30 Day Challenge: Week 1

My 30 day grocery challenge has begun.  This week was a success but definitely required planning.  Usually I just make a meal plan depending on what I feel like eating.  This week I had to go a step further and made my meal plan around what I had in my freezer and pantry already as well as what was on sale at the store.  I also went to the store with $50 cash which helped tremendously.  This week I'm sure will be the easiest of the weeks because I relied heavily on items that I already had.  Now that the week is over my freezer is pretty much empty and I am out of most of my staples like olive oil, salad dressings, etc.  It's going to get interesting the next three weeks.  Here's what I bought and what I spent this week.

BOUGHT:  kale, romaine lettuce, eggs, organic whole milk, mozzarella cheese, bacon, carrots, strawberries, blueberries, garlic, cantaloupe, bananas, diced tomatoes

SPENT:  $29.98
It was actually really funny because I was tallying up my total as I went throught the store.  I thought I had over spent so I started putting stuff back and getting cheaper produce.  For example, I put back the large container of strawberries and got the small instead and a cantaloupe instead because it was cheaper and I thought it would go further.  Then I get to the register and majorly overcompensated because I still had $20.02 to spend. 

 So Friday I went to Sam's and spent the rest of the $20 and then some.  I bought a large container of strawberries, pork chops, ground beef, and 2 whole chickens.  Hang with me non-math majors.  This might get a bit confusing.  I spent $55.13 at Sam's.  I still had $20.02 left to spend for the week so I subtracted that off to leave a total of $35.11.  I plan to make this meat stretch the remainder of the 30 day challenge, so 3 more weeks.  I divided $35.11 by 3(weeks) to reflect this, which is $11.70.  This amount will be automatically docked from the next 3 weeks bills, leaving me with $38.30 to spend in the upcoming weeks.  Ouch!  

WHAT WE ATE


Monday
B:  eggs, bacon, yogurt, leftover pancake (We didn't all eat all of this.  This is what everyone ate)
L:  shrimp stir fry (garbage meal):  All my leftover produce that I was going to have to throw in the garbage I made into a quick stir fry.  I also had about a 1/2 lb frozen wild caught shrimp that I had gotten on sale for 7.99/2lb a few weeks ago. It was originally a $20 bag.  After I stir fried the veg and shrimp, I then added some garlic and wheat free soy sauce.

D:  leftover soup from the weekend
(white chicken chili)
dessert:  almond butter cookies:  experimental and not too great (almond butter, stevia, egg)





Tuesday
B: yogurt with fruit
L: (Ken) leftover white chili; cantaloupe (Tara) spinach salad w/chicken and pine nuts (Bailey) soup, cantaloupe, milk
D:  homemade pizza: Whole wheat dough ball in freezer, homemade sauce from here, peppers, sausage, mushrooms, and spinach







Wednesday
B:  bacon, fruit smoothie
L:  leftover pizza, salad with homemade dressing, egg salad
D:  kale and white bean soup
   White beans were in the freezer from a bag that I had made the week prior when I had white chicken chili.  Broth was from the week prior when I had boiled chicken and bones to make broth. 






Thursday
B fruit smoothies  (Eli had mashed up banana)
L leftover soup; Ken ate with the Joy club @ church
D:  grandparents’  beef stew and Greek salad

Friday
B:  sausage, cantaloupe, eggs  (banana for Eli)
L:  leftover soup
D:  bacon, eggs (no picture)

Saturday
B:  eggs and sausage, yogurt, fruit
L:  church potluck ( I was bad and brought free Little Ceasar's and rice krispy treats since I had all the ingredients and it wouldn't cost me anything)
D:  leftover potluck food

Sunday
B:  breakfast @ church
L:  catered lunch @ church for 45th anniversary of our church
D:  buffalo chicken salads









Snacks: bananas, strawberries, blueberries, almond butter, cheese, graham crackers, cantaloupe