50 Buck Challenge, Week 3

               We don't have Kroger as a store option but I have always loved the name.

Confession:
I want Oreos, or potato chips, or chocolate covered peanuts, or a Starbucks iced light vanilla latte, or Bruster's apple strudel with cinnamon ice cream, or a steak, or a McAnything, or a baked sweet potato, or some oranges, or, or, or. . . .

What I really want is to walk into the store and buy whatever I want, whether it is budget friendly or not, and not buy anything just because it is this week's best buy. I am pound cake indifferent, but I found myself salivating over one at the store the other day.

I am tired of trying to come up with ideas to make what I am able to buy for 50 bucks a week work in a non-repetitive menu plan.  So far everything has been really tasty but it takes a lot of work and thought. (More than I would be willing to give it if I had to do this every single day, I think.)  Oh, and rice, I am tired of rice.  I seriously hope the food ads next Wednesday are much better than this week because there was really nothing I truly wanted to eat that was a very good deal. And I especially want a really good deal on coffee! (Ack!  No good deals on anything!)

I honestly believe this is helping me understand some of the frustrations those living with extremely limited food budgets face. I also think all of this meal planning and work will enable me to share this along with some shortcuts I had not thought of before but could make their meal planning and execution so much easier. (Like cooking enough brown rice for several meals at one time) I keep reminding myself that the end goal is to put me in a position of  understanding and compassion which will help me serve someone who needs a little help.  Fingers crossed!

The Shopping:
Sprouts
Asparagus @ 1.98 lb  1.64    ate it all
Cucumbers 2/1.00  1.00         2 cukes left
Bell peppers 2/1.00  1.00       gone
Radishes 2/100 .50        none eaten
Red grapes .88 lb 2.30        gone
Roasted cashews 4.99 lb 3.74  more than half left
Brown rice .50 lb. .55            still have at least 1 meals worth
Ground chuck 3.99 lb 5.85       gone
Oatmeal .50 lb  .47            still have nearly all of it
Red beans* .99 lb .50         gone
Green beans* 99 lb 99       gone
18.54

Aldi
Cheese crackers 1.59  gone
Queso dip 1.49   still have it
Sharp cheddar 1.69  have about 1/2 of it
Milk 2.69  have about half of it
Red onions 1.00  2 remain
Smoked sausage  1.99
Cauliflower 1.99   have half of it left
Chicken 3.24  (I have never bought any proteins at Aldi.  The jury is still out)** have 4 thighs frozen
Pineapple .99  still have it
Eggs .69 dozen 1.38  have 13 eggs left
chocolate chips 1.69 half the bag remain
19.74

Piggly Wiggly
Pasta 4/ 3.00  1.50
Butter* 2.13 have 3 1/2 sticks remaining
3.63

Lake Farm Stand
Tomatoes 4.00 have 1 tomato left
Cucumbers 3.00  gone
7.00

Flowers Bread Store
Rolls .99  (2 dozen rolls!) gone
.99

Publix
Chocolate milk 1.79 gone
Bananas            1.05 2 left
2.84
Total spent 52.75

Week 1 spent  48.75
Week 2 spent  50.13
Week 3 spent  52.75

Currently I am 1.63 over budget.  The food ads this week look bleak, so we will see what happens.

TheMeals:
Breakfast
TheHub  still eats the same thing everyday so these are my breakfasts only during the week.  The weekend meals are for both of us.
Wednesday  cereal milk bad coffee
Thursday cereal, milk, bad coffee (I am out now) grapes
Friday  Coffee  only (Had to run to the lake to meet the bug man Thursday afternoon.  Brought back a couple of ounces of coffee.  Goodness it is so much better than the Dollar Tree stuff)
Saturday Coffee, grits
Sunday Coffee, cheese toast
Monday Coffee, toast with leftover egg salad
Tuesday needed to be at Independence Place early so I just took a cup of coffee with me

Lunch
TheHub eats lunch out everyday so these are mine except for the weekend.
Wednesday Between taking Mom to the dr.,  grocery shopping and other errands there was no lunch
Thursday Tossed salad, dinner roll
Friday Leftover tossed salad, leftover grilled portabello
Saturday Ate lunch at Mom's.
Sunday  Egg salad sandwiches with lettuce and tomato
Monday leftover, leftover, leftovers Ate the last of the chicken tetrazzini
Tuesday leftover cauliflower salad, hunk of cheese, glass of milk

Dinner
Wednesday  Red beans and rice, okra
Thursday  Ground beef with zucchini, onion, tomato, bell pepper, garlic, mushroom, and brown rice seasoned with Southwestern spices, cucumber, tomato, and onion salad, dinner rolls
Friday Grilled chicken thighs (Boned and skinned) rice pilaf ( using the broth made from the thigh bones) steamed asparagus
Saturday Cauliflower salad (cauliflower, green peppers, onions, tomatoes, cornichons, mayonnaise and herbs) (I had about 2 tablespoons of cornichons  in a jar in the fridge, otherwise I would have chopped some dill pickle and put in the salad) Bread pudding with salted caramel sauce
Sunday Spaghetti sauce over spaghetti noodles (Sauce used remaining ground beef, and a boat load of vegetables:onions, mushrooms, and shredded carrots, and the leftover sauce from last weeks ziti, cookies
Monday green beans , corn from last week's purchase  that I froze on the cob, tomatoes, onions and okra (Had about 7 pods from the garden and this was the only way to use them.) cornbread
Tuesday used the remaining sausage sliced in thin (I am talking seriously thin here) coins, bell pepper, onion,

Snacks  
We didn't do much snacking this week.  It was a busy week and no one but me was home Saturday so I didn't need ball game snacks. Cheese crackers, cookies, popcorn, grapes, a couple of bananas,