Project Real Food: Week 2 Recap / Week 3 Meal Plan

I have a confession to make.  I cheated.  Sam has refused to be happy this week.  Teething + Runny Nose + Tummy Problems + General Angst About Life = Stressed Out Mommy and Baby.  Nothing worked.  Let me repeat - NOTHING worked.  So he whined and fussed and cried.  All. Day. Long.  For five days straight.  By Wednesday night I had pulled all my hair out and decided to stow away on the next boat to Australia.  So I had to go to Target and get ibuprofen for Sammy, and the candy aisle was directly between the pharmacy and the checkout counter.  The people who designed my Target are jerks.  I swear, those gummy bears jumped off the shelf and into my little handbasket.  No really.  They did.

Anyway, other than what shall henceforth be known as the Gummy Bear Incident, we had a good week.  Like I said last week, Thursdays are a "cheat day", so I'm not counting the fast food lunch I had with my Papa.  Since we started this I have lost five pounds, and I feel so much better without pumping my body full of caffeine, sugar, and additives.

I decided not to do a definite meal plan this week.  We bought into a food co-op for our produce this week, and the pick up day was Saturday.  I usually do my grocery shopping on Friday, and since I wouldn't know what produce I was getting it was hard to do a plan.  Instead, I just bought a few staples and supplemented with anything I didn't get in my basket by making a quick trip to Sprouts on Saturday after the pick up.  Here's the breakdown:

Produce $30  (The co-op was $15, and I supplemented with $15 for things I usually buy but didn't get in the co-op basket)
Grains/Bulk Items  $25
Dairy  $6
Meat  $12

Total  $73


The biggest frustration I have is trying to find nuts and grains at a decent price.  I can get large bags of raw nuts at Costco for a great price per pound, but if I spend $15 on a bag of pecans it makes a huge dent in the weekly budget.  I think next time I have some unexpected cash I'll make an investment at Costco, but until then I'll do the best I can at the Sprouts bulk bins.  The co-op was a great choice for us!  Yes, we spent $30 on produce (just like always) but we got almost double the food that we've been getting for the price.  Great bargain!