Grocery Update

Before I share my shopping totals, a couple of people have asked me to clarify what I include in my grocery budget.

For my shopping budget I include:

*All of our food items including any snack items purchased at a convenience store
*All of our paper products (toilet paper, paper towels, kleenex, etc...)--try to use cloth napkins and regular towels for most things except for greasy spills.
*All of our cleaning products (window cleaner, all purpose cleaner,soap, toilet bowl cleaner, laundry det., etc....)--I make most of my cleaning products from baking soda, vinegar and essential oils so they only cost me pennies.
*All of my wine making ingredients (yes, I drink the occasionally glass of wine as well as cook with wine)--I can make 30 bottles of wine for less than $3 each and it last me a year or more

What I don't include:

*Over the counter medications--I consider these part of our medical budget
*Dining out--because our budget is tight, we consider eating out an extra and are lucky to eat out once or twice a month, if the budget allows
*Any catering or cooking for others that I am reimbursed or paid to cook

I know that some people don't include their cleaning supplies in their grocery budget and consider it a household expense or they have a separate cleaning budget.  The reason I include it in my budget is most of the ingredients are cooking items (baking soda, vinegar) and are also used for cooking.

I hope this clarifies a little bit for those of you who had questions, feel free to email me if you still want more info.

Now, onto my shopping expedition. Friday a friend and I took a road trip to the nearest Aldi (about an hour away).  I only go here every couple of months because it is so far away, but there are certain things that I buy that are so much cheaper it is worth the drive occasionally.  The Aldi is only about 15 min. from the nearest Ikea and I needed a couple of items from there for the house, so I was able to make the trip worthwhile!

I spent $123.49 at Aldi, and that included a couple of convenience food for the next week as we rip out a wall in our living room and replace it.

My second stop was at Sams Club today.  I spent a total of $88.32 on groceries, most of which was meat.  I was able to purchase a case of chicken breasts for $1.52 a pound, which is a staple in our house.  A case is approx. 40lbs and will make 30+ meals for my family. 

Even with buying some "easy" foods for the kids to prepare this week while we walk on the wall, I spent less than I was expecting to spend.  I do have one more stop to make in the next day or two and that is to pick up my Coconut Milk Creamer for my coffee--dairy and I do NOT get along :( .  I will add another update after I make that purchase.

YTD Total Spent:  $211.81
YTD Budget: $300.00
Remaining Budget: $88.19 


There is still time to enter to win a free Shortcut Cooking ebook--see this post.

2011 Grocery Budget Goals and Giveaway

What are your grocery budget goals for 2011?  Spend less money?  Buy less convenience foods? Stock your pantry? Menu plan more? Learn to can?

How can I help you cut your grocery budget this year?

In 2010 I spent $308.94 a month on groceries, which was slightly over our $300 a month budget.  We do a lot of entertaining, have 3 teenagers (and friends) that we feed, and spent several weeks without a functioning kitchen so I was excited to see we came very close to our budget. 

In 2011 our goal is to keep our $300 budget.  We bought a house last summer, so I hope to be able to put in at least a small garden for this year.  Most of our yard is currently unusable thanks to years of neglect and too many trees, so I won't be able to grow all that I want this year, but every little bit helps!  I am also hoping to put in an herb garden. I planted garlic in the fall (my first attempt so I hope it grows) and have a nice space outside the door to plant lots of other herbs that I use!

I also plan to preserve a lot more food this year.  I finally have space to store home canned goods as well as having an excellent food dehydrator.   I inherited a ton of jars from my sister-in-law a few years ago when she moved and I am looking forward to filling them up.  My main goals for canning this year are to make all of my jams, jellies and preserves and all of my own spaghetti sauce.  I would also like to learn to pressure can dried beans so that they are quick and easy to use (without all the sodium of store bought beans).

One of the biggest areas I already save on groceries is in making my own mixes.  I haven't been as good at keeping up on the mixes the last few months because of all of our house stuff going on, but I am hoping to soon have all of my jars labeled and filled.  I will share a picture when I get it done!

Today I am off for my first grocery shopping trip of the year!  We are out of just about everything because we were hit with several unexpected expense at the end of last year.  I figure this will be one of my more expensive trips of the year as I need to stock up on some essentials, but then I won't have to shop for a while!

I would love to hear what your grocery budget goals are and what skills you would like to learn this year to help keep your budget under control.  Leave a comment below and one person will win a free copy of my ebook Shortcut Cooking: Saving Time and Money in the Kitchen! 

I will pick a winner Monday morning!