It's the beginning of the month of May, and my children have been asking--make that begging--me to go to the grocery store.
As you know, in response to going over my grocery budget last month, I was holding off from going to the store and working on eating out of the freezer and pantry.
My kids thought they were going to die if they had to eat another apple or carrot or celery stick, and it just so happened that I found a good block of time and the gumption to do The Big Shop today.
So I did.
Last night I roughed out a menu and a grocery list. My focus this month is Gluten Free for myself and Wheat-light for the rest of the family. I "gave" a little in some of my purchases, in that I know there are GMO's in the oils in the chips and some of the nuts(those I didn't realize until I got home--grabbed a different bag than my others).
I went to Aldi and Kroger and it took me about 4 hours! (and I'm plumb tuckered out!)
Here's what I got:
Aldi
2 whole chickens
6 cans Tuna
3 bags apples
10 lb bag potatoes
2 bags onions
red onions
garlic
4 cucumbers
2 boxes mushrooms
box Artisan lettuce
2 pks Romaine hearts
small pack fresh blueberries
2 bags frozen extra fine green beans
2 bags frozen blueberries
2 bags frozen peaches
1 bag frozen mixed berries
1 bag frozen mixed fruit
2 pkg sliced cheese
3 pkg cheese sticks
10 8 oz blocks cheese(3 kinds)
Babybel cheese
2 rounds "cheese wedges"
2 lbs butter
2 boxes OF Oats
2 cans refried beans
6 cans black beans
10 cans mushrooms
5 cans black olives
2 Salsa
4 cans corn
1 jar Dill Pickles
2 cans peas
1 can cashews
3 bags almonds
Sunflower seeds
2 jars dry roasted peanuts
2 bags craisins
1 bag dried cherries
2 pkg corn tortillas
3 bags white tortilla chips
1 bag blue corn tortilla chips
Cheese Curls
"Fritos" (for chili/taco salad)
3 bags potato chips-regular, sweet potato chips, sour cream and onion chips (for the weekly "sandwich night")
Rice Snacks
4 pkg pudding cups (2 vanilla, 2 chocolate)
1 pkg Original Beef Jerky
2 deli style pizzas--for Family Movie Night--this way I can put more effort into MY GF Pizza and the family will be thrilled for something different!
And most importantly--yummy European Chocolate! ;)
Total came to: $191.10
Kroger S=Sale
Nitrate-free hot dogs
2 Nitrate-free bacon
S 2 bags frozen Chicken Tenderloins
Beef patties (I had passed up the Aldi's, thinking Kroger's would be from the USA...no luck. Theirs are from US, Mexico, Australia too...will have to keep an eye out for prefrozen burgers that are from the USA)
2 Hormel nitrate-free lunchmeats
S 4 jars Natural Peanut Butter
2 Lundberg Brown Rice
2 boxes Celestial Seasonings Tea
S 15 Gatorades for hubby
3 Metromint Chocolate Mint drinks for me
S Whole Watermelon
2 GF Cream of Chicken Soup
Daisy Sour Cream
8 (yes, 8--and I did check the expiration dates!) half-gallons Organic Pastured-Cow milk.
King Arthur Gluten-free flour (wanted to seek out a different brand with more protein and less starch, but I was tuckered out at this point and the groceries in the car were thawing...)
Total came to: $121.45
Total spent today: $312.55
Budget: $450 - $312.55 = $137.45 left for the month
In purchasing the milk at Kroger, rather than the more-local health food store, I saved $10, which almost maybe pays for the amount of gas I used to drive there to get all these groceries. Plus I was able to save, I am sure, in buying things at Aldi as opposed to buying similar things at the more-local-to-me store.
The local grocery has frozen veggies on sale for $1/lb bag, and I plan on going there and stocking up a bit on those. And maybe I will get some frozen orange juice concentrate to use in making Healthier Morning Orange Drink.
Also, I forgot to get/check out the price on frozen burritos for dh at Aldi....and Kroger wanted like $3.89 for just 8 burrito-size tortillas--at that price, it's cheaper to just get the El Monterrey family pack of frozen burritos! I'd make my own tortillas, but I can never get them rolled out to that size, and now that I am GF I don't want constant contact w/working with the dough.....hence buying them.
I can foresee needing to get the following from the health food store in a week or two: eggs, local ground beef, Udi's bread, tea, GF pasta...maybe coconut oil
Now to nail down the menu...
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