Meal Plan Follow Up

This week's total was $56.80...rather large for us, but not too bad since I felt like our list was really large! Plus, some of the items I got I ended up getting bigger portions that will last longer throughout the month than just this week. Check in next Monday for a shorter list :).

So, changes to the list from "Meal Plan Monday"

• I took tomatoes off the list because I thought we could go without...I have some sweet peppers instead, so I'll use those for our salad.
  
• We got a bulk bag of frozen fruit instead of a smaller bag of strawberries. It cost $8.59, but we will use it as long as it takes us since we'll be doing fruit smoothies most days. And, in the bag are mango, strawberries, pineapple, and peaches. Plus, we have frozen blueberries in the freezer left from last fall. It made a great smoothie yesterday!
• I got frozen juice concentrate and made our juice that way instead of buying it out of the can or bottle. This saves a bit and is basically the same thing.
• We switched fully back to whole grains which feels great. The pasta, bread, pitas, and rice were all whole grain, whole wheat, and brown (rice).
  
• I added garlic to the list.
  
• I decided to do pizza Thursday night instead of quesadillas. A friend from one of the places I work was telling me that they do pizza sometimes with all their leftover veggies. I thought that was a great idea. Plus, I only needed to buy sauce. Leftover veggies and I'll just make my own crust. Even if it's just peppers and onions it will be really good. So, therefore, tortilla shells and salsa came off the list.
  
• I also got dry chickpeas instead of buying chickpeas from a can for hummus. This will be cheaper in the long run. Now I just have to soak the beans and all :).
  

Other than these changes, everything was the same as what I wrote for Monday. The changes that did happen were thought through and happened before going to the grocery store.

I'm thrilled to be making sure we get our fruits, veggies, grains and legumes in and seeing that it can still make it within our budget.