Well, one week of the Clean Eating experiment is done! I’ll do a separate post (either later today or tomorrow) about how it’s been going and what kinds of things we’ve been eating.
I shopped yesterday with Nick and Lily (the boys were in school) and I think it was an eye-opening experience for Nick. I ended up spending about $30 more this week than I had hoped to, but at the same time I got some good quality buys that I think will last us a while.
Whole Foods:
Organic Whole Wheat Flour – 3.79 pounds
Organic Yellow Popcorn kernels – 2.29 pounds
Sunflower Seed Kernels – .93 pounds
Aldi:
Carrots – 2 pounds
Sweet Potatoes – 6 pounds
Onions – 1.5 pounds
Bananas – 2.34 pounds
Granny Smith Apples – 6 pounds
Red Grapes – 2 pounds
Kiwi – 10
Eggplant
Grape Tomatoes – 1 pint
Dates
Dried berry mix
Olive Oil
Eggs – 1 dozen
Old Fashioned Oats
Paper Towels
Sam’s Club:
Milk – 3 gallons
Cinnamon – 18oz
Spring Mix organic lettuce – 1 pound
Organic Quinoa – 2 pounds
Brown Sugar – 7 pounds
Fage Greek Yogurt – 35oz
Mozzarella Cheese – 5 pounds
Hen House:
Toilet Paper
Dishwasher soap
Brats (hooray for meat discounts!)
Fresh, whole chickens – 2 for a total of 10.3 pounds
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Notes: Now, before anyone jumps on me for buying a 7 pound bag of brown sugar…. Yes, I realize brown sugar is frowned upon in the Clean Eating world. However, if a teaspoon of brown sugar is what it takes to get Nick and the boys to eat oatmeal more often, then brown sugar I will buy. They used honey and maple syrup a lot this week, and we were flying through our precious Vermont Maple Syrup stash and the honey I bought last week. Bottom line? I can’t afford the maple syrup and honey right now, so I’m choosing what’s affordable. Baby steps here. (And no, none of them will eat the oatmeal with just fruit or applesauce in it, and I’m not willing to push the issue at this time.)
The two chickens I bought are currently being roasted in my oven (man, does it smell good in here right now!) and should provide us with food for multiple meals! The meat will be picked off and used in various ways, and I’ll make chicken stock from what remains.
I was happy to find the 2 pound bags of quinoa at Sam’s Club, but the savings over what I had paid at HyVee the week before was marginal. I think it worked out to .25 a pound less. I also picked up a 5 pound block of mozzarella cheese. I had hoped for a white cheddar, but the only white cheddar there was $5 a pound. No thank you! So I’ll cut some of this block up to use as cheese sticks and some will get grated to use on food, as needed.
Whole Foods has all of their bulk items 20% off for a few more days, and had I not had 4 kids whining that they were hungry, or trying to play with the scoops and containers, I might have price checked and bought a few more items. What I did buy has come in quite handy already though!
And finally, know thy Aldi! Last week I shopped at the Aldi closer to home, and while they have eggs for .89 a dozen their produce leaves a little to be desired. This week, we shopped at the Aldi closer to where the boys’ go to school and their produce was fantastic (thus why I bought so much there), but their eggs are $1.49 a dozen. Hmmmm…. I think I’ve decided that it’s worth paying more for the eggs if I can consistently get good produce (the Aldi closer to home isn’t so close that I would drive there just for eggs). Moral of the story? If you were left unimpressed by your local Aldi, try another one!
Total this week: $112.12
Total for the month so far: $226.97