We have now been doing Emeals off and on for over 3 years. We have changed plans several times and now we are using the new Paleo plan: 7 days of meals for 2 people with no specific grocery store. This particular plan is based on the Paleo diet and is focused on veggies, eggs, healthy fats & meat with optional cheese. No grains, rice or pasta.
I have always thought that eating healthier was more expensive than eating the standard American diet. But today I did so good and was able to get so much food at such a low price! Since we are on a budget, I wanted to post my shopping trip from today for motivation/inspiration. This is with little to no effort (such as shopping for the best deal, using coupons, buying bulk, etc).
This entire haul was only $76.82 and included my lunch (from today), dog food, laundry detergent and discount Halloween candy. When you subtract the cost of my lunch, the detergent, dog food, candy and generic coke, the cost of our food groceries was only $53.84 – not bad when you consider that we cook all meals at home except for the random pizza delivery or Mexican meal out. When you subtract the bacon (not used for the suppers), that is $48.85 for the ingredients for 7 meals for two people, or $6.98 per meal. Each meal is 2-4 servings, so this is 1.75-3.49 per meal, per person. I’m not sure if that is good or not, but it seems cheap to me, especially when compared to eating out! Of course, several of the items are condiments or more than what is actually needed for the recipes…for example, I bought an entire bag of onions instead of just 2 onions. But I assume it evens out over time when I use items that I already have from previous shopping trips.
Stores: Wal Mart (I HATE this place, but really the prices are great.) & Belle Foods (formerly Bruno’s). The trick is only getting what is on your list!!! That was hard! I had to put several items back after reconsidering.
