It’s week three, and we are officially over the hump in our $25 grocery challenge!! Also, completely unrelated, in honor of this week’s holiday, I’m sharing a couple photos from a St. Patrick’s Day my husband and I were lucky enough to spend in Galway, Ireland seven years ago:
Here’s the line up for the Galway St. Patty’s Day parade- not nearly so busy as my hometown’s parade. (I love the building style.)
And here’s beautiful Galway Bay:
Ahem, now that we’ve had that little detour… onto the challenge updates!
As with the first week, I had a couple of menu tweaks during week two. However, I managed to stick to my grocery budget (and avoided impulsive runs to the store). Here’s my grocery bill for week three:
- Three packs of Thomas English Muffins, $4.39. I know, I know, it’s pre-made bread, probably with additives. But it was buy 1, get 2 free, it will make my life a little easier this week, and store-bought bread is a rare purchase for our household. Go ahead and judge if you will, but I feel okay about it. 😉
- 4.35lbs bananas, $2.52
- 4 lbs oranges, $2.99
- 2 lbs gala apples, $2.99
- 11 oz baby greens, $2.99
- 5 lbs potatoes, $1.98
- 2 lbs grapes, $2.99
- 2 lbs onions, $0.98
- 1 gallon milk, $3.63
Week Three Total: $25.46. Slightly over budget, but I’ll call it close enough.
I wasn’t able to get any organics today, because the cost is still prohibitive at this particular store. Alas! I take comfort in the fact that our canned and frozen garden food is all organic, and that has been the bulk of our menu-base this month.
Week three menu:
- Monday: Turkey pot pie or casserole, depending on how much time I have (using my home-canned turkey soup as a base)
- Tuesday: Shepherd’s Pie- St. Patty’s Day, of course! 🙂
- Wednesday: Creamy Pumpkin Soup
- Thursday: Cheddar Cheese Spaghetti
- Friday: Fresh bread (maybe this overnight cheese bread?) plus fruit + veggies + a whole-foods dip. We will be out teaching this Friday night, and some days I just want a nibble dinner anyhow.
- Saturday: Greek-style squash dinner with my leftover pumpkin from Wednesday. Inspired by this Greek-stuffed acorn squash recipe.
- Sunday: Breakfast for dinner
Now, lest anyone is getting an unrealistic picture of me, I want to remind you that the point of this challenge was strictly to cut our grocery bill. We still spent money on other items over the past couple of weeks, like some improved maple sugaring supplies and a pack of disposable diapers for outings & nighttime. We grabbed some discounted hoagies at the store today between church and my singing rehearsal because I forgot to pack lunch. (Should that be added to my grocery bill?) I want to keep it realistic!
Regardless, this challenge is still saving us about $50 a week- which will add up to $200 over the month! Only one more week to go after this one!
Anyone still with me? Have an idea for menu planning or frugal shopping tips? We’d love to learn from you!
