Tuesday, November 5, 2019

November 2019 Budget and Menu

In which I post my menu and grocery list with prices for the month. As always, I shop my own freezers and pantry first, and my goal budget is $250 each month for all consumables. As I work for the state I get paid once a month, usually near the 1st of each month, and I plan my shopping for that time. As I am a single mom on a very limited budget, I am challenged to cook all our meals at home, and keep them nutritious, filling, and interesting.

There is a local group that collects surplus vegetables from our local Farmer's Market and hands those out, along with frozen chicken breasts and bread, and sometimes other donated canned goods once a week. I typically visit them weekly to supplement fresh, in-season vegetables. Currently, it's mostly leafy greens, which my children aren't terribly fond of, but we are grateful for it, nonetheless.

We are an omnivore family of three with no allergies or sensitivities; we are privileged not to have any food restrictions or medical restrictions that prevent us from cooking at home from scratch. I plan four meals a week for Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. In between we eat leftovers or make something quick and easy (my youngest's current favorite: pancakes). In addition, I take leftovers for my lunches. My eldest daughter takes a sandwich every day to campus, and my youngest eats the lunches provided at school. Breakfasts in autumn/winter are usually hot cereal, a bagel with cream cheese, or scrambled eggs and toast.

For ease of planning, I use Google Calendar to plan the entire month in advance, and I keep a Pinterest board for each season so I never run out of ideas - I usually have more recipes than days each month! I keep a grocery list on Wunderlist that I transfer into a notebook that I take with me to the store. The digital list means I can access it anywhere without needing the physical list with me, and the physical list makes it easy to reference when I last purchased an item and how much I paid at each store. The monthly menu also goes into the book as a reference while I'm in the store. As each item is put away at home, it gets logged into the Freezer and Pantry inventories on Wunderlist so I can see at a glance what I have in each location. Open items in the refrigerator or kitchen cabinets are not on an inventory list, however I do check to see if our most-used items need to be replenished before I go grocery shopping each month.

Total Spent for November 2019, as of 11/05/19: $262.43

Items with an asterisk* were purchased without being on the original list. I went back to Grocery Outlet on 11/05 for citrus and white chocolate chips to start prepping make-dough-and-freeze cookies for the holidays, which will be prepped this weekend. I had forgotten I intended to do this until after I had already done the bulk of my shopping on the 1st. We do have one special snack for the month: potato chips and onion dip. I try to make sure we have at least one snack-type food item each month. In the summer it's usually root beer floats. Last month and this, it appears to be potato chips and onion dip.

In addition, I can contribute the following dishes to our family Thanksgiving menu without going to the grocery store, based on my current pantry and freezer stock:
Mashed Potatoes
Cranberry Sauce
Cherry Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Broccoli Gratin
Butter Rolls
Turkey (and gravy)
Sweet Potatoes
I could probably also come up with at least one appetizer without going to the grocery store (something with spinach, parmesan, and phyllo dough, most likely....).

I went over my budget by $12.43 this month. I didn't need to purchase the whole turkey, the hearts of palm, the boneless/skinless chicken thighs (we were getting low, but we had enough for this month), or the edamame. Had I stuck with just my budgeted items, I would have saved $20.97, keeping us under budget. These are all foods that we will eat pretty quickly, however they were unnecessary purchases.

My goal for December will be to stay under budget, add two more vegetarian dishes for the month (the current goal is to be meatless at least one meal each week), and start emptying our freezers for the move, as we will be downsizing by at least one freezer. For meat, I intend to purchase only ground beef and bacon in December, as we should have enough chicken, fish, and pork for our meals.

November 2019 Menu:

Sushi Night: California Rolls (crab, avocado, cream cheese), Miso Soup, Edamame


Taco/Burrito Night: I cook a pound of hamburger meat, and season with home-mixed taco seasoning. Tortillas, beans, cheese, fixings, etc are set out, and everyone builds their own.

Tilapia and Rice with steamed vegetables

Brinner: Cinnamon coffeecake, scrambled eggs, and bacon

Chicken Rogan Josh: chicken in a jarred rogan josh simmer sauce, rice, and saag aloo


Pesto Pizza Rolls: I will be making mine with the standard red sauce and Italian sausage this month


Filipino-Style Chicken Adobo: served with rice and steamed vegetables


Pecan & Panko Salmon: I picked up a pre-seasoned salmon filet last month on sale in the freezer section. All I need to do is bake and serve. I intend to serve this with pasta and a steamed vegetable.



Broccoli Cheddar Soup (vegetarian, and without the celery, as I am not fond of celery in soup)

Thanksgiving: I will be making waffles and scrambled eggs for breakfast, and we will be joining family for dinner. The menu has not yet been finalized.

In addition, I am planning for the first Sunday of December, as my next payday is on December 2nd:


Grocery Shopping:
These are all items I purchased this month, along with their prices at their respective stores:

Broccoli                            4.99/3 lbs at Costco
Cheddar                           5.29/2 lbs at Costco
Chicken Bouillon             5.99/16 oz at Costco
Cream Cheese                 8.69/3 lbs at Costco
Sour Cream                      3.99/3 lbs at Costco
Dog Food                          27.99/40 lbs at Costco
Eggs                                   3.79/2 dozen at Costco
All-Purpose Flour            5.99/25 lbs at Costco
Honey                               9.99/80 oz at Costco
Lunchmeat (Turkey)       9.89/3x 14 oz at Costco
Mexican Shredded Cheese          14.99/3 lbs at Costco
Fage Yogurt                      5.99/48 oz at Costco
Cottage Cheese               4.49/3 lbs at Costco
Sliced Havarti                   7.99/2 lbs at Costco (priced but did not purchase)
Colby Jack Cheese           5.79/2 lbs at Costco
Total Spent at Costco on 11/01/19: $119.89

Avocado (1)                      5.00/3 at Grocery Outlet
Bacon                                3.99/12 oz at Grocery Outlet
Cocoa Powder                 2.49/8 oz at Grocery Outlet
Garlic                                 1.00/2 heads at Grocery Outlet
Half and Half                    3.49/ half gallon at Grocery Outlet
Onions                              1.00/3 yellow; 1.00/2 red at Grocery Outlet
Refried Beans                  1.79/30 oz at Grocery Outlet
Shallots                             1.69/ 3 at Grocery Outlet
Tortillas (2)                       3.99/20 at Grocery Outlet
Vegetable Oil                   2.99/48 oz at Grocery Outlet (2.79/48 oz at Food Maxx)
Green Onions                  79c/bunch at Grocery Outlet
Coffee                               9.99/2 lbs at Grocery Outlet
Saag Aloo Spice Blend*  99c/packet at Grocery Outlet
Frozen Boneless/Skinless Chicken Thighs* 5.99/2.5 lbs at Grocery Outlet
Frozen Edamame*         2.99/28 oz at Grocery Outlet
Basmati Rice                    1.99/24 oz at Grocery Outlet
Canned Pumpkin             2.89/29 oz at Grocery Outlet
Cheese Raviolis (2)          2.99/9 oz at Grocery Outlet
Cilantro                             79c/ bunch at Grocery Outlet
Frozen Spinach (2)          1.25/ lb at Grocery Outlet
Juanita’s Corn Tortilla Chips        2.99/24 oz at Grocery Outlet
Baby Spinach                   1.99/10 oz at Grocery Outlet
Frozen Chicken Wings    9.99/5 lbs at Grocery Outlet
Canned Green Chiles (4) 69c/4 oz at Grocery Outlet
Ruffles Potato Chips       3.99/13.5 oz at Grocery Outlet
Salsa Verde                      1.49/16 oz at Grocery Outlet
Whole Turkey*                10/ 16-18lbs at Grocery Outlet with Coupon
Total Spent at Grocery Outlet on 11/01/19: $97.18

Oranges (2)*                    1.00/2 at Grocery Outlet
Grapefruit (2)*                99c/ ea at Grocery Outlet
Lemon (2)*                       59c/ ea at Grocery Outlet
Limes (2)*                         1.00/3 at Grocery Outlet
White Chocolate*           1.99/ at Grocery Outlet
Total Spent at Grocery Outlet on 11/05/19: $6.82

Cherry Pie Filling             4.36/21 oz at Food Maxx
Friskies                              13.18/16 lbs at Food Maxx
Coconut Milk                   1.49/ can at Food Maxx
Orange Juice Concentrate           1.17/ea at Food Maxx
Orange/Mango Juice Concentrate*         1.07/ea at Food Maxx
Krab*                                 3.29/1 lb at Food Maxx
Bagels (2)*                       1.79/ 6 at Food Maxx
Fabuloso*                         1.19 at Food Maxx
Total Spent at Food Maxx on 11/01/19: $33.17

Israeli Couscous              1.99/8 oz at Trader Joe’s; 2.49/16 oz at Grocery Outlet
Whipping Cream             1.39/ box at Trader Joe’s
Hearts of Palm*               1.99/ can at Trader Joe’s
Total Spent at Trader Joe's on 11/01/19: $5.37
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