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. 

—

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.

Current Box of CSA Veggies

Menu for Last Week (Week of August 25 – 29)

The Plan vs. Reality

This week’s meal planning was decent – I made most of what I wanted to, though I had an off-track night where I ended up eating lunch for dinner.

Monday

• The Plan – Leftover pulled pork tacos with peach/basil salsa
• Reality – I forgot to make the salsa, but the tacos were fantastic

Tuesday

• The Plan – Pork bowl with chard and leeks
• Reality – I wanted tacos again. More tacos.

Wednesday

• The Plan – Mexican-ish pork bowl with sweet potatoes, green peppers and onions
• Reality – I kicked the taco habit and this was really good. Used 1 pepper + some sweet potato

Thursday

• The Plan – Steaks with creamed chard and carrots
• Reality – The steaks were good, but I served with corn since we got corn in the CSA. Yes, I know, corn isn’t paleo – but I don’t want to waste it, either, on top of the massive amount of veggies I chucked last week. I also made a nice little tomato/basil/shallot salad.

Friday

• The Plan – Eat out
• Reality – That happened.

Lunches

• The Plan – Salads and leftovers.
• Reality – Salads didn’t really happen, but I ate a lot of leftovers.

Extras

• The Plan – Broil eggplants and perfect zucchini fries
• Reality – Neither of those things happened

This Week: September 1 – 5

I have leftover CSA veggies this week and $75 to spend on groceries. This week’s shopping was all tied up with Saturday’s game night.

This Week’s Proposed Menu

• Monday: Labor Day – eating out
• Tuesday: Zucchini fries with burgers
• Wednesday: Ground pork or turkey bowl with Asian flavors + eggplant, carrot, pepper and kale
• Thursday: Corn salad with leeks, carrot top pesto & some sort of meat
• Friday: Meat with CSA veggie or dine out
• Lunch: Leftovers.
• Extras: None planned.

Shopping List & Cost Breakout

Grocery Store Key: TJ = Trader Joe’s, O = Optional if budget allows

Shopping List

Extras: coconut milk ($0.99 @ TJs), cashews ($6.99 @ TJs), cheese for the DH ($6.59 @ TJs)

Total TJ: $69.57

Total For The Week: $69.57; $6.43 under budget. I made up about half of last week’s budgetary overage by planning less and relying more on my CSA veggies for this week.

Pantry/items repurposed from last week: fats, spices, CSA veggies. 

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. 

—

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.

Current Box of CSA Veggies

Menu for Last Week (Week of August 18 – 22)

The Plan vs. Reality

This week’s meal planning was decent – I made most of what I wanted to, though I had an off-track night where I ended up eating lunch for dinner.

Monday

• The Plan – Beef keema bowl over lettuce with cilantro and mint chutney
• Reality – Ate leftovers for lunch and a chicken/peach/tomato salad for dinner

Tuesday

• The Plan – Italian sausage, chard and sun-dried tomato stuffed peppers
• Reality – Yum.

Wednesday

• The Plan – Some sort of Asian flare eggplant sauce thing with steaks
• Reality – I did broil the eggplant, but didn’t end up going that direction. I used about half in the keema bowl – which I heavily modified and didn’t end up serving with any sort of chutney or over lettuce.

Thursday

• The Plan – Meat + csa veg.
• Reality – I made chicken thighs with a vaguely asian sauce + a fresh little salad of green pepper & carrot

Friday

• The Plan – Eat out
• Reality – That happened.

Lunches

• The Plan – Salads and leftovers.
• Reality – Salads didn’t really happen, but I ate a lot of leftovers.

Extras

• The Plan – Korean-ish pickles for game night. A tomato & macadamia ricotta tart – which didn’t happen.
• Reality – Delicious

This Week: August 25 – 29

I have leftover CSA veggies this week and $75 to spend on groceries. This week’s shopping was all tied up with Saturday’s game night.

This Week’s Proposed Menu

• Saturday Game Night: Korean style pulled pork tacos with dips & veggies & sweet potato chips and ice cream sandwiches for dessert
• Monday: Crock pot pulled pork tacos with peach/basil salsa and some sort of side
• Tuesday: Crock pot pulled pork Mexican style with peppers & onions & sweet potato
• Wednesday: Crock pot pulled pork with chard and leeks
• Thursday: Steaks with CSA veggie (maybe a riff on creamed spinach?)
• Friday: Meat with CSA veggie or dine out
• Lunch: Leftovers. More peaches + tomatoes.
• Extras: Pickles or veggie stock if I have enough leftover. Tomato & macadamia ricotta tart. Zucchini fries.

Shopping List & Cost Breakout

Grocery Store Key: TJ = Trader Joe’s, O = Optional if budget allows

Shopping List

Extras: almonds to possibly make almond milk ($5.99 @ TJs), matcha pop ($3.00 @ WF), worcestershire for a mixed nut flavor the DH wanted to make ($3.69 @ WF), a snack donut while shopping ($3.00 @ WF).

Grand Total TJ: $70.72
Weekly Grocery Total TJ: $62.65
Total WF: $97.62
Weekly Grocery Total WF: $27.20

Total For The Week: $89.85; $14.85 over budget. This is without splitting hairs, either. I could shave off a couple more bucks owing to things I wouldn’t have purchased if it wasn’t for game night, but I’m standing with the overage.

Pantry/items repurposed from last week: fats, spices, CSA veggies, steaks. 

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. 

—

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.

Current Box of CSA Veggies

Menu for Last Week (Week of August 4 – 8)

The Plan vs. Reality

This week’s meal planning was efficient – I ended up making pretty much what I set out to make.

Monday

• The Plan – Slow cooked beef (barbacoa) with spicy broccoli slaw + red onion, cucumber & lettuce cups
• Reality – The beef and broccoli slaw were good, but I forgot the lettuce cups.

Tuesday

• The Plan – Paleo lasagna with zucchini noodles + leeks
• Reality – This was pretty good, but I forgot to add leeks.

Wednesday

• The Plan – Barbacoa with CSA veggies
• Reality – I had leftover lasagna instead.

Thursday

• The Plan – Chicken & kale zucchini harissa pasta
• Reality – Yum.

Friday

• The Plan – Eat out
• Reality – That happened.

Lunches

• The Plan – Salads & leftovers
• Reality – Lunches this week were light on salads and heavy on leftovers again. I had tomatoes pretty much every day, had a warm skillet day with pattypan squash and dandelion greens, and had salad 1 day.

Extras

• The Plan – Nothing.
• Reality – Nothing made.

This Week: August 11 – 15

I have leftover CSA veggies this week and $75 to spend on groceries.

This Week’s Proposed Menu

• Monday: Meat with zucchini fries
• Tuesday: Stuffed eggplant with ground beef
• Wednesday: Fingerling potato-leek hash with chard & eggs & bacon
• Thursday: Meat with CSA veggie
• Friday: Meat with CSA veggie or dine out
• Lunch: Tuna salad with cucumber, broiled lettuce with broiled tomato salad, zucchini bowl with kale, leftovers
• Extras: Pickles or veggie stock if I have enough leftover. 1 ingredient ice cream.

Shopping List & Cost Breakout

Grocery Store Key: TJ = Trader Joe’s, O = Optional if budget allows

Shopping List

Extras: Coffee ($4.99 @ TJs), Thai Lime & Chile Cashews ($6.99 @ TJs), Old Amsterdam Gouda ($7.58 @ TJs)

Total TJ: $72.42

Total For The Week: $72.42; $2.58 under budget. Yay! Back to under budget – despite the snack foods we bought this week.

Pantry/items repurposed from last week: fats, spices, CSA veggies. 

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 9

Leftover From Last Week

Carrots (non-CSA)
Cucumber
Spring garlic
Spring onions
Beets
Lettuce (2 heads, which were wasted)
Zucchini

How I Used My Share

I used half of the zucchini to make zucchini fries, which were great but need a little tweaking to be perfect.

I had a couple BAS (Big Ass Salads) with lettuce & cucumber for lunch.

I used more cucumber in a hearty salad with broccoli slaw.

I used 1 zucchini (and wasted most of 1) in a paleo lasagna.

And I plan to use the kale this week in a zoodle dish (providing I get more zucchini this week – I planned poorly and should have used the pattypan squash in the lasagna instead of the easily-zoodle-able regular zucchini. My bad.)

And that leaves tonight’s dinner, which will involve barbicoa and either a salad or some sort of massive stir-fry. Or I may just say screw it and work on my zucchini fry recipe.

My Favorite Dish From This Box

Those zucchini fries were crazy salty, but I can’t wait to tweak the recipe and share with you guys. The lasagna wasn’t half bad, either – the hubbs even ate (most) of it.

Next Week

Going into next week, I have ancient carrots, 2.5 pathetic looking heads of lettuce, 1 sad bunch of dandelion greens, a few shriveling beets, 1 lonely long zucchini, 3 huge pattypan squash, 5 cucumbers, 2 heads of kale, 2 spring onions, 2 heads of garlic and 3 leeks. Hopefully I can knock at least some of that out with dinner tonight, otherwise I’m not sure how I’m going to jam this week’s CSA bounty in my fridge.

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. 

—

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.

Current Box of CSA Veggies

Menu for Last Week (Week of July 28 – August 1)

The Plan vs. Reality

This week’s meal planning was efficient – I ended up making pretty much what I set out to make.

Monday

• The Plan – Basil cucumber gazpacho with pork rind crusted chicken tenders
• Reality – After searching high and low for pork rinds and coming up empty, I made almond-crusted tenders instead. The tenders were great; the soup was so-so.

Tuesday

• The Plan – Big salad with steak and leeks
• Reality – This was good.

Wednesday

• The Plan – Cucumber tuna salad
• Reality – This was great, though it was really light.

Thursday

• The Plan – Meat with CSA veggies
• Reality – I bought ground beef – turned it into burgers and served alongside baked zucchini fries (which were great, if a bit salty).

Friday

• The Plan – Eat out
• Reality – That happened.

Lunches

• The Plan – Salads & leftovers
• Reality – Lunches this week were light on salads and heavy on leftovers again.

Extras

• The Plan – Nothing.
• Reality – Nothing made.

This Week: August 4 – 8 

I have leftover CSA veggies this week and $75 to spend on groceries.

This Week’s Proposed Menu

• Monday: Big beef with spicy broccoli slaw and lettuce cups
• Tuesday: Paleo lasagna
• Wednesday: Chicken & kale zucchini harissa pasta
• Thursday: Big beef with CSA veggie
• Friday: Meat with CSA veggie or dine out
• Lunch: CSA veg salads, leftovers
• Extras: Pickles or veggie stock if I have enough leftover. 1 ingredient ice cream.

Shopping List & Cost Breakout

Grocery Store Key: TJ = Trader Joe’s, O = Optional if budget allows

Shopping List

Extras: None.

Total TJ: $60.69 – I lost this week’s receipt; luckily I had logged the total.

Total WF: $17.37

Total For The Week: $77.86; $2.86 over budget. Boo. Over budget again. We need to have another string of under budget weeks!

Pantry/items repurposed from last week: fats, spices, CSA veggies.