body on a budget: week 2!

happy monday!!  so before i get started on this week, i wanted to highlight some of the main takeaways from last week's body on a budget post:

• food in bulk bins is cheap (and just as good for you), can you sayyyyy brown rice pasta?!
• buy spices from bulk bins so as not to pay $10/jar! i try and get them at winco and just as much as i need so i only spend $0.34 for what i need rather than $8 for a giant jar that i'll never touch again
• take advantage of store's discount programs and coupons if possible
• make a list and menu based off of weekly ads
• track food on food tracking site after you cook to proportion

i also wanted to let you know that i finished the week with two portions of chicken/sweet potato and steamed veggies left over because i went out to eat two nights. that means i spent probably $15 more than planned... but guess what? that still left me under $50! :) and the leftover food i finished on sunday and monday so technically, nothing was wasted!

now for the fun stuff!!

this week, i wanted to show you that i don't have to shop at the same boring stores every week, so i chose to make it a costco week!! wooohooo! my menu for the week consists of the following:

the turkey burgers and veggies would be purchased at costco and with that, i knew i would be spending a little more than $30. the good part, however, was that i'd have plenty of extras to store in the freezer for the next few weeks!

also, this fall weather had me itching for something hearty. i opted for this amazing paleo hungry man sweet potato casserole. mostly because i could make it in the crock pot, but also because i could use ground beef as to not get tired of ground turkey and chicken! the biggest issue i came across was being able to afford the 7% fat ground beef. i wanted it to be as lean as possible so i went to winco.  they usually have the best deals on meat there.

i knew that i had brown rice already in my house so i didn't need to purchse that, however, once again, BULK BINS people. winco has brown rice in the bulk, so easy, so cheap!! and i also wanted to use as few ingredients as possible. so when you look at my grocery list, you'll see, there wasn't much to it...

now let's just say i decided to tackle costco on a sunday evening... ahhhhhhh! but knowing  i only needed two things made it simple! i didn't even need to attempt pushing my cart through the chaos, just used my big guns to carry my stuff. ;)

 (can i just add that EVERYONE needs one of these steamers... i have gotten much more than my money's worth out of it... $30... amazon.com... just do it!!!!!)

at winco, i also chose to buy the large 60ct egg pack.it was only $6.79... that's CHEAP. since i planned to make egg muffins as well as use eggs in my recipe AND have hard boiled eggs for some snacks this week, it was worth it. also - i can use them next week too, as they are a HUGE staple in my diet.

so total this week i spent...

$47.94!!!
 
under the $50 mark and guess what? i have chicken, turkey burgers, frozen veggies and leftover spaghetti sauce in my freezer so next week i will save a TON. :)

when all else fails just remember, KISS! (KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID) lol!

until next week...

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