WWS & WWA | January 22nd - 28th

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January has almost come to a close - it's been a successful start to 2021 in terms of meal planning. Planned meals have been eaten, lots of fresh vegetables were enjoyed, and we've even managed to use up lingering pantry and freezer items.

We did end up coming in a bit over budget for the month, which I will explain a bit more about below.

What We Spent 

Shaw's

  • 1 Quart Buttermilk - $2.49
  • 16 Light & Fit Yogurts $3.52*
  • 8 Boxes Quaker Oat Squares $8.42*
  • 3 Twinning's Holiday Teas - $5.97 (50% holiday clearance)
  • 1lb. Red Seedless Grapes - $1.70
  • 2 12oz. Bags of Organic Tri-Colored Baby Carrots - $0 (store freebie coupon)
    *     The yogurt and cereal were both coupon deals, the yogurt was all supposed to be free and the                cereal $0.49 a box. Unfortunately a couple of the coupons didn't scan correctly and I did not                    notice until I got home.

    Total: $22.10

Market Basket
  • 1 Dozen Eggs - $1.39
  • 3 Small Heads of Broccoli - $1.94 ($1.29/lb)
  • 1 Large Head Romaine Lettuce - $1.29
  • 1 Large Green Bell Pepper - $0.84
  • 2 Cucumbers - $1.00
  • Accent Seasoning - $3.69
  • Garlic Salt - $1.19
  • Celery Salt - $0.99
  • 1/2 Gallon 1% Milk - $1.93
  • (4) 1 Liter Polar Seltzers - $3.00
  • Parker House Rolls - $0.84 (bakery clearance)
  • 1/2 Dozen Everything Bagels - $2.00
  • 1lb. Fresh Mozzarella Cheese - $3.49
  • Tax & Deposit: $0.37
    Total: $23.96
Market Basket sans Seltzer



Total for 3rd Week of January: $46.06
Total for January: $224.87
Cumulative Total for 2021: $224.87

Well, we went over a bit for January, I thought I was going to be right on track, but the coupon mix up cost me a few dollars, and then I ended up needing a few ingredients (buttermilk, seasonings) for a birthday cake and dinner meal request. 

Overall I could have trimmed back in a few areas, such as tea and seltzer this month, but I will now be set on tea for quite a while, and will keep enjoying the Polar Blackberry Citron seltzer while it is still in season (this is a seasonal flavor that is not released every year, seltzer bottled in plastic also does not retain it's carbonation for long, so it's not worth stocking up on).

My approach to grocery budgeting is methodical, but not strict. I shop sales and clearance using my price book, and fill in the gaps with in season vegetables/ garden produce/ etc. This allows us to continuously rotate our pantry and freezer, back filing with food bought at good prices. Some months it is beneficial to go over our target budget, other months it pays to meal plan creatively and stay away from the stores!

What We Ate

Planned & Prepped - Did it Go as Planned?

This week's prep had us off to a great start for the beginning of the week, making some great headway in using up items on hand. However, I seem to have forgotten that we would still need lunches for Thursday and Friday! While I like to "end" my weeks on Thursday, because that's when the sales flyer changes over, most of our plan and preps do include that following Friday's lunches.

This realization did not come however until Thursday morning, when I opened the fridge to find no lunch containers! Thankfully there was enough miscellaneous leftovers to pull together one lunch to go. I was working from home so I made lunch for myself later. Since I was working from home, I pulled together a quick Instant Pot Enchilada Soup to get us through Friday (that I had been planning on making the following week). It only required about 10 minutes of hands on work, perfect for a stretch break.

Wednesday night also featured a slight deviation from plan. I had originally intended on making an oven baked "fried" chicken, which I had purchased the seasonings for in my WWS above. However, my Dad, who joined us for dinner that night informed me that the recipe did not work well for skinless chicken, which is all I had. Since I had some buttermilk leftover from making a birthday cake, I quickly marinated the chicken, made a seasoned flour, and we had real fried chicken tenderloins. They came out surprisingly good for my first time frying chicken - I wish I remembered to take a picture!

Thursday night is going to be the extra chicken tenderloins I defrosted, the rest of the green beans from last week, corn from the freezer challenge, and some rolls left from Wednesday night. We will get to those taquitos at some point!

What we Actually Ate:

  • Breakfasts
    • Egg & Chorizo Breakfast Quesadillas
    • Blueberry Coconut Overnight Oats
    • Granola Bars & Peanut Butter
  • Lunches
    • Fajita Bowls w/ Taco Meat & Zucchini
    • [Planned] Leftover Pesto Chicken w/ Lemon Parsley Pasta & Green Beans
    • Pulled Pork Bowl (pulled pork, baked beans, and broccoli)
    • Leftover Mac & Cheese w/ Taco Meat & Peas
    • Baked Potato w/ Leftover Peas & Green Beans
  • Dinners
    • Sheet Pan Nachos (using broken taco shells)
    • Taco Bar w/ Family (in our "bubble")
    • Italian Marinated Chicken w/ Rice & Broccoli
    • Pesto Marinated Chicken w/ Lemon Parsley Pasta, Zucchini, Green Beans
    • Mac & Cheese w/ Fried Chicken Tenders, Peas, Dinner Rolls
    • Popcorn - we had a large lunch at a local restaurant and were still to full for a full dinner
    • Chicken Tenderloins w/ Green Beans, Corn, and Rolls

Additional Dishes to Fill in the Gaps

I made a half batch of Easy Cheesy Bean and Rice Enchilada Soup which I added some of the chili lime chicken tenderloins (from my freezer challenge list) for Friday/ Weekend lunches.
Enchilada Soup Ready to Go!



How did your meal prep and planning go this week?

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