Chicken and Chorizo and Cheese, Oh My!

Trying to avoid the sporadic downpours we had yesterday, I headed west to Trader Joe's and Super Target, two of my all-time favorite stores.  After all, we had zero fruit left in the house, and I needed to get the grocery shopping done before yet another busy week commenced.

As usual, I first planned out exactly what we were going to eat for every meal and snack of the week.  (Or, let me be more accurate: exactly what I was going to eat and cook for dinner; The Boy often grabs random things on the way to/from work for his breakfast, lunch, and snacks.)

Here are the dinner plans for this week:

DINNER

Shrimp kabobs + rice w/ veggies + Brussels sprouts

Chipotle shrimp taco w/ avocado lime coleslaw + green beans

Mussels in green curry sauce + ¼ c brown rice + asparagus

Palmer’s salad

Pan-grilled chicken w/ chorizo confetti + sweet potato + asparagus

Spicy baked shrimp + ¼ c brown rice + green beans

Then, I go through every single meal for the week and figure out exactly what I need to purchase from the store to make that meal possible:

As I noted on Instagram, this looked like it would be an expensive excursion.

Here's what I bought:

Look at all of the produce!  In the mix:

• Brussels sprouts x 2
• Sweet peppers (for snacking)
• Basil
• Avocados
• Coleslaw mix
• Spinach x 2
• Cilantro
• Parsley
• Limes
• Lemon
• Apples
• Baby carrots
• Bananas
• Bell peppers -- green, yellow, red
• Sweet potato
• Onion
• Strawberries
• Tomato

And there are probably other things hiding under that mound of fruits and veggies.  But you get the gist.

Here's where the expensive-ness kicked in -- with the freezer items:

I had to buy a lot of meat:

• Frozen chicken breasts
• Shrimp (two pounds)
• Shrimp skewers (because I forgot to defrost the fish we were going to eat last night and needed a fast alternative)

The refrigerated items:

In the mix:

• Tempeh
• Eggs
• Laughing Cow cheese
• Babybel cheese x 3 (y'all were right: way less expensive at Trader Joe's)
• Coconut water
• Unsweetened Coconut Almond Breeze
• Butter
• Soy chorizo (it was supposed to be real chorizo, but I couldn't find it; let's see if The Boy notices)

And finally, the pantry items:

In the mix:

• Apple cider vinegar
• Light coconut milk
• Green curry sauce
• Chicken stock
• Corn tortillas
• Luna Bars (chocolate-dipped coconut)
• Olive oil
• Cooking spray
• Israeli couscous
• Soy sauce

I still need to buy more oatmeal, some chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, and mussels.  But, whew: that was the majority.

And here's the damage:

I spent $76.26 at Trader Joe's and $52.58 at Target for a grand total of $128.84 for the week.

It is less than I spent the first week and more than I spent last week.  However, I think that that is pretty much how this is going to go: one expensive week, one less expensive week, which likely averages to around $100 per week on groceries.

This week, like I said, I had to restock on meat.  Next week, I won't have to buy as much of that.  I also bought a couple of extra sweet potatoes (unless we go crazy and eat 'em all this week), extra avocados, and likely more cheese than we'll actually eat.  So, hopefully next week will be less breaking of the bank.

What's on your meal plan for the week?