Month: April 2012

Project Food Budget / My Healthy Budget: April Month 6 / Week 4

Project: Food Budget Weekly total: $124.84

My healthy budget goal is to eat seasonal, home-cooked meals while sticking to a $400 $350 monthly budget for all food including groceries, dining out, entertaining, vitamins/supplements, and gardening.

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

April – Month Six, Week Four

This week, I’ve spent $124.84, with a monthly total of $333.32. That leaves $16.68 for the rest of April.

Yikes, cutting it close this month! I won’t feel badly if I have to add an extra $10-$12 into the budget. Hey, $360 is still lower than $400, right!?

Dining Out: $5.00 – used a gift certificate for Chinese!
Entertaining: $0
Gardening: $0
Groceries: $110.82
Vitamins & Supplements: $9.02

Spending Details

Liquor Store $12: I completely forgot to post two bottles of wine that I bought a few weeks ago, so I added it into this week’s budget spending.

Meat CSA $26.99: I am not applying any meat cost until I consume it, but there are small admin fees, and this week I’m also accounting for the delivered bottle of honey ($17). I’ve been lucky, as we’ve been eating meat that I already “paid for” in the budget in previous months.

Last Saturday was my busy shopping day:

Ocean State Job Lots $11.98: Cha-cha-cha-chia. Bob’s Red Mill chia seeds (1lb) were on sale this week. I bought 2 @ 5.99 each

Market Basket $7.21: grapefruit, organic lemon juice, bananas, and baby bella mushrooms

Whole Foods Market $45.53 — Saved $7.27 w/ coupons!: local fresh sea scallops (1.25lb on sale @14.99/lb), (2) San-J tamari sauce (w/ stacked coupons), (2) Lundberg brown rice (w/ stacked coupons), (3) Newman’s Own chocolate bars (w/ coupons), 5lb bag o’ organic carrots, organic celery, broccoli crowns, organic fuji apples, bag o’ navel oranges

Online shopping:

iHerb.com $7.11 – (2) packages of Bob’s Red Mill corn flour and (1) package of Bob’s Red Mill bulgar wheat. I LOVE iHerb! (Use coupon code “LIF213” to receive $5 off your first order)

amazon.com – FREE! with credit card rewards – Nice sale on Newman’s Own Espresso chocolate bars 12 pack (1.50 each) and also some canning glass jars/lids, which wouldn’t have been applied to my budget anyway, but I’m pleased to have purchased.

GNC $9.02 – multi-vitamin (90 ct)

Lessons Learned This Week

Yes! I learned that when I impulse buy, without REAL thought, it really messes me up.

A couple of weeks ago, I purchased local fresh scallops at full cost of $24/lb. Instead of THINKING THINKING THINKING, I jumped in and got a full pound. We ate the full pound, and while the scallops were absolutely scrumptious, if I gave the situation some forethought, I would have bought only 1/2 pound. That was about $12 extra in spending, which is probably right around the amount that I’ll be over this month! ha!

This week, the fresh local scallops were on sale @ $15/lb, and again, I purchased a little over lb; I flash-froze them on a cookie sheet and now we’ll have at least 2-3 meals from them.

Yes, still extravagant, but a better, smarter, planned purchase. Lesson learned.

I am giving myself permission to go a little bit over my $350 budget goal this month, and I’ll try to do better next month.

Week of Meals

  • Thursday: Fried egg sandwiches with salsa & a side of steamed beet greens
  • Friday: Bread Pizzas with salsa, cheddar and spinach
  • Saturday: Dinner out using a gift certificate
  • Sunday: Marinated boneless chicken breast, brown rice and cream of carrot/celery soup
  • Monday: Veggie (broccoli, cabbage & celery) fried brown rice topped with fried egg
  • Tuesday: Pasta with tomato, leek, carrot, celery sauce
  • Wednesday: Crockpot whole chicken with roasted onions & sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli

Want to Join the Project Food Budget?

project food budget

It’s never too late to join the Project Food Budget!

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

Here’s who else is budgeting this week:

Credit Card Rewards

I’ve been a “smart” credit card user for many years, paying off the whole balance every month. Yeah, there have been some careless errors which might have resulted in a late charge or small amount of interest, but for the most part, I’ve been conscious about never allowing the credit card debt to get carried away. (knock on wood, I’ve been lucky!)

We have a couple of “Freedom” credit cards from Chase Bank, and they offer a sizable 5% rewards bonus on purchases like groceries and gasoline. Every quarter the bonus category changes. Last quarter (Jan – Mar), it was gasoline, now (Apr – June), it’s groceries. The downsides are you must “activate” the bonus during the quarter to receive your 5% bonus and there is $1500 purchase maximum. See Chase FAQ.

Even though I usually spend cash for groceries, I’m now using my credit cards to get the bonus cash back. You won’t believe how quickly the savings can stack up!

Last month, I spent $180+ for gasoline, that amounted to about $10 in bonus points. This month, add another $10 rewards from my groceries. By May, I will have earned almost $110 in rewards! Not too shabby. :)

Friendly’s Restaurant Fresh, Never Frozen Burgers – Marketing Hype

I’ve been constantly seeing the new Friendly’s Restaurant’s TV commercial touting their “fresh, never frozen” burgers.

Fresh vs frozen tells me nothing about the quality of the burger!

Personally, I’d rather a promotion stating that they grind their beef fresh on premises, and that they use only anti-biotic/hormone-free beef. And even further, how about grass-fed beef? Now THAT would be a marketing campaign I could get behind.

What Does Fresh Mean Anyway?

The marketing phrase “fresh, not frozen” is very misleading, especially when you look at how the USDA regulates the term “frozen”.

Did you know that a beef patty can be labeled as “fresh, not frozen” as long as the product’s internal temperature never dips below 26° – so in reality, Friendly’s fresh burgers could be hovering on the legal brink of frozen.

Hmm, that’s a pesky fact that’s left out of their commercial.

Pink Slime?

I haven’t seen any Friendly press releases stating that their burgers do not contain “pink slime” (Finely Textured Lean Beef processed with amonia).

Considering how cheap they’re selling their burgers, starting at $5.99, I am assuming (and I am JUST assuming, not knowing for fact) that they use cheap beef, which probably contains some portion of pink slime.

But hey, at least it’s not “frozen” right?

Tricia Yearwood’s New Cooking TV Show on Food Network

Tricia Yearwood has a new Food Network show called “Trisha’s Southern Kitchen” and I watched the “Girlfriends” episode today.

Okay, yeah, there’s typical Paula Deen-ish, way-too-much butter and sugar recipes, but I was pleasantly surprised to find Tricia’s personality really shined. I enjoyed watching the episode! There were many helpful cooking tips, plus little bits of Tricia’s personal life.

Her pecan pie and crockpot mac & cheese recipes are decadent, and are just waiting to give you a heart-attack, but at the same time, intriguing.

I don’t know if I’ll be a regular viewer, only because her recipes aren’t really my cup of tea, but I might sneak a peak if it’s on or if I remember to DVR her.

She’s very funny, charming, and adorable. I wish her luck on the new show! :)

Project Food Budget / My Healthy Budget: April Month 6 / Week 3

Project: Food Budget Weekly total: $68.52

My healthy budget goal is to eat seasonal, home-cooked meals while sticking to a $400 $350 monthly budget for all food including groceries, dining out, entertaining, vitamins/supplements, and gardening.

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

April – Month Six, Week Three

This week, I’ve spent $68.52, with a monthly total of $215.14. That leaves $134.86 for the rest of April.

It was a good week. It’s mid-month, and I’m fairly confident that I’ll make my $350 budget.

Dining Out: $31 – desserts treats, lunch with friends, & Burger King
Entertaining: $0
Gardening: $0
Groceries: $37.52

Grocery Spending Details

Local Farm (4/12) $6.50: 2 dz jumbo eggs

Whole Foods (4/13) $31.02: organic corn tortillas, organic ranch dressing, spring onions, organic leeks, organic beets w/ greens, jewel yams, local greenhouse cocktail tomatoes, organic spring salad greens, 4 lb bag of oranges & loose oranges too.

Been so bored with food lately, so I splurged on some packaged spring salad greens, local greenhouse tomatoes, and dressing. It perked our taste buds, and now I’m so excited for more spring and summer veggies!

Week of Meals

  • Thursday: Veggie (asparagus, cabbage, celery) stir fry with white rice
  • Friday: Marinated flat iron steak, wine braised lentils, & roasted beets
  • Saturday: lunch with friends, salad for dinner
  • Sunday: Egg, olive and cheese Quesadilla (corn tortilla)
  • Monday: n/a family emergency with a happy ending, don’t worry
  • Tuesday: n/a
  • Wednesday: Veggie tomato soup over pasta & cheddar cheese

Want to Join the Project Food Budget?

project food budget

It’s never too late to join the Project Food Budget!

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

Here’s who else is budgeting this week:

Project Food Budget / My Healthy Budget: April Month 6 / Week 2

Project: Food Budget Weekly total: $99.30

My healthy budget goal is to eat seasonal, home-cooked meals while sticking to a $400 $350 monthly budget for all food including groceries, dining out, entertaining, vitamins/supplements, and gardening.

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

April – Month Six, Week Two

We are definitely going through some employment changes, and I am so glad that I already have a good budgeting habit! It’s going to help out a lot now that we might need to tighten up a little bit more.

I’d like to try to reduce my monthly food allotment to $350. With that in mind, I spent $99.30 for this week, with a monthly total of $139.96 so far, leaving $210.04 for the rest of April.

Dining Out: $3.54
Entertaining: $5.57 – includes canned baked beans, and flour for 4 loaves of bread & 8 burger rolls! It certainly pays to bake homemade bread yourself!
Gardening: $0
Groceries: $90.19

Spending Details

Friday (4/6) was a busy day for shopping at 3 different stores!

Market Basket $14.80: Applegate Farms chicken sandwich meat, mushrooms, 2 lb bag o’ onions, bananas, salsa

Whole Foods Market $45.38: plain yogurt tub, (5) mangoes (sale!), pineapple, savoy cabbage, (2) sweet onions, organic celery, asparagus and the BIG SPLURGE on a pound of local sea scallops!

$25 for just the scallops alone – eeeek! I couldn’t resist!

Trader Joe’s $28.72: 4 lb bag o’ heirloom oranges, 5 lb bag o’ ruby red grapefruit (which turned out to weigh over 6 lbs! bargain!), 4 lb organic gold potatoes, feta cheese, organic reduced sugar raspberry preserves, shelled pistachios, organic raisins, organic frozen corn

Week of Meals

  • Thursday: leftover lentil veggie soup topped with cheese
  • Friday: Fried egg with roasted onions/potatoes and leftover asparagus
  • Saturday: Lunch: Chicken legs w/ cream of carrot soup and leftover roasted potatoes
    Dinner: Baked sea scallops
  • Sunday: Easter BBQ
  • Monday: Pasta with tomato mushroom veggie sauce
  • Tuesday: roasted cauliflower & fried egg
  • Wednesday: Bean chili made from leftover tomato veg sauce, topped with cheese

Want to Join the Project Food Budget?

project food budget

It’s never too late to join the Project Food Budget!

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

Here’s who else is budgeting this week:

Project Food Budget / My Healthy Budget: End of March & Month 6, Week 1

Project: Food Budget Month End Total: $398.06 Week Total: $40.66

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 gardening.

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

End of March & April Month 6, Week 1

March ended beautifully! We even celebrated my hubby’s birthday with dinner out, and I was still under budget $2. Whoo hoooo!

March monthly total: $398.06

Dining Out: $32, month: $100.44
Gardening: $0, month: $15.32
Groceries: $8.91, month: $282.30

For the first week of April, I’ve spent $40.66, leaving $359.34 for the rest of month.

Doing super duper so far!

Dining Out: $6.09
Entertaining: $
Gardening: $
Groceries: $34.57

Spending Details

Market Basket (3/31) $8.91: Bag o’ oranges, grapefruit, bananas, peanuts

Whole Foods Grocery (4/1) $34.57: (2) Organic peanut butter (got one for free, because it was priced incorrectly during check-out), (2) Organic Valley half & half (on sale w/ coupons), cheese, bulk raisins, (2) cauliflower, 5 lb bag o’ organic carrots, bananas, organic apples, bunch of cilantro, asparagus, (2) mangoes.

Week of Meals

  • Thursday: leftover frozen beef with canned tomatoes & kidney beans over pasta
  • Friday: comfort dumplings with olive oil
  • Saturday: DH’s birthday dinner – gift $$
  • Sunday: Bulgar & roasted cauliflower topped with fried egg
  • Monday: Chicken legs braised in tomato sauce topped over quinoa
  • Tuesday: lentil soup with homemade stock, cabbage, canned diced tomatoes, carrots, & roasted red peppers – topped with lil bit o’ cheese
  • Wednesday: Fried egg over steamed asparagus & brown rice with whole wheat toast & butter

Want to Join the Project Food Budget?

project food budget

It’s never too late to join the Project Food Budget!

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

Here’s who else is budgeting this week: