Food Budget Challenge

[ses]

After stocking up on groceries on 8/5 and getting some fresh stuff today I have $16.67 left of my $140 for groceries this month, so I am doing OK.  Gardens are starting to produce around here and that will help, too.
This living totally within a grocery budget is hard work!

[Iggy aka IG]

I wanted to spend $300 on HBAs, food and cleaning supplies this month, and I'm at $298.59.  It really helps me when I round up or down at .50 on my list to stay under my goal.

In addition to the deals I found indicated in my post above, last night I used 9 HBA, Cascade, and Puffs coupons, 5 of which were rounded to $1.  Saved 20% off my order. 

[chalupabatman]

Well, this month was not better after all. We came in to the month with a deficit, which does not help, but we still should have been fine.  We did a great job at the grocery store, but we ate out too much and bought a couple cases of beer and a couple bottles of wine.  I need to curb my impulse spending in those categories.  I am so disappointed. 

[marvholly]

I am pretty good with staying on budget for eating, in or out. However, with the way prices have skyrocketed, especially on protein, fresh or frozen fruits & veggies I have been allowing myself more money a couple times/month. I plan to 'progran' more money weekly (25%) in 2015. It is better to eat reasonably healthy then spend on Dr & Rx.

[whoisjohngalt]

I just found out that the ground beef that we've been getting at a local farm went from $6/lb to $8/lb.

Now I need to find a new place to buy beef.

[Sam_2.0]

I am just about to give up even trying. I've got the groceries & meal planning down. I can't do a darn thing about DH though. Kind of blew up at him over the weekend about spending so much $$ going out to eat. So I sent him to the grocery store. Dangerous move, and he came back with a lot of junk, but now he can't say there's nothing in the house that he likes & he really has no excuse to go grab something for dinner.

[marvholly]

Sam
I had the same issue w/late DH. Made him take all those 'extra' items out of HIS personal spending money. Trouble was - he did not care & would just charge stuff if his $$ ran out before the month ended. i could NOT take the cc away because he had to take clients to lunch and/or out for drinks regularly (mostly reimbursed business expense).

[Iggy aka IG]

Well, I almost made my $300 goal this month.  Mini grocery trip last night:

Milk and pie crust for pie for friends over tonight.
Fresh produce, cheese-sale and e-coupon, eggs, pistachios-sale, low carb tortillas, heavy whipping cream
2 greeting cards
Used a $2 off any $10 produce e-coupon.

Total $43.76, saved 10% off my order.  Total for the month $342.35.

[ses]

I went shopping yesterday and spent $6.40 for bread and milk.  That leaves $10.27 of my monthly budget I can add to my $25 stash for my next major stock up.

My garden (4 tomato plants and one zucchini plant and one BIG pot of basil) is starting to produce, finally.  This has helped my budget quite a bit.

I have already started my list for my big monthly shopping next week.  Hopefully the garden will help there, too.

[Sam_2.0]

Well, we blew it for August too. But I think I got DH on-board with reigning it in for Sept. Let's hope so! He just bought a mini fridge for his office to stock with goodies to keep him from going out to eat. Let's pray that it works.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using proboards

[ses]

I did my large monthly grocery shopping and spent $75.88. Thank you garden. I might need to go back for milk and bread later in the month. Soon it will be cool enough to feel like making bread again.

It is cold and wet here this week. This really cuts down on the desire to shop and spend money. Since there is a freeze and possible snow warning for tonight and tomorrow, I picked everything I could yesterday and got 34 pounds of plum tomatoes and over 10 pounds of zucchini. The tomatoes are ripening nicely on the kitchen table under a bath sheet. I won't be able to process them all at once but a few jars every few days will be okay, too. The food processor will make quick work of the zucchini and I will be able to make zucchini bread or cake all winter.

Working on this produce will definitely keep me out of the stores and spending money.

[Iggy aka IG]

K..... My goal is to spend just $200 on food and HBAs on Monday.  We'll see. 

[ses]

I spent an additional 30.46 for a total of 106.34 so far this month.  I have 33.66 left which might not be enough.  I am having guests this weekend so I will have to do some really close planning.  There is always the 25.00 set aside for my quarterly stock up I can use if absolutely necessary.  Of course with all the tomatoes ripening I could make some some homemade garlic bread and go Italian.  If I'm going to bake, perhaps homemade cinnamon rolls or French toast for breakfast, they both can be inexpensive but delicious.  I'll need to think about this.  I really don't want to go over budget.

[Iggy aka IG]

Spent $202.69 at the store last night and WW this morning.  I bought 4 things which weren't on my list, I couldn't find the can of green chilies or ham hocks I need for a recipe.  It would have come out to about the same.  So, this is at least $100 less than I usually spend.  We'll see how things are going at the end of the shopping cycle (I shop once a month, and DH fills in throughout the month with produce, milk for him, etc). 

Shopping the sales, Manager's Specials and using 8 paper and 10 ecoupons, I still only saved 23% off my total order.  It's a work in progress.