develop and stick to a grocery budget

got together with the girls and we planned a menu. So it also helped with the “pickiness” battle, and with our budget. And we got to discuss planning a healthy, balanced menu too. Overall, a success, need to do the same for this week.

to work out a menu for the week, shop accordingly. We used to do this a couple of years ago, and it saved so much, in terms of produce and food not going bad. And not having to make another trip to the store, thus saving on gas, and time!

I’ll start by planning a couple of vegetarian days too.

This is something I’ve been developing too. And it’s hard! As food prices climb, and and gas prices—thinking: how can I organize my shopping to get all the best deals around town, and not waste it all on gas….

There’s Trader Joe’s, which doesn’t have everything, or everything cheap. There’s Target brand TP and cleaning products, which I like, don’t make me sick with toxic fumes, and are cheap. Dollar store or big lots, you can sometimes get Muir glen organics or Annie’s or Paul Newman products for a dollar! And even Whole Foods, when things have to be organic (like produce on the top ten deadliest pesticide list or meats), or for natural medicines, or to take advantage of their frugal 365 brand and the occasional sale… all while trying to resist their gourmet coffees, chocolates, cheeses and meats. It’s exhausting.

Here’s this very entertaining Salon article about frugal grocery shopping:
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/04/18/recession/

I think the trick (for me anyway), is to splurge every once in a while. I may need to plan the splurges more, so that I don’t end up feeling too deprived because then I explode and splurge too much.

I’ve been considering going back to vegetarianism too. SO many reasons to …. but that would involve so much planning, cooking, while I introduce new recipes (new to my kids) to our meals….

about the city of Chicago is the seeming scarcity of decent food (groceries, not restaurants). I miss the co-op back home. Trader Joe’s is OK, I suppose, but not that exciting. I have, however, been avoiding Whole Foods since I first got here because I knew that it would be an expensive and dangerous place for me. Well, now there’s a Whole Foods right on my way home, and today I finally buckled and went in. It made me dizzy. So much good food! Outside there was a chalkboard offering a special on Putney Pasta, and immediately inside there was a display of Grafton Cheddar on sale – two local items from back home, made me all misty-eyed. “This cheese is made right around the corner from where I used to live in Vermont!!!” I gushed to the cashier. “Huh,” he replied, not as enthusiastic. “How about that.”

Of course, I ended up leaving with a lot more stuff than I intended to get. I had been thinking about this anyway, but now it’s a necessity: I need to set and stick to a food budget. Good food is my financial downfall, followed closely by really nice, natural body-care products (also in ample supply and beautifully displayed at Whole Foods). I want to be able to buy delicious food, but I need to learn to buy carefully – make sure I only get what I can eat before it spoils, remember what I already have in the fridge, etc. It’s hard when you live alone. My student-loan money will only stretch so far, though, so I have to be careful.