Slashing Our Grocery Bill: What's Up Now?

Wow. Seems like FOREVER since we've posted about our grocery bills. For those of you who are new, let's recap. We wrote back in March about how Eating Well Need Not Cost a Fortune. To us, though, it sure seemed like it was draining us of our hard-earned funds. Back then, we set a goal to spend around $75 for groceries each week. A goal that, at the time, at least, seemed difficult.

However, with your help (and some of our own helpful tips), we cut our tab down to only $65 that very next week. From there, we cut down even more, and we felt awesome spending just a few dollars over $50 for our food. We even shared with your one of our big "failures" . . . a shop that tipped the money scales at nearly $85 after all that hard work.


Needless to say, that was then. In March and April. It's been a while since you've heard from us. What's been going on? A shift in our whole plan, that's what! When we set out on this whole initiative, we were also spending probably $80 to $100 on weekend stuff. Going out to eat, going to the movies, more food, more entertainment, gas, etc. A lowered grocery bill didn't do much to counteract this lifestyle. What we lacked in groceries on weekends, we made up for with meals out. (We even wrote about it briefly, but then swiftly carried on with our lives, neglecting to return to the subject.)

Our new plan is to spend more at the grocery store and spend less out. We still like to have a night on the town every now and then (and we visit mom-and-pop establishments as much as possible when we do to support the local economy), but for our health and for our wallets, we've been cooking more than EVER. This means that $100 a week at the grocery store, for example, figures out to only $50 on groceries and $50 on weekend entertainment. Versus $50 on groceries and $100 on entertainment. Or etc. I feel like in an effort to cut our bills, we over-slashed . . . and made up for it, big time.


And we often don't spent the full $100 (even for us -- crazy foodies -- it's difficult) -- so we're left with cash to go bowling (right?), rent movies, visit state parks, and other fun things. Plus, we're beefing up our cooking skills. In fact, we'll be sharing a recipe later today that we made over the weekend. It allowed us to learn specific cuts for vegetables and fruits.


A little extra cash toward fresh fruits and veggies goes a long way. With the right sauces and preparation methods, you'll likely WANT to eat at home. At least that's how we feel. In fact, when we presented ourselves with an opportunity to go out to eat or stay home this weekend, we didn't even need to think twice. The pots and pans came out, and our stomachs were ever-so happy.


You may want to try this method, too. So far, I think we're dong the best with our spending by investing in our food habit at the grocery store. And here are our (never home)maker favorites for weekend meals at home.


BREAKFAST

• Poached eggs and English muffins
• Challah French Toast
• Flax and Oat-Filled Pancakes

LUNCH

• Easy Miso Soup
• Apple-Cheese Bagel Sandwich (make your own bagels, too!)
• Stephen's Bulgar Wheat Salad

DINNER

• Veggie Behemoth: The Lover (pictured above)
• Tarka Dhal (Indian lentil dish)
• Red Curry with Tofu and Veggies

DESSERT

• Nutella Pie with Strawberries
• Chocolate-Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies
• Coconut-Carob Pie

These are just a few suggestions, but we have many, many more. Feel free to check out the always-growing visual catalog of good eats (to be updated with the last couple weeks of recipes soon!). And tell us . . . what are YOUR favorite weekend recipes? Just leave a comment or email us at neverhomemaker [at] gmail [dot] com.

And if you'd like to read our journey from start to now, check out the following posts:

• Grocery Bills: Major Fail!
• Slashing Grocery Bills: We're Going Strong
• Eating Well Need Not Cost a Fortune
• Slashing Our Grocery Bills: Progress
• Slashing Our Grocery Bills: Even More Progress

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Weekend Spending Habits: EATING OUT

We consider (never home)maker a healthy living blog. And financial health is so very important to keeping the mind and body stress free. That's why we've been focusing on things like grocery receipts and other bills. Money's the stuff that keeps us up at night. Today's topic is one we continually struggle with: Weekend Spending.

For us, weekend spending comes in many forms. Eating out. Catching or renting a movie. Hosting parties. Running races (those that have fees associated). Miscellaneous shopping. Seems like everywhere we look, someone's hand is out, just waiting for us to hand over our debit card. Of all these pricey amusements, going out to eat literally eats up the most cash.


Over the next several weeks, I'd like to focus on one of each of these kinds of spending. On Friday, I'll post to get the discussion started. The following week, I'll provide some tips and reader advice. Yes -- you're a big part of this, and we'd love to get your input and words of wisdom! Since we got such great response to our grocery bill post earlier this week, we'll start with EATING OUT.

I'd like to know from you all . . . how often to you eat out? Once a week? Twice? Three times? More? Or perhaps you set a scale for it like we do. For example, we eat out typically three times a week. One of these instances is a take-out night. Something like a $10 pizza. Another night, we actually go to a restaurant, spend maybe $45 to $60, depending. Another night, we go to Wegmans and buy all the fixings for a fabulous dinner in. Maybe more to the tune of $25.

I guess I didn't realize we were spending so much until I just wrote those sentences. But that's over $100 in food on top of our grocery costs each week!


So, please leave a comment or email us at neverhomemaker@gmail.com to weigh in. We'll be sharing some of your responses next week!

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