I'm over budget.
This was not my best week ever....I spent $38.59 at Aldi, $2.43 at Shoppers, and $50.25 at Weis, which means I forked over a total of $91.27. So, I'm $11 over my budget for this week, which isn't terrible, but isn't fabulous either. I'll do better next week!
Saturday
- grilled bratwurst on buns
- steamed green beans
- corn
Sunday
- French Toast
- Orange Juice
Monday
- Chicken Quesadillas
- Orange slices
- broccoli
Tuesday
- BBQ Beef Sandwiches
- Homemade buns
- Spinach Salad
Wednesday(my husband is going to miss dinner, which means I'm uninspired about cooking!)
- Macaroni and Cheese for the kids, and a free frozen dinner from Kashi for me
- Grapefruit halves
Thursday
- Roast Beef Panini sandwiches made with french bread
- steamed green beans
Friday
- Deep Dish Pizza
- green salad
- root beer
We also had bratwurst on buns today. Chicken quesadillas ended up being yesterdays dinner, which was actually a way to use up some stuff that would have gotten thrown otherwise.
Do you include contact lens solution in your groceries? Wow - we'd do a different category on our budget for that!
Over budget is always a bummer. Looking at the picture of your groceries I had a couple ideas for you to consider. Would you be willing to buy the quart jug of plain or vanilla yogurt and then just flavor it with a cut up piece of fruit? That would have to be significantly less than buying 9 little containers of yoplait. Also, I see you buy name-brand cereal. The store brand cereals are fine. Just some things to consider.
Franci-yep, I include all toiletries, and cleaning products. The contact solution is what put me over, actually..it was $13. But, it will last me for a while.
Tracy-I make vanilla yogurt from a gallon of milk for me and the kids. However, I haven't done enough experimenting to find a way to make some that pleases my husband, so the little containers are for him. He likes cherry yogurt, so I need to figure out how to make my own. I bought some frozen cherries, so I'm hoping to experiment with those next time I make yogurt. I got those 12 containers for about $.40 apiece, so they weren't outrageously expensive.
I do buy off brand cereal sometimes, but due to a good store promotion, I got 9 boxes of Mini-Wheats for $12, which is just a little more than a dollar a box. I can't usually get off-brand cereal that cheaply(at Aldi a box of shredded wheat is $1.79).
I spent $12 on the cereal, $13 on the contact solution, and $13-$14 on the chicken breasts(they were $1.69 a pound), so I had three bigger ticket items all at once.
Thanks for linking to the Deep Dish Pizza Recipe. We are really scaling back our grocery budget and pizza is one of those things that my husband really misses when we don't eat out. I'm going to try these this week. Thanks Kristen!
Kristen, Her Majesty practically lives off of Frosted Mini-Wheats. Using a coupon, I was able to get 2 for $1.25 each.
I know this is not like shop yogurt, but the taste is pretty good if you mix natural home-made yogurt with jam for a flavoured yogurt, especially if the jam is chunky.
hey kristen- looks like you and I will be having the same thing for dinner Wednesday night! I cashed in my Kashi coupon (worth $4.50 at my store) for Chicken Pomadoro. I plan to cash in my free appetizer at TGIF Wednesday too - so I will definately have a feast.
FRANCI! What is UP with contact lense solution? That stuff has gotten more and more expensive. Any hints about this would be great as I wear soft lenses...
Kristen- keep up the great work. Feeding a family has to be a challenge. We're a couple and that is challenging enough!
You are so funny with your Root Beer and Peeps!!
I buy a double pack of the target brand contact solution and I find it works just as well. I think its about 4.39 for 2 bottles. Walmart has a store brand too and so does Costco.
When the website came up and I saw the picture, I thought, wow! Look at all that food. Even though you went over budget, you came home with a big load of groceries. I always find it more disappointing to spend a lot and not have much to show for it (like a bunch of OTC medication - even the house brands are expensive).
Just had to let you know, I made the pizza. Hubby loved it. Linked to your recipe in my blog post today where I listed my menu for the next few weeks. Thanks again, Kristen!
I buy a big box of activa yogurt from Sams club for about $6. There are 24 containers of yogurt in each box and they are pretty good. It comes in vanilla, peach and strawberry flavors.