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$140 Later…We Hug It Out

$140 Later…We Hug It Out

Lisa Eirene

About Lisa Eirene Lisa lost 110 pounds through calorie counting and exercise. She swims, bikes, runs, hikes and is enjoying life in Portland, Oregon. Her weight loss story has been featured in First Magazine, Yahoo Health, Woman's Day and Glamour.com.

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29 Comments

  1. Carbzilla

    Yes, I am familiar with the “I was not included” expression. Since I didn’t meet my SO until I was 32 and didn’t get married until I was 37, I’d gotten used to making a lot of my own decisions. It’s a familiar theme but I’ve gotten so much better. It’s good that this forced you to have a talk. It made me laugh in a been there/done that way. The meal planning looks great – looks like you found a great solution that’s customized for you guys. I’m very interested to hear about 4-Hour body too!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Tiff that was definitely part of the problem I think. Most of the time I consult Michael in decisions but once in awhile I do fall back into my “old ways.” I was a self-sufficient single gal that never had roommates for like 10 years…then I moved in with Michael and had to change a lot of how I do things. It’s usually okay, sometimes I forget other people have opinions too. ๐Ÿ™‚

  2. Amy Ramos

    that is great you both of you are on the same page of meal planning. Hubby & I go grocery shopping once a week & costco runs once 4-6 weeks for now, this works for us. I have a mini white board on the fridge & we write out our meals for the week. Breakfast & lunch are easy but dinner is the harder part.
    have you thought of using a crockpot for busy nights?

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I do crockpot recipes probably 2-3 times a month. I love doing those types of recipes.

  3. Jenn

    Meal planning is rough! I’m trying to get everyone in this house to sit with me and go over what to do. My dad and Steve are spending TOO much time at the store each week. Wasting money, and then we get frustrated and end up buying a pizza.
    I can’t get anyone to commit to sitting with me and I don’t want to do it alone, because we’d have Thai soup 4 nights a week (which is perfectly OK with me). My dad hates chicken, I’m cutting back on my red meat. It’s a disaster waiting to happen. If I can make chicken not taste like chicken (which I can do with my hand tied behind my back) then I could master this meal planning thing.

    Long story short, I totally feel your pain.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Yep! Pizza or burritos end up being the go-to meal when the planning goes awry. But I think we’ve got a good handle on it now.

  4. Lori

    Funny – I am reading the 4-hour body now as well. Interesting, let’s just say that. I’m certainly not taking any ice baths LOL!

    We shop once a week and try to keep around $100.

    Once a month we go to the local smokehouse to pick up meat, which we then package in smaller amounts and freeze.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Lori I haven’t read the book yet. Michael is reading it and reading me parts of it he finds interesting (or weird). I find that most quotes he reads me from the book just make me mad. But since I haven’t read it yet I’m reserving all opinions other than “that’s interesting.” ๐Ÿ™‚

  5. Christi

    I normally go shopping twice a week. I have a fairly small refridgerator and limitted pantry space. I try to keep my budget to $150 per week, but $200 is my cap.
    I always go with meal plans in hand. With 6 people in the family, eating out is not usually an option. Even fast food, we can’t get away for less than $40.
    For some reason even “green” fruits and veggies always ripen and ruin within 5 days of buying them (the climate we live in?), bread and milk are the other things I can’t seem to keep enough of.
    I do try to avoid pre-packaged foods, or I am sure that would dramatically escalate my grocery bill.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      The fruits and veggies require us to go more than once a week. I’m not a fan of canned or frozen veggies so it’s a must.

  6. Merinda

    I try to go shopping once a week. What I at least attempt to do is cook one or two meals that will feed us for the week so that I only have to spend one day cooking. I tend to spend about 100 a week or so, maybe less, depending on staples. I’ve got a relatively small apartment fridge and freezer.

    It’s better for us if I take care of the shopping and cooking, lol. Hubby will argue with me if I bring him to the store if I buy something even a few cents more expensive (like the omega-3 eggs). And he really doesn’t care what I cook as long as there is no tofu or fake meat involved and there isn’t a lot of seafood.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I’m the opposite– I’m the one that is stricter with money and want to choose store brand or sale items!

  7. Kalin

    I go to the grocery store a lot, but that’s because I pick Josh up frm his vanpool right by a safeway… so it’s a way to kill time.
    But for real shopping we do Costco about every 2 weeks, Winco once a month (bulk foods, bulk spices, canned goods, etc there), and then Fred Meyer about once every week or two-depends on how our spinach and fruit stash is.

    I have no idea how much we spend. Terrible, huh?

    1. Lisa Eirene

      We go to Winco for stuff like spices and canned things too. It’s much cheaper.

  8. Ivie

    We meal plan and shop once a week.
    We spend about $200 a week, and this includes beer/wine and staples that are occasionally replenished – spices, oils, vinegars.
    It always seems to comes out about $200, $150 on a good week when we plan less fancy dinners – like chili, pasta, and burgers.

  9. Miz

    we spend a lot.
    I spend a lot.
    I need to budget more in a way—and yet I happily spend littlelittle on my, well, everything else ๐Ÿ™‚ in order to do this.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      We don’t set out a budget when we go grocery shopping though. When I go alone to stock up on the week’s of fresh items it runs about $50 but when we have to go together (and hit Costco) it’s insane.

  10. Beth @ Beth's Journey to Thin

    Good for you for getting a system into place! I do loosely meal planning, but I just use a draft in my inbox where I put some meal ideas, think about what I have going on for the week and what nights I’ll be home cooking, and plug things in. I want to get a little more sophisticated about it, but I don’t want it to take up so much time that it takes away the fun, you know?

  11. Amber from Girl with the Red Hair

    We usually do one BIG grocery trip a month (that was yesterday) and then go once a week or so to restock our fresh veggies and fruit. We have a strict $400/month budget! In past months I have just wrote down in my planner the cost every time we went grocery shopping and we are usually between $400 and $450. This month I tried something new by taking out $400 cash and keeping it in an envelope at our house. Every time we go grocery shopping the money comes out of there. And once it’s out. It’s out and we eat what’s in the cupboards/freezers.

    I am not very good at meal planning but I do tend to go into the weeks with a general idea of what we’re going to eat. We tend to eat the same variation of things throughout the week – veggie burgers, veggie pizza, roasted vegetables + quinoa etc.

    I like your spreadsheet though! Very thorough and organized!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I love the idea of having cash in an envelope and all the grocery money comes out of that. What a cool idea to stick to a budget!!

  12. Jennifer

    This is so great! I love that you sat down and discussed your meals for the upcoming week. I try to do this when I spend time with my BF on the weekends. When we move in together soon, I think it’d be great to try your method. He’s not as much of a “planner” as I am and would just pick stuff up from McDonald’s if he didn’t feel like cooking, so I’m hoping we can work together to cut that from our “Plan B” list. I like the idea of freezing pre-made hamburgers as a “go-to” meal in case neither of us feel like cooking one night. And good for you for eating your couscous! I need to realize that if I want a side of peppers and onions for my tacos, he doesn’t have to eat them (because he hates them) but I can still have them!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Good luck with the move in! I hope that you and your boyfriend can get it coordinated. There’s no reason you can’t eat things you want just because of him not liking it. For the most part Michael and I are on the same page with food but there’s thing I don’t like (mushrooms) that he does.

  13. Julia

    Just found your blog and am enjoying bouncing through your posts. I am really hoping to get healthier (I need to lose about 20 lbs) – and need to get better at meal planning. Our grocery budget hovers around $300 a month or less, and we eat loads of fresh produce and lean protein. Having a plan would help me eat better though!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Hi Julia, thanks for reading! I hope you can find some things on my site to help you on your way. ๐Ÿ™‚

  14. Erin

    Would you mind posting your next meal plan? I’m a big meal planner but not as Type A as having a excel spreadsheet, lol. I also like to try new healthy recipes. I love Gina’s WW recipe blog too! I’ve tried many of her recipes. Thanks!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Sure, I’ll include next week’s meal plan when we make it this weekend.

      The dip was the first recipe I tried from Gina’s website but I enjoyed it a lot and plan on using more.

  15. Eva

    It’s funny.. I love shopping for food. If I go fewer than two times in a week, it’s surprising. But with our subscription to Organics to You in the winter and a CSA in the summer, I’m usually going for staples — dry goods, milk, cheese — or the odd piece of produce that didn’t come in the box that week — often green onions, chiles, a lemon. I could happily go to New Seasons every single day.

    Our budget is $400/month for groceries (for two people), including produce from our CSA/O2Y. I haven’t been watching it very carefully recently, but in general I use to keep track of my spending and budgets. I can’t recommend Mint enough to anyone looking to get a better hold on their spending habits. It’s a pretty intuitive site and has helped me tremendously, though I’m still terrible at managing my money.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I actually really enjoy grocery shopping too. It’s just the multiple trips to the grocery store that I object to. Once a week is okay for me. ๐Ÿ™‚

  16. Erin

    I highly recommend Gina’s pot pie soup recipe! Excellent!

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