Our Menu Plan,Grocery Shopping Trip & Budget

This week has been so busy. I haven't had time to do any blog posts since my last grocery shopping post. I've been working a lot on getting all of our school things ready since we are starting school this coming week. It's hard to believe that it's already time to start school but the boys are really excited to get back into school. This will actually be Liam's first year in pre-school and he has been asking me every day for a week "Can I start home-school now?" I've been printing out his curriculum and getting everything organized and I've also been working on all of Ruy's things. My husband and I have also been doing some rearranging of furniture in our house and trying to sell some things we no longer need so yes...it's been a super busy week. I've had a lot of people ask what curriculum I'm using this year and what our schedule will look like and I've starting a post on it, but I just haven't had time to finish it. So bare with me and I will hopefully have it done soon.

I've been so busy that I decided to keep things as simple as possible with grocery shopping today. I just went to Wal-mart and Sam's Club. I had planned on going to Kroger too but when I got to Wal-mart, I realized my list for Kroger was so small and that I could get it all at Wal-mart and since I was already there...I decided dragging the kids to another store was just not something I was up for today. So Wal-mart it was. :) As much as I don't like going there I feel like I am there too often.

My monthly "house & dog food items" budget started over today so I was back at $100. I had a lot of things I needed today so I spent a good amount. I will probably have to make it up by taking money out of my "grocery spending" budget for next week.

Here is what I bought at Wal-mart:

Angel Soft Toilet Paper

Baby Wipes

(Alanna has very sensitive skin and these are the only wipes other than homemade wipes that don't bother her)

2 Green Bell Peppers

3 lb Bag of Clementines

2 White Onions

1 Bag Celery

1 Bag Baby Carrots

5 Roma Tomatoes

(I didn't really need the tomatoes but Liam really wanted to be a helper and wanted to get some, so I let him :)

1 Box Large Zip Lock Bags (I forgot to put them in the picture)

Kids Shampoo

Carmel Extract

1 Box Dreamfields Angel Hair Pasta

Handsoap

Whole Wheat Flour

1 Gallon Whole Milk

1 Gallon Skim Milk

Total for house items - $37.77

Total for groceries - $24.76

And here is what I bought at Sam's Club:

225 Count Diapers $34.94
(Sam's Club Diapers & Walmart's Parent's Choice Diapers are the only scent free diapers I've found that don't bother Alanna's skin. I've also started cloth diapering her again since a few weeks ago but I still use disposable when we go out for a long time and at night time.)

Milk-Bone Treats $11.18

Pedigree Canned Dog Food $16.88

2 Bunches Bananas $1.39 each

Organic Super Crackers $4.51
(I've never bought these before but I didn't pack a snack for the kids & they were getting really cranky so I bought these)

Salted Butter $8.98

Chicken Breasts $11.56

Jimmy Dean Sausage $5.87

Crushed Tomatoes $3.28

5 lb block Sharp Cheddar Cheese $13.04

K Cups 80 count $32.98

(I've never bought K-cups before since we just use the refillable container, but my husband has been really wanting the convenience of the K-cups and since he pretty much never asks for anything...I decided it was a good thing to splurge on.)

18 count eggs $3.36

(We're getting 4 dozen farm fresh eggs on Monday, but I needed eggs to make my egg casserole for Sunday and I was all out so I had to buy eggs today.)

Total for house items/dog food $63

Total for groceries & tax $91.86

*So in looking at the totals, I'm already $0.77 over my "house items" budget for the month! Yikes! Hopefully I won't need anything else this whole month. But if I do, I'm just going to have to take it out of my grocery budget.

*I spent $116.62 on groceries today, plus I'll be buying eggs on Monday for $10. So I spent just a little over my weekly budget of $125. Not too bad though. I'm happy with it :)

And here is my menu plan for this week:

Saturday -

B- Me: Baked Peanut Butter Oatmeal (Crossover) Everyone

L- Me: Chef Salad (S) Kids: Leftovers

D- Cheese Quesadillas with sour cream & salsa, Clementines (S) Everyone

Sunday

B- Egg Sausage Casserole (S) Everyone

My Recipe: 10-12 Eggs beaten, 3/4 cup whipping cream, 1 cup cheddar cheese, 2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1lb cooked sausage. Mix together and pour into a greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle with more cheddar cheese. Cover and let it sit overnight in the frig. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes (over times may vary). Enjoy with ketchup or salsa & sour cream!

L- Crock Pot Whole Chicken over brown rice, veggie (E) Everyone

My Recipe: Place chicken in crock pot, put 1/2 cup water in crock pot. Sprinkle chicken with desired seasonings. I usually use salt, pepper, garlic powder, and parsley. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low 6-7 hours.

D-Keeping it simple...leftovers or snack type food. Nuts, fruit, toast etc.

Monday- Liam's 4th Birthday!

B- Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins (Liam's Favorite Breakfast meal) (Cheat) Everyone

*I'm leaving out the nuts & adding some chocolate chips.

L- I'm not sure if we'll be eating out or just making some sandwiches.

D- Spaghetti with sausage since that is one of Liam's favorite meals & chocolate cake! (S) Everyone

*Last week I made my spaghetti sauce completely homemade, but Monday is going to be a busy day so I decided to use a big can of crushed tomatoes and few cans of diced tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, sausage, green pepper and onion. I'll put it all in the crock pot in the morning and forget about it until dinner time :)

*Also, I'm not sure if that's the cake I'll make or not. The recipe looks good but since I've never tried it, I'm worried to make it and then have Liam not like his birthday cake, so I'm not sure what to do!

Tuesday -

B- Scrambled Eggs, smoothies (S) Everyone

L- Cheese & Ham Paninis on Whole Wheat Bread, fruit & yogurt (Crossover) Everyone

D- Chicken Tacos (S or E) Everyone

Wednesday -

B- Me: Trim Healthy Mama Pancakes with fruit & yogurt (E); Kids: Whole Wheat Banana Bread

L- Homemade Chicken Nuggets, carrots & ranch, fruit

D- Chicken Noodle Soup (E) Everyone

Thursday-

B- Overnight Oatmeal

L- Leftover Chicken Noodle Soup (E) Everyone

D- Homemade Pizza & Salad (E) Everyone

Friday-

B- Ham & Cheese Omelets, fruit (S) Everyone

L- Loaded Fotato Soup (E) Everyone (Recipe in the THM book)

D- Leftover Spaghetti & Salad (Cucumbers for kids) (S) Everyone

Snacks:

Yogurt & granola

Granola Bars (looking for a good on-plan recipe for me) I have a whole foods recipe I love for the kids)

Fruit

Popcorn

Peanuts

Cheese

Smoothies

Muffins

Shakes

Organic Crackers (just the kids)

And just for fun...here are some pictures of our busy week. We went to the beach on Thursday and had a blast. I'm hoping to do a post on that too :)