While we were on vacation for a week, we did buy food and cook, but that came from a separate account. So to be realistic, rather than keep that week's worth of the grocery budget in the envelope, I have removed $100 (approximately 1 week's worth of the grocery budget.) Hopefully that can go either into savings or be designated for a special purchase/event (ahem, Christmas is coming fast) at the end of this month.
Today I spent approximately $103 at Costco and $22 at Whole Foods. Doesn't look like much, but these are large packages (For example, that is 5 lbs. of shredded mozzarella and a 2 lb. block of cheddar cheese.) I also spent $13 on milk and apples a week and a half ago. Add in the previous purchases this month, subtract it all from our $400 monthly gocery budget, and that leaves $58 for milk, eggs, and chicken from the farm and for other odds and ends for the remainder of September. It's gonna be tight!
My apologies for the glary picture; I'm always in a hurry to put the food away and fix lunch for the kids and myself. Here's what we got:
green beans
yogurt
mozzarella
cheddar
brown rice
salad greens
tomatoes
coffee
bread
lemon juice
vanilla
jelly
feta cheese
pears (organic $1/lb. at WF)
apples (organic, $1/lb. at WF)
eggs
kidney beans
black beans
oatmeal
mulit-grain flour
peanut butter
buttermilk
Happy shoppping to you!
PS - Rumor has it that Trader Joe's is coming to our area.... I am so excited!
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5 comments:
Hi there! Great shopping list - but I was wondering which items do you buy at Whole Foods and which ones at Costco? I'm trying to minimize our grocery bill as well, but remaining organic is increasingly difficult. Thanks!
Hey Mary! I just hopped over to your blog for the first time and I really enjoyed reading your stuff - I think we are similar in quite a few ways!
To answer your question, here's what I got at Whole Foods, all organic:
apples
pears
eggs
kidney beans
black beans
buttermilk
peanut butter
I went to Whole Foods mostly for the fruit on sale for $1/lb. which is a great price for organic (or even conventionally grown!) around here. I needed beans and got those from the bulk bins (organic, too, bonus!). I also bought some eggs to tide us over til our carpool run to the farm this next week (these were like $2.50 which wasn't too bad for organic, cage-free, although not pastured). Then, I also bought the quart of organic buttermilk there - a little pricey at $3 but they don't have buttermilk at our Costco. Normally, if I am soaking some oatmeal or something, I just use regular milk with lemon juice but I wanted some real buttermilk for homemade ranch dressing. I had a store coupon for the peanut butter.
All the rest is from Costco. Do you shop there? On the stuff I got yesterday...
The tomatoes are pesticide free.
The cheeses and yogurt are made from milk that is from cows not treated with added growth hormone. Everything else is organic except for the flour, bread, vanilla, oatmeal, and coffee.
I, too, have a hard time buying organic as much as I prefer and still staying on budget. I try to buy organic versions of the produce on the "dirty dozen" list. I also try to buy organic only when it is basically the same price as conventional. The exceptions are meat, eggs, and dairy. Since these are further up the food chain, I willingly shell out (as long as cash allows) for the mosty natural versions of these. None of these are hard and fast rules, just some goals of mine.
Ok, enough of my rambling... happy weekend!
Holy cow! I don't know what is up with that posting 3 times! Sorry!!
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