Gathering Day

I wanted to start sharing my Monday shopping hauls, costs, and weekly meal plans.  When we first decided to go paleo I thought I new what I was doing.  But knowing and doing are totally different things and I searched the internet high and low for shopping lists and budget-friendly grocery stores and found very little.  So now I want to pass on my knowledge of where and what to buy and any tips I've learned along the way along with anything new that will help anyone who is just starting out with paleo or who needs fresh ideas.

Every Monday I meet with my Mom and we hit up Costco. I think I'm addicted to that place.  For reals. These days I have been trying to keep to organic and 'clean 15' foods and  avoid the 'dirty dozen'.  This means I often shop at a variety of stores to complete my shopping list.  It's a bit of extra work, but worth it to know that my food is as close to 'natural' as it can be.

I must mention that I have an extremely lazy high-tech system for determining our weekly meals that involves picking 5 popsicle sticks each out of two jars; one filled with entrees the other with side dishes (only 5 meals  are pulled because Friday is Date Night where we eat out and Sunday is leftover day).  Genius, right?! I loathe meal planning, so I took all my favorite recipes from my brain and Pinterest page and put them on sticks in a jar.  Now fate chooses dinner for me. Boom.  Thinking is for losers. Just kidding. Sort of.

Up this week:
Pork Loin w/ wilted greens
Mini Meatloaves w/sauteed mushrooms & onion
Brinner! w/sliced baked potatoes
Kebabs w/mashed potatoes
Grilled chicken thighs w/ sweet potato fries

Some of the ingredients I already had, but the following is what I gathered yesterday to make the plan happen!

Costco:

Purchased:  2 bottles of wine (don't judge me), maple syrup, chicken thighs, pineapple, spinach, 2 bags of baby carrots.  Not pictured: Bag each of clementines and grapefruit.

Spent: $81.96 ($59.02 without the wine, but what fun is that?)

Fred Meyer:

Purchased:  dill, bananas (gotta get that potassium), sweet potatoes, red and yellow pepper, metal kebab skewers.

Spent: $18.83 ($15.84 without the skewers)

Whole Foods:

Purchased: 1lb dry rub bacon, 1 pork tenderloin, 9 kiwis, cantaloupe, 2 1lb containers of strawberries. (And, yes, that is a giant vase full of wine corks in the background. Again, no judging.)

Spent: $43.67 - this place costs more than the others which is why I leave it for last to gather the remaining items on my list.

Grand Total: $118.53 (without wine or kitchen tools).

Happy gathering!!