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Jan. 31st, 2005 10:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickIt's Monday night, campers, and by now we all know what that means.
Last week, the food budget was 1841.34. Following this evening's grocery shopping of $16.81, the remaining 2005 food budget is $1824.53.
It's said by experts that one of the things that helps people keep to a grocery budget is shopping to a pre-made list. I don't always have a grocery list, but sometimes I find one useful, especially if there are some items I would be very unhappy about forgetting... like milk for coffee or, for that matter, coffee. Tonight I took a list to the grocery store, which I followed except for the cauliflower. It looked crappy. I will not pay $3.00 a head for crappy-looking cauliflower. I will pay that for pretty cauliflower. I also deferred purchase of cheese and eggs. I decided I had eaten eggs and egg-based foods last week and would probably not make anything eggy this coming week because I needed a break. I also went through a pound of cheese in the last two weeks. If I buy cheese, I will eat it. The only way to show restraint in that department is to buy limited amounts. Yes, I am out of cheese. I can wait another week for more, though.
So what did I get with my money? I don't buy pre-made foods a whole lot. I buy ingredients and make the food myself. Given the weird shit I eat, this is probably for the best. This week I picked up 5 lbs. sugar, 2 cans tomatoes, 2 cans light red kidney beans, 1 lb. dried brown lentils, a container of iodized salt, half a gallon of skim milk, a pound of broccoli crowns, five lbs. rome apples, one acorn squash (replacement item for the icky cauliflower), 3 large white onions, and a pound of collard greens (Yay! They even look pretty!).
As a "Savings Club Card Member", I saved a whopping $0.79 -- I suspect I am not the target market for the Club Card. It is not saving me huge amounts of money on my grocery bill like I'm told it is supposed to do. *sigh* The only reason I shop at this grocery is because my old grocery changed their hours so that they're not open anymore when I get off work. This grocery has a relatively dreadful selection of ingredient foods. It sux0rs. It does devote a lot of shelf space to pre-made foods, though. I'd rather have more ingredient foods.
Last week, the food budget was 1841.34. Following this evening's grocery shopping of $16.81, the remaining 2005 food budget is $1824.53.
It's said by experts that one of the things that helps people keep to a grocery budget is shopping to a pre-made list. I don't always have a grocery list, but sometimes I find one useful, especially if there are some items I would be very unhappy about forgetting... like milk for coffee or, for that matter, coffee. Tonight I took a list to the grocery store, which I followed except for the cauliflower. It looked crappy. I will not pay $3.00 a head for crappy-looking cauliflower. I will pay that for pretty cauliflower. I also deferred purchase of cheese and eggs. I decided I had eaten eggs and egg-based foods last week and would probably not make anything eggy this coming week because I needed a break. I also went through a pound of cheese in the last two weeks. If I buy cheese, I will eat it. The only way to show restraint in that department is to buy limited amounts. Yes, I am out of cheese. I can wait another week for more, though.
So what did I get with my money? I don't buy pre-made foods a whole lot. I buy ingredients and make the food myself. Given the weird shit I eat, this is probably for the best. This week I picked up 5 lbs. sugar, 2 cans tomatoes, 2 cans light red kidney beans, 1 lb. dried brown lentils, a container of iodized salt, half a gallon of skim milk, a pound of broccoli crowns, five lbs. rome apples, one acorn squash (replacement item for the icky cauliflower), 3 large white onions, and a pound of collard greens (Yay! They even look pretty!).
As a "Savings Club Card Member", I saved a whopping $0.79 -- I suspect I am not the target market for the Club Card. It is not saving me huge amounts of money on my grocery bill like I'm told it is supposed to do. *sigh* The only reason I shop at this grocery is because my old grocery changed their hours so that they're not open anymore when I get off work. This grocery has a relatively dreadful selection of ingredient foods. It sux0rs. It does devote a lot of shelf space to pre-made foods, though. I'd rather have more ingredient foods.
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Date: 2005-02-01 12:31 pm (UTC)Of course, the budget for Jan kinda got blown (by about $40) when the stove went last week and we a) ate several meals in restaurants that weren't planned and b) picked up a lot more of that prepared shit since most of it is microwavable, and it is hard to make "from ingredient food" without an oven or burner. (Yes, I have microwave specific cookbooks. Try getting the husband to look at one for when he is alone. And that also usually requires additional shopping since what I tend to buy and plan for is using the oven and/or burner cooking)
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Date: 2005-02-01 02:01 pm (UTC)Also, while I don't eat out much, if/when I do, you'll see it in the budget. In all honesty, I might could eat out more, but I have a hard time paying money for the kind of stuff that's available around here. I can do better at home, so I do. The choices locally are limited to tolerable white-america steakhouse food, pretty good truckstop food, and fast food. Them's the choices. If I drive forty minutes, I can eat at a chain like an Outback, an OliveGarden, or an Applebees. No thanks.