I’m not sure how the numbers for the month will bear out since we spent a chunk of time on vacation (during which food goes in the vacation numbers).

First, the spending and eating from last week.  I had two trips to Wegman’s and our Farmer’s to You box.

The first trip to Wegman’s was a bit of a whopper at $201.88!  There were a lot of proteins, and not particularly inexpensive ones.

On Thursday, I picked up our Farmer’s to You box for $39.10.

Finally, on Sunday I made a more typical trip of $67.18 at Wegman’s.

That brought the weekly total to $308.16.

Bonus: this week I remembered to write down what we ate!

Monday:
Meatball subs, tater tots, veggies

Tuesday:
Shepard’s pie, green & wax beans

Wednesday:
Early (3): Macaroni & cheese, spinach salad
Late (3): Tuna noodle casserole

Thursday:
In (6): Chicken nuggets, veggies
Out (2): Ballpark food

Friday:
Early (3): Take out pizza at an event
Late (5): Homemade pizza

Saturday:
Salmon in puff pastry, green beans, oatmeal bread

Sunday:
Pulled pork, veggies, deviled eggs

And now a look back at August.

August TOTAL: $493.37

• Stop & Shop: $66.62
• Wegman’s: $163.71
• BJs: $0
• Local: $89.24
  • Farmers to You: $82.65
  • Other Local: $6.59
• Other:  $173.80
  • Star Market/Shaw’s: $56.32
  • Target: $30.90
  • Other: $86.58

Even with the understanding that it accounted for only half the month, that’s a nice low total.

Let’s cover last week’s shopping first.  As I mentioned yesterday, it was a big week because I went to BJ’s.

On Monday I did a fairly standard trip to Wegman’s, spending $107.86 (including a baguette that didn’t make the picture).  It’s been a few weeks since Wegman’s has actually had everything on my list, so I’m going to start mentioning those things too in the vain hope that their stocking folks come across this.  This week they had no parsley (bought elsewhere), family size tater puffs (bought the smaller size), or standard size sub rolls (bought the larger size and cut them in half).

Tuesday was the big trip to BJ’s.  I spent $248.27 on mostly sale items.  Conveniently this was the last day of the March coupon cycle and the April coupons had already been released.

I also went to the farm stand on Tuesday because it was the third school’s fundraiser day.  I spent about $20 (seem to have lost that receipt).

I moved my Farmer’s to You pickup back to Thursday this week.  The box (of mostly meat) was $37.43.

Finally, on Saturday I spent $43.11 at Stop & Shop.

That brought my weekly total to $456.67.  Let’s see what that did to my month.

March TOTAL: $1,097.23

• Stop & Shop: $215.56
• Wegman’s: $416.45
• BJs: $248.27
• Local: $186.98
  • Farmers to You: $166.98
  • Other Local: $20.00
• Other: $29.66
  • Star Market/Shaw’s: $0
  • Target: $29.66
  • Other: $0

That was a good month!  And, no receipts are hanging over to affect this month so a clean slate going forward.

So, finally, what did we eat last week?

Monday:
Salmon with soba noodles

Tuesday:
Meatball subs, tater tots

Wednesday:
Tacos, corn

Thursday:
Early: Chicken nuggets; spinach salad
Late: Homemade pizza

Friday:
Husband was out.  Plus it was the first day of soccer.  Pickup was at 7:00 so I took advantage of the pizza place we drove right past to get take-out pizza.

Saturday:
Husband got home late from the trip.
Early: Macaroni & cheese, tomatoes, applesauce
Late: Homemade pizza

Sunday:
This was a big cooking day!
Beef tenderloin roast, parsnip puree, french onion soup, green beans

This post should have gone up last week, but we had a snow day Monday, Tuesday’s are always busy, and then things got far enough astray that I decided just to wait for this week.  But, while I’m here I’ll post “today’s” weekly update for tomorrow.

The end of February resulted in a big shopping week, mostly because I went to BJ’s.  Only the second Wegman’s trip was actually in March so you’ll see most of this worked into the totals at the end.

Tuesday was another shop the local farm stand day.  I spent $28.10 this time.  I’ve got another one of these coming up at the end of the month (three schools total).

I also spent $59.43 at Wegman’s on Tuesday.  And, yes, I knew the snow was a high probability event at this point.  You’ll see more eggs below; most all got eaten over the extended weekend.

I spent $246.03 at BJ’s on Wednesday.

On Thursday I picked up my Farmer’s to You order; $43.25 this week.

Finally, on Friday with the storm looming I made another trip to Wegman’s.  I spent $61.45 on groceries, but this was mostly driven by non-grocery items (ie, diapers) that we were lower on than would carry us through the weekend.

At the end of all this, our secondary fridge looked like this:

I meant to take a picture after the weekend, but suffice it to say most of this was gone.  I did make it to the middle of the following week before having to buy milk again.

That brought my total for the week to $438.26, $192.23 excluding BJ’s (which can throw off the weekly numbers because its a large, irregular hit).

This time I remembered to write down what we ate! (Which ended up being particularly important given how late this post is going up.

Monday:
Roasted chicken, fingerling potatoes, carrots

Tuesday:
I was out.  Everyone else had take out pizza

Wednesday:
Chicken noodle soup, croissants

Thursday:
Hearty fish & chorizo sausage chowder, homemade French-style country bread

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

Saturday:
Coq au vin, homemade French-style country bread (I made two, but only one loaf got eaten the first time.)

Sunday:
One child had pizza at a birthday party.  The other kids had chicken nuggets and broccoli.  The adults had homemade pizza late.

And, finally, what did all this mean for the monthly spending?

February TOTAL: $1,303.64

• Stop & Shop: $92.81
• Wegman’s: $355.25
• BJs: $530.09
• Local: $227.61
  • Farmers to You: $164.85
  • Other Local: $62.76
• Other: $97.88
  • Star Market/Shaw’s: $81.30
  • Target: $16.58
  • Other: $0

Well, that was obviously a very low month for Stop & Shop!  Despite that, the two trips to BJ’s carried us a bit over the goal for the month.  But, added together with January, we’re still below target.

I had another low grocery week!

My biggest spend was $88.45 at Wegman’s on Tuesday.

I made a small trip – $21.37 – to Stop & Shop on Wednesday.

Finally, I picked up my Farmer’s to You box on Thursday.  It came to $35.85 this week.  Yes, we’re supposed to purchase at least $40 each week.  However, some items are charged by the pound.  So, when you order they estimate a price in the middle of the range, but the final price is based on the actual weight.  I ended up with two smaller than average packages of chicken which brought the total under the recommended $40.  Sometimes one ends up with larger packages so I think it all evens out eventually.

That brought my total to $145.67.  Next week I’ll total up the month and we’ll see how the one really big week balanced (or not) the three small weeks.

Monday:
It was another week where not everyone was home every night.  Today husband so the kids and I had chicken and dumplings.

Tuesday:
I really don’t remember.  I know I thawed some meat for it.  And, I know we ate together.

Wednesday:
Early: Hot dogs, spinach salad
Late: The adults went out for a belated Valentines dinner.

Thursday:
Hearty vegetable & pork soup, oatmeal bread

Friday & Saturday:
We were staying with family so meals were covered.

Sunday:
Fajitas, corn

There’s a full slate on tap today!

First, here’s a recap of the past week’s groceries.  I had planned to go to pick up our farm share and go to BJ’s this week.  It worked out that I made a few other small stops.

On Tuesday, I stopped at Wegman’s first.  My primary reason to be there was tissues.  They carry the brand and size we prefer; BJ’s has discontinued the size that fit in our bathroom drawers.  Tissues aren’t in this number, but I spent $34.92 on some food restocking.

Then I went over to BJ’s and spent another $156.65.  I’m not sure if this will be my only trip there before Christmas, but it might be.  Somehow I missed the perishables in the picture.

On Thursday, I spent $57.87 on my farm share.  The paper bags are fingerling potatoes.  I’d never cooked them before, but my oldest asked for them after eating them at a restaurant.  It turns out that I only needed one bag for a meal for us.  But, they went over well and so will probably be added to the regular rotation.  The cheese was on special this week, so I thought I’d give it a try.

I also spent $17.68 on sale items at Stop & Shop.

Finally, we made a milk stop at BJ’s on Satuday, spending $40.36.  Missing from the picture are five gallons of milk, 36 eggs, two cases of seltzer water.

That brought me to $307.48 for the week, which is manageable given it included the trip to BJ’s.

So, that brought my November spending to:

October TOTAL: $1,509.82

• Stop & Shop: $188.82
• Wegman’s: $370.20
• BJs: $264.71
• Local: $652.08
  • Walden Local: $234.00
  • Farmers to You: $391.35
  • Other Local: $26.73
• Other: $34.01
  • Star Market/Shaw’s: $34.01
  • Target: $0
  • Other: $0

That was a high month.  But, it did include Thanksgiving.

Finally, what did we eat this past week?  I got sick midweek so things tailed off a bit.  I’m still coming out of it, and everyone else has had this bad cold in one fashion or another, so I’m still catching up on what I planned to eat before getting sick.

Monday:
Meatball subs, tater tots, spinach salad
I planned a relatively easy meal for the first one back after the holiday.

Tuesday:
This was polish off the leftovers day.  The younger ones had turkey and brocolli.  Us older folks had turkey, stuffing, butternut squash, and Brussels sprouts.

Wednesday:
Coq au vin, mashed potatoes, carrots
This was my first day really feeling the effects of the cold.  But, it wasn’t too bad and this meal is fairly straightforward.

Thursday:
Early: Chicken nuggets, carrots
Late: Tuna noodle casserole
I was really feeling the effects today so my original plan went out the window.

Friday:
Early: Macaroni & cheese, spinach salad
Late: Homemade pizza
Standard Friday for us, though the cold was still having an effect.

Saturday:
Dunplings, broccoli, rice
This had been the plan for Wednesday, but its rather involved.

Sunday:
Roast chicken, fingerling potatoes, canned peas
The kids don’t like peas so we have them rarely.

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving and a relaxing weekend.  We hosted a total of fourteen people, which went remarkably smoothly.  And, it left us with not a crazy amount of leftovers.

Because I had pre-shopped last week, I didn’t have to buy too much this week.  My only pre-Thanksgiving stop was to pick up our Farmers to You delivery on Wednesday.  That totaled $197.15 with two 16.5 lb turkeys (not pictured).  The pickup is usually on Thursday, but was moved for the holiday.

So, why did I choose the above items?  The sage, cider, onions, and Brussels sprouts were for Thanksgiving.  The Asian pears were on special.  We enjoyed the first bag so I got another.  The tomatoes were also on special and we have many tomato eaters.  They turned out to be fine, but mine prefer the campari or heirloom varieties.  The bread and butter were nice splurges for the holiday weekend.

I had hoped this would get me through the weekend, but we ran out of milk very quickly with so many people here.  So, on Friday I spent another $95.21 at Wegman’s.  That brought the total for the week to $292.36.  Entirely tolerable with the holiday spread.

I can already tell that milk will dictate when I next go shopping.  I expect to be at BJ’s (monthly shop with coupons) and Stop & Shop (a few sale items) this week.  I may go to Wegman’s depending on what I decide to do for meals next weekend.  Apart from milk, we’re all set through Friday.

And, what did we eat this week?

Monday:
Pasta with Sunday sauce, spinach salad
I used the beef sausage from our meat delivery this time.  It worked ok, but folks preferred the spicy Italian in this recipe.

Tuesday:
Green tea poached salmon with soba noodles, cut peppers
I thought folks who wanted could put the peppers in their soup, which did work.  They also added some color interest.  Right now Tuesdays include swimming and baseball so while a split dinner is not required, a somewhat fast one is.

Wednesday:
I can’t remember.  I know it wasn’t snacky, but it also wasn’t complicated because Thanksgiving was coming up.

Thursday:
For Thanksgiving we had apple cider and herbs de provence turkeys.  We also had two types of stuffing, Brussels sprouts, green beans, mashed potatoes with gravy, butternut squash, braised leeks, prunes and apples, and cranberry sauce.

Friday:
Early: Macaroni & cheese, spinach salad
Late: Homemade pizza
I took a break.

Saturday:
Turkey soup

Sunday:
Roasted pork belly with sage & apples, mashed potatoes, and broccoli.