Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Meal Planning + Grocery Shopping for Two

After years of living with roommates (and not sharing food) and then living alone, I felt like I had just about mastered the art of grocery shopping for one. There were definitely some times when I would overestimate and things would go bad, but in general I felt like I had a perfectly stocked fridge. I loved knowing exactly what was at home and planning dinner as I walked home from work.

Oh my how things have changed!

Despite having lived together for a few years now I feel like I'm just finally getting getting the hang of shopping for our family of two. K. and I are both typically very active people who strive to eat as healthy as possible while living on a budget. All those things combined make grocery shopping a real chore. I've been working really hard at making a meal plan and then basing our grocery list off that and it seems to be pretty successful. Here's a look at the planned eats + groceries for this week.

Breakfast:
Eggs + toast, bagels w/ cream cheese, yogurt + fruit or pancakes. If not for the half this weekend, bagels wouldn't have made the grocery list but they are a nice little treat.

Lunches:
Salads, sandwiches (turkey for K., PB2 + jam for me), leftovers

Dinners:
Monday: eating up leftovers (random pizza for K., giant sweet potato + assorted greens for me)
Tuesday: Spicy Peanut Noodles
Wednesday: Giant Salad w/ baked tofu
Thursday: Messy Mexican Burrito Bowls
Friday: Pasta night
Saturday: cupcakes (oh just wait for these!) + out to dinner
Sunday: eat our way through leftovers

Grocery list

Fruit/Veg
Carrots, cucumbers, romaine, baby spinach, bok choy, avocados, green onions, red/orange peppers, cilantro, limes, bananas, apples  (I wasn't pleased with the organic apple selection so I got strawberries + blueberries on sale instead), frozen edamame, onions

Grainy Items
Brown rice noodles, linguine, blueberry bagels, Double Protein whole wheat bread

Dairy
Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, butter, buttermilk (both for cupcakes), light cream cheese, eggs, muenster cheese

Proteins
Black beans, tofu, turkey (for K.'s lunches), PB2, hummus

Drinks
Revive Vitamin Water Zero (SO MUCH POTASSIUM!), Naked coconut water

Snacks
Pop chips (sweet potato and Thai chili. They were on sale), popcorn kernels, flaxseed tortilla chips and salsa


Other 
Powdered sugar (for cupcakes), pasta sauce


Total money spent: $75

Very important thing that I forgot- CUPCAKE LINERS! Stupid Ashley.

I can't remember the exact split but we buy organic as much as we can- especially fruits and veggies. 

The snacks don't stand a chance of making it to the weekend, minus the popcorn kernels since I bought 2 lbs, but I bought more than enough to get us both through breakfast, lunch and dinner for nearly a week. We always have a pretty well stocked pantry so rice, quinoa, lentils, etc. are already in the house. K. also supplements his diet with protein powder after all his long rides + hard climbing days, so that helps to keep him full.

I'll report back on how long these last- I swear if I'm at the store for anything other than cupcake liners and tequila (an important ingredient in the cupcakes ;-) ) before next Monday I will not be a happy camper!

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