Month: July 2013

July Month-End Healthy Food Budget: $178.15 for grand month total of $475.43

Oh my, the budget was blown out of the water this week. Not even close! I think the main reason is that my meat consumption has gone up, since I was trying to limit grains and legumes, while keeping out wheat (gluten), dairy, and eggs. It’s been a super difficult month, especially these last 10 days.

Dining out was a little over the top during the last 10 days as well. Though I look at it as DH and I haven’t had a vacation in 2 summers, so a little food splurge is okay.

The good news is that there were lots and lots of fresh fruits and veggies consumed. Blueberries, nectarines, cherries, lettuce, zucchini, etc. Thankfully, I’ve been getting daily greens and cukes from my own garden, so that saves us.

I can’t beat myself up about the extra $ spent this month. It’s all part of growing and learning. Yes, I made some impulse buys and I need to watch that in the future. But I can’t stifle my spending so much that my diet suffers. I just need to find a healthy balance.

July Last 10 days Food Spending $178.15 / Total $475.43

Dining Out: $71.69 / Total $116.20
Groceries: $106.46 / Total $359.23

Where I Spent My Grocery Dollars This Week

Market Basket (Sun) $11.72 for 2 lbs grapes, watermelon, 2 lbs bananas

Trader Joe’s (Sun) $15.96 for 1 lb organic cherries, organic raisins, fair trade organic chocolate, bag of shell-on pistachios

Trader Joe’s (Wed) $7.98 for 1 lb organic cherries and frozen organic raspberries

Local Farm (Wed) $15.26 for blueberries, zucchini, red leaf lettuce, tomato, peaches/nectarines, green beans, and purple scallions

Whole Foods Market (Fri) $17.45 for 4 chicken sausages, 1/2 lb 90% ground beef, frozen Alaskan cod fillets, 3/4 lb broccoli crowns.

Trader Joe’s (Sun) $7.99 for organic dry roasted cashews

Local Farm (Mon) $16.57 for blueberries, zucchini, lettuce, nectarines, cherry/grape tomatoes, etc

Market Basket (Tues) $10.72 for Applegate Farms chicken breast (sale & coupon), 1lb pkg baby bella mushrooms, 1 avocado, 1 lemon, 2 Calmyrna figs, 1.75lb bananas

Local Farm (Tues) $6.31 for blueberries, apricot, and zucchini

Monthly Grocery Store Details

Whole Foods Market 93.28 (26%)
Trader Joe’s 89.16 (25%)
Wilson Farm 62.83 (17%)
Local Farm 59.36 (17%)
MARKET BASKET 39.82 (11%)
Open Meadow Farm (meat) 7.54 (2%)
Penzeys Spices 7.24 (2%)
Total 359.23

The bulk of my WFM spending went to meat/fish, which as I said has gone up considerably since I had reduced starches/carbs. I am still experimenting with my diet, but I’m hoping to start adding back more legumes and grains and get back to more meatless meals.

It’s nice to see the local farms getting more of my business, and if added together, they beat out Whole Foods % so I’m happy about that.

About My Healthy Budget

My healthy budget goal is to eat seasonal (local if possible,) home-cooked meals while sticking to a $400 monthly budget for all food including groceries, dining out, entertaining, vitamins/supplements, and gardening.

There’s two of us eating (mostly) 3 meals per day. DH occasionally eats take-out lunch at work, & that $ comes out of his personal cash stash.

July Week Three Healthy Food Budget: $75.23

This week, I was reminded that the produce in bins closest to the entrance is usually not the freshest. It’s best to go deeper into the store to find the freshest offerings.

I bought pre-bagged green beans from Wilson Farm that were in a bin at the front. They looked fresh, but I should have listened to my gut; once I got home and opened the bag, they weren’t as “fresh-picked” as I hoped.

Over the years, I’ve noticed that a lot of grocery stores display their older perishable offerings in areas with easier access or a lot of foot traffic. Lesson learned!

July Wk 3 Food Spending $75.23 / Total $297.28 / Balance $102.72

Dining Out: $18.19 / Total $44.51
Groceries: $57.04 / Total $252.77

Where I Spent My Grocery Dollars This Week

Wilson Farms (Wed) $20.17 for farm beets (scored a HUGE bunch), 1 lb farm fennel/anise, farm scallions, 1.25 lb farm green beans, 3/4 lb farm zucchini, farm red lettuce and farm blueberries

Trader Joe’s (Wed) $27.12 for organic half & half, bag of avocados, TJ’s almond meal, organic dry-roasted salted cashews, 2 bananas, dates, 4lb bag of organic gold potatoes

Open Meadow Farm (Fri) $7.54 for farm pork chops!

Market Basket (Fri) $2.21 for 2 portobello mushrooms, 1/2 lb organic plums, 1 lb bananas

Dinners This Week

Sunday 7/14
Family pizza dinner
Monday 7/15
Me=salmon DH=chicken — with steamed broccoli & quinoa (made w/my veg stock)
Tuesday 7/16
Small salad, quinoa and leftover broccoli
Wednesday 7/17
Baked garlic chicken breast, beets (w/coconut oil) and lightly steamed green beans
Thursday 7/18
Bacon veggie soup – bacon, farm fennel, farm beet greens, farm scallions, garlic, carrots, my canned tomatoes, homemade stock. Over roasted potatoes & onions
Friday 7/19
Grilled farm pork chops with veg salad & lightly steamed farm green beans
Saturday 7/20
DH work party

About My Healthy Budget

My healthy budget goal is to eat seasonal (local if possible,) home-cooked meals while sticking to a $400 monthly budget for all food including groceries, dining out, entertaining, vitamins/supplements, and gardening.

There’s two of us eating (mostly) 3 meals per day. DH occasionally eats take-out lunch at work, & that $ comes out of his personal cash stash.

July Week Two Healthy Food Budget: $128.45

I knew this would be an impossibly tough month if I continued to include vitamins & supplements in my food budget. So I decided to separate them from my groceries/dining out spending, and I feel much better. Otherwise, I’d be skimping on healthy groceries.

So, after making the adjustment, my food budget for June is in much better shape! I might even come in UNDER budget this month!

July Wk 2 Food Spending $128.45 / Total $240.24 / Balance $159.76

Dining Out: $6 / Total $26.32
Groceries: $122.45 / Total $195.73

Where I Spent My Grocery Dollars This Week

Whole Foods Market (Sun) $36.89 for 4 lbs air-chilled boneless chicken breast @4.99/lb sale, 3/4 lb boneless pork chops @4.99/lb sale, Jovial brown rice spaghetti, 1 lb cherries, and 2 jars of Bubbie’s sauerkraut.

Market Basket (Tues) $3.62 for mushrooms and bananas

Local Farm (Tues) $10.16 for blueberries, summer squash, pickling cuke, batch of scallions, batch of beets

Penzey’s Spices (Thurs) $7.24 for 4 oz natural cocoa powder, 4 oz onion granules, 1.2 oz jar creamy peppercorn dressing base (free w/ coupon) and .9oz jar Berbere seasoning (free w/ coupon)

Trader Joes (Thurs) $33.61 for California x-virgin olive oil, organic sour cream, organic plain yogurt, balsamic vinegar, dry roasted organic cashews, organic frozen raspberries, organic quinoa, 1lb bag of organic limes, organic garlic

Wilson Farm (Thurs) $21.64 for batch of farm radishes, 2 farm lettuces, 2 cucumbers, mango, quart of NJ blueberries ($8), pint of raspberries ($3), 1/3 lb farm green beans, 1/2 lb farm zucchini, and 1.3 lb peaches/nectarines

Whole Foods Market (Sat) and groceries: 2/3 lb cherries ($5/lb), 2 lb bag o’ organic carrots, 3/4 lb broccoli crowns, and 1.3 lb yellow peaches ($1/lb sale) — Note: if I continued to include supplements, I would have had to include $85.23 for PB8 Probiotics ($18.58), Rainbow Light Advanced Enzymes ($28.68), Jarrow Saccharomyces Boulardii + Mos ($28.68) – I’ll keep a separate budget for supplements from now on. Phew, such a relief!

Dinners This Week

While on the detox cleanse, I found myself slipping away from meal planning because I was missing my favorite go-to meals: eggs, pasta w/ tomatoes, and bread pizza. I was having a very difficult time finding inspiration for meals, especially since I don’t like eating meat with every meal.

But now that things are starting to come back to normal, I’m coming back to my go-to meals, while still maintaining a proper healthy diet (except for weekend splurges!)

Sunday 7/7
Grilled pork chops with a big veg salad
Monday 7/8
Grilled chicken (DH made last night with pork chops) brown rice and salad
Tuesday 7/9
Family Birthday lunch: pasta (GF for me) and tomato sauce with salad. And Dinner with family: Grilled Applegate farms hot dogs, brown rice and salad
Wednesday 7/10
Me=salmon with small salad & DH=leftover meatballs, pasta, sauce from yesterday
Thursday 7/11
Quinoa and tomato sauce with garlic, mushrooms, summer squash.
Friday 7/12
Ground turkey buckwheat meatloaf with roasted potatoes, onions, beets
Saturday 7/13
Me=sauteed mushrooms DH=leftover potatoes, beets — with tomato sauce with added leftover turkey buckwheat meatloaf, farm green beans, farm zucchini

About My Healthy Budget

My healthy budget goal is to eat seasonal (local if possible,) home-cooked meals while sticking to a $400 monthly budget for all food including groceries, dining out, entertaining, vitamins/supplements, and gardening.

There’s two of us eating (mostly) 3 meals per day. DH occasionally eats take-out lunch at work, & that $ comes out of his personal cash stash.

June Week Four/End of Month Healthy Food Budget: $401.72

Well I was over an unmentionable smidge this month! And considering I was on the elimination/detox diet for 2 weeks during June, I did pretty darned well! (One more week of the diet, and then onto re-introducing foods I eliminated)

June Wk 4 Food Spending $91.56 / Total $401.72

Dining Out: $0 / Total $23.57
Gardening: $0 / Total $16.39
Groceries: $91.56 / Total $361.76

Awesome! I’m really proud of myself.

Dinners This Week

Saturday 6/22
Chicken soup with carrots, kale, spinach, lentils
Sunday 6/23
Leftover chicken soup
Monday 6/24
Creamy carrot onion ginger soup (with farm onion & tiny farm beet) — DH had fried egg on top
Tuesday 6/25
Beef veg soup with brown rice
Wednesday 6/26
DH leftover soup with toast. Me 3 brown rice cakes with plain hommus
Thursday 6/27
(Day 11 cleanse) DH fried eggs with chickpeas. Me chickpeas with stir-fried farm beet greens, mushrooms, farm scallions topped with guacamole
Friday 6/28
Baked ground turkey burgers with caramelized onions, beets, and DH also had potatoes
Saturday 6/29
Leftover turkey burger with veggie chickpea salad for lunch at family party and leftover burger with avocado, quinoa, leftover beets for my dinner. DH had party food.
Sunday 6/30
Soup with farm beet greens, farm peas, homemade stock, leftover frozen beefalo

Where I Spent My Grocery Dollars This Week

Wilmington Farmers Market (Sun) $14.25 for red cabbage, scallions, a large white onion, six cucumbers, one large red leaf lettuce, chioggia beets with greens, and batch of large bulb scallions

Whole Foods Market (Mon) $23.68 for (2) sale cantaloupes, 1.75lb bananas, bag of raw cashews, 1/3 lb bulk hazelnuts, 1/3lb of frozen Alaskan sockeye salmon ($10.99/lb, which is cheaper than the sale last Friday), 1/4 lb oyster mushrooms, 1/4 lb crimini mushrooms, olives from bar

Market Basket (Tues) $5.29 for 1/2 lb nectarines, 3/4 lb organic apples (imported), (2) kiwi, and (2) mangoes

Wilson Farm (Thurs) $16.27 for farm beets, 2 lb farm sugar snap peas, 1/2 lb farm English peas, bunch of radishes, (2) large cucumbers, batch of flat parsley, red lettuce and green lettuce.

Trader Joes (Thurs) $18.95 for Lundburg brown rice cakes, organic frozen raspberries, 1 lb medjool dates, and bag of 4 Calif avocados

Whole Foods Market (Fri) $13.12 for (2) organic lemons, 1 lb bananas, 1/2 lb organic black plums, mango, 4.5 lb organic USA grapes (one day sale! $1/lb) and ground turkey to make something special for dinner Friday and for a party Saturday (detox!)

Monthly Breakdown

Trader Joe’s 119.58 (32%)
Whole Foods 99.81 (27%)
Wilson Farm 48.65 (13%)
MARKET BASKET 45.34 (12%)
Open Meadow Farm 37.41 (10%)
Wilmington Farmers Market 14.25 (4%)
Hannaford 2.50 (1%)
Food Pantry donation credit ($5.78)

About My Healthy Budget

My healthy budget goal is to eat seasonal (local if possible,) home-cooked meals while sticking to a $400 monthly budget for all food including groceries, dining out, entertaining, vitamins/supplements, and gardening.

There’s two of us eating (mostly) 3 meals per day. DH occasionally eats take-out lunch at work, & that $ comes out of his personal cash stash.