Ever since the broken fridge incident, Brian and I have been attempting to rebuild our fridge and freezer supplies. But at the same time, we haven’t increased our grocery budget, so it’s been hard stocking up on things. The freezer is still so sad looking! But we are making progress slowly and still making sure to eat a well-balanced diet.
Photo Credit: psd via Flickr
For new readers, Brian and I spend spend $200 a month on groceries for the two of us, usually split up into $100 for the first half of the month and $100 for the second half. This pays for all of our breakfasts, lunches and dinners, fruit and snacks, but does not include any restaurant or fast food meals (which come out of our personal spending allocation). Here’s how a recent $100 broke down:
At No Frills (Superstore), we spent $29.92:
- 1L milk – $1.72
- 3 cans of frozen juice from concentrate – $3.02
- canned corn – $0.77
- 500g dry pasta – $1
- 12 English muffins – $2
- 4 chicken legs and 4 thighs – $5.13
- 2 stuffed chicken breasts – $2.47
- 3.35lb pork shoulder – $8.33
- 2 pints of blueberries – $3
- 2lb of carrots – $1.48
At Shoppers Drug Mart, we spent $12.26:
- eggs – $2.29
- cereal – $2.49
- peanut butter – $3.49
- 450g cheddar cheese – $3.99
At IGA, we spent $6.99:
At Cobs Bread, we spent $3:
At the local market, we spent $3.85:
- mini watermelon – $1.12
- yellow bell pepper – $0.23
- cucumber – $1
- 3 nectarines – $1.50
At the local deli, we spent $1.35:
We also have some garden beans and tomatoes in the fridge, a bit of lettuce, and odds and ends in the freezer from previous shops, such as a bit of chicken, some ground pork, some shrimp and a few pints of berries that we’ve frozen.
Meal-wise, we’re planning on making some sandwiches for lunch this week using the bread, salami, tomatoes (from the garden!) and leftover lettuce. We’ll also take dinner leftovers for lunch. The yogurt and fruits will be for lunch/work snacks. For breakfasts, we’ll have some English muffins with eggs, cheese and tomatoes and fruit. Brian will probably have cereal at some point, and I might make myself some egg and rice. And for dinners, we’ll have a few stir fry’s using the pork slices that I cut from the pork shoulder and whatever veggies we have on hand. I am also planning on making some braised meats with carrots and pasta using our garden tomatoes.
How’s everyone’s meal planning going? Found any good deals or recipes lately?
