October Financials and November Goals

Wow. From 9/27 to 10/27 we have spent $1,000 on groceries. That is almost double my budget! Time to reign that in a little bit. So here's the plan for 11/1/2010 to 12/1/2010:

Weekly Food: Normally ~$30 ($6.20 for dairy for DH, $13 for sirloin steak, $10 for a couple heads of cabbage, red beets, collards, whatever other veggie he has available). I will increase this by another $30 for 1 lb ground pork, 1 medium (4 lb) broiler chicken, 1 dozen eggs and 1 lb breakfast sausage.

Monthly UNFI coop: I spent $115 this month including a $30-something credit from last months HUGE bulk order. I got maple syrup, tortilla chips, buckwheat flour (pancakes), hazelnut milk (for coffee), and bacon basically removing my need to go to Wegman's every week for said flour and milk and removing the temptation to spend more money. I will keep this at $115 for next month.

Monthly Salmon/Coffee: This is a new one for me that I'll be starting 10/28. I will buy 4x8 oz packs of salmon of which we'll use 8 oz per week for a meal. I will buy 2 packs of coffee ($11 each, unknown size as of yet) and see how far I get with that. I may need to cut my coffee consumption down to accommodate this but I'll cross that bridge when I get there. This will be ~$50/month.

That's $375 before going to the grocery store. However we've already got 1 steak, 1 pork, 1 fish, 1 whole chicken, 1 use of leftover meat and 1 day of leftovers. I may add a pork tenderloin to the rotation until the arm roast order through Polyface. Polyface arm roasts are $3.90/lb but my other farmers charge over $6/lb. On the flip side, Polyface charges $15/lb for a max of 2.4 lb package however my little farmer charges $7/lb for a max 2 lb package. I'll consider it for next week's order. In fact, I just placed next week's order:

1 gallon milk - $5.25
1 dozen eggs - $3.50
1 sirloin steak - $8.50/lb, usually 1.5 lbs, we'll say $13
1 lb ground pork - $4.20
1 4 lb chicken - $14.00
1 lb breakfast sausage - $4.50
1 bunch beets - $2.50
1 head cauliflower - $3.00

Subtotal: $49.95
Delivery: ~$8
Total: $57.95 (will vary)

My weekly grocery bill varied from $85 to $120 over the last month so I will increase this budget to $100/week though I will try to stay under it. Let's say I'll aim for $80 but be a little forgiving! That brings us to a total of $775 for the month. Oh, except for the Larabars which breaks down as:

16xChocolate Coconut Chew: $16.99
16xCoconut Cream Pie: $16.54
16xCherry Pie: $15.47

Total: $49.00

If I divide that by 4 weeks, I get $12.25. If I cut my grocery bill down by that amount it is $87.75. That I think I can do.

Meal plan to come as it is bedtime here.