What's Cooking 2.16-2.22

Today I spent $26 at Earth Fare, our expensive whole foods store, and $33.26 at Aldi. That lead to a grand total of $59.26 for the week! Over $20 under my $80 budget! I am very, very pleased.

At Earth Fare I bought locally-milled and organic whole wheat flour, tea (my husband's must-have), and spices in bulk - buying these items in bulk helps cut down on some of the cost for the higher quality and also cuts down on packaging (because I bring my own bags) and that's important to me. I also bought local apples ($5.99 for 5 pounds) and organic bananas (.79/pound).

For many years I bought organic and locally-produced food almost exclusively, but that led to grocery bills of $150-400 a week. Now I am more interested in spending less in order to meet some long-term financial goals, but I still try to make choices that have the least negative environmental impact (eating mostly vegetable-based meals and buying locally in season when the cost is not much higher and the quality is so much better - at the moment the apples and flour are good examples of this).

And, of course, I'm still counting the days until we can benefit from the $500 share I bought into a local, organic farm that will provide our produce from late spring to early fall. This will work out to be about $25 a week for produce - the amount and variety completely depend on what is growing - which is much more than I would spend at our discount grocer, but I will always choose to support our local farm because...well, this will be an entire blog post some other time, but suffice to say I think it's the right thing to do.

Here's what we're eating this week:


Monday
Black Bean Chilequile (Layers of corn tortillas, black beans sauteed with garlic, onion, red and green peppers, spinach, salsa and cheese.)
Green Salad

Tuesday (I'm at work again for my 24-hour shift and D likes to keep it fast and simple.)
Whole Wheat Spaghetti and Meatballs
Steamed Broccoli

Wednesday
Halibut served over
Lentils, Sweet Potatoes and Mustard Sauce
Green Salad

Thursday
Buckwheat Soba Noodles and Tofu
with Steamed Veggies (Broccoli, Cauliflower and Carrots)
and Miso-Almond Sauce

Friday
Pizza (with homemade dough and sauce)
with Roasted Peppers and Onions
Spinach Salad

Saturday
Cajun Skillet Beans with Red and Green Peppers
Corn Scones
Spinach Salad

Sunday
Sunny-Side Eggs served over
Fried Rice with Soy Sausage and Veggies
Grapefruit