Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Grocery Shopping....Not a Cheap Hobby

I have a love/hate relationship with grocery shopping. I truly love cooking and having a stocked fridge and pantry, but I hate spending so much money. My husband and I eat three meals plus snacks each day and only eat out maybe once a week, thus our grocery bill tends to run a little high. While my husband is a routine eater (he literally can eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch everyday for months), I need variety in my life. Here is this week's dinner run down:

1. Stuffed Whole Wheat Shells with Pesto
(Stuffing: Spinach, Basil, Cottage Cheese, Apple & Maple Chicken Sausage & Mozzarella)
2. Black Bean Burgers w/ Avocado on Whole Wheat Buns w/ Kale Chips, Watermelon & Goat Cheese Salad
(Burgers: Black Beans, Roasted Red Peppers, Corn, Garlic, Ground Flax Seeds, & Tomato Sauce)
3. California BLTs w/ Sweet Potato Fries
(Sandwich: Turkey Bacon, Avocado, Tomato, Whole Wheat Bread)
4. Grilled Chicken w/ Grilled Peaches stuffed with Goat Cheese & Honey, Steamed Broccoli
5. Homemade Whole Wheat White Pizza w/ Spinach & Caramelized Onions
6. Zucchini & Squash Pesto Pasta Bake
(Julienne Veggies w/ Artichoke Flour Pasta, Pesto & Mozzarella)
7. Salad Beast
(Loaded with fresh fruit & veggies, topped with roasted chickpeas and homemade balsamic vinaigrette)

This week I also made two batches of homemade granola and homemade dark chocolate almond butter, as well as homemade Larabars. I also have hopes of making macaroons. I also stocked up on our weekly essentials: fresh fruit, almond milk, greek yogurt, hummus, diet mountain dew, and beer :)

This week's total put us at $159 and I am sure we will need to buy a little more DMD and beer before the week is over!! I do buy a number of organic products and believe in humane treatment of animals, thus am a proponent of free-range, no antibiotics, etc. Also, this week had very little meat and our pantry was not too empty. Thus, my love/ hate relationship :)

If you are interested in any actual recipes, let me know and I will be happy to post in the comments. What is your average grocery bill?!?

2 comments:

  1. Our average grocery bill is around $100 a week for Joe and me. We also try to eat as much organic produce as possible and as little meat as possible. I think our grocery bill would be higher but shopping at the commissary helps a lot! Also I have a smoothie receipe I think you would be interested in!

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  2. Keeping the grocery bill under control is something I seem to struggle with most weeks. Following many of the same practices regarding humane animals and fresh local organic produce when possible, it drives costs up and reinforces our inclination to be 90% vegetarian in my house. I have 2 young kids and we probably spend an average of $140/week - that includes milk delivery and right now for the summer, our CSA share.

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