August 2015 Grocery Spending Journal

20-lb case of frozen green beans, I repackaged into gallon ziplocs

I have a budget of $185 per month now with groceries. I went over last month by $16.09. So, the remaining budget for this month is $168.91. Once again, I need to buy some "extras" to boost calories for one daughter. But we made progress last month, and I may not need to work so hard this month. She's doing great.

August 1. Fred Meyer for milk, on sale with coupon, 99 cents/half gallon, limit 6 (I bought all whole milk, some for yogurt, the rest for one daughter's drinking). Also I find 3 gallons 2% milk (the "regular" drinking milk for the family), at $2 each. Spent $11.94

The one really great thing, going into this month is that August is typically the month when I have abundance coming from the garden and orchard. We will likely have blackberries every day that we want, for the next 3 weeks. The early pears are days away from harvest. The garden is in full production right now, with tomatoes, cucumbers, summer squash, leafy greens, beets, baby carrots, garden beans, and potatoes. Produces is expensive. But with the garden doing well, I can pretty much skip buying fresh produce this month (with the exception of an occasional watermelon or bunch of bananas). We also have a freezer full of meat, now.

Aug. 1 Cash & Carry for canned, peeled, whole tomatoes in the #10 cans, 3 cases of 6 at $14.82/case. Also another half-gallon of heavy whipping cream for $7.48. spent $51.94

Dollar Tree for 1 quart of soy milk, spent $1

Aug 4 Senior discount day at Fred Meyer, where I received 10% off of every item I purchased. I found 12 oz boxes of whole wheat spaghetti on clearance, for 87 cents each (bought 4), 3  26-oz containers of table salt for 48 cents each, a box of powdered milk that makes 10 qts, for $7.10 (I stir the milk powder into liquid milk to fortify my daughter's milk/boost calorie intake, otherwise fluid milk is cheaper for me), 2  12-oz bags of semi-sweet chocolate chips for $2.06 each (a splurge item), 4 1-lb packages of butter for $1.79 each (coupon, limit 4), 90 cents worth of sunflower seeds from bulk section, $1.26 worth of chopped dates from bulk section, $16.77 worth of whole almonds (3.12 lbs) from bulk section, large can of decaf round coffee for $6.29. spent $48.52

total spent for the month so far -- $113.40
gosh the money goes quickly! I realize that we didn't "need" the chocolate chips or the decaf coffee. Those are luxury items for us. The dried fruit and nuts/seeds are healthy, but also a bit of a luxury. I use these in making granola and fruit and nut snack bars.

Over the weekend, a facebook friend sent me a "friends and family" coupon/pass for Fred Meyer. This was good for 10% of house brand food items. Milk was already on sale, 99cents/ half-gallon, limit 6, which I intended to pick up, as I'm low on milk, so an extra 10% on that and anything else that looks lie a good buy. I only wish I had more cash for shopping!! Anyways, this is what I bought: 6 half-gallons whole milk (use to make yogurt and for one daughter's drinking milk), paid 89 cents each, also, found gallons of 2% milk marked down to $1.50/gallon. I bought 6 gallons (this will be rest of family's drinking milk, and I'll freeze most of it), I paid $1.35/gallon. Large cans of coffee (30 oz, about), on sale for $5.99. This is not a hugely great deal, and I had planned on buying a case at Cash & Carry's case lot sale this week or next for $5.49 per can (buying 6 cans). Well, Fred Meyer's price with my F & F discount came down to $5.39, and for a slightly larger can!!!. So, I bought 4 cans (that's all I really could afford, otherwise I would have bought 6 cans). I also found butterscotch baking chips (11 oz bags) on sale for $1.60. Regular chocolate chips are $2.29, so I thought I could mix the two when making choc. chip cookies, bringing down the cost of the baking chips in cookies. With the F & F discount, I paid $1.44 per bag (bought 4 bags). That's all I could afford with this extra discount, as I'm still wanting to buy whole wheat flour and frozen veggies on sale at Cash & Carry this week or next. I'll be going over again this month. Rats! It's discouraging, but I'll get everything under budget soon. Spent at Fred Meyer today -- $40.76

Aug 21. Cash & Carry -- so I had been debating with myself over the frozen vegetables on sale in 20 lb boxes, green beans, peas and corn. I wasn't sure if I could fit a whole case into our already stuffed freezers. But . . . if I take out a ham, repackage some meat, thaw some milk -- hey, it just might fit. When I got to C & C, I saw how small-ish the cases looked, and figured maybe I can fit a case of green beans *and* a case of peas into in the freezers, forgo the corn, and hope for another sale down the road. So, that's what I bought, 1 20 lb case, each of peas and green beans, at $13.97 each (69 cents/lb). I also picked up anther 1/2 gallon of heavy whipping cream ($7.48), a 1-lb bag of sesame seeds ($3.66 and a 50-lb sack of whole wheat flour ($12.99). Total spent, $52.07

Aug. 22. I know this will put me way over, but it's been on my list for a while. I was placing an order with Amazon, and didn't have enough for free shipping, so I went ahead and ordered my gelatin a few weeks earlier than I had planned, putting this cost into August's budget, and not September's. The cheapest way I've found to buy unflavored gelatin is in canisters. And Amazon's price is cheapest if I buy 2 canisters. As long as it stays dry, unflavored gelatin keeps indefinitely. So, laugh all you want, I now have about a 5 year supply of unflavored gelatin! I use it for chiffon pies (Pumpkin chiffon Pie, anyone?), sorbet, various mousses and Bavarians, and fruit "jello" made with homegrown fruit. I paid $21.93 for the 2 canisters, almost half what I pay when buying the little packets in a food service box.

Total spent for the month of August -- $228.16, over by $59.25, YIKES!

You'll notice what I didn't buy -- eggs, way too expensive, and meat, we have plenty of meat to get through the next few months.

what I did buy, this month:

dairy
12 half-gallons milk
9 gallons 2% milk
2 half-gallons heavy whipping cream
1 quart soy milk
4 lbs butter

pantry
18  #10 cans of canned tomatoes
4 12-oz boxes whole wheat spaghetti
3 26-oz canisters salt
large box of powdered milk
2 12-oz bags chocolate chips
4 11-oz bags butterscotch baking chips
2 cups sunflower seeds
1 lb sesame seeds
3.12 lbs whole almonds
2 cups chopped dates
large can decaf coffee
4 large cans coffee
50 lbs whole wheat flour
2 lbs of unflavored gelatin

fruits and veggies
20 lbs frozen peas
20 lbs frozen green beans

Cutting it just a little close

So, I made my new pj pants this week. Before I went to the fabric store, I got out my pattern and laid it out on the cutting board to see how much --er, how little fabric -- I would need/have to buy. I hate having all that leftover fabric, so I try to make as close a guess as I can. To make the best use of fabric, I would need to reverse the direction of either the front or the back of the pants. So, I looked for an all-over pattern whose direction could be reversed, no nap or one-direction design on the fabric.

I got to the cutting table, and debated over whether to get just an inch or two more. I went with my original measurements. I do think there is such a thing as being too cheap. And I think I was flirting with it that day that I bought the fabric.

On to cutting my fabric. I laid it all out, and wouldn't you know it, this was a very close call on the amount of fabric. The pattern just barely, barely fit on the fabric. I had to pin and re-pin a couple of times to get the pieces to fit. I should have gone with that extra inch. It would have made the cutting so much easier. In the end, I did get it all to fit, and got my fabric cut. But that was a squeaker!

I do like the way pattern instructions are written. Everything is broken down into steps. I could tell myself, "today, I'll cut the fabric and do Step 1." This makes the whole project feel much more doable, for me.


I have plenty of leftover scraps, just not at the ends. I am thinking, though, I've saved the scraps from several pairs of pj pants, all flannel, in varying colors. My kids are getting older. One of them could get married, start a family, hmmmm . . .  Not pushing, of course. But eventually, I'll be able to turn some of these nice, soft, flannel scraps into patchwork baby blankets. Like I said, not pushing or anything.

Here's how the pajama pants turned out.

I would love to say:

"It really, really helps to use the same pattern over and over. I've found that I can practically make these pants without the instructions. I have confidence in my ability to figure out this pattern, which is a big help in completing this project without a hitch!"

Not exactly how everything unfolded. But then, aren't hitches to be expected? But I persevered. An extra 30 minutes, unpicking a seam in the wrong place, and I was back on track. Not a bad project, though. Including cutting out the fabric and all sewing, this took me 2 afternoons. And I even had thread and elastic at home, so I was only out the cost of the flannel, which was on sale at Jo Ann's earlier this month.

And now all I have to say is,

Cold wintry nights? Bring it on!!!!

From my garden, August 2015

This has been a great month for garden produce for us. I haven't bought any fresh fruits or vegetables all month long. In fact, the only fruits and veggies I've bought this month were a little bit of dried fruit (for fruit and nut bars) and some canned and frozen veggies for fall and winter use.

But for our consumption in August, our garden and orchard (plus a few free bananas here and there) has provided all that we needed.

So, for the month of August, our garden provided:

• 2 heads of cabbage
• lots and lots of lettuce
• uncountable numbers of tomatoes
• over 50 pears
• about 30 quarts of blackberries (about half are frozen still)
• some summer squash and zucchini
• some Swiss chard
• some kale
• a few baby carrots
• lots of green, waxed and Romano beans
• many cucumbers, eaten as salads (I still need to make some pickles)
• just a couple of beets
• 2 meals of baby potatoes
• a second harvest of watercress (early spring is when the main harvest of watercress is ready)
• lots of herbs -- sage, oregano, thyme, basil and rosemary
• a few handfuls of blueberries at the beginning of the month
• about 10 red apples
• lots of rhubarb
• about 200 shallots

Our most prolific veggie has been tomatoes -- we've eaten fresh tomatoes just about every day of August, followed by pears  and blackberries (3 or 4 times per week, each).

I prefer to use the cabbage, fresh, in slaws, with our garden cabbage. It's very tender and delicious. I'll use market cabbage in fall in cooked dishes. In fact, while we have fresh produce from the garden, I prefer to use most of it, raw, in salads, as is, or lightly steamed. Fresh produce has enzymes, which are mostly destroyed by cooking. These enzymes help with digestion, in breaking down what's eaten. Plus, there's the vitamin C content in fresh, uncooked produce. This time of year, I don't buy traditional vitamin C foods, like oranges. But uncooked blackberries,  tomatoes,  cabbage and watercress are all good sources of vitamin C.

The peppers, eggplant and pumpkins/squash have still not produced anything pickable. One more month, so we'll see if I can get much of those veggies out of our garden.

I am making my plans for next spring's garden. Do you have any suggestions for other veggies I could plant, that have done especially well for you?