Here’s the thing: My husband has started complaining
about the amount of money I spend at the grocery store. BUT I average $100-$120
a week (one week $70, the next $140). This is NOT BAD. So a couple weeks ago I went to the store
and got my veggies, some cheese and that’s it. Including one bottle of wine and
a six pack for him I spent $80. For the past few weeks I haven’t been shopping
at all (except milk) and I’ve been using up the stuff from our freezer and
pantry. Since I’m not drinking this month, I didn’t buy more of any alcohol
since then.
I've done pretty good. Vegetarian ramen w/ roasted veggies, baked cheeseburger mac. Some sort of pasta with lemon garlic sauce and random canned vegetables. Pizza w/ pillsbury crust.
Last night I had a minor attack because C wanted to go
out and find a specific pair of water shoes for himself so I assumed we would
be eating out while we were gone. He then found exactly what he wanted at the
first store and we were heading home. BUT I HAD NOTHING TO FEED ANYONE! I am
out of meat. While I’m not of the general opinion that you HAVE to have meat to
make a meal, Tuesday’s meal was meatless and I didn’t know what else to make! I
have some salmon but it was frozen and I didn’t thaw because I thought we were
eating out.
So after some snappiness (me), we ended up going to a local
steakhouse. $45. That could have been half our grocery bill.
Arg.
So tonight is blackened salmon, mashed turnips and broccoli.
Tomorrow is mussels in a white wine sauce (from the freezer), wild rice and
sauteed spinach. Saturday is Disney – no cooking. Sunday is a Mexican casserole
I have in the freezer. And then we’re completely out of food.
Next week: shopping.
4 comments:
I budget $400 a month for us for food and that's with just the two of us. Some weeks I go over and some I go under. It really depends a lot on staples and toiletries. Razors, toilet paper, even paper towels can add a lot to the total. I do a lot of that through subscribe & save on Amazon to save the 15% and because delivery is convenient.
I organized our pantry recently and I plan to use more of what's in there, but really I don't buy more than we need in a week most of the time. Things like soup, beans, and condiments tend to build up though.
I spend about $160-180 a week and I know I could pare that down a bit.
I love these types of posts; I'm just naturally curious about how other moms do things.
I try to do this (use up stuff and don't do a big shopping trip) but I can rarely pull it off.
Just this weekend I forked over 200 at Costco and 180 at the regular grocery store. Normal is like 125 for 4 of us.
I'm impressed with your menu given that it was "use up" week!
We budget $110/week for groceries. For the longest time, we were doing great with that, and often would have at least a few dollars a week left over for either a "fun thing" like eating Saturday morning breakfast out (Einsteins or Panera) or an emergency lunch when I was running errands (it's amazing how far your money goes at Taco Bell) etc. Lately, though, we've been spending nearly every penny. We have had a few weeks that we go slightly over, but justify it by getting good deals on meat that will spread across another week. (so those by one, get 2 free deals at Albertsons, or the bulk discounts on ground beef if you buy 3 lbs at a time, etc.) And then we try to spend cheaper the following week to make up for that (which is of course easier when you have meat from last week in the freezer).
My husband hates to have a lot of meatless meals. He'll put up with one per week and maybe two, but beyond that, it makes him grumpy. (He is a protein-lover. And cheese and beans just don't cut it for him on a regular basis)
We've tried to empty out our pantry a little more by planning meals that involve more of the supplies we have already (lots of pasta, jarred sauces, canned veggies, etc.) and also our freezer. We've made a nice dent in the pantry, but the freezer still seems nearly as full as it did, despite buying NO MEAT last week. (this week we had to, since we had almost none left and then ended up getting some of those bulk deals so now we're full again!)
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