Click here to see previous week's Family Meal Planning! I have to say I am SUPER DUPER bummed this week. After 4 straight weeks of doing "perfect" on my $150 weekly grocery budget, I went over $24 bucks! I know, I know, don't beat myself up, it will all work out in the end! But when you are using the CASH envelope system (thanks to Dave Ramsey, I LOVE it) and the envelope is EMPTY, it is way more shocking then just swiping the debit card and knowing you went over by a few bucks! Yes, yes, I WILL take it out of next week's budget (so next week we've only got $125 and I am STICKING to it)!
My GREAT finds at the Famer's Market this week ($25 bucks) and we are eating healthy too!
Well, let me just explain a little where my $150 went this week! One of my twins is having MAJOR stomach problems, doubled over and in pain every time she eats! So, YEP.... most of you are already saying it! A Gluten-Free (and a little Dairy-Free) diet starting NOW! I went to one of my favorite stores Sprouts and bought $80 bucks worth of Gluten-Free and Dair-Free products. That left $70 for the other 4 of us in the family. (and dang Ziploc bags are expensive $10 bucks from my budget just for those, I usually buy in bulk at Costco, but gotta do what'ca gotta do). And I am HAPPILY reporting that just after ONE WEEK my daughter feels so much better (she is also on two pills and under a doctors care, so eventually we will figure out if it is gluten, dairy or IBS).
We are all adjusting and finding things we've taken for granted: Paper Plates! I have to share another story of my sweet 11 year old boy. Saturday night we had finally ran out of our mega-supply of paper plates. Now, I am not earth-friendly over the top, haven't always been budget-friendly either and so when we run out of paper plates, we buy more and there is never an issue. (and yes we use them every day/night for every meal). So, the stack was empty and my son says "Mom, what do I do we have no paper plates", I yell back "Use a real plate", he comes out into my scrapbook room (yes with other moms in the room with me) and says "Is this a real plate?". Okay, seriously we were on the floor, laughing so hard. That is SO BAD that my son does NOT even know what a real plate is? Okay, obviously he knows, we eat on them at Christmas, Thanksgiving and special occasions. (They are actually very cute and pretty too). But, I guess they are just not used all the often and he wanted to make sure he was allowed to use "that plate" for just microwaving some nachos with cheese. Oh, the lessons I am teaching my kids now that we are ON A BUDGET!
Check back and we will link the actual recipe!
(not all recipes will become reality so if there is not a link, we haven't made it yet)
Baked Potatoes with Mighty Meaty Nacho Cheese Sauce
Berry Smoothie
Peanut Butter & Banana Sandwich (just bread, peanut butter, banana & honey...ENJOY!)
Steak and Skillet Potatoes with Bacon & Cheddar
Homemade Pizza (Shaved Asparagus Pizza for the Girls)
This post is linked to: I'm an Organizing Junkie: Meal Plan Monday, Mouthwatering Monday GCC Shopping Round Up, Homemaker Monday, Feasting in Fellowship and Market Yourself Monday
great job sticking with the budget so close!
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who has Celiac's desiese and has to eat Gluten-free. I have found cooking for him isn't so difficult once you get used to it. There are a lot of good substitutions out there anymore so people on a GF diet need not miss anything.
ReplyDeleteI'm a new follower! Your meal plan looks yummy!
ReplyDeleteHi! I was reading your post and wanted to tell you that I have a gluten free blog that you might find useful. I eat a lot of corn tortillas from Trader Joes (the corn tortillas there don't have a bunch of other ingredients). They also have a Rice Flour tortilla that I use in place of a flour tortilla. I have a recipe on my blog for an easy pizza that uses the rice flour tortillas as a base.
ReplyDeleteOnce you get a few gluten free baking ingredients you will have no reason to blow your budget on expensive gluten free foods (and your foods will taste better than most of what you buy).
I buy my GF flours from a mill in Southern California called www.authenticfoods.com You can also find their products in many Whole Foods stores. The main thing that you need is their all purpose flour mixture which is a combo of rice flour, tapioca flour and potato starch.
There is also a very helpful magazine called Living Without which is for people with food allergies. They have lots of articles about kids food allergies too.
Let me know if you have any questions or need help with anything!
Fun to find you from Menu Plan Monday ... love your beautiful photos! Will be back again; and also I linked a soup recipe up on This Week's Cravings.
ReplyDeleteThis recipe looks amazing! I would love for you to link this or any of your recipes to my blog hop @ It's a Keeper Thursdays. http://www.everydaytastes.com/
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing!