Walmart Challenge Week One

Okay, it's officially underway, people. As I previously wrote, I am shopping for groceries exclusively at Walmart for the whole month of October. To find out why I would accept such a challenge you can read all about it in the first post in this series.

This week I did a grocery pick-up and an online order. With Walmart's free two-day shipping, the combo of store site pick-up and ship to my door, the convenience is pretty hard to beat. I am thrilled to report, not nearly as much as the hubs, I came in under budget. Well, I'm under budget right now. By the end of the week and few runs to the store for one or two items here and there I may actually end up on budget. Still a victory in my opinion.

My weekly grocery budget is $150. I realize this is more than some and not as much as others. However, after doing a little research I found the average SNAP benefit per person per month is $125. Thus, for my family of four, the government recommends a budget of about $125 per week. So, I'm a little over that but well under the average of $180 per week for middle-income America. All that to say, I have a budget of $150 and after much trial and error, that seems to work well for our family...mostly...

This week I spent $97.64 on my store pick up and $37.59 online for a total of $135.23. I scanned my Walmart receipts but I'm not sure if I'm getting any money back via Savings Catcher. I'll keep you posted.

I do all of my meal planning via my subscription to Dashing Dish . This site has a great meal planner that allows me to either add recipes right from her site, link to any other site or input my own recipe. The membership also includes a grocery list creator that allows me to organize my list by store section (i.e. frozen, meat, produce, etc.) Additionally, all of her recipes are super yummy and healthy and so, consequently, I would say a good 80% of my meals come directly from her site. I seriously have not made one thing from Katie's site that my family didn't love. It is beyond convenient and such a blessing for my whole family.   Note: Dashing Dish is a subscription site available for $7.00 per month or $70.00 per year. This post is not sponsored or endorsed by Dashing Dish. I'm just a very satisfied customer.

My weekly meal plans include breakfast, lunch and dinner options as well as one snack and a dessert. Yes, my family eats dessert nearly every night. Life is too short not to, am I right? Not everyone eats what I've scheduled for breakfast. I live with a grown man and two teenagers, one of whom is a culinary student. Thus, if you don't want what mama's cookin' and you're willing to make yourself something else, more power to you. This also means, though, that I keep standard breakfast fare around: cereal, protein bars, Greek yogurt, frozen waffles, etc. Lunches are pretty straight forward. My youngest takes the same lunch to school every day (by request, mind you): sandwich, pretzels & fruit and the hubs eats out nearly every day. So, it's just me and my oldest around for lunch. As such, I only list our lunches and we're leftover, sandwich, salad and snack plate kinda gals. Yes, we've been known to eat the lunch of a five year old, i.e. PB & J and applesauce, and feel completely satisfied. I try to make as much of our food myself as possible, but I'm not super strict about it. As a result of more than a few questions I've received, I'm planning a follow up post on my food philosophy and our general nutritional guidelines.


So, I guess the question is, did I notice any real difference or experience any struggles shopping exclusively at Walmart. Yes and no. Confession: On Friday I made my husband go to World Market to purchase the Halloween pasta I've served my kids on Halloween for the last ten years. 

I couldn't bear the thought of breaking tradition or the rules. Have you seen this? It's completely adorable, goes with any sauce and is made from vegetables.

Oh, and I also got the sugar free Torani's Pumpkin Pie Coffee Syrup . Against the rules? Well...Even thought I will serve both in October, technically no: I did buy them on September 30. Against the spirit of the rules....maybe... Other than that, it really wasn't too bad. I had to settle for thin cut pork chops rather than the bone in chops we all like from Kroger, and Walmart was not yet carrying my favorite Sugar Free Pumpkin Spice Creamer.  Also, I did have to order a few items and have them shipped as they don't carry them and/or were out of stock in the store. These items included bread flour, whole wheat pastry flour, Truvia, individual pretzel bags (for lunches) and a variety pack of k-cups. The good news is shipping was free, the items shipped quickly and I actually saved money on the k-cups and pastry flour over the in-store prices. Go me! All in all this week went pretty smooth. Admittedly, other than legit missing my preferred shopping experience  with latte in hand at Kroger and Sprouts, I have to say: so far, so good.

Without further ado, I present week one.
I can do this, I can do this, I can do this.

Weekly Meal Plan

Monday:
Breakfast: breakfast sandwich (English muffin, egg, cheese, Canadian bacon)
Lunch: butternut squash soup* & grilled ham and cheese sandwich
Dinner: parmesan pork chops* and roasted summer veggies*
Snack: pumpkin oatmeal cups*
Dessert: homemade espresso brownies  - one of Emma's recipes, coming soon!!

Tuesday:
Breakfast: breakfast sandwich (English muffin, egg, cheese, Canadian bacon)
Lunch: butternut squash soup* & grilled ham and cheese sandwich
Dinner: Autumn Chicken Vegetable Soup* & Pumpkin Corn Muffins*
Snack: pumpkin oatmeal cups
Dessert: espresso brownies 

Wednesday:
Breakfast: orange cranberry scones (benefit of having a culinary student in the house!) 
Lunch: sandwich & salad
Dinner: leftover Chicken Vegetable Soup
Snack: pumpkin oatmeal cups
Dessert: snicker doodle cookie:  This is one of our favorite recipes - coming to the blog soon!!

Thursday:
Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs & Leftover Pumpkin Corn Muffins 
Lunch: veggie wrap
Dinner: Butternut Squash Stuffed Shells*
Snack: pumpkin oatmeal cups*
Dessert: snicker doodle cookie 

Friday:
Breakfast: Peanut Butter & Banana Toast 
Lunch: Out ( I have a date with Emma and Erik has a date with Jill!!)
Dinner: Almost Homemade Spaghetti  - Get Our Recipe Here
Snack: crackers, cheese & hummus
Dessert: Skinny No Churn Mint Chip Ice Cream*

Saturday:

Breakfast: Pumpkin Scones - an Emma original, recipe coming soon!! 
Lunch: Fajita Chicken Kabobs*
Dinner: We always eat at our church grill on Saturday nights. It's one of my favorite meals of the whole week!
Snack: apple & peanut butter
Dessert: Skinny No Churn Mint Chip Ice Cream

Sunday:
Breakfast: Pumpkin Scones 
Lunch: Either at our church grill or grilled cheese at home
Dinner: Creamy Cauliflower Crockpot Soup*
Snack: No Bake Energy Bite*
Dessert: snicker doodle cookie

* Denotes a Dashing Dish Recipe