Menu Plan Day and Shopping day Adventures

Well this has been one fun frugal adventure. I have been so excited to try and get good deals, and still stick to my semi-candida diet(more about that later in this post). My biggest problem has been the organic all natural part. My local grocery just does not carry much. I am planning on going to a local natural food market (that is 40 miles away, but on my way to the dentist office) later this week and see if I can shop there. I called them yesterday to see if they take online coupons-cuz that would just be so wonderful. We shall see.

To see other menu plan Monday's go to orgjunkie.com or to see other grocery cart challenges go to Grocery Cart Challenge and learn the best ways to be organized, and shop on the cheap.

Keep in mind I use America's Test Kitchen recipes as they are so perfect, we just don't want to try anything else, oh and your in luck I found 2 of the ATK recipes on recipezarr cool huh!

What I will be making this week:

Breakfasts:

Cinnamon and Vanilla Oatmeal

Eggs and grits

Organic pop tarts (I will be glad when these are gone cuz they are loaded with sugar)

Organic cereal

Dinners:

Lasagna x's 2 and freezing the other one for later in the month, salad

Chicken Quesadillas

Turkey, dressing, and bread stuffing

ATK Thai Peanut Chicken Salad wraps, fries

ATK Easy Minestrone bread, salad

Hearty Tuscan Bean Stew bread, salad

Leftovers

Snacks:
popcorn
yogurt
smoothies
fruit basket my mommy sent us for valentines day
apples
banana bread-bought too many apples last week

How my shopping week went: But first;

As you may know my shopping budget was cut in half from $100 to $50. However I still get the other $50 for home school purchases or clothing-that use to be in it's own budget which is now gone. So last week I bought this spelling curriculum with the other $50.00, ahem...well it was actually $60.00 but it covers 12 years of school and it's only one book but it comes with a DVD and a CD (I think) So this week we only have $40.00 left for shopping and Thor and I were thinking of getting these shoes not that we really need them right now, but my husband foresees it (um by it we mean the economy) getting worse as the years go by and we are wanting to stock up on things like clothes so we don't have to worry in the years to come.

Now on to my shopping week:

Well now to tell you about my candida diet. At this point I am not 100% doing the diet. I have given up white sugar(well I did have a few chocolates on valentines day;-) and white flour plus most carbs. I am taking an anti-fungal (that is working pretty well) and when it is gone I will do the full candida diet for 2 weeks along with a dieters cleanse. That should take care of most of it. I have noticed a huge change in how I feel after just one week. My lungs feel better, my vibrations (I have muscle vibrations) are all but gone (I had one bad night after eating large amounts of hunny sweetened brownies-so I must limit my daily hunny intake) I still have huge bouts of brain fog, and fatigue, but even those are getting better (I actually cleaned my house today)

So enough about me here is what I got or will get and what it cost me:

First let me start by saying I hardly had to purchase any fruits because my dear mom was so sweet and sent me this fruit basket for valentines day:

Grocery:
2-28oz Hunts tomato diced 4.00
Meat:
1lb ground beef 2.45 (this was suppose to be 1.99-err)
Produce:
4lbs cabbage 1.05
2.06lbs apples 1.81
garlic bulb .50
lettuce 1.19
Dairy:
8oz Kraft Cheese Mexican Blend 2.99
1lb Dannon plain yogurt 3.29
16oz Best Choice Mozzarella 4.99
1lb cottage cheese 3.19
6 yogurts 3.00-.80 coupon 2.20
Hiland Butter 2.00
Frozen:
oj 2.69(this was suppose to be 1.43 err)
5lbs frozen Strawberries 5.75

Total: 39.92-1.70 refund= 38.22

I am going to go back and get my extra money refunded I know it's sad because it's only a 1.70 'something', but I need all of it I can get!

I still need to get raw milk 3.50 and xylitol 6.00 and cannellini beans 2.00

Grand Total: 49.72! MANNN III'MM GOOOOODDDDD!

I know if I really tried, I have enough in my pantry that I could get away with spending less, but until I get better at this I am happy to just stay under budget. Here is what I plan to do next week to work on my costs so I can spend my $50.00 stocking up on more organic stuff:

Look up ingredients I have on hand in my recipe index to find better suited recipes (I have sort of been doing this, but more leaning toward what's in the ad than what I have on hand).

So tell me what have ya'll been doing to be frugal freaks?
Latte