This month's $300 grocery challenge will add a twist. Encouraged by my friend Rebecca, I will buy only organic products during Week Two. If you have any ideas or suggestions for me, let me know! I'm thinking about starting Week Two with a trip to Trader Joe's and supplementing with fruits and veggies from the Farmer's Market.
Here's a run down of Week One:
Money spent: $88.75
Purchased:
12 rolls of toilet paper
8 rolls of paper towels
Cascade
pretzels
Goldfish
apples
corn
onion
brownie mix
canned tomatoes
tomato sauce
tomato paste
Four 1.5 pound packages of ground beef (but one, get one free)
pork shoulder
flour and corn tortillas
milk
wheat bread
ricotta
mozarella
lasagna noodles
5 lb bag of potatoes
eggs (free with registration in Safeway's new Just 4 U program)
and a couple other things I can't remember ...
On the menu for dinner:
The famous Ferrara lasagna, carnitas (due to our superstition about the Giants!), potato and egg fritatta, tacos, ravioli with homemade sauce, homemade pizzas, and white bean pasta salad. We may eat out (burritos) once this week and use the money from our small entertainment budget. We've also still got lettuce, green beans, and corn for sides, as well as frozen baguettes for garlic bread.
Our lunches will be soup and macaroni and cheese from the pantry as well as the usual sandwiches, fruit, crackers, etc. We've got blueberry muffins, yogurt, cereal, and smoothies for breakfast.
Cheap and Cheerful wants to know: There are lots of turkeys out in the store already. We may have to have turkey and other Thanksgiving food early! What are your favorite fall dishes?
are you still taking submissions for people who need help? I'd love to tag along on the organic 300 challenge! I think with my budget of 500 a month i'm spending closer to 600! My family would love the help!!
ReplyDeleteI buy a lot of organic, and "real" food (not overly processed). I find it easier to shop at Raley's than at TJ's for organic - I can get Organic Valley milk, eggs, cheese, soy milk, and a wide range of produce. I also like the bulk bin nuts and sunflower seeds. I get the Raley's All Natural ground beef (in it's own part of the meat case) for hamburgers, and read the ingredients on bread (I get Milton's - no hfcs, real wheat, mostly ingredients I can pronounce). My biggest complaint with TJ's is so much of their food is shipped from all over the world, instead of using local vendors. It's expensive, but for me it's worth it to put our extra money into "real" food.
ReplyDeleteYes, you can certainly get a lot of good organic products at Safeway. As you can see from my receipt, I bought some O Organics tomato paste! I must admit that I do not buy all organic food because 1) I can't afford it and 2) there are lots of acceptable conventional food options. I think conventional bananas are just fine (for example) because of the naturally safe wrapper. I just thought a trip to TJs would help me mix up our menu a bit -- we've been a bit heavy on the Italian and Mexican food. I think it is all about eating healthy on a budget and avoiding overly packaged food.
ReplyDeleteI do love TJ's (especially their whole wheat pitas, their natural peanut butter, and their frozen mac and cheese), I just think sometimes people think their products are automatically better than the grocery store. Oh, I love their frozen salmon fillets too. Oh, and their black bean taquitos. And their cashews. Man, I just love the store :) But not for organic stuff.
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