I’m astoundingly pleased with myself today. 🙂 I spent a lot of time the last three days just trying to come up with a basic menu plan for the week. My brain just didn’t want to work, but since I had to grocery shopping today, this morning the pieces fell in place and I got my menu together. Menu planning is the first step to successful budget grocery shopping, because you have to know exactly what you are going to need, make a list, and then stick to the list.
I made my list this morning, pricing everything out, and I was a little concerned, because my price estimates placed my list at $85. My self-imposed budget is $82, and I really didn’t want to go over my first week out. If anything, I’m hoping to go under each week because Zander has a birthday at the end of the month, and if I have a little extra from each week leftover, I can tack it on to the last week in case I need it for his birthday celebration.
As I walked through the store, notebook in hand, I made copious notes. There were quite a few things that I’d overpriced on my list, so I felt a little more relaxed as I made my way through the aisles. I had to make one substitution in the produce department as the bananas I’d intended on buying were greener than green, so I skipped those in favor of 5 pounds of Anjou Pears that looked delicious and fresh. When I got to the dairy department I remembered that Andy was almost out of half & half for his coffee, so that went in the cart, adding a little extra that hadn’t been on my list. I also added an extra pound of butter, because I never have enough butter on hand.
For the most part though, I overestimated. The eggs were more expensive, but otherwise my price list was at or below the store price. I felt so good about this, that when I saw a display that had tortilla chips on a crazy sale at fifty cents a piece, I splurged and put 4 in the cart. We have gallons of salsa in the basement, and if we have the chips on hand, salsa and chips makes an excellent snack any day of the week. Oh, and the mayo was not on my list either. That added a full four bucks to my list, and I’m not totally sure I’ll need it this week, but now I have it in case I do.
I was delighted when my grand total at the checkout, with no coupons, this week was $78.09. That’s $3.91 below my weekly budget.
I have to figure out a good way to take a picture of the weekly grocery trip. You can’t really see everything. Maybe if I separate it into two pictures instead of one? I guess I’ll play with it. Here’s an overhead photo.
And here is my shopping list.
- 1 can corn
- 1 can tomato sauce
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 1 pound linguini
- 6 individual juice bottles
- 1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch dip mix
- 2 boxed Kraft Mac-n-cheese
- 2 boxes cereal
- 1 pound dried pinto beans
- 1 small can mild diced green chilis
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 8 pounds chicken leg quarters
- 1 package breakfast sausage links
- 10 pounds russet potatoes
- 5 pounds Anjou Pears
- 2 limes
- 2 cucumbers
- 2 pounds carrots
- 2 roma tomatoes
- cilantro
- 2 green bell peppers
- 1 piece fresh ginger root
- 4 pounds oranges
- head of lettuce
- 1 gallon milk
- Parmesan cheese (yes, in a can)
- half & half
- sour cream
- plain yogurt
- 2 pounds butter
- 18 count eggs
- 2 blocks cheddar cheese
- 5 packages frozen vegetables
Tomorrow I’ll share the weekly menu that these groceries will correspond with. I can tell you off the top of my head that some of the items I already have on hand and will be using this week are ground chuck, frozen broccoli, bacon slices, jasmine rice, flour tortillas, and basic baking supplies like flour and seasonings.
Not bad for the first week! Now lets see if I can stay out of the store this week for anything extra.