I make a game out of grocery shopping. The goal? To spend the least amount of money and still eat well for the week.
Last week, I spent $51 at the grocery store. I thought this was a good amount, but this week I blew $51 out the water! I spent $40.08 on groceries for the next week. You're probably thinking all I bought was bread, cheese, and Hamburger Helper. Well you are wrong. Here's a breakdown:
- Two Banquet Meals (salisbury streak and turkey... the only boxed dinners I like)
- Two boxes of broccoli and cheese
- A big box of chocolate pudding
- Sandwich meat
- Chocolate poptarts
- Fudge Rounds
- Spaghetti
- Milk
- Dr. Thunder
- 4 Campbell Soups
- Pack of Chicken tenders
- Pears
- Bananas
- Bag of Potatoes
- Bag of Bagels
- Sister Shubert Rolls
- Bread
This may make me look like a carboholic, but part of the reason I didn't spend as much this week is because I still have some veggies from last week. I have a head of fresh broccoli, a can of corn, and a can of green beans. I also didn't have to buy a lot of meat this week because I still have a lot of frozen hamburger meat.
Meal planning is key to my frugal success. Here is what we're eating this next week:
Tonight: Spaghetti and meat sauce
Sunday: Hamburgers, veggies, and fries
Mon: Leftover Hamburgers
Tues: Banquet turkey, veggies, rolls
Wed: Leftover turkey
Thurs: Chicken dinner, broccoli, rice
Fri: Leftover chicken
Now, I understand some people can't do leftovers. Personally, I don't mind two days of the same food; however, I have a hard time with more than two days of the same food. For example, last week I made veggie soup. We ate it for two days and there was about one bowl of soup leftover. I had to take a break from veggie soup for a day. I eventually ate it, but I had a hard time swallowing it down. (I think I'm paranoid that food refrigerated for more than two days is bad.)
Lesson learned? Make less food when you cook. A lot of recipes make enough for 4-6 people. I've started cutting recipes down so I don't have a ton of leftovers. This helps me make better use of my meat too because we all know that meat is the most expensive part of your grocery bill.
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