This was a weird grocery week for us. We have a fridge full of veggies to use up, so this was mostly just odds and ends. A hilarious amount of sauces (two kinds of salsa, hot sauce, mustard, pasta sauce, and a fancy white pizza sauce). A horrifying amount of junk, which included a $11.99 bag of candies picked out by N to try and make me feel like less of a mopey mess (it didn’t work sigh). A smaller than usual amount of beverages (just 1 pack of soda, beer, and an energy drink, usually there are multiple sodas because N is a Fresca maniac).
I went out to eat last night but I used credits I have so I’m not counting it. The way the prices work is that most folks use the credits so the printed prices are outrageous. It is the casino, and I have way too many credits to spend on food there. They get the money other ways.
I did another batch cook last night, spicy coconut stir fry tofu and veggies. I ate some last night and have 2 jars left over. I might only put 1 in the freezer though as I want one for lunch.
Went to the grocery store for toilet paper and facial tissue. Found a “stew pack” on sale for $2.99 CAD. It had two rutabagas, nine carrots, one parsnip and a small head of cabbage in it. I bought it. It was the cheapest thing in the entire produce section of the store.
Today’s lunch was Korean noodles with last night’s chicken stir fry tossed in. Hubby ate the last of the cherry pie.
Our supper of salmon chowder will help clean out the fridge and cupboards a bit.
I froze some yogurt while we were gone - hoping that it could act as a starter once defrosted. It was a bit separated, and we’ll see tomorrow morning after 12h in the oven if that worked.
Yogurt is going for ~$3/750ml and 1 L of 5% light cream is $2.79. A small delta, and totally ignoring the time and energy costs, but I like the accomplishment of making my own.
The oven was free because I slow roasted the 1kg pork blade that had been in the freezer for a few months. Some was used for tonight’s dinner (a mess of bbq peppers, shredded carrot & pork over smashed roasted potato, topped with cheddar and green onions), and 3 cups will go into the freezer for later.
Walked to the grocery over lunch for hot sauce (for me, ran out this morning) and some kind of fresh vegetable (for cooking club side next week since I’m hosting). $6.14 spent.
I made a sorta meal plan for this coming week that keeps things rotating out of the freezer and keeps us actually eating vegetables. I also have some things rotating into the freezer thanks to catching a couple of sales, but that just makes it less stressful for my IBL to use things up.
This week food costs were still really low! I guess we had a good full pantry/fridge going into the year and what we’ve needed to buy hasn’t been super expensive stuff?
Overall spending for the month is $81.54. The bulk of this week’s spend was a ~$55 Aldi trip
Sweaty has not gone shopping for the household yet this year. He most likely will tomorrow, so I’ll pay him half whatever he spends and count that for next week.
$7.99 was spent on a 6-pack of protein bars at Aldi. I’ve eaten 3 so far.
Threw out some REALLY old (and opened) seaweed that was pretty gross, put some unopened tea I won’t drink in the box of stuff for Buy Nothing, and also threw out some old (and gross) dried berries that had been hiding in the back of the cabinet. Discovered a baggie of random tea bags that I’ve taken in and added to my work stash and have been drinking from. I did do some of the cooking this week, including making a big batch of stuff that lasted a couple days (like corn, fake meat crumble, beans, etc. to go on top of grains).
Didn’t mention tracking takeout/eating out, but yesterday I got Sweaty an I bagel sandwiches, and later got a latte with a friend. That totaled $18.16 (incl. tips), and the costs are included in my monthly food spend so far noted above.
At some point this month there’s going to be a bottle of not the cheapest Scotch on there as we’re planning to do a Burns night with some friends. Will also make some food for that, but those ingredients shouldn’t be too out of hand.
I mentioned above that I had my two full containers of legumes behind the mostly empty containers of legumes I enjoy more, and this contributed to me not eating them.
Today I repackaged the smaller amounts into appropriately sized containers because mostly empty containers trigger feelings of scarcity and need to replenish, and it felt unbalanced having them at the back.
Before we left for our travels the freezer was exceptionally full with random things thrown in so they wouldn’t go to waste. A week of actively managing it gets us to
Goal 1 plan is working so far (with one test week)
Goal 2: Grocery spending to date 209.93; most of this week’s was dog food, though there were some chocolate-covered Oreos.
Eating out/takeout to date: $75.46.
No carnival food/drink expenses to report this week. Honestly probably won’t have any until month’s end. Most parades before then are in suburbia and I don’t wanna.
Food waste: pretty good. I threw out some dregs of cream cheese and sour cream. I am probably going to toss the remains of a can of cream of coconut that I bought for cocktails because I didn’t like it.
3 jars of batch cooking into the freezer, should have been 4 but I ate one yesterday.
Been eating down some of the random things in the freezer, lots of frozen fruit still so need to up the smoothies for the toddler to use them up. Have had a rough meal plan which has mostly worked, there were a couple unplanned eating out instances which shuffled the meal plan around but still mostly doing ok. Have not been tracking costs this month.
Quick official update for this week since I may be flinging myself down a mountain (on skis) for the next day or two.
One trip to the grocery store as previously noted for a vegetable side for next week and hot sauce for general eating. ($6.14)
One happy hour drink+portion of appetizer+shared lottery ticket that mysteriously did not earn us anything back ($14)
Assuming I do go skiing I’m covered with granola bars from the pantry for snacks (I stock up year round when they show up in scratch-and-dent since they fit well into my water bag) and a peanut butter bagel for the drive back. If we end up staying overnight I’ll throw in a couple self-frozen meals (also known as leftovers from weeks I didn’t finish everything) for dinner and breakfast since wherever we are will have a microwave.
I’m hosting cooking club next week so I’m thinking scallops and pasta or a roast plus vegetable side, and for my own lunches (not to trade) I’ll spaghetti the last squash from before the holidays and thaw out a bag of pasta sauce to use up with it.
This was a weird grocery week for us. We have a fridge full of veggies to use up, so this was mostly just odds and ends. A hilarious amount of sauces (two kinds of salsa, hot sauce, mustard, pasta sauce, and a fancy white pizza sauce). A horrifying amount of junk, which included a $11.99 bag of candies picked out by N to try and make me feel like less of a mopey mess (it didn’t work sigh). A smaller than usual amount of beverages (just 1 pack of soda, beer, and an energy drink, usually there are multiple sodas because N is a Fresca maniac).
($14)