I posted a picture on social media of my grocery cart Monday and a few people expressed interest in knowing the meals I am planning and how I meal plan. Let’s start with the how to section.
To start off I simply ask our family if there are any meals they would like soon. This time there was a request for meatloaf and french dip sandwiches. After the family weighs in on if they have a meal suggestion I look through the local ads to see if there are any good deals. We do not eat completely organic right now, but we do for the most part eat real food. For me the front page and back pages are usually all I look at because that is typically where the meat and produce sales are. This week there weren’t any good ones, so I just planned to do most of my shopping at Aldi with the exception of cheese and coffee and a few things I could get Ibotta credit on. Ibotta is an app for you phone that gives you cash back. I’ve made like $28 since using it. You scan the item and upload your receipt to get the credit. Once you hit $20.00 you can get a gift card or get the cash sent to your PayPal account. If you want to try it out and use this link I think I get some kind of bonus or something for referring you https://ibotta.com/r/mmmyoyuare
Now back to planning meals. Sometimes I will print out a calendar and write meals on that. Now, ask me how many times we stick to that calendar! Hardly ever! I have found it more helpful for our family to have a running list of all the meal options and just decide the night before what we’ll have. Since I am working my transcription and Plexus businesses more now I have found that crock pot and freezer meals work perfectly for us. Scott is home full time, so he takes care of breakfasts and lunches and then we have something ready for dinner in the crockpot or to make up quickly. I will admit I am a bit spoiled. 😉
Another little tip before I get into the meals we’re making with this grocery haul is to look for meat markdowns. You can always change your meal plan slightly to use them. Honestly with a real food style meal planning it’s not hard to do on the fly. Many of our meals are marinated or seasoned meats with veggie sides. When we lived in Indy I found that Kroger tended to have the best deals on meat markdowns and usually I found more of them on Tuesdays after 9:00 am. Occasionally I found them at Meijer. Here in Southeastern Missouri I find that the best ones are at Schnucks in the mornings, but I have yet to find a best day for the most deals.
Moving on. Let’s talk about what we got today and what meals are on the plan for these items! Today I spent a total of $402.81 at both stores. Here is a list of everything I bought. Take a nice big breath because this is a long list!
At Schnucks:
Chicken drummettes (2 packages)
3 whole fryer chickens
3 pounds of breakfast sausage
6 pounds of Italian sausage
3 pound beef round roast
1 box of beef stock
Reese Puffs cereal (the boys asked for it so sweetly, plus there was an Ibotta discount)
Starbucks and Folgers coffee
Cream of mushroom and garlic soup
Shredded parmesan cheese
6 bags of Sargento cheese (cheddar and mozzarella)
1 package of Sargento provolone slices
Bag of Chihuahua queso cheese (the best for quesadillas!)
5 gallons of water
Aldi:
Pie crusts
2 baby carrots
4 boxes of pasta
1 package of egg noodles
2 hamburger buns
Deli rolls
4 loaves of sandwich bread
Crackers
Bagels
Pretzels
Oyster crackers
2 packages of pepperoni
2 muffin mixes
4 dozen eggs
4 bags of frozen corn
3 garlic bread loaves
2 bags of frozen chicken breasts
Halloween sugar cookies
2 pizzas (fresh ones from the deli section, so yummy!)
15 pounds of ground beef
2 packages of cheese ravioli
2 packages of string cheese
Multi colored peppers
Yellow onions
Mini sweet peppers
5 pounds of bananas
Black grapes
Romaine lettuce
Apples
Tomatoes
10 pounds russet potatoes
Mandarin oranges
2 packs of mushrooms
Green peppers
3 zucchini
Sweet potatoes
2 cans of artichoke hearts
3 packs of Mexican cheese
3 packs of ricotta cheese
24 yogurts
Stuffing mix
2 cans of tomato soup
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
4 cans of refried beans
2 cans of cherry pie filling
4 packs of burrito tortillas
3 packs of fajita tortillas
3 packs of fruit squeezies
Sour cream
2 packs of bacon
Fruit bowls (similar to canned fruit, but in single servings)
12 cans of chili beans
Flour
Sugar
2 packs of cottage cheese
Chipotle mayo
8 cans of tomato paste
2 sugar free coffee creamers
2 pumpkin spice creamers
1 vanilla caramel creamer
Summer sausage
Olive oil spray
Pumpkin pie filling
2 cans of black beans
Mini marshmallows
3 packs of chocolate chips
Peanut butter
Grape jelly
Fire roasted tomatoes
2 packs of cream cheese
2 garlic herb marinades
1 gallon of milk
2 bottles of ketchup
Strawberry preserves
Mayonnaise
Pickles
Phew! That felt like it took forever to type out. Now let’s get down to the meals all this food will make.
Breakfasts:
Pancakes 4x
Bacon or sausage and eggs 4x
Smoothies 3x (I bought pumpkin to make protein shakes with! Yum!)
Sausage and biscuits 2x
Bagels and cream cheese 2x
Yogurt 5x
Cereal maybe 2x
Muffins 3x
Lunches:
Leftovers, we have this most days.
Quesadillas
PB & Js, a ton of them. LOL. We’ll make 3 loaves of bread into them for the freezer.
Freezer burritos, again we’ll make a lot of them. I think I bought 32 big tortillas.
Summer sausage, crackers, veggies
Dinners:
Hotwings and pizza 2x
Hamburgers and fries 2x
Meatloaf, veggies, and mashed potatoes 3x
Spaghetti with garlic bread and salad 4x
French dip sandwiches and sweet potatoes
Crock pot chicken and veggies 3x
Chili 3x
Sloppy Joes and veggies 2x
Pork chops in mushroom gravy with stuffing and veggies
Tacos 2x
Chicken and dumplins 2x
Chicken casserole
Cheesy chicken and rice
Desserts/Snacks:
Cherry pie
Chocolate chip cookies
Halloween sugar cookies
Fruit
Cottage cheese
Cheese sticks
Peppers
Carrots
Applesauce squeezie things
Marshmallows
The Obsolete Homemaker 