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
