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.

Grocery List/Meal Plan 10/3/2010

Here's my order through Peapod (hooray grocery delivery!):

1 bag granny smith apples (for DH)
1 bunch asparagus
5 bananas (hopefully DD will eat them instead of just having fun opening them!)
1 cabbage
1 bunch swiss chard
3 heads garlic
1 bunch green seedless grapes
1 pkg baby bella mushrooms
1 5 lb bag organic red potatoes
1/2 pint raspberries
1 yellow squash
1 zucchini
1 pkg strawberries
1 3 lb bag organic onions
10 roma tomatoes
1 lb pork chops
1 lb haddock
1 pkg uncured smoked bacon
1 lb chicken breasts
coffee for me
cereal for DH
salsa
quinoa pasta
olive oil
chili powder
pasta sauce
7 chocolate coconut chew Larabars
1 peanut butter & jelly Larabar

Total: $111.12

Going over budget, but I also did last week. Considering we've had a grand total of 3 meals out in the last month I think going over budget a little on meals at home is okay. At least we're not spending hundreds of dollars on fast food like we were previous months. Last week I ordered a grassfed sirloin steak from one of my farmers and made it last night. It turned out delicious and I'll be doing it again until the next Polyface order where I'll be getting 1 for each week from them. Here's the meal plan for the week:

Today: Chili
Sunday: Rotisserie chicken, corn, oven roasted potatoes
Monday: Haddock, asparagus, rice
Tuesday: Pork Chops, Cabbage, Red Potatoes
Wednesday: Grilled Chicken, Sauteed Squash (from America's Test Kitchen)
Thursday: Sirloin Steak, mushrooms/onions, collard greens

Friday we leave to visit a friend for the weekend. Since I purchased a 5 lb bulk package of ground beef, we're doing a couple of double batches of chili this week to freeze. One of them will go down to the friend's house with us, the rest will stay in our chest freezer.

I also started a small batch of pickled beets today. I'm getting pretty big bunches for $2.50 a bunch so I'm taking advantage.