This Week’s Menu Planning (2/23/15-2/27/15)

I’m going to get better at posting my weekly grocery lists and menu planning for y’all, since I’ve noticed a good bit of traffic to the other menu planning post. As I’m sure you’ve noticed, eating ‘healthy’ is more on the expensive side… but if you ask John and myself, we think it’s totally worth it, especially with how good we feel (and look–John hadn’t been to the gym in about a month and he went in today and said one of his gym friends was shocked at how ripped he got without being in the gym for the past month! And that my friends, is a result of eating clean and removing sugar and refined foods, etc.)! There’s a few things I think about before diving into the weekly ads to find specials.  Most importantly, I think of how busy each day of the week will be, if I’ll be too tired to cook (which if that’s the case I’ll opt for a crock pot recipe), or if  John works the next day (if that’s the case I’ll make extra dinner from the night before for him to take as lunch).  Up next, I browse our favorite grocery store’s weekly ads to see what meats and veggies are on sale.  I always look for those veggies that I’ve wanted to try cooking, but haven’t yet… If they’re on sale, I’ll get them and try my hand at cooking them! (I also use Ibotta, the app, which allows you to redeem coupons for groceries and other items by snapping a picture of your receipt. Check it out! https://ibotta.com/r/mvpeejt ) Planning is CRUCIAL! Just like you’d plan out a big project or presentation for work, fueling your body efficiently is even more important and deserves just as much time, if not more, than that work presentation!  *steps off soap box* I will be sharing the deals I found and how much we spent on our grocery hauls this week.  If you aren’t interested in that information, please skip over that section. 🙂 This week’s meals: Breakfasts (I make all these ahead of time, usually on Sunday, and store them in the fridge in tupperware containers for easy access for John in the mornings): Buffalo Chicken Frittata (1 9×13 pan, cut into 12 pieces), hard boiled eggs (12), Banana chia n’oatmeal Snacks: Baked sweet potatoes with cinnamon (5, individually packed so they are easy to grab and go post WOD), almonds Lunches: Chicken Salad (I usually keep a batch of this on hand, just in case) Dinner:

• Monday Turkey Zucchini poppers, sautéed kale, tomatoes
• Tuesday Tequila lime tilapia taco Tuesday!, with guac and sweet potato chips
• Wednesday Pork chops, baked carrots, sautéed zucchini
• Thursday lemon chicken breast, zucchini noodles, roasted tomatoes
• Friday Balsamic chicken thighs, roasted sweet potatoes, salad

And my grocery list:

• Harris Teeter: Tilapia filets (1# @ $3.99/lb), sweet potatoes (8 @ $0.79/lb), Avocados (4 @ 4/$5), 93% lean ground turkey ($3.99), Zucchini (6), bunch carrots ($0.97), center cut pork chops (2# @ $2.99/lb), HT Almond Milk (2/$4 -questionable due to all added ingredients, but I wanted to try this kind), Bibb Lettuce, bunch cilantro.
  • We made it out of HT spending roughly $67, and our haul included a bottle of wine ($10), light bulbs ($5), a new coffee to try ($5), and a splurge on a snack of deli roast beef ($7). So, $40 on food.
• Food Lion: limes (2 @ 2/$1), chicken thighs (3# @ 1.29/lb), bone in chicken breast ($1.79/lb)
  • We made it out of Food Lion spending roughly $20.
• BJ’s: bag of grapefruits ($5), bananas ($0.79/lb), cage free eggs (3 dozen $8), coconut flour ($6), rotisserie chicken (2 @ $6 each), applegate good morning bacon ($11 for 3 packages), sweet peppers ($6).
  • We made it out of BJ’s spending roughly $50.

*other items included in meal planning that we already had: lemons (BJs 8 for $4), bag of kale (Food Lion large bag for $3).* I’d say for 2 relatively active people, spending $110 on groceries for the week is pretty darn good! Happy planning!

xoxo,

Syd

What’s on your menu planning for this week?