It's the last day of March and I don't think I'll be going out grocery shopping this evening. So, I'll tally up our grocery spending for the month and close this chapter.
March 2 My husband and I went out to lunch after church. We split a 3-entree/1-side Panda Express meal. We chose Broccoli Beef, Kung Pao Chicken, Orange Chicken, and Chow Mein for our side. They gave us 2 fortune cookies when they saw we were sharing a single meal. It was more food than we could finish. My husband took the leftovers in for his lunch the next day. We decided if we do Panda Express for a lunch together again, we'll split a 2-entree meal. Spent $13.04 While technically not "groceries," the meal did feed us, and we would have eaten something at home. And I took the lunch out of the grocery cash envelope.
March 5 Walmart for 1 package turkey snack sticks, canister onion powder, applesauce, bunch bananas, barbecue sauce. Spent $12.15 at Walmart. Then I went across the street to Grocery Outlet to pick up beet root powder. I add beet powder to my daily smoothies. Spent $9.99 at Grocery Outlet.
March 7 Town & Country for 2 bottles of sparkling water to take to my brother's on the 9th. I was at Town & Country picking up a couple of birthday gifts for my two daughters -- items they'd both noticed when we were here together in February. The sparkling water is good for the price. Spent $4.00 on the water.
March 8 Fred Meyer for cucumber, grape tomatoes, package of chicken breasts to make an Italian chicken salad to take to my brother's on the 9th. The Italian chicken salad I brought contained cubed cooked chicken breasts, halved grape tomatoes, chunks of cucumber, shavings of Parmesan cheese, in a homemade herb and garlic vinaigrette. It was pretty tasty. We had leftovers later that night that I stretched with some steamed broccoli and more cheese. While at Fred Meyer, I was also buying pantyhose and hair accessories, gifts for my daughters for their birthday. Spent $10.63 on food.
March 12 WinCo for 2 canisters cocoa powder, frozen peas, frozen spinach, frozen broccoli cuts, gallon milk, block cheddar, block mozzarella, about 1 pound pepperoni, vanilla flavoring, 2 cans tuna, bulk peanut butter, bag of dried dates, bulk chili powder, bulk instant dry milk, 5 lbs carrots, celery, 1 head cabbage, 2 avocados, 1 red and 1 green pepper, 3 lbs apples, 2 lbs tangerines, bunch bananas, about 1 lb Roma tomatoes. Spent $73.00
March 22. We went to Starbucks to celebrate our 38th wedding anniversary. We used gift cards that had been gifts to us, so no cost for the celebration.
March 24 Walmart for 36-oz bag chocolate chips, frozen mixed vegetables, frozen broccoli cuts, frozen peas, gallon milk, uncured beef franks, 3 packages turkey snack sticks, small block cheddar, 3-lb bag tangerines, 5-lb bag carrots, celery, 4 Roma tomatoes, couple bunches bananas, natural peanut butter. Spent $53.86
March 27 WinCo for a whole chicken, 6 avocados, 3 large tomatoes, bulk raisins, bulk flax seed meal, bulk flaked coconut, bulk table salt, bulk peanut butter, block of cheddar, block of mozzarella, 4 cans tuna, 2 canisters cocoa powder, 1 jar regular coffee, 1 jar decaf coffee, 5 jars applesauce, 1 package dried dates, 1 bag pork sausage links, 1 bag turkey sausage links. I spent $92.58
At WinCo, a new brand of chicken caught my eye, Just Bare. No antibiotics, no hormones, no steroids, and they're raised on family farms. The price worked out to just over $2.00 per pound for a whole chicken, with no neck or giblets. I usually toss the neck and giblets, so that makes the price per pound more competitive with the Foster Farms that I often buy ($1.48/lb). Foster Farms has gotten really sloppy in recent years. I sometimes find a couple of livers in the cavity, adding weight to the chicken, parts that my family won't eat. Anyway, the whole chicken was clean just out of the package.
I rubbed my whole chicken with salt, pepper, sage, thyme, paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder. The chicken was delicious, and the seasonings added flavor to the meat and to the drippings, which I used for gravy.
I didn't include what we bought for my daughters' birthday celebration picnic or pie in the grocery spending, as those come out of a different budget. But, if you're interested, we spent about $60 total for those foods and slices of pie in the pie shop. (We had tap water to drink with the pie.)
My daughter bought me some candy this morning, she said because I did a last-minute favor for her. I told her it was unnecessary to buy me anything. But it was very sweet of her. Some candy -- no cost to me.
Total spent for the month of March -- $269.25
What I bought:
1 restaurant lunch out for two
4 packages turkey snack sticks
chicken breasts
whole chicken
sliced pepperoni
uncured beef hot dogs
1 bag pork sausage links
1 bag turkey sausage links
6 cans tuna
2 gallons milk
3 blocks cheddar
2 blocks mozzarella
bulk powdered milk
vanilla flavoring (artificial vanilla)
3 containers natural peanut butter
bulk chili powder
bulk iodized salt
2 bottles sparkling water
36-oz bag chocolate chips
flax seed meal
coconut flakes
4 canisters cocoa powder
1 jar coffee
1 jar decaf
2 bags frozen peas
1 bag frozen spinach
2 bags frozen broccoli cuts
1 bag frozen mixed vegetables
beetroot powder
bulk raisins (about 2 pounds)
2 bags dried dates
onion powder
6 jars applesauce
10 lbs carrots
1 head cabbage
2 bundles celery
8 avocados
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
3 lbs apples
5 lbs tangerines
3 bunches bananas
a couple pounds tomatoes
1 cucumber
grape tomatoes
You may have been wondering, "why all the cocoa powder? Why all the peanut butter?" The smoothies I make with beet powder -- the cocoa powder and peanut butter cover up the flavor of the beet powder. But beet powder is a good food for me. And I like to get a little beet powder in every day.
