March 16- 22: $11.73 Spent

If I go over my $45 food budget for the month, I'm blaming it on the raisins I bought to make Irish Soda Bread.  It was a hectic week with 12 hour days and receptions at work, I ate well this week thanks to all the food at work.

My Sunday grocery shopping looked like this: I bought a gallon of milk ($3.39-CVS Buck = $2.39 or $.15 a cup), Goldfish crackers (on sale for $.99), Grapes ($1.86), Strawberries ($2.50), Raisins ($3.99)

Sunday:
Breakfast: oatmeal

Lunch: spinach and strawberries
Dinner: homemeade sourdough bread (I also tried some of my Irish soda bread I made that night)














Monday:
Breakfast: bran flakes w/ milk and soda bread
Lunch:  chips and sandwich (free from work)
Dinner: hummus and pita, smoked Gouda cheese, wine (all free from work event) and ramen noodles and slice of sourdough bread

Tuesday:
Breakfast: bran flakes w/ milk and soda bread
Lunch: TJ tamales (frozen in my work freezer- they were gross!) and grapes
Dinner: artichoke and sunchoke salad, butter poached lobster w/ veggies, flourless chocolate cake, wine and coffee (free from work event)

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Bran flakes w/ milk and soda bread
Lunch: french onion soup (frozen from my freezer)
Dinner: grapes, sourdough bread, strawberries, popcorn

Thursday:
Breakfast: Bran flakes w/ milk
Lunch: pizza, eggplant baked ziti, salad and carrot cake (free from work)
Dinner: sourdough bread toasted w/ PB

Friday: 
Breakfast: Bran flakes w/ milk
Lunch: leftover eggplant baked ziti, cookie and bag of chips (all from work)
Dinner: salad (leftover from work lunch) w/ Morning Star Buffalo Chicken nuggets (from freezer) and ranch dressing, whole wheat spaghetti w/ sauce and frozen vegetables and a glass of wine

Saturday:
Breakfast: french toast made with milk, egg, vanilla extract and my homemade sourdough bread w/ coffee and milk and strawberries

Lunch: whole wheat spaghetti with sauce and frozen vegetables, serving of grapes
Dinner: salad and Morning Star Buffalo Chicken nuggets w/ ranch and a glass of wine









If I go over my $45 food budget for the month, I'm blaming it on the raisins I bought to make Irish Soda Bread.  It was a hectic week with 12 hour days and receptions at work, I ate well this week thanks to all the food at work.

March 10-14...$2.62 spent, $2.95 consumed

No photos this week, but I did spend $2.62 on tea when I went out with a friend for a break at work.  So far, to date, I've spent $13.99 this month and we're about halfway though the month. 

March 10:  $0 spent, $.62 consumed

Breakfast: oatmeal w/ blueberries ($.13)

Lunch: TJs Organic plain yogurt w/ strawberries ($.20) and chili w/ mandarin orange and apple  

            ($.29)

Dinner: leftover spaghetti with sauce and veggies ($0)

                  

March 11:  $0 spent, $.13 consumed

Breakfast: quinoa w/ cinnamon and sugar and blueberries ($.13)

Lunch and Dinner: leftover pizza from work($0)

March 12:   $2.62 spent, $1.12 consumed

Breakfast $0- milk w/ Bran Flakes

Tea Break- $2.62 at a tea shop

Lunch: $0- leftover from catered lunch meeting

Dinner: $0- yogurt w/ blueberries ($.13), spinach ($.66) w/ 5 Strawberries ($.20), potato ($.13) with butter

March 13: $0 spent, $.29 consumed

Breakfast $0- milk w/ Bran Flakes

Lunch: leftover chili, mandarin orange, apple ($.29)

Dinner: toast w/ butter ($0) and french onion soup from freezer ($0)

Snack- popcorn and chocolates

March 14:  $0 spent, $.79 consumed

Breakfast: $0- milk w/ Bran Flakes

Lunch: meal paid for by work

Dinner: spinach ($.66) with mandarin orange ($0) and blueberries ($.13)

March 9...$1.99 Spent, $1.74 consumed

So, even after canceling the paper for a few weeks, I am totally going through shopping withdrawals.  I looked at the ads online and it is killing me that I cannot buy anything.  There are some St. Patty's day items and crafty things I want to buy and some seeds for my garden.  I have to return some yarn that I didn't use for a project I just finished so since that was money already spent, I might be able to purchase some items next weekend with the store credit and maybe, just maybe, that fix will be just enough to hold me over until April.  Also, hitting up Trader Joe's (TJs) for spinach for tonight's dinner took some restraint, I so wanted to buy some Shamrocks and chocolates!! 

Breakfast ($.59):  hash browns made with 2 potatoes ($.26), homemade Old Fashion Quaker oats w/ blueberries ($.13), coffee and milk ($0), strawberries (.$20) in leftover coconut milk.

Lunch ($.29): was more like a snack since I had breakfast around noon.  PB ($0), celery ($0), apples ($.29)

Dinner ($.86):  after working out at the gym, stopped by my local TJs for some spinach, totally forgetting that Sunday's are the worst days to shop at TJs b/c it is packed.  I felt silly standing in the long ass line for just one bag of spinach ($1.99), and normally I would walk in, see the crowd and walk right out saying forget it, but I needed spinach for dinner. Spinach ($.66) w/ strawberries ($.20), mandarin orange and honey goat cheese ($0).  Brown bread toasted w/ a pickle and a microwave and toasted frozen TJs veggie burger- my least favorite kind b/c it doesn't cook well and is super high in fat, but I had it in the freezer so I cooked it ($0).

March 8...$5 Spent...$.96 consumed

$5 worth of produce

So, I had depleted my fruit stash (with the exception of a couple mandarins and oranges still in the fridge), so I decided to hit up Haymarket for my weekly produce.  For those not in Boston, Haymarket is like a farmers market, except it's like about-to-spoil or spoiling produce that can't be sold in the supermarkets.  So it is super cheap compared to the items sold in grocery stores, but you have to be careful what you pick or are given because some items are bad.  This is what $5 bought me.

$1- 2lbs of strawberries  (This would cost be $5 or $4 on a good sales week for the same amount, HOWEVER, I ended up tossing about 1 container worth of Strawberries when I got home b/c they were too ripe or bad to consume).  Cost per strawberry = $.04

$1- 1 pint of blueberries, totally good all the way through and will last me probably a little over a week.  Again, this would cost close to $4 in the grocery store.  I usually eat about 25 blueberries as a serving, so I'm going to guesstimate the cost of the servings as roughly $.13 a serving.

$2- 7 apples, I would pay more than double the price if I bought them at the store.  These are all bruise-free and I got to select them myself.  Cost per apple $.29

$1 for the garlic as I was completely out and it's cheaper than the grocery store.  Do I use all that garlic, yes, I'm pretty good at adding pressed garlic to dishes. Cost per head $.20

I had a late breakfast of oatmeal and coffee before heading out to Haymarket.  I then had a late lunch of leftover spaghetti with veggies and sauce, brown bread and the rest of the spinach and arugula mix ($.63) w/ honey goat cheese and strawberries ($.20) and blueberries ($.13) I just bought.  I then made popcorn from kernels I had for an evening snack since I didn't have dinner due to the late lunch.

Lunch

March 6 & 7... $0 Spent, $.63 Consumed

March 6th: Breakfast [not shown] was left over coffee cake and coffee.  Only the spinach & arugula mix was consumed that came from items purchased this month, everything else was leftover or stuff I had on hand prior to March 1st.

Lunch [above] was leftover brown rice, steamed frozen broccoli and tofu with a mandarin orange and lemon lime seltzer from work. ($0- all leftover items I had on hand before March 1st)

Dinner [above] was leftover veggie, lentil, barley soup ($0), spinach and arugula salad ($.63) w/ dried Craisins, mandarin orange and honey goat cheese ($0).

Friday, March 7th: Breakfast [not shown] was Grape Nuts cereal with milk thawed from freezer, last of my coffee cake and coffee ($0).  Lunch [not shown] was leftover homemade chili, Trader Joe's Greek Nonfat Plain Yogurt w/ fresh fruit from work, a mandarin orange and countless items sitting out from meeting breakfasts ($0). Nothing consumed came from items purchased this month.

Dinner: [below] pasta with frozen vegetables and sauce, brown bread with butter and leftover glass of wine from Sunday. ($0)

March 5th...$0 spent, $.75 consumed

Back to work today.  Of the money spent yesterday at the grocery store, I consumed about $.75 worth of food bought, everything else was leftover or food I had on hand.

Breakfast: leftover coffee cake, scone at work and tea [no photo]

Lunch: leftover homemade veggie, lentil, barely soup with a mandarin orange and a lemon lime can of seltzer. [looked very similar to yesterday's lunch]

Chocolate was consumed this afternoon- I can't wait for all the chocolate to be gone from the office!

Dinner: spinach and arugula ($.627)  w/ honey goat cheese (given to me by a friend who doesn't like it), Craisins, small red beans (from dried bag I cooked over the weekend) and a microwaved potato ($.125) and a leftover homemade honey cornbread muffin.

Dessert: I opened a box/bag of mint Oreos that have been sitting on my bar for a few weeks now.

March 4th: $4.38 Spent

I stayed home today with a chest cold but did go to the store b/c I was craving potatoes.  I bought:

• 1 5lb bag of russet potatoes for $2.50.  With 20 potatoes in the bag, each potato costs $.125
• 1 6oz bag of baby spinach and arugula for $1.88.  The bag says 2 servings, but I turn that into 3 servings so about $.63 a serving.

Total dollars spent: $4.38
Cost of purchased food that was consumed: just under $.13


Breakfast: tea and oatmeal made with old fashion oats and Craisins [no photo]

Lunch: leftover homemade vegetable, barley, lentil soup; microwaved potato ($.125) and a mandarin orange with tea.

Dinner: I had some homemade popcorn and two slices of homemade sourdough bread thawed from the freezer. [no picture]