Meal Plan Follow Up

Here are the results of shopping this week - all done at Trader Joe's

• Salmon - $5.75
  
• Eggs - $1.39
  
• Baking powder - $2.19
  
• Dish soap - $2.49
  
• Pasta (2 pkg.) - $1.29 x 2
  
• Spaghetti sauce - $1.79
  
• Broccoli - $2.99
  
• Sun-dried tomatoes - $3.29
  
• Frozen peppers - $1.69
  
• Organic Romaine - $2.79
  
• Dried cranberries - $1.99
  
• Tortilla chips - $2.49
  
• Cheese - $3.52
  
• Brown rice - $3.29
  
• Toilet paper - $3.99
  
• Milk - $2.99
  
• Frozen beans - $1.99 (down in price by $.30)
  
• Oranges - $3.69
  
• Bananas - $.95
  
• Bread - $2.49
  
• Salsa - $1.99 
• Fruit leather snack - $.49  

 Total = $57.27 (a bit over, but not bad)

Also, a reminder that Whole Foods has there new weekly deals up!


Go to their website to find your local sales!  At the top of the page put in your zip code and make whatever store you go to "your store".  Then, click on "specials". 

Looks like we have some good meat sales this week as well as a special one day sale this Friday...might have to go check it out for fun :).   

Meal Plan Monday

I'm actually writing before I shop this week :).  Hopefully I'll get to feature some TJ's items again this week too.

Here is the meal plan this week...

Meals  
Monday -  Chicken & potato quiche
Tuesday - Salad and biscuits
Wednesday - Nachos (refried blk beans, onion, peppers, salsa, sour cream) & make spaghetti for another family
Thursday - Frozen meal from our meal swap (just had it again last night, so I have 3 new meals in the freezer)
Friday - Whole wheat pasta with salmon, broccoli, sun-dried tomatoes, and peppers
Saturday - Curried lentils
Sunday - Leftovers


Shopping List

• Salmon
• Eggs
• Baking powder
• Dish soap
• Pasta (2 pkg.)
• Spaghetti sauce
•  Broccoli
• Sun-dried tomatoes
• Frozen peppers
• Lettuce
• Dried cranberries
• Tortilla chips
• Cheese
• Brown rice
• Toilet paper
• Milk
• Frozen beans
• Oranges
• Bananas 
• Bread 
  

I'll post later about prices - I may be a few dollars over this week.

Don't forget to check out the other Meal Plans over at Organizing Junkie!

Meal Plan Monday

Just sticking with meals this week...we will probably have our normal breakfast/lunch items.

Meals  
Monday - Chicken with this tangy mustard sauce (so good), green beans, whole wheat biscuits, and salad 
Tuesday - Potato Soup
Wednesday - Tuna melts or use birthday money to go out :)
Thursday - Thanksgiving with family (we don't technically have to bring anything, but might bake bread or something)
Friday - Tacos and chips & cheese
Saturday - Scallops (extra pack from last week) with pasta
Sunday - Leftovers

Grocery List

At Trader Joe's we got

• Sharp Cheddar - $3.47
• Sour cream - $1.69
• Yogurt - $2.99
• Refried black beans - $.99
• Olive oil (1 liter) - $5.49
• Balsamic Vinegar - $2.29
• Chocolate Syrup - $2.49
• Organic romaine hearts - $2.79
• Granola - $2.39
• Whole wheat pasta - $1.29
  

Total = $25.88

At Whole Foods we got

• Milk - $2.99
• Popcorn - $.99
• Onions - $2.69
• Potatoes - $3.99
  

Total = $11.89

Total this week =  $34.77

I will need to run out soon and grab more fruit, but otherwise I think we are set!  

Meal Plan Monday and follow up

It has been a long week (weekend).  Happy in so many ways and tiring in some too.  Thanks for still checking in - to those that do :).

So, this week's meal plan Monday...

Breakfasts 

• Fruit 
• Tea/coffee
• Toast with peanut butter
• Yogurt/granola
  

Lunch

• Veggies (cucumber & carrots)
• Salad
  
• Hummus with pita
• Fruit

Snacks

• Fruit 
• Veggies
• Popcorn

Meals (all with vegetables) - thought I'd just start with where we are at.  Tonight Evee and I used a gift card to go out and we had leftovers Monday night...
Wednesday - Chicken Fried Rice with friends
Thursday - Roast (leftover flank steak I froze from last week)
Friday - Snack on stuff and then go have snacks at a friend's "Swiss night"
Saturday - Scallops over rice (it's finally back at our Trader Joe's store)
Sunday - Leftovers

Grocery List - smaller list this week...got it all at Trader Joe's

• Organic romaine lettuce (3 hearts) - $2.79
  
• Dried cranberries - $1.99
  
• Walnuts - $3.99
  
• Raspberry vinaigrette- $2.99
  
• French bread - $1.99
  
• Carrots - $.89
  
• Bread (regular whole wheat bread) - $2.49
  
• Yogurt - $2.99
  
• Granola - $2.39
  
• Frozen peppers - $1.69
  
• Butter - $2.49
  
• Chips - $1.99
  
• Dried apricot - $2.99
  
• Fruit leather (for Evee) - $.49
• Scallops with mushroom sauce (3 of them - I've been trying to get this for weeks) - 4.99 x 3

Total this week = $47.13

Meal Plan Monday Follow Up

Here is my follow up to yesterday's shopping trip...

At Trader Joe's we got

• 2 pkgs. frozen green beans - $1.99 x 2
  
• Bananas (5) - $.95
• Hummus quartet - $4.99 (cheap as all the other kinds of hummus per ounce and you get 4 different varieties!)
• Peanut butter (all natural, just peanuts and salt) - $1.79
• Dried Apricots (I loved the mango but felt frustrated every time we ate it that there is sugar added.  They do have just dried mango, but we went for the apricots instead...more for your money) - $2.99
• Whole Wheat pasta - $1.29
• Beef - flank steak (I'm splitting the 2 pounds into meat for 3-4 meals) - $14.19
  
• Whole Wheat pita shells - $1.29
• TJ's soft whole wheat bread - $2.49
• 72% pound plus dark chocolate (I love this stuff!) - $3.99
• Baby bella mushrooms - $1.99
• Whole carrots (1 lb.) - $.89
• Gallon lowfat milk - $2.99
  

Total = $43.82

At Whole Foods we got

• Oranges - $3.99
• Pineapple - $2.99 
• 3 cucumbers - $2.07
  

Total = $9.05

Total this week =  $52.87


I also went out today to get a couple of items to use as natural cold remedies.  I'll post about that soon!  Hoping that they work for us!!!

Meal Plan Monday

I am going simple this week (for breakfasts and lunch).  I'm going to try to have the same basic thing everyday for those meals and see how it goes.  Evee is pretty easy to please and Clint is sometimes here, sometimes in classes or work and also easy to please.  

I did just post a great breakfast recipe over at Baby Get Green, though, if anyone wants to take a look at that!  I used the Trader Joe's syrup for it too :).

Breakfasts 

• Fruit 
• Tea (Clint drinks coffee)
  
• Toast with peanut butter
• (there are eggs and yogurt/granola as other options)
  

Lunch

• Veggies (cucumber & carrots)
• Hummus with pita
• Fruit

Snacks

• Fruit 
• Veggies (same as above)
• Popcorn (a staple around here!)
  

Meals (all with vegetables)
Monday - Fried rice or scallops (if they have them in this week at Trader Joe's!  I still haven't found them at our store...they've been out for awhile)
Tuesday - Noodles & Gravy - whole grain pasta from TJ's, my own mushroom sauce (I'll try to post the recipe), and Australian flank steak from TJ's
Wednesday - Frozen potpie from our swap
Thursday - It's my birthday and we are going out on a date!
Friday - Leftovers
Saturday - Curried Lentils (recipe at bottom of linked page)
Sunday - Salmon with veggies and potatoes (we didn't get to this last week)

Grocery List (I'm happy to keep adding this.  I just didn't know if it was relevant or helpful, but I can let you be the judge of that.  Even if it's just for Stephanie's enjoyment :).  I write it for myself either way...I might as well post it here too.)

• Peanut butter
• Scallops
• Steak
• Noodles
• Mushrooms
• Milk
• Green beans (2 pkgs.)
• Carrots (2 pkgs.)
• Cucumbers (3)
• Fruit - oranges (2 pkgs.), bananas, and another
• Pita
• Bread (I decided not to make my own this week, recipe linked though if interested)
• Pita
• Hummus (again, deciding to buy instead of make this week - but how to cook dried beans here and hummus recipe here)
  

Hope you have a great meal plan this week!    As always, check out other Meal Plans over at Organizing Junkie.

Meal Plan Monday

Like I mentioned last week, some of the meals from last week's Meal Plan Monday are moving to this week's - we ended up being with friends and having a few random things to eat last week (and leftovers).  

This week's meal plan...

Breakfasts 

• Fruit 
• Yogurt/Granola
• Eggs/toast 
• Cereal bars
  
• Pancakes  - this recipe turned out really well and easy!
  

Lunch

• Tuna Wraps
• Leftovers
• PB & J
  

Meals
Monday - Chicken Tortilla Soup
Tuesday - Pasta (sun dried tomatoes, broccoli, garlic, & basil)
Wednesday - Frozen meal from our swap (enchiladas or potpie are the options)
Thursday - Leftovers (from Wed. night) or sandwiches if there aren't leftovers
Friday - Scallops with mushroom sauce (already packaged at TJ's) over rice
Saturday - Salmon with veggies and potatoes
Sunday - Leftovers


Grocery List

• Cereal bars
• Granola
• Oranges
• Bananas 
• Another fruit
• Yogurt
• Scallops
• Salmon
  
• Brocolli
• Carrots
• Potatoes
• Onion

And, as always check out other Meal Plans over at Organizing Junkie!

Meal Plan Follow Up

I'm looking forward to posting this week about some Trader Joe's products that I love!

As for the follow up...  I switched the meal plan a bit. 

I realized that with being in nyc on Monday night, having plans for Friday night, and then Saturday night is Halloween (we'll probably just have something quick) - the meal plan was a bit unrealistic.

So, last night we ate a meal from a cooking swap we had.  Then we'll have leftovers tonight.  A meal from the meal plan Thursday night.  Not sure yet on Friday night.  A quick meal on Saturday and see if there are leftovers for Sunday.

I took the scallops meal out of the meal plan and will buy stuff for that next week.  Then I spent a bit more on a bottle of maple syrup (it's a bigger bottle, but cheaper per ounce) for whole wheat pancakes we made this morning - they were very good! 

So, here is how we came out this week.  We didn't need too much.

At Trader Joe's we got

• Maple Syrup - $13.99
• Dried mango - $1.69 (from the side bar)
• Sun-dried tomatoes - $3.29
• Frozen green beans - $1.99
• Mozzarella cheese - $2.99
• Frozen pepper blend - $1.69
• Dark chocolate almonds (73% dark) - $4.99
• Bananas - $.76
  

Total = $31.74

At Whole Foods we got

• Oranges - $3.99
• Yogurt (Brown Cow was on sale!) - $3
• Throat drops (we've been sick) - $1.99
• Avocado - $1
• Bulk popcorn - $1.21
  

Total = $11.19


I'll post more soon on the great things we are finding!

Meal Plan Monday

This week's meal plan...

Breakfasts - we have a different kind of week, so we are emphasizing breakfasts together

• Fruit 
• Yogurt/Granola
• Eggs/toast 
• Toast (with avocado & salsa) and potatoes
• Pancakes 
  

Lunch

• Soup
• Veggie Wraps
• Leftovers
• PB & J
  

Meals
Monday - In NYC with a friend and each other
Tuesday - Pasta (sun dried tomatoes, broccoli, garlic, & basil)
Wednesday - Pizza (pesto with sun-dried tomatoes and mozzarella)
Thursday - Quesadillas
Friday - Dinner with friends, but we are not sure of the plans yet
Saturday - Scallops with mushroom sauce (already packaged at TJ's) over rice or pasta
Sunday - Leftovers


Grocery List

• Sun dried tomatoes
• Brocolli
• Mozzarella
• Scallops in mushroom sauce
• Avocado
• Maple syrup
• Peanut butter
• Popcron
• Eggs
• Yogurt
• Granola
• Cucumber
• Carrots
• Frozen bell peppers 
• Oranges
• Bananas
  
• Dark chocolate covered almonds

I won't grocery shop till Tuesday morning...so I will report in then!

And, as always check out other Meal Plans over at Organizing Junkie!

Follow Up to MPM

I added a few things to the grocery list because I'd picked up a few things early (not on my normal Monday trip).  I added them to the totals below as to keep with the blog integrity :).

At Trader Joe's we got

• Tortilla chips - $2.39
• Chocolate covered almonds - $6.99 (and yes, they are worth it!)
• Salt & vinegar chips - $1.99 (this was an add on as a special treat for Clint)
• Eggs - $1.29
• Granola - $2.39
• Bananas (5) - $.95
• 2 lb. bag of onions - $1.49
• Carrots - $.89
• Tuna (1 can) - $1.39
• Brown Jasmin rice - $3.29
• Whole Wheat flour - $2.99 (this was on my list of things to get in the sidebar)
• Roasted garlic salsa - $1.99
• Butter (sticks) - $2.49
• Tomato - $.69
  

Total = $31.71

At Whole Foods we got

• 5 lb. bag of potatoes - $3.99
  
• 365 brand Yogurt -  $2.79
• Bulk popcorn - $1.32
• Bulk kidney beans - $.80
• Bulk navy beans - $.61
• $.05 bag refund (to me)
  

Total = $9.46


Target

• Target brand wipes - $1.29
• Target brand body wash - $3.49
  
• Eight O'clock coffee - $4.14

Total = $9.16


Grand total = $50.33!



Thanks for checking in this week!  I hope its a great one for you!

Meal Plan Monday

This week's meal plan...

Breakfasts

• Fruit 
• Yogurt/Granola
• Eggs/toast 
• Toast (with avocado & salsa) and potatoes

Lunch

• Soup
• Veggie Wraps
• Leftovers
• PB & J
  

Meals
Monday - Roast with potatoes and veggies (meat leftover in the freezer)
Tuesday - Vegetarian Chili (made in crockpot) - how to cook dried beans
Wednesday - Sandwiches (not sure what kind yet)
Thursday - Veggie burritos
Friday - Curried Lentils
Saturday - Tuna Melts
Sunday - Leftovers


Grocery List

• Brown rice
• Eggs
• Wheat Flour
• Potatoes
• Salsa
• Yogurt
• Granola
• Carrots
• Tomatoe
• Bag of onions
• Tuna
• Bananas
• Kidney beans
• White beans
• Popcorn
• Butter
• Wipes (for diaper changes)
• Coffee
• Body wash
• Tortilla chips
• Dark chocolate covered almonds
  

I'm looking forward to next week's meal plan (I have it done early), but need some of the other ingredients this week, so I couldn't just switch them!

And, as always check out other Meal Plans over at Organizing Junkie!

Follow up to MPM

I forgot to mention on Monday that we have a good amount of meat in the freezer from my parents leaving some here and other stuff (can't remember right now).  So, we are using that meat up first. 

On Sunday we went apple picking.  Therefore that will be our fruit this week (and possibly into next week) - so we will be eating A LOT of apples! 

We went to a few places this week and went over budget a bit, but am hoping that some will last through to next week (i.e. some of the household products and fruit).  We also got a couple of special treats (carmels and chocolate syrup and ice cream for our homemade apple pie - yikes!).

I had to get flour and sugar this week.  I ended up getting that and some other things from Target because we needed it in time to make an apple pie on Sunday.  I went to Target to get coffee and figured I would get the pie ingredients there too.

No pictures this week, but here is the breakdown...

At Trader Joe's we got

• Gallon of milk - $2.99
• Eggs - $1.19
• Sour Cream - $1.69
• Butter - $2.49
• Chocolate syrup (yes, we've gotten into chocolate milk lately) - $2.49
• Potatoes - $2.49 (saw later that these would have been cheaper at Whole Foods)
• Carrots - $.89
• Frozen Green Beans - $1.99
• AND, dark chocolate covered carmels - super special treat (they are AMAZING) - $3.99
• I also got avocados for free since my last bag was really bad (all of them were fully brown)...they told me to just bring in the receipt (I had called them) and we got a new bag
  

Total = $20.49

At Whole Foods we got

• Cucumber - $.69
• 365 brand Yogurt -  $2.79
• Cereal bars - $1.69
• Bulk popcorn - $1.46
  

Total = $6.58


Target

• Dishwasher detergent - $3.24
• Eight O'clock coffee - $4.14
• White sugar - $1.62
• Brown sugar - $1.59
• Flour - $2.19
• Ice cream - $2.69
• Colgate toothpaste - $2.00

Total = $19.16


And, apples from Terhune Orchards cost =$18.26


Grand total = $64.12  - not great, but not terrible either


I've also been thinking about how I could switch to organic &/or free range dairy/eggs...

Meal Plan Monday

The meal plan...

Breakfasts and Lunches - same as always :)

• Oatmeal
• Fruit 
• Yogurt/Granol
• Cereal bars (just recently tried one at Whole Foods and it was good)
• Eggs/toast
  
• Vegetable Soup
• Veggies and hummus
  
• Quesadillas
  
• Brown rice and veggies

Meals
Monday - Possibly go out for a fun treat OR Salad with lettuce, black beans, corn, avocado, cucumber, tomato, pepper (how to cook dry beans) 
Tuesday - Chicken, potatoes, and carrot roast (in the crock pot) with other veggies on the side (and maybe biscuits)
Wednesday - Sandwiches (homemade bread, leftover chicken from last night, tomato, lettuce, mayo)
Thursday - Going to some friend's house for Indian.  yum.  We'll probably bring some nan (not homemade...from Trader Joe's). 
Friday - Fried Rice
Saturday - Snack on stuff and then are going to a friends where we will snack some more :)
Sunday - Leftovers!

And, some night I'm planning on making this Spinach dip.


Grocery List

• Butter
• Popcorn
• Milk
• Cucumber
• Tomato
• Carrots
• Potatoes
• Yogurt
• Nan
• Eggs
• Green beans
• Sour cream
• Soup mix (for spinach dip)
• Wine
• Sugar - white and brown
• Coffee
• Toothpaste
• Dish detergent
• Fruit
• Flour
  

And, as always check out other Meal Plans over at Organizing Junkie!

MPM Follow Up

We stayed right under budget this week at $47.44!

I also added to the list

• Nut mix
• Toilet paper
• Tissue
• Apple juice
• Fruit leather for Evee

At Trader Joe's we got

• Eggs - $1.19
  
• Granola - $2.39
  
• Cereal bars - $1.69
  
• Avocado (bag of 4) - $3.49
  
• Salsa - $1.99
  
• Corn (frozen) - $1.29
  
• Milk - $1.89
  
• Nut mix - $4.49
  
• Toilet paper - $3.99
  
• Tissue - $.99
  
• Trader Joe's all purpose cleaner (instead of the vinegar) - $2.99
• A banana for Evee to eat while we shopped - $.19
• Fruit wrap (for Evee as a treat since she just had her immunizations...she thinks that it's candy :)) - $.49

And, I got a refund from taking the coffee back of $3.49.  I used that towards buying coffee this week.

Total = $23.58

At Whole Foods we got

• Cucumber - $.69
• Lettuce - $2.49
  
• Tomato - $1.19
  
• White distilled vinegar (for cleaning)
• Yogurt - $2.29
  
• Oranges - $3.99
  
• Grapes - $2.59
  
• Tortilla shells - $1.29
  
• Black beans - $.83
  
• Red pepper - $.98
  
• Pinto beans - $.89
• (added, wasn't on list) Apple juice on sale - $2

Total = $19.23

 And, I went to Target to get coffee (Eight O'clock)- $4.14

Grand total = $47.44

Notes/Thoughts:

• Eggs are an amazing deal at TJ's. 
• Toilet paper is a great deal too - 6 rolls for $3.99 and it's 100% recycled.
• Cereal bars are the same price at both Trader Joe's and Whole Foods for the same amount.
• I wrote about a mini coffee dilemma here.  It would be interesting to hear what other people do.  
• I bought the plain yogurt at Whole Foods (365 brand), but will go back to buying the vanilla flavor ($.50 more) next week.  It wasn't a good choice :).
• The cranberry/almond/cashew mix at Trader Joe's is a great one!  Definitely worth checking out. 
• I'm excited to try Trader Joe's all purpose cleaner and will try to report here how it works. 
  

Meal Plan Monday

For those of you that are Whole Foods shoppers, "The Whole Deal" just came out for October/November.  You can get it at your local store or you can download it here.

Other notes:

I did pick up some orange juice this past week from Whole Foods ($2.99) and borrowed 2 eggs from a friend :).  I just want to say anything extra that we pick up to have integrity with the budget.  Next time, I'll just add a note to the actual follow up post.

This is our last (almost fully) meatless meal plan (we are grilling out one night this week).  Granted, we don't eat a ton of meat anyway, since the meals we do have it in the portions are smaller.  But, still, next week will be back to "normal".

I went on a Whole Foods Value Tour this past Saturday.  It was so much fun and very insightful.  I will post about it later this week.

I bought coffee at Trader Joe's last week, but Clint did not like it.  He tried it one morning and we haven't touched it since.  Trader Joe's has a great policy that if you don't like something, you can return it.  So, I'll be bringing it back when we shop and will go with something different.

Now, for the meal plan...

Breakfasts and Lunches

• Oatmeal
• Fruit 
• Yogurt/Granol
• Cereal bars (just recently tried one at Whole Foods and it was good)
• Eggs/toast
  
• Vegetable Soup
• Veggies and hummus
• Pita and roasted garlic
• Brown rice and veggies

Meals

Monday - We are having a cook out with our apartment building.  I'll probably bring brownies to share, make a salad, and put something on the grill. 
Tuesday - Stir fry - with basic homemade sauce and lots of veggies 
Wednesday - Salad with lettuce, black beans, corn, avocado, cucumber, tomato, pepper (how to cook dry beans) 
Thursday - Whole wheat pasta with a marina sauce, onion, and broccoli (we got the pasta and sauce for free from the value tour!)
Friday - Dinner with friends or we'll make quesadillas (refried and black beans, salsa, tomato, pepper, corn and avocado)
Saturday - Hearty Minestrone Soup - We had this last week and it was really good.  I still have enough ingredients to make a second batch.  I substituted potatoes for the pasta since we had some that needed to get used up.  Also, the flavor was powerful enough that we actually put the soup over rice instead of eating it plain.  It's a very hearty dish!  A good one to share with friends!
Sunday - Leftovers!


Grocery List

• Cucumber(s)
• Lettuce
• Tomato
• White distilled vinegar (for cleaning)
• Yogurt 
• Eggs
• Granola
• Cereal bars
• Avocado
• Pinto beans (this week I really will have to make refried beans)
• Salsa
• Corn (probably frozen)
• Tortilla shells
• Black beans
• Pepper
• Milk
• Fruit (whatever is on sale)
• Coffee 
• Maybe a special treat or 2

We should come in right around $50.

Also, at some point this week I will get Whole Foods vegan sushi that's on sale from $6.49 to $4.99, but that will come out of our "going out" budget.

Next week I'll start featuring some Trader Joe's products that I love but haven't been eating these past couple of weeks.  Very exciting!

You can also always check out other Meal Plans over at Organizing Junkie!

Trader Joe's shopping follow up

So, I'd been hearing that Trader Joe's had been crazy all weekend.  I knew that from being there opening day, but was curious how it would be on a Monday during the day.  We got to find out!

It was still very busy, but nothing like the weekend.  I was able to get what I needed, though it was crowded, and was checked out quickly.  I will say, I love grocery shopping on Mondays.  We shopped Trader Joe's a bit after lunch and didn't get to Whole Foods till later in the evening (which turned out to be a great and peaceful time to shop!).

{I got a free Trader Joe's bag for bringing in the "coupon" (right) that we got in the mail.  I am now in the drawing for $50 of groceries too!}

From our grocery list for the week, this is what we picked up at Trader Joe's (and prices) -

• Brown Jasmine Rice - $3.29 (for 3 lbs.)
  
• Fresh tomato (plum) - $2.99 (possible could have gotten these cheaper at WF)
  
• Whole wheat pasta - $1.29
  
• Carrots - $.89
  
• Celery - $1.79
  
• Tomato paste - $.89
  
• Bananas - $.76

To the list, I added

• coffee (last minute I remembered we were almost out) - $3.49 (SO cheap) 
• Rice crackers - $1.69 
• and a Cliff bar for Evee - $.69

Total  = $17.77

Here is what we picked up at Whole Foods -

• Whole wheat tortilla shells (these are cheaper at WF than TJ's) - $1.29
  
• Pine nuts (These are so expensive and not a regular item for us.  They were $7.99 at TJ's.  I'm hoping they will last awhile!) - $7.69
• Cannellini beans - $.75
  
• Savoy cabbage - $1.82
• Apples - $2.49
  

To this list, I added

• 3 5-gallon distilled water bottles (we go back and forth on if we should keep doing this) - $5.85
• Popcorn kernels (bulk section) - $1.17
• Throat drops (we've been fighting colds) - $1.99
• Yogurt - $2.79
• Granola (Bear Naked was on sale for $4.39 and I had $1 off coupon from the whole deal.  I will get granola at TJ's next time since it's cheaper there.) - $3.39
  

Total = $29.07

Total for the week = $46.84

It will get interesting when meat and dairy go back on the list!

From the list, we didn't get

• Curry powder 
• Zucchini (see below)
  

Note on the meal plan: I decided to nix the zucchini spaghetti and make my own kind.  I'll put the recipe and pictures on this week when I make it.  I think it will be really good and cheap!

Meal Plan Monday

For months now I've been posting my meal plans over at baby get green.  I'm happy to have Trader Joe's and Whole Foods so close and to be meal planning specifically with those stores in mind. That said, I'm sure with some simple tweaking (on some items and prices) the meals can be flexibly used even if you don't shop at one or both of these stores.

I do want to add that we are going with no meat or dairy right now.  I've been getting eggs and milk for Evee.  Meat and dairy will be basically out of our diets for this Monday's meal plan and the next, but after that it will go back to some meat, eggs and dairy for sure.   In the mean time, it will definitely look more like a vegan diet the next 2 weeks - thanks for being flexible!

I will do a follow up post on where we bought the items and how much it totaled.  I'll go to Trader Joe's first and then follow up with Whole Foods.  

Breakfasts and Lunches

• Oatmeal
• Fruit
• Vegetable Soup
• Veggies and hummus
• Pita and roasted garlic
• Brown rice and veggies

Meals

Monday - Brown Rice Palif (w/ sun dried tomatoes and pine nuts and w/out prosciutto) - recipe from "the whole deal"
Tuesday - Hummus with pita or homemade chapitas (how to cook dry beans for hummus), veggies
Wednesday - Whole wheat pasta with tomatoes & zucchini (without the cheese) - both a recipe from "the whole deal" and there is a similar one from More-With-Less Cookbook (World Community Cookbook) (under Spaghetti & Zucc sauce)
Thursday - Vegetarian tacos with whole wheat shells
Friday - Curried lentils
Saturday - Homemade whole wheat pizza with lots of veggies (and no cheese) - using this crust recipe
Sunday - Hearty Minestrone Soup - again from "the whole deal" - we will substitute with whole wheat pasta


Grocery List

• Brown rice
• Tomato paste
• Pine nuts
• Pinto beans - to make refried beans
  
• Whole wheat tortilla shells
• 2 medium zucchinis
• Fresh tomato (plum)
• Whole wheat pasta
• (Possibly) curry powder
• Carrots
• Savoy cabbage
• Celery
• Cannellini or white beans
  
• Fruit - whatever is on sale
  

I already have some of the other ingredients - lentils, olive oil, broccoli, peppers, canned tomatoes, garlic...  I also have started growing basil and parsley, so I have that fresh for the recipes calling for that. 

Hope your meal plan is a fun one this week! You can also always check out other Meal Plans over at Organizing Junkie!