So here’s our total grocery spending this past week:

Walmart – $ 26.07
Kroger – $ 28.25
Sam’s – $ 4.89
Farmer’s Market – $ 7.00

TOTAL = 66.21

Here was the menu:

Breakfasts
Oatmeal Buttermilk Pancake
Burritos
Banana Bread
Cinnamon Rolls
Oatmeal

Dinners
Chicken Spaghetti (Freezer leftover)
Vegetable Barley Soup (Freezer leftover)
Hotdogs
Burgers, Veggie Salad

Dessert
Oreo Peanut Butter Pie
Chocolate Cheesecake Bar

Snacks
Chili Con Queso
Chips

Notice that I made two dessert items – one of which I made particularly for Stephen because of his love affair with oreos and peanut butter.  I just could not resist making this pie when I saw the recipe because I know it would make my man the happiest on the planet, at least while he’s savoring every bite of it.  The chili con queso?  Di-vaaaa-ayn!!  Again, it’s a Steve favorite!…

Making my hubby’s favorite dessert and snack is one thing I love doing but making two in one week was a little heavy on the pocketbook, especially because the items to make them were a little more on the costly side.  I may need to choose to make just one a week and not both.

I am a vegetable lovin’ kinda gal and it’s rare that I eat hotdogs and hamburgers a lot in one week.  But there were a couple things that went on this week.  First, the weather started ridiculously rising to the upper 80’s and 90’s and I generally refuse to cook on the stovetop when this happens.  So, the grill was fired up.  Also, we had been on the busy side this past week that a quick and easy meal to prep were burgers and hotdogs on the grill.  (I know, I know.  I could have chosen much healthier meals on the grill but I obviously didn’t plan this week well.)  Finally, I’ve searched high and low for good deals on fresh produce, thinking that with the summer season in full swing, there would surely be great deals.  However, produce prices are still outrageously priced.  Hence, the heavy meat-on-the-grill-week.

The Farmer’s Market cost was for just approximately one pound of spicy cajun sausage.  It was delicious.  And HOT!  But that’s not what I wanted to talk about.  See, I was expecting to also find great veggies and prices at the Farmer’s Market but they didn’t have much.  It might have been the location.  I thought their selection and prices were rather dismal – mostly potatoes and salad greens.  I wanted peppers, green beans, swiss chard, and eggplant.  Maybe it’s not harvest season for those quite yet.  Anyways…the thing I wanted to talk about was the $7 cost of four pieces of sausage that were good but not outstandingly great.  Steve and I were discussing the fact that buying meat at the farmer’s market is a great way to support the local farming industry; however, four pieces of sausage for $7 seemed steep when we could probably buy a bulk of sausage at Sam’s for roughly the same cost.  Don’t get me wrong here.  I would really love to buy all meats that are junk-free and/or free-range chickens but the cost is just too much for a tight budget.  Maybe someday when I can grow our own chickens…and pigs…and a cow.  Maybe.  Someday.   For now, I cannot, CANNOT wait until I harvest my first batch of green beans off my veggie garden in the backyard!

That’s all folks!  Hoping this week will be a little better.  Sorry I spent too much time talking about other things.  Have a good week ahead!

I told you this thing is quite the challenge, didn’t I?  Well, this week, I went over over budget.  As a matter of fact, I’ve just about used up my budget for the month! Ahhhhh!!

The night before we went shopping, I planned all the meals for the week and completed our grocery list.  I counted 26 items!  I was so excited I bugged Steve in his sleep and told him that for certain we will either come under budget tomorrow or right at budget, assuming each item cost $1.  Wrong!

First stop was Kroger.  Wrong move.  Then Walmart.  A little bit encouraged.  THEN Sam’s!  Really disappointed.  Sigh!

Lessons learned:
1. Kroger is not the best place to go shopping.  Sure, there may be some good deals of the week but I think Walmart still has better deals even with just their store brands.  Kroger may work best when shopping their deals along with coupons and I don’t do couponing right now because we don’t get the Sunday paper.  The really useful online deals are few and far between.

2. Menu planning requires mindful planning.  I think I chose recipes this week that had at least two items on the pricey side.  Stephen reminded me that we could always eat simpler meals such as eggs and light salads.  I knew this but I was caught up in those oh-so-yummy-looking recipes I let my guard down!  I love that Steve guy and I’m glad he’s working with me on this.

3.   Sam’s still has better unit prices when it came to meat per pound.  It’s just that you have to buy 100 lbs of each item there (ok, 100 lbs is an exaggeration but I do mean a lot).  We were completely out of meat so I stocked up on chicken and pork.  Again, Steve said that I should probably plan my meat on a monthly basis and figure the cost into the weekly budget.

The good thing is we’re still within budget for the month, just not for the week.  It will be tough not to have to run to the store for something in the next few weeks but I will try my best to stick with what we have.

I don’t have a photo this week.  My plan is to monitor closely the items I use and total up the cost for posting at the end of each week.  Thankfully, we’re still eating leftovers from the meals I prepared last week.

There you have it folks!  Thanks for stopping by!