Grocery Challenge – August Week 1

Well, hello there Grocery Cart Challenge!!  And you think I totally ditched you!  Na-ah!  You may be challenging but you’re not entirely impossible.

The first week in July was our big Ballast Family reunion in the Smokies.  After that we had a couple more days to enjoy with some of the family in our own home.  Those two weeks were just a great treat for us.  I hope to share more by way of this blog in the coming days (cross my fingers!).

Man, it’s hard to keep up with everything!  I now have an almost 8-month-old who is constantly moving and when he is napping, there’s housework to be done, not to mention some shut-eye for me too!  And at night when he’s finally down, my brain functions are dead and my body all sore, I might as well hit the sack myself.  But don’t get the wrong impression here.  It’s not all bleak, it’s just time seems to fly by faster than I even realize it.  Anyways…that’s all to say, I’m finally back to posting our weekly progress (or non-progress?) on this grocery challenge and I just want to say that though I have not posted anything about this subject in the last six weeks, we’ve tried our best to stay within our $40/week deal (with one week where we shopped from our own fridge, freezer, and pantry-that was fun!).  So, here’s how we did this week:

Walmart – $ 25.98

(I don’t have much time to type every single item bought so I just took a picture of the receipt.  Genius ha? Ha!)

Sam’s Club – $ 14.33

Sunrise Market (Asian Store) – $6.50

Sesame Oil
1 bunch scallions
1 ginger
1 head Napa cabbage

We also went to the Farmer’s Market on Friday and bought a few things.  They’re sometimes a little on the pricey side but their produce is absolutely fresh and organic.  Gotta love the Farmer’s Market!  I always feel like I’m headed to the Bontoc Circle Market on Sunday mornings each time I go to one of the Farmer’s Market.  I love the open air feel to it and the friendly, community feel to it, too.  You can actually talk to the vendors and they give you information about their produce as well as suggestions on how to best prepare them.  One vendor even gave me two zucchinis for free, which sort of made me feel better about paying a little more for the other items I bought!  The best part about this weekend’s trip to the FM was Steve’s discovery of a Greenway trail right behind the parking lot where the FM was held.  Paul and Steve wandered around while I bought produce and they found this gorgeous trail that winds down somewhere, heavily guarded with tall trees and foliage on each side.  We walked a little ways to check it out and it’s just beautiful.  Because we planned on visiting a different park after the Market, we didn’t really go all the way on the trail but we do plan on going back there sometime and discover more about this trail.

Ok, so back to the grocery challenge:

Farmer’s Market – $7.00
1 large eggplant
6 sweet Italian red pepper
2 heirloom tomatoes
2 zucchinis (free!)

Grocery Total =  $ 53.31

I am over by $13.31 this month.  Ya, I’ve been thinking real hard how to deal with this.  I get cranky inside when I go over my budget.  One suggestion I found online was to use the envelope system!  That brings me fear…because I know I will have to be returning stuff back at the check-out and I dread that.  Not for embarassment (hey, that’s what self check-outs are for, you know!) but more for the hassle of having to rearrange my plans and I know that that will make me even more cranky!  Ha!

The one thing I just started doing, though, was buying the Sunday paper for those coveted coupon inserts.  I also signed up for a CVS card that will get me into their Extra Care Bucks program.  It’s a lot to explain but suffice it so say, I’m hoping some of these steps will help me save a few extra bucks each week.

Another good thing I discovered from our one week of shopping from our own pantry, freezer, and fridge is that we don’t have to shop every week just because it’s shopping day to come up with meals for another couple days.  Steve was rather impressed that we still had really good meals considering we did not shop at all.  As the saying goes, “Necessity is the mother of invention.”  I prefer to use the word “creativity” rather than “invention.”  Just has a ring to it!

I think I made the decision just now to hold off on the envelope system and go with the coupons, CVS extra care bucks program, and in-home shopping.

Now, here’s what’s cooking in the Ballast household this week:

Breakfast:
Oatmeal
Blueberry Muffins
Overnight Cinnamon Twist

Dinners:
Hamburger and Summer Corn Salad
Couscous Salad with Grilled Vegetables and Grilled Philippine Style BBQ Marinated Chicken
Asian Noodle Salad and Grilled Lemon Marinated Chicken
Tomato Basil Pizza
Pasta with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
Chipotle Ground Beef Tacos

Since our week starts on the weekend, we’ve already made some of the meals and here are some of the food photos:

Hamburger and Summer Corn Salad

Grilled Veggies (The zucchini, eggplant, and Italian red pepper were from the Farmer's Market; green pepper was from our garden, and red onions from Walmart)

Grilled Veggies, actually grilled, for the Couscous Salad

Couscous Salad with chopped grilled veggies and chopped PI style marinated BBQ chicken

Asian salad with the fresh veggies and fetuccine

Dressing the salad - sesame oil, olive oil, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, sugar, hot peppers, and lotsa cilantro; also added the grilled lemon-marinated chicken

Tossed Asian Noodle Salad - yummo!

How’s that for a week’s eating?  If you like what you see, I say put on your apron, fire up the grill, and rock the kitchen – you won’t regret it, that I promise.

That’s it, folks!  Now, if you’ll excuse me, the fresh, crisp asian noodle salad is calling my name.  Gotta go.  ”Til next week.