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Monday, July 9, 2018

Why there was no June Grocery Journal

I know I've been sporadic in posting, lately. However, the lack of a June grocery post was not an accident. I didn't keep a journal last month, and here's why: I barely shopped for "regular" groceries. Almost all of the foods that I bought were earmarked for 3 specific events that we hosted, the reception about which you've heard, Father's Day, and a going away party for a friend. In addition to the "regular" grocery items of eggs, milk, and bread bought in early June, we lived off of the leftovers (plus items already on hand) from those 3 events. 3 parties, well-spaced throughout the month, kept us in supply of produce, meat, cheese, crackers, desserts, nuts, etc, for all of the non-party days of June.

I had previously decided that the food for these gatherings would not come out of our grocery budget. But I did over-buy, so I figure we ate a full-month's budget of groceries out of the leftovers. (There was no realistic way that I could separate out the costs for our regular meals from the party supplies.) My plan, then, is to just consider us "even" for June, and pick up on the budget beginning July 1. So, I am back to "regular" grocery shopping. I used my senior discount this past Tuesday to pick up a month's worth of essentials, and will make a trip to Cash and Carry for cheese and produce later this week.

And that's why you didn't see any sort of grocery journal post for last month.

How do you handle the grocery budget when buying for a large party? Do you make a separate budget for the supplies, or do the supplies need to come out of your regular grocery budget?

10 comments:

  1. It's been a while since I bought for a large party. I know we usually spend close to $100 for a party or holiday dinner and I don't have that extra in my budget in the summertime. I like how you handled it though by not buying any extra for the rest of the month other than eggs, milk, and bread. I think that's a great way to handle it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Belinda,
      I felt better about spending a lot on the parties by keeping the rest of our spending to a minimum, even though we'd set aside money for these occasions. There were plenty of goodies leftover so we didn't feel the least bit deprived. And now, I really do feel like I could eat beans and rice for dinner every night!
      Have a great day!

      Delete
  2. Sometimes you just have to not have a monthly post and that's is just fine. I probably shouldn't post my totals either because each month I think I'm doing fine but the end-of-month totals tell a different story! I'm not going to go crazy about it. I know that much of the food we buy isn't consumed in the same month it is purchased but rather frozen and used at a later date.

    I haven't hosted a big party in a long time but it would come from sale items during the planning process, frozen items, and the rest from my budget which I increased slightly for the event. I know there will always be leftovers to be enjoyed later so I call it a "flush".

    For June we ended up with somewhere around $670 all inclusive but that was for 4 adults with leftovers and all extras were frozen for our son to have on his weekend work out of town. We are plowing through the freezers. All the frozen diced peppers are gone, lots of frozen chicken, pork and ground beef are gone. Very little frozen veggies remaining. Lots of salads, smoothies are being consumed and all of our foods are down to earth and nothing spectacular but delicious!

    Alice

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It sounds like you did well for an almost full household, Alice. Good job!

      Delete
  3. Birthdays and Xmas foods are alotted for under "celebrations" category of my HH budget. Additional occassion means coming up with the funds, however I can-pulling from clothing, or groceries as examples

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're right, Carol. The clothing or grocery budgets are good places from which to pull extra funds, due to their already flexible nature.

      Delete
  4. We definitely spend more on food when we have parties, dinners, etc. but the leftovers are great. I consider it all part of the grocery budget. On those more expensive times, we just eat better than normal which is okay to do from time to time. I think you were smart to not worry about sorting everything out in June and just pick it up again in July.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a good attitude, live and learn, to just expect that it will be more expensive, but the up side is you get to eat better than normal (or maybe not "better," but more luxurious) for a few days.

      Delete
  5. I find it hard to control the budget when we had party. I will try to balance better coz I don't wanna spend money exceeded the monthly cost.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi there,
      You know, I find it very hard to control the budget, too, when we host parties. I think it's because I want to make sure that our guests are well-taken care of. We just do the best we can, right?

      Delete

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