Grocery Spending/Menu Plan | I went over on purpose.
These are my groceries.
I used one coupon.
In case you were wondering. 😉
And this morning, thanks to a heads-up from MoneySavingMom, I printed out a $1.50/1 Wheatables cracker coupon from coupons.com
. These go on sale for $2 fairly often, so I think I should be able to snag a box for $.50. See, I am not entirely anti-coupon!
If you want to be kept informed about such coupons, you really should follow MoneySavingMom. Her uncluttered blog keeps me in the loop when there are high value or free coupons available, and I highly recommend it.
I'll stop talking about coupons now, but look for a post on the topic sometime soon. Hopefully it'll clear up some misconceptions about my coupon-related thoughts. If I was a smart blogger, I'd have published that post first and THEN posted about the $4/week shopper.
But, I am apparently not that bright.
Anyways.
This week, I spent $19.06 at Weis, and $55.88 at Aldi.
I also spent $51.45 at Costco, where I bought:
- 3 pound of raw almonds
- 2 pounds of pecans
- 2 pounds of pistachios
- a large container of honey (I probably didn't need to say "large", did I? Everything at Costco is large!)
- a container of vanilla (uh, that was large too. 😉 )
My total for this week is $126.39. That's $26 over my usual budget, but I had $28 left from last month's budget and I purposely spent it on the nuts from Costco.
So, I'm still right on budget for the month of May. And I have lots of nuts in my cabinets, which makes me happy.
Here's what I'm making for dinner this week.
Saturday
- Deep Dish Pizza
- green salad
- cream soda (we mostly drink water, but we have soda with our pizza once a week)
Sunday
- I really don't know. Mr. FG has forbidden me to cook, so I'm not entirely sure what we'll be eating!
Monday
- Ham sandwiches on whole wheat rolls
- fruit salad
- raw veggies
Tuesday
- Salmon with Dill Sauce (it got bumped from last week)
- French Bread
- green salad
Wednesday
- Chicken/Vegetable/Pasta Salad with Cilantro Dressing
- fresh fruit
Thursday
- Asian Glazed Tilapia
- Asian green beans
- some kind of bread...not sure what yet
Friday
- Grilled Chicken
- Grilled Vegetables
- ummm, the same kind of bread that we're having on Thursday. Hee.
love that mr. fg has forbibbed you to cook on mother's day! hope you have a great day enjoying motherhood.
um, that should be forbidden. it's early yet.
Considering I write almost all of my blog posts early in the morning, I think that'll be my default excuse now for any of my typos! Thanks for the idea. lol
I kind of like the word you made up, though. =P
I don't know if you know, but nuts last longer in the freezer. I love cashews and pistachios. Have a great Mother's Day!
Just being nosy... 🙂 I notice you buy a lot of cream cheese. What do you do with it? Thanks!
Oh, there is a package in there under the bear...I had to look and see if it was even showing! lol
I usually buy a box of cream cheese each week because my children like to spread it on toast/bread/rolls at lunch or breakfast. Cream cheese and raspberry jam is a really tasty combination!
Kristen, I understand where you're coming from about the coupons. The $4/week story scares me because you are allowing corporations to make food choices for you. I think it should be the other way around, where the consumer decides what to buy.
I am continually impressed by your menu variety and that your kids are adventurous eaters.
Who thought couponing would be controversial!
I get what drives Ms. $4, and i do admire her tenacity and skills!! And perhaps she has need? But my tiny brain (and desire to eat the occasional vegetable ;)) prevent me from achieving her mastery. Plus, your blog and comments really drive home for me the waste aspect of all those individual portions -- as a serial purchaser of Activia, i stand accused. So, like you, I'll keep using coupons for the stuff I really use plus the occasional fun item and toss the rest. And try to get the big Activia.
On a related topic, I've been checking the "marked down" bin at my grocery stores and am well-pleased -- so far, have found very cheap seasonings, shampoos, canned items, past-holiday candies, and wait for it -- champagne! Yup, scored some very nice Chandon that is suitable for gifting or just plain celebrating for $6.00. Even the so-called "used meat" bin has some good deals -- 1/2 price steak and chicken that is perfectly good as long as it's used right away. I am looking for Laura's beef . . . I know I've seen it there! I did pass up 10/$1.00 Hamburger Helper on the clearance rack because even i have limits . . .
Happy Mother's day, and yay for Mr. FG!
I do love markdown bins! I always check the one at Weis and I check their meat markdown area too.
Mr. Fugal... should take you out to dinner, mostly because you gave birth 4 times : )
with love ... your favorite big sister!
Well, he did get me flowers and a box of mint chocolates from Trader Joe's. lol
Oops, forgot to add -- love your grocery pix since they show how little packaging and waste you manage to produce. I am so bad in this area, and you keep giving lots of inspiration. Thanks!
You should go see Mrs. Green of My Zero Waste. SHE does some amazing no-packaging shopping. 🙂
Oh -- i will so check it out -- thanks!
Okay, I'm inspired. I'm off to the grocery store now. With my coupons, although I'll probably only use 4 or 5. It is my favorite grocery week, which is the "spend $50, get $10 off" week. yippee!
-Katy
I totally need to stock up on nuts again, too!
I love knowing that I have a good supply of nuts in the pantry. We add them to oatmeal, yogurt, ice-cream, and salads, but I really keep them on hand for baking days.
Any chance you could forward your recipe for your chicken, pasta, vegetable salad with cilantro dressing. Sounds great!!
i would totally love the chicken, pasta, veg salad with cilantro dressing recipe too!
I have to say that I'm impressed with how little you were able to spend on nuts. Hubby and I were thinking of buying a pecan tree so we didn't have to pay for pecans anymore! They are sadly very expensive here ($20/lbs)... I don't understand why, because TX has so many pecan trees. It's always good to know some one with a tree 🙂 Have a relaxing mother's day!
When you get a tree of your own and shell your first crop, you'll understand why they're so expensive. But oh, they are so worth it!
I'm always inspired. I love how you eat whole foods.