Monday, July 10, 2006

Skinflintstones, Day 2

Running Grocery Total: $8

Menu:
  • breakfast: cereal, NutriGrain bars, milk, bananas
  • lunches: leftovers from last night's dinner, cheese toast
  • snacks: snack-size packages of Teddy Grahams (bad choice--bought the 15-pack at Target specifically for outings, not for home snacks)
  • dinner: spaghetti and canned white clam sauce, peas, Trader Joe's roasted balsamic vegetables (froz), rolls, salad w/tomato and black olives
  • dessert: graham cracker squares and peanut butter, red wine


    • Thoughts:
    I drink a lot of decaf. It isn't cheap. Maybe I could cut down.

    Shopping:
    Bought some bananas at $.50/pound, some apples at $1.49/pound, and a gallon of whole milk ($3.39). Spent about $8.
    Posted by at

    1 comment:

    Alphabeter said...

    I'm not sure how much time you have for prepping, but you can make your own cereal bars with rolled oats and fruit paste.

    Have you tried freezing fruit and blending it for snacks? Bananas are cheapest but the black skins turn some kids off. Adding in canned stuff (for the syrup and cheaper more exotic out-of-season ones) can also create really neat slushies and/or popcicles.

    As for your coffee, you can buy a big bag of beans online, freeze them and grind as you need.
    When I was able to drink coffee, I would grind about a week's worth into a plastic bag and keep it in the fridge until I scooped it into the maker. I found a great grinder at a garage sale (brand new) that had 14 levels from ultra-fine espresso to coarser percolator. Using the coarser settings, I could run the water through twice (no filter) and get the same bang.
    Of course, you could always quit, but what fun is that? I just turned to tea-which can be a more expensive addiction (for purer leaves and such).

    Is soy milk cheaper where you are? I used to put a few drops of pure vanilla in mine to get used to the taste, now I just buy Silk. Around here, its cheaper than milk and the use-by dates are almost a month later than 'regular' milk. I use it for everything, including crustless shepherd's pies, soups and quiches.

    I'm fortunate I have time to make everything as finding the healthy (and for me medically necessary) versions is expensive and sometimes time-wasting. There is nothing nicer than being able to pull something out of the freezer and microwaving it when I'm tired, knowing I won't feel off from the preservatives, it will taste yummy, and that I can have it again. (I have found great premade stuff only to have it discontinued for whatever reason. VERY frustrating!)

    Anyhoo, I thought I'd add another 11 cents.

    9:55 PM

    Post a Comment

    Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)