Today is my day off from work and payday so that means one thing...food shopping. Now I work retail and absolutely hate shopping with a passion. I suspect it has to do with so many hours spent in a store. Even when I do go shopping, people come up to me and ask me for assistance. I guess I just look comfortable in my surroundings. Usually I will take them to what ever they are looking for, customer service is what it is all about after all. The one type of shopping I don't mind (other than going to Costco to try out all the samples) is grocery shopping. There is some genetic defect in me that requires that there is always plenty of food in the house (hence the absolutely stuffed freezer and the flying duck). Grocery shopping is a challenge to me, I need to get the most healthy food I can for the least amount of money (ice cream exempted from this rule). The same applies to those other things that need to be bought like laundry detergent, paper towels, shampoo...you get the picture. I have my usual round of stores that I frequent and the normal things I always must have in the house.
I had stopped couponing for a while but then Ash commented about how bad she was at using coupons and it got me to thinking...even though I don't buy processed foods (other than condiments) there were still coupons out there for me so I started clipping coupons again last week. Harris Teeter is having super double coupons this week and I was able to save $6.60 with just 4 coupons. Everything I bought with the coupons was still less expensive than the store brand so I truly felt good about this. Thanks Ash for the gentle reminder.
So, back to the budget. I am only feeding the two of us and the budget does not include Bear's dog food. We rarely eat out and we bring lunch. Processed foods are fairly minimal. I try to spend between $150 to $200 a month on food and essentials for the house. When I look at those numbers they look fairly large but than I think about how much I used to spend in my previous life. I also keep J's dollar a day budget in mind.
Today I spent...
$20.17 at Piggly Wiggly for fresh veggies and one really cheap bottle of wine
$63.55 at Harris Teeter for an amazing amount of stuff including a pound of both Wild Caught Argentinian Pink Shrimp and Sashimi grade tuna
And
$12.13 at Doschers for chicken breasts and 2 rib eye steaks
This is more than enough food and snacks to last us the next two weeks.
I met the nicest lady while waiting in line at the deli counter at Harris Teeter. We were talking about cooking and I gave her the blog info. She has promised to look me up here and post a wonderful recipe she told me about for Talapia. We are both not very patiently waiting for it to go back on sale.
Each day I am amazed by all of you that read this blog. Here I sit in Charleston, cooking and trying to save money and there you all are. How many of you find me just boggles my mind. Since I am new at this I am addicted to checking my blog stats. For those that don't blog, that's the information that tells me where in the world you are, what you looked at and sort of how you found me. You are from here in the US, Canada, Guatemala (that's the daughter), The UK, Germany, Australia, Poland and today a new addition, Italy. Some of you I know, most of you I don't. The Internet is an amazing thing, bringing people together from all across the world. I hope you are cooking and saving along with me! Thank You!
I think the main difference I see in how you shop and cook (other than the lack of bottomless daughters) is the change in meat. You used to buy a lot more fresh fish and sometimes clams from the grocery store. You also bought a *lot* more beef and other "premium" meats--game hens, lamb, I almost talked you into rabbit or goose a time or two.
ReplyDeleteBetween that and shopping the sales, though, it doesn't seem like you've changed how you cook, exactly. You just aren't getting talked into crazy/expensive dinners anymore. Plus, you're not feeding ancient picky dogs stewed people food.
Oh, yeah, and that stat checking thing? It never goes away. Congrats on the new visitors, too.
I've got that same genetic defect concerning stocking food. Wish that defect was paired with the orderly stacked shelves gene. Glad you posted your addiction to blog stats. I've only been blogging for about 4 months but, have to check them at least a couple times a day(more like 5 or 6), so glad to hear that is normal among bloggers. Have a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteWe have a shortage of cupboard space and opening that one particular closet can be dangerous. I am not sure which is more deadly a frozen projectile from the freezer or a large can of tomatoes from the top shelf.
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