Slowly but surely, I’m getting back into the swing of things. I should technically be on Week 34…  Oh well!

I have gone grocery shopping twice this month. For dinner, we had been using a lot of gift cards that had been so thoughtfully and generously given to us after Ezra’s birth. Those are just about used up and it’s been good timing as Ezra is now a little more independent and consistent to enable me to cook dinner. Plus, eating out most nights of the week is actually pretty tiring. Not to mention pretty bad in terms of healthfulness.

Anyway.

On August 13th, I hit up Target for groceries and started cooking dinners at home again that week. I went grocery shopping last night for the next 2 weeks. I want to start taking pictures of my grocery haul so there’s context to my budget amount. I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of my groceries from last night because Alex ended up putting everything away while I fed Ezra his rice cereal. But I did get a picture of the August 13th visit!

August 13th –
Budget – $70.00
Actual – $ 60.87

I really like Target for grocery shopping – our Target just added in a Marketplace a couple months ago and it’s really amazing everything you can get there. They sell Panera soups!!

But, as much as I enjoy Target grocery shopping, it isn’t cheaper than Kroger… even with the 5% off when using a Target credit card. And you also don’t get the Kroger fuel points.

Target is, however, the only place (so far) I can find the Jennie O turkey burgers I cook for Alex’s lunches. I don’t know why Kroger doesn’t stock them.

August 29th:
Budget – $70.00
Actual – $74.69

I went slightly over budget, but this trip was at Kroger and I saved $10.62 with the Kroger plus card. I didn’t use any coupons because Alex and I had swapped cars and all my coupons were in my car, with Alex. Oops!

Even though I went over budget by a small amount, I’m really happy with everything we got. This is two weeks worth of meals, plus some snacks. Since I don’t have a picture, here’s a list of what I got:

• Oatmeal
• Cat treats
• Rice
• 2 packages of Mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 lb of provolone sliced cheese
• 1 lb of corned beef
• 1 tin of anchovies
• 2 cans of tuna
• 1 lb of crab meat
• 1.5 lb chicken breasts (organic)
• 1 dozen eggs (cage free)
• 3 lb bag Yukon Gold potatoes
• 1 bunch carrots (organic)
• 1 bunch cilantro (organic)
• 3 turnips (organic)
• 5 parsnips (organic)
• 1/2 lb green beans
• Lemon juice
• 1 can artichoke hearts
• Safflower oil
• 1 package stevia
• 1 package mini reeses cups
• 1 package unsalted butter
• 1/2 gallon skim milk (organic)
• 1 package sour cream
• All-purpose cleaner (greenworks)
• Body wash

Considering the amount of meat and organic things I got, I feel like $4.69 over budget isn’t too bad!

For the next two weeks, I’m making meals out of a Martha Stewart cookbook my mom just got me: Martha’s American Food. It’s divided geographically and I just flipped through starting at the beginning and chose recipes that sounded interesting and relatively simple. So, here’s what’s on the menu for the first week of meals:

Wednesday (08/29) – We always eat with my family on Wednesdays because that’s the day my mom watches Ezra. So you’ll rarely see a recipe on this day!
Thursday (08/30) – Tuna Noodle Casserole, from Martha’s cookbook (pg. 42)
Friday (08/31) – No meal plan. Over the holiday weekend we will be with family and I won’t be doing a lot of cooking.
Saturday (09/01) – No meal plan. See above.
Sunday (09/02) – Banana pancakes from Blogilates, turkey bacon and hashbrowns
Monday (09/03) – Corned beef and root vegetable hash, from Martha’s cookbook (pg. 100)
Tuesday (09/04) – Chicken Parmigiana, from Martha’s cookbook (pg. 108)

Wednesday (09/05) – Possibly making the same tuna noodle casserole from 08/30 if it’s good!
Thursday (09/06) – Crab cakes (Martha – pg. 165) with mashed turnips (Also Martha – pg. 195
Friday (09/07) – Chicken & Dumplings, from Martha’s cookbook (pg. 191)
Saturday (09/08) – Family day
Sunday (09/09) – French toast (cut out from Rachael Ray magazine) and scrambled eggs… I like breakfast for dinner on Sunday, can you tell??
Monday (09/10) – Easy Crockpot Chicken
Tuesday (09/11) –  Leftovers

I am still making breakfast and lunch for Alex. Breakfast has been significantly simplified because I don’t have a lot of time – instead of cooking up a half pound of ground turkey, I use pre-cooked turkey sausage crumbles. I put them in a skillet with 4 eggs and add a bunch of spices, usually cumin and cayenne pepper. Then I divide that mixture up into tortillas, sprinkle cheese on top and individually wrap them in wax paper for easy microwaving in the morning. I freeze them when they’re cooled. Lunch is the Jennie O turkey burgers I mentioned earlier. I cook the entire package (12 burgers) and freeze the cooked burgers. Alex adds a slice of cheese when he microwaves them. One day I’ll get back to making the chickpea or black bean burgers but in the meantime, the pre-made turkey burgers work nicely!

I still hope to take pictures of the meals I make because I definitely want to get back into doing monthly recaps on recipes I try.

Check out how the other participants of Project: Food Budget are doing:

• Emily Levenson
• Dairy-Free Cooking
• Cook Write Heal
• Warm As Pie
• xox, b
• Project Food Budget 2.0
• That’s Just Me
• Two Eggs Over Easy
• Eat Whole Be Vital
• Four Happy Violets
• Pgh Dad
• yogabeautylife
• naMAMAste
• Six Dollars a Day
• What da Health?
• French Press
• Veggie Meal Maker
• Eryn Says…

*If you want to see my other Project: Food Budget posts, click here! Or to find out where Project: Food Budget came from, click here!*