Lunch craziness: shredded cabbage, pulled beef, kimchi & apple bowl with ghee and caraway. Delicious.
Adventures In Budget Paleo Cooking – Week of October 27 – 31
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.
Menu for Last Week (Week of October 20 – 24)
The Plan vs. Reality
I actually planned this week a bit – and stuck to schedule somewhat.
Monday
- The Plan – Cauliflower pizza bowl with ground beef, pork pepperoni, yellow pepper, shallot and tomato sauce
- Reality – I made something approximating this dish, even though I didn’t follow the original recipe I planned on following
Tuesday
- The Plan – Shredded beef with potato & scallion waffle & slaw
- Reality – This was good (despite my overselling of the waffles). I made my slaw out of cabbage, kale, yellow pepper, sriracha & mayo
Wednesday
- The Plan – ?????
- Reality – We ate out
Thursday
- The Plan – Shredded beef with cauli
- Reality – Shredded beef with chipotle & lime cauliflower steaks, which was yummy
Friday
- The Plan – Something in
- Reality – We ended up ordering delivery for schedule reasons
Lunches
- The Plan – Leftovers.
- Reality – I had some great leftovers to polish off – cabbage with bacon & chicken, flank steak with miso peptic squash, slaw, and potato waffles all made appearances
Extras
- The Plan – Nothing planned.
- Reality – And nothing happened.
This Week: October 27 – 31
I have leftover CSA veggies this week and $75 to spend on groceries. This week, I completely forgot to plan anything. I was too busy worrying about my hubby’s upcoming marathon, my disturbing lack of plans for Halloween, and the mini vacation I have planned poorly for.
This Week’s Proposed Menu
- Monday: Poooooorrrrrrrrkkkkkkkk – even if I have to hold up the pork store, I’m getting some pork this week
- Tuesday: ???
- Wednesday: Something really quick
- Thursday: Something really quick
- Friday: Either in and something orange or out for more pork
- Lunch: Leftovers
- Extras: None
Shopping List & Cost Breakout
Grocery Store Key: WF = Whole Foods, TJ = Trader Joe’s
Shopping List
Coffee ($4.99 @ Target)
Almonds ($6.49 @ TJs)
Pork!!!!!!!! ($18.36 @ WF)
Smoothie supplies
2 bunches kale ($2.29 x 2 @ TJs)
1 bunch spinach ($1.99 @ TJs)
4 apples ($3.16 @ TJs)
Limes (1. lb bag – $1.69 @ TJs)
2 avocados ($2.78 @ TJs)
Extras: 4 lbs apples ($3.99 @ TJs), almond butter ($6.99 @ TJs), pistachios ($7.49 @ TJs), 3 bananas ($0.57 @ TJs), thai lime & chili cashews ($6.99 @ TJs), pecans ($3.99 @ TJs), Balance bar ($0.99 @ TJs).
Total TJ: $51.70
Total WF: $18.36
Total Target: $4.99
Total For The Week: $76.05; $1.05 over budget. I was over this week, but I’m doing fine overall this month (even with last week’s overage). The hubbs needs marathon fuel; his bar put us over the top, but that’s ok.
Pantry/items repurposed from last week: fats, spices, CSA veggies.
October 27, 2014
Reason 999 my dachshund is barking:
The big, scary crane lifting things.
They totally could have broken in through the window.
October 26, 2014
We now have a crane. And dudes yelling just to yell at 6:30 am. Hoping we were just super lucky this weekend and the yelling isn’t a continuing trend.
October 25, 2014
Seen around Union Square – not sure what’s going on here.
Shredded Potato & Scallion Waffles
Mmmmm….. waffles. Savory, savory waffles. It should come at no surprise that I’m not a huge fan of a sweet waffle – dessert for breakfast has never really appealed to me (plus: that much sugar has pretty much always made me sick), but breakfast for dinner – now that’s a different story. Bring it.
This waffle came about because I was craving waffles, wanted a sandwich, and haven’t found a paleo bread I actually want to eat as part of a sandwich. To me at least, white potatoes aren’t really paleo – but they *did* come in my last CSA batch, so they needed to be eaten. This waffle is the perfect delivery system (and a good way to make sure you don’t go carb crazy!) I served 1/2 a waffle with a nice spicy kale & chard salad (recipe coming soon) and pulled beef – for a dinner that was decadent, delicious, and wholly satisfying.
Rock on, potatoes, rock on.
Paleo-ish (you could totally swap the white potatoes for sweet here), vegetarian, vegan (swap the fat)
Shredded Potato & Scallion Waffles
2 russet potatoes
4 scallions
Kosher salt & fresh black pepper
Ghee
Peel and shred the potatoes (I used the shredding disc attachment for my food processor and would highly recommend going this route). Press between paper towels to get as much liquid as possible out.
Dump into a large bowl. Thinly slice the scallions, adding to the bowl when finished.
Toss to combine. Hit with some salt and a few grinds black pepper. Toss and hit again.
Preheat your waffle iron to medium. When it beeps, brush both sides of the hot iron with ghee.
Put half the mixture on the iron bottom, making sure to distribute evenly. Close and flip.
Cook 10 minutes, check to see if golden brown and crispy. If so, cool, you’re done. I needed 10 additional minutes on mine.
Cut into quarters and serve.
Serves 4 (half waffle portions)
October 24, 2014
Medals and bibs!
October 23, 2014
October 22, 2014
Pretties
What To Do With A Box Of Vegetables: Paisley Farms Box 20
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 20
1 head romaine lettuce
1 bunch rainbow chard
1 small cabbage
1 small green cauliflower
2 crowns broccoli
2 delicata squash
4 yellow bell peppers
Leftover From Previous Weeks
Frozen peppers
2 Japanese eggplant
1 butternut squash
5 white potatoes
1 head curly kale
1 Napa cabbage
1 bunch baby fennel
How I Used My Share
I served the broccoli roasted with flank steak.
I halved the Napa cabbage and ate it simply sautéed with butter for lunch a couple of days.
I made bunless burgers with roasted potato rounds with 3 of the potatoes.
I made a cauliflower pizza bowl one night, using the cauliflower and 1 pepper.
I made a waffle out of the rest of the potatoes and a nice sturdy slaw with half the cabbage + half the chard + a pepper.
Waste: 1 head lettuce
My Favorite Dish From This Box
The pizza bowl was pretty great, but I’ll have to go with the potato waffle for novelty’s sake alone.
Next Week
Going into next week, I have: 1 butternut squash, 2 delicata squash, 1 bunch baby fennel, 1 bunch curly kale, 1/2 bunch chard, 1/2 head cabbage, 2 yellow peppers, and 2 Japanese eggplant.
Gastography 