Monday

Meal Planning week 2: My Grocery List + Healthy/Organic on a budget

I revised my meal plan again to accommodate yesterday's cheat night at Slowburger.  I took out the salad rolls completely, and changed the lettuce wraps from turkey to pork (more boyfriend friendly).  I am going to try and make the beef stew in the crokpot tonight, freeze half, and put the other half in the fridge for lunches and leftovers this week.  Here's my finalized plan:

Monday:  leftovers
Tuesday:  Slowburger (oopsie)
Wednesday:  Pork lettuce wraps
Thursday:  Beef stew
Friday:  Veggie stirfry with chicken and wild rice (prep extra rice for Sunday)
Saturday:  leftovers
Sunday:  Wild Rice and bean bowls with avocado

Grocery Shopping:

I had to go to three stores this week to get everything I needed, but it was worth it because I have a long stretch of busy-ness at work coming up so having everything ready and in my fridge will be a lifesaver.  Here's what I bought:

Trader Joes:

Frozen shrimp (for the salad rolls, but since it's frozen it won't go bad even though I'm not making them this week)
Carrots
Onions
Frozen peas
Avocados
Shredded carrots
Cucumbers
Frozen bell peppers
Garlic
Green onion
Pumpkin puree (for the pumpkin cookies I'm making from the Barre3 app)
Beef broth
Wild rice
Mustard
Rice Wine Vinegar
Almond meal
Coconut milk

New Seasons

Almond Milk
Beef
Chicken Breasts
Ground Ginger
Dark Chocolate Chips (It was hard to find pure dark chocolate chips, most of the options had additives and dairy, but I found some yay!)
Walnuts (buy in bulk, so much cheaper)


Costco
Cutie oranges
Bananas
Dates (buy them at Costco, so inexpensive for the quantity you get!)
Frozen berries for smoothies
Almond milk (yes more almond milk, we already went through the carton from Trader Joes)
Rotisserie chicken (it's not organic, but Costco has good quality meats and poultry in general, and they just roast it with oil and salt/pepper.  We like to have it on hand for salads, soups, and Brad likes it for wraps and burritos)

Some tips for making grocery shopping more budget friendly:

1.)  Meal planning is a HUGE budget saver.  You don't buy what you don't need, and you are less likely to buy unhealthy items because you have a list and a plan for what you are cooking.  PLUS if you think ahead you can save prep time by prepping multiple batches of ingredients like rice, roasted veggies, etc.
2.)  Buy in bulk!  Go to the bulk bins at New Seasons or Whole Foods.  I get all my flours, sugars, nuts, and spices there.  You will save so much money because you aren't paying for packaging.  Also, you can buy really tiny amounts of things you will only use for one recipe (like spices), instead of buying a whole jar and letting it go to waste.
3.)  Buy some of your produce frozen.  I love frozen green beans, peppers, pearl onions, peas, corn, and fruit for smoothies.  Even if you buy organic frozen product, you are still saving so much, and a lot of the time it's already prepped and sliced for you!  I love frozen bell peppers especially.  Fresh bell peppers are so expensive, but frozen and inexpensive and they cook up just like fresh ones.

Have a great day!


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