$50 a week

I'm a stay at home mommy to 4 daughters and wife to a big eater. Instead of planning meals I decided to try a new approach. I am horrible at planning anything and following any recipe is a pain for me. I find its much easier to to work with what I have and use that to make a meal. I also think its more fun and our meals are not as boring. I do set aside $50 a week for groceries and stick to it for the most part. Only time I don't follow the budget is if I find a good deal on something we eat a lot of. It usually consist of baking items or seasonal fruit. I also share with you everything I buy and this keeps me on budget as well. So enjoy!

Whole Foods

$3.15 Liquid Amino's from the bulk section
$1.49 Half n half
$1.99 Veg fed free range eggs
$2.99 Tater Tots
$2.99 Crinkle Potatoes
$2.99 Butter RBST free
$1.23 Organic Ground Mustard (going to try my hand at making my own)
$1.50 Organic Chard
$2.99 Pepperoni Nitrate Free
$2.56 Organic Northern Beans dried from bulk ($1.29 per lb sale)
$3.99 Recycled paper toilet paper
$4.99 Organic gallon of milk
$9.88 Natural beef hormone free ($3.49 per lb sale)
$5.99 Organic White Wine
$5.99 Organic Red Wine

GRAND TOTAL minus bag credit=$54.51

I feel the need to explain a few things.

Liquid amino's I had the bottle for so I just refilled with bulk.  Prepackaged is $4.99 per lb and bulk is $3.99 per lb. Saving me one dollar.

Tater tots and crinkle cut fries were a treat for my girls.  They eat so healthy with no complaints so this is a comfort treat for them.  Since we don't eat stuff like this often I just don't feel bad for the purchase. I do feel bad about the packaging though. sigh....

Ground organic mustard from the bulk section I am using to try my hand at making my own mustard. I will let you know how it goes & I'm sure will blog about it.

Pepperoni slices were cheaper buying the prepackaged than the deli sliced ones.

Ground beef I didn't need to buy because I already have enough for this week.  But at $3.49 per lb I had to buy a pack so I can put it in the freezer for later use.  This saves me .50 cents per pound! Plus next week I will not need to buy any and this saves me money in the long run. I will re wrap this meat into half pound packs in natural wax paper bags I buy from Whole Foods. Love them! Normally I would just have them wrap me ground beef by the pound in paper because I can recycle it.  Really hate the packaging of this pack of meat.

And then there is the wine. I wouldn't normally factor this into my budget but I had the extra money so I just went ahead and bought two bottles.  These are California wines and 100% organic. I know only $5.99!!  One bottle will last me a while since I only drink one glass at a time. Yes that means I'm a cheap date according to my husband.

I did go over on my budget but that's just fine with me.  I still have organic pasta, rice and flour left over from a big purchase I did last month so I still do not need to buy those items.  Paid a good price and bought a ton and in the long run this saves me money.  Now to figure out what to do with 60 pounds of flour....Guess I can make bread instead of buying it. Until next time!