Grocery Spending/Menu Plan | The Flour Edition
You'll be pleased to notice that the stuffed animals are back this week. A reader wondered last week if I buy these stuffed animals each week, and the answer to that is a resounding no! My kids have an embarrassment of stuffed animals, and I try to avoid adding to the collection whenever possible. 🙂
Earlier in the week, I stopped at Safeway to use a flour raincheck I had. I bought 7 bags of flour for $10.50, and I didn't take any pictures of those bags. In fact, now that I think about it, they are still riding around in the trunk of my husband's car. I don't think I told him I bought flour while using his car, so he'll be kind of surprised if he opens his trunk. 😉
I also went to Aldi, of course, where I spent $59, and Weis, where I spent $50.26 (8 bags of flour were included in that purchase). I also paid $5 for two dozen eggs from my local blog reader. So, I spent a total of $124.76, which is $24.76 over my budget. However, last week I was about $25 under budget, so I'm still within my $100/week. Considering I bought 75 pounds of flour, I'm very happy with that.
This is our produce for the week.
Our refrigerated/frozen stuff:
Our meat. The chicken is for future use (it was on sale) and so are the bratwurst (they were in the reduced bin, as they expire soon. No biggie to me, as they'll go into the freezer).
And here's the pantry-stuff. There's a pack of toilet paper beneath the tea and candy bars) and those three jars behind the peanut butter are 75% fruit jams from Aldi. They're new and they're really good!
Last but not least, here's my flour from Weis, along with the spider that started this whole stuffed animal tradition..
Breakfasts this week will be yogurt, bananas, muffins, toast, and oatmeal. Lunches will be homemade yogurt, yogurt smoothies, fruit, sandwiches, and leftovers as necessary.
Dinners are as follows:
Saturday
- Thin-Crust Pizza
- root beer
Sunday
- French Toast
- grapefruit
Monday
- Ham Sandwiches on homemade rolls
- Spinach Salad
Tuesday
- Teriyaki Chicken
- Zucchini Salad
- Cheese Bread
Wednesday
- Beef Burgundy over noodles
- green salad
- Artisan Bread (it got bumped last week!)
Thursday
- Cream of Mushroom Soup (also bumped from last week)
- Sun-Dried Tomato Bread (we got it day-old from church, where Panera donates old bread)
- some sort of vegetable...haven't decided yet
Friday
- Quesadillas
- fruit salad
Hey there 🙂
I was just wondering, since you have bought so much flour at one time, how do you store it so that it doesn't get "visitors" until time to use it? I would love to stock up on flour but I'm not sure how to keep that much bulk fresh until time to use.
I keep mine on a shelf in my laundry room, and I never have bug issues (lucky me!). If you do, freezer your flour for 24 hours before storing it, or keep the bags in a big Rubbermaid tub.
I like how you are breaking your groceries down into groups now - good detail for us slow learners. Also, I see you bought some cooking wine - which means you probably don't drink wine much. That is probably helping keep your budget low as well. Hope you have a great weekend!
15 bags of flour (especially broken into 7 and 8) sounds a lot more moderate than 75 lbs of flour. I have 90 lbs, ensconced in a Rubbermaid 18gal bin, and I'm wondering if I went overboard.
No, cancel that. I'm wondering *how much* I went overboard.
Never fear...my flour stash will surpass yours in the next week, as I plan to stop by Safeway again and pick up at least 10 more bags. That'll put me at 125 pounds, and it will be a small miracle if that lasts me until the Christmas sales roll around.
My niece is a vegan and knows all sorts of cool stuff about food prep, and of course is a wonderful cook. (She's also in the National Guard and did two deployments...can you imagine how hard it would be for a vegan to live in Army mess halls for two years?!) She taught us how to make yogurt--wow, you save a bunch making your own and it's sooo easy!
I'm curious - how does a vegan eat yogurt? Does she make it with soymilk? I'd be curious about that recipe.
I admire you, and your values. I would like to trade one of my daughter in law's for you.
Just wondering a few things. Are your children picky when it comes to eating their veggies? Will they eat broccoli, cauiflower, lima beans, etc?
My grandchildren are steadfast in their unwillingness to eat some varieties of veggies, and I often wonder if they are getting all of the vitamins and nutrients that they need.
Also, do you and your family take vitamins?
Oh, and I also must add, I am a huge fan of the artisan bread recipe. I make the recipe that you keep in the frig, and pull off a grapefruit sized ball whenever you would like freshed baked bread for dinner. It is crusty, and wonderful!
Love that your extra flour is having the grand tour in the trunk of your husband's car! Also, wish we had Aldi's (SoCal) as well. I love when the so-called off-brand is better than the pricey ones. This weekly feature is very encouraging -- that you can feed 6 so well on $100 a week is amazing. We are down to my husband and me, and I am trying to whittle our spending in this area, so I love this section -- really inspiring. Finally, how perfect to have stuffed peeps just in time for Easter! Oooh -- Stash tea is the best, and the red box is my favorite. Very good hot or iced -- always trying to find the decaf.
Wow that's a lot of flour. I have been buying bread here since I arrived in Egypt because it's pretty cheap for local styles.... However I think I need to start making for health and to get better at making it.... It's a skill I will need when I get back to UK or USA.
My pantry is getting echo-ey, so I'll be shopping tomorrow. Might have to check out the flour prices, although I still have a fair amount from when it was on sale last month.
Of course, I'll be buying eggs which will be a loss leader this week. Don't have any blog readers who've offered up their homegrown eggs . . . yet.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
I buy eggs at costco ..$4.65 for 3 dozen oh happy day!
I bought 15 pounds of flour this week! I was so excited to finally see flour on sale! I had planned on buying more, but I got the last three bags. If I had more freezer space, I would buy more, but I just have the space to store it all. I figure 3 bags should last a family of three a good while.
Something I wrangle with all the time is the value I hold of buying local/organic/free trade food, which is, I feel, so much better for the planet and the people - versus the need to be frugal. How do other folks deal with this?
I do garden, and I'm a vendor at farmer's markets in the summer, so I am blessed to be able to buy/be gifted with local and organic food for many months of the year.
My grocery store has flour on sale for $.99/5 lb this week, limit 2.
But I'm not even going to buy any flour because a local warehouse burned and they need to get rid of 50# bags of flour...for free. I also picked up a 50# bag of sugar and didn't get the 50# bag of cocoa or salt. Who uses 50# of salt?