Somethings Gotta Change! ...or someone.

Want to compare grocery notes? I'm always curious what others are doing with their food budgets. See my new attempt below: 

I'm a food wasting, refuse to make a list, seat of my pants, grocery shopper. Since I refuse to make a list and hate meal planning, I've convinced myself that I can just go to the grocery store and it will "come to me". Ya...right. I think my husband knows the truth (that I stink at it). He tries to gently insist that we plan out the meals for the week and make a list. I resist, resist, resist, RESIST. Sometimes we have a list. Sometimes we plan the meals for the week. But, I don't always stick to the meal plan, because I don't feel like making what was on the plan. I'm actually pretty decent at saving money on groceries. Most of my recipes are pretty good, with minimal ingredients, along with another secret. I buy things that will get used for several different dishes. Example Night One: Roast chicken, potatoes, and veggies. Night Two: Chicken soup, boil roast chicken from night before, onion, celery, carrots, potatoes. I don't use chicken broth because my skills are just that good! Night Three: Turkey Vegetable Soup, ground turkey, onion, celery, carrots, can of tomato soup, and a can of diced tomatoes. REALLY good. See my point? I'm not completely worthless, just not organized on a consistent basis. 

On a bad week I go to the store and start grabbing things. I'm resourceful enough to create random dinners from what I end up with from the grocery store. However, there is food I bring home that never gets eaten or used before it goes bad. Did I also mention I'm very picky about the taste and quality of my food? Example: I was at the store last week and bought two avocados. I had no plan for them, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Since I don't always have a list with me, I'm not sure how much to buy of something,so I grab multiples when I could get by with less. Example: today I had a list and I wrote down "garlic". Now, I hate to not have enough, so my instinct was to buy two garlic, and normally I would have. 

I'm also a new mother to a 5 month old baby. I stumbled upon some information about pesticides and chemicals and their effect on an infant's body. Obviously, I'm not made of money, but I have pondered how I could A) talk my husband into believing we needed more money in the budget for my latest tangent or B) figure out how to feed her organic food with the money already allocated to food. Did I mention my husband is an accountant? No fudging the numbers in this family. 

I started considering my grocery shopping habits. A plan started to emerge. Since I end up throwing away food I don't use, it's possible that I could save money by only buying what's on my list. From the savings, it's possible that I could afford more organic purchases. 

To begin my transition to organic, I'm starting with the "dirty dozen". Twelve produce items that are highest in pesticides and chemicals. If it's not on this list, I'm buying it "regular" for now. 

Celery

Peaches

Strawberries

Apples

Blueberries

Nectarines

Sweet bell peppers

Spinach, kale and collard greens

Cherries

Potatoes

Imported grapes

Lettuce

The Second part of my plan is meal planning. I'm really tired of my own recipes and we're also trying to lose weight. I think I could help eliminate the problem of deviating from my meal plan if I was actually excited about what we were eating. I surfed the web and pinned all the recipes I wanted to use for ONE week to Pinterest. Another qualification was that it be a "light recipe". I pinned my recipes from Cooking Light I took some tips from HERE on meal planning and budgeting. I did an inventory of what we already had on hand and made my shopping list. I took note of the produce items I wanted to buy organic. 

Today I started my organic produce shopping at Whole Foods. I have a friend who feeds her family an entirely organic diet. She said she finds she saves the most money here. I was passing by on the way home and decided this is where I would start. I only bought organic dirty dozen items on my list. My bill came to $20.35 

Next, I went to Sprouts. It's known for rock bottom prices on produce. I bought the rest of my produce here along with a few others items I needed. There are a few things on my list that I didn't have a chance to buy. My lovely child, who skipped most of her naps today, had enough shopping for one day. Total at Sprouts: $19.52 

Shopping Total Day 1: $39.87

Here is what was on my list: 

Produce: 

Red Bell Pepper (organic) 

10 Roma Tomatoes (I bought this Organic. Fail one, not on dirty 12!! But I swear I heard somewhere that tomatoes are high in pesticides?!) 

1 Zucchini (Also bought organic, again not on any list, but since I eat the skin I figured it was a good idea) 

2 Avocados

1 cilantro bunch (organic) 

garlic

red potatoes (organic)

1 butternut squash

1 grapefruit

Fresh Tarragon (organic)

Romaine Lettuce (organic) 

Labeled on my list as "Other Stuff" (I'm nothing if not specific!) 

Bacon

1 pound precooked shrimp

Corn tortillas 

(see below for stuff that I didn't get a chance to buy) 

Here is what I made Today, Seviche Style Shrimp and Avocado Tacos. I forgot to put limes on my list, but luckily I had some stuff from concentrate. Luckily it didn't ruin the dish. We both LOVED it! Delicious. Ummm, keeping it real. My husband and I both really love food. In theory we would have saved calories if we had eaten what is defined as a portion. ...well, my friends. This meal is supposed to serve six people. It served two, with a little bit of leftovers. Don't judge. Rome wasn't built in a day. 

 

Here is the "plan" for the week. Follow my progress to see if I fail miserably. Caveat: I may not go in any particular order. My goal is a $400 grocery shopping budget for the month, or roughly $100 per week. This may change as my baby starts eating solids. Don't hold me to that number!! :) 

Shrimp, Avocado, and Grapefruit Salad 

Roast Chicken with Potatoes and Butternut Squash

Tortellini with Fresh Vegetables

Roast (family recipe)

White Bean Soup with Bacon and Spinach (It's from a box and you add the spinach and bacon. I decided I would need some easy meals, too. I'm cheating a little this week. Monday is gone, I cooked the Seviche Style Shrimp and Avocado Tacos tonight. I'm only going until Sunday) 

This week I still need to buy the following: 

12 ounces of raw shrimp

Frozen Tortellini

1 whole chicken 

If you're wondering what about lunch? Breakfast? All the other stuff people have in their house? Don't worry. I'm not being shady. We're just good on that stuff right now. More disclosure to come. I'm sure I will fall on my face. Stay tuned. I'm also going to shop at different stores to figure out where organic produce has the best price.