FOOD ~ February 2015

As I mentioned in the budgeting article, we did very well on our grocery budget this month. However, we knew we would. Not only is February a shorter month and therefore we have fewer days to cook and eat but we also spent the whole last week in Florida where my in-laws covered all our food expenses (I married right :)). Knowing that it was going to be easy to stay under our grocery budget this month we decided to stock up on some bulk items that we wanted/needed and will last us for a long time. Therefore the numbers fall in very different categories than they normally would but we are set for quite a while now.Here is where the money went:

-- Groceries: $282.96 --

Fruits and Veggies: $86.40

Canned Goods: $13.35

Vegan 'Meat': $5.28

Meat, Seafood and Dairy: $67.74

Dry Goods: $53.41

Alcohol: $57.03

House Supplies: $0

Minus 25 cents from our bag credits. Gotta love a little extra savings ;)

-- Comments --

The fruit/veggie category looks low but we actually bought everything we normally do just for a much shorter amount of time.  The big changes came in the Meat/Seafood/Dairy category and the Alcohol category.

As I mentioned in January's food post, we mostly cook and eat vegan at home which significantly cuts our monthly costs. We also don't drink very much and still have plenty of alcoholic beverages left over from our wedding last year so costs there are generally few.  This month, however, we stocked up.

We bought sausages from Costco that the Mr. will make and sprinkle onto our homemade pizzas or taco boats when he's looking to add some additional protein. We also bought two giant cans of clams. I very seldom eat any land animals but do eat seafood on occasions and can make a mean linguini and clams. A single can of clams from Costco gets us 3 nights of linguini and clams (plus multiple leftovers from each night). So, this should last us 4-5 months.

The other big expense in the Meat/Seafood/Dairy Category was a giant block of parmesan cheese from Costco. This is the only cheese we keep in the house and just a little sprinkle can make our risotto, linguini marinara or home made pizza really shine.

In the Alcohol Category we bought Vodka for hubby's vodka tonics and Rumchata for the occasional dessert drink for both of us. We didn't have an open bar at the wedding and therefore don't have the stock of hard alcohol that we do for wine and beer. These purchases should last us quite a while.

So again - we kept to our budget of $300 and could even splurge a bit this month. Like I mentioned last time, if we manage this easily for the next couple months, I may reassess and further lower our grocery goal. But for now we keep on doing what we are doing: eating amazing, healthy, and delicious food and saving money while doing so. :)