Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Update and information on "Grocery Shopping: My Personal Challenge"

A couple of you asked me for more details on my quest to spend $75 a week on groceries. Like exactly how am I doing that.

I have no idea.

I guess I do, sort of. But first, let me preface this with a few things. First, there are many, many people who do this much better than me. My neighbor, for one. They are spending a few dollars on a ton of stuff at specific stores. I haven't made it to that point yet (and don't know if I will unless I take lessons from them). I also have two girls. Yes, there are times when Ashley eats more than I could, but most of the time they don't. For example, if we are grilling chicken boobs for dinner, we only grill two. Ray and I share our portion with the girls. We might bump it up to three since lately they are asking for more just as Ray and I are putting the last bites in our mouths. But you get the point. Girls=lighter eaters than boys.

Last week I spent $86. I went over, yes, but the previous two weeks I was under, so I am still calling it a win. This week what helped was the triple coupons at the local grocery store. I still bought fresh fruit (oranges, bananas) and some "luxury" items (Audrey grabbed a bag of Pirate Booty, last time she comes with me, she brings my total up!).

Basically, I have started looking at the sale ads prior to making a menu for the week. And using coupons and trying to buy only things on sale. I have things I have to buy every week - orange juice, apple juice, milk, eggs, fruit, vegetables. I buy meat when it's on sale and divide it up into smaller portions. I cut chicken breasts up, trimming them into leaner portions and saving the trimmed off pieces for meals like stir-fry and fajitas.

I still like to cook and bake, which can get expensive. But I have been using the freezer more for my baking needs as well. I made cupcakes the other day for a playdate that Audrey had, and I froze all the extras that Ray and I did not need to eat over the course of the next few days. I am stocked up on most of my baking needs, so now it comes pretty easy.

So that is it in a nutshell. I have only been doing it a few weeks, so we will have to see if it still is working in a few more weeks.

3 comments:

Happy Working Mom said...

Holy cow! I'm so jealous! We just spent a gazillion dollars at the grocery store the other night, and that was with coupons and the savings we had stored up on our rewards card!

Do you have a good place for coupons? I spent about an hour and a half combing the internet the other day and didn't find as many as I would like...I'm thinking about paying for the coupons of items that we use all the time...I guess it would be worth it.

That Chick Over There said...

We still get away with three chicken boobs, but probably not for much longer because the boy one eats like nobody's business.

Anonymous said...

Chicken boobs. Haha. I call them the same.

I spend between $150 and $180 a week for THREE of us. What am I doing wrong?!