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Dusting off the cobwebs!

Friday, July 25, 2008

And what brings me out? Well for one thing I need to get back on track with my food planning, especially now that my kitchen is nice and clean and I can work in it! The main motivator though was this article over at MSN...Can a family eat on $100/wk

I had to laugh at the stereotypes in this article...sick of beans, rice and puffed rice. I'd LOVE to have $300/wk to spend on groceries. (my family=3x family of 4 so 3x the budget) I'd even love to have $300 every 2wks to spend. Things are so tight here that on paper I have ZERO food money. Granted I always seem to find enough to get us by with. Usually it's pocket money, overtime and robbing Peter to feed Paul. So I can't complain. Still I decided to try my hand at this gimmick.

I decided I'd use a store fairly close to NYC so it couldn't be said that prices were too low where I lived. (plus I don't advertise the location other then Central NY). I picked a Price Chopper in Middletown, NY. I also decided I would try to have some meat in almost each meal. I did fairly well. I even managed to do a no cook/take out dinner of pizza! For the things that weren't in the ad I OVER estimated according to what prices I pay at the Wal-mart near me. I think I was generous with serving sizes since the article featured 2 adults, a 4yo and a toddler. There'd be leftovers with my menu but I only counted on one lunch with them. The milk amount might be weird as we don't drink it with meals. I tried to compensate for that. So here's my menu, food cost and shopping list...

Breakfasts
Scrambled Eggs with ham steak/Toast
Egg sandwiches with ham slices
Yogurt/toast/grapes
PB toast/Cantelope
Oatmeal/grapes
Pancakes

Lunch
Tuna sandwiches
Ham sandwiches
Ham sandwiches
PB&J
PB&J
Baked potatoes
Leftovers

Dinner
Pizza/baby carrots
Raviolis with sauce/bread/spinach salad
Baked chicken breast/frozen corn/rice pilaf
Shrimp Alfredo/spaghetti/sauteed veggies
Ham steaks/parmesean egg noodles/frozen green beans
BBQ chicken breast/spinach salad/cornbread
Pork chops/sauteed veggies/mashed potatoes

1.50 - raviolis
1.50 - spaghetti sauce (know I can get it for $1)
6.80 - 6 loaves Friehoffer's split top bread B1G2F - $3.40/3 22oz loaves
2.00 - 2 bagged spinach B1G1F - $1.99
1.00 - margarine
2.00 - 2 european cukes B1G1F - $1.99
1.50 - Italian salad dressing
4.00 - parmesean cheese
1.50 - egg noodles
6.00 - 3lb bag individually frozen chicken breast
2.00 - 2 bags frozen veggies (corn & green beans)
2.40 - 1/2 lb cooked shrimp - $4.80/lb 71-90ct
9.00 - 3 gallons milk
1.20 - 1 lb spaghetti/linguine
5.00 - 12 slice deli take out pizza
1.00 - 1lb baby carrots
2.00 - 2 lb summer squash - $.99/lb
4.00 - 2 pkgs ham steaks - B1G1F - 12oz each (estimate original pkg price)
4.00 - 2 pkgs sliced deli ham - B1G1F - 12oz (same as above)
1.00 - rice
1.00 - boullion
1.00 - 2 pkgs cornbread mix
3.00 - 5lb bag of potatoes
3.00 - gallon OJ (loss leader...Great price!)
3.00 - 3lb red grapes - $.99/lb
2.00 - 1lb pork chops
4.00 - 2dz eggs
1.50 - 2 cans chunk light tuna
2.00 - skippy peanut butter
2.40 - yoplait yogurt $6/10
1.50 - oatmeal
2.00 - flour
3.00 - sugar
1.50 - jelly
4.00 - instant coffee
3.00 - cantelope
----------
$97.XX

With the remaining (and surplus I know I'll have from estimating) I'd add one or some of these....

bananas
bag of popcorn kernels
Brownie mix $10/10
Pretzels $1.00
tea bags (to make sweet tea)
bottle lemon juice (to make lemonade)


Funny...I don't see any puffed rice, no beans and only one yummy side of rice. So I have NO idea what this article is talking about!

3 comments:

Natalia said...

Great job, Kim! Thanks for taking YOUR time to help US out! Now you just have to use the menu yourselves to use the time to your own family's benefit! LOL

Kim said...

Thanks Natalia. Unfortunately this shopping list stays on paper only. There aren't too many major grocery shopping trips for me for a while.

Anne Coleman said...

Kim, you rock! I'd love to know where that moronic stereotype came from, too. I've been feeding us on $100 a week forever.