Groceries in March

That is a view that I’m aiming to skip a whole lot this month!

At the beginning of March, I took time to carefully reduce my budget. I found that by joining the Uber Frugal Month challenge in January I had given myself a reset. Through engaging in the challenge I was able to pay for unexpected items, like yoga, without dipping into any of my savings accounts.

It was wonderful, however, I know my ability to spend to the last dollar. I didn’t want to make unexpected fun my new normal. While I’m pleased that my splurge was yoga, I also know that it could have easily been eating out quite a bit.

I was very pleased with my new budget and then we joined Costco. I had sort of budgeted for it in my mind. I did not budget for the value pack of razors that we got. To be fair, things like razors often blindside me as I’m not great at keeping track of them. So I paid $40 for 20 blades. I couldn’t resist since I had already put them on the grocery list and it would have cost $23 for 5 at my usual place.

I also had a bill I was convinced I had paid turn out to be overdue.

Suddenly my bright idea of adjusting my means seemed like a bad idea. I played with my numbers and my cutting costs impacted my grocery line. It went from $150 to $70.

ML was wonderful, instead of saying, “You know your budget is arbitrary. Why don’t you go back to the original number?”

He said, ” We’ve got lots of food in the house. We’ll menu plan.”

Tonight I did a pantry and freezer check. It turns out we had purchased meat in January before I got hit with the intention of inviting people over. Those dinner dates got canceled.

In the interest of time and my own sanity I did not take note of seasonings, spices, condiments and dessert items. Based on this list I think we’re going to eat well in March:

• Freezer
  • 1 whole chicken
  • 1  tray of chicken thighs
  • 1 whole duck
  • 1 leg of lamb
  • packages of frozen tomatoes
  • 2 packages of frozen pizza
  • 3.5 packages of fries
  • 1 package of frozen soup
  • 1 cheese
  • 1 pack of bacon
  • 1 loaf of bread
• Tinned
  • 2 lentils
  • 2 green beans
  • 3 chick peas
  • 3 black bean
  • 3 tomatoes
  • 1 black eye peas
  • 1 peas & carrots
  • 1 corned beef
  • 1 coconut milk
  • 2 tuna
  • 3 sausages
• Packages
  • 1 lentil
  • 1 jar of pasta sauce
  • rice
  • potatoes
  • 2 boxes of stuffing
  • 1/2 pack of lasagna noodles
  • 1/2 pack of tube pasta
  • 1 taco kit
• Fresh Ingredients
  • snow peas
  • broccoli
  • bok choy
  • sweet potatoes
  • tomatoes
  • mushrooms

Tomorrow’s task is going to be turning this list of items into 11 meals. If these ingredients spark your own ideas please share in the comments 🙂

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