Monday, January 4, 2010

weekly menu - cash only grocery shopping goal

WEEKLY MENU: I've had several recent comments/emails from readers that have mentioned that they miss my menus. I never stopped menu planning, I just stopped posting them. So, just for you, they're back!


As part of one of my 2010 goals, I am alotting myself a cash amount of $225 every 2 weeks for groceries and household expenses. Did you catch that? Cash! Yes, I'm going to the bank, withdrawing greenbacks and that's what I can spend at the store. Talk about making oneself accountable. I've always tried to have a goal of about $450/mo but I haven't always stuck with it. I decided there was no time like the present to start ~ on December 28 I withdrew $225 and I have $35 dollars left until January 11.


Last night I tallied up our grocery/househod expenses for 2009 (um, this would be the grocery geek part of me!). In 2009 we spent $5,757.00 for a family of four ~ this includes everything from hairspray and catfood to milk, cereal and pot roast. That works out to $221 every 2 weeks so I should be able to do it. Last year our least expensive month was February at $380 and August was the most expensive at $620 (this had some school supplies in it too).


Without further ado, here's what I've got on this weeks menu:


  • roasted chicken with potatoes and carrots, broccoli-rice casserole

  • lentil soup (from freezer) with pasta

  • waffles, fruit

  • fajitas (venison from Lawman's successful hunt), mexican rice

  • calico chicken (i saw a recipe on a blog somewhere for this and now i can't find it...ugh...will have to try to recreate from memory and i'll be using leftover chicken from the roasted chicken)

I'm following FishMama on her adventure this month of eating out of the pantry/fridge/freezer. It will be fun to see how creative she gets. She's posting their daily eats here if that's something that makes your ears perk up.



5 comments:

Anonymous said...

how did you track last years spending? curious minds want to know : )

I am at 0 dollars until Friday : (

Amy said...

It all sounds delicious! I love to peek at your menu plans and love your cash challenge. I shop usually with cash at Aldi because they won't take my card. It is a great way to keep to that budget! Nothing like going over your budget once and being humiliated at the register to make you number crunch :) Ha!

Michelle @ Give a Girl a Fig said...

Yay! And yum! You did great last year with your budget...that's awesome! Right before business got so horrible I was working on a budget and I was tracking every penny by shoving the receipts in an envelope and tallying at the end of the month. I'm getting ready to do it again...we'll see how it goes!

Nancy said...

For dmoms and any other curious minds...my tracking system is simple. All receipts go into a magnetic pouch that hangs on my fridge. At the end of the month I tally them up, staple them together and write the total on the top receipt. Then they go to my filing cabinet. At the end of the year I take them out, add up the monthly totals and...wala. My annual total. I've been doing this for about 10 years now.

And, here's a little funny side note. Lawman read this post and your comments. He said, "I should respond with, 'You save all receipts and they have to go in a certain spot and if you throw one away you must go through the trash to retrieve it and you'll be sorry for a long, long time." See? He does know the method!

Anonymous said...

I'm absolutely floored that you can feed a family of four on $225 a FORTNIGHT!!! That's like less than AU$300 and I'm seriously struggling to feed a family of four (one who survives on oxygen alone) on $300 a week.

Your menu does sound yummy though.

Plus your self-discipline is brill if you can be so organised with your receipts. I struggle to keep receipts for tax purposes.