Got the info on his whiskey run to the liquor store (no hard liquor allowed in grocery stores, no curbside of beer or wine so he had to go in there, too.)
Whiskey: $18.18
Total for human consumption in January: $159.19
That’s low for us, partly a result of eating down the freezer and pantry some. But COL is just low here. I created that pantry last year and still averaged just under $300 a month. And we still have so. much. food. in this house.
I may make another run next week, but I may wait a week as well. We don’t need anything.
Total ended up being $115.15/$100…fresh stuff dropped off by friend last week didn’t put me over (~$92/$100 including that), but I took a walk to the recycling center earlier and the little bakery was set up and selling cheesecakes on the sidewalks. I am weak and their cheesecake is delicious
I ended the month at $143. I never got to the new recipes or the meal plan/rotation. So, 1/2. Am planning to continue these same things informally in February as I still have food in the freezer that I need to eat.
Okay! I caught up and categorized everything. Then realized I didn’t include our massive coffee purchase, so percentages are off haha.
We ended up spending like 85% of last years monthly average, so that was nice.
Categories- (excluding the big coffee bean purchase)
Meat and eggs: 20%
Dairy: 23%
Pantry: 19%
Condiments: 6.6%
Produce: 18%
Snacks of questionable nutritional contribution: 11.3%
Beverages: 2%
We ended up getting take out once, to the tune of $37 with tip. And got coffee out twice, which we walked to as a “date” type outing each time. Take out was local and after a long travel day for husband, and I feel good about that spending. Coffee was Starbucks but there are no local options in walking distance.
All in all, it… didn’t tell me much really. I guess it told me that we do indeed eat how I think we do? Other than unavoidable situations (bad onions and fruit upon pickup or very shortly thereafter) we didn’t have any ingredients go bad. We threw out some leftovers but not a whole lot. I dunno. We eat a lot, that’s the biggest thing I think
It’s nice to have done it though, since I haven’t in a long time. But I won’t miss doing it, that’s for sure.
Eta was gonna track in store versus pickup. With the new variants, everything that can be pickup is. One Costco trip in person, one TJs trip in person, the rest curbside.
Last grocery trip of January complete! Here’s where we ended:
$220.24/$300.00
I’m obviously really pleased with this! In the last few months, those numbers have been more in the $400-600 range. This basically just required eating what we already had, with some top ups for fresh vegetables, some meat, coffee, and whatever the hell energy drinks my husband buys at work.
I think we could probably go another month under $300, and on my 2021 bingo card I have the goal of 3 months under $300, so we’ll see! I still have so much pasta that is making my pantry a huge mess.
Yeah I didn’t want to call a pickle a “snack” [meant for chips, pretzels, etc] when it’s a vegetable, but it’s not really enough of a vegetable to put in “vegetable”
I think choosing to track categories this month was a bit ambitious. I did well the first few weeks and then everything went haywire Oh well, I failed this one.
We got our $40 veggies order today, and I tried kasmiri chai ($3)
So I tracked here, and anyone interested can add!
Overall this challenge has taught me that my partner eats a lot of expensive food, and we heavily subside his mom and brother. Also that I like subscription produce
This week’s new recipe: uhh I don’t think I cooked anything new this week.
Spent: $190.96 - had a big stock-up this week
Kale: salad with miso dressing
The Month Overall
Total January spending: $360.98 plus $80 takeout
Throughout the month, I did try at least 4 new recipes with varying levels of success/deliciousness. Not sure if any of them are epic favorites, but I always like to keep looking for new things to try.
I feel most successful about getting more into the habit of remembering the kale plants are there and making a dang salad once a week. Biggest win was stumbling upon our new favorite kale salad dressing, so it’s one less choice to make about how to prepare it.
Final update:
Eating down the cupboard and freezer: This was my best week yet. I used 1 can of tuna, half a bag of frozen peas, and 3/4 box of pasta for pasta salad, and 3 cans of beans for soup. And now I have plenty of leftovers for this week.
$40.01/$40 spent on groceries. I’m ok with going over 1 cent because it went towards the tip for grocery pickup.
5/5 takeout/delivery meals. There is definitely a correlation between me not wanting to do dishes and the amount of takeout I get. This is why I decided to make my habit for the Habituary challenge to do my dishes every day and not let any sit overnight.
I’m going to continue eating down the freezer/cupboard in February, as well as aim for 5 takeout/delivery meals.
we have decided we will track for another few months to get a longer trend line, but we’ll record at the end of the month instead of putting them into the spreadsheet after each purchase.
I learned this month that fruit, treats, and meat are expensive. Shocking!
Also I am very, very far from being able to make all of our bread-like food. I make bread, bagels, biscuits, English muffins, muffins, and cupcakes… but we also eat pasta, rice cakes, crackers, other bread, and probably a dozen things I’m forgetting.
I think it would be interesting to estimate what percentage of our actual diets are each item and compare the percentage of spending. For example, I’m certain that treats and probably meat/cheese are expensive out of proportion to our actual consumption, but I doubt that’s the case for fruit and premade grain. But… that sounds hard so I’m not gonna do it.
It forced me to look at grocery expenses for all of last year, and I’m happier with it than I thought I’d be.
Also it kept me reminded to eat down that chest freezer, which has been a 100% win. I may even add back some 2-liter water bottles in the bottom to improve efficiency (and make the food easier to reach).
I guess I learned a lot about my staples and what I usually eat LOL.
I also noticed that with the pain point of groceries and decisions out of the way, the reason I’m primarily eating out is emotional or related to exhaustion. But that happens less than when the meal question was always hanging over my head.
Oh well, I failed this one.