How I Feed My Family on One Hundred Dollars a Month is changing to How I Feed My Family on Zero Dollars a Month for April. To date, I’ve spent $348.79 on groceries and that puts me totally over budget for the year so in an effort to get back on track I decided to do a no spend month for April.
Well that, and I am also going to need some extra grocery money in May for something special I have in the works. 😉 Something kind of big actually, but I’ll talk more about that later in month. I’ve never done a no spend month before so it should be interesting.
I think, if I stay focused though and just don’t look at any ads, I’ll be okay. We have PLENTY of meat and fruits and vegetables in the freezer. Grains and beans in the pantry as well. But here’s the thing. I didn’t tell the HH or Monkey Boy about my plan to have a no spend month. Mostly because… if I’m clever enough, they won’t even notice because they don’t prepare any meals at our house in the first place.
So the plan is to keep a few grab and go things in the fridge {if they feel so inclined to actually open it} and make sure there is some sort of sweet treat available on the counter at all times.
Main and Vine $13.82
The Dave’s Killer bread @ $3.49 was a total impulse item. 🙁 I had only went in for the produce deals but man oh man is that bread good toasted.
Albertsons $15.45
Regular milk was on sale for $1.99 {limit 2} this week {a good price} but a gallon of organic milk was $5.99. Wowza! I decided to go ahead and grab a gallon of the organic stuff after several of you mentioned it had a much longer shelf life. I also stocked up on eggs as well before the end of the month. I’m sure both the milk and eggs would have been a buck or two less at Costco… but I didn’t want to even walk in there and be tempted so I stayed away.
Here are the meals we ate last week {minus snacks}:
Monday
Breakfast – Steel cut oats with brown sugar and milk
Lunch – Leftover ham and mashed potatoes
Dinner – Rustic split pea soup with homemade rolls
Tuesday
Breakfast – 2 Hard boiled eggs, 2 brownies
Lunch – Cucumber, spinach and cream cheese sandwhich on Dave’s Killer Bread
Dinner – Chicken, rice and roasted carrots
Wednesday
Breakfast – Banana, slice of Dave’s Killer bread, toasted with jam
Lunch – Picky Lunch
Dinner – Lentils and Rice
Thursday
Breakfast – Orange, strawberry and banana smoothie, chocolate brownie
Lunch – Cucumber, spinach and cream cheese sandwhich of Dave’s Killer Bread
Dinner – Beef soft tacos
Friday
Breakfast – Smoothie
Lunch – Egg salad sandwhich
Dinner – Clams in garlic butter sauce {from the freezer}
Saturday
Breakfast – Steel cut oats, banana
Lunch – Chocolate, dried cranberries, other random stuff I can’t even remember
Dinner – Chicken lasagna with noodles {I’ll post the recipe tomorrow}
Sunday
Breakfast – Eggs and strawberry toast
Linner – Leftover chicken lasagna with noodles
How are you doing with your grocery budget this year? Are you staying on track? Have you ever thought about doing a no spend month?
~Mavis
Total Spent Last Week $29.27
- Total Spent in March $136.58 {say it isn’t so!}
- Total Spent in February $106.85
- Total Spent in Janaury $105.36
Freebies we’ve been gifted or were earned in 2016: $200
- $100 gift card to Whole Foods {Christmas gift from my parents}
- $100 gift card to Trader Joe’s {Christmas gift from my parents}
- 22 packets of vegetable seeds
Go HERE to read more Shopping Trip Stories.
RB says
We love Dave’s bread, but the grocery store price will kill ya! Luckily, we live near the factory. I go on the student discount day and load up our freezer with a dozen loaves for less than $22. A great option if you’re ever near Milwaukie, Oregon. Plus Bob’s Redmill is across the street!
Mavis says
Ah, that is a “killer” price, pun intended. I’m jealous. I’ll have to keep that in mind if I ever make it that direction.
Lynn Dailey says
I had every intention of doing it with you. Seriously. I failed the first day. These people at my house think they need to eat every five minutes. And with the dh recovering from surgery……he needs snacks. I think for the next six weeks we just need to concentrate on not making momma go crazy.
Mavis says
You are totally justified in not taking on this craziness post-surgery. You can always do it when life settles down again.
Karin Carson says
Have you thought if freezing some milk? My mom did it for years .
JessB says
I love that bread! And it’s MUCH more expensive than that here in the Midwest.
Wendy says
I think 5.99 for organic milk is a great price. Its $11 were I live.
Mavis Butterfield says
$11? WOW!
Cathy says
Thank you so much for your blog , I so enjoy and look forward to what you plan for your family and ideas I might do.
❤️❤️❤️
Sara says
It would be interesting to see how much longer organic milk lasts than regular milk. I do have to say there are MAJOR discrepancies with milk based products & expiration dates even in the regular (non organic section). I get WAY more life out of Darigold or Tillamook than any other brand. I think Lucerne is particularly bad about shelf life- Fred Meyer brand even does much better. Fred Meyer’s milk seems to last a decent amount of time, but the sour cream doesn’t. I ALWAYS freeze butter bc I stock up on it when it goes on sale for <$2/lb. 🙂 Maybe you should do some longevity tracking… Although I am sure there is some researcher out there who has already done it! 🙂
Melissa says
The reason for the longer shelf life with organic brands of milk is it is ultra pasteurized, making it shelf stable – until you open it, then it can get a chemical sort of taste after a week or so sometimes. They sell it in the shelf stable boxes in Europe (like you sometimes see soy milk sold) but it seems to make American shoppers uncomfortable so they put organic milk in jugs in the refrigerated section purely for marketing, honest. But either way – it should last well over a month unopened, regardless of the silly date they have to put on it, so it should be the last one to open this month Mavis! It’ll get you through the end of April 🙂