$50 a week

 My husband gets paid once a month so I have to stick to a budget or there will be no money at the end of the month to buy groceries.  Each payday I go what I call big time shopping.  I buy a ton of bulk dried foods and a weeks worth of fresh food.  I then stash away $50 for each week so I can buy fresh items that cannot be stored for long.  Things like milk, eggs, and meat.  This allows me to have fresh food all month long and take advantage of weekly sales and seasonal food.  I do not plan any of our meals, instead I cook meals around what I find seasonal, local, organic and on sale.  This keeps my food budget down and keeps our meals interesting.  Check back each week so see what were eating and be sure to check Surviving And Thriving On Pennies on Facebook to see pictures of our dinner meals or just to get inspired!

WINCO

$2.36 Saltines 2 boxes (I make peanut butter sandwiches for the girls lunches with these)

$1.69 Pretzels (snacks for lunches)

TOTAL minus bag refund =$3.99

NEW SEASONS

$2.69 RBST free gallon of milk

$4.99 Organic carrots 5lbs

$2.99 Apples 3lbs (was cheapest organic option. Bag will be recycled)

.95 Brussels sprouts (if something is charged by the lb you can open up net bags. This way you only buy what you want. I did this)

$3.71 Natural beef meatballs (sale for $3.99 )

$4.07 Natural beef meatballs( broken down into smaller meatballs to stretch further.)

TOTAL minus bag refund=$19.35

WHOLE FOODS

$2.19 Organic dried garbanzo beans (no more caned beans..only buying in bulk from now on)

$3.99 Organic bagged apples 3lbs

$1.76 Organic Split Pea

$2.49 Sunshine Dairy local egg nog (YUMMY! and 1/2 price!!)

$1.49 Sunshine Dairy Local Half n Half

$1.24 Fair Trade Banana's

TOTAL (bag refund donated to local charity)=$13.06

GRAND TOTAL=$36.40

Also pictured is a great 6 pack of seasonal beer.  This was not taken out of our food budget and its more of a treat than anything.  We do this once in a while and anytime they have a seasonal beer we usually will buy that one.  You can only buy them once a year so we try new ones often. 

As you can see were under budget which means I can get things later if we run out of anything.  I also want to mention that my brother gave me a 50lb bag of oats for Christmas which should get some creative juices flowing in me.  I also was able to get 10 lbs of whole walnuts from a friend who lives on a farm.  I have shelled about 5lbs and put them in the freezer and have another 5lbs to do in the next couple of days.  These will be used for baked goods all year long.  My daughter watched a friends dogs for the weekend. They have 6 chickens that laid 4 eggs which I was able to keep.  And last but not least my friend Theresa gave me some organic produce that she could not eat up so I will be incorporating them into our meals.  This week has been really good for us.  Cheers