Saturday, January 15, 2011

Grocery Update

Before I share my shopping totals, a couple of people have asked me to clarify what I include in my grocery budget.

For my shopping budget I include:

*All of our food items including any snack items purchased at a convenience store
*All of our paper products (toilet paper, paper towels, kleenex, etc...)--try to use cloth napkins and regular towels for most things except for greasy spills.
*All of our cleaning products (window cleaner, all purpose cleaner,soap, toilet bowl cleaner, laundry det., etc....)--I make most of my cleaning products from baking soda, vinegar and essential oils so they only cost me pennies.
*All of my wine making ingredients (yes, I drink the occasionally glass of wine as well as cook with wine)--I can make 30 bottles of wine for less than $3 each and it last me a year or more

What I don't include:

*Over the counter medications--I consider these part of our medical budget
*Dining out--because our budget is tight, we consider eating out an extra and are lucky to eat out once or twice a month, if the budget allows
*Any catering or cooking for others that I am reimbursed or paid to cook

I know that some people don't include their cleaning supplies in their grocery budget and consider it a household expense or they have a separate cleaning budget.  The reason I include it in my budget is most of the ingredients are cooking items (baking soda, vinegar) and are also used for cooking.

I hope this clarifies a little bit for those of you who had questions, feel free to email me if you still want more info.

Now, onto my shopping expedition. Friday a friend and I took a road trip to the nearest Aldi (about an hour away).  I only go here every couple of months because it is so far away, but there are certain things that I buy that are so much cheaper it is worth the drive occasionally.  The Aldi is only about 15 min. from the nearest Ikea and I needed a couple of items from there for the house, so I was able to make the trip worthwhile!

I spent $123.49 at Aldi, and that included a couple of convenience food for the next week as we rip out a wall in our living room and replace it.

My second stop was at Sams Club today.  I spent a total of $88.32 on groceries, most of which was meat.  I was able to purchase a case of chicken breasts for $1.52 a pound, which is a staple in our house.  A case is approx. 40lbs and will make 30+ meals for my family. 



Even with buying some "easy" foods for the kids to prepare this week while we walk on the wall, I spent less than I was expecting to spend.  I do have one more stop to make in the next day or two and that is to pick up my Coconut Milk Creamer for my coffee--dairy and I do NOT get along :( .  I will add another update after I make that purchase.

YTD Total Spent:  $211.81
YTD Budget: $300.00
Remaining Budget: $88.19 


There is still time to enter to win a free Shortcut Cooking ebook--see this post.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

WOOO HOOO! Nicely done! Is this your shopping for the month??

I do the same; I include the cleaning stuff and what not in my grocery budget.

I would be interested to know, when you make your cleaning supplies, do they smell like vinegar?? Or do the oils really help get rid of that smell?

Blogger said...

3 Studies PROVE How Coconut Oil Kills Belly Fat.

The meaning of this is that you literally burn fat by consuming Coconut Fat (including coconut milk, coconut cream and coconut oil).

These 3 studies from big medical journals are sure to turn the conventional nutrition world upside down!

Levi Hutton said...

Interesting reaad