Well, I'm 5.5 weeks into my self-imposed $50/week grocery budget challenge, and here's how it's going:
Week 1: $35.84
Week 2: $34.83
Week 3: $34.68
Week 4: $26.49
Week 5: $45.21
Week 6: I have about $3 left to last until Friday night.
Now, from weeks 1 to 5, I had $74 in my slush fund. Which I decided was going to go to local, grassfed beef that my friend and her fiance bought in a big amount. Which is too much for them. So they are re-selling to me. I love the whole group buying/ cooperative buying thing, and I think I finally have found someone who I can do this with occasionally, yay! At $5/lb for ground beef and $13/pound for steak, it's not cheap. But really, high quality beef shouldn't be cheap. Anyway, that was $55 for 5 lb ground beef and one 2.3 lb steak. So, my slush fund now has $19.
On another note, my freezer and pantry are pretty bare. I've eaten through a lot of my beans and grains. A lot of my weekly budget goes to maintaining the level of dairy that is necessary in this house (which is low compared to some...we go through about 1/2 gallon of milk a week, for example). I can see that in a week or two or three, we'll have to ease the budget a bit. Today I have a grocery list for "the $18 I have left this week" and "things we have to get next week when we get the next $50." The last thing that I want to do is welcome my mother-in-law in March with an empty freezer and pantry, and tell her that Cheerios aren't in this week's budget. ;-)
6 comments:
Wow, you are a rockstar! We budget too and I am just starting to create a bigger & better stock pile. I like your idea of group buying!
Thanks! My stockpile is almost empty! My husband thinks we can make it another month on the $50 budget (not counting my son's birthday party - we'll be ordering food for that).
I'm not so sure! When you are out of beans AND rice AND lentils AND pasta...
you are doing so good. i still can't imagine living on 50 a week because Bill and i eat all our meals at home during the week.
It definitely helps that my son gets free breakfast and lunch at school. I'd also say that Mike eats lunch out once a week, and I get a free lunch at work twice a month.
AND don't forget the CSA! $20/week of produce that I paid for last year, so that's not included in my $50 total.
Wow, very impressed with your shopping! I would love to split a half cow with someone!
I went to a butcher shop because in our old town, our butcher shop used to sell bags of various meat for like $125 to $200 depending on what you got - so the average price would be like $5 to $9 dollars a pound.
Turns out they use all the "not so pretty" meat in those packages so its not worth it.
Hope you have a great weekend!
It's definitely worth saving and paying a bit extra for grass fed beef...and then just use less of it when you put it in recipes, substituting in beans or veggies! You re doing so well with your budget, I'm impressed!
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