Weekly Meal Plan and Groceries

I know I've shared about meal planning before, but I want to elaborate as my meal planning style has changed over the last few months. As long as I can remember, I have loved everything about grocery shopping. Growing up, I went grocery shopping with my mom every week. If I wasn't able to go, I always felt like I missed out on something special. I also quickly became the coupon clipper/list maker for our family. I've may have grown from a little girl to a married woman, but I haven't lost my love for planning meals, writing a list, and perusing the aisles of a grocery store.

I've started to notice that we rarely cook on Fridays. We're so exhausted after a week at work that we just want to veg and end up chilling on the couch watching Lost and eating take out. I've incorporated that into our weekly meal plan so we don't end up with spoiled food.

I planned simple meals around the items on hand. I was lucky because we had quite a bit of chicken left in the freezer. Next week will require a bigger haul from Costco of staples like organic chicken breast and maple syrup. This week was a little different for me, I set a very strict food budget and actually came in well under budget at the register!

My meal plan:

Saturday- Hamburgers (on our new grill!)
Sunday- Crock Pot Chicken and Black Bean Tacos
Monday- Balsamic Chicken (from the April issue of Clean Eating Magazine)
Tuesday- Leftovers or Egg Sandwiches
Wednesday- Grilled Salsa Drumsticks (from the May/June issue of Whole Deal)
Thursday- Crock Pot Chickpea, Butternut Squash, and Red Lentil Stew (from Eat, Live, Run)
Friday- Salmon or Take Out (anything goes on a Friday night!)

The first half of my grocery haul. See the Cap'n Crunch in the background? haha!

I've found the shopping list from Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free to be a very useful tool. Amy created two lists depending on how you shop, a list for one grocery store and a list for four grocery store. This was actually my first week ever using the list for one store! I've been shopping at four store every week (no lie) and decided it was for the birds. So this week I only went to Publix and found grocery shopping was much more enjoyable. Click here for the the downloadable PDF lists from SS&GF.
My list looked like this:

almond milk
creamer
Greek yogurt
eggs
chicken drumsticks
Ben & Jerry's ice cream
Cap'n Crunch (by special request)
BBQ Popchips
salsa
canned black beans
canned chick peas
garam masala
diced tomatoes
carrots
butternut squash
tomato
jalapeno
baby spinach
bananas
sweet onions
3 sweet potatoes
2 Eat Smart veggie packs
Florida oranges
green pepper
blueberries

Grocery Haul Take 2

I made another run yesterday to buy more fruit- grapes, blueberries, and a huge watermelon. We had a quarter of a melon in the fridge and I didn't want to buy more until it was finished, but we devoured it Saturday night with our burgers. It was amazing and still on sale at Publix! Oh, and I still came in under budget!

How do you plan your meals and grocery shop? I'm always looking for great ideas!

<3 K.E.