Weekly Shopping Trip Report - April 8, 2012

My total this week was $154.80. My Texas Daily Harvest order will be delivered Tuesday and I made a trip to Sprouts.  They had a great sale on strawberries this week, so I stocked up.  They go bad really quickly, so we ate some fresh and the rest we sliced and froze for use in smoothies.  If I wasn't hindered by my back injury, I'd figure out how to make some homemade strawberry preserves.  Oh, well.  Another time.

Texas Daily Harvest, $40.47

• 2 dozen eggs ($10.00)
• 1 pound beef breakfast sausage ($6.99)
• 1 pound ground beef ($6.49)
• 1 pound of bacon ($9.99)
• Local honey, 16 oz. ($6.00)
• Delivery Fee ($1.00)

Sprouts, $114.33

• Bakery, $7.37  (wheat bread, french bread, pizza crust)
• Bulk, $5.98  (almond toffee granola, brown rice, pretzels)
• Dairy, $21.86 (yogurt, cottage cheese, butter, soy milk, cows milk, orange juice)
• Deli, $9.23  (shredded mozzarella, pepperoni, sliced turkey)
• Meat, $22.56  (shrimp, salmon, chicken, pork sausage)
• Frozen, $5.98 (ice cream, frozen corn)
• Grocery, $20.24  (crackers, canned beans, pasta sauce, tortilla chips, italian soda)
• Produce, $20.74 (strawberries, clementines, cucumber, tomatoes, bell peppers, avocados, spring mix, bananas, grapes)

Other Stuff

I'm not sure when the CSA delivery will start (in a few weeks, I hope), but we had to pay a $25 planting fee, plus the last two weeks $68, in advance. I'm not including this $93 in my total for this week.

I also got a notice that there was a Whole Foods gift card on Plastic Jungle available.  I bought a $500 gift card at a 3% discount, so for $485.  I haven't received this in the mail yet and will be using it to pay for my groceries over the next month or so.  These don't come available very often, so I jumped at the chance.  $15 is $15, right?

Weekly Shopping Trip Report - March 30, 2012

This week I took a late Friday shopping excursion to Whole Foods.  Good news, though: My new reusable produce and bulk bags I bought from Joyce1492 on Etsy arrived. They are fabulous!  I'm trying to incorporate the tips from Bea Johnson and using reusable bags and jars is one of them.

I gathered up my shopping bags, produce bags, glass jars and off I went.  The WF employee at the customer service counter weighed the tare of my containers and I hit the produce section first.  I don't have enough jars yet, but I should in the next few weeks as I have been making a conscious effort to buy items in glass jars where possible (as opposed to plastic).

The produce bags are awesome. I wished I had more, but I've ordered additional bags (including a bread bag!) from ThreadBareStitcher on Etsy and am anxiously awaiting their arrival. I should be good to go once they get here.

The Bulk Aisle Goods

Apples and Citrus

The Shrimp

I filled up mixed produce in two of the bags, which the cashier sorted without complaint.

Next up was the meat counter.  I needed shrimp and handed over the jar.  No problem!



When I got to the check-out counter, the cashier had a little difficulty with a couple of the jars I filled with items from the olive bar (jalapeño cilantro pesto and assorted olives and greek peppers).  When the price popped up I told him I didn't think it was quite right.  He quickly corrected the error and we were good to go.

The Whole She-Bang: Not a Great Picture

Whole Foods Summary

I used all of my own shopping bags, bought dog food and toilet paper.  The total was $152.14. 

There were several "out of the ordinary" purchases this week that increased my total.  First, my favorite pasta was on sale for $1.39 per package instead of $1.99 per package, so I got 4.  Second, I bought chocolate chips ($6.69) from the bulk bin and a box of 100 Stevia packets ($5.99) which are not weekly purchases.  Finally, the Bell & Evans chicken nuggets (a must have for nights when you just don't feel like cooking) were on sale buy one get one free ($7.49 for two).  I wasn't originally planning on buying them, but that's a great price so I got two boxes.  

Otherwise, here's how it broke down:

• Produce, $29.44 (oranges, apples, bananas, strawberries, watermelon, limes, tomatoes, mint, avacado, mixed field greens)
• Meat, $21.07 (shrimp, chicken nuggets, turkey breast, salami)
• Drinks, $18.74 (milk, goat milk, orange juice, apple juice, sparkling water, root beer)
• Dog Food, $14.99
• Toilet Paper, $3.99
• Other, $63.91 (salsa, refried beans, bulk items -- oats, cereal, chocolate chips, chocolate covered pretzels and veggie chips, pasta, ice cream, baguette, pop chips, harissa, olive bar stuff, bag of shredded cheese)

Texas Daily Harvest Summary (All Organic/Grass-Fed/Pastured/Free Range)

I bought a dozen eggs, one pound of roasted coffee, 8 ounces of colby cheese, bacon and a pound of ground beef from Texas Daily Harvest that will be delivered Tuesday.  This cost $41.48.  

Total

My total for the week was $193.62.

This included dog food and toiletries. We have two dogs: Toby is 13 and is a border collie/shepherd mix.  Eddie is a 10 month old miniature dachshund/chihuahua mix.  The dog food I bought is for Toby and should last her about a week.  Eddie still has food from a previous bag we bought for him. I plan on learning how to make dog food myself later this year. It's on the list of things to do, along with learning how to make my own cleaning supplies.

Because this was a late evening trip, my ravenous, whiny children were crawling all over me for dinner, so I had to make it. Stat!  We had sandwiches on part of the baguette, fresh fruit and pop chips. Nothing fancy, but delicious.

A little trivia about this post: I had half of it drafted. One bad move with the delete button and *poof* it disappeared. Gah!

Tomorrow I'll post what I plan on cooking this week.

Snowed In Menu Planning and Weekly Budget Review

We are heading into our fourth snow day in a row. In Dallas this is unheard of. My kids are going stir crazy and, truth be told, so am I. I relish my time at home with my family, but I am one of those women that needs to work. Not just to contribute financially, but as in, I NEED to work.

Stephen and I have been taking turns going into our (closed) offices this week. We have to get stuff done. He goes in the morning, I go in the afternoon. I ran by the grocery store tonight on my way back home.

I didn't plan, but had some of my coupons with me. On the fly, I came up with this menu for the upcoming week, which I am sure will be tweaked. Part of it was the special deal Whole Foods was running which I will detail below:

Dinners

1. Beef Chili
2. Hamburgers, homemade french fries and sliced fruit
3. Vegetarian Sloppy Joes
4. Steak, fruit and vegetables
5. Tilapia, fruit/salad and vegetables
6. Quesadillas and Soup

Lunches

1. Turkey or salami sandwiches on homemade bread, organic potato chips, fruit
2. Wrap sandwiches, hard boiled eggs, hummus with carrot and celery sticks, fruit
3. Homemade pizza rolls, homemade apple chips
4. Spaghetti with butter and parmesan
5. Leftovers from dinner

I will be cooking slightly different meals for myself since I'm on Mellman, so I'll be eating more buffalo and fish.

We'll be getting a delivery from Texas Daily Harvest on Saturday. I spent $41.49 on a gallon of milk, 1 pint of cream, 8 oz of Colby, 8 oz of Mozzarella, one pound of pasture fed ground beef and one pound of pasture fed strip steak.

I spent $81.55 at Whole Foods. They were having a special: if you purchased their hamburger patties, you'd get hamburger buns, potato chips and smoked sausage for free. The free items were worth $10.98 and I had $6 in coupons. Here's what I got:

• Sloppy joe mix, $2.79
• 2 small containers of strawberry yogurt, $.79 each
• BBQ sauce, $2.50
• Rye crackers, $2.69
• Organic potato chips, $2.00
• Kashi cheddar crackers, $2.99
• 365 Peanut Butter cereal, $3.49
• 3 boxes of Arrowhead Mills Cereal, $4.39 each
• 2 boxes Kashi Cereal, $3.39 each
• 3 cans of organic beans (kidney, red and navy), $5.00
• Sweet german pork sausage, $5.99
• 365 Goat Cheese, $6.99
• Gourmet beef burgers, $14.14
• Tazo Chai Tea Concentrate, $4.49
• Applegate Farms Genoa Salami, $2.25
• Applegate Farms Oven Roasted Turkey, $4.18
• Hamburger Buns, $2.99
• WF Tortillas, $2.49
• Organic Cameo Apples (2.48 lb), $3.70
• Organic Lemon, $.79
• Clean Eating Magazine, $5.99 (technically not groceries, but included in the total)

We were out of cereal, so I used coupons and stocked up. I still need to get some more Soy milk and, likely, eggs. But I'm well within the budget this week.

I made a lemon cake treat that I'll be posting about later and I'll be whipping up some of my nut butter cookies. It's gonna be a great week.

Super Fast Update

I'm back from Miami and am getting my house back in order, literally and figuratively. I spent about $70 at Sprouts and $67 at Whole Foods and picked up my Urban Acres share ($50). I didn't go to the store at all last weekend, so this is two weeks worth.

I'll be headed back to Whole Foods tomorrow to pick up some buffalo, fish and cashews. I've got everything else I need for the week, though.

I've been playing in the kitchen this afternoon and a new post with my creations will follow.

This week we'll be having our standard menu: beef, chicken or fish, our fresh produce and I picked up some gluten free pasta we'll be testing out.

The share this week included apples, oranges and lemons (yay!), onions, potatoes, carrots, celery, lettuce, purple turnips, and lots of greens. Oh, and a butternut and acorn squash. Not sure how I'm going to prepare those and I've never seen a purple turnip before.

I am so glad to be home.

Budget Review, Second Week of January 2011

The theme for this week's budget is Stocking Up. It's also a really long post, so prepare yourselves.

Another wrinkle: I am making the kids' lunches instead of letting them eat hot lunch at school, so my grocery expenses are going up. I'm going to have to make a budget adjustment. I was spending $160 each month on the school lunches, so clearly that's going to have an impact on my weekly budget. I don't expect there to be a corresponding increase in the budget (in other words, $40 a week), but I'm going to watch and see what happens in the coming weeks before I settle on a number. Maybe an extra $20 each week? What do you think?

Okay, on with the show.

First of all, there are a LOT of stores on the list this week and a lot of trips to Whole Foods. This is not normal. I didn't prepare properly for making the kids' lunches or for the fact that I'm back on my Mellman plan.

Whole Foods. This week I made three trips (one mid-week, one Friday night and one Saturday -- don't ask). The first trip totaled $55, the second one $45 and the third $44.

I don't have the receipt for the first Whole Foods trip. Why, you ask? Because it was in my purse. On the floor of the passenger side of my car. And I put my full cup of tea on the dash to open something for my daughter while I was driving.

The cup of tea (with sugar and soy milk in it) slid off the dash, flipped over and landed inside my purse. Totally not kidding. I'm still trying to figure out how to clean the lining of my bag. But that's another issue completely. The receipt was a casualty of my stupidity.

Trip Number 1. I know that $55 included a lot of eggs. I don't remember what else.

Trip Number 2.

• White Cheddar Rice Crackers, $2.50
• Organic Fruit Leather, 2 at $.59 each
• Canned olives, $1.99
• Stonyfield Yogurt, $3.99
• Sea Salt, $6.99
• Goat cheese, $8.00
• Prepared chicken salad, $5.99
• Naan bread, $3.49
• Tortillas, $1.99
• Organic apples, $2.33
• Grapes, $3.19
• Watermelon chunks, $2.55

Trip Number 3.

• Organic Valley Eggs, $2.79
• Cheddar Crackers, $2.50
• Clif's Twisted Fruit, 2 boxes for $7.00
• Organic Yogurt, $3.49
• Hummus, $1.50
• Bulk Chocolate Nut Crunch Trail Mix, $1.76
• Florida Crystals Cane Sugar, $4.99
• Ground buffalo, $10.55
• Organic Valley italian blend cheese, $4.99
• Goat cheese, $5.99
• Corn tortillas, $.99
• Grapes, $3.09

I saved $4.70 using coupons.

Amazon.Com, $16. I bought boxed water (like a juice box but with water instead) to put in the kids' school lunches until the Laptop Lunch Boxes (and water bottles) arrived. They've also been drinking them while at home.

Target, $38.83. We use a lot of oatmeal in our house, so I bought some oatmeal coupons on ebay. 20 of them, in fact. (They cost me $7 total.) Target was having a sale on oatmeal. I stocked UP. I also found some Kashi apple bars on clearance (plus, I had a coupon for free produce when I bought Kashi products).

• 9 boxes of Kashi apple bars
• 12 - 18 oz cans of Quaker oats
• 2 boxes of Tazo Chai Latte concentrate
• Corn Meal
• 5 pounds of Cuties (little seedless oranges/tangerines)
• Fresh black berries

I saved $21 using coupons.

Tom Thumb, $27.92. I went to Target to get coffee creamer (on sale) and found some great deals and coupons scattered throughout the store.

• Actual somen noodles (the kind used in ramen, but just the noodles), $2.65
• Organic soy sauce, $3.49
• Rice vinegar, $2.09
• Sparkling water, $4.50
• Dijon mustard, $4.59
• 3 bottles of Coffee Mate creamer, $5.97
• Organic soy milk, $2.49
• Organic bananas, Not sure, I was charged $0 from a coupon
• Almond slivers, $2.50
• 2 bags of sweet butter lettuce, $4.00
• Bag of organic red apples, $3.00

I saved $7.65 using coupons.

Dollar General, Less than $2. This was the first time I'd ever been to this store. I couldn't resist free oatmeal. I also got a lamp and paper towels, but those don't count towards my grocery budget.

• 6 bags of oatmeal (5 servings each), $6
• Can of coffee, $1.75

All of the oatmeal was free after coupons (I saved $12.50 total, but not just on oatmeal).

GRAND TOTAL. The total is, give or take some change (I didn't have my calculator), about $213.

I definitely have a lot of lunch items that will last beyond this week and the oatmeal should last for months.

I spent a lot this week, no question. I blew the weekly budget, but I stocked up, which will help lower my future expenditures.

Budget Review, Last Two Weeks of December

I'm not gonna lie. I didn't keep track.

Bad Kandice!

We spent five days at the in-laws, so I didn't cook. But, while I was there, I visited the farm where I get my fresh dairy and stocked up on cheese. Tomorrow is an Urban Acres pick-up day and I earlier in the month I bought a Groupon for organic meat.

Soooo....

Here's what I remember:

• Groupon, $35 (for $75 worth of meat)
• Texas Daily Harvest, $58 (for a zillion things of cheese, yogurt and milk)
• Texas Daily Harvest, $39 (delivery of milk, cream, organic pasture fed ground beef and NY strip steak)
• Whole Foods, $71 (produce, buffalo, fish, soy milk, pork loin, apples, apple sauce, flour and yeast for making bread, etc.)
• Urban Acres, $50 (produce share to be picked up on January 1st)

I was pretty close to the budget, but went a little over. Part of it was used in holiday baking, too, so that was extra that isn't typical.

The pantry and freezer are now almost completely devoid of anything non-organic or overly processed. I've got a few boxes of regular dry pasta and hamburger helper, a couple of frozen dinners and a few remaining bags of those frozen microwaveable rice and veggie combos. All in all, the house is nearly clean from a processed food standpoint.

I still have to do a sweep for the leftover Christmas candy, but I'll do that once school starts back up.

I feel pretty good about the food in the house. I know we can stick to the $110 a week budget and eat healthy, clean meals. Snacks, however, are a challenge so I'm on a mission to find something my kids, especially the picky eater, will enjoy.

Month 2, Week 3 Budget Review

I started this week with $110 less the $6 I was over last week, so $104.


Urban Acres, $50


Texas Daily Harvest, $21


That left $33 for groceries. I spent $45 at Whole Foods. Not bad, $12 over.


Whole Foods, $45. I can't find my receipt, so from memory (which is scary given that it's four days to Christmas and I haven't finished shopping), I got the following:

• Brown rice from the bulk bin
• Organic oranges for juicing (4)
• Organic tangerines (4)
• Miniature mozzarella balls packed in olive oil and other seasonings
• Fresh basil
• 1/3 pound of shrimp
• One box of organic cereal
• 365 soy milk
• Organic sour cream
• a package of Whole Foods sandwich buns
• 1/3 pound of Applegate Salami
• 1/3 pound of Whole Foods roasted turkey

I know I'm missing something, but can't think of it at the moment. All in all, though, the budget for this week is pretty close to being on track.

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!

Mid-Week Budget Update

I stopped in the Natural Market that just opened and I walked out with bread, fruit spread and Organic Valley cheddar cheese. It cost $9.94 which will be deducted from this weekend's shopping budget.

Month 2, Week 2 Budget and Menu Planning

I learned three very important lessons this weekend:

1. Do not take your kids to Whole Foods with you to shop.

2. Do not shop without a specific list or plan.

3. Do not shop when you are starving and haven't eaten all day.


That being said, I spent $50 on my Urban Acres share. It included tons of yummy produce. I'm not yet sure how I'm going to prepare the napa cabbage or the bok choy, but everything is cleaned, prepped and put away.

Here are the totals (I'm already in bed and not in front of the scanner, so no picture of the receipt):

Whole Foods, $118.71

Organic salted popcorn, $1.99

365 Corn Flakes (Whole Foods Brand is 365), $2.69

365 organic chicken broth, $1.99

Organic vanilla soy milk, 1 gallon, $5.69

Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes, $1.50

Canned tomatoes, $1.49

Chocolate strawberry yogurt pretzels from bulk bin, $2.66

365 organic pinto beans, $1.49

365 organic crushed tomatoes, $1.99

365 organic red kidney beans, $1.49

365 organic cage free eggs, 2 dozen, $7.98

365 raisin bran, $2.69

Cinnamon crunch cereal, $3.79

Bulk peanut butter, $2.11

Bulk long grain brown rice, $.67

Organic valley milk, 1 gallon, $5.99

Beef stew meat, $6.69

Buffalo stew meat, $4.47 and $4.63

Pork shoulder steak, $2.66

Buffalo London Broil, $7.10 and $6.92

Pork Chops, $3.79

Organic string cheese, $5.99 (See Learning Point Number One)

White American cheese, $1.10

Honey maple turkey, $4.44

Salami, $4.95

Slider buns, 8 pack, $1.99

Tortillas, $1.99

Tomato tortillas, $2.49

6 mini cupcakes, $3.96 (See Learning Point Number 1 Again)

5 granny smith organic apples, $2.99

avacado, $2.49 (Learning Point Number Three, I was jonesing for Mexican food)

Lemons, $1.91

Tomato, $1.72

I also picked up a box of Wheat Thins at CVS for $4.89. (Outrageous, I tell you.)

The total for this week was $163.60. This means that next week my budget will be $56.40. That shouldn't be a problem, though, because I got tons of meat this week and still have a lot of fish and chicken in the freezer, too.

Saturday night we had mini-buffalo burgers with fresh fruit. I used the ground buffalo from last week, the slider buns and cheese from this week, and sliced up some fruit from the share. It was delicious!

I made beef chili today, using the beef stew meat, crushed tomatoes, and canned beans I got this weekend. I added a can of tomato sauce, cannelini beans, garlic and chipotle chili seasoning we already had. We ate it for lunch, Stephen will take some to work this week and I put some in the freezer for later.

Dinner tomorrow night is going to be stir fry with brown rice and lean buffalo. I'll stir fry red bell pepper, carrot, celery, shitake mushrooms, broccoli and bok choy with garlic and soy sauce. If there are any leftovers, they will go in someone's lunch.

Have a great week everyone!

Month 2, Week 1 Budget Review

I did all of my shopping this week at Whole Foods and I went without taking any coupons which makes it all the more incredible that I got out of there, including with a chai tea latte from the coffee shop (which was $4.49), for a total of $110.17.

Sha-wing batter!

I stocked up on meat big time this week:

• tilapia ($11.87)
• scallops ($5.04)
• tuna ($6.99)
• chicken thighs ($3.92)
• ground buffalo ($8.15)
• 2 buffalo london broil steaks ($5.75 and $6.02)
• sliced salami ($4.30)
• roast beef ($2.34)

In the produce section, I got some red apples, 2 lemons, a pint of cranberries, and a huge container of grape tomatoes (all organic). We still have tons of produce from our Urban Acres share.

I got 2 half gallon containers of soy milk and a gallon of Organic Valley milk.

From the bulk bins I got organic brown basmati rice, cinnamon and black pepper. I also picked up some organic bread for sandwiches, chicken broth and a candy cane for some holiday baking.

The take-and-bake pizzas were on sale for $7.99 (normally $13.99), so I got one with chicken, red bell peppers and broccoli. I think it was a 16 inch pizza. In other words, ginormous.

My freezer is filling up with chopped veggies from our share and I still have the tuna and chicken left from the week before last.

Month 2 is off to a stellar, on budget, start.

Week 4 Budget Review and Month 1 in Review

Sorry for the break in posting. It got crazy at work. Last week we picked up our produce share from Urban Acres ($50) and spent $25 at Whole Foods for milk, apples, lunch meat and bread. I honestly don't know what everyone ate for dinner because I had several late nights at the office.

That brought our week 4 total to $75. We finished out the month with an extra $44. Holy cow! I'm not quite sure how that happened, but I'll take it!

Week 3 Budget Review

I was over last week by quite a bit and started this week off with $73.78 to spend. So, I looked over my local Sprouts flyer, printed off my coupons, piled into the car with my daughter, and headed out to make some deals.


The receipt is outrageously long, so I'll summarize for you:

• Frozen pizza crust dough, Sprouts, 1.79


• 2 dozen eggs and a gallon of organic milk


• Grated romano cheese, 2.79


• grated mozzarella cheese, 2.47


• Sashimi Grade Tuna, 2,70 and 2.92


• Bread crumbs


• Cereal


• Soy Milk


• oat flour


• pirate booty


• snackimals


• Kashi crackers


• 2 small bottled water


• Beef stew


• chicken tenders


• chicken sausage


• pork sirloin roast


• grape tomatoes


• red apples


• red grapes

The total rang up to be $64.82. Not bad at all!

The menu for the week I'm working on is:

1. Cheese Pizza served with fruit.

2. Chipotle Roasted Pork Sirloin with roasted vegetables and mashed potatoes.

3. Beef Stew made in the crockpot.

4. Eggplant Parmesan and baked potatoes.

5. Something with the chicken tenders and the produce we have left at the end of the week.

I was really able to stock up on some meat. I got nearly 2.5 pounds of chicken, which will last for quite a while. I have a feeling there will be some that will be available for next week.

Week 2: Shopping on the Budget

This week I spent more than $110, but it was Urban Acres pick-up week and I took advantage of some great sales at Sprouts. Sprouts was having a sale on certain Thanksgiving items (20% off). I stocked up on olive oil, a big ticket item. It's normally $10 a bottle, but I was able to get it for $5.60.

Two of the items on sale were Organic Pumpkin Puree and organic whole wheat frozen pie crusts (two in the package). The puree had a recipe for pumpkin pie on the label, which I will make this week or next. I'll use the other pie crust to make a quiche with our Urban Acres produce.

Urban Acres, $50

Sprouts, $79.08

The recipe is like a hundred foot long scroll, so I'll just summarize what I got without individual prices. I did save $12.37 by using coupons and taking advantage of 20% off sale.

• Sprouts organic bread
• Sprouts frozen pizza crust dough
• Bulk black beans
• Bulk semi-sweet chocolate chips
• Bulk granola
• Bulk ground cloves
• Bulk brown rice
• Stoneyfield Yogurt
• Organic butter
• Organic eggs (2 cartons)
• Organic sour cream (1 carton)
• Organic Valley mild cheddar
• Goat cheese
• Frozen organic pie shells
• Organic cane sugar (Florida Crystals)
• Pacific organic cream of mushroom soup
• Pacific organic chicken broth
• Pacific organic vegetable broth
• Active dry yeast
• Chipotle seasoning
• 2 bottle Sprouts olive oil
• 1 can organic pumpkin pie puree
• Rye flour
• Beef flank steak
• Chicken breast tenders
• Grape tomatoes
• Organic apples

We made a Walmart run for tortillas to go with the crockpot fajitas I'm going to make this week, raisins to make Cranberry Raisin Bread (my daughter brought the recipe home from school), and the pumpkin pie. When I was standing in the middle of the store I couldn't remember whether the recipe called for evaporated milk or sweetened condensed milk, so I got both. I didn't want to have to run out to the store again.

Walmart, $9 (I can't find the receipt, so I'm estimating here)

• Freshly made tortillas, $2.50
• Raisins, $1.38
• Evaporated milk, $.98
• Sweetened condensed milk, $1.98

Whole Foods, $14.33

• Buffalo Steak (1 pound)
• Organic Valley Milk (1 gallon)

Total for Week 2: $79.08 + $9 + $14.33 +$50 = $152.49 - $6.19 overage from last week = $146.22.

This leaves me with an overage of $36.22 for next week, which won't be a problem. Next week isn't a produce week, so $73.78 should be plenty.

First Week of Shopping on the Budget

Happy Halloween! The candy is now out of the house, save a few pieces we let the kids keep.

I shopped at two stores today, Target and Whole Foods. I didn't need to buy much produce since we still have tons left from our Urban Acres share we picked up last weekend. (We pick up again next Saturday...can't wait!) Our monthly budget is $440, which translates to $110 per week. This week I spent $41.95 at Target and $61.86 at Whole Foods for a weekly total of $103.81, leaving a balance of $6.19.

I'm a big fan of the coupon, so you'll notice that I saved $15.74 using coupons and $.30 at Whole Foods for bringing my own shopping bags. On a tight budget, every little bit helps.

Target

My Tazo tea coupons were all expiring today, which is why I bought so many. But, it should last me for the month. (On my Mellman plan, I can drink the Tazo Chai Tea Latte with soy milk. It's delicious!) I got a great deal on cage-free organic eggs ($3.39) and I had a coupon for a free dozen eggs. Now, they weren't organic, but they were free. My Target is also newly remodeled to include a grocery section, so when I walked in the door I was given an orange. Free produce!

Whole Foods

I love Whole Foods, but you have to shop smart in there. Otherwise you walk out with one grocery bag and $150 poorer. The coupons I used were for Organic Valley products that I found here. I got salmon, halibut, and chicken for meals this week. I also found a recipe for whole wheat sunflower bread I'll be making this week with my daughter.

I'm excited about the menu I've got planned for the week and I feel really good about how the shopping turned out. I got organic eggs, produce and dairy products. The fish and chicken were high quality from Whole Foods. I'm using my Urban Acres produce in my meal planning.

So far so good.