Went shopping last night, not this morning and spent...
Are you ready?
It might be scary...
$169.94 on food.
Sigh.
I did not go for two weeks, so maybe it's not so bad. I didn't buy any cold cuts (I know they're a rip off, but Chris likes sandwiches). The most expensive thing was a 5 pound bag of frozen meatballs for $8. Those will last us awhile, and with Lent coming, we have to plot out our meat meals even more, since we go meatless on Wednesdays and Fridays. I did buy chicken, since it was a good deal and shoved it in our big freezer.
I'm making an Asian coconut cabbage soup later on; recipe is from Rae at There is No Wealth But Life. I had so much cabbage leftover from making minestrone soup two weeks ago, this is the perfect way to use it up. Here's the recipe: http://nutritionella.com/2011/12/01/a-new-love-asian-coconut-cabbage-soup/
It's meatless. Chris is getting a little curious about why I'm making meatless food. HELLO, it's cheaper. Usually. I'm playing dumb and telling him "getting ready for Lent."
I'll report back on how it is. It looks delicious.
Showing posts with label Shopping Saturday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shopping Saturday. Show all posts
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Shopping Saturday
Sorry for the disjointedness of the blog these past few days (if you've noticed). I didn't go shopping this week nor was it done on Saturday. C went yesterday, on his day off (he has Fri & Sat off), and only spent about $79!!
What did he get? I don't know exactly. He lost the receipt in the parking lot when the wind kicked up. It's fine, I don't know if I was getting much out of these itemized posts and I don't think anyone out there really cares about what we buy, ha!
While I wanted to only spend $300 on food this month, here is it January 21, and we've spent almost $500. The good news is that at least $100 of this was stuff that's been frozen for later. There was also a huge amount of canned goods purchased one week. I am willing to bet that we'll CONSUME about $300 worth of food this month.
I feel so...wasteful? for spending so much money on food when I know people are feeding much bigger households on the same amount or even less. Why does food have to cost so much? Rhetorical questions which will never be answered...
What did he get? I don't know exactly. He lost the receipt in the parking lot when the wind kicked up. It's fine, I don't know if I was getting much out of these itemized posts and I don't think anyone out there really cares about what we buy, ha!
While I wanted to only spend $300 on food this month, here is it January 21, and we've spent almost $500. The good news is that at least $100 of this was stuff that's been frozen for later. There was also a huge amount of canned goods purchased one week. I am willing to bet that we'll CONSUME about $300 worth of food this month.
I feel so...wasteful? for spending so much money on food when I know people are feeding much bigger households on the same amount or even less. Why does food have to cost so much? Rhetorical questions which will never be answered...
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Shopping Saturday
Last Saturday, I had what we'll call a "soft launch" of what is now my new Saturday series: Shopping Saturday, as well as what will be my new Sunday series: Small Victories Sunday. I just came up with those name like 5 minutes ago. So here we go again!
This morning, I did the near-unthinkable. I got up and out of the house before 7:30. While I do that (or try to) at least every day for work, today is Saturday. Friday night, I decided to make our meal plan and grocery list all by myself, and then, because I wanted to hit up two grocery stories to take advantage of the sale items, I figured it'd be better to get up super early and go when they first opened. C thought I was nuts, but since he did the meal planning and grocery list last week, he was happy to have a week off. Especially since I was going earlier than we did last week.
I got to the first store by 7:30. They open at 7, but the store was pretty dead. I was done and back in the car by 8:15. Was at the second store by 8:30; they open at 8 and the store was also not to busy. I only needed a few things there, so I was home just before 9. The best part? C was already up, and was in the garage before I finished pulling in the car. Hooray for help!
How'd I do this week?
Store 1
This group of items were purchased with store rewards (different from the cards on your keychain), so they were really good deals.
Obviously not everything I bought was on my list. I wasn't sure how much deli stuff I was going to buy, and the escarole was definitely an impulse purchase. I wanted to experiment! The pasta was a "grab a few boxes since they're on sale" type of buy. The V8 is for work--good for chugging while having a busy day.
*I'm not sure how healthy these things are but I don't eat them. They are for C's breakfast, since his habit of going to the neighborhood coffee shop or the bagel store near work is costing a lot of money. The frozen muffin tops are for me and are low calorie, low fat, etc.
**Anyone want cranberry juice? Guess who forgot what we bought last week...we have PLENTY now.
***It's a hard and fast rule in our house that we never buy health, beauty, pet or paper items at the grocery store. BUT...the conditioner was cheaper than it is at CVS.
Store 2 (also, all bold items are store brands and italics are things that were on sale):
When I went to this store, I had planned on only getting the produce and the cheese. But I do love my giardeniera and I wanted to surprise C with the soda. Plus, we're always on the lookout for these pitas and now we have dinner for Friday!
GRAND TOTAL $146.71
Honestly I'm very pleased with what I was able to buy for this amount. Granted, there is no meat/poultry/fish, but that's OK. Lunches and breakfasts are taken care of for at least a week, if not more. There's plenty of good, healthy food with all of the produce. Bread is in the freezer for later on, the accidental over purchase of juice is on the dining room floor. Bought everything necessary for this week's dinners, so no mid-week trips to the store in a rush after work. Now, can we finish it all before it goes bad? This is something I still struggle with, even after not really shopping with my mom for food in over 10 years: how to buy for TWO PEOPLE, not four. I'm sure I'll figure it out, oh, right about the time when my future kids will be eating adult portions of food ;-)
This morning, I did the near-unthinkable. I got up and out of the house before 7:30. While I do that (or try to) at least every day for work, today is Saturday. Friday night, I decided to make our meal plan and grocery list all by myself, and then, because I wanted to hit up two grocery stories to take advantage of the sale items, I figured it'd be better to get up super early and go when they first opened. C thought I was nuts, but since he did the meal planning and grocery list last week, he was happy to have a week off. Especially since I was going earlier than we did last week.
I got to the first store by 7:30. They open at 7, but the store was pretty dead. I was done and back in the car by 8:15. Was at the second store by 8:30; they open at 8 and the store was also not to busy. I only needed a few things there, so I was home just before 9. The best part? C was already up, and was in the garage before I finished pulling in the car. Hooray for help!
How'd I do this week?
Store 1
This group of items were purchased with store rewards (different from the cards on your keychain), so they were really good deals.
- 2.85# bananas for $1.54
- 1# deli ham $3.99
- 1# deli turkey $6.99
- 1/2 # slicing cheddar $3.00
- 1/2 # Swiss cheese slices $3.23
- ciabatta loaf for Sunday's dinner--FREE w/ store special
- half gallon of milk $1.98
- lite sour cream (2 @ $1.87) $3.74
- dozen eggs $2.89
- Aloutte (sp?) light $3.98
- breakfast sandwiches (2 boxes of 4 @ $6.59) $13.18*
- frozen muffin tops (2 boxes of 4 @ $4.69) $9.38
- small can sliced olives $1.49
- beef broth (6 @.86) $5.16
- refried beans $0.80
- potato chips $3.99
- bread (2 @ buy 1 get 1 free) $3.99
- salad dressing $3.49
- flour tortillas $2.99
- cranberry juice (2 @ $2.50) $5.00**
- V8 6 pack $4.99
- small can sliced jalapenos $0.89
- pasta (3 boxes @ $0.77) $2.31
- conditioner (2 bottles @ $0.99) $1.98***
- 2.72# pears $2.67
- 3# apples $3.99
- celery hearts (2 packages @ $2.28) $4.56
- strawberries (2 packages, buy 1 get 1 free) $4.99
- escarole $1.46
Obviously not everything I bought was on my list. I wasn't sure how much deli stuff I was going to buy, and the escarole was definitely an impulse purchase. I wanted to experiment! The pasta was a "grab a few boxes since they're on sale" type of buy. The V8 is for work--good for chugging while having a busy day.
*I'm not sure how healthy these things are but I don't eat them. They are for C's breakfast, since his habit of going to the neighborhood coffee shop or the bagel store near work is costing a lot of money. The frozen muffin tops are for me and are low calorie, low fat, etc.
**Anyone want cranberry juice? Guess who forgot what we bought last week...we have PLENTY now.
***It's a hard and fast rule in our house that we never buy health, beauty, pet or paper items at the grocery store. BUT...the conditioner was cheaper than it is at CVS.
Store 2 (also, all bold items are store brands and italics are things that were on sale):
- giardeniera $2.39
- marinated eggplant $1.99
- local soda still made with real sugar, we buy a few bottles when we shop here as a treat (3 @ $1.05) $3.15
- 1# American cheese $5.87
- flatbreads (more like authentic Greek pitas; 2 packages @ $2.49) $4.98
- 2.82# broccoli $2.79 (was $0.99/lb--haven't seen it so cheap in a long time!
- 2# baby carrots $3.00
- cucumbers (4 @ $0.69) $2.76
- 2.64# green grapes $5.25
- romaine (2 heads @ $1.29) $2.58
- grape tomatoes (2 pints @ $1.49) $2.98
When I went to this store, I had planned on only getting the produce and the cheese. But I do love my giardeniera and I wanted to surprise C with the soda. Plus, we're always on the lookout for these pitas and now we have dinner for Friday!
GRAND TOTAL $146.71
Honestly I'm very pleased with what I was able to buy for this amount. Granted, there is no meat/poultry/fish, but that's OK. Lunches and breakfasts are taken care of for at least a week, if not more. There's plenty of good, healthy food with all of the produce. Bread is in the freezer for later on, the accidental over purchase of juice is on the dining room floor. Bought everything necessary for this week's dinners, so no mid-week trips to the store in a rush after work. Now, can we finish it all before it goes bad? This is something I still struggle with, even after not really shopping with my mom for food in over 10 years: how to buy for TWO PEOPLE, not four. I'm sure I'll figure it out, oh, right about the time when my future kids will be eating adult portions of food ;-)
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Two more shopping trips and thoughts on food
Last night, after Mass*, we went to do our regular grocery shopping.
Total bill $160.95 (bold items are store brands)
Sometimes, it's hard to say no to a spouse, especially when it's something like food. Also, when a spouse is a foodie and loves to cook, there's the desire to experiment or the need to restock items that have been used. The tea is for me for my desk at work; I realized on Friday that all I have left is caffeinated and I can't be drinking that all day, I'll never sleep!
When we got home, I realized that the mushroom soup also calls for fresh dill and parsley, which I had on my list, but thought was for another soup and decided to pick those up next week. FAIL. I had to go back to the store today, but this time I brought back 4 big bags of empty bottles and cans that I hadn't gotten around to taking back.
I ended up paying ONLY .68 for a bunch of parsley and a bunch of dill, as well as a few more onions that I thought to grab. How? My bill was originally $7.33, but I "made" $6.65 at the bottle return room. I felt funny when the cashier told me my final total, as I didn't have anything smaller than a $10 bill on me, so I decided to put it on my debit card. (I used to work retail, I know what a pain it is when someone "robs" your drawer of all your change!)
Originally, when I made up our budget for January, I thought it would be good to try and spend $350 on groceries. I don't know if this is going to happen. One week into the month and we're already at $265.16. Granted, we have a LOT of non-perishables, and many of these things will last for a long time, especially those 10 cans of chicken broth! Even most of the produce we bought will last for some time. We also have a good amount of salad stuff in the fridge, which I can use for lunches this week, with maybe a half can of soup, which is really one serving. We also have a lot of things in the freezer, including bread, so even if we go over the $350, it won't be too bad. (I don't think.)
Besides having a problem with spending too much (at least to me, it's too much), I know we also have a problem with not using things up before they go bad. I've stuck my hand in the veggie drawer to be met by a slimy cucumber. I hope that we can avoid that as well.
A note about this soup I'm making. While it doesn't call for meat, these mushroom are PRICEY! I haven't cooked too many things with mushrooms before, and if I have, they've been the fresh white button type. Not these fancy dried ones. I think this pot of soup costs $21.61 (not counting ingredients I already had on hand, like flour and sour cream) but the recipe says it serve 8 to 12. When you figure out the cost per serving, it's not so bad: more like $1.80-$2.70 a serving. Oh, I hope this isn't one of those "so gross, we can't make it better and we end up tossing it" dishes!!
*Yup, we went Roman this weekend. Friday night was Theophany (Epiphany); after serving in the almost 2 hour liturgy, plus the 40 minute drive each way to our "old church," C was happy to stay local, instead of driving another 40 minutes one way in the opposite direction to our "new, regular church" that has a divine liturgy on Saturday nights. If you're confused: for a few years we attended one church and got really involved--C served on the altar, I sang in the choir. When he started his new job in November, we had to give up going to that church because he had to work Sundays and they didn't have a Saturday night DL. The one we attend now is the church C grew up in and while they are seriously lacking many things, they do have a Saturday night DL and we can see C's grandmother each week. Our goal is to go back to the "old church" for holy days and if C ever has a need to take a Sunday off. Thank God we're Catholic and have this choice. I don't know what Protestants would do.
Total bill $160.95 (bold items are store brands)
- big bag of shredded cheese $6.48
- huge block of Romano cheese (used for shredding/grating instead of buying packaged Parmesan) $11.46
- small personal sized desserts (a treat since we rarely have dessert in the house and didn't have a lot of "junk" around during the holiday nor did we attend any parties; 4 @ $1.68 on sale) $6.72
- box of ditalini (pasta used in pasta fagioli, good to have on hand--quick & easy soup to make with ingredients that are non-perishable!) $1.53
- box of orzo (pasta used in mushroom soup) $1.53
- diced tomatoes (4 cans @ .99) $3.96
- canned mushrooms 4/$3.00
- tomato sauce (4 cans @ .69) $2.76
- chicken broth (10 cans @ .40) $4.00
- beef broth (big cans, needed for mushroom soup, no store brand beef broth available. 2 @ $3.43) $6.86
- can of hominy (for green chili later this week) .99
- canned soup, 8/$10.00
- cream of chicken soup 5/$5.00
- cream of mushroom soup 5/$5.00
- low fat microwave popcorn $2.19
- tortilla chips 2/$4.00
- potato chips $4.99
- "regular" microwave popcorn $3.19
- crackers $3.99
- snack crackers 2/$5.00
- chicken boullion packets (2 @ $1.29) $2.58
- Jane's Krazy Salt--my new favorite "spice" $2.83
- ground chipotle pepper $8.69
- cranberry juice (4 big bottles @ $1.88 each) $7.52
- soda (3 12-packs @ $2.00 each) $6.00
- seltzer (5 1-liter bottles @ .77 each) $3.85
- herbal tea 2/$4.00
- 8 oz pkg sliced mushrooms (2 @ 1.28 each on sale, cheaper than the non-sliced! Will be used in mushroom soup I'm making today) $2.56
- pint of grape tomatoes $3.99
- 2# bag of carrots $1.99
- dried mushrooms (for soup, 2 @ $4.99) $9.98
- 2# pollock loin $12.26
- bottle deposits $2.05
Sometimes, it's hard to say no to a spouse, especially when it's something like food. Also, when a spouse is a foodie and loves to cook, there's the desire to experiment or the need to restock items that have been used. The tea is for me for my desk at work; I realized on Friday that all I have left is caffeinated and I can't be drinking that all day, I'll never sleep!
When we got home, I realized that the mushroom soup also calls for fresh dill and parsley, which I had on my list, but thought was for another soup and decided to pick those up next week. FAIL. I had to go back to the store today, but this time I brought back 4 big bags of empty bottles and cans that I hadn't gotten around to taking back.
I ended up paying ONLY .68 for a bunch of parsley and a bunch of dill, as well as a few more onions that I thought to grab. How? My bill was originally $7.33, but I "made" $6.65 at the bottle return room. I felt funny when the cashier told me my final total, as I didn't have anything smaller than a $10 bill on me, so I decided to put it on my debit card. (I used to work retail, I know what a pain it is when someone "robs" your drawer of all your change!)
Originally, when I made up our budget for January, I thought it would be good to try and spend $350 on groceries. I don't know if this is going to happen. One week into the month and we're already at $265.16. Granted, we have a LOT of non-perishables, and many of these things will last for a long time, especially those 10 cans of chicken broth! Even most of the produce we bought will last for some time. We also have a good amount of salad stuff in the fridge, which I can use for lunches this week, with maybe a half can of soup, which is really one serving. We also have a lot of things in the freezer, including bread, so even if we go over the $350, it won't be too bad. (I don't think.)
Besides having a problem with spending too much (at least to me, it's too much), I know we also have a problem with not using things up before they go bad. I've stuck my hand in the veggie drawer to be met by a slimy cucumber. I hope that we can avoid that as well.
A note about this soup I'm making. While it doesn't call for meat, these mushroom are PRICEY! I haven't cooked too many things with mushrooms before, and if I have, they've been the fresh white button type. Not these fancy dried ones. I think this pot of soup costs $21.61 (not counting ingredients I already had on hand, like flour and sour cream) but the recipe says it serve 8 to 12. When you figure out the cost per serving, it's not so bad: more like $1.80-$2.70 a serving. Oh, I hope this isn't one of those "so gross, we can't make it better and we end up tossing it" dishes!!
*Yup, we went Roman this weekend. Friday night was Theophany (Epiphany); after serving in the almost 2 hour liturgy, plus the 40 minute drive each way to our "old church," C was happy to stay local, instead of driving another 40 minutes one way in the opposite direction to our "new, regular church" that has a divine liturgy on Saturday nights. If you're confused: for a few years we attended one church and got really involved--C served on the altar, I sang in the choir. When he started his new job in November, we had to give up going to that church because he had to work Sundays and they didn't have a Saturday night DL. The one we attend now is the church C grew up in and while they are seriously lacking many things, they do have a Saturday night DL and we can see C's grandmother each week. Our goal is to go back to the "old church" for holy days and if C ever has a need to take a Sunday off. Thank God we're Catholic and have this choice. I don't know what Protestants would do.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Tracking food in a different way
I already track calories, but this is about MONEY, since I think we spend way too much on food.
C went shopping yesterday at a market that is in a more urban area and has more "exotic" foods (you know, like duck and different cuts of pork besides chops and roasts).
He spent $93 even and this is what he bought:
C went shopping yesterday at a market that is in a more urban area and has more "exotic" foods (you know, like duck and different cuts of pork besides chops and roasts).
He spent $93 even and this is what he bought:
- frozen duck $12.35
- frozen duck $12.30
- beef spareribs $6.91
- beef spareribs $7.96
- fresh pork shoulder $10.46
- fresh pork shoulder $12.51
- smoked pork hocks $7.02
- broccoli & garlic sausage $5.24
- broccoli & garlic sausage $4.82
- steak seasoning spice mix (3 bottles @ .99 each) $2.97
- roast beef (cold cuts) $7.27
- onion rolls $2.99
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