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Posted on Thursday, March 01, 2012 9:35 AM
Week 3 Over budget. By a longshot! Too many household items on the list this week. Week 4 Over budget, once again. I did manage to save $7 by using competitor’s flyers but it was our household and personal expenses that ran the total up again this week. My first stop came to a total of $145.34 and the second stop, $50.06. Total $195.40. Over budget by $18.40 End of Challenge Summary: I have to say I enjoyed the challenge but I remain sceptical that a family of four can eat healthy on a weekly grocery budget of just $125 when this budget includes personal items. If personal and household items such as laundry detergent and toilet paper were not included in the grocery budget, I would have come under my budget each week. In the end, I can understand the point the ‘budget lady’ is trying to make. We all have to face reality at some point and either you can afford to impulse shop, or you cannot. You must also look at what you need, versus what you want. As she puts it “basic sustenance is a need. Lobster, shrimp, and filet mignon are want’s.”* I guess if lobster, shrimp, and filet mignon (or organic milk in my case) are needs by your book, then you need to make cuts in other areas of your budget or bring in more money to boost your grocery budget. Of course, for me, there is a challenge in finding my organic milk and all my ‘wanted’ grocery items for the best price possible while remaining within my budget and without having to make cuts in other areas. Now that my challenge is over, I may not limit myself strictly to $200/week, but I will still use the tips below and avoid overspending on grocery items I don’t need and try to make the most of the budget I do have. Here are a few simple tips to help everyone maintain a grocery budget. 1. Plan ahead Take the extra time to create a menu plan for each week and write a grocery list based on that plan. Go through your pantry and cupboards and cross off the items on your grocery list that you already have and don’t need to purchase. The first menu plan will be the hardest but once you have done a few, it will become easier and take less time. 2. Shop with a list Always go shopping with a grocery list and more importantly, stick to that list. Resist impulse shopping. 3. Use competitor grocery store flyers for sale prices if you can Consider shopping at a store that will allow you to get the sale price from competitor’s weekly flyers when you purchase the same item in your home store. While the savings made from using competitor flyers each week of the challenge were not great, they do add up over time. 4. Buy your meat in bulk Purchasing our household meat in bulk on a monthly basis at the wholesale store was something I practiced even before this challenge. Not only has it helped us save money, but it also makes menu planning easier. I know what meat I have in the fridge or freezer and can plan meals easily around these options with the odd addition to our diet here and there. * If you want to find out more about creating a budget, check out Gail Vaz-Oxlade’s website at www.gailvazoxlade.com or take a look at her book, Debt-Free Forever. |
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Chef at Heart: Posted on Friday, February 17, 2012 11:08 AM
Week Two Summary I did it!! I actually came in under my $177 budget this week. Thankfully, there were very few personal items to purchase this week so that helped a lot. I did need to pick up extra meat this week for a special Sunday night dinner, but that was my only big-ticket item. I even picked up a few extra items to make a special Valentine’s Day dessert. Once again, I did the shopping in two trips spending $142.87 on the first trip, and $25.75 on the second and finished with $8.38 left in the bank. I took the competitor grocery store flyers with me once again but the savings this week were less impressive than last, totalling just $1.72. That’s due in part to the already low prices at my grocery store and the fact that most of the items on my grocery list were fresh or specialty items not found in the competitor’s flyers this week. I then made a mid-week run for bread and milk for a total of $7.65. That leaves me .73 cents under budget this week! Our entrees for this week were: Lasagna Roll-Ups (with gluten-free rice noodles) Sticky Pork Pesto Tilapia Bacon Mac ‘n Cheese Open night: the kids chose ‘breakfast for dinner’ so we had French toast, fruit and bacon Homemade Pizza Lamb Shanks The flyers for the coming week have arrived so it’s time to do my homework and check for sale items to take advantage of on my next grocery run. Fingers crossed I can come under budget again next week. Enjoy your weekend! |
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Chef at Heart: Posted on Thursday, February 09, 2012 3:01 PM
Week One Summary Beginning of the week: The bulk of the grocery shopping for week one of my budget challenge was done on Sunday and came in under budget. That was good because I knew I would need to do one more trip mid-week to the grocery store. We follow a clean diet in our household (give or take a few items) so I usually need to make a run middle of the week to top up on fresh fruits and vegetables, and of course staples such as milk and bread. As I went through the grocery store, I carefully kept track of my spending, rounding up the price of each item and kept a running tally. It gets a little pricey once you start picking up items such as laundry detergent and other personal items which the ‘budget lady’ includes in the grocery category using her jar system, so it adds up quickly. Heaven forbid you should have to buy diapers because this would also be included here! We drink organic milk, which I will not compromise on, so this helped to drive up my total (almost $10 for 4L). In the end, my estimated total was only shy by two dollars of the actual total so it was pretty accurate. As I shopped, I had the weekly grocery flyers from the competitor’s stores and while a few of the items were actually cheaper at my grocery store (a pleasant surprise), I still used the flyers for the sale price on several items and saved almost six dollars. Not bad, and certainly better than driving to four other grocery stores to try and get those items on sale somewhere else. I should note that while I also picked up pet food, this is accounted for under a different category using the jar system and should not be taken from the grocery budget, so I subtracted that amount from my final bill. At the end of my trip, I spent $129.11. I then had to do a second trip to another store for some specialty items, and that total was $39.48. If you remember, I had $177 to work with for the week (after purchasing all our meat in bulk at the wholesale store), so that left me with $8.41 for my mid-week run. Mid-week run: Thankfully, my second grocery run of the week was only for bread and milk but it came to a total cost of $10.98. That means I blew the budget and went over by $2.57. Ok, so while I went over my self-imposed budget by a couple dollars, I could have come under budget if I had not purchased organic milk. Again, it’s the personal items that really eat up this grocery budget and if you should happen to have to shop for an infant in your household, that might not leave you with a lot left for actual food. It was also very difficult to stop myself from purchasing extra sale items that I would normally stock up on and put away in my pantry. There simply isn’t room for that on such a tight budget. We did manage however to eat well this week and by no means were living off macaroni every other meal. Here were our main entrees for this week: Pork Steak with Stroganoff Sauce Orange-Glazed Chicken Wings Soup ‘n Sandwich Night Chicken Parmesan with Spaghetti Open Night: a baked potato bar that included homemade chilli as a choice of topping Tacos (Stuffed Peppers for myself) Slow-Cooker Peanut Chicken So sadly, week one of the grocery budget challenge was not a success and certainly wasn’t easy. Maybe next week will be better? |
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Chef at Heart: Posted on Friday, February 03, 2012 6:43 PM
My husband is a big fan of a certain debt show on television where couples are put on a tight cash budget and issued a challenge to live out of jars for a month. When the money in the jar runs out, you’re out of money, unless of course you pull from another jar. Watching the show, I am puzzled when repeatedly families are put on a grocery budget of approximately $125 per week. I’m all for thrifty shopping but for a family of four to eat healthy on just over one hundred dollars a week? I am sceptical. Being one for a challenge, I have decided to give it my best shot and have issued myself the challenge to try it for my family. Given I have certain dietary restrictions and challenges, I already menu plan each week so I don’t have a learning curve there. Unfortunately, some of the food items I require come at a higher cost, plus I have a heavy workout and fitness schedule each week so I eat a great deal of protein which is another added cost. In light of these added expenses, I have allowed my family of four a grocery budget of $200 per week for the challenge (almost half our regular budget). So how to approach grocery shopping on a tight budget? Here’s my plan: - Hit the local wholesale store and pick up meat in bulk. I already do this on a monthly basis so I know what cuts of meat I can get and have learned that I can get all the meat we need for about $100 or less (we have a vegetarian day once or twice per week in our household). That averages out to $25 per week leaving me $175 to work with for the remainder of the groceries. At home, I take the meat and break it down into serving sizes for our evening meals, and freeze it.
- Menu plan each meal and snack for the week in detail making sure to plan meals based on the meat I have bought at the wholesalers. This includes the kids school lunches and after school snacks, but leaves open one night per week to either use up leftovers, allow for the chance to satisfy any food cravings, or to dine out.
- Create a grocery list based on the menu plan, then go through the cupboards and cross off any items I already have on hand.
- Sit down with the weekly grocery store flyers and price comp the items I need. My local store will match competitor’s sale prices so that saves me making four or five stops to finish all my shopping while still taking advantage of sale prices.
- Go shopping, sticking to my list and resisting the urge to buy impulse items.
- At the end of my shopping trip, I will keep all my receipts in order to track how well I am doing.
Week One Week one is about to begin and today I made my trip to the wholesale store and bought meat to help get through the month: 7 tilapia 5.5 lbs lean ground beef 4 pork tenderloin 8 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts 54 chicken wings This is enough for about 19 meals for my family (my youngest is not a fan of meat) for a total cost of $90.03 ($22.50 a week or $4.74 per meal). Good start. Sunday will be my day to do the rest of the grocery shopping and I have roughly $177 left for the trip. Ok, can't be too hard..can it? |
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Posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2011 8:18 AM
Looking for quick, and satisfying meal ideas that fit within your budget? Intimidated by new recipes? Check out this blog for easy, satisfying and inexpensive meal ideas as well as tips on how to shop and eat well on a budget. |
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Posted on Tuesday, February 01, 2011 2:40 PM
Menu planning means taking the time to plan ahead of time what you will cook. As a personal chef, I usually create a menu for clients based on their five main meals, Monday to Friday. This leaves enough flexibility in the eating plan to allow them to use up leftovers, dine out, or satisfy a craving for something specific on weekends. Yes, menu planning takes time but it also saves you time...and money, and stress, and food waste...you get my drift. Grab a pen and paper and a few of your favourite cookbooks and follow the five steps outlined below. Try it once and I gurarantee you, you'll be convinced - it's worth it! FIVE BASIC STEPS TO MENU PLANNING: 1. On a piece of paper (or on your computer), create a calendar. It can be just one week or several weeks depending on how far ahead you want to menu plan. When I do it, I try to do 2-3 weeks at a time. Hey, I've got the books and paper out so why not? 2. Open a cookbook or two and find five recipes you want to cook. Make sure all the meals are different and offer you a variety of foods. Write down on your calendar which recipe you will make on each day, Monday through Friday. Don't forget to record the cookbook the recipes can be found in and the page number for easy reference later. HINT: I actually photocopy the recipes and put them in a small binder. That way, anyone can cook dinner if I'm not available without having to hunt for the right cookbook.
3. On another piece of paper, write down all the ingredients needed to make these recipes. Hang this on the fridge. This will be your master shopping list. 4. On your regular shopping day, use the master shopping list and check which groceries you need to purchase. Cross off anything that you might already have in your fridge or cupboards. HINT: Once you take down your shopping list, hang your calendar in it's place. That way, everyone in the house can see what you've planned for dinner on any given night.
5. Go shopping and happy cooking! Keep your calendars! Once you've done this for several weeks and assuming you don't mind repeating meals, you can repeat the weekly recipes. |
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Chef at Heart: Posted on Tuesday, February 01, 2011 1:33 PM
For easy menu planning, click on the Menu Planning link under the Browse by Topic tab. |
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Posted on Thursday, January 20, 2011 10:24 AM
As a personal chef, one of the services I offer is menu planning. Menu planning is my passion. Yes, I'm all about being organized in all areas of my life, true enough, but planning what I eat and what I need to shop for is a must. Menu planning not only solves the 'what's for dinner?' dilemma on crazy, busy weeknights, but helps you save time, money, cuts down on food waste, and helps you eat healthier. The downside is the time commitment it takes to do it (the reason a lot of people now turn to a personal chef). Our lifestyles today are so busy and so demanding that we look for quick fixes like pre-packaged meals or fast food to solve our dinner dilemmas. DON'T DO IT!!! You can do better. There is a commercial on tv right now for a popular pizza chain trying to sell you on the concept that they have pizza's pre-baked and ready to go the second you step in the door, pushing the idea that you will get in and out all that much faster without having to wait for them to make the pizza. Wow! Think about it...pizzas made and boxed, sitting in a warming oven waiting for you...for how long???? And this is pushed as being GOOD?? I can only repeat myself...DON'T DO IT!!! In this section of FIRESIDE, I'm hoping to change the way a lot of you look at weeknight dinners, food, and grocery shopping. Menu planning isn't rocket science and can be done by anyone. There are websites out there (including this one now) to help make it an easier process. Stick with me and check in regularly as FIRESIDE with Chef at Heart helps you plan ahead and eat healthier. And yes, you can still have pizza, it will just be better pizza custom made by you. |
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