This old man loves kombucha. This, from the dog who has mugged me for Sourpatch Kids, should not surprise me.
Adventures In Budget Paleo Cooking – Week of July 7 – 11
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.
Last Week (Week of June 30 – July 1)
The Plan vs. Reality
This week’s meal planning was back on track and not too far from reality.
Monday
- The Plan – Roasted beet greens & chard with pork, sage & apple burgers + caramelized onions
- Reality – The greens were great, and so were the burgers – even if they ended up being turkey instead of pork.
Tuesday
- The Plan – Some sort of meat my DH picked out while shopping + CSA leftover veggies
- Reality – The DH brought home rack of lamb, so I cooked that up and served it with broiled radishes from the CSA & carrots from the crisper. Decadent and delicious.
Wednesday
- The Plan – Big salad with green beans, red onions, espazote, kale, tomatoes, olives, etc. with sage and bacon wrapped chicken thighs
- Reality – The chicken was good (but not as good as the sweet potatoes), and the salad was the exact CSA cleanup dish I needed it to be.
Thursday
- The Plan – New CSA veggies with leftover barbicoa
- Reality – It was just me for dinner, so I ended up having 2 zucchini cooked in butter with a little seasoning + a leftover pork chop and dinner was fantastic.
Friday
- The Plan – New CSA veggie with leftover barbicoa
- Reality – We actually ended up grabbing burgers & sweet potato chips at the store while grocery shopping – much more 4th of July-ish.
Lunches
- The Plan – ????? + that big salad
- Reality – I had leftovers all week and they were great.
Extras
- The Plan – Sage lemonade
- Reality – Y-U-M.
This Week: July 7 – 11
I have leftover CSA veggies this week and $75 to spend on groceries.
This Week’s Proposed Menu
- Monday: Zoodles with roasted beets, dill + horseradish sauce, chevre & chicken
- Tuesday: Roasted beets + greens with grapefruit & pistachio butter + pork shoulder
- Wednesday: Sausages with turnip “potato” salad
- Thursday: New CSA veg with sauteed peaches + mint and leftover pork
- Friday: New CSA veg with leftover pork
- Lunch: CSA veg salads
- Extras: Mint lemonade, bourbon mint drink
Shopping List & Cost Breakout
Grocery Store Key: TJ = Trader Joe’s, WF = Whole Foods, FT = Food Town, O = Optional if budget allows
Shopping List
ghee – $4 est – O ($3.69 @ TJs)
worcestershire sauce – O – did not get
Coconut oil – $5 est – O – did not get
grapefruit – $1 est ($2.16 @WF)
Lemons – $1 est ($0.49 @ TJs)
Peaches – $4 est ($3.49 @ TJs)
dill – $2 est ($2.99 @FT)
onion – $1 est ($0.79 @ TJs)
4 oz. chèvre – $4 est ($2.49 @ TJs)
Pork shoulder – $20 est ($11.88 @WF)
Chicken – $7 est ($6.43 @WF)
sausage – $10 est ($6.96 @WF)
grainy mustard – $4 est ($1.79 @ TJs)
Coconut milk (2) – $2 est – did not get & could not find. Weird.
AC vinegar – $4 est ($3.99 @FT)
$60 estimate with no optionals
Smoothie Supplies
1 bag kale – $2.50 est ($2.29 @ TJs)
5 apples – $3 est ($3.16 + 0.79 @ TJs)
3 avocados – $4 est ($4.47 @ TJs)
ginger – $2 est ($1.39 @ TJs)
coconut water – $4 est ($3.69 @ TJs)
orange juice – $4 est ($2.99 @ TJs)
$19.50 estimate for smoothies
$79.50 estimate for smoothies + groceries. Go cheaper where possible and try to fit in ghee.
Extras: I had enough leftover, so we got spinach for the smoothies ($1.99 @ TJs). I also forgot to list limes ($1.79 @ TJs).
Total TJ: $35.30
Total WF: $27.43
Total FT: $6.98
Total For The Week: $69.71; $5.29 under budget. Whoo hoo!
Pantry/items repurposed from last week: fats, spices, CSA veggies.
July 6, 2014
From the Red Hook > Manhattan Water Taxi. The most sit-down part of today’s 12-mile glorious Summer odyssey.
July 5, 2014
Williamsburg
Apple Sage Turkey Burgers with Caramelized Onions (paleo)
Mmmm…. sage and turkey and apples. In summer. I got a massive bouquet of fresh sage in my CSA box last week and have been using it in pretty much everything – and since sage goes brilliantly with turkey & apples, I thought a quick and easy turkey burger was in order.
Gluten-free, Paleo and Whole30-compliant (if you omit the maple syrup)
Apple Sage Turkey Burgers with Caramelized Onions
1 lb. ground turkey (dark meat is best!)
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh sage
2 Tbsp. minced onions
1 tsp. maple syrup
1 Tbsp. granulated garlic
1 Tbsp. Red Boat fish sauce
1/4 c. minced Fuji apple
Liberal sprinkles of salt & pepper
2 Tbsp. Fat of Choice (I used bacon fat)
Caramelized onions – optional – see recipe below
Ketchup for grownups – optional – recipe here
First, start your onions if you’re serving with caramelized onions. Second, prep your mise. Mince the apple and onion, and finely chop the sage. When your onions are about 3/4 of the way done, add all burger ingredients to a large bowl, mix well (hands are best), and form into 2-4 patties.
Heat your fat in a large pan over medium heat. Add the burgers and cook 5 minutes per side to ensure doneness. This is not the time for a medium-rare burger.
Serve with caramelized onions and Ketchup for Grownups.
Feeds 2-4.
Caramelized Onions
1/2 to 1 whole onion (any white variety will do)
1-2 tsp. Fat of Choice (I used coconut oil)
Big pinch salt
1/2 tsp. maple syrup
In a medium pan over medium low heat, add the fat and bring to a melt. While your fat is coming up to temperature, peel and very thinly slice your onion – I generally halve mine lengthwise first to make the slicing easier. Add to the pan, making sure to break the onion up as you toss it in.
Let cook gently 5 minutes or until just beginning to turn translucent. Add a liberal sprinkle of salt and 1/2 a teaspoon of maple syrup. Stir. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally to avoid burning, until the onions are deeply caramel colored. This is not quick. Allot a good 20/25 minutes to this process. The maple speeds it up a bit, but this is still not a speedy topping. It’s a labor of love.
Serves 2-4, depending upon how much onion you cut and how much you like on your burger.
July 4, 2014
Finally saw the big NYC fireworks display. 4 Macy’s barges on the river running simultaneous displays + periodic bursts from the Brooklyn Bridge + dual Jersey City displays in the distance. Ooh, and freaking 3-D boxes in fireworks and a kind of flag display on the bridge.
This city knows how to throw a sparkly party.
July 3, 2014
Berry watch 2014: I’m going to be sad when somebody eats this little guy.
July 2, 2014
July
What To Do With A Box Of Vegetables: Paisley Farm CSA Box 4
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 calculated in my weekly Adventures In Budget Paleo Cooking posts.
I skipped picking up last week’s share because of vacation, but it included: Spring Onions, Curly Green Kale, French Breakfast Radishes, Mixed Lettuce Bouquet, Summer Savory, 1/2 lb of Rhubarb, Tatsoi, & either Escarole, Fennel or Turnips. I am completely jealous because I sooo wanted rhubarb. Hopefully it will make an appearance again.
Paisley Farm 2014 CSA Box 4
1 bunch rainbow Swiss Chard
Bunch Red Beets with greens
1 big Bok Choy
Small bunch Red Russian Kale
A manageable amount of Mixed Lettuce
Big bunch Red Sping Onions
A few Garlic Scapes
Huge bunch Sage
Mystery green that may be an herb and tastes numby – espazote??
Leftover From Last Week
Carrots (non-CSA)
And surprisingly, I had some leftovers from the week before vacation that hadn’t gone bad. I had collards, spring onions, baby bok choy and radishes left over and slipped them in dinners from Monday – Thursday.
How I Used My Share
Bok choy, baby bok choy, carrots, spring onions in a nice stir-fry
Carrots and radishes with a rack of lamb
Collards for dinner as a simple side one night
Lunch salads with the lettuce
Roasted chard & beet greens with turkey sage burgers
More sage wrapped around sweet potato wedges with bacon
The mystery herb + some sage in barbicoa
A huge salad with the rest of the spring onions + mystery herb + greens + sage + beets for dinner one night alongside sage-wrapped chicken
The rest of the sage in an herby lemonade
My Favorite Dish From This Box
Either the sage turkey burgers or the sage bacon potato wedges.
July 1, 2014
My little peeker (taken yesterday).
Gastography 