Sunday, December 12, 2010

Month 2, Week Three Budget Review

To stay on track for the month, my budget for this weekend's shopping was $56.40 minus the $9.94 I spent at Natural Grocer mid-week, for a total of $46.46. I came close.

I got out of Sprouts for $53.58, which means I am over by about $6. Not bad.

Sprouts was out of the frozen pizza dough, so I had to improvise. I got some small pizza crusts from the bakery. They were more expensive than the other, but I was stuck.
  • Pizza Crust, $2.99
  • Pearl barley from the bulk bin, $0.33
  • Quick cooking oats from the bulk bin, $0.92
  • Cage free eggs, $1.99 (rain check)
  • Organic Valley milk, $5.99
  • Soy Milk, $3.79
  • Chicken breast deli meat, $3.19
  • Salami, $3.99
  • Grated parmesan, $2.70
  • Monterey Jack, $2.34
  • Shredded mozzarella, $2.31
  • Raw Milk White Cheddar, $2.85
  • Vanilla biscuits, $1.99
  • Natural Cinnamon Square cereal, $2.50
  • Organic peanut butter cereal, $2.99
  • Puffed Cereal, $1.59
  • Pork steak, $2.13
  • Chicken breast tenders, $4.04
  • Grape tomatoes, $0.99
  • Navel oranges, $1.74
  • Organic Jonagold apples, $2.22

Total: $53.58

My thoughts for meals this week:

  • Tonight we had the personal pizzas (tomato sauce, parmesan and mozzarella cheese) and fresh juice (apple, pear, orange). I love our juicer!
  • Eggplant parmesan with pasta.
  • Crockpot stew made with the pearled barley, buffalo stew meat from last week, and whatever vegetables I have left fresh or pull out of the freezer.
  • Baked pork steak, steamed vegetables and another side of some kind.

I need to find a recipe for something I can use the chicken in. We could also have breakfast for dinner one night. We've got tons of eggs. I'm pretty happy with how I did at the grocery store.

Have a great week!

4 comments:

  1. That's a great price for the raw cheddar cheese! I'm impressed with how you're keeping on budget, I really struggle with that. I think after the rush of the holidays are done I may reevaluate my own budget. I know how much I spend from week to week but am really struggling with getting the cost down while not sacrificing on what I buy.

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  2. It was on sale at Sprouts! It's definitely a challenge keeping to the budget, but the produce co-op helps a TON! I'll do a blog post on how I found Urban Acres and some strategies I use to keep the budget in check. It's definitely tempting to go for the fruit that is $.49/lb or the less expensive, non-organic milk, but it's ultimately worth it. If I don't plan or pay attention, though, it all goes out the window.

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  3. I am struggling like Krista to keep costs down, but not reduce the quality. I think starting in 2011, I am going to start a blog project to see where my money is going. I know I don't take advantage of coupons like I should, but I also suspect that since the only good option for local and organic products is a food co-op, prices are a bit higher than they would be if we had a Whole Foods. I have been researching a CSA for produce and free range eggs since the summer, but here in Iowa, there is really no produce in the winter, so they only run March - November; I will have to wait a few more months. Thanks for being my new inspriation!

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  4. If you have a CSA in the warmer months, you could freeze what you don't eat in those months so it would be available December through February. I am finding that I am able to freeze a part of each share. This will be good as things go out of season. If I have some frozen, I won't have to pay top dollar in the store for out-of-season produce.

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