Gastography

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.

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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.