Grocery Spending and Menu Plan-2.21
I forgot a few essentials(like butter and toilet paper!) when I went shopping last week, so I made a $12 stop-gap trip to Aldi. This meant that I only had $68 to work with this week.
Most of the meat we're eating this week is coming from my freezer stash, excepting the Italian sausage, which is going into the soup for Sunday. In fact, a large portion of the ingredients for our meals this week are coming from my pantry or freezer.
I spent $54.44 at Aldi, and then instead of going to Weis, I went to Shoppers Food Warehouse because they had the Italian sausage on sale. I spent $16.81 there(I bought sausage, brown rice, tortellini, onions, ginger root and potatoes, which were all things that Aldi doesn't carry. And I swear that I did not buy the rice and potatoes because of the discussion in the comments after last week's menu! lol It just so happened we needed both items.).
That's $71.25 altogether, which would be fine except that I made that $12 trip early in the week. Adding that in puts me at $83.25, which is $3.25 over my goal. However, after shopping last week I was still under budget by $2.25 for the month. And that means that currently, I'm only over budget this month by $1...yay! I can easily make that up next week. So, I'm shooting for $79 or less next week. 😉
As a reminder(because I get this question a lot), the $80 budget includes all of our toiletries and cleaning products as well as the food for all of our meals.
For breakfast this week, we'll have oranges, bananas, muffins, oatmeal, cold cereal, and bagels(not all on one day, obviously!). Lunch will be a combination of leftovers, whole wheat bread, yogurt, baby carrots, and fruit.
And here's what we'll be eating at dinnertime.
Saturday(Joshua is at a friend's house, and we're sort of having a clean the freezer night)
- Beef Ravioli
- Pasta with cilantro pesto(me)
- corn(all of us)
- fresh strawberries(all of us)
- misc. bread from the freezer(all of us)
Sunday(my in-laws are coming over for a birthday celebration. )
- Green Salad
- Tortellini Soup
- French Bread
- Cherry Cheesecake
Monday
- Swiss Mushroom Chicken
- Potato Rolls
- Green Salad
Tuesday
- Shrimp and Vegetable Stir-Fry with brown rice(veggies will be carrots, broccoli, and green onions)
- Grapefruit halves
Wednesday
- Chicken Pasta Primavera(I use fresh vegetables instead of the frozen the recipe suggests, and I grill the chicken instead of sauteeing it in the pan)
- Garlic Bread(I have a ridiculous number of baguettes to use up)
Thursday
- Onion Beef Au Jus(I use a top sirloin roast instead of a rump roast, as per Cook's Illustrated) on french bread
- fruit salad
Friday
- Grilled Pizza
- green salad
Hey thanks for posting your food pictures. I actually get ideas for what to buy at Aldi's. I branched out and tried their cream cheese and natural peanut butter b/c I saw it pictured here. I was SHOCKED that the PB was so good. I am a brand name gal in the PB dept. so it was a big discovery for me!
BTW I came up with a plan for the money I have been saving for groceries. I am going to continue to budget the same amount for groceries even though I have been spending much less and I am going to deposit the leftover cash in a savings account. In 6 months I will tell my husband what I've saved. It just seems more exciting than using it for gas or grabbing a coffee out etc. He knows the plan but will not know the amount!
I had another amazing week - $47.54! I'm also pulling items out of the pantry and freezer - and then they will be pretty depleted and I will need to restock and have higher bills every few weeks or so, but I think the challenge of an $80 food budget for this month has completely changed the way I think about our food/household expenses, and even I feel comfortable saying, like Becky, that I will be able to consistently put a lot of money not spent on food towards a saving goal!
Becky, that's great! I'm glad to hear the pictures have been helpful. And good plan for the cash you've saved...it's a lot more fun to save money up for stuff other than groceries.
And good job, Stacey! Under $50 is awesome.
Not enough veggies 🙂
Har-de-har-har, Jenny.
:p
Also, you forgot the potatoes :D.
The potato rolls sound good. I am actually in the process of making your quick dinner rolls (they are awaiting the second rise and will then be put in the heat box in about 15 minutes.
hey kristen, you should check out this website: http://www.greatdepressioncooking.com/Depression_Cooking/Episodes.html
Then you can learn how to cook potatoes and pasta in a single dish! hehe
Nah, it actually is quite 'cute' - it's this 91-year-old lady teaching "Depression Cooking".
I need to do that. Clean the freezer and see what needs to be used up. That's why we always have food to throw out every few weeks. Your dinner plans sound lovely!
I was curious if you stock your freezer on the $80 a month, or if you buy meat in bulk on occasion, and that's not part of your budget? My husband wants to spend $70 a week at Aldi for our family of 5, and we currently have beef and chicken in the freezer. However, the name brand enjoyer (me) wants to have a Kroger budget so I can get a few things that Aldi just can't beat IMHO.
Also, I cooked the pasta and peas two days ago (from the great depression link)...and it was actually good.
Alison in KY