Living on 30,000

I have had a couple people ask me how I manage to shop for a family of five and only spend an average of $80 a week. I pride myself on getting good at cutting costs but still making delicious food and not feeding my family crap from a box. I wanted to keep track of how much each meal costs us a day but, I came down with the flu so that did not get done! For this week I will just post my receipt from Aldi and the meal plans of the week. Skyler, Gavyn and I go shopping on Tuesday's while Nevin is at therapy for 2 hours. This week we only went to Aldi and spent a total of $78.53. The only meat that I used for a meal and did not purchase this week was a pork tenderloin that I had in my freezer. I try to watch for good meat sales ( dierbergs 5 for $25 I believe is what it is now) and stock up on things that are cheaper. When I do that I usually save on the regular grocery bill by eat simpler meals that week of things we already had on hand. Some weeks I may spend a little more but some weeks we may only spend $20 because of eating at parents or we just some how have a surplus of food at the house. In the end things just all work out.

OK, here is what we bought:

Meat:
Beef chuck roast
Pork chops
Chicken breasts (frozen)
Kielbasa
Hamburger patties

Dairy:
2 2% milks
Whole milk
32 oz plain yogurt
Large dozen eggs

Misc:
2 crescent roll tubes
2 veggie/fruit juice blend
Apple juice
Chocolate syrup
32 oz ketchup
Olive oil
2 brown rice
Taco mix seasoning
Hamburger buns
Potato chips
Black beans
2 Diced tomatoes

Produce:
Bag of sweet onions (about 5-6)
10 pounds potatoes
2 bunches bananas
Lime
3 garlic heads
Grape tomatoes
Green grapes
Multi color pack sweet bell peppers (3)
2 avocados
2 bags baby carrots
Bag of vine tomatoes
Broccoli crown
Bag spinach

And out of that here is the menu plan for the week:

1. Hamburgers with caramelized onions. Home made waffle fries and salad.

2. Pot roast with baby carrots and potatoes

3. Grilled chicken seasoned with peppercorn and garlic and caramelized onions. Basil, garlic flat bread. Stemmed broccoli.

4. Mexican skillet (this is an all in one kind of dish with corn, tomatoes, peppers ect.) with brown rice

5. Pulled pork with buns and salad.

6. Thai peanut chicken stir fry (also an all in one, it is sort of a salad)

7. Cheesy Mexican chicken with homemade salsa and chips.

Some of my meal plans start out simple and I add what I am in the mood for when I am cooking. Other things I keep simple like the all in one dishes for days I know will be busy. Since I have three small guys I try to keep things straight forward but I also want to expose them to different flavors. I always make out my meal plan on Monday, check the sales and do my list.

Hopefully this week will be better and I can post what we eat in a day, what it costs and more of how I plan.