My local farmer's market and #safewayj4u for the win again this week! #mealplanning 9/1 thru 9/7

Brand new to Meal Planning?

Start by reading all about Meal Planning (scroll down to "A Day in My Life" on the right-hand side of this page and click Meal Planning: How To Get Started or just click here) in order to familiarize yourself with the steps! There, you will find a link to a detailed example of my own weekly meal planning where I walk you through step-by-step.
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The first thing I do on each week is look back over the week to see if we did indeed eat everything on my meal plan and adjust my inventory, reducing it by what we ate and increasing it by anything I purchased and/or made-ahead. We did eat everything on our meal plan last week so I reduced my inventory accordingly. I also increased my inventory by the items I purchased this week.

Inventory
2 portions ground turkey breast
2 portions ground brisket
2 portions boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 portions sweet Italian sausage
1 portions Beer Brats
1 portion made-ahead shredded BBQ pork
1 portion made-ahead spicy, shredded pork
1 portion flank steak
1 portion made-ahead chicken enchiladas Verdes
3 portions made-ahead fajita marinade

Next, I shop my pantry, freezer and fridge for ingredients to come up with some meals off our Master Meal List, looking at our family calendar to ensure I wasn't planning on something we had recently eaten. I scan the weekly ad as well as the coupons and Just4U deals from Safeway via the iPhone app to see what was on sale that might complement and/or substitute for what I had come up with and of course, how to stretch ingredients over enough meals to use them up.

Weekly Meal Plan

Steak fajitas and chips with guacamole

I decided to pull the flank steak from my freezer and marinate it in one portion of the fajita marinade I made and froze last week. So yummy! Avacados are still 4@$5 and I have some red onion leftover so, with the purchase of some cilantro (2@$0.50), we'll have guacamole.

Leftovers

Shredded pork over baked potatoes

I'm pulling this meal from my freezer this week because my husband has softball practice during the week (in addition to his weekly games on Tuesdays, which is why Tuesdays is always leftovers night!) and will only be home about an hour between work and practice. I only needed to purchase russet potatoes for this meal.

Grilled chicken with roasted corn and zucchini

We grill chicken every weekend to use in our weekly lunches so, this meal is almost always on the menu. I decided to serve it with roasted corn (on sale 8@$2) and zucchini (on sale $0.49/lb). I have the marinade for the chicken on hand and purchased 2 portions of boneless, skinless chicken breasts (4lb package) this week at $2.49/lb. Not a great price so, I only purchased one package that will be used for this meal and for our lunches this week and one additional meal later in the week. 

Chicken piccata and salad with herb vinaigrette

The second portion of boneless, skinless chicken breasts I purchased will be used to make one of our all-time favorite meals. I have lemon juice, capers, white wine, bouillon, and the pasta on hand. I have organic spring mix leftover that I'll serve with the chicken.

Birthday dinner with friends

Our friends are hosting us for dinner this weekend in celebration of their daughter's 6th birthday and I don't have to bring anything to the meal.

Brinner (french toast, bacon, scrambled eggs)
Breakfast for dinner has become a real favorite around here and with Texas Toast only $1.99 per loaf and half-and-half only $0.99, this was an inexpensive addition to our menu this week. I have the eggs, honey, cinnamon, vanilla, and bacon on hand to complete this meal.

 

What did I purchase this week?

 

Just reading my meal plan above you would think I didn't purchase much of anything this week but looking at the photo above you'll realize that's incorrect. I spent $178.18 and I needed two carts to get the bagged groceries to my car, ha! :) I'll explain further down.

 

I stopped at my local farmer's market first and of the $178.18, $21.60 was spent there for super fresh, super cheap, Organic produce including:

(3) organic raspberries

(3) organic blueberries

(2) organic blackberries

(2) organic strawberries

Organic celery

2lbs organic yellow squash

24ct antibiotic- & hormone-free eggs

 

I blame Safeway and their new Just4U personalized deals as well as their new iPhone app where your coupons are automatically uploaded to your rewards card for needing two grocery carts though! So why so many items this week? Because of all the "BOGO" -Buy One, Get One Free- deals. That's the same as getting a 50% discount and no one should ever pass those things up! Things I got on a "BOGO" deal include: Tostito's tortilla chips, Sara Lee sandwich bread, Oreo cookies (super rare to get these BOGO!), Dole canned mandarin oranges, Rosarita fat-free refried black beans, Jiffy peanut butter, Eggo with granola waffles, Oscar Mayer turkey dogs, Pillsbury french bread, Safeway brand bread crumbs,  and Wheat Thins toasty chips.

I also purchased 1/4lb of deli ham, yogurt, milk, baby carrots, raw almonds and whole wheat wraps for our lunches this week.