Menu plan/shopping list 5/19/14 - 5/26/14

Note: If you notice this week's menu plan looks a heck of a lot like last week that's because it is almost a straight copy and paste!  Last week we ended up making very few of the planned meals and ate things like tuna salad or egg salad sandwiches because it was so hot.  This means that I've still got a lot of things left over from last week so my plan is mostly the same.

Dinners:

Meal 1: Crockpot Indian

• chickpeas

Meal 2: Crockpot lasagna

Meal 3: Crockpot chili

• beans x 2

Meal 4: Moqueca

• cilantro

Meal 5: Potato soup

• carrots
• celery
• flour

Meal 6: Tuna salad sandwiches

• canned tuna x 4
• green onions

Lunches:

Meal 1: Tomato basil soup

Meal 2: Sandwiches

• BLT – bacon, lettuce, tomato
• egg salad – eggs
• turkey sandwiches

Household

• milk
• milk (whole)
• popsicles
• granola bars
• fruit
• bread
• juice concentrate
• soda?
• Coffee creamer

Total spent: $91 at Smart & Final

Notes: This was my first time at this particular Smart & Final and as I was afraid the produce section is minuscule.  I got most of what I needed but as a general rule I think I'll try to find somewhere else cheap to buy my produce.  I am going to need to make a trip during the week to get tomatoes, possibly cilantro and definitely some more fruit.  They also did not have my granola bars and I couldn't find the juice concentrate.  I got some things that were not on my list such as: chicken drumsticks, toilet bowl cleaner and brush, chocolate cake mix, rice and sugar.  I noticed that there is a 99 cent store right next door that was advertising better prices on bananas so I might stop in there first next week and see what they've got.

Also, this week I intentionally left room in my budget by stopping at a $90 subtotal ($10-$30 left over) because I want to take the kids strawberry picking.  The place I want to go sells the strawberries at $1.65 per pound.  I intend to get a lot and use them for canning (jam), freezing and of course, eating fresh.  I decided that since this is both an activity for the kids AND food for us that I will split the cost between our grocery budget and the monthly kid's activity budget.  I think putting in the price of a kid's Happy Meal ($3 times two, so $6) is fair to cover the activity part and the remainder will be from the grocery budget.