Last week I reached that day, when we either go over, or I just don't spend any more on food, and we live off what we have in stock. Since we had milk, and some eggs, plus a very full pantry, and burgeoning spring garden, I thought I could do it. For dinners, we've had lentil and pasta soup, lentil and rice salad, refried beans and rice, homemade pizza, hot dogs with homemade buns, turkey and tofu teriyaki, and baked beans. So, you see, we had plenty to eat. It's been mostly the fruits and veggies that have been of limited variety (but plentiful in quantity). We've had cabbage, carrots, swiss chard, spinach, lettuce, tomato sauce and onions for our main veggies. We often think of onions as more of a seasoning ingredient. Well this week, I made a glazed onion casserole, that was tasty, simple and frugal.
Fruit was the most difficult part for me. I love fruit and to be so limited in variety is difficult. We finished off the last of our strawberries from the freezer, and have been eating bananas, some apple juice, a few last oranges, and rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb (rhubarb sauce, rhubarb crisp, rhubarb lemonade, rhubarb oatmeal, rhubarb muffins). So, we've had plenty to eat.
We did pretty well I think. But I did break down yesterday and stop in at Trader Joe's. I bought bananas, soy milk (that's for me, I wanted to be able to enjoy granola this morning, too) and one impulse buy -- tofu. Now, most impulse buys are things like chips, soda or the candy that they have sitting there right at the register. For me, the impulse was, "oooh, I love tofu, I should get some. Trader Joe's has the best price on tofu around. I should get some. I know it's over the budget. But I should get some. I could use it in lasagna or something (I use tofu, mashed in place of ricotta cheese -- the dairy issue I have). Oh, I'll just get one," That's my version of an impulse buy. Tofu may not be your weakness, but yesterday it was mine!
So, the end result. I went over budget by about $10 this month. I'll still have to work to get us back within budget for next month. But I think I can do it! How did your spending go for the month?
Moving on to June's grocery budget, how will we make our grocery money last this month? I think we need a plan.
