Tag: healthy food budget

Project Food Budget / Healthy Budget: December – End of Month

Project: Food Budget End of Month Total: $491.51

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

There’s two of us eating 3 (mostly) meals per day. Breakfasts are usually light, and we try to eat left-overs for lunch. My husband occasionally eats take-out lunch at work, & that $ comes out of his personal cash stash.

December – Month Two, Week Four – End of Month!

project food budget

It’s the end of December’s budget and I’ve spent a total of $491.51. Yes, as expected, I’m over my $400 limit. There were a couple of stock-up opportunities that I couldn’t resist.

  • iHerb.com* was having a great sale: groceries 10% discount, plus an extra VIP 12% discount, so I couldn’t resist stocking up on a few grocery items like Crofter’s jams, Bob’s Red Mill cereal & corn flour, Lundberg brown rices, and caraway seeds. Since I also include supplements in my food budget, the fish oil & vit D I ordered took a big chunk out of my budget.
  • The local grocery was having a decent sale on King Arthur flours, so I bought 3 whole wheat and 1 AP.
  • Then there’s the yummy take-out for New Years Eve!

The overage will be dutifully deducted from next month, leaving $308.49 for January’s budget. After my CSA meat delivery, it’ll leave approximately $56 for each week; we usually spend about $15-20 /week for dining out, so I have my fingers crossed I’ll make it. If not, I’ll just deduct the difference again in February.

December’s Grand Totals:
Dining Out: $ 85.84
Entertaining: $ 41.77
Groceries: $ 316.44 – includes my $80 CSA Meat delivery.
Vitamins & Supplements: 47.46

I’m looking forward to January – brand new year, a new start, I’m hoping I can keep this up!

Week+ of Meals

Thursday: Take out – steamed chicken/veggies with Japanese veg fried rice
Friday: left-over white rice with left-over (freezer) chicken/potato leek soup
Saturday: Christmas eve at inlaws, hmm, yummy.
Sunday: More yummy Christmas feasting.
Monday: Leftover Christmas potatoes w/ fried eggs
Tuesday: Leftover Christmas pork shoulder w/ tomato sauce, green beans, brown rice & pinto beans
Wednesday: Pasta w/ leeks & broccoli
Thursday: Roasted chicken legs (local) with roasted russet potatoes & beets
Friday: peanut butter & jelly sandwich – DH had bread pizzas
Saturday: Take out Chinese New Year’s Eve!!!

Want to Join the Project Food Budget?

project food budget

Happy New Year! Make 2012 the year you start your own food budget!

If you’d like to participate in the Project Food Budget, get the details and let Emily know you’re on board!

Here’s who else is participating:

*Link to iHerb.com is an affiliate link. Click on it, and you’ll get $5 off your first order, and I’ll get a commission. I’ve been buying from iHerb for many years, and they keep getting better and better. They’ve never let me down and their prices are excellent!

Project Food Budget / My Healthy Budget: December

Project: Food Budget Weekly total: $158.72 – includes monthly meat CSA total

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

There’s two of us eating 3 (mostly) meals per day. Breakfasts are usually light, and we try to eat left-overs for lunch. My husband occasionally eats take-out lunch at work, & that $ comes out of his personal cash stash.

December – Month Two, Week Three

project food budget

This week, I did great: $158.72, which includes $100 for my first meat CSA delivery. I’ve spent $336.13 for the month of December, so that leaves a balance of $63.87 for the rest of the month.

I’m thrilled that I’m still on budget for the month. Only one more week left and I feel confident!

The only problem I foresee is iHerb.com is having a great 10% off sale for VIP customers, and I’m going to stock up on supplements, grains and other groceries. My order will be about $100, so it will take me over budget, but I’ll just adjust January’s total.

Dining Out: $4.89
Entertaining: $19.16
Groceries: $134.67 (including $100 meat CSA delivery)

Week of Meals

Thursday: Broiled, marinated flap steak (local) with white rice and steamed broccoli & carrots
Friday: Leftover frozen pork bean soup
Saturday: Family birthday party pizza
Sunday: Tomato fennel carrot soup over pasta
Monday: Turkey bacon sandwiches with cole slaw
Tuesday: Beef burgers with white rice and cole slaw
Wednesday: Roasted potatoes/onions with fried eggs

Want to Join the Project Food Budget?

project food budget

If you’d like to participate in the Project Food Budget, get the details and let Emily know you’re on board!

Here’s who else is participating:

(note: the link for iHerb.com is an affiliate link. You will receive $5 off your first order with them)

Project Food Budget / My Healthy Budget: December

Project: Food Budget Weekly total: $35.84

My healthy budget goal is to eat unprocessed, seasonal, home-cooked meals while sticking to a $400 monthly budget for all food including groceries, dining out, entertaining, vitamins/supplements, and spices/herbs.

There’s two of us eating 3 (mostly) meals per day. Breakfasts are usually light, and we try to eat left-overs for lunch. My husband occasionally eats take-out lunch at work, & that $ comes out of his personal cash stash.

December – Month Two, Week Two

So far I’ve spent $180.76 (total) for the month of December, so that leaves a balance of $219.24 for the rest of the month.

This week’s total was $35.84, for two small trips (Saturday & Wednesday) to the local grocery store for essentials: Broccoli, bananas, dark chocolate, oranges, apples, pears, grapefruit, mushrooms, raisins, and Pomi tomatoes.

Dining Out: $10.00
Groceries: $25.84

This Saturday, our meat CSA will be delivered, and I’ve added a jar of honey to my order; it’ll add almost $100 to my spending for the month. I’ll have $121.84 to get me through 2 more weeks (including both Christmas & New Years Eve holidays). We’ll see how it goes. I’m not panicking yet! haha!

Week of Meals

Thursday: leftover freezer chili
Friday: freezer chicken soup w/ mushrooms, spinach and barley
Saturday: take out pizza – cheap with coupon
Sunday: leftover freezer pork with acorn squash & brown rice
Monday: Clam chowder
Tuesday: Broccoli, Cheese & Brown Rice Egg Bake
Wednesday: Leftover freezer chicken soup with freezer beans, chard & peas

Want to Join the Project Food Budget?

project food budget

If you’d like to participate in the Project Food Budget, get the details and let Emily know you’re on board!

Here’s who else is participating:

Project Food Budget / My Healthy Budget: December

Project: Food Budget Weekly total: $141.57

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

There’s two of us eating 3 (mostly) meals per day. Breakfasts are usually light, and we try to eat left-overs for lunch. My husband occasionally eats take-out lunch at work, & that $ comes out of his personal cash stash.

December – Month Two, Week One

project food budget

I’ve spent $141.57 during the first week of December, so that leaves a balance of $255.08 for the rest of the month.

I’m a little bit nervous about this month, seeing that there’s an extra week plus the holiday, but I’m keeping the confidence up, and trying to plan ahead.

Whole Foods was my first stop @ $58.80 – lots of produce, including local cranberries, organic leeks, bananas, organic apples, organic pears, organic acorn squash, broccoli crowns, organic carrots, fennel, organic lemons, meyer lemons, mushrooms, (local) cocktail tomatoes, and satsuma mandarins, plus Earth Balance mindful mayo, brown cow plain whole yogurt, and olives at the antipasti bar. I also needed some pantry items: white & brown rice, organic ketchup, and bulk whole caraway seeds.

Trader Joe’s totaled $35.09: turkey bacon, raw almonds, peanuts, de-shelled pistachios, frozen organic corn, frozen organic peas, (2) frozen organic raspberries, frozen pesticide-free blueberries, and I was craving Barbara’s Multi-grain Shredded Spoonfuls cereal. I rarely ever buy cereal anymore, but I just love munching on this stuff, and it was a huge box for an excellent price!

I also picked up some King Arthur whole wheat white flour at the local grocery for $2.99 and two dozen local eggs for $5.75.

I had originally wanted to only spend $50-$60 this week, but since I needed to be in same area as Trader Joe’s so I knew it would be frugal-wise to stock up on a few things there, after my visit to Whole Foods. Since I’m fairly stocked now, I am hoping that I won’t need much next week, but some fresh produce. I’m lucky in that the local grocery has a decent offering of organic fruit, so I probably will not need to head to Whole Foods (hopefully!)

Dining Out: $33.45 – much higher this week since DH decided to replace the kitchen floor this week!
Entertaining: $5.49
Groceries: $102.63

Our local meat CSA will be delivered on Saturday December 17th, and I originally thought I should apply the cost as we cook/eat the meat. But that could be a nightmare to keep track of individual meats, so now I’m leaning toward adding the total each month as it’s delivered.

I’m really trying this month, but with Christmas and New Years Eve, I might be forced to go over a little bit. If that happens, I am not going to beat myself up about it. It’ll be okay. I’ll try my best, but things happen. I’ll just deduct the amount from January!

Week of Meals

Thursday: Take out
Friday: Braised beefalo brisket & cabbage with barley
Saturday: Left over beefalo & cabbage with white rice
Sunday: birthday party in the afternoon, so simple cheese sandwich with veggies for dinner
Monday: Spicy leek tomato soup with corn & beans
Tuesday: Take out – DH decided to work on replacing the kitchen floor this week, so it messed up meals a little
Wednesday: Potato pancakes (previously frozen left-overs) with eggs & toast

PS Next week, I won’t be so long-winded!!!!

Want to Join the Project Food Budget?

project food budget

If you’d like to participate in the Project Food Budget, get the details and let Emily know you’re on board!

Here’s who else is participating:

1st Post Project Food Budget – 1st Month Healthy Budget

Today marks my first official post for the “Project Food Budget” – a group of bloggers like me, that are trying to stick to a specific food budget every week/month – they’re already at week 9!

It also marks the end of the first month for My Own Healthy Budget challenge.

My Budget Details:

My budget goal is to eat healthy, unprocessed, home-cooked meals while sticking to a $400 monthly budget for all food including groceries, dining out, entertaining, vitamins/supplements, and spices/herbs.

There’s two of us eating 3 (mostly) meals per day. Breakfasts are usually on the small side on weekdays, and my husband occasionally eats take-out lunch at work. If needed, that $ comes out of his personal cash.

First $400 Budget Month

So, yay, I survived my first official month, with $ to spare. Soo sooo oooh proud of myself!

My budget was $400 for the month of November, and I spent $396.65

Dining Out: $86.60
Entertaining: $19.68
Groceries: $286.47
Herbs & Spices: $4.99

I need more practice in meal planning, but yesterday I tried to put together a week of dinners. We’ll see how easily it will be to follow. I’ll post next week on how I do.

Today, I used my $40 Groupon coupon for GNC and bought 2 bottles of multi-vitamins, 1 bottle of calcium citrate, and a bottle of organic apple cider vinegar. Not bad for an investment of $19 a couple of months ago!

Tomorrow I’m planning a trip to Whole Foods. I have my list ready on my iPhone, with estimated prices and I think I’ll be able to keep to $50-$60. This should get us through for 7-10 days before needing to go shopping again.

I’m excited for our first CSA (local) meat delivery this month, and I won’t be applying the cost until I actually cook the meat, hoping to stretch what’s delivered for the next 6 months into the summer months.

Want to Join the Project Food Budget?

project food budget

If you’d like to participate in the Project Food Budget, get the details and let Emily know you’re on board!

Here’s who else is participating: