Dec 7 Week One Healthy Food Budget: $293.32
Big BIG week! Lots o’ spending! I think because I’ve been holding back for so long, now that our money situation is better, I feel like I’m making up for lost time. Plus I’m still getting used to working again, and I’m taking some shortcuts, which means take-out and convenience foods. I’m hoping to get back into freezing my own meals again.
On a positive note, I’ve got enough meat for at least the rest of the month, and let’s hope that my pantry is stocked for awhile. Hopefully all I’ll need is fresh produce. Ha, who am I kidding? Christmas and New Years Eve will probably send me over budget!
So, to take the pressure off, I’m increasing the month to $450. That’ll leave approximately $50/week for the next 3 weeks. How can I go wrong!? š
Dec Wk 1 Food Spending $293.32 / Balance $156.68
Dining Out: $51.81
Groceries: $241.51
Lots going on this week!
I signed up for a free trial for Amazon Mom which gives me free 2 day shipping plus a whopping 20% off 5 or more subscribe & save orders. It was perfect timing, as I had a bunch of orders ready to go, so getting the extra 5% was awesome.
I also took advantage of a Whole Foods special gift card deal: Spend $500 for gift cards, get 10% in free gift cards. Where else can you get a reward of $50 for $500? Not in any bank, that’s for sure! But at the same time, I’m going to have to be extra careful not to overspend at Whole Foods just because I have gift cards. I have to treat the GC’s just like cash.
Funny, I NEVER enjoyed coffee until I participated in a paid panel discussion for beverages. I started drinking coffee so I’d qualify, and I found that I really enjoyed it. But I don’t want to get hooked on caffeine, so I’m trying to limit my consumption to 2-3 times a week. I was originally drinking with sugar and dairy, but now I love it without any sweetener. I bought some decaf but I’m also looking into other alternative caffeine-free beverages like teechino and other herbal coffees.
Where I Spent My Grocery Dollars This Week
Amazon Subscribe & Save $60.81 for lemon extract, maple syrup, vanilla extract, 1lb organic garlic powder, almond extract, and 12 pk Wild Planet skipjack tuna
Market Basket $21.89 for 5lb box o’ clementines, organic gala apples, bananas, 2 Palmermo’s pizzas (w/ $1 off coupon), Blakes chicken pot pie.
Trader Joe’s $59.96 for 4lb bag o’ navels, peanuts, organic raisins, manchego cheese, 4 bananas, TJ’s uncured spiral ham, brussels sprouts stalk, 1 lb dark chocolate bar, 2 organic chocolate bars, 2 pastas, Honduran organic FT coffee, fig butter, raspberry preserves
Whole Foods $66.96 for 3.5lbs air-chilled chicken breast ($3.50/lb sale), 4+lb boneless chuck roast (one day sale $4/lb), 1+lb organic Fuji apples (sale @$2/lb), 1+lb organic pears (sale @$2/lb), organic fennel bulb, organic celeriac bulbs, 2 organic kiwi fruits, short grain brown rice, 1+lb sweet potatoes (sale $1/lb), 365 organic Worcester sauce, 365 almond butter, olive bar, 1/2 gallon local whole milk, large portabella mushroom
Liquor Store $20 for 4 bottles of cheap-o wine for cooking
Market Basket $11.89 for cauliflower, grapes, broccoli crowns, and Peets Decaf Major Dickason’s Blend (sale $7/bag).
About My Healthy Budget
My healthy budget goal is to eat seasonal (local if possible,) home-cooked meals while sticking to a $400 $450 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.