My last grocery shopping trip was a big stock up in October. With the changes in my paycheck I have had to trim back our food budget to $300 a month and this amount is now going to have to include nonfood household items as well (which means a reduction of $175 a month).
I took a long look at what I still have in my cupboards and pantry shelves and what is in the freezer. One thing about working an 11 hour day and with all adults in the house now going their separate ways is that not a lot of food gets used up in a month. However there were a few things I needed to buy.
My middle daughter K asked that since I am on vacation this week would I take her to BJ's wholesale club so that she could pick up a few items for her household. I agreed we could do this on Monday and while there I picked up a gallon of organic milk, a case of tomato sauce, a bag of plain pita chips, a container of garlic hummus, a container of edamame salad, and two bags of Smartpop cheese popcorn. We are on a smarter snacking program here at home and almost all of our snacks were gone. When I got to the register I used $20 of my cashback rewards and ended up paying $11.22 for my purchases. (and I still have $60 in cashback rewards to use)
Yesterday after dropping college age son at his school I went to the GFS Marketplace near there (the one I use for work all the time) and restocked our pasta supplies. The last time I did this was in June so we did good in making these stretch until November. I spent $44.20 and brought home a 2 lb. bag of frozen brussels sprouts, a 2 lb. bag of frozen mixed veggies, a 4 lb. bag of frozen sliced apples (to use in a pie for tomorrow), a 2.5 lb bag of bowtie pasta, a 2.5 pound bag of penne, a 3 lb. bag of Amish egg noodles, and a 5 lb. bag of medium seashells.
My next stop was the Farmer's Market. My main goal here was to get the butternut squash I need for tomorrow as well as some fresh fruit and a few seasonal winter veggies. I spent $32.94 (all cash from my wallet) and brought home 3 very large butternut squash, a 2 lb. bag of lemons, 5 lbs. ruby red grapefruit, 2 lbs. turnips, 2 lbs. parsnips, 2 bags of cranberries, a pound of chestnuts (never used these before so I am on the lookout for fun recipes), 2 spaghetti squash, and a small tub of fresh brussels sprouts.
My final stop was at Aldi. I just want to take a second to say how much I love this store. Without it I would be very hard pressed to feed my family.
I spent $153.79 and brought home a dozen eggs, 10 lbs. russet potatoes, 1 loaf whole grain white bread, 1 pint baby bella mushrooms, 1 almond butter stollen (had this two years ago at my stepd H's and loved it), a cabbage, 2 lbs. bananas, 1 box elbow macaroni, 1 box tall kitchen can trash bags, a bag of green grapes, a bunch of celery, a seedless cucumber, a bag of three romaine hearts, 1 pint ricotta cheese, 1 lb bag of baby carrots, 1 bag of fresh spinach, 1 block white NY sharp cheddar, 2 blocks colby (became last night's dinner of Mom's baked Mac & Cheese), 2 2lb. bags of granny smith apples, 1 jar red cabbage & apples, 3 containers coffee creamer, 2 bottle steak sauce, 1 jar cinnamon applesauce, 1 bag dried coconut, 1 bag dried mango, 1 2 lb. bag carrots, 1 bag string cheese, 1 bag frozen corn, 1 package of sliced muenster cheese, 1 bag white chocolate chips, 1 bag plain bagels, 2 cans creamed corn, 1 pint grape tomatoes, 1 bottle brown mustard, 1 container of feta cheese, 2 bottles apple juice, 1 bottle 100% cranberry juice, 2 bottles ruby red grapefruit juice, 1 bottle 100% grape juice, 1 jar molasses, 1 can pitted olives, 4 cans diced tomatoes, 2 cans cherry pie filling (along with some frozen sour cherries in my freezer this will become a second pie for tomorrow), 1 pint heavy cream, 1 bag of chocolate mint pretzel stars, 1 bottle orange juice, 1 bottle honey mustard, 1 ball fresh mozzarella, 2 packages cheddar brats, 1 box toothpaste, 1 container caramel dip, 1 package hard salami, 1 2 lb. bag brown sugar, 1 bag dried apricots, 1 container fresco cheese, 1 tub old fashioned oatmeal, 1 container spreadable cheddar cheese, 1 box 'ritz' style crackers, 1 bag chocolate chips, 2 pomegranates, 1 bag spring mix, 1 roll breakfast sausage, 1 bag dried cherries, 1 package sliced cheddar cheese, 1 bag shredded sharp cheddar, 1 package of cupcake liners, and 1 box gallon storage bags.
My freezer is still packed with fish (salmon & tilapia, mussels & shrimp), chicken (BLSL breast & thighs), beef (brisket, ground, roast, steaks, cubes), pork (roast, cubes, chops, tenderloin) , a boneless leg of lamb, a HUGE bone-in ham, lots of bacon, some banger sausages, and Italian sausage. This is why I limited my meat purchases to just the cheddar brats and the lunch meat.
Now I am off to make the December menus. With December being such an expensive month I am hoping to limit my grocery shopping to just the necessities (milk, fresh produce etc.).
My total for this shopping trip was $242.15 so I still have $57.85 in the November budget as well as my entire December budget which I am hoping not to have to dip into.
Lingering in my deep freezer for the last year has been an enormous whole bone in ham. I have included it many times in my monthly menus but hadn't gotten around to actually cooking it. Looking to be even more frugal in this coming year I decided it was time that ham was used. Besides a year is really the max for quality. The ham I had looked identical to this:
quite a hunk of meat n'est-pas? Just thinking of dealing with it exhausted me. But I put on my big girl panties and got to work. I poured a bottle of beer over it and using my largest roaster put this in a 350 degree oven for three hours. I mixed up a quick glaze of brown sugar, mustard, and vinegar. Once the glaze had melted I served the ham with mashed potatoes and green beans. To two people. Yes only two of us for dinner. The ham was quite tasty, moist and not very salty. However with the exception of a small missing section it still looked pretty much like that picture above. I sighed deeply, covered it with foil, and stuck it in the cooler on GF'S screened in porch. 
A bag of cubes and one of ground went into GF'S freezer, the slices went into his refrigerator and the remainder is going home with me. We will get several more meals out of this in the next couple of months, easing the meat portion of the food budget considerably. 
