$50 Per Week Grocery Challenge: Week #5

How Much Did I Spend For Week #5?

I finally went to Sams club and spent $39.58 for milk products, eggs and some fruit.  The cheese, eggs and fruit will last us over a month.  I also went to two other grocery stores.  At the first I purchased pork ribs and lettuce for a total of $5.12 and the other I purchased a bag of lemons and 2L of club soda for $3.57.  Not a stellar week of deals and I almost spent the entire $50 (a total of $48.21).  I look over my pantry and freezer and it seems as if I am replenishing and not depleting items, but looking at how little I was able to purchase this week makes me wonder if I can continue this.  I figure once I am 4-6 months into this I will know for sure if $50 per week is doable.

One thing I found humorous was this week a celebrity said he will live on $1.50 a day for, drum-roll please..... 5 days.  My family of 5 has done this for 5 weeks now and we are not starving.  Oh, well.  I am sure $1.50 per day seems like extreme deprivation to someone in his position, but for me it is a bit liberating to be able to say I can feed my family for less than that.

Here is the breakdown for Week #5

Meat:  Country Style Pork Ribs at $.99/lb for a total of $4.13

Fruit and Vegetables:  1 Head Lettuce at $.99, 3 lbs Bananas for $1.36, 4 lbs Strawberries for $5.84, 3 lbs of Lemons for $2.67

Dairy:  2 Gallons Milk at $3.48 each, 5 lbs Shredded Cheese at $11.62, 2 lbs Block Cheese at $5.38

Misc.:  2L Club Soda for $.90 and 7 1/2 Dozen Eggs at $8.42 (I am a bit upset over this purchase.  Normally I refuse to buy eggs unless they are $1 per dozen, but I really needed eggs and so I bit the bullet and purchased these.  The very next day eggs went on sale at a local grocery store for $.99.  I would have saved almost $1.  Doesn't sound like much, but that would feed a member of my family for a day.  This is a great lesson for me:  wait for the item to go on sale!)


Here is a list of the meals we had this week:

Breakfast:  Homemade Granola, Homemade Grape Nuts, Oatmeal, Malt-O-Meal, Waffles or Toast.

Dinner:  Leftovers from supper or Sandwiches from my Freshly Ground Whole Wheat Bread and Yogurt

Supper:  
Sunday - Fettuccine Alfredo - I had left over fettuccine from our spaghetti meal and so I quickly made a white sauce, reheated the pasta in boiling water and, voila, a fast and easy meal.  Also, my husband made a huge batch of popcorn using the Whirley Pop.  He makes it with white popcorn, coconut oil and sea salt.  I know this was a lot of carbs and no vegis or meat.  Now and then we have a meal that is not the most nutritious.  Forgive me.

Monday - Chicken & Fried Rice and a Side of Frozen Peas (I had left over white rice from last week and needed to use it up and so I made a batch of fried rice.  Also, I baked a chicken breast, cut it up and added it to the rice.)

Tuesday - Tacos made with lettuce, homemade Taco Seasoning, homemade Salsa, homemade Re-fried beans and homemade Sour Cream.  The only thing not homemade were the tortillas and the lettuce wasn't homegrown.

Wednesday - Tacos again.

Thursday - Pork Ribs, Mashed Potatoes, Corn and Cornbread (boxed Jiffy)

Friday - Leftovers of Pork Ribs along with all the sides and Tacos.

Saturday - Lasagna and Salad

Desserts:  Chocolate Chip Cookies, Special K Bars (made with Cheerios*)

*I made myself a promise to never purchase a box of cereal again unless it is an amazing deal.  I have kept that promise to myself, but over the past year I had purchased quite a few boxes of cereal before I started my $50 per week challenge.  Well, some of the cereal is reaching its expiration date and I decided to use the Cheerios to make a dessert.  I thought I might as well use the Special K Bar recipe and substitute the Cheerios and they were quite good.