Weekly Menu & Budget Rants

I recently came across a post that stated the national average for groceries is $100 per person in your household per month. Included in that grocery number is not only food items, but toiletries and other household needs. This disturbed me. I first thought of all the excuses for myself..I mean I do live in New York, which isn’t exactly a cheap cost of living, but ultimately it got me thinking that I wasn’t being budget conscious enough when it comes to grocery shopping. Anyone that knows my husband and I knows we are frugal. I haven’t done much research to really know for sure what the national average is on groceries, but if the statistic above is accurate, my grocery budget per month should be $300. OUCH! I could easily spend that within the first 2 to 2 1/2 weeks.

With the start of a new year and after paying our credit card bill for the month of December (hello Christmas shopping) I thought I would challenge myself to stay within the $300 grocery budget. While I’m not going to go crazy clipping coupons or travel over 40 minutes to get to the nearest Wal-Mart for the best prices, I will do my best to not exploit my areas of weakness…such as my beloved Target. I have unintentionally been frequenting Target on a weekly basis, picking up a few household items, but occasionally straying from my list of things needed for a cute pair of snow boots on sale or other temptations. As far as purchasing toiletries and other household needs, I don’t plan to include that in my grocery allowance in an attempt to actually stay somewhat on budget and not constantly go over each month. So how am I doing so far? I gave myself a $60 per week budget for groceries. Last week I managed to spend $71 (over by $11) and this week my total was $59.69 which included a $4 purchase for my mother-in-law and extra canned goods that were on sale…not bad! Now that I’m only working part-time, every penny saved helps and the husband is certainly appreciative. So, all that to say….

Here is what’s on the menu this week:

Sausage and Peppers Pasta with Crunchy Garlic Bread

Baked Chipotle Ranch Chicken Taquitos

Meatball Sub Casserole

Pantry Meal: Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest for all the recipes I’ve pinned throughout the week. You can find me here: http://pinterest.com/wholelottaoven/