You know what? Iām in. I though I was too overwhelmed for this when Lily first posted it, but I think I want to know more about how things are going now.
So, Iāll track what we spend in food for us. Not trying to limit it; I know my heart-healthy diet is more expensive than our previous diet, but not changing it
Other goal: try to eat down the deep freezer a bit, damn it! It just barely closes. Stretch goal would be to organize it again, but not holding myself to that this month.
I have surgery the third week of the month, so things might get weird then. Weāll see.
Iām in. I want to start doing a mini fridge and veg basket audit every morning and plan lunch and dinner accordingly. This should reduce food waste and get the annoying āwhatās for dinnerā decision out of the way early on.
I do meal plan before shopping but itās more of an ingredient plan as I like a bit of daily flexibility based on leftovers, inclination and sometimes even weather. Iām doing bigger, less frequent food shops at this time of year as we seem to be under constant weather warnings and more stuff in the fridge has meant the waste has crept up a little bit.
Aim for the month is to have (almost) no food waste.
Iām in! Keeping it pretty simple this year: track spending and get back into a more consistent meal planning routine that focuses on pantry/CSA staples and minimizes food waste.
Bonus goal is to clean the fridge and organize the deep freeze.
I want to have a goal of spending $600 or less (combined grocery and eating out) this month. Apparently last year we averaged $668 per month on food spending. So this is doable especially if we shop the pantry.
Found a second-hand lunchbox that meets all of my needs! I hope it works out.
Next CSA box comes on the 9th. Iām visiting family until the 7th. Iāll need to clean out the fridge and buy any non-produce I need after work on the 8th.
170 g blueberries: 2.47
granny smith apples (5 lb bag?): 5.97
mini carrots (340 g): 1.97
3 lb of bananas: 2.25
Iām going to assume none of this had tax. Total: $12.66
(non-groceries
gum (Iām using this as a throat lozange during a cold and this was a planned purchase): 4.48
t-shirt (this was the only unplanned purchase): 4.00
disinfectant wipes: 3.97
2 cans corn: 2.74
1 can cream corn: 1.37
lgh sm (I canāt remember what this was): 4.44
2 cans diced tomatoes: 3.54
2 dark roast coffees (less than 1 kg each): 29.98
2 cans chick peas: 2.98
2 six packs of 710 ml diet coke: 8.98
2 pack celery heart: 3.98
6 pack mini cucumber: 2.98
4 pack vegetarian ground: 14.98
Big thing of grape tomatoes: 5.98
preped chick pea salad: 6.29 + tax (looks like 0.81 in tax)
1.5 kg (I think) thai mix frozen vegetables: 6.49
frozen peas and carrots: 5.99
total (with tax): 101.53
Running total for groceries
12.66
101.53 =
114.19
Not groceries:
2 crest toothpastes: 7.98
2 sensodyne toothpastes: 7.98
St. Ives bodywash: 5.99
plus tax: 4.02
So far this year only a carton of orange juice because the half carton we had got spoiled. I have an order put together but havenāt placed it yet. Donāt know what the oj cost because husband went and got it. This may be a problem with tracking; heās doing a lot more of that these days.
Now Iāve been eating out, so I have some restaurants and coffee shops to add.
First meal out since having a long-lasting cold - lunch for 2 at Paulās favourite restaurant on Saturday (Jan 3). (In my view, this place is going downhill. This time, it took a really long time to get our meals. The chicken in my quasadilla was unappealing. Iām not enjoying this place as much as I used to.)
1 diet coke (for me)
a panini for Paul
chicken quessadilla for me
Total paid (includes tax and tip): 50.64
We didnāt have dessert (but I was still hungry) so I picked up coffee/tea an timbits later (1 large coffee, 1 large tea, 10 pack timbit (there were actually a dozen in there - thank you!): 8.52
Yesterday (Sunday, Jan 5), my friend treated me to breakfast out (thank you friend!).
I later got coffee for Jade and tea and a bagel for me at Tim Hortons:
8.26
Then went out for dinner with Paul at a local restaurant that I consider good value for money (same place my friend treated me to breakfast). Paul had a turkey dinner and a had 2 skewer chicken souvlaki platter. I had a diet coke and Paul had a ginger ale. Total with tax and tip:
55.94
Running total for restaurants and coffee shops
$123.36
(Note: there may be some further transactions on Paulās credit card - he sometimes gets coffee or ice cream when heās out with a companionship worker.)
Was I supposed to check in for this weekend?
So far no in office days, so no lunches or snack spending. Havenāt cooked anything new.
Weighing the food waste is annoying so Iām not doing that. But things thrown away so far:
1 pan saltine toffee that I used melted caramels for instead of reading any instructions or asking N whose family is the one who makes it and because of that it stuck completely to the parchment. Trashed it after multiple valiant attempts to unstick it.
Ancient leftover chili - probably a serving and a half. Should have cleaned out the fridge before starting a food waste challenge haha
Argh my husband did grocery shopping this weekend (usually itās my job), so I donāt know how much was spent. Spending and saving tracking is annoying because my personal spending does not reflect that of the household. Weāve also gone out to eat a few times because we have company visiting and I am not the one who pays (because, ha). So my $600/month goal now feels arbitrary and not really reflective of our actual spending. According to my bank, I have not spent anything on food yet.
But Iāll persevere. Thereās a lot of January left. Iām sure the rest of the grocery shopping will be up to me.