Wednesday, April 30, 2008

The ill effects of not grocery shopping...

..fast food....

I have not been able to grocery shop in two weeks. If we were just "eating out of the pantry" that would be a good thing! But alas, we've been just "eating out". I shudder to think of all the money we have spent in the last three weeks eating out. It's definitely been more than what it would have cost to grocery shop and eat at home. Today I spent more than $11.00 eating out breakfast and lunch. And I've been doing this for more than two weeks. Ugh.
I do not have very much time between today and tomorrow, so Friday, (armed with coupons and CASH ONLY) I will do my grocery shopping. In the meantime, I will clean out the refridgerator, freezer and pantry and make a menu. I will then draw up a list and go. In May, we will go from a family of 4 to a family of 6 again, as my older two daughters will be home from college. I'm sure that will have an effect on the food budget. Hopefully, I can stock up and have delicious meals for $200.00 a week. Wish me luck!

9 comments:

HS @ Our Debt Blog said...

Get a job at your favorite fast restaurant and you will never eat from there again.

Sharon said...

HS,
Actually, I should have been a bit clearer...not quite fast food, but TGIF, Olive Garden, our favorite pizzaria and our bagel store..but I know what you mean!

CookinsForMe said...

Wow, $200 a week for 6 people? Where do y'all live? That seems like a lot to me. Nice blog, by the way. I'm enjoying perusing the entries. :)

CT Mom said...

We've been eating out a lot too ... mostly because I've been too tired to cook or we've been busy with soccer, riding, music, you name it. I've also run out of ideas for meals, because I'm craving grilling. We had to order some parts for the grill, and once that's working, I'll be cooking at home more.

Sharon said...

Cookinsforme,
Thanks for visiting...yes it is high, but I have switched to organic meats and it seems to be double the price. I like it better, though. I also use the $200 for paper products, but I've cut way down on that. Hopefully, I will only need 150.00 a week. What do you spend for a week?

CT Mom,
My husband just fixed our grill, and we LOVE to grill. Makes figuring out what to have for dinner easier...

Anonymous said...

Look forward to hearing how it's going when you are adding 2 more people back into your food budget. I just cook for myself, so my budget is very small. Makes it very easy. I'm sure it will be nice for you to get back to eating at home instead of eating out so much too.

Jennifer said...

Sharon, do I remember that you have switched from paper napkins and paper towels to cloth??

How's that working out? I'm thinking of making the switch.

Sharon said...

Jennifer,
I did switch. And it is particularly going really well with the napkins. Actually, it feels quite decadent to use restaurant quality large white napkins at dinner each night. I bought a lot of them so that they would last without having to wash everyday. The paper towels, however, I'm still using, but much,much, less. I'll be posting about the experience soon! :)

Canadian Saver said...

Hope you go tomorrow so you can enter the weekend well prepared and won't need fast food... I find we do a lot better when there are good snacks in the house and stuff that's easy to prepare. Otherwise we just want more trips to the convenience store or coffee shop.