Week 5 has come and gone, so it’s time for a recap. I’m going to keep it short this week because it was a pretty uneventful week, and because I have some recipes that I really like from week 5 that I’m itching to write up and share in a separate post!
Last week I rolled in at $294.26 – which put me $19.26 over the new budget for the week. I’m not worried however: in January I noticed that some weeks I came in under, and some over, but all in all it balanced out. I’m finding that some weeks I’m having to replenish pantry staples, which means that I end up spending more. During the other weeks though, I naturally spend less. I like having a weekly budget because it keeps me focused (and also keeps me from getting too excited and buying a lot of extra groceries that I don’t need for the week that might go to waste!) so I will be continuing with that, but as long as I come in at or under budget for each month, the weekly breakdown is more about keeping my awareness of what I’m doing than aiming for perfection every week.
The meal plan worked out fairly well, apart from the lunches towards the end of the week. I’m noticing that as my stress levels climb towards the end of the week, the lunches are the meal that is most likely to be impacted. I believe that part of the reason for that is that I often need to prepare things the evening before, and as I get to the end of the week, I feel less motivation to do that. I don’t feel like preparing food on Sunday night, so I usually avoid that, but then because my energy is low on Sunday night when I’m meal planning, I tend to put the easier lunches towards the beginning of the week and the ones that require advance prep later in the week – in spite of the fact that Monday is my favorite day of the week and I generally have loads of energy on Monday and Tuesday evenings for food prep! Now that I’m aware of it, I will take that into consideration when I’m planning my lunches for the week, and try not to get too stuck on how I’m feeling Sunday, but rather remember that Monday is almost always a really good day for me.
Those were the significant observations for the week, so without further ado, here is the menu for February 8th – 14th:
Monday:
Breakfast: Oatmeal and fried eggs
Lunch: Chicken salad sandwiches and leftover salad, fruit
Dinner: Pasta salad (improvised meal)
Tuesday:
Breakfast: Eggs, toast, grapefruit
Lunch: Leftover pasta salad (and finish up other leftovers from last week)
Dinner: Spicy potatoes with broccoli, brown rice
Wednesday:
Breakfast: Kale scrambled eggs, toast
Lunch: Fresh tomato soup with grilled cheese (improvised meal)
Dinner: Spicy lentils with peppers and tomatoes, quinoa
Thursday:
Breakfast: Mushroom cheese omelet, sautéed brussels sprouts
Lunch: Tuna salad sandwiches, pickles, fruit
Dinner: Spicy lentils with peppers and tomatoes, quinoa
Friday:
Breakfast: Eggs and buckwheat cereal
Lunch: Kale, cauliflower and sweet potato salad, bread
Dinner: Roasted cauliflower soup, side salad (improvised meal)
Saturday:
Breakfast: Eggs and herbed potatoes, citrus salad
Lunch: Kale with buckwheat and roasted beets
Dinner: Spaghetti with meat sauce (improvised meal)
Sunday:
Breakfast: Waffles with maple syrup and berries
Lunch: Chef’s salad with tahini dressing
Dinner: Chicken in fig jam with thyme, bread, minted kale with peas and feta
That’s it for the week; I hope your week went well, and as always, please leave any thoughts in the comment section!
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