Followers

Sunday, January 30, 2011

The experiment

Brandon and I have been spending too much money, so we came up with an experiment to keep food costs down. Here are the results for January. It's not 100% accurate, since receipts don't tell poundage for veggies and such, so I tried to remember how much I bought. We eat oatmeal with raisins every morning, I made home made bread for lunches, so we had a lot of basics at home already. I always make a monthly menu, but this system carries it a step or two farther. Enjoy! I hope this inspires someone! Here goes:

January 2011 Groceries Total cost: < $320.00

Each week on Monday mornings, I pulled 80.00 out of an ATM. The cost for using the machine was $3.00 each time. I pulled cash out four times for a total cost of $12. I intend to use the cash-back strategy for February in order to save even more money. I shopped on Mondays and Friday evening or Saturday each week. I made out a grocery list and wrote down estimated prices on each item, with a total cost estimate for that trip to the store. Here is what I purchased in January. I made sure to buy extra items for food storage e.g. sugar, salt, etc. Food storage and supplies I haven’t used this month are marked with & sign. Many items were used, but not nearly used up. For example I used butter, but I also bought 2lbs for storage. I bought 10 pork chops and still have six in the freezer. Since my system is still pretty crude, it’s hard to indicate such things. I had change left over that went into a coin jar, so I actually spent less than $320.00 Taxable items are marked with *

Amounts shown are as close as possible. The menu I used for January follows.

Acorn squash 5 small

&All purpose flour 30lbs.

*&Aluminum foil 75 ft.

Applesauce 3 x 2lb jars

Au Jus gravy mix 1 pkg.

&Bacon 1lb.

Baked beans 1 largish can

&Baking powder 1 reg.

&Baking soda 1 reg.

Bananas 2 bunch

*&Bar soap 3 bars

Boneless pork chops 10 thin chops

&Boneless skinless chicken breasts 3lb

Broccoli approx. 4lbs

Brown and serve breakfast sausage 20 count

&Brown sugar 2lbs

Butter 4lbs.

Buttermilk 2qts

Canadian bacon 1 small pkg.

Canned green beans 6 cans

&Canola oil 48oz

Celery 1 bunch

Chicken drumsticks approx. 4lbs

*Cough drops 2 x 50count

*Cough syrup 1 bottle

&Cream of chicken soup 4 cans

&Cream of mushroom soup 4 cans

Cucumbers 4

Deli sliced chicken lunchmeat 12oz

Diced ham 1 lb?

*Dish detergent small box $tree

Doughnuts 2 mpl bars (shop w/Brandon)

&Eggs 18cnt large

Evaporated milk 2 – 12oz

*Fabric softener 1 box 40 count

Fettuccine 8oz

Flour tortillas 10 sft taco size

French fried onions small can

Fresh button mushrooms ½ lb?

Frozen beef patties 8 1/3lb

Frozen peas 2lbs

Frozen salmon filet serves 6

Fruit O cereal 1value bag

*&Gallon ziplock bags 50 count

Grape juice 2 x 2qts

Green bell peppers 3

Ground beef aprox.7lbs

Ground pork sausage 1lb

Hamburger buns 8pack

*Head phones 1 set $tree

Heavy whipping cream ½ pint

Hoagie rolls 6count

Honey dew melon 1

Honey ham 4 lb

Hot dog buns 2 x 8count

Hot dogs 4x 8 count

Iodized Salt 1 reg. can

&Ketchup 40oz

*&Kotex maxi pads 24 count

Maruchan noodle cups 12pack

*Men’s speed stick deodorant 1

Milk 8 gallons

Navel oranges 8

Navy beans 16oz

Nestle quik large can

*Night lights 2 @ dollar tree

Non-stick cooking spray 1 small can

&Olive oil 1 pint

Pancake syrup 2 diff. Size bottles

Parmesan cheese 8oz deli fresh

Pepperoni 1 small packg

Pineapple 2 x 20oz cans

Powdered Sugar 5lbs

&Quick oats 1 x 2lb box

Red bell pepper 1 small

Red delicious apples 8?

Rice crispy cereal lg. Value bag

Salad dressing spread 32oz

&Shortening 1 lg. can

Sliced roast beef 7 oz

Sliced American cheese 72 slice

Sweet potatoes 3 small

Taco seasoning 2 packages

Tater tots 1 package

Toilet tissue 12 pack 1000sheet

Tomato paste 1 8oz can

Tomato soup 6 cans

Top round London broil steak <1lb

&Top sirloin approx. 1lb

Turkey stuffing 1box

&White sugar 5lbs

&Whole wheat flour 5lbs

&Yeast 4oz jar

&Ziplock sandwich bags 50count

Zucchini 1

January 2011 dinner menu:

Saturday January 1 – Home made chili, corn bread

Sunday January 2 – Teriyaki chicken, brown rice, broccoli

Monday January 3 – Buttermilk pancakes, sausage, applesauce

Tuesday January 4 – Spanish rice, green beans, fresh wheat rolls

Wednesday January 5 – Home made pizza, jello

Thursday January 6 – Tuna noodle casserole, peas

Friday January 7 – Buttermilk biscuits, sausage gravy, orange slices

Saturday January 8 – Chicken and dumplings, fresh wheat rolls

Sunday January 9 – Grilled cheese, chicken noodle/tomato soup

Monday January 10 – Scalloped potatoes, ham, peas

Tuesday January 11 – Turkey breast, stuffing, mashed potatoes, steamed carrots

Wednesday January 12 – Spaghetti, garlic bread, green salad

Thursday January 13 – Navy bean soup, corn bread

Friday January 14 – Ham fried rice, orange slices

Saturday January 15 – Salmon, brown rice, green salad

Sunday January 16 – Home made macaroni and cheese, broccoli, rolls

Monday January 17 – Potato soup, wheat rolls

Tuesday January 18 – Hot dogs on buns, potato salad, home baked beans

Wednesday January 19 – Breaded pork cutlets (schnitzel) with German noodles(Spatzle)

Thursday January 20 – French dips, au jus, fresh veggies

Friday January 21 – Chicken potpie, steamed broccoli

Saturday January 22 – Dinner out: Old Country buffet

Sunday January 23 – Tacos, applesauce

Monday January 24 – Chicken fettuccine Alfredo, peas

Tuesday January 25 – Sliced ham, green bean casserole, corn bread

Wednesday January 26 – potluck (beef stew)

Thursday January 27 – Cheese burgers, tater tots, jell-O

Friday January 28 – Baked potatoes, broccoli (actually we just had cold cereal)

Saturday January 29 – Beans and franks, corn bread

Sunday January 30 – Beef enchiladas, green salad

Monday January 31 – Pineapple chicken, steamed rice


3 comments:

Cyndi said...

Sorry about the stretched out format. It wasn't like that when I copied it into my post, and I can't figure out how to fix it.

Cyndi said...

Somehow I forgot about 2lbs of cheddar cheese I bought and a 10lb bag of grapefruit.

Pica said...

cyndi.
since you posted this i've been going CRAZY!!

seriously?! no way. tell me this was an exception. My budget is about double that and sometimes i still have a problem. I am confounded. How are you doing this? and buying food storage? and you're a family of 6 and we are only 4?!

are you shopping at some discount places? buying expired stuff? using coupons?

i feel like i'm doing something wrong :( :( :( :(