$100 a Month For Groceries – Week 27 of 52

Last week when The Girl came for a visit she brought along her air fryer so we could give it another try. The first time we used it, we weren’t that impressed with it. But this time around, we had a better game plan {and a few more ideas of what to cook with it thanks to all your tips} that we actually enjoyed using it. 

I have no interest in buying an air fryer…. but since we were having a lot of success this time around with it, The Girl decided to leave her air fryer behind so we could experiment a bit more with it. 

Here are some photos of what we ate last week:

Nachos! Melted cheese and crisp chips! I don’t know what we didn’t think to make nachos the first time with the air fryer. 

We loved the air fryer nachos so much, we had them twice last week {and so did Lucy}. 😉 

Scones! 

I had no idea you could “bake” in an air fryer! 

And salmon. I popped 2 pieces of salmon in the air fryer on the “seafood” setting and it was done in 8 minutes! We couldn’t believe it.

And of course, we also cooked up a few more of the fruits tarts my Mother in Law sent the HH for his birthday. 

Other, things we ate last week:

Beans and rice, rice and beans.  A weekly {if not twice a week} staple around here. 

Cheeseburgers using lettuce from the garden and ground beef patties from my friend JJ. {I can’t believe it took us a year to try these! They were fantastic by the way.}

Pickety bits. It wouldn’t be summer without at least 1 plate of pickety bits.

Chips and guacamole. And YES, that was what we ate for dinner. 🙂

Costco $156.61

We stocked up! And blew our budget in the process. 🙂 

But hey, there were some great deals on some of our favorite things that we just couldn’t resist. 

• Aidell’s sausages {15 in each pack} were $10.69. Our favorite way to use those is in Mel’s Drunken Beans and fried up with garden fresh vegetables. 45 weenies! That should be plenty to get us through to the end of the year. 

• 96 slices of Kraft American Cheese $7.19. These will be used for grilled cheese sandwiches on our favorite crusty bread {once the oven gets installed}.  Homemade tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich, you just can’t beat that combo on a cold fall afternoon. 

• Cape Cod Chips $4.19 a bag. My husband loves these!

• Dave’s Killer Bread $9.29! {Not on sale but if we’re careful, I might be able to get this to last until the end of August by keeping the bread frozen and only pulling out a slice or two when needed}.

The nuts and dates are for snacking and the salami will go on pickety bit plates throughout the summer and fall {I popped one of the packages into the freezer}. 

Local Farmstand $18.79

We also stopped by the farmstand to pick up 2 quarts of strawberries @$6.95 each {you can get them for $5.95 each when you buy 8, but I only needed 2 for a recipe and I still have some in the freezer from the last time we bought strawberries so I didn’t need more}.

Walmart $18

I went in for a spool of thread and came out with 36 cans of vegetables! 🙂 But at $0.50 a can, I couldn’t resist. While most people know what to do with a can of corn, my guess is there aren’t too many people who buy canned carrots.

Well, this fall once I get my new oven, I plan to do a lot of baking. And one of the things on my list is carrot cake bars. Canned carrots are also great to have on hand for homemade pot pies and soups when you don’t feel like running to the store for fresh carrots. 

Walmart $7.64

While I was there, I also grabbed some cream of mushroom soup and onion soup mix for a few of Mrs. C’s Slow Cooker Pot Roast recipe this fall. 

As it stands, so far this year we have spent $897.78 on groceries. This means if we are going to stay on track and only average $100 a month for groceries for this year, we only have $302.22 left to spend for the rest of the year {essentially 6 months!}.

Which may seem like sort of an impossible challenge, but I actually think we’re still in the game.

Here’s what we have going for us:

• A big garden.

• We love simple foods.

• The knowledge {and supplies} to preserve our bounty through canning, freezing, dehydrating and storing certain food crops in our basement.

• The oodles of noodles {pasta and egg} we purchased last summer.

• Pasta sauce, canned chicken, canned tuna, canned peaches, applesauce, beans, rice, flour, sugar, oatmeal, spices {you know, the basics}.

• In our freezer we still have plenty of butter {picked up last summer/fall on sale} pork butt and whole chickens {they were on sale for $0.99 a pound earlier this year. We bought them when they were on sale even though we didn’t have a working oven}.  We still have some hamburger and a few steaks and a roast {maybe 2? I’ll have to double check}. 

• I despise any sort of in person shopping during the months of October/November/December and generally stay away from all manner of stores during the last three months of the year.

So basically, if we are going to hit our target of averaging $100 a month for groceries for this year, we should really just concentrate on spending our food dollars in 1 area: Milk and Eggs and the occasional deal {whatever that might be}. 

Sounds easy enough on paper, right? But will we really be able to pull it off? 

That’s the question. 

But you know me, I love a good challenge. 🙂 I think we can do it. 

Here’s what we have going for us:

• A big garden.
• We love simple foods.
• The knowledge {and supplies} to preserve our summer bounty through canning, freezing, dehydrating, and storing certain vegetables in our basement.
• The oodles of noodles {pasta and egg} we purchased last summer.
• Pasta sauce, canned chicken, canned tuna, canned peaches, applesauce, beans, rice, flour, sugar, oatmeal, spices {you know, the basics}.
• In our freezer we still have plenty of butter {picked up last summer/fall on sale} pork butt and whole chickens {they were on sale for $0.99 a pound earlier this year. We bought them when they were on sale even though we didn’t have a working oven}.  We still have some hamburger and a few steaks and a roast {maybe 2? I’ll have to double check}. 
• I despise any sort of in person shopping during the months of October/November/December and generally stay away from all manner of stores during the last three months of the year. 

So basically, if we are going to hit our target of averaging $100 a month for groceries for this year, we should really just concentrate on spending our food dollars in 1 area: Milk and Eggs and the occasional deal {whatever that might be}. 

Sounds easy enough on paper, right? But will we really be able to pull it off? 

That’s the question. 

But you know me, I love a good challenge. 🙂 I think we can do it. 

So here’s to a bumper harvest, and shopping the pantry as much as possible instead of the stores.

~Mavis

Total Spent This Past Week on Groceries $201.04

P.S. Have you stocked up on anything lately? And if so, what’s the deal you’ve found. 

• Total Spent in July on Groceries $201.04
• Total Spent in June for Groceries $124.45
• Total Spent in May for Groceries $172.47 {$47 of it was spent at Farmers Markets}
• Total Spent in April on Groceries $94.48
• Total Spent in March on Groceries $114.12
• Total Spent in February on Groceries $94.64
• Total Spent in January on Groceries $96.58
• Total Spent on Groceries in 2022 $897.78