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Hello friends! I hope everyone had a great week. I spent the week doing some bigger activities with the girls and meeting up with friends. It was a blast! We also went up to Wisconsin to visit my grandparents and we all had a great time!
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Another thing I did this week was film a Facebook LIVE grocery haul to accompany Meal Plan Monday! Personally, I love grocery hauls and I thought that would bring a little more life to my weekly staple here on Undomestic Mom. Plus, we’ve made grocery shopping on a budget a priority so I’d love to bring you guys the full picture of what we buy with $160/week. Every Sunday I’ll do a Facebook Live with our groceries for the week and I’ll show you what we spent and what I’m planning to make.
That means that the structure of MPM is going to change up a little bit, hopefully making everything easier to follow. Going forward I’ll post the plan for the current week along with the grocery haul video. After that, I’ll do a “last week recap” where I show you guys the meals we made and how well I followed the meal plan. I’ll also continue to feature a “kitchen essential” I’m loving.
Hopefully, that makes sense! Grocery shopping on a budget is a big interest for a lot of families so I’m really excited to share this journey with you guys. Please let me know what you think of the new format along with what you think of the LIVE grocery hauls. Any feedback is welcomed:) Let’s dive in with this week’s meal plan.
The Plan
Sunday: Fish Tacos, Rice
Monday: Cobb Salad & Bread Machine Bread
Tuesday: Chicken Stir Fry & Rice
Wednesday: Chicken Chili & Tortilla Chips
Thursday: Veggie Soup & Grilled Cheese
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Kerrigan’s Birthday Party!
What I Spent:
I spent $115.91 on my Sunday trip to Aldi but I’d spent about $20 additional on a small trip to Aldi on Saturday when we were in Wisconsin. We are currently budgeting $160/week for our family of four but as you guys see, we eat almost all of our meals at home. From my research, most families of four typically spend between $146-289/week so we’re definitely at the low end! We shop primarily at Aldi and I highly recommend it if you’re grocery shopping on a budget.
Last Week Recap:
We stuck to the plan for the most part! We had grilled chicken/veggies, chicken tikka masala, Italian Wonderpot and the waffles/bacon. I forgot to thaw the fish for the tacos so we had a pasta creation I made up that was an ode to Olive Garden’s Five Cheese Ziti. It was quite tasty and super easy to make! I’ll definitely get a recipe up for it soon.
Kitchen Essential
I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned more than once that I’m a huge Rachael Ray fan. I fell in love with her cooking style 15 years ago and never looked back. Her recipes are easy to make but also incredibly delicious. Seriously, I could gush about her for hours on end but I won’t bore you with the details.
The reason I bring her up is she taught me about grating garlic instead of mincing it or pasting it. Using a Microplane or hand grater, depending on your preference, makes quick work of garlic in any recipe! Apparently, she got the tip from a 1950’s cookbook, how fun is that?!
Microplanes are also perfect for grating ginger or zesting a lemon. I grated ginger into my green smoothies so the chuck doesn’t get missed by the blender blades and lemon zest can brighten almost any flat dish, I swear! One could probably conquer the world with garlic and lemons:) Mine is also dishwasher safe so it makes it super easy to clean! Plus, they are much more multi-functional than a garlic press.
That’s all I have for this week! I hope you guys find the new format more interesting and helpful if you’re grocery shopping on a budget. Check out last week’s MPM if you missed it! Come follow me on Facebook to keep up to date with my LIVE grocery hauls and my weekly #undomesticmomhacks
Want to Get Started with Meal Planning?
Subscribe to get my FREE Meal Planner and Shopping List!
Taran is a self-proclaimed undomestic mom. She thrives as a stay-at-home-mom by consistently carving out time for herself and practicing realistic self-care. As a busy mom of 3, she knows that if mama ain’t happy, nobody’s happy! With a focus on how SAHMs can carve out time for themselves everyday, she teaches fellow SAHMs how they can do the same.
I need to make my own ranch! You’ve inspired me. I’ve been using the organic dressing at Aldi they’re good, but not as good as home made.
I seriously use the packet at Aldi mixed with sour cream, mayo, and a little milk. It’s SO good! And easy:)