Happily this week’s grocery trip wasn’t very big. I have really not been in the mood to cook this past week, so the plan for next week is really really easy stuff that doesn’t require a lot of ingredients. There was a little bit of convenience/junk food purchasing, like sweetened cereals and Aldi brand canned pasta. I figured it was better to buy the easy stuff I will actually take time to make and eat than to buy things I would end up not cooking. Hopefully by next week my cooking mojo will be back and the grocery trip will look a little better. Here’s this week’s photo…
Here’s the expense breakdown:
Meijer – $8.77
Fresh Thyme – $7.55
Aldi – $33.29
Walmart – $9.80
For a total of $59.41. We still came in comfortably under budget, so I’m happy with the end result. We could have bought healthier food, and most weeks I do, but sometimes I am just gonna be lazy and pick the easy stuff.
The menu for the week:
We didn’t shop until today {Friday}, so the menu starts with Saturday this week
Satuday Lunch – Waffles, sausage, strawberries
Saturday dinner – Spaghetti with meat sauce, steamed veggies
Sunday Lunch – Soup and sandwiches
Sunday Dinner – Spaghetti with meat sauce, salad
Monday Lunch -Eggs, sausage, toast
Monday Dinner – Fish, sweet potato fries, salad
Tuesday Lunch – Soup, sandwiches
Tuesday Dinner – Rice and Beans, steamed veggies
Wednesday Lunch – Waffles, sausage, tangerines
Wednesday Dinner – Rice and beans, salad
The menu is nothing complicated this week but it is things to make and eat at home to wage a fair war against the desire to go to a restaurant or get takeout.
I’m gonna be honest, this last week had some unplanned spending in it. Hubs and I made the decision to buy a new camera, but that was purchased with unexpected money and didn’t mess with our budget. And yes, we could have put that money to more frugal use, but I’ve wanted a nice camera for 20 years and my sweet Hubs decided it was time I get one. That wasn’t the problem though. The problem was little things here and there, adding up over the week. A couple of lunches out, a stop at Half Price Books. None of it was a lot, but it was too much free spending for one frugal couple.
Therefore the goal for this week is to get that belt tightened back up. We need to stay our of stores until next Thursday. Normally I would say stay home, but I want to get out and test out my camera. I just have to resist the urge to stop at a drive thru for anything more than a cup of ice water.
And because blogs are always better with pictures, here’s the first really good shot of Ginger taken with the new camera. {Still haven’t gotten a good one of Beto!}
Planning ahead saves us a lot of money we normally shop weekly, but menu plan monthly.
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Planning ahead is like hitting a small lottery every week. When I think back to the amount of money we used to spend shopping for random things and STILL eat out half the time… it was terrible!
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I can only imagine I use coupons often as possible.
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