I keep a journal of how much I spend on groceries each month. It's a running total, so I know where we stand with that part of the budget, at all times. And it's a place I can reread and find motivation to keep on doing what I do. I share it here, in case there's something in this that could help someone else.
Sept. 4 I was in the garage putting something in the second freezer and noticing just how much we have stored away. Later I was in the garden and realized we still have a lot of good produce left. I am hopeful at this point that we won't need to spend all that much for the first half of the month. If I see a good sale on something, then I'll buy a supply. And there are a couple of things that I'd like to pick up later this month, powdered milk being one of them. I'd like to have a container of cocoa mix for my kids to help themselves to, when it's chilly. Making my own mix means I get to control the sugar content.
We've just been eating out of the freezer stash from last week's cooking spree. Tonight it was pot roast. When I froze it, I hadn't thickened the gravy. Sometimes the texture of gravy changes when frozen. So I just froze the pot roast in the unthickened liquid. Then tonight I whisked the liquid with flour and made the gravy. I dug potatoes from the garden and picked chard, those with the carrots and beef and gravy was a great meal. Over the weekend, we used the mexi-mix for bun tacos and burritos. I also made a large batch of refried beans to add to the mexi-mix. And they were so good, we forgot to add cheese. For tomorrow's dinner I have some baked chicken pieces thawing in the fridge. I'll top those with pasta sauce, and serve with some French bread and pesto (thanks, Mallory -- I made the Moosewood recipe, really yummy!)
Sept. 7. Finally spent some grocery money for the month. I bought 1 banana and a package of tortillas. The banana was for a fruit salad. We still have loads of apples, pears and some blueberries, so I thought a banana would be a nice addition. It was just 18 cents (a cut banana, but still in great shape). The tortillas were for bean burritos for dinner last night. Yes, I could've made the tortillas, but my neck and shoulder have been especially painful this week, and didn't want to strain them further. Total grocery cost -- $2.17.
We're eating out of the freezer, garden and pantry. I'll need more pantry staples in a week or two. Running low on oats and probably other things.
Sept. 8. Made biscuit dough cinnamon buns. Quick and easy. This was one of the first things we made in Home Ec when I was in the 7th grade. I used to make them at home on a regular basis, as a kid.
This morning, breakfast was cinnamon buns, apples, milk and coffee. Simple, but a good Saturday breakfast.
Had to go out to the pharmacy. While there I found coffee on sale for $4.79 a can and olive oil for $2.99 a bottle. I just picked up 1 of each. Sometimes I just don't feel like doing a huge pile up of food items in the pantry. So far this month I've spent $9.95 on groceries.
Sept 9. Last night was my teen daughters' night to make dinner. They like doing this, and it gives me a break. Having them cook one night a week has replaced part of my "want" to go out for dinner a couple of times a month. I'd still like to have the experience of eating out, trying new foods, no dishes to wash up etc, but now I don't seem to want it as often.
Picked up a can of pumpkin for scones and to make pumpkin pie coffee syrup. While at Fred Meyer I found chocolate chips for $1.59/12 oz bag. This was their house bargain brand, so I bought 5 and will see how they do in cookies. Also, swung by their bulk bins and bought nutmeg and almonds (almond milk for my lattes is much richer than rice milk; rice is okay for cereal and cooking). Another $12.97 spent.
Sept. 10. I'm making another batch of salsa this week, so need canned tomatoes and onions. 50 lb bag of onions was about $9, which works out to 18c a pound. I load them into the drawers of our spare fridge. They will keep for about 4-5 months in the fridge. I will have used them all up before they begin to rot. Tonight, I'm making mustard-glazed onions to go with dinner. I just couldn't wait to eat some of those onions! Also got more whip cream (for lattes), and a 5 lb. bag of cheese (about $10.50). That brings my spending for September up to $47.68 so far. I am running low on milk, eggs, garlic and oats. We'll just have to see how the rest of the month goes.
Sept.11. Stopped at the produce stand near the girls' school. I picked up some garlic, zucchini, to make more pickles (our garden did not produce much zucchini this year), jalapenos for more salsa, and I tried not to look. I really tried not to look, but it got me. I caught sight of a very full mark down bin, out of the corner of my eye. I was trying to keep my produce spending way down, as our garden is bursting with lots of veggies and fruit. Well, to my other produce I added a bag of sweet peppers for 99 cents. Not bad -- 2 yellow peppers, and 4 green pepper. I chopped and froze the green ones yesterday while waiting for the potatoes to cook, and I'm using the yellow ones in vegetarian chili tonight. One thing I've learned about the mark-down bin. Only buy marked down produce if I can plan on chopping and freezing, or cooking it within 24 hours. It never has much more time than that, before it's too far gone. Another $4.51, brings me to $52.19 for September, so far.
Tonight's the first night in a while that we haven't had a freezer meal. I just wanted something different, so when I picked up the peppers I knew it would be chili. I'll have enough left over to freeze in lunch portions, which will be nice to have ready to go. With the chili I'm making pumpkin scones, and pears for dessert.
We are down to 1 gallon of milk and 11 eggs. I will need both of those to get through the month. Otherwise, perhaps more canning supplies and that's about it (unless I find some spectacular deals). It would be so nice if I could bank more grocery money for November and December holiday spending. But I won't be counting any chickens so soon.
Sept. 13. I didn't freeze the leftover chili, but added some macaroni noodles, for chili mac, and made toasted cheese sandwiches to go with the chili mac.
Sept.14. Bought a gallon of milk and 5 nut roll candy bars (clearance for 10c each), put away for a special treat sometime. Hoping to find milk marked down, but no luck. Spent $3.09 today, bringing the mid-month total to $55.28.
I made sourdough deep dish apple pancake with yogurt cream for dinner tonight. Very yummy! A very autumn-like meal. We've been having a lot of those lately, with apples, pumpkin, pears. Where did summer go?
Sept.15 Since school started, lunches have mostly been sandwiches (garbanzo bean spread, peanut butter and jelly, sunseed butter and jam, and egg salad -- but not all together!), fruit from our trees (apples and pears), and one or two other items, either yogurt, crackers, a cookie and/or a muffin. Breakfasts have been cereal from the dollar store (I'm "the greatest mom ever" -- I bought chocolate Cheerios!), toast, and muffins with milk or coffee.
And so I wonder, how much, or how little, will we spend for the second half of the month.
