Thursday, March 3, 2011

My Food Budget Update 2011 - Feb 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.

Today's goal was to go through all of February's grocery receipts and see where I stood financially for the month.  I had been dreading this for the last week - I had a feeling I was really close (or maybe a little over) on my budget, thanks to a chicken sale at Lucky's last weekend. 

Here is the detailed information I entered into my budget doc this morning:

Writing this all down, I realized something - the kids eat a lot of bananas and our selection of vegetables are limited, to say the least.

Sprout's vegetables prices are outrageous right now - they claim that the recent freezing temps and storms have ravaged their suppliers, so their prices are up.  I've been resorting to buying our vegetables from the Asian market down the street where I can get broccoli crowns for 99 cents a lb and all types of cabbage for .99 cents and under, along with a few of our other favorites (carrots, celery, cucumber, onion, etc.)

No one is complaining in the sudden drop in variet.  You'd be surprised at what you can do with cabbage.  ;-) Thankfully, my son, Mr. "I-don't-like-anything-green", has developed a sudden love for broccoli and stir-fried cabbage and onions.  It makes dinner a heck of a lot easier.

I have to clean out the freezer this weekend and take stock on what we have left.  Once side is finally empty enough that I can start to buy frozen vegetables again (that will help add to the variety) but of course, that means we're getting low on meat again.  Taking inventory will let know what to keep an eye out for when I'm grocery shopping.  We can't let the beef/chicken supply dwindle...not in this house!

***Edited to add - 2 seconds after I hit "publish" my logical side popped on and I realized why my numbers didn't look right - stupid excel.  It's fixed....and everything is 100% correct to my knowledge.

4 comments:

  1. Amazing! And yes, very telling that the Sprouts bill is one of the highest! But why is bread on the menu?

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  2. The bread is for my kids' lunch. Though I've transitioned completely to a paleo diet, my kids have not. I'd call their diet 85%-Paleo - those sandwiches are the only wheat they get all day long. Otherwise, it's fruit, veggies, protein, fats, and a periodic potato now and then. ;-)

    Keeping the sandwiches seems to help their systems transition to and from the "heavy wheat/non-paleo" diet they eat at their father's house on the weekends. The two weeks we did go completely wheat-free created a hassle for my ex - the kids wouldn't eat anything at his house!

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  3. Do you menu plan for 2 weeks or the month?

    I am starting to think I can save more money if I go for the month.

    M

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  4. Hi KickingCarbs! I've sat here for the last 10 minutes, trying to answer your question and found it almost impossible to keep it to a short "comment". Yes, it's that complicated. ;-) I promise to answer your question in my next blog entry - expect it either either Tuesday or Weds.

    Thanks for the comments and questions!

    ReplyDelete

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