Grocery Spending and Menu Plan-2.7
I spent $42.85 at Aldi. My big ticket item there was a three pound boneless ham...it was marked $2 off, and I figured that we could get several meals out it.
And, at Weis I spent a mere $29.12.
Grapes were on sale for $.88 a pound at Safeway, so I stopped in there and picked up several pounds for $4. $.88 a pound is an awesome price!
So, all told, I'm at $75.97, a few dollars under my $80/week goal for February. I'm super happy about that, especially because I bought a ham and two large packs of chicken pieces that aren't even on this week's menu...they're for next week. So, I should have no problem staying at or under $80 next week either.
Here's what I'm cooking thing week with my cheap groceries. 🙂
Saturday
- Ham sandwiches(on homemade rolls, naturally)
- purple grapes
- potato chips
Sunday
- Pancakes
- OJ
- fried cornmeal mush
Monday
- Arepas with a chicken, lime, and cilantro filling
- grapes
- maybe some chips if there are any left by Monday 😉
Tuesday
- Beanless Chili(because my husband was sick last week, we had chicken noodle soup instead of this. Soo, it got bumped!)
- Cornbread
- Grapefruit
Wednesday
- Chicken and Shrimp fajitas with grilled peppers and onions
- fruit salad
Thursday
- Pizza
- I know! On a Thursday???? That's because.......
Friday
- ....on Friday, the husband and I are having our annual Valentine's Day seafood takeout dinner(we send the kids to their bedrooms to play quietly and we pretend we are eating all by ourselves). And yes, I know that Friday is most certainly not Valentine's Day, but we like to do this a day early to avoid the rush at the seafood place. And yes, I know that a seafood takeout dinner is not at all frugal, but sometimes a girl just has to splurge. 🙂
You've pulled me out of lurking -- I'm so surprised that you buy flour tortillas! If you have a skillet, making them from scratch is super easy and definitely frugal!
My husband makes them almost every day - he just eyeballs everything, mostly flour and water until it's a nice doughy texture, then he rolls out egg sized balls and cooks them on a hot dry skillet. The recipes online say to use oil or shortening in the dough, but we like it better without.
So delicious, and way less time consuming than bread!
Ah, Zoe is a delightful name(my youngest is named Zoe, in case you hadn't seen yet).
I've made flour tortillas a few times before, but they were so tough and chewy. Any tips for me would be welcome!
tough and chewy? that doesn't sound nice. Maybe rolling them thinner would help? Or having more water in your dough? Or cooking them at a higher temperature for a shorter time? Eating them hot off the skillet so they aren't stale?
Of course, I'm just guessing. We've never had a problem with the texture, and I don't know how you did it!
My husband also suggested mixing 1/3 corn flour in with the wheat, and see if you like that texture better.
Boy, that doesn't look like very much stuff for a week for 6 people! We're only 4 and I buy way more stuff! We also go through 8 litres of milk in a week!
Franci, I always think that too when I put it all together and take a picture! lol You have to keep in mind, of course, that four of the six of us are children, and two of those four children are pretty small. So, it's not like I'm feeding six adults.
And too, some of what we eat this week will be from my cupboards/freezer(for instance, I bought scads of flour at Christmastime, so I use that to make our bread).
The only one here who likes to drink milk is my husband, so we go through one gallon between that and using it for cereal. The other gallon will be 4 quarts of yogurt.
I'm stuck on the vegetable factor! As a mom, I look at your menu plan and it is seriously lacking vegetables. So many good nutrients and antioxidants come from veggies! That's my two cents worth for the day.
I am impressed with your tenacity for pre-planning for shopping and meals. I still will sometimes impulse buy. Getting better about it...but every now and then those store signs and displays get me! LOL!
I agree with Gail about the vegetables, but have never had the nerve to say anything - LOL!!!
Also, whenI look at that amount of fruit I wonder how that is enough for 6 people for a week. There are only 4 in my family and we would be throught that fruit (with the exception of all of the bananas) in about 2 days.
That's funny timing, Gail, because I was just looking in my fridge yesterday and thinking that very nearly the whole thing was taken up by produce. lol
We don't ever eat vegetables for breakfast, this much is true. However, at lunch we eat yogurt smoothies(make with homemade yogurt, frozen strawberries(which are very nutritious), bananas, and fresh spinach(which is exceedingly healthy). We also eat baby carrots at lunch sometimes, and my kids like to eat grape tomatoes as a snack.
I looked back at one of my old dinner plans(I think it was two weeks ago), and on Monday we had a spinach salad, Wednesday our main course was a romaine salad, and on Friday we had a salad. When I make our salads, I put in cucumber, carrots, mushrooms, tomatoes, and greens, so we get a fair amount of variety in there.
This week(and last, I think, if I remember right), we're heavier on the fruit, but I think that fruit is really nutritious too.
Then too, some of our main courses have lots of veggies in them. My tortellini soup has tomatoes, green peppers, onions, and carrots in it, the fajitas we're having this week have grilled vegetables(onions, and green and red peppers), and so on.
That said, I think that we could stand to eat more vegetables(and fruit), and so as I said when you commented on this previously, I'm trying to get into the habit of incorporating more fresh stuff into our diets.
We are a really healthy bunch...all of us are at very healthy weights, and we are hardly ever sick(in the last three years, I think we've only been to the doctor once for something other than a well-checkup).
Heather-are your kids older than mine? Mine are all still fairly young, and they're not huge eaters either. My husband and I don't have enormous appetites either, so we probably go through less food per capita(haha) than a lot of other households.
Since a few are asking some pointed questions, I will pose mine: How do you figure getting seafood take-out into your weekly budget? Are you planning to use a gift card or does it get covered by another account, say "entertainment"? I ask, especially, because this question came up for me this week: When I've spent all the money I've designated for the budget, what do I do when I am considering going over it? I had met my budget of $80 for the week, but then I realized yesterday that I'd like to have some ice cream for the kids who were coming over for a party with their parents. I decided to take the $4 for the 1/2 gallon of Breyer's out of my "wish" jar. My husband and I both keep a jar that we fill with money that comes from "unexpected" windfalls like when I sell some clothes to a consignment shop or he gets money for his birthday. We see that as money that we can spend completely at our own discretion - me for a pedicure with a friend or he for getting a beer out with friends. I know the spirit of following a budget for you and me isn't about "sacrifice" - it's about spending thoughtfully, especially if it will make possible other things we'd like to do, like taking a trip to the beach. I'm just wondering how you are reconciling this matter this week, in particular, and for the future, in general. I can get so wrapped up in the "challenge" that I think I can lose the forest for the trees, so I'm really looking forward to having your perspective on this. 🙂
Oh yes, please do feel free to ask pointed questions! As long as you're not being mean about it, I can handle some criticism(at least, I'll try...criticism is probably at least a little bit painful for everyone!).
Your question is a good one. Before I met my husband, I was more the type to lose the forest for the trees(in fact, I'm thinking about doing a post on that topic). Left to myself, I'd probably go to frugal extremes, but he has helped to mellow me out a bit. Because of him I've learned to splurge every once in a while, and I think I live a more balanced life now.
Because I budget $80-$100 a week, and I've been at $80 or under for almost every week this year, I have some extra money in my budget to play around with, and we'll use that money for the seafood. Since we do takeout, it's a lot less expensive than a nice restaurant seafood meal would be(it'll probably cost $35-$40), and that's just not a huge deal in the long run to me. I wouldn't do it every week, but once a year is totally do-able.
We do the wish money thing too, except we call it "fun money". Birthday money, money from side gigs(like when I play for a wedding), and other money like that goes into our fun money accounts. My husband spends all of his right away, but I currently have $100 in my fun money account. lol
Great! Thanks so much for your speedy reply! Yes, you and I are very much alike when it comes to how we look at this matter. I really appreciate your perspective - and, as in all matters, how open and honest you are about sharing.
Oh, and just for you, I did an Amy Dacyczyn-like cost break down of the party fare I served last night. 🙂 I fed a crowd of 8 adults and 3 kids for $13! I was very, very pleased! You can read about it at my blog. 🙂
Oooh, good job!!! Parties can really blow a grocery budget if you're not careful, but $13 is very good.
Until I started to grocery shop weekly, I, too, would have thought this was not enough food for a family for a week. However, I now realize that we go thru 4 gallons of milk a week, not five...and I was shocked that the 30 flour tortillas I bought lasted an entire month! We eat a lot of cereal for breakfast, and my teenage boys eat it for a snack as well. We also eat a lot of quesadillas, but I guess more like 30 in a month, not in a week.
We also have fruit and veggies every day. However, once again, until I started to shop weekly I did not realize that we could get by with less and thus throw less away. Also, I buy big bags of frozen veggies and green beans so those will last a couple weeks at a time.
I appreciate your blog so much Kristin! It is so inspiring! Obviously, I have to spend more on food, etc. than you (my kids are bigger!) but I think that your goals are reasonable and doable...and in fact, I have managed to squirrel away about $120 every month since starting to budget better and shop weekly.
Maddie, re the fruits and veggies, I totally agree. I buy less than I used to, and I end up with so much less waste.
And I'm really happy that my blog has helped you save money...that's awesome! My blog has helped ME save money too! I'm much more on top of my grocery spending now that I have to post it here every week, plus I'm saving a lot of money by not wasting food. So, I'm helping myself in the process of helping my readers! It's a win-win. 🙂
I was just wondering what seasoning/spices you use to make your fajitas. I've looked around a bit and it seemed like everything I've every seen involved ingredients I never have on hand. I want to know how to throw it together without alot of effort.
TIA
Alison in KY