meats for a game night spread (and spending a quintillion dollars on dinner that night because I went to the expensive grocery store). I’m guessing the rest cost around $15; $1-something for ginger, about $1 per apple, $1 per lime, and $2 per avocado.

I also spent around $5 grabbing last minute extras for a spicy chard salad I whipped together to take to a potluck on Saturday.

 

Leftovers From This Week

At the end of the week, I have radishes, mustard greens, collard greens, romaine, swiss chard, basil, turkey breast, ground beef, pork ribs and eggs leftover.

—

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.