Did some non-grocery shopping today for household items and stuff DD needs for winter.  Spent $84.

Just saw this week's Kroger ad.  SUPER EXCITED!!!!!  I will post again tomorrow after I go shopping.  But let's just say my freezer needs a good cleaning and rearranging before I head out tomorrow!

spent about $100 between safeway and iga in the last two days.   the basics..3 loafs of bread, yoghurt, fruit, lettuce, discounted dairy, lunch meat,   bogo stuffed pork roasts, sale bacon, coffee, jam, and a few wants...discounted mini cupcakes, lemon pie (half to fil) and a crostata.  plus some other things.

picked up some .25 cans of soup at liquidation world plus cranberry juice and frozen puff pastry.

frozen pizzas for tonight. will use an older one out of the freezer plus one of the new ones.

I have just had a brainstorm. If I take out something frozen from the local gourmet shop and put it in the fridge it can thaw out overnight and during the day. That means that I can have it for supper the next day.

The food from the local gourmet shop is pretty good....I just have to plan ahead when I can eat it. Their food is not cooked in as big batches as Stouffer's, etc. They make certain things that I don't enjoy cooking. Also, their food is less expensive than my going out to eat.

I'm going to pick up some imported Lemon Stilton cheese from the local gourmet shop.

I'm going to pick up the little ham that is like a Smithfield ham from the local gourmet shop. It'll make over 20 meals. I can slice it into portions and freeze the servings.

I will be able to eat comfort food meals of ham and batter bread. This was something that Mom used to serve us during the holiday season and into January.

Since I'll have ham in the house, I must practice baking biscuits.

No plans for shopping till Sunday.  Nothing sounds good to cook, so will continue to use what I have.  Did find a container of veggie soup in the freezer!  Yea!  That will last me a few days.  Also took out a container of beans to eat with rice. 

We will be doing some cooking out this weekend I'm sure.  I think I'll take out some pork chops and chicken for tonight. 

So far I'm still in my food budget for the month, so I'm glad for that.

The lemon stilton sounds wonderful.  I have about half a package left of some ginger mango stilton in my fridge.  Sounds like you have a plan with the ham as well...

I'm new to this board and to closely budgeting for groceries. I'm currently not working and don't know when I will be fully employed again. I tracked our food spending last month and have been tracking this month. There is myself, 18 year old DS, 1 dog and 4 cats. I'm keeping the pet budget separate since I don't normally buy their food at the grocery store.

We have done better this month about not eating out. We are good about eating leftovers. I've picked up my Angel Food order for this month. And have inventoried my freezer food.

Our big "extra" is soft drinks. Also, DS has a friend who keeps coming over and doesn't want to leave. I'm having to be a mean mommy and say the friend can't stay here because I can't afford to feed an extra 18 year old boy!!!!!! Especially when he is the type kid to want to eat a bag of chips and drink 3 or 4 soft drinks in one day.

So far this month $311 on food -- that does not include the Angel Food I ordered for November.

I do need to go buy more milk - that's my other splurge. I like a specific brand of milk that is a little higher price and usually go through a gallon per week.

If I run in just to get milk, I try to not get a buggy -- then I can only buy what I can carry in 2 hands.

I think I can wait until November to buy in bulk paper products. I usually buy those at BJ's or Wal Mart.  

$8.79 spent at Rouses

I didn't get much for the upcoming week. We needed milk, bread and tomatoes mostly.

$21.98 spent at Walgreens

I got razors, milk, cereal and toilet paper on sale and a few other things.

October Spending  $365.08

Big shopping week, but did some good stocking on a few sale items.  Spent $330 for the month which is $30 over my goal.  The good news is that we are well stocked for the first half of November.  Next week's shopping starts my November shopping and I hope that with all the sales and a well-stocked pantry that we stay closer to $250.

Aldi -- $24.35

Got milk, yogurt, drinks, crackers, chicken broth, rice crispies, bell peppers, canned tomatoes.  Added a few items to my pricebook.

Kroger -- $86.57 (saved $56)

They ran a deal where if you bought 4 Post cereals, you would get $4 off instantly at the register and you could do that twice in 1 transaction.  When it rang up I got $3 off my next order, too, and the cereals were on sale 4/$10, so after the discount and the coupon for next time I paid $9 for 8 boxes of cereal!  Pork loins were on sale down to the cheapest I've seen them this season -- $1.37/lb.  I found tear off Qs for $1 off any fresh pork product, so I got 2 4lb pork loins for $8.75.  One will be sliced for pork loin chops and one will be cut in 1/2 so that we get 2 roasts out of it.  Butter was on sale 2/$3, so I bought 6 packages and put them all in the freezer.  Chicken breast was on sale for $1.77/lb (cheaper than my best deal at Aldi).  I bought 3 packages around $2-$2.50 each.  Also grabbed bread, DH's milk, some soda, fresh produce, and frozen veggies.

I had 1 non-grocery item included in my totals -- a $6 candy thermometer.  I'm hoping to make some candy this season to include in my gift giving.  Also, $9 of my bill was spices to make homemade mixes which will also go into the Christmas gift baskets.  I think the spices I bought today will give me enough to make 6 jars of one particular combination -- 1 jar for each of the extended families here, 1 for DD's other grandma, 1 for my mom, and 1 for DD's aunt.

WalMart - $14.28 for milk and sodas

Aldi's - $23.32 picked up some of this week's Italian specials, soup, canned tomatoes, bananas and a few other pantry items

Total for October $348.82
Hopefully we won't need anything else over the next week. Going to really try to cook from the pantry and freezer throughout November, along with the November Angel Food.