Good Monday morning! Welcome to week 2 of my meal plan/prep challenge. The reason this is a challenge is that I am trying to stay within a 100-dollar-per-week grocery budget for 3 adults, and when we have company for dinner. While this is absolutely feasible, it is difficult to do when everything is so expensive, especially if you have a chronic disease. Last summer I did a few posts where we tried to stay under 75 per week. It was OK, but with inflation, we had to increase our limit. The budget is for food only. Another thing we don’t always include in the budget is coffee. Coffee is something that my husband and I both agreed is a must and will not include it in the budget unless I am buying smaller packs at the grocery store. In general, I buy coffee on Amazon where I get the best deal, but it is like 30 dollars. You will see coffee in the grocery haul below, which was done on Friday of last week. I spent 19 dollars over, and if you read last week’s post, it is because someone else was shopping with me. This is the #1 way to not stick to your budget. Try to shop alone, or just say no.
There are several good reasons to create a food budget and stick to it. For us, it is the easiest place to cut spending from, allowing us to save more money for fun things, or to pay down debt. Don’t worry we are not starving. The hardest part is I like organic, grass-fed meats, and of course snacks. We all like snacks, unfortunately. Snacks are very expensive and everyone likes something different. This is an area I need to continue to work on. I would much rather buy more actual food, than snacks.
Leftovers are always for lunches, and we always have sandwich options, soup, fruit, and veggies.
I don’t really prep a lot of meals. My husband does not like frozen meals, and he does not like leftovers frozen and used later. But, I do prep fruit, and fresh vegetables, so they are easy to just grab and eat. You will see a bag of oranges in the image. I cut them into small wedges and put them in the fridge. I did not buy bananas this week. All veggies are washed and cut for easy use. I am going to start cutting onions ahead and putting them in the fridge, and lettuce as well. We always have canned and frozen veggies on hand. I don’t keep a ton of food on hand anymore. I find it doesn’t get used and it just goes to waste.
My menu plan always starts on a Saturday and ends on Friday. I do not always shop on the same day. It all depends on my work schedule. This week I have a Dr. appt in the city where Aldis is located. I am going to shop there this week and see if there is a big enough difference in the number of food items I can get as compared to my local Walmart. If it is I may consider the drive to Aldis a good idea.
We had bought a second turkey at Thanksgiving when they were marked way down to move. I don’t remember the size, but it was a good-sized turkey for 11 dollars. We had that on Saturday for dinner for our monthly family dinner. Today is Monday and I still have enough meat left to make sandwiches for lunch. You can make broth and soup, but it is really warm here right now and soup is not desirable. I may not eat all of the items in the food haul. I may eat a variation or smaller portions if needed.
Meal Plan for this week:
Saturday, March 4th: Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, dinner rolls, green beans and my son brought ice cream for dessert.
Sunday: Tacos. I eat a taco salad.
Monday: Pizza a note about frozen pizza and CKD. Most of them I don’t like, this Walmart brand one shown in the image is pretty good. However, normally I only eat one piece and have a big salad. Last week I ate two pieces and had a massive headache. The preservatives or extra sodium, or both, were most likely the reason for my headache. So, if you have CKD and you experience headaches after eating processed foods, cut back your serving size or avoid if possible.
Tuesday: Macaroni salad with egg or tuna. We are quickly moving into warmer months and our Summer menu. We eat a lot of salad and sandwiches. I hate to use the oven. I did get a new, larger air fryer for Christmas and I am hoping it won’t warm up the house.
Wednesday: Pizza I will not eat pizza this day.
Thursday: Big Mac in a bowl. This is one of our favorite warmer month recipes. You will see it a lot. You will see in the picture I spent the extra few dollars to get the three-pack of organic ground beef. To me, it is worth it if I am going to eat red meat.
Friday: This will be a new recipe for me but as you can see there is a whole carton of half and half in the picture. I will probably make this a few weeks in a row so it doesn’t go to waste. I tried it in my coffee, but yuck. I will be making my own alfredo sauce. I tend to not like the store-bought jar varieties, even the organic ones. This meal will be chicken alfredo, pasta, and broccoli.
I threw away my receipt by accident so I don’t have the prices for each meal. I promise next week I will.
These posts are one of my most popular topics on this blog. If you would like me to write about something in particular, let me know in the comments. Wednesday will begin the weekly slides for the new AKF Kidney Classes. I finally got to the new class and am ready to begin teaching it. I will post a new one each Wednesday. If you would rather do the whole class at once, you can contact me below and I will work with you to set something up.
My disclaimer is short and sweet. None of the information on this blog is intended to be medical or nutritional advice. It is for informational purposes only and to spark a conversation.
Living Life With CKD 