Cutting my grocery bill

In January I posted a weekly journal of all the meals I created using only (mostly) ingredients I already had in my pantry, refrigerator, deep freezer, etc. In week one I shared all the food I had, which turned out to be a lot! In week two I admitted that I was still going to the grocery store for certain things such as eggs and milk, and basically anything I really needed (ok wanted) to make a specific recipe.

My top views/posts in week 1 & 2 were:

DESSERT NIGHT

QUICK, HEALTHY BREAKFAST IDEAS

Then in week three I cut my grocery budget in half, and by week four I realized that I still had enough food to keep going for another month. The only problem with that is somewhere along the way I purchased a few more packages of meat (chicken breasts and ground turkey to be exact.)

Most popular recipes in weeks 3 & 4 were:

BAKED CHIMICHANGAS

TURKEY SALISBURY STEAKS 

Apparently I’m not very good at the pantry challenge because the thought of preparing and eating meals of only 1 or 2 types of meats didn’t inspire me at all. I didn’t have any problem with the vegetarian meals, but I like a variety and assume my family does as well. In fact, there were food items on the list that I never used at all. Hence, the reason I could go on another month at least.

But in truth I did not spend so very much on extra groceries and necessities anyway. I did (and still do) buy a veggie box twice a month ($40 each) that is not figured into my weekly food budget. After saving my receipts and adding them up, I saw that I spent $274.20 for the whole month to feed a family of four, a dog and a cat. (Actually I didn’t buy any dog food this month because I bought a huge thing at Sams Club in December.) That total divided by four weeks comes out to $68.55 a week.

Now, my goal is to seriously keep my budget right at, if not lower than, $60 a week for the next 22 weeks. That’s until late June. We’ll see.

There’s a way you can do this if you have not been able to, or have not tried and don’t know how to start. One way I “started” was by checking out The Grocery Game. I found this to be rather difficult to do while attempting The Pantry Challenge at the same time, so I stopped. BUT it is a very helpful tool and definitely worth the free 4-week trial. In fact I will probably give it another go at some point in the Spring when I am finally done with this pantry challenge.

I started keeping track of all my grocery receipts in September, just to see how much on average I was spending, and how little I could spend. I shopped typically on Tuesdays, kept each week’s receipt, wrote the month and which week it was (#1, #2, etc) and then stapled all of them together at the end of the month.

September: $256.91.  I thought I was off to a pretty good start, but to be fair I had a very well-stocked pantry and freezer at this time. $64.23 per person/week.

October: $402.03. Not so great compared, but for 4.5 weeks (5 trips this month) = $100.51 per person/week.

November: $306.99. That’s still more than I thought it would have been for us being out-of-town for 10 days that month. $76.75 per person/week.

December: $607.48. Yeah, that’s right. It kinda makes up for any money I saved in previous months, but I actually budgeted for this. My trip to Sams Club alone was $426.14 and I bought a lot more stuff than just groceries. In fact almost a hundred $$ of it went to Christmas presents, not to mention food and non-food items that were purchased specifically for Christmas (parties). I allowed myself $400 for that trip and went over by $26 and some change.

January: $274.20 Divide that by 4 people and I’ve spent $68.55 per person for the whole month. Sure it seems possible to do while participating in the pantry challenge, but will I be able to continue on this budget once the foodstores are depleted?

We’ll see….stay tuned And if you missed any of those great recipes just click on the title to link over. Have a blessed day!

Thanks for voting, ya’ll! I’m steadily climbing toward the top of the polls Remember, you can click every day!

 

Bacon and Egg Puffs

On Sunday morning I decided to make something for the boys. Since I make them breakfast and dinner every day, I don’t normally make big breakfast’s on the weekends. Instead I will let them have their cereals of choice for a treat. Jadon prefers chocolate cereals over any other, such as Reese’s Puffs (his #1) or Chocolate Chex (I like this because it’s gluten-free and slightly healthier) or chocolate Cheerios (again…slightly.) Brandon likes Frosted Flakes. Sigh. All that sugar. You can see why I only let them have it once, maybe twice, a week.

So it’s not rare that on any given Saturday or Sunday morning I will feel moved to prepare breakfast. I really should do this on Saturdays so that Cory could benefit as well. Sunday’s are a mad rush to cook, feed, and dress for church. Cory is gone early so he never gets Sunday breakfast with us, and I have no idea why I like to make things difficult for myself. Apparently I just do.

I came across several breakfast ideas such as this one in my days. Some were egg recipes that included shredded potatoes and some were french toast versions. Without any real recipe to go by I figured this could hardly go wrong, and so I quickly pulled together my own take on an old idea.

I used:

6 strips of turkey bacon, cut in half

6 eggs, whisked

Milk, if desired, added to eggs for that fluffiness

Salt & Pepper to taste

Shredded cheese – I used Mexican blend because that’s what I’ve got

*Preheat oven (I used my convection) to 375* and place 2 pieces of bacon, criss-crossed, in each section of a 6 cup muffin tin. Allow to cook some, about 3 or 4 minutes, then remove pan from oven. Evenly distribute the eggs in each cup over the bacon and add a little cheese on top. Place back into oven and allow eggs to cook and set. This should take maybe 10 minutes. Eggs will be slightly browned and puffy. Remove from oven, add more cheese if desired and serve.

pre-cooked

A perfect serving. The boys liked them and I liked knowing they were getting a whole egg in each serving. Jadon ate one, and Brandon ate two. I served them with cups of yogurt, toast, and juice.

This meal didn’t cost me anything extra because I already had the ingredients. I am now out of eggs and turkey bacon. I don’t necessarily feel as though buying more eggs is cheating, but perhaps more bacon would be? Oh, this Pantry Challenge is hard!

Look for post #2 today: Cinnamon Apple Tart!

Harvest Bread

In my search for healthy recipes I came across this. I was so excited to make this bread and try it. As usual with new recipes there’s a learning process, and while this came out really good, I’ll know exactly what to do differently next time to make it even better!

The recipe came from www.eatbetteramerica.com  If you have never looked at this site before, you should. It is full of great recipes, and it even shows you how to take a favorite and “healthify” it.

Harvest Bread

1 can (8 oz) crushed pineapple in juice, drained and juice reserved

1/4 C. fat-free cholesterol-free egg product or 1 egg

2 T. canola or soybean oil

1 1/2 C. all-purpose flour

3/4 C. packed brown sugar

1/2 C. raisins

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. ground cinnamon

1 C. shredded carrots

1 C. walnuts

**Heat oven to 350*. Spray loaf pan. Discard 3 T. of the pineapple juice. Mix remaining juice, pineapple, egg product and oil in medium bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients until blended. Spread batter in pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until toothpick comes out of center clean.Cool 10 minutes and then remove loaf from pan to wire rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour, before slicing. Makes 16 servings.

Nutritional Info: (1 serving) Calories 180, Cals from fat 60, Total Fat 7g, Cholesterol O mg, Sodium 16 mg, Total Carbs 27g, Fiber 1g, Sugars 15g, Protien 3g, Vit A 25%, Vit C 0%, Calcium 4%, Iron 6%.

How I made this:

I made this according to the directions but I found that there really was not an excess of pineapple juice. Because the pineapple is crushed it holds its juice, and so less than 3 T. came out. I did not squeeze the pineapple juice out but instead left what was in the can. The 2 T or whatever that came out, I did discard it, but the next time I make this bread I will add it all. There is no way it will hurt the bread, and it will probably make it better.

I completely forgot the carrots, and am disappointed because I know that would have been a fantastic addition. I will definitely remember them next time. I also used EVOO because I don’t use any other oils when I cook, and I often use a 1/2 &1/2 mixture of unbleached all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour, but this time it was only unbleached flour. Most recipes that call for cinnamon never ask for enough, and so I put in at least 1 full teaspoon.

Anyone thinking “Morning Glory” right now?

This is a very healthy version of a quick bread, packed with flavorful fruit, vegetables and nuts, and can easily be made into muffins. Breakfast eaters tend to have better overall diets than those who skip morning meals, and so this is a particularly good breakfast if you’re in a hurry or just want something different from the same old cereal or eggs and toast.

Personally, I’ll be eating this any time of day. Just spread on a little cream cheese…..yum!