Grocery Spending and Menu Plan
This week I decided to divide up my groceries and take two pictures; one of my Weis groceries($17.21)...
...and one of my Aldi groceries($35.74).
In addition to those two trips, I spent $5 at CVS...I got a bottle of Irish Spring body wash, a tube of Colgate Toothpaste, one Dry Idea deodorant, and two small boxes of Wheat Thins. However, after buying those things I got $5 in ExtraCare Bucks(they're like cash to spend at CVS), so it was basically a wash. Even if I add that in, though, I only spent $57.95, so I'm over $20 under budget.
Saturday
- Chicken Noodle Soup
- Grilled Cheese sandwiches(and I may eat some leftovers, because I don't really like chicken noodle soup!)
- a fruit salad and some random vegetables that need to be eaten
Sunday
Monday
- Grilled Honey-Mustard Chicken with grilled potatoes
- green salad
Tuesday
- Cheddar and Bacon Quesadillas
- Chips and salsa
- some sort of fruit...whatever needs using by then
Wednesday
- Cilantro Chicken Panini sandwiches
- Spinach salad
Thursday(this is Lisey's birthday, so she chose the menu)
- Stuffed Shells
- Garlic Bread
- Fruit
- Chocolate Cake(the Peeps are all for decorating her cake, in case you were wondering!)
Friday
- Deep Dish Pizza
You are an amazing shopper. I am awed every week. Have you written an entry about exactly what "rewards" cards are and how they work? I hear more and more about them, but I confess I don't really know how they work. I tend to steer clear of "special deals" because they often seem to have a catch or two, but it sounds like you've figured out how to make them work for you.
I too struggle with large bunches of herbs (especially cilantro and dill) going bad before I can use them up. That was a good price you paid for the cilantro, though.
I also wanted to let you know that I made your recipes for wheat bread and chocolate cake. They both turned out really well. I usually make the chocolate cake recipe on the back of the Hershey's unsweetened cocoa canister--it's similar to yours but uses oil rather than butter. Yours seemed easier. The wheat bread was excellent. I followed your recipe almost to the letter, though I don't have a mixer (no counter space) so I just mixed the flour in by hand. Anyway, thank you! Your recipes have been great.
I, too, am awed by your shopping. You are an inspiration! I am an older woman with a 20 year old college student still living at home. When food prices began to rise so dramatically, I cut out all convenience foods from my grocery shopping..no more sodas, bottled water, frozen waffles, box cereals etc for the college girl! Now I make homemade pancake/waffle mix, we drink water from a purified faucet filter,and make all meals from scratch. I thought she would protest and buy her food out, but she has adopted my healthy eating habits, instead! However,my food budget is still above what I would like. Hopefully, with my little container garden of vegetables this season, I can cut back even more on food purchases.
Hi:
I see in your Weis groceries you bought two potatoes. Does your Aldi's sell the 10 lb. bag of potatoes? Ours does for...I'm not sure of it's $2.49 or $3.49, but I think it's $2.49. And since they store for a while, I'll always buy the bag.
Stocking up on Potatoes is usually a good idea for those who eat them regularly. Of course, my family goes a little overboard. My parents, grandmother, my brother and I all go to this local farmstand and load up my dad's pickup truck with potatoes to last us through the winter months.
I had a great shopping week, too! I spent only $58.38 and bought only organic/local fresh produce. It took some careful menu planning but I am thrilled that I was able to buy produce that relies on sustainable farming practices and still keep within my dream budget of $80/week. Next I think I will start to include local/organic dairy products in my shopping. Cheers!
This week I spent $95, but that includes a 25 pound bag of jasmine rice! Someday I'd like to get my spending down around $80...I'm still working on it.
You got all those toiletries for 10 bucks????????????????????? You've GOT to be kidding me!!!!
Tamika, the body wash was $5, but you got $5 in ExtraCareBucks for buying it. So, I paid for that separately(spent $5, got $5 back in ECB). Then I bought the other stuff(on sale, and with coupons), used the $5 ECB to pay for it, and got another $5 in ECB back.
Clare, are you wondering about the club cards that grocery stores offer, or about credit cards that offer rewards? Let me know, and I'll answer!
Just to clarify, I paid $5 to CVS, and I walked out with $5 in ECB to spend on my next shopping trip. So, I truly did only pay $5 out of pocket.
Hi Kristen -- Hope you're doing well! I noticed that you purchased yogurts this week. You were making your own yogurt for a while... what spawned this purchase?
Valerie-I was waiting for someone to notice that! lol My husband is fond of cherry yogurt, and I still haven't figured out how to make it for him(I bought some frozen cherries and am going to give that a shot next time I make yogurt). So, every now and then when yogurt is on a good sale and I have some coupons, I buy him 10-12 little cups of yogurt.
I know it produces a lot more trash than my homemade yogurt does, and even on sale with coupons, it's not as cheap, so that's why I'm going to try to figure out how to make it myself!
My husband hates my homemade yogurt.:(
My kids like it, though, so I guess that's what really matters.:P
I was wondering about reward credit cards. I know that airline rewards cards have been around for awhile, but more and more I hear about other sorts of reward cards. Do they usually have an annual fee? I've got a cc on which I don't carry a balance (or pay a fee) that gives some percentage of my purchases to my college, but as I read about what you're buying w/your rewards, I'm beginning to think that maybe I'm missing out on something good.
Liz, that stinks. But, kids usually eat more yogurt than husbands do, so you'd probably prefer that the kids eat it. It'll save ya more money!
I drained some of mine today to make a thicker yogurt and I'm sending it in the husband's lunch with some cherry preserves on top. Wish me luck! lol Hopefully he'll like it.
Clare, thanks for clarifying. I plan to do a post on that. None of my cards have an annual fee, and I pay everything off each month, so the rewards are just extra moola. Love that!
We have a visa from Amazon.com (based here in Seattle, so I consider it a local business 😉 which gives us about $25/month in free certificates. Nowadays, they have just about everything, including food, on their site, so I have plenty to choose from. We pay the card in full every month, never carry a balance, so it's free---extra moola is the best! And I can occasionally splurge on our own copy of a book that we originally got from a library, they have tons of used books to from individual sellers which I love to use.