Groceries

Hello everyone. Things are going, going here. Today was grocery day for us. I go grocery shopping twice a month (although I inevitably usually end up having to go back to town for one reason or another. But, maybe this will be the month when I won't have to : P yeah, right.) Let me point out that I hung out with my Mom and siblings yesterday in town, and I had a great time. It isn't those situations I'm talking about, rather, just making trips for my own errands i.e. doctors appointments, etc. And about yesterday; it was so nice being with the crew while they picked out some of their new school supplies! They each picked out a colored pen with little feathers on them and that blink when you write-so cute. And note books with little, fuzzy puppies and such on them. And each of the kids got to pick out a new book for reading in school (home school) each according to their level, and stories they wanted to read about. They were pretty excited! I am so blessed with such a family.
   

   
Meals for the next two weeks:

• lasagna
• beef roast
• chicken wraps
• BBQ chicken sandwiches
• steak
• beans
• cheesy rice with veggies
• spaghetti
• cheese burgers
• pizza
• chicken stew
• pasta and veggies
• BBQ beef sandwiches
• chicken salad sandwiches
• corn chowder

Plus, whatever I come up with using left overs. I'm making the chicken stew with some roasted chicken scraps and bones, some fresh, and some frozen that I've been saving from a previous meal. We just had chicken last night, the last one of the chickens we raised ourselves, yummy! And boneless chicken breast was on sale this week so that is why I have a few chicken items on the menu.
    OK, this is typically what I spend on groceries for two people, for two weeks:
Groceries: 50-60 dollars per week. Now this is regular grocery items, like milk, meats, butter, eggs, and other perishables. Like take for example, this grocery trip, I spent $171.00, $43.00 of which were staples. Staples for us include: peanut butter, flour, sugar, baking pwd, baking cocoa, brown sugar, gravy, pizza and pasta sauces, etc. all of which I had to get this trip. So, on a "normal" shopping trip, it would be: $171-43=$128. Divide that by 2, and you have $64. So this grocery trip I got groceries enough for 2+ weeks for $64 per week. I'm sure It could be done cheaper than this, especially by someone who has been doing this a while. Now, if you want to get technical, you can take that $64 and divide it by 2 and get $32 dollars per person per week, then divide it by 7 and get $4.6. So each of us eats for roughly $4.60 per day (including snack foods). And I probably only spend about 20.00 every 4 weeks/month on staples ( I don't buy coffee, baking pwd, baking cocoa, salt, gravy, every month.) I also recently found out that Steaks 'n' Stuff carries shredded mozzarella cheese in 5lb bags for $14. I was paying $8 for 2lbs at Walmart. So that figures out to be a difference of $1.20 per lb. Which, If you use a lot of cheese, you can save as much as $6 on 5lbs of cheese!!! Needless to say, I will be buying my mozzarella cheese from Steaks 'n' Stuff (we don't use 5lbs of cheese in 2 weeks either, lol.)

Just a couple snapshots of my freshly stocked cupboards. I'd like to say at this point that my cupboards aren't always this organized he,he. I usually clean them out and organize them the day or two before I go grocery shopping for a couple reasons. 1. Because then I know what I have, what I am running low on, and what's missing. 2. Because foods don't keep forever and if I can keep up with getting rid of out dated food, I won't have as many encounters with stinky green stuff lol. 3. Then the shelves get a once-over with the dust rag. 4. It is so much easier to save money if you plan a menu around things that you already have.



Good night folks and God bless you!