This is my first month ever really trying to stay on our grocery budget of $625 so I am using only cash this month to try and stick to that. What this means is that going food shopping has been a bit more stressful than usual these past 2 weeks! I’ve been carrying my trusty calculator around the food store and adding things up as I go and then praying that I didn’t make a mistake with my calculations as the checker rings me out.
The last 2 weeks I’ve been a little under my alloted amount, due to my coupon clipping ;), which has been great but I’ve definitely put a few things back and didn’t even pick up a few things because I knew I didn’t have enough money. One of the few benefits that I’m discovering through this process though, is that I really think twice before I pick something up. Where as before a few extra things might jump in my cart that looked SO good in the grocery store but then ended up in the trash half eaten at home, now I’m only buying things that I know we’ll eat and that we’ll eat before it rots or goes to die in our fridge. And speaking of the fridge that is another benefit i’m seeing with this shopping weekly, paying cash thing, our fridge has managed to stay alot neater and cleaner. Normally things go into our fridge and sometimes (ok, many times) they die in there. I’ll be looking for something a month later and lo and behold in the very back or deep in the recesses of the veggie drawer there it is looking pretty sad and stinky! So now I’m buying things that we’ll actually eat before going bad which is a good thing and I can actually find stuff in the fridge because it’s not as crowded.
Also, because I’m buying more fresh food our freezer is 1/2 empty which leaves me more room for freezing some homemade meals, like my chili that I made yesterday!
from industrial to organic... 