This Is This Week

This week, I am gearing up for my planned no-spend September by easing in to a reduced grocery budget.

*This post is not affiliated and any products or stores referenced are for informational purposes only.

My goal this week was to spend no more than $100.

Now in all fairness, I stocked up my pantry and freezer quite a bit in the preceding several weeks thanks to a number of great sales and deals that I encountered.

But given the amount of fresh produce that my family is accustomed to eating, I knew that this week and no-spend September would be challenging.

Background

I grocery shop for a family of six each week and I generally try to keep my average grocery budget to $150 per week. There are weeks when it is far more and weeks when I spend less than $100 since I tend to shop deals and will reduce my spending one week if I spend too much the week prior.

My kids spend the first few days of the week with their dad and his side of the family, so I tend not to cook full dinners on these days.

My mom also lives with me, though, and she will cook dinner independently on those days at the beginning of the week. She likes to stick to recipes and tends not to improvise, so I have to make sure I have the proper ingredients for the meals she wants to make.

What I Bought

• $49.44 – HelloFresh: we had tried HelloFresh a number of times in the past and we had a great discount code this week, so I used it to purchase a few meal kits for my mom’s dinners at the start of the week
• $14.27 – Stop and Shop: discounted baked goods (naan bread and flatbread that I intended to freeze for future kids’ lunches and quick meals; I love flatbread for pizzas)
• $18.02 – Stop and Shop: red grapes that were on sale, three cucumbers, and other discounted produce (pictured below). I frequently check my local grocery stores for the bruised and overripe produce that is often sold at a discount.
• $27.79 – GrubHub impulse lunch for A because he really wanted noodles one day for lunch

Total: $109.52

What I Made

1. A large kale salad using kale from our garden and pantry ingredients
2. Steamed green beans (also from the garden)
3. Three quarts of green juice (using kale stems from the garden, cucumbers, discounted apples, and ginger and lemon I already had)
4. Two batches of zucchini bread (one sweet and one savory) using zucchini from the garden and pantry/refrigerator ingredients; I actually repurposed an old bread mix in place of regular flour in one of the bread recipes.
5. Smoothie bowls (using shelf-stable coconut milk from my pantry and frozen fruit and kale; granola and other toppings like chia seed and coconut from my pantry).
6. Kidney bean burgers with roasted potato wedges
7. Fresh tomato sauce with garden tomatoes and spaghetti; we went to a birthday party Saturday night and ended up bringing home leftover chicken francese and eggplant parmesan that served as a perfect compliment!
8. Bacon-y green bean casserole (made using a half pound of bacon from the freezer, green beans from the garden, and some panko I had in the pantry)
9. Chocolate zucchini muffins using zucchini from the garden and the rest of some whole wheat and gluten-free flours that I had in the pantry. I had no eggs so I subbed in flax meal and I omitted the chocolate chips because I was out.
10. Baked zucchini oatmeal topped with blueberry syrup (made using frozen blueberries, a pinch of sugar, and a cornstarch slurry
11. I had two lunches at work – sandwiches one day and delicious Middle Eastern food another day and I ended up being able to bring home enough boxed sandwich kits that were leftover for Thursday’s dinner. Win!
12. A’s mom gave us some baked chocolate oat bars and an applesauce bread at the end of the week too, so we had a surprise treat!
13. The kids had PBJ and fish sticks from the freezer for two different lunches this week and I made grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches for one breakfast. Another day we just did leftovers for lunch.

In Review

I was pretty pleased with the results of this week overall. Obviously I went a little over budget – solely because of A’s impulse craving for lunch on Tuesday – but it was good preparation for the week ahead.

I love thinking creatively to substitute ingredients in a recipe or make a meal based on whatever is in the freezer!

Next week, I’ll detail each day’s meals and try to include everything (even if someone has a random meal that differs from the rest of the family’s). I’m planning to reduce my grocery expense to $50 and really utilize my pantry and freezer.