Groceries in March!

$2.87 over budget... So close... so close my friends... but I blame it on SCB getting sick and us needing to buy "sick food" for him at the tail end of the month.  But I'm still happy with what we spent on food, all things considered :)

Dairy

This month we spent just short of $60.00 on dairy, about $10 more than last month and $15 less than January. We bought the same amount of Milk (2 gallons)... we only used half the amount of Greek yogurt as last month because of our travel plans out to Utah and because we "average" about 3 containers a month between smoothies, veggie dip, and using it for cooking. We have also been baking more so more butter was needed. As for Cheese, we did a little stock up towards then end of the month so I think next month will be lighter like last month.

Fruit 

Mmmmmmm... (Sorry, flashbacks to my first Red Mango-- My husband described me eating it like a wolf devours meat....)... but the yellow mango.... ewwwwwwwwww

So we ended up spending just over $30.00 on fruit, which was about $25 less than February and January. Part of this came from not needing to stock up on strawberries like last month and my habit to consume fruit in smoothie form... although I missed actually eating fruit instead of drinking it so when I ate that Mango, it was probably the first piece of fruit I had Chewed in a few weeks. As I type this the second Red Mango is waiting for me on the counter still (a reward for finishing my food blog post for the month).

The only fruit that got tossed was maybe 1 or 2 bananas that got too ripe to do anything with because they were forgotten about or I didn't have enough of them for banana nut bread but felt the banana was too ripe for my smoothie or to really eat.

Grains

We spent a little less than January and February on grains and breads largely because we had most of our bread in the freezer... and because we stocked up on granola bars. SCB really liked the organic ones so we will see those have a permanent home in our pantry... and just 7 ingredients makes me happy.

I'm going to attempt to go back to making my own bread because the Organic Bread at Costco got kind of tacky after freezing and now that I have my own wheat grinder (be-lated christmas present), I'm hoping I can get back into the groove and start to make, slice, and freeze my own bread. We bought some Potato bread as a treat for hubby.

Meats

Not really that much since we were gone a full week, but I've finally hit the point where its time to re-stock the chest freezer with organic ground turkey again... and we are finally out of our stockpile of burgers. I'm going to see if I can find a good way to make my own frozen burger patties because we want to switch to Organic for these and I have not been able to find any, let alone decide if they are worth the cost... so Look forward to a post on my "attempt" at homemade frozen burger patties. (We want to try to freeze them because the fresh ones fall through the BBQ grill. But $16 for meat this month, instead of $35 in Feb and $72 in January.

Vegetables

I don't think I can ever get mad when we spend money on Vegetables ... except for when we waste food and don't eat them... as I alluded in yesterdays post was the "theme" of the month apparently. Looking now though, I think some of the wasted produce must have been purchased last month because looking at this list, most of the stuff listed here is still in the fridge because it was bought just a couple of days ago when I went shopping. But either way we spent $66 for March, $47 in February & $74 in January on vegetables. Only 4 things that weren't organic... that's a huge victory, especially when we think about where we were last year around this time!

I now even dig carrot juice and spinach in my fruit smoothies now....

And this month I had a LOVE relationship with home made pico... hence the 4 lbs of tomatoes...

I swear if I can just break this habit of not working out (March was bad with vacations and work schedule changes) and stop snacking in between meals, maybe i'll have a hope to shed those extra pounds I've put back on... April is the month to Re-commit!

Pantry/House 

We picked up a few pantry items... and a lot of stuff to help the sick husband get on the mend. Frozen pot pies, canned soup, saltines, sprite, Gatorade, and Alfredo sauce were all bought because SCB was sicker than a dog... and is still on the mend as I type.

As for house stuff, we seem to average around $20 -$30 a month. This month it was dryer sheets and bathroom cleaner for the most part. ... last month it was hygiene products like shampoo and TP.... January it was Laundry and Dishwasher Detergents and trash bags.... Its nice to know we tend to be able to spread these purchases out over time so we can work them into the food budget!