Week one—Things looking a bit skewed because I did a proper grocery stock-up in late December but stopped at the farmer’s market for my bi-monthly meat stock-up this week. Numbers are good right now, but my folks are visiting next week, which may spike the restaurant budget. Considering creating a separate “hosting” budget similar to a “travel” budget to better track that sort of thing.
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First grocery of the month. I will write down all the prices, simply because I find it interesting how different prices for things are in different places and maybe someone else will find it interesting too. This is the grocery for two adults and one almost teenager. All prices are in CAD, for price context I live in Saint-Jerome, Quebec, purchases made on Jan 03, 2022. We always buy the treats and cheeses for the month at the beginning of the month which makes the first grocery bill of the month the doozy. These purchases were made at 5 different stores, because I shop around to get the lowest prices that I can on all the items that we have on our list :
Grocery:
pie crusts x 4 - 8.38
butternut squash - 2.64 (on sale, hooray!)
pears x 4 - 4.17
5lbs carrots x 2 - 4.00 (on sale, hooray!)
10lbs potatoes - 1.84 (on sale, hooray!)
1 jalapeno - 0.55$ (on sale, hooray!)
cans of tuna x 4 - 8.00
cans of soup x 6 - 12.00
whole wheat crackers x 4 - 12.00
chicory coffee - 4.99
pasta (one box) - 3.96
milk 4L - 8.12
plain yoghurt x 2 - 11.98
frozen corn - 4.29
frozen peas - 4.29
frozen pizza - 6.99
frozen strawberries - 4.99
mushrooms - 3.49
apples x 8 - 6.99
1 small bunch of bananas - 2.04 (on sale, hooray!)
broccoli - 2.99 (on sale, hooray!)
green onions - 0.99 (on sale, hooray!)
cauliflower - 3.99
lettuce - 2.99
more lettuce of a different kind - 3.49
box of soup cubes x 4 - 11.96 (on sale, hooray!)
2kg flour - 6.49 (HALF PRICE, super hooray!)
rice - 11.99
raviolis - 4.99
celery - 2.49
Cheeses for the month:
45.27
Treats for the month:
Salsa - 4.19
corn chips - 4.19
2 x ritter sport chocolate bars - 9.87 (on sale, hooray!)
candied ginger - 12.99
donut pkg of 6 - 4.99
panettone aux marrons - 9.99 (on sale, hooray!)
hot chocolate mix - 6.59
Total to date: 320.58
Total food waste so far this month left over from December:
2 green onions that went slimy in the drawer
1 forgotten lemon
1 bell pepper that went rotten in the middle and 1/4 bell pepper that took it’s cue from the green onions and also went slimy before it could get eaten.
Not perfect, I would like to ideally have NO food waste. I am encouraged that these were minimal items going into the compost, but I think that we can do better.
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Between the holidays and seeing relatives we’ve been eating a lot of leftovers and haven’t stuck to my meal plan this first week but we’re both back to work this week so meal plan will need to be stuck to. Going to make a new one tonight for the coming week.
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1/11/2022 - UPDATE
Tracking protein is going OK, I just use my Notes app on the phone. There are some guesstimates, but at least they are consistent guesses.
Early Data and observations:
- eating protein at the recommended level seems difficult. So much food.
- high protein is sometimes also high lipids
- I definitely feel less hungry (see first observation)
- success metric has changed in the desired direction
- too early to tell if this is having the desired effects, or this is just random fluctuations
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Update the first: one Costco trip.
Snacks/treats (Spindrift, Clif bars): $38.88
Produce: $12.48
Dairy/eggs: $17.98
Cheese: $24.78
Pantry(oil, maple syrup, nuts): $35.86
No new recipes this week.
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Another category update, because We Learn By Doing – I figured out I really needed a “Pantry Staples” category in here.
We did a TJs run over the weekend. Since we’re travelling for a week, starting tonight, this was light on fresh veg updates (we’re using the last of our fresh veg up for lunch), and heavy on TJs specialities like freezer meals, meat to freeze, and pantry staples.
Processed: 36.71
Dairy: 0.00
Meat: 45.04
Veg/Fruit: 11.46
Grains: 6.48
Snax: 12.74
Pantry Staples (includes condiments, spices, oils, baking supplies): 32.45
Total after two grocery trips:
Processed: 40.20
Dairy: 1.49
Meat: 50.33
Veg/Fruit: 30.20
Grains: 6.48
Snax: 18.73
Pantry Staples (includes condiments, spices, oils, baking supplies): 51.93
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Late reporting in here as I kind of lost the week last week due to poopy mental health.
Diet has not been great of late. Kitchen is again stacked high with washing up (dishes). The post Festive Season chocolate nibblage is still going strong, and not a whole lot of veggies are being consumed. Instead they are looking out at me reproachfully from the depths of the fridge.
On the plus side, a replacement oven should be delivered on Wednesday (the old one faded gently into that good night in mid-December). The rest of next week is already inspiring dread.
So. For me the matter is again stepping up to the plate (literally), to take control of being more healthy, making the effort to actually cook more often, eat more veggies, etc. A lifelong, but worthwhile battle.
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Unsurprisingly when the shadowy one has a small contract with a fast turnaround, and it is super cold outside, we do not do much grocery shopping. We haven’t been this light on eggs since the first lockdown (4 raw, 2 hard boiled).
Can’t decide whether to make a red lentil soup for the next few lunches, or continue with the anchovies. Perhaps anchovy-chili-lemon pasta tomorrow with a fried egg, and then do the lentil soup on Friday when it is cold again. Or maybe Friday will just be grilled cheese using up some of the nice bread.
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I completely forgot to check in after grocery shopping this past weekend. So far we have spent $422.85 / $600 Budgeted, but I also did our monthly Costco run last weekend. Normally we spend around $75-$100 weekly outside of Costco, so it looks like we probably won’t come in under budget this month. So far I have met my goal of tracking the food cost on an item/unit basis as well. Due to a strike at the cheaper grocery store I think spending will be higher this month. For example, milk at the other grocery store is 2x the price!
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I have spent almost all my grocery budget and I’m halfway through the month… But my fridge is packed with vegetables. I need to cook them up so they last the month! My main challenge for the month was too try new grocery stores. I’m definitely doing that. Second one was yesterday, a delivery only place. I got the most delicious oat ice cream! Chocolate flavour and a caramel one.
2 more weeks, so 2 more new stores to try.
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The laksa mix from the Asian grocer was a great success so today I went back to buy more so I can eat laksa for some two consecutive weeks if I want to. I had forgotten how good it was (no Malay restaurants around here so hadn’t eaten it since I’d been in Asia, and RIP travel due to COVID…).
I will proudly announce that I only spend €13 at the Asian store today though!
Will get all my receipts of the last week together to do the category check, it should be more representative now we’re halfway the month.
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Week 2 Update:
$33.93 spent on groceries this week ($76.03 so far for the month of $150 budget).
$0 spent on restaurants ($50 budget).
On the first trip, I stuck to my grocery list except for buying chocolate syrup instead of cookies.
On the second trip, I didn’t have a list. I was planning to buy 2 items, and then on my way into the grocery store, I got a craving for mozzarella sticks (I think I smelled some from a nearby restaurant). Frozen mozzarella sticks were on sale for $3 instead of $4.49, so I went for it. I think in the future, I will add one “wild card” on my grocery list for small-ish impulse buys.
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$130 at Costco
- bread
- tuna
- salsa
- hot sauce
- salad fix’ins
- cheeze
- deli meat
- carbonated water
- pizza
Plus $50 for special princeling puppy boi
- cod
- tilapia
- green beans
- asparagus
- sweet potatoes
Then $70 in fancies
- perogie
- crackers
- olives
- dolmas
- peanut butter
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I was thwarted to some extent by Mr Darling being the one to grocery shop. He bought more tots, more breakfast sausage and some chicken nuggets. Plus I told him to buy brioche for berry bread pudding and he came back with pumpkin brioche (last option in the store but still). So now I’m making pumpkin bread pudding and might go for red wine blackberry jello. And I made a bunch of muffins that are now also in the freezer.
Plus I took advantage of the 8 degree weather and put everything on the stoop so I could wash out the inside of the freezer!
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Excellent way to use the weather to your advantage!
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I am envious of your ability to find a laksa mix at a local grocer. I have looked quite a bit, and it seems to be tough to find in my neck of the woods.
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Update for the week is that there is no update since I haven’t been to the grocery store this week or had anything delivered. Will end up getting restaurant/takeout tomorrow at some point since I’m headed out of town for a night, but since I’m not sure what internet access will look like, that’ll be in next week’s update.
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Still haven’t bought work snacks, but I realized that it’s the best time of year - when my work snack cupboard is filled with candy that my mom sent me for Christmas - so maybe this won’t be that hard after all.
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Check-in 2:
Sticking to the plan above went fairly well, only Thursday’s dinner plans it changed when I went to the store that day to get more scallions where I found fresh mussels and decided to make cozze alla marinara instead of lentil salad. That meal felt like holidays, so zero regrets 
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New plan:
Sat: Dinner at Ethiopian restaurant
Sun: Spinach spaetzle with mushrooms, bacon and cheese
Mon: Roasted vegetables with salmon
Tue: Pudlas & cinnamon lamb
Wed: veggie “meat”-balls in tomato sauce and mozzarella
Thur: Szechuan beans with silken tofu
Fri: Roasted broccoli & chickpea salad
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I am on track, slightly more bakery stuff but mostly bread and not cake 
Eating out is for two, I invited a friend who helped me ensembling a new peace of furniture.
I am late in posting due to a very nice concert I went to yesterday in Hamburgs Elbphilharmonie, Conducted by Danniel Berenboim 
Elbphilharmonie Laeiszhalle Hamburg - Elbphilharmonie and I am staying with a friend until Monday afternoon.
| January | Week 01 | Week 02 |
|---|---|---|
| Produce & fruit | 29,01 | 22,01 |
| Meat & processed meat | 17,37 | 0,00 |
| Dairy & cheese | 15,87 | 0,00 |
| Bakery | 3,22 | 8,35 |
| Snacks | 1,80 | 0,00 |
| Chips | 1,99 | 0,00 |
| Dry goods | 1,49 | 0,00 |
| Beverage (incl. Coffee) | 0,00 | 5,46 |
| Eating Out | 21,90 | 23,70 |
| Total | 92,65 | 59,52 |
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