The Rambling Reader

Well, as many know, teachers get paid monthly, and for me, payday will be this Friday. Whew! I tell ya, between rising food costs and utilities bills skyrocketing, my paycheck sure doesn't seem to go as far as it used to. One area I can really trim the fat is my grocery bill.

Staring today, I'm going to post my menu for each week, and also how much I spend on groceries for the next month. My goal is $300 for my family of four. Doable? We'll see!!!

This weeks menu:

Breakfast: Cereal, oatmeal or pancakes
Lunch: Turkey. tuna, or PBJ sandwiches, fruit
Dinner: Meatless Monday: Pinto beans, rice, cornbread, sliced tomatoes
Tuesday: Enchiladas, Refried beans, Mexican rice, lettuce and tomato
Wednesday: Roasted Chicken, Rice, Peas, Corn
Thursday: Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, Salad
Friday: Pizza night!

I planned this menu after perusing my pantry and fridge and seeing what we already had. We still have plenty of canned goods, rice, oatmeal, etc. Here's what I bought at the store:

Plums.................................$1.03
Tortillas.............................$1.78
Spaghetti...........................$0.68
Lettuce..............................$1.28
Shredded Cheese................$2.68
Ground beef.......................$6.27
Folgers coffee.....................$3.72
Miracle whip......................$2.50
2% milk.............................$3.89
King size Twix....................$1.00
Eggs.................................$1.53
Whole Chicken...................$3.03
Whole Chicken...................$3.64
Peaches.............................$1.82

Total: $36.23

Money left: $263.77

I comp-shopped the chickens ($0.89/lb) and the peaches ($0.99/lb). Everything not otherwise stated is generic brand. As you can tell, we had quite a bit of stuff in the cabinets, so this is a pretty light shopping trip. Hopefully, this will make it until Friday, when I can do the big shop.

Happy Monday guys!