meal planning, week 3.

Happy Sunday, friends!

Thought: I think I'm happier doing meal planning posts on Saturdays or Sundays, as opposed to Mondays. Most people have done their shopping for the week by Monday, and posting it then doesn't seem all that helpful. Anyway. Moving on.

Rob is on his way home from his bachelor "weekend" at Put-in-Bay, which means time is quickly running out for me to silently soak up this clean house, relaxation and some Harry Potter (a must when Rob is out of town). This has been the first weekend in over a month that we've had nothing going on - needless to say, I took full advantage of the opportunity to lounge around, eat in my pajamas and be on my own schedule.

This past week has been, to say the least, a hot mess. I've lacked motivation in the eating and exercise department, my recovery from last weekend's bachelorette festivities has proven less than stellar, and to top things off, we had a broken HVAC and now a mystery water leak in the house. It was all I could do to just keep treading water this week - which, unfortunately, does not burn calories. Not surprisingly, I had a small gain this past week at weigh-in, my heart hasn't been in my runs, and yesterday's planned 8-miler turned into barely squeaking out 5. I know, 5 miles is nothing to be ashamed of, but half marathons are quickly approaching and now is not the time to lose steam.

It's safe to say this weekend is exactly what I needed. I finally got our bridal shower gifts put away, did some much needed cleaning and organizing, and some much needed R&R with my puppies. Speaking of which, today is Scout's birthday! My big baby girl turns 4 today - I still remember bringing her home on a cold November night from the humane society at not even 3 months old. Cannot believe how old she is getting - she's the absolute best. Everyone say happy birthday to Scout!

This weekend, I managed to get in my five mile run, as well as a short walk with Brody on Friday night, and a 3 mile birthday walk with Scout this morning. Overall, it's about 8.5 miles for the weekend, which makes me feel at least slightly better about my half-ass run yesterday. Heading into this week, I feel more focused and ready to tackle my goals. Rob and I are finally at the "calm before the wedding storm" where we have ZERO planned from now until the big day - I'm hoping I can relax, finish up planning and focus on my weight loss and preparation for my two half marathons this fall.

This week's farmer's market finds - not pictured: the 50 cent hotdog
I bought to eat while I browsed the selection. Obviously necessary. 

So, want to see what's on my grocery list this week? Let's get down to it then, shall we? This week was an expensive one - I know, you're all here because you like seeing cheap grocery lists, but not every week is a $100 or less deal, unfortunately. I ended up spending $114 at the store today - in addition, I spent $12 on fresh produce at the farmer's market yesterday, totaling $126 for the week. My grocery budget is about $400 per month though, so with the past two weeks' cheap trips, I'm well under budget for the month.

In my defense, I will say I do have more meals planned now that we're both going to be in town this weekend. I'm also trying a few new things, and taking on a few more recipes since I finally feel like I can breathe. We also have a guest for dinner one night this week - this doesn't really merit buying more food, but I had to take into consideration that we probably won't have leftovers from that meal. In addition, I originally planned a pot roast in the crockpot for tonight, but wasn't a fan of the cuts of meat at the store - I made a last minute swap to have steaks on the grill instead, which obviously costs more.

Sunday: 

filets on the grill (on sale at Kroger), roasted asparagus, corn on the cob

Monday: 

BBQ grilled chicken, baked potatoes, roasted zucchini

Tuesday:

Chicken pesto kabobs, corn on the cob, roasted zucchini/yellow squash/red potatoes

Wednesday:

  Turkey taco lettuce wraps, with skillet mexican zucchini (trying both of these for the first time) 

Thursday:

Buffalo chicken mac and cheese "muffins," salads from Kroger

Friday:

  Buffalo chicken potato skins, roasted veggies

And the shopping trip begins. Don't think shopping
with your list is cool? Think again. I'm also close to
bringing a calculator with me. No judgment.

We have a few days with no leftovers for lunch, so I added 1/2 lb of ham to my list, as well as bacon to make BLT's with avocado (make the bacon ahead of time, assemble the wrap at lunchtime). Breakfasts are, again, southwestern scrambles in a mug or oatmeal.

This week's grocery list was a long one. I'm tackling several recipes that, while I can reuse the ingredients, do require random purchases at the store. I also forgot some things. Because heaven forbid I only go to the store once a week. Before I show my list - here's what I have to go back for tomorrow: grape tomatoes, 1 bell pepper, 1 small onion, and about 4 baked potatoes - and probably something else I'll discover halfway through the week. Oy.

Produce:

Asparagus

1 bag red potatoes

Basil

Garlic

Lime (2)

1 Jalapeño

Bananas

1 cantaloupe

1 bag grapes

1 head iceberg lettuce

Cilantro paste

1 avocado

2/$5 pre-packaged salads (for my lunches)

Dairy:

1 package cheese slices (for Rob's ham sandwiches at lunch)

1 block sharp cheddar cheese

1 6-pack eggs

2 small Egg Beaters, southwestern cartons

Fresh queso blanco

skim milk

Meat:

1 lb ground turkey

Chicken (this was not remotely close to being cheap at the store today, so I made the last minute decision to buy Perdue's individually wrapped breasts in packs of 5 - two packs were $12.00, as opposed to spending $21 on the chicken I normally buy)

2 filets (honestly, the bulk of my meat expenses this week)

bacon

1/2 lb Boar's Head ham (I'm a deli meat snob, not even sorry)

Aisles:

high fiber macaroni

makeup remover

high fiber wraps

1 4 oz. can tomato sauce

Applegate chicken sausages

Looking at my menu plan for the week, here's a few things I'm noticing as the causes for my hefty bill:

I planned more for lunches this week. I bought two pre-packaged salads for myself, as well as ham and cheese for Rob to make sandwiches and bacon for us to make BLT's (this will probably take place on the weekends more than through the week). I know we'll have some leftovers, but I don't know how many and I noticed myself picking up lunch a few times last week because of a lack of leftovers. We'll see how this works.

My favorite weekend lunch or quick dinner: BLTA's -
a BLT on a high fiber wrap, loaded with avocado. Lots
of good fats, without sacrificing on taste! Yum!

I planned meals for every night. I'm ready to get back to cooking daily. I love it, honestly, and my body can't handle eating out. I didn't plan anything for this upcoming Saturday - I'm planning on a date night one night this upcoming weekend, so Friday's meal can be used Saturday (or even for lunches) if need be.

While I'm able to reuse my protein in the buffalo chicken, I'm still making two separate meals with it, costing me more in ingredients. I'm also making a couple sides that are multi-ingredient worthy, as opposed to buying a $2 bundle of asparagus as my side every night. 

I bought filets. I mean, there's no sugar coating that one. I'll own up to it. 

Alright, friends - there you have it. Meal planning, week 3. All my meals, except for the mac and cheese "muffin" night, are pretty low in carb, almost entirely "clean" and packed with protein and veggies. Every meal falls into the daily points I typically allot for dinner in my Weight Watchers tracker, and there are enough carbs going on to fuel me for my longer runs or more intense cardio sessions I have planned this week.

Here's to making it a great week - what are YOU eating this week?

Monday Meal Planning

Happy Monday, friends! I hope you're all well-recovered from your weekends and resting comfortably in your office chairs. Hey, we can all dream. Realistically, I just hope you haven't fallen asleep or bashed the coffee pot over your co-worker's head yet. Oh, Monday.

I am recovering from a weekend of bachelorette fun with my family and girlfriends - it's safe to say that we celebrated in style, but I'll save you the details. The short story is that we started a conga line around a tiki bar and made out-of-this-world blueberry pomegranate margaritas. That's all you really need to know.

But since it's Monday and weekends away can't last forever, I figured what better way to get myself back on track than to give you my weekly rundown? I had to make this week's grocery list after I got home yesterday afternoon, and after a weekend of carb-indulgence, I wasn't ready to go back to my low-carb reality. Some of you found last week's post on meal planning helpful, and since I managed to sneak out of the grocery store again having only spent $62, I figured I'd share this week's menu. I will admit, this week is a little light since Rob won't be around next weekend, but we still bought enough for five meals at home. In addition, one of this week's meals is a semi-leftover from last week. We ended up not eating our spicy sausage pasta and Rob used half the ingredients for other things (I call this "man cooking," when he "creates" new things while I'm away). Instead, we went out to dinner with friends (see, this is why meal planning every night of the week is always a huge fail). Even though I had to pick up more of those ingredients he ate, it did help to have some of the stuff at home already.

Sunday

Dinner: Chili cheese dogs with macaroni and cheese (I told you I wasn't ready to go back to healthy yet)

Monday

Lunch: leftover hot dog, small salad from grocery store salad bar

Dinner: Garlic & herb chicken, corn on the cob, roasted asparagus

Tuesday

Lunch: leftover chicken and corn/asparagus

Dinner: BLT wraps with avocado, roasted zucchini and yellow squash

Wednesday

Lunch: leftover BLT's - I usually make it a BLT "salad"

Dinner: Breakfast for dinner (eggs, hash browns, rest of bacon from BLT night)

Thursday

Lunch: TBD (if I'm bacon'd out, which is almost impossible, I'll grab a salad from the salad bar)

Dinner: Emily Bites spicy sausage pasta (re-do from last week)

Friday

Lunch: TBD

Dinner: leftover spicy sausage pasta

This week's breakfasts: Southwestern scramble in a mug, oatmeal

This means that this week's grocery list looks as follows:

Produce:

1 package sweet corn

1 bundle asparagus

1 melon (fruit for the week)

1 avocado

1 tomato

1 iceberg lettuce head

2 zucchini

1 yellow squash

Dairy:

1 small block pepperjack cheese

1 1/2 dozen package eggs

1 small block sharp cheddar (for chili cheese dogs, duh)

2 containers Southwestern Egg Beaters

1 package Laughing Cow Queso Cheese

1 package fresh shredded hashbrowns

Meat:

1 package chicken tenders

1 package hot dogs

1 package chipotle chicken sausage

1 pound bacon

Aisles:

1 can Rotel

1 package Applegate chicken sausages

1 box macaroni and cheese (don't judge me)

hot dog buns

Misc:

1 bowl of chili for chili dog night from the hot bar

Things I already had at home: Land O'Lakes Saute Express cubes, low sodium chicken broth, 1 box high fiber pasta, green onions, and high fiber wraps for BLT's. 

Since I wrote about my meal planning last week, I found myself paying more attention when I do my lists. Here are some things I'm noticing that I LOVE, and a few that I wish I did better. 

- Using one meat more than once during the week helps tremendously with my grocery bill. The one pound of bacon I bought this week will be used for at least two dinners, if not more during lunch. 

- I highly recommend going meatless one night to help save money. Rob refuses, but if I were on my own, I'd take advantage of at least one meatless opportunity to save some cash.

- This may be bad, but I visit the salad bar at the grocery store sometimes instead of buying salad stuff in bulk. I get salad'd out SUPER easily, and can't really predict when I'll want one and when I'll be totally over them. Sometimes, I buy bags of lettuce or fresh heads of romaine, only to have it go bad - and same with several of the goodies I like in my salad. Instead, I'll pass on all the stuff up front, but swing by Kroger when I want a salad at lunch. Mine have never cost me more than $3 (I get the small size), and honestly, the price works out about the same as if you were to buy all those salad goodies every week. 

- This week's purchase of hot dogs, buns and boxed macaroni and cheese made me harshly aware of how much cheaper it can be to eat processed foods sometimes. I'm a big believer that healthy eating can be inexpensive, but knowing that one package of hot dogs and one package of buns could theoretically give us dinners for an entire week makes it easy to understand how people can be swayed to make unhealthy choices more frequently. 

- Boxed macaroni and cheese, regardless of who makes it, is delicious. And disgusting. All at the same time.

- Take inventory of what you've got before you go shopping. Go through your fridge and your pantry before heading out - or, if you're me, make your fiance do it while you sit on the couch and "menu plan." Don't buy doubles, and if you've got some produce leftover from last week that you know won't last another full week, plan a recipe within the next couple of days to utilize it instead of throwing it out. 

I think I'll post weekly menus for you guys on Mondays. It helps hold me accountable for what I'm eating, and it forces me to plan well so I can share with you my plans without snipping a single coupon. 

Happy Monday, and happy eating, friends!

battling the grocery store - tips and hints to surviving shopping day.

There are really only two ways to approach grocery shopping - you either enjoy it, or you hate it. Most people I know loathe making their weekly shopping trips. From friends to family members, most of us say the same thing - we always end up spending a fortune. With rising food costs and the ever-increasing need to shop natural and organic foods, we often push our cart begrudgingly to the car, feeling like that God forsaken supermarket just sucked out our souls - and our savings accounts.

But it doesn't have to be that way. I'm no grocery shopping professional, and on weeks when Rob and I need shampoo, dog food or randoms like toothpaste and makeup remover, I walk out spending way more than usual. That being said, I've gotten much better. I live so dangerously close to a grocery store, I have to make an effort to plan ahead so I don't make daily trips - and sometimes I still find myself there 4 times a week. But I've had several people ask me how I grocery shop, meal plan and budget without clipping a single coupon, so I thought I'd share what I know about that habitual hour of shopping I do every weekend. Some of you may laugh, knowing you shop for well under what I spend a week - and if that's the case, I encourage you to share because I love saving money just as much as the next girl. Keep in mind that if you're already busting your butt to save at the grocery store, all of this will probably sound mundane and obvious to you. But if you're showing up at your local supermarket once a week with nothing but a shopping cart and a handful of ideas and wondering how you spent $125 when all is said and done, you may find this helpful. 

Here are the basics: I shop for two people, once a week. I budget between $75 - $100 per week for groceries. This includes breakfasts, lunches and dinners at home. If I spend less than $100, I usually take the rest out in cash and keep it aside for extras I forgot about and need to pick up through the week - and let's face it, you always forget something. 

Plan, plan, plan. I know meal planning sounds overrated and time consuming, but it is vital to saving money at the grocery store. I don't plan every single meal out, but I do plan dinners - not only does this keep me from veering off track with my eating and weight loss goals, it keeps me from buying random ingredients at the store and then never using them at home. 

All the cool kids make shopping lists. Once you have a plan for meals for the week, make a list. I break mine into four categories - produce, dairy, meat, aisles. Break down each meal by ingredient and list it where it belongs. Mine is broken out based on where things are in the store - I do a perimeter round first (as you should, because that's where all the fresh foods are), then hit up the aisles. Having everything broken down by area leaves no questions for me - and no thinking. And no thinking means fewer opportunities to look at those ice cream bars or something with brand spankin' new packaging and think ooooh, shiny - I could make something with that this week, right? Wrong. Stick to your list. Do not make eye contact with other things. 

Be realistic. When I first started meal planning, I'd plan for every night of the week. It sounded super ambitious - 7 days of home cooked meals? I must be the most disciplined 20-something on the planet! But realistically, I would always have food that went bad or didn't get used. Rob and I eat out, on average, about twice a week - and usually on weekends. Planning meals full of fresh ingredients that could go bad is a great goal, but not realistic for us. Once I gave up trying to be perfect and settled at planning a solid 4 meals a week, with at least one leftovers potential, I stopped throwing as much spoiled food out at the end of the week. 

Less is...well, less. I learned this the hard way, and still find myself learning. I buy lots of produce - we eat tons of fresh fruit and vegetables, but I often over estimate our needs. I'll buy three zucchinis, knowing I'm using them as a side one night, but we only ever end up using two - which means one always goes to waste. The same usually goes with tomatoes, avocados, and bags of fresh lettuce. It takes you some time to figure out what you typically use, but start paying attention. This also goes hand in hand with basing your weekly needs off your meal planning list. Also - I buy one or two fruits per week. If I buy grapes, strawberries, watermelon and bananas, half of it gets thrown out. I'll switch it up every week, but I buy 1-2 good fruits and we mix those up through the week. 

Reuse ingredients. Try to plan only 1, maybe 2, ingredient-heavy meals per week. Buying 5-6 ingredients for multiple  recipes gets pricey, and often times you don't need those ingredients afterwards, making it a total waste of money. Also - if you make any kind of meat in bulk, reuse the leftovers in different ways. I did this with buffalo chicken this week - do not even get me started on the hundreds of ways you can reuse shredded buffalo chicken. Tonight we made buffalo chicken rolls, and tomorrow the leftover chicken will go on top of a baked potato. 

Cut a side dish. The notion that we need to eat a meat, a starch and a vegetable is total horseshit, in my obviously unprofessional opinion. I eat pretty low carb, or at least focus my meals on whole, natural foods. We will make a good meat on the grill and a heaping pile of roasted vegetables or corn on the cob and be full. The starchy sides like rice, potatoes and pastas, albeit delicious, are often unnecessary. I'm all about fueling your body and I encourage you to do so in the best way possible, but not every single dinner needs to be a three course meal. 

Don't buy lunch food. This is really a personal preference. Since I only have to cook for two, we often have lots of leftovers, which makes for perfect lunches the next day. I stopped buying deli meats, sandwich stuff, soups and most snacks, and we typically eat last night's leftovers for lunch instead. Yeah, sometimes it gets repetitive and boring. But if we don't, we end up a) spending money on lunch food and b) throwing out our leftovers.

To put this into practice, here's what my grocery list looked like this week. Keep in mind that I'm going to be out of town this weekend, leaving Rob alone. I had to plan for meals that made leftovers for the weekend since, let's face it, he's probably not going to cook. I planned dinners out for the week, leaving enough for leftovers and purchasing the bare minimum for lunches, knowing in advance that Rob would have to eat out a few times this week due to his work schedule.

Sunday: (returned home from out of town) Garlic & herb chicken with corn on the cob
Monday: spaghetti squash with turkey meatballs and marinara
Tuesday: Crockpot buffalo chicken, made into buffalo chicken rolls, roasted zucchini/yellow squash
Wednesday: leftover buffalo chicken on baked potatoes, corn on the cob
Thursday: spicy sausage pasta from Emily Bites
Friday: leftover pasta from Thursday's dinner
Saturday: Rob on his own, Emily Bites pizza "logs" for lunch
Sunday: TBD - I have to send Rob to shop on his own this weekend. Lord help us all. 
Breakfasts: Southwestern scramble in a mug (Southwest Egg Beaters, Laughing Cow Queso cheese and Applegate chicken and maple sausage links)

Produce:

1 spaghetti squash

corn on the cob (pack of 5)

1 package broccoli slaw

2 baked potatoes

2 zucchini

1 yellow squash

1 bundle green onions

1 bag romaine lettuce, for lunch salads

Grapes

Bananas

Dairy

Land O'Lakes Saute Express - Garlic & Herb (this is the easiest "on hand" ingredient for last minute chicken recipes!)

1 block pepperjack cheese

Southwest Egg Beaters (usually 2/$5 at Kroger - I leave one at home for Rob, take one to work for me)

1 wheel Laughing Cow Queso cheese

Meat

Turkey meatballs

1 package chicken tenders

1 package chicken breasts

Johnsonville chipotle chicken sausages

Aisles

Marinara sauce

1 large bottle Frank's buffalo sauce

1 packet Hidden Valley ranch mix

Egg roll wrappers (to be used for buffalo chicken rolls, and EB pizza "logs")

1 box high fiber pasta

Applegate chicken & maple sausages

dish soap

Things we had at home that we needed for recipes this week: Rotel, blue cheese, pepperoni and reduced fat mozzarella string cheese for pizza logs, and low sodium chicken broth.

It's really not a perfect science - and sometimes I walk out of there spending a fortune after I feel like I've put adequate efforts into planning. Other times, I feel like I wing it and get away with only spending $50. I am a huge advocate for meal planning - both for health and weight loss reasons, and for budgetary purposes. You're less inclined to eat out when you know you've got chicken set out for that evening's recipe, and much less likely to eat out for lunch when you get to take yummy leftovers for lunch instead of a plain turkey sandwich.

Whatever you do, make a list. And if you're into couponing, I'd highly recommend it. I just have zero patience for hunting down coupons, printing them out or cutting them out of the papers.

And my number one tip for surviving the grocery store? Don't bring your husband. And make a Starbucks run beforehand - since drinking wine while grocery shopping is most likely frowned upon, nursing a giant iced coffee every time you're overwhelmed by soccer moms who let their kids run wild in the aisles will help push you through the hour.

Happy shopping, and happy Hump Day!