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This week was a fun challenge for me, grocery budget-wise.

I was almost out of some important ingredients for my smoothies (beet powder, hemp hearts) and some other groceries, but I wanted to stick to my $100/week grocery budget.

So I got creative.

The only way I was going to be able to afford to buy the amount of food we needed for the week and stay within budget was to cash in the $50 in referral credits I had through Imperfect Foods (check out my review of Imperfect Foods). I absolutely love their service but have paused the membership due to shopping more at the farmer’s market. I kept the cart at $45 so the $4.99 shipping was also covered. I was able to restock on things we needed, like oats, bread, raisins, and peanut butter, and splurge on some fun treats like the cashew yogurt and the most amazing cheese sauce ever from Cork and Rind. It tastes like smoked gouda in sauce form. It is *chef’s kiss* perfecto.

I had to order $49 worth of ingredients through Thrive Market to get free shipping. And no, I didn’t need to take advantage of the free shipping, but what I needed brought me so close to it anyway, so I figured why not. My final total was $56, which left me with $44. The prices on the pasta were better than I see at the area stores, so I was very happy to snag a couple boxes.

We spent $22 at the farmer’s market, not counting the $2 we tipped the friendly musician. I just love the deals I can find on in-season produce! There are two stands where we buy most of our weekly produce from because they have so many great prices. The zucchini was 5/$2 at one, and the cucumbers were organic and also 5/$2. The peaches were $3 for 2 lbs. It’s so easy to stay on budget there.

Finally, I went to Aldi to grab the last few items we needed and came in $4 under budget! I don’t mind that the boys eat these processed foods for their lunches because they eat so many fruits and vegetables during the day and with dinner. Plus, they actually like the vegan versions better than the traditional meat products – which I’m totally fine with!

Normally I would have saved this money, but a new local vegan deli (yes, coolest concept ever, the chef makes all the vegan “meats” in house, and the owners are some of the coolest people) posted that everything in their deli counter was 50% off this afternoon. I bought some vegan “beef-a-roni” and potato salad. I got to meet the chef and he told me if I don’t like the beef-a-roni, he would make me a my own batch of white cheddar mac and cheese.

I might need to lie about the beef-a-roni.

Anyways, here is this week’s menu plan:

Breakfasts: our amazing loaded smoothies, oatmeal, cashew yogurt with granola and fruit

Lunches: leftovers for me, chik’n tenders, hot dogs, grilled cheese, PBJ for the boys, fruit for everyone

Dinners:

Sunday: dinner with family

Monday: Beef-a-roni, salad, garlic toast

Tuesday: kids have dinner with their dad, Avocado toast for me

Wednesday: Deviled potatoes, baked peans, BBQ jackfruit

Thursday: kids have dinner with their dad, pretzels and hummus and fruit for me

Friday: Cashew fried rice, broccoli

Saturday: vegan mac and cheese (homemade cheese sauce with sweet potatoes and carrots over some shapes mac and cheese pasta), broccoli

This week’s challenge was really fun. I love finding creative ways to provide for my family, and I especially love when this blog can help me in that endeavor! It was always a goal of mine to have the blog help out with basic necessities, and I get such joy whenever that becomes reality.

What’s the most creative way you have budgeted for food?

Don’t forget to share!