Mr. FG, being the good dad that he is, wanted to take the kids to a reptile show that’s not too far away. The problem is, the show only happens on Saturdays, and he works every Saturday. So, this week he worked Monday-Friday in order to have today off. That means we had a 1-day weekend last week (boo!), but we have a 3-day weekend now (yay!).
Because reptiles aren’t really my cup of tea, I’m super glad that he’s willing to take on all this reptile stuff (and with initiative and a level of enthusiasm and interest that I would fail to muster).
Anyhoo, I’m really here to talk about groceries.
If you remember my post from a few weeks ago, I’m trying to spend $320/month instead of my usual $400/month from now through the end of the year in order to build up a savings for when I next need to purchase part of a cow.
This is going to be a tricky task, and it’s possible that this goal is too tough for me, but I’m at least going to try.
I shopped at Weis and Aldi this week….I spent $110.54 at Aldi and $65.44 at Weis. Unfortunately, that adds up to $175.98, which means that I have a mere $144 left in my budget for the rest of the month.
Dear me.
What are we eating?
Well, I’ve been on a granola-making kick as of late, so that’ll be one of our breakfast options along with toast, yogurt, fruit, muffins, and eggs.
Lunches will be comprised of sandwiches made with whole wheat bread, homemade yogurt, yogurt smoothies, cottage cheese, fruit, raw veggies, nuts, cheese, and leftovers as necessary. Of course, we don’t eat all of that every single day…it’s just a list of the things we choose from for lunch each day. And Mr. FG eats leftovers for lunch pretty much every day.
Here’s what we’re planning to eat for dinner:
Saturday
- Pizza…I think I’m just making regular crust pizza.
Sunday
- Snacky stuff (fruit, popcorn, cheese, etc)
Monday
- This is a little bit up in the air, due to some uncertainty about our schedule for the day. My menu block for this night seriously just has a “?”.
Tuesday
- Slow-Cooked Beef Tacos (a new recipe)
- green beans
Wednesday
- Broiled Tilapia Fillets
- Braided Cheese Bread
- green salad
Thursday
- Sloppy Joes
- whatever produce needs using by then
Friday
- Takeout date night for Mr. FG and me, something easy for the kids
Amber Audia
Tuesday 7th of June 2011
My question is about eggs. I noticed in another post that you purchase local eggs from a farm for $2.50/doz. Is that correct? I'm assuming that because you do a lot of baking most of the eggs you buy are used for that purpose so my question is, how many eggs do you go through in 2 weeks time (just for breakfast purposes) and how do you prepare them for your children? Do you make eggs for breakfast everyday? I find my family of 4 going through a ridiculous amount of eggs; I scramble them up with a little milk, but 1 egg per person is just never enough!
Lisa Doran
Tuesday 7th of June 2011
In your menu planning this week you mentioned slow cooked beef tacos as a new recipe.... anything slow cooked (slow cooker I presume) is awesome.... but I went to recipes and there isn't one for it! Would love to have it! I am slow going with planning, etc. but I'll get there some day!
kim
Sunday 5th of June 2011
Hello there, I've been following your blog for somewhere around a year now and have never commented but I had a couple of thoughts for you. I notice toilet bowl cleaner in that picture, and wondered if you've considered making/using homemade cleaners? There are some wonderful recipes on the web, that contain many things most of us keep in our pantry. Cleaners have gotten so overpriced and I switched a while back. It takes a little getting used to not having that chemically clean smell, but they work great. My other thought is this, I know you have stated before why you don't do the whole coupon thing, but I do it mainly for our toiletries and I haven't paid for toothpaste, shampoo or deodorant for the past year. I only say that cause I noticed what looks like shampoo in your picture.
Kristen
Sunday 5th of June 2011
I've considered it but not gotten around to it! lol I need to find some good recipes for homemade cleaners.
michele
Sunday 5th of June 2011
first of all, thanks for the recent photos of your colorful groceries...they sure make my saturdays complete. secondly, like another commenter i find the prices at the store have really skyrocketed. we are blessed to have several ethnic groceries nearby that have good produce prices and sometimes good canned good prices even if you can't understand the language on the labels...the pictures are there. i have found ways to experiment with canned goods that i didn't do a few years ago. take cream of mushroom soup. there is a brand at the national chain store that doesn't have a pretty label but the price is almost half what the best selling brand is. i used to buy this exclusively until i found another seminational store has it occassionally 3/1.00. the grocery stores are plentiful here or else we would really be feeling it in our pocketbook as we are on fixed incomes. thank you as always, for honoring the Lord's day. you and your family set a fine example to the blogging community.
Fran
Saturday 4th of June 2011
Do you have juice at every meal? I spy 2 bottle of sparkling juice, a carton of oj and a couple cans of frozen juice. Is the lunchmeat an addition to your lunch usuals? Can that be cut out to help with the budget? And are the oats, chocolate, peanut butter and honey for future pantry items or are you baking something delcious soon?
Kristen
Sunday 5th of June 2011
Oh goodness no! We'd need a LOT more juice than that if we drank it at every meal. At breakfast, the kids and Mr. FG each have a small glass of OJ (I don't really drink juice). At lunch, we drink water, and at dinner, we drink water except for when Mr. FG and I have our weekly date night (we drink a bottle of sparkling juice with our meal then).
I got the lunchmeat because I packed lunches for Mr. FG and the kids when they went to the reptile show. Normally we don't eat much in the way of lunchmeat.
Oats and honey are for granola, the peanut butter is for lunch sandwiches, and the dark chocolate is for yours truly. lol