Grocery Challenge: Week 9

I did not post anything about my grocery shopping adventures last week, simply because I put my groceries away without taking a picture first.  :)  I did make some extra trips to local stores last week, and my total ended up being $62.74.

This week was a little better:

Pretend there is a melon in that picture as well - we purchased and ate most of that yesterday!  This week's total:  $52.39.

It does not look like I purchased much of anything this week, but we are eating a lot of stockpiled foods lately.  We mainly needed fruit, milk, cheese, and some snacks.  I got 2 pizzas as a treat, and I will have to spend another dollar or so later this week for lettuce.  Yes, they were out of lettuce at the grocery store!  That has never happened to me before.

Grocery Challenge: Week 7

I was a little bit bummed about my grocery trip today.  I had heard there was a Catalina coupon that would print out if you purchased 5 Kraft cheese products.  The singles were half price this week, and the baby eats those a lot.  So I bought 5.  There was also a deal for Juicy Juice, where a coupon would print if you purchased 4.  So I did.  Then at the end of my transaction...no coupons! 

The checker was very nice and looked up the juice deal in the paper.  It was there, so he sent me to Customer Service, and they gave me a handwritten coupon.  However, he could not find the Kraft deal listed, so I did not get that coupon.  Bummer!  That one was for 5 dollars!

My trip to Customer Service actually ended up being a blessing.  CS is located next to the pharmacy, and I had a prescription I had forgotten to pick up last week - and would have forgotten again! 

So I left the store short 5 dollars, but with my pills.  I guess I could look at it this way:  It would cost more than 5 dollars in gas to drive back out there and pick up the prescription I almost forgot again!

This week's total:  $46.54.  I stocked up on chicken breasts that were on sale and on milk, so hopefully we will not need any of that next week!  Oh yeah...we should be good on cheese, too!

Grocery Challenge: Week 6

Last week's grocery bill ended up being $65.52.  I was okay with that total, because it was still lower than the initial $75.00 a week budget we had set, and we got a lot of things to build up our stockpile again. 

My husband and I were discussing the family budget and where we could make some cuts in order to put more money into savings.  We realized that our Pepsi habit is really driving up our grocery bill.  I had stopped drinking Pepsi myself for about a week. However, it was still in the house for my husband, and I started drinking it again.  I believe we can cut out approximately $30.00 a month just by refusing to purchase any more pop. 

I am going to miss my Pepsi.

I have made my shopping list for this week, and it is quite short!  I typically do my grocery shopping on Mondays, and there are 5 Mondays this month.  For that reason, I have set a goal of $52.00 a week for this month.  I have a feeling I am going to spend far less than that tomorrow, so maybe we'll adjust it for subsequent weeks.  I'm excited.  :)

Praising God for Vegetables

I wrote a few posts ago about how much of our budget goes towards produce each week and the desire to decrease that amount.  Since that time, I really have not purchased much produce.  The main reason was to use that money towards items for our stockpile. 

I have to praise the Lord though, for supplying our needs in a way I definitely did not expect.  I got a call last week from someone I know does not read my blog.  "Would your family like some fresh vegetables?"  I said of course we would!  She went on to say "squash, tomatoes".  "Yes, we eat a lot of that!" 

Later that evening, she dropped off two grocery bags with squash, tomatoes, potatoes, and onions.  (I also need to mention that we were completely out of vegetables at this point in time.)

The next day, someone mentioned that our family buys a lot of cucumbers.  A friend overheard and said, "Stop buying them.  I will give you some."  Another vegetable that we were completely out of!

Last night I thought I heard the porch door open and close, so I went to check it out.  On the porch were two more bags of produce!  One was full of blueberries, and the other had tomatoes and a few cucumbers.

I was able to shred and freeze enough squash to make 9 loaves of zucchini bread in the future. I kept quite a bit of blueberries in the fridge and was still able to freeze 8 cups for future use.  I looked in my cookbook and found out you can also freeze tomatoes, so I will be doing that later today.  (I'm not into canning, but freezing is easy enough!)

We are blessed to be in the midst of farm country, living alongside giving people who are willing to share their abundance with us.  Praise the Lord for supplying more than we need!  I am excited and rejoicing for this blessing.

And I am considering a garden for next year.  How awesome would it be to be the one sharing with others!

Grocery Challenge: Week 5

I did another grocery run to Meijer today.  Today's total:  $53.32!  Hooray!  We're on our way to lowering our grocery bill.  I did pick up some milk from the local store on Sunday though, so the current total for the week is actually more like $57.00.

A few people have been asking for tips on lowering their grocery bill.  A common question I get is:  "Does your grocery budget include things such as toiletries, baby diapers, wipes, and cleaning products?"  No, it does not.  What you see in the pictures is what my budget includes:  Food items only.  Simply put, my family does not spend a large amount on toiletries, cleaning products, etc.  We usually get those for minimal cost at Walgreens.  We use cloth diapers and cloth wipes, and we use less than the recommended amount of cleaning products.  (No, it's not gross...you just don't need as much as they say you do.)  The cost of those items is absorbed in another budget category:  Entertainment.  That makes us think twice about how much toilet paper we use!  :)

I will continue to share new things I learn, and I welcome your questions and comments!  Teach me as you learn as well, please!

Grocery Challenge: Week 4

This is the 4th and final week of the grocery challenge.  I am pleased to say that (as long as I do not make any last-minute trips this week) I have stayed within my grocery budget for the duration of the challenge.  Here is what I bought this week:

The total:  $73.64  I was able to build up our stockpile a little bit this week, so I'm excited about that.  (Note the applesauce, chicken nuggets and granola bars - good deals this week.)

I have learned several things through this challenge.  I have already shared several of those in previous posts.  Here are a few more:

1)  Just because it's a good deal does not mean it fits within our budget.
2)  There are usually things on my shopping list that we can do without until next week, in order to stay on budget for that week.
3)  Our family drinks far too much Pepsi.  Not good for our budget.
4)  Coupons really do make a difference, and there are websites that have done all the work finding good deals for you.  Use those websites as a guideline.
5)  It's okay to splurge once in awhile.  Just make sure you balance your splurge out over the rest of the week in order to stay on budget.

One note:  Approximately 1/4 of our grocery budget is spent on produce.  I'm not sure how to reduce that.  I'm not sure if I should try to reduce that!  Any thoughts?

I personally think that $75.00 a week is a bit high for our family's grocery budget.  I would like to see it somewhere around $60 - 65, and I am going to do some work on that over the next few weeks.  I plan to continue to post my findings on here, to keep myself accountable and see if it truly is doable!

Grocery Challenge: Week 3 Part 2

As I wrote in my last post, I went to the semi-local grocery store on Monday for some ingredients for that night's dinner and some odds and ends for the rest of the week.  I spent $29.33 for whole milk, steak sauce, fish fry seasoning, steaks, cucumbers, toamtoes, lettuce, and onions.  The steaks were a major splurge, but sometimes it's nice to splurge!

I had two other runs to the local store for items I forgot:  vegetable oil, sour cream, and skim milk.  The total of those two trips was $6.38.

I also stopped at Walmart for Pepsi, which cost $7.36.  (Taht includes the deposit on pop cans.)

Those trips left little money to work with for my grocery run today.  As I mentioned before, we are hosting the outdoor evening church service Sunday night.  I decided to make sloppy joes, so we needed ground beef, Manwich, and buns.  We also needed drink mix for Sunday, the baby needed more milk, there was a great deal on pasta (14 cents each after coupons), and we needed rice.  I ended up paying $31.56 for the following:

What I spent:
Village Market:  $29.33
Wagoner's:  $6.38
Walmart:  $7.36
Meijer:  $31.56

Which makes my total for the week:  $74.63.  Wow!  37 cents below budget.  Not bad for having a couple over for dinner one night and feeding the main dish to approximately 40 people on Sunday!

Grocery Challenge: Weeks 2 & 3

I have not been posting about the Grocery Challenge like I had intended to.  Last week, it was a bit of a challenge to stay within budget.  We needed quite a bit of produce, and that is difficult to budget out before actually weighing it at the store.  I usually start at the back of the store and work my way forward, but I tried something new and started with the "variable rate" items and moved on to the "fixed rate" items.  I was able to stay on budget though, so I am pleased! 

Week 2 Grocery Challenge Totals:

Meijer:  $71.01

Walgreens:  $2.80

Total:  $73.81

One thing I would like to work on this week is building up my stockpile.  You can see in this picture that I got a few jars of salsa,some chickens and cheese for the stockpile.  Hopefully I can add more this week.  However, I do have some added challenges this week:  We are hosting a family for dinner tonight and are hosting the church for an outdoor service on Sunday.  We are supposed to provide the main course on Sunday night for approzimately 60 people, so I am nervous to see how that will fit into our budget!

After shopping for our dinner tonight and a few odds and ends for the next few days, our current amount spent for Week 3 is $29.33

Grocery Challenge: Week 1, Day 5

Tonight's meal was another SparkPeople recipe, which can be found here.  I am a big fan of anything that can be cooked in a crock pot.  Plus, this dish is mighty tasty.

Slow-Cooker Salsa Chicken, with rice and corn:

This recipe made 6 4-oz servings of chicken.

Total Cost of Meal Above:  $1.30

Total Calories for Meal Pictured Above:  418

You may be wondering why I only share dinner recipes/cost/calories.  Simply, it's a bit time-consuming to figure out all those details.  Plus, I eat differently than my husband and baby.  Dinner is the only time we all eat the same thing.  Or at least mostly the same thing.  :)

Grocery Challenge: Week 1, Day 4

Tonight was leftover night.  We enjoy munching on leftovers for our lunches, but somehow we still seem to throw away a good amount of food.  That is why I usually plan to have leftovers every Sunday and Wednesday.  Those are also our church nights, so it is nice to keep things low-key.

My leftovers were Spicy Chicken and Rice Bake from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.  I shredded my chicken and covered it with the rice mixture, added some hot sauce, and ate it on a tortilla.

The original recipe made 6 servings.  This tortilla had about 3/4 of a serving in it, but the tortilla itself up-ed the cost and calories a little bit.

Total Cost of Meal Above (plus the Diet Pepsi I had to drink):  $1.24
Total Calories:  336

Grocery Challenge - Week One, Day Three

Dinner, Day 3:

Tonight's dinner was basicallly a homemade Hamburger Helper.  The cost actually turned out to be lower than Hamburger Helper, and I was able to decrease the amount of sodium.  This recipe was found on Spark People's Recipe Website.  I like to use their recipes, because they include the nutrition information along with the ingredients and directions. 

Skillet Lasagna (Makes 6 1-cup servings) with fresh veggies and ranch dressing

The cost:  $1.21 for everything pictured above

The calories:  556 - a bit high, but delicious.  :)

Please note the the cost will be somewhat higher next time I make this.  I had ground beef, tomatoes, and eggs on hand that my mother-in-law had given to me, so they are not included in the price.

Grocery Challenge: Week One, Day Two

Dinner - Day 2:

I am trying very hard to watch what my family eats.  My goal is not only to watch our spending, but to make healthy choices on what goes into our bodies.  I try to keep every meal around 400 calories.  Tonight was Beef and Noodles (a Better Homes and Gardens recipe) with broccoli and the few pieces of cauliflower I had left.  This meal was made with beef we had in the freezer from a previous meal, whole wheat noodles I had stockpiled from when they were on sale, and stockpiled frozen broccoli.

The cost:  $1.44 for the serving below - my recipe made 6 servings.
The calories:  415 for the serving below

Groceries -  Week 1

This week was heavy on dairy.  We have a lot of frozen red meat, but we did need some chicken and deli meat as well.  We also needed snacks for the baby and a few odds and ends for dinner recipes.  Of course, we also needed to fuel our Pepsi addiction!

I visited 3 stores for the best deals.  I saved $19.50 by using coupons and doing a bottle return this week.

Total from Meijer: $38.13

Total from Walmart: $7.40

Total from Walgreens: $2.00

This Week's Total (Including Total From OCB Sunday):  $72.93

Yay!  That falls below our $75.00 limit, even though we ate out.  I am very proud of that. 

A few things I learned today:

1)  I spend less if I actually tally up my total as I am shopping.

2)  I spend less and make healthier choices if I have a set weekly amount to spend, rather than a monthly amount.

Grocery Challenge: Week One, Day One

Father's Day.  We couldn't let Father's Day go by without eating out!  :)  I am not sure if eating out is technically supposed to be counted as part of the grocery budget.  It makes sense to me that it is, since it eliminates the need to purchase groceries for that meal, and it is the purchase of food.

Our decision to eat out was a bit of a splurge, and it's something that is rather uncommon for our family.  This week is just going to require a little bit of creativity and the use of stockpiled foods.

Amount Spent:  $25.40
Balance For the Week:  $49.60