A bit late in the day, but here we go.

First, the past week’s shopping.  It was a bit more than usual because of a trip to BJs.  I spent $231.78 there and food definitely dominated this trip.

While I was out I also stopped at Target for some post Halloween shopping.  This, plus two more juices and another box of cereal, came to $49.27.  I didn’t buy any other Halloween items on sale.

On Thursday, I went to Stop & Shop as I wanted to get there before that week’s sales finished.  I spent $45.79 on mostly sale items.

Then on Saturday I went back to Stop & Shop for some dinner items and this week sales.  I spent $42.52, bringing me to $369.36 for the week (including BJs).

Now for the monthly totals, which won’t actually include any of the above since it all occurred in November.  In many ways it was an excellent month, though we did eat out a bit more than usual because the kitchen sink was missing for a while.  But, not nearly so much as to make up the difference.

October TOTAL: $862.69

• Stop & Shop: $142.88
• Wegman’s: $211.92
• BJs: $328.43
• Other: $179.46
  • Local: $83.44
  • Star Market: $96.02
  • Trader Joe’s: $0
  • Target: $0
  • Other: $0

The menu wasn’t too exciting.  We’re coming to the end of the fall sports season so hopefully we can get some more interesting meals going shortly.

Monday:
Early: Eggs
Late: Homemade pizza

Tuesday:
Spaghetti & meatballs

Wednesday:
Out

Thursday:
Early: Macaroni & cheese, carrot sticks
Late: Tuna noodle casserole

Friday:
Early: Chicken nuggets, broccoli
Late: Homemade pizza

Saturday:
Hot dogs & sausages, pasta salad, chips, veggie plate

Sunday:
Pork chops with oniony mashed potatoes & gravy, spinach salad, apple pie

A small total grocery bill this week of $125.38!

On Monday I made what I hoped was my only trip to Wegman’s, spending $60.67, including some infrequent purchases.

On Wednesday I made a smaller trip to Stop & Shop, spending $33.61.  The milk is the only thing that wasn’t on sale.

That was supposed to be it.  But, Wednesday night I realized that I was out of whole wheat bread, which is the only kind one of the boys will eat.  So, I spent $19.79 at Wegman’s on Thursday.  I also got enough milk (3 – not pictured) to get through the weekend and well into next week.

Finally, I did a quick produce run over the weekend when we decided to have shepard’s pie but were short potatoes and green beans (standard side for us).

Monday:
Early: Macaroni & cheese, broccoli
Late: Homemade pizza

Tuesday:
Chinese take-out

Wednesday:
Pancakes

Thursday:
Early: Chicken nuggets, broccoli
Late: Homemade pizza

Friday:
Spaghetti & meatballs

Saturday:
Kids: Macaroni & cheese, bananas/applesauce
Adults: Out

Sunday:
Shepard’s pie, green beans, oatmeal bread

I’m trying to get back on track this week.  The school rush is winding down and things are settling into more of a winter routine.

On Tuesday, I spent $60.28 at Wegman’s.  This was almost exclusively a restocking of things I buy there trip.  Though, you’ll see lots of flour and sugar through the fall because both are on good sales, max 2 per shopping trip.  So, if I get 2 each time I should be stocked up at least through the spring baking season, and probably for most of the year for sugar.

On Thursday I spent $122.29 at BJ’s.  It had only been a short while since I’d been there before, but we were on soccer snack duty so I went primarily to pick up sliced apples and bananas.  I also needed to make a return at Target, which is very close to BJ’s (and both are rather far from our house so they make a good combo trip).  I spent $17.26 on grape juice and Craisins there.

Finally, on Saturday I spent $22.75 on (mostly) local produce.  The pears are not local; and, the potato salad is not produce.

All that being said, we’re continuing eating quick, easy meals this month.

Monday:
Leftover pizza

Tuesday:
Hot dogs, apples

Wednesday:
Early: macaroni & cheese, spinach salad
Late: homemade pizza

Thursday:
Early: chicken nuggets, broccoli
Late: homemade pizza

Friday:
Take out pizza

Saturday:
BBQ wings, corn on the cob, baked beans, potato salad

Sunday:
Lemon chicken, pan fried potatoes, spinach salad

This was a big week because I went to BJs.  I spent $206.14 there on Tuesday.

On Thursday, I went to both Stop & Shop and Shaw’s.  Shaw’s was the usual, pizza dough, oatmeal, and pizza cheese.  Oatmeal is on sale through the end of the year, which is pretty typical.  Everything in the Stop & Shop picture was on sale except the cheese.  I never buy English Muffins, but they were buy 1, get 2 free.  I spent $46.72 at Shaw’s (left) and $56.68 at Stop & Shop (right).

I also spent $5.34 at the farm stand on Sunday for local peppers and apples.

Because the crazy evening schedule is unrelenting, you’re not going to see much of this on this week’s menu.  We also lacked a dishwasher and sink this week, so there was a lot of take out and paper product usage.

Monday:
Take out pizza

Tuesday:
Early: Chicken nuggets, carrot sticks
Late: Leftover pizza

Wednesday:
Leftover pizza and leftover BBQ

Thursday:
Early: Chicken nuggets, carrot sticks
Late: Homemade pizza

Friday:
Take out pizza, with visitors

Saturday:
Steak
Mashed potatoes with gravy
Carrots
Spinach salad

Sunday:
Out, with visitors

Back on Wednesday again as I get thrown off by the Monday holiday and our general busyness on Tuesdays.

I made a very small ($27.30) stop at Wegman’s on Monday.  This was on the way to Shaw’s where I spent $49.30 on pizza dough and pizza cheese.  (The milk is from Wegman’s, but it had to go in the fridge too.)

On Wednesday I made a rather large ($117.49) trip to Stop & Shop.  I had a reasonable number of coupons.  For example, the single serve brownies were free!

Then on Saturday I went back to Wegman’s, primarily for paper products as our kitchen sink and dishwasher will be unavailable this week.  But, I also got my limit 2 of both sugar and flour – time to stock up apparently.  This, plus six dozen eggs, totaled $43.88.

Our meals this week were not spectacular, largely because we had to split dinner almost every night.  Add in some very tasty leftovers and takeout in anticipation of the missing sink/dishwasher, and it wasn’t great.

Monday:
Early: Macaroni & cheese, spinach salad
Late: Homemade pizza

Tuesday:
Leftovers: pulled pork, baked beans, corn salad; fresh spinach salad

Wednesday:
Early: Chicken nuggets, strawberries
Late: Homemade pizza

Thursday:
Early: Leftover pulled pork, spinach salad
Late: Steak, hash browns, spinach salad

Friday:
Kids: Eggs
Adults: Homemade pizza

Saturday:
Tacos, corn

Sunday:
Take out BBQ

Just snuck this one in this week.

Let’s cover last week’s groceries first since they’re a subset of the numbers.

On Monday I spent $187.03 at BJs.

I spent $72.20 at Wegman’s and $6.45 at the farmer’s market on Tuesday.

Finally, I spent $44.04 at the farm stand over the weekend.  The bag of bananas was $1.50 and I’ve been working through it making many loaves of banana bread.

With BJ’s trips at the start and end of the month, I was expecting this one to be high.  Taking that into account, things were pretty good.

September TOTAL: $1,041.35

• Stop & Shop: $222.81
• Wegman’s: $297.69
• BJs: $372.42
• Other: $
  • Local: $101.03
  • Star Market: $47.40
  • Trader Joe’s: $0
  • Target: $0
  • Other: $0

The menu was pretty basic and choppy this week, though we made good use of our leftovers.  There was a lot of homemade pizza!

Monday:
Early: Chicken nuggets, green beans
Late: Homemade pizza

Tuesday:
Chili, cornbread

Wednesday:
Early: Chicken cacciatore, green beans, cornbread
Late: Homemade pizza

Thursday:
Early: Chicken nuggets
Late: Homemade pizza

Friday:
Spaghetti & meatballs, spinach salad

Saturday:
Early: Hot dogs
Late: Homemade pizza

Sunday:
Pulled pork, baked beans, corn salad

I don’t usually post on Wednesdays, but its been one of those weeks.  So, I decided to post today rather than doubling up next Monday.

I made rather a lot of grocery stops this week.

On Monday, I spent $77.68 at Stop & Shop.  Most of this was on sale.  The best deal was the goldfish at 99¢/bag.

I also made a quick stop at Shaw’s for those few items only they carry ($47.40).  Note – other places do carry Cracklin’ Oat Bran, but their shelves have been bare for a while so when I saw it I grabbed it (not on sale).

On Thursday, I bought $20.17 in produce from the farm stand.  The strawberries were gone by breakfast the next day, so I didn’t feel bad about buying seconds.

Finally, I spent $73.83 at Wegman’s on Friday.

With fall sports in full swing, we’ve been having mostly split dinners again.

Monday:
Early: Chicken nuggets, broccoli
Late: Homemade pizza

Tuesday:
Spaghetti & meatballs, carrots

Wednesday:
Pot roast, green beans, popovers

Thursday:
Early: Pancakes
Late: Tuna noodle casserole

Friday:
Kids: Hot dogs, applesauce
Adults: Homemade pizza

Saturday:
Shepard’s pie, green beans, pumpkin pie

Sunday:
Early: Macroni & cheese, green beans
Late: Chinese take out

I was not an efficient grocery shopper this week.

On Monday, I spent $151.66 at Wegman’s.

I had planned to go to Stop & Shop on Thursday, but realized I had other errands to run so it made sense to go on Tuesday instead.  I spent $51.21.

I also spent $13.40 at the farmer’s market.

However, I realized I forgot jalapenos for the fish tacos.  Also, because I had gone on Tuesday rather than Thursday, I didn’t have enough milk.  So, I went to Stop and Shop again on Wednesday.  While there I also got fresh tilapia for the fish tacos.  So, while I spent an additional $37.75, I do have frozen tilapia for a later date.  I also took the opportunity to get a second ice cream because the deal had a limit of one.

Monday:
Early: Turkey, mashed potatoes, carrots
Late: Chinese take out

Tuesday:
Spaghetti & meatballs

Wednesday:
Fish tacos, guacamole, pico de gallo

Thursday:
Early: pancakes
Late: tuna noodle casserole

Friday:
Kids: Hot dogs, applesauce
Adults: Homemade pizza

Saturday:
Take out pizza

Sunday:
Leg of lamb, pan roasted potatoes, spinach salad, blueberry cobbler

So, I took almost the entire summer off from a full post of this type.  But, we’re back and with more info since starting this month I’m planning to include budget info with each grocery trip vs just the monthly summaries.

I let Labor Day push the posts back last week.  Between that and the relatively long post covering all of August, I missed the first three days of September.  So, they’re covered here.

On Friday, Sept 1, we went blueberry picking.  I don’t have a picture of all the blueberries, but we got 8.3 lbs for a total of $31.13.

On Saturday, Sept. 2, I went to BJ’s for the first time in months.  I spent a total of $185.39 after 15 coupons totaling $37.75.

I spent $29.88 at the farm stand on the same day.

On Tuesday, I spent $11.50 at the farmer’s market.  I was happy to see that peaches were still available.

Then on Thursday, I spent $56.17 at Stop & Shop.  Most of these items were on sale, hence the quantities.  The milk, craisins, and yogurt were not on sale.

You’ll see a lot of this show up in what we ate.  I’ll go back to Sept. 1 to cover the holiday weekend when we did some nice barbecuing.

Friday:
Kids: chicken nuggets, carrots
Adults: homemade pizza

Saturday:
BBQ ribs, corn on the cob, pasta salad, blueberry cobbler

Sunday:
Chicken piccata, spaghetti, garlic bread, spinach salad

Monday:
BBQ beef roast, mashed potatoes, carrots, gravy, popovers

Tuesday:
Picadillo con Espinacas, cornbread, tomatoes

Wednesday:
Salmon, green & wax beans, cornbread

Thursday:
Early: Chicken nuggets, spinach salad
Late: Steak, hash browns, spinach salad

Friday:
Kids: Hot dogs, applesauce
Adults: Homemade pizza

Saturday:
Take out pizza for those who did not go to the Red Sox game

Sunday:
Early: Chicken nuggets, applesauce
Late: Homemade pizza