My Food Budget Update 2011 - Update

My household food budget remains the same for 2011 - $200 to 225 a month (the extra $25 is for when I find a great deal on protein or other bulk items).  I thought I'd periodically post my expenses throughout the year of 2011 to show that yes, it is possible to eat Paleo on a Budget.

Another grocery shopping day has come and gone in my house, and once again, my wallet is hiding in my purse, sobbing uncontrollably.  Poor thing - hopefully it will recover in the next two weeks.

I had to do some stocking up on basics this weekend.  We ran out of lard Friday AM (our main cooking oil) so that meant a run to the Hispanic store in North Sunnyvale.  I haven't quite figured out why that store is the only place in town that carries lard - not even Smart and Final has it!

Also bought 20 lbs of chicken leg quarters thanks to a 59 cents/lb sale, which I then slow roasted and froze for easy dinners.  Yum! 

Today's errands included:

Lucky's Grocery Store - $23.33
(Bought oranges, 20 lbs of chicken leg quarters, and tomatoes.  That in itself would a pretty good meal!)

Chavez Super Market (Hispanic Store) - $9.54
(Bought bananas and lard - Nice combo, huh?)

Sprouts Farmers Market - $22.97
(Bought raisins, cauliflower, celery, pears, apples, and onions.)

Target - $36.08
(Stocked up a little bit - bread and peanut butter for the kids, ranch salad dressing, mayo, 15 dozen eggs (enough for 2 weeks of breakfasts and lunches for me and breakfast for the kids), and a tall carton of heavy whipping cream for a recipe.)

Smart & Final - 24.26
(Bought butter, pepperoni (as a treat for my daughter who loves the stuff - shudder), potatoes, peppercorns, and Extra gum.)

Summary:

• Total for This Shopping Trip: $116.18
• Total for The Month: $191.74
• Budget Remaining: $8.26

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I did have 2 things happen to me today that were interesting:

One - I got hit on by a guy.  HA!  Haven't had that happen in a long time!  ;-)

Two - The checker at Smart and Final was surprised that I went to so many stores to buy groceries.  "I hope your car gets good mileage."  I stared at him for a moment, perplexed.  Maybe he thought I ran to one store and then went home again before going back out?  I don't know...  It was a strange comment, really.

To answer the question - gas really doesn't come into play the way I run my errands.  I usually start with Sprouts and Target, since they're the farthest away, and stop at the other stores on my way home.  Either way, I would have driven the same amount.