Mostly Plant-Based Menu Plan and Grocery List 6/11/2015-6/17/2015

Around here, I try to keep the food really simple.  My husband and I have been entirely plant-based for a year and a half.  In restaurants I refer to myself as vegan, but I do eat honey.  I just use the term while I'm out because it makes it really clear to other people which foods I definitely don't do.  The kids are almost entirely vegetarian.  I have one boy who will jump at the chance to eat ham at family parties and such, but the other two usually decline.  When my husband and I changed our diet we made a conscious decision not to "outlaw" any foods for the kids.  I explained the change to them in child-friendly terms and we stopped serving meat in the house.  They still typically have two servings a week each of eggs, yogurt, and cheese.

Breakfast is pretty boring.  Usually some combination of fruit, cereal, toast, oatmeal or yogurt for the kids and a green smoothie or oatmeal for me and my husband.  Lunch is usually a fruit and a veggie for the kids with a pb&j, eggs, grilled cheese, a bagel or yogurt.  I tend to eat leftovers.

Dinners get a little tricky.  We do them as a family, but I don't think there is a single meal that I serve where every family member eats every part of the meal.  For example, my husband and I eat cornmeal pancakes with our chili, but the kids skip the chili.  Two of the three kids and the grownups eat lentil loaf and my other son doubles up on his veggies and calls it a meal.  I think each child has one kind of bean that they'll eat on purpose.  We bake all of our own bread, so I blend cooked beans and raw nuts and seeds with the liquids before I mix the dough and that way I know they are getting a variety of nutrients and a little boost of protein with every slice.  On a normal day the kids each eat three different vegetables and four fruits, but often their serving sizes are bigger than the standard.  We're all about progress, not perfection.

Our grocery budget is $200 a week for a family of 5, but that doesn't account for a couple of dry goods items I get on subscription from Amazon.com.  I know that amount might make some people faint, but up until I read the Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey at the beginning of the year, I didn't even have a grocery budget and we were spending an outrageous amount.  Another opportunity for progress.


Dinners
Salad and Chick'n Strips
Chili and Cornmeal Pancakes
Split Pea Soup and Grilled Cheese
Lentil Loaf
Lemon Soup and Scrambled Eggs
Black Bean Fajitas
Leftovers or Homemade Pizza

I had a lot of the dry goods on hand already at the beginning of this meal plan, so the grocery list was manageable.  We are also due to get our first farm share on Tuesday, so that's kind of a veggie wildcard!

Mozzarella Cheese                                                  Spinach x 2 10oz
Almond Milk x 3                                                     Red Peppers x 3
Yogurt                                                                     Lemons x 2
                                                                                Garlic x 2 bulbs
Canned Tomatoes x 2                                             Carrots x 3lbs
Split Green Peas                                                      Celery
Tea                                                                          Broccoli x 4 heads
Coffee                                                                     Red Peppers x 3
Whole Wheat Flour                                                Vidalia Onions x 2
Cinnamon                                                               Romaine Hearts
Thyme                                                                     Cucumber x 2
                                                                                Whole Watermelon
Crackers                                                                  Apples x 3lbs
Bagels                                                                     Bananas x 2 bunches (12?)
                                                                                Nectarines x 4lbs
Cereal x 3                                                               Avocado x 2
Frozen Pineapple and Blueberries                         Parsley
                                                                                Sweet Potatoes x 2
Maple Syrup                                                           Small Red Cabbage
Chick'n Strips                                                         Red Onion
                                                                               Beets x 3
Popsicles - kids                                                      String Beans x 1.5lbs
Chocolate Cat Cookies - kids

 Tonight's vegan chili with quinoa and sweet potato made in our InstantPot.

The little girly enjoying her pancakes and string beans.  The nectarines were gobbled up too fast to get a picture of them.