Groceries • Purposely Frugal

Groceries & Menu

Nov 132012

I went to 3 different stores yesterday.

At the Mexican store I spent about $3.

I went to Walmart and spent $60.08. I price matched a 3lb. bag of apples for $1.99, pomegranates for 49 cents each and bananas for 29 cents/lb.

Then I went to Gerbes and spent $11.35. I bought some produce on sale and was going to buy some boneless skinless chicken breasts on sale to, but they ran out of that brand, so I just bought the other brand instead.

I also spent $4 this weekend on raw milk.

That’s a grand total of $78.43 for this week (counting non-food items).

Onto my menu plan

Breakfast: Oatmeal, cereal, breakfast rice, eggs, toast, yogurt or fruit.

Lunch: Chicken quesadillas, chips and salsa, sandwiches, bean burritos or leftovers

Suppers:

Salmon melts, snap peas and oven roasted veggies
Meal at friends’ house
Chicken spiedes and oven roasted broccoli
Lentil barley soup & grilled cheese sandwiches
Pork roast with potatoes and carrots
Leftovers x2

Question of the day…Do you call it “supper” or “dinner”?

Cutting Costs

Budget No Responses »

Jul 242012

With our move to Missouri our expenses are going to change a lot. We won’t have lot rent or an electric bill, but we will have a school bill that covers our living expenses. Our cost of living should really decrease while there. Here’s how I think we’ll save:

I cancelled Netflix - Save: $8/month
Less money on gas – We’ll be both living and going to classes on campus, so we won’t be driving every day. Save:$100/month?
Eating out less – I think it will be a lot less tempting to eat out, since we wont be living right in town and we’ll be surrounded by other missionaries in training also living frugally. – Save $100/Month?
Groceries – The training center gets some food donated to it for the students (like old Panera bread!!), so this should help us lower our grocery money. Of course, since we should be eating out less, that may make our groceries go up, but it’ll still be an overall savings. Save: $20/month?
Miscellaneous items, like clothes – On campus they have a “mission barrel” where people can take clothes and other things they don’t need anymore and the other students can go see if there’s anything they need. I figure if I every time we need something, we just check the mission barrel before going to the store we might find what we want and save some cash. Save-$5 month?

Those estimated savings total up to $233 a month! Woo-hoo!

Have you found any areas to cut costs lately?

Groceries & Menu

Bountiful Baskets, Groceries, Menu No Responses »

Jul 092012

I spent $16.50 on a bountiful basket last week (plus I volunteered and got an extra box of strawberries and a few extra mangos). I also spent about $40 on groceries. This week we’ll be doing a lot of eating from the freezer/pantry.

Breakfasts: Crepes, oatmeal, cream of wheat, toast, eggs or smoothies

Lunches: Leftovers, burritos, sandwiches, a few meals out for Cameron

Suppers:

Sausage spaghetti and salad
Baked spaghetti (I’ll just put the leftover spaghetti in a pan, top with mozzarella and bake), sautéed zucchini
Chicken and black bean quesadillas, chips and salsa and mangos
Salmon melts, salad and steamed cauliflower
Bean soup (trying to use up my miscellaneous beans)
Quiche and potatoes
Leftovers

Groceries & Menu

Groceries, Menu No Responses »

Jul 022012

I went to three different stores over the weekend (HEB, Albertsons and Sam’s), then Cameron ended up running to the store another time, so I think our grocery total so far for the month of July is close to $100, but we have lots of food in the house now!

MENU

Breakfasts: Oatmeal, cream of wheat, toast, eggs, yogurt or smoothies

Lunches: Sandwiches or leftovers and Cameron will eat out

Suppers:

Sandwiches, salad and fruit
Date night for Cameron’s birthday??
Chicken sausage spaghetti, sautéed zucchini and salad
Chicken and brown rice, sautéed green beans, and fruit
Chicken and black bean quesadillas, chips and salsa and veggie sticks
Veggie & barley soup and grilled cheese sandwiches
Leftovers

And I’ll also be making this whole wheat honey carrot cake for Cameron’s birthday. What’s on your menu this week?

Groceries & Menu

Groceries, Menu 2 Responses »

Jun 262012

Honesty time….I have not stayed under by $250-$300 June Grocery Challenge. We’ve eaten lots of beans, I always checked the sales before shopping and we haven’t done too bad with food waste, but I still am over $300. I don’t think this challenge has been a complete I failure though, but rather an eye opener. Maybe a $350 grocery food budget is a better goal. I tend to want our groceries to be crazy low, because…well this is a blog about frugality, but on the other hand is that really the best motivation? After thinking about it and talking with my hubby I think I want our food bills to look more like this:

Food Groceries: $350-$375

Non-Food Groceries (soap, cleaning supplies, TP, ziplocs, etc..) $25

Eating Out: $200 (or less, I’m trying to lower it by lowering it just a few dollars a month)

I realize this may not be jaw-dropping low for 3 people, but that’s okay. We can afford this right now and we’re trying to put an emphasis on healthy. While there are many ways to eat cheaper and healthier, we also like splurging on the healthier and more expensive bread, 100% fruit juices, natural peanut butter, etc… So I’m going to try $350 for the next month and see how it goes.

Menu Plan

Breakfasts: Oatmeal, cream of wheat, smoothies, toast or granola bars that I want to try making.

Lunches: Chicken sandwiches or leftovers

Suppers:

Shepherd’s pie in the crock pot and fruit salad
Go out to Souper Salad!!
Chicken, feta and spinach sausages (never had these before, but it was a meal-deal at HEB), steamed cauliflower, can of baked beans and fruit
Salad topped with chicken
Rice & Chicken bake (I may try it with only beans and no chicken), fruit
Stretched taco meat burritos, stuffed zucchini
Leftovers

Groceries & Menu

Bountiful Baskets, Groceries, Menu 3 Responses »

Jun 182012

First I’ll give you my totals so far for my June Challenge:

Food Groceries: $276.58, Goal: $250-$300

Non-Food Groceries: $5.41, Goal: $25

Eating Out: $187.99, Goal: $185

As you can see, I’m already over in eating out.

I’m on the high side of groceries, but pretty low in non-food groceries, so if I have to I can always “borrow” from that category. Now onto the week’s menu!

Breakfasts: Oatmeal, cream of wheat, toast, eggs or smoothies

Lunches: Burritos, sandwiches or leftovers

Suppers:

Eat out for Father’s Day (except we did it the day before, since we knew all the places would be crazy busy on Father’s Day).
Spaghetti with meat sauce, regular noodles and spaghetti squash noodles, salad and steamed broccoli
Savory pinto beans topped with cheese and crackers, and some sort of veggie on the side
Stir fry
Baked potatoes topped with leftover pinto beans, cheese and sour cream, fruit salad
Company picnic
Leftovers

Crock Pot Spagetti Sauce

June Challenge Update #1 & Menu

Groceries, Menu No Responses »

Jun 042012

First of all I want to mention, that when I actually looked back at my June challenge from last year, my goal was to stay under $250, not $350, so that’s my goal again this time around. Even though Gracia probably eats more and food prices may have gone up a little, I don’t think it’s enough to really make that much of a difference.

So far we’ve spent:

$36.57 – Wal-Mart – The only highlight here was a bag of day old rolls marked down from $1.68 to $1.09.

$22.90 – Sam’s Club (cheese, eggs, milk, bagel chips)

$16.50 – Last week’s bountiful basket (Come back later this week to see my price breakdown for bountiful baskets, and if it’s really cheaper).

$75.97 – Total – So far so good!

Menu Plan

Breakfasts: chocolate chip pumpkin muffins (to use up pumpkin puree in freezer), cream of wheat, oatmeal, toast, eggs, smoothies or fruit

Lunches: Chicken, grilled cheese or pbj sandwiches or leftovers

Suppers:

Chicken salad and avocado sandwiches, orange slices, salad
Bean soup and cornbread muffins – I know this isn’t a very summery meal, but I’m trying to use up some beans and cornmeal.
Sloppy joes from the freezer, corn on the cob, watermelon
Chicken strips, brown rice, and steamed carrots
Bean burritos, chips and salsa, steamed broccoli
A snacky supper, with the highlight being spinach artichoke dip with crackers!
Leftovers

I also want to add, that I tried this chocolate banana bread recipe, except I made them into muffins, and they were yummy! I highly recommend them! I even did them with less chocolate chips than the recipe called for and they still tasted great!

Groceries & Menu

Groceries, Menu 3 Responses »

May 212012

I don’t have my grocery totals yet, but I do have my menu planned out!

Breakfasts: Oatmeal, cream of wheat, smoothies, eggs, toast or fruit

Lunches: Sandwiches, wraps or leftovers

Suppers:

Leftover sloppy joes, corn on the cob
Chick-Fil-A – Gracia’s request for her birthday meal
Pesto, pasta & chicken & tomato cucumber salad
Stir fry – We have lots of yummy veggies from bountiful baskets for this!
Stretched taco meat burritos, chips and salsa
Chicken, steamed cauliflower and roasted red potatoes
Leftovers

Freezer Cooking:

Spaghetti sauce
Stretched taco meat minus the potatoes, since they don’t freeze well.

Happy Monday!!

Groceries & Menu

Bountiful Baskets, Budget, Menu 2 Responses »

May 142012

I spent $26.50 on our bountiful basket this week. $16.50 on the produce and $10 on the granola.

I also spent $55.12 at HEB.

Bountiful basket #2!! Gracia couldn't wait to dig into those black berries!

This week in our bountiful basket we got:

bananas
apricots
avocados
apples
pineapple
red potatoes
tomatoes
spinach
lettuce
black berries
honeydew
mangoes (I even got a couple extra because I showed up a little early and helped out)

Breakfasts: Granola (from bountiful baskets), oatmeal, fruit, smoothies, toast or eggs

Lunches: Leftovers, wraps or sandwiches for me and Gracia. Cameron will eat out.

Suppers:

Parmesan & chicken pasta, tossed salad
Chicken burgers, chips & salsa, fruit
English muffin pizzas, tomato & cucumber salad
Tuna sandwiches, hot German potato salad
Beans and rice, some sort of veggie, I haven’t decided yet.
Leftovers

Groceries & Menu

Groceries, Menu 2 Responses »

Apr 302012

This weekend we spent about $88 at HEB, $25 at Sam’s Club and $5 at the Natural Grocers. I didn’t get a picture taken of all the groceries, but my fridge is very full!

Now for this week’s menu:

Breakfasts: Toast, oatmeal, smoothies, eggs or fruit, and I’m thinking I might make crepes on Saturday, but try them with bananas and peanut butter this time.

Lunches: Leftovers for me and Gracia, eating out for Cameron, although he said he’s going to try to keep his lunches under $5, and he’ll take some trail mix for an afternoon snack.

Suppers:

Crock Pot vegetarian stuffed peppers (although I’ll be making them with pinto beans instead of black beans, because that’s what I had in the freezer) and pineapple
Bean burritos, chips salsa and steamed broccoli
Grinder burgers, corn on the cob and cooked greens
Chicken quesadillas, chips and salsa and veggie sticks
Salmon melts, steamed broccoli and salad
Egg salad sandwiches, steamed broccoli and salad

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