Gardening in High Heels

cultivate a beautiful life

Budgeting Days

I went shopping again.  On a Saturday again.  And it wasn’t that bad!  I seriously never went weeks without grocery shopping like I do now.  I guess mix 2 parts being too scattered to think with 1 part being cognizant of what I’m spending, stir it up, and realize that there are ways to feed yourself without having to shop every week.

Sticking to a food budget is hard, but I love the accountability with Project:Food BudgetBut I really do appreciate the P:FB is keeping me honest and makes me really think about where I’m spending money when it comes to what I’m buying.  I’m sad to see this end.

I’ve been doing a lot of simple cooking with tomatoes, herbs, and pasta.  I’ve become addicted to a tomato pasta recipe from Jamie Oliver.  Tom Totin gifted me a cookbook when I was on his show (all episodes here!) and it stole my heart.

Jamie Oliver's summer tomato and herb pasta

My total bill at Giant Eagle this week was $36.69.  On Wednesday, even though I packed lunch, I went to Panera with my coworkers and spent $10.57 (total rip off!) which makes this week’s total $47.26/$50.

I am most excited to use up more of my zucchini, the only thing my garden is producing, and make a batch of these zucchini brownies.  There’s no oil or eggs (just bananas and apple sauce) and just a small bit of sugar (I cut down to about 1 1/4 cup), but you get deliciously tender, slightly fudgy, just a little spongy brownies.  I’m talking Stand-In-The-Kitchen-Eating-Straight-From-The-Pan good.

I also picked up some ingredients for a beef ramen.  I have the recipe from a Blue Apron box delivery and I thought I’d recreate it a little myself.  I didn’t go crazy buying weird mushrooms and miso paste, but I figure I can use what I have.  I’m also substituting broccoli rabe for bok choy because I couldn’t find a reasonably sized bok choy and I don’t like it that much to use 60 pounds of it.

How are you doing with your food budget?  Check out these budget badasses for more inspiration! Emily Levenson / McGinnis and Bean / Red Pen Mama / Seeking White Space / Gardening in High Heels / Melissa Firman / Copy & Post / Shea Lennon / Warm as Pie / Two Eggs Over Easy

Groceries..

Last week, I went shopping because my mom and step dad would be visiting.  I took food out of the freezer, made sure the garden was kinda producing something that we could eat, and planned out meals including sides (whoa I’m fancy, huh).

And they went out to eat every. single. night.

So I’m not shopping this week.  I’m still working off of last week’s leftovers because I can’t re-freeze something that’s already been thawed.  Fun fact: my uncle calls it “de-thawing.”  I love Pittsburgh.

Sticking to a food budget is hard, but I love the accountability with Project:Food Budget

Last week, I spent $37.88 / $50 for Project: Food Budget.

It really did help to have some meats stockpiled in the freezer because the sales at Giant Eagle were pretty meh.

It wouldn’t have even been that much if I hadn’t had to restock my chia seeds.  I know, I should really go to Trader Joe’s for chia seeds, but I didn’t have time to write a post last week let alone drive all over for little bitty seeds.  I’m okay paying a little more for convenience.

I also splurged on some Isaly’s chipped ham for my mom to take back with her.

The biggest win from the week was planning out a menu and shopping based on said menu.  The biggest fail from the week was not eating everything.  Which is weird to say.  I planned food for 3 people and ended up only feeding myself, so there was a lot of extra.

What do you do when you run into a surplus of food?

These other budgeting babes have way more meat and potatoes to their posts, so go read theirs.  Like..now. Emily Levenson / McGinnis and Bean / Red Pen Mama / Seeking White Space / Gardening in High Heels / Melissa Firman / Copy & Post / Shea Lennon / Warm as Pie / Two Eggs Over Easy

How are you doing with your budget?

"Hey, Groceries. Believe in love again." ~ Richard from Texas (Eat Pray Love)via

Also, every time I say groceries, I think of Eat. Pray. Love. and Richard from Texas calling Elizabeth Gilbert “Groceries.”  Does anyone remember why?  Help me out here.

The time I went shopping on Monday

If last week’s discovery that shopping on Saturday morning isn’t met with much terror, let me be the 500,000,000th person to tell you do not (I repeat, do not under any circumstances) go to Giant Eagle on Monday after work.

Sticking to a food budget is hard, but I love the accountability with Project:Food Budget

No good can come from it.

Picture me saying that like Carrie Bradshaw in the “The Post-It Always Sticks Twice” episode of SATC when she’s talking about men.

There are still some things left over from last week’s trip and I only needed a few things, mostly just part-skim ricotta cheese for these lemon chia muffins that I adore from Table for Two.  I thought I would be in and out.

Insert frazzled-looking animal meme saying, “Only needs one item, she said. It’ll be a breeze, she said.”

I ended up grabbing a few other things: bananas so I can let them go bad and make Emily’s banana bread, eggs because I use them in waves and I’m currently in a high-egg-volume time, mango, and the best yogurt known to man AKA Liberte.

That was my splurge for the week (and it was on sale).  Seriously, if you haven’t tried Liberte yogurt, you do not know what you’re missing out on.  It’s almost as delicious as ice cream and a serious afternoon pick-me-up.

So this week, I spent a grand total of $14.49 out of $50 for Project:Food Budget 2015.

It’s almost not even worth mentioning because it wasn’t even a “real” shopping trip.

Up on the menu this week will be salmon burgers from the freezer, chicken tacos from today’s left overs, pork stir fry from left overs, and a dinner mooched off of my father that will no doubt result in more left overs.

Thus wraps up the month where I only wrote about grocery shopping.  While you’re anxiously awaiting me to return to a more regular schedule, check out these budgeting beauties: Emily Levenson / McGinnis and Bean / Rainaldi.org / Red Pen Mama / Erra Creations / Seeking White Space / facepalmmama / Gardening in High Heels / Melissa Firman / Copy & Post / Shea Lennon / Warm as Pie / Two Eggs Over Easy

How are you doing with your budget?

The week in which I went shopping on a Saturday

SEO titles be damned today. Let me tell you the tale of going to the store on a Saturday.

Sticking to a food budget is hard, but I love the accountability with Project:Food BudgetNothing interesting happened.

Nope, nothing at all.  I kept thinking that, because I haven’t been to the grocery store on a weekend in 6 months, it was this big hell-mouth of a nightmare.  Screaming kids, messes everywhere, wall-to-wall shopping carts.  Boy was I wrong.  It was quiet and well-stocked.  I could find everything I needed and I got out in about the same amount of time as when I go on Tuesday.

It helps that I was there around 9:45am, but still.

This week, I did go over on my Project:Food Budget budget.  I wanted to only spend $50 and I ended up with a $57.11 bill.

Not bad considering that I haven’t been to the store in weeks and I was scraping the bottom of the fridge barrel.  It was getting to the point of bringing hummus, crackers, and a can of soup for lunch because I a) just had no desire to cook and have leftovers and b) I really didn’t have anything to make for lunch anyway.

I have to say, I’m pretty proud of a) not going toooo over budget and b) how I shopped.

I could have gone about $10 more, but because I used many of the Giant Eagle coupons offered for $1 off fresh berries, Silk soy milk, yogurt, etc, I got my bill down a lot more significantly than I would have otherwise.  I love that they do that.  I really try not to buy things in boxes and you rarely run across coupons for things that aren’t in a box.

I also didn’t really pay attention to what I was purchasing.  I didn’t even have a list.  I just allowed myself to pick up whatever I came across.  I did look for sales and things I knew were on Ibotta.  But for the most part, I just let myself enjoy the experience of looking around and stocking up again.

My menu is totally driven by the items I picked up.  I have some left over pork from Sunday dinner, so I’ll make a stir-fry with that one night.  Another night will be salmon burgers (and I’ll freeze the others to use as I need) and I’ll be making some kind of chicken and pasta dish.  I may not use all the chicken I purchased and add them to a chicken taco night.  I still have to meal plan, but I have an adorable meal planning sheet from Emily!

Want to see how the other Badass Budget Mamas are doing? (That should totally be a band name.) Emily Levenson / McGinnis and Bean / Rainaldi.org / Red Pen Mama / Erra Creations / Seeking White Space / facepalmmama / Gardening in High Heels / Melissa Firman / Copy & Post / Shea Lennon / Warm as Pie / Two Eggs Over Easy

How are you doing with your budget?

Back on Budget

Holy crap, it’s July.  Well into July.  When did that happen?  I had all of these lofty goals for 2015, like write one post per month for Pittsburgh Craft Beer Network (hey at least I got June’s post in under the wire) and get my investment portfolio together.  At least no goal is exempt from me being like, “Yeah that’s not happening right now.”

Sticking to a food budget is hard, but I love the accountability with Project:Food Budget

Something I am sticking to is a budget, though.  I really have Emily Levenson and Project:Food Budget to thank for that.

After not buying anything three weeks ago, I had to stock up a little bit two weeks ago.  And then I didn’t go to the store again last week.  I thought the first time not shopping was an anomaly, but I guess not.

I knew that because of the holiday weekend, I wouldn’t need to purchase anything the week leading up to the 4th of July and just rely on the generosity of the BBQers to provide a big meal in the middle of the day for me.

Is that wrong?   Or smart?  I’m not quite sure.  But I can assure you, if you invite me over to dinner, I won’t sit there and use you for the majority of my nutrition for the day.

Unless I just haven’t gotten my lazy ass to the store that week again.

So again, we have a no-budget recap week.  (I didn’t get last week’s post out when I did go shopping the week before.  The total bill was $55.51, a total savings of $24.68 thanks to a lot of weekly specials and Giant Eagle-issued coupons.  When I subtract non-food purchases, I came up with $46.22.  $3.78 under my $50 total.)

I’m finding there are two things that I’m learning here.

1. I love saving money.

2. I really hate shopping when I have to stick to a budget.

I love watching the total go down and down and down the more coupons I scan.  I do that for online shopping, too.  I put everything I want into my cart and then take things out based on their price after the sale (who can turn down a $3 t-shirt??) and the total that’s worth it for me. $50 for 4 dresses, a pair of shoes, and 3 shirts?  Done.

But I haaate having to shop with a budget.  I know it’s the best way to do it because there are no surprises.  And it’s easier to manage money when you have a predictable budget for bills/utilities every month.

I just really feel like I can’t add fun little things to my cart because it’s wasteful and eating up space for something useful in my budget.

Emily did warn about this when I was prepping myself for the project; she advised to add a treat within the budget so you aren’t feeling deprived.  I’ve tried doing that, but I’m losing the sense that it’s a “treat” because I’m still thinking about the total at the register.

So I’ll purchase a bag of chips for myself or some hummus (both items I never get) but I use a coupon so even though it’s a splurge, I’m not being totally cavalier.  Maybe that’s where I’m going wrong.

Also a treat isn’t so guilty-pleasure when you still have to cook it.

How do you handle feeling deprived when you’re budgeting?

Don’t forge to check out these budgeting babes and see what’s working for them: Emily Levenson / McGinnis and Bean / Rainaldi.org / Red Pen Mama / Erra Creations / Seeking White Space / facepalmmama / Gardening in High Heels / Melissa Firman / Copy & Post / Rachel Olive Miller / Shea Lennon / Warm as Pie

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