september update

If you hadn't heard, I was a little over budget going into September so I made it my resolution to plan my recipes around things that I already had hanging out in my pantry and freezer.  This resulted in a lot of dried grains, legumes and home made breads.

WELL, I'm happy to say that not only was my diet much more healthfy (TONS of fiber) but I cut my grocery budget by almost half! I'm sure that If I were to really scale it back and not focus on coming up with new, fun stuff for the website, I could probably cut it in half again.



So let me give you some numbers because I'm ALL ABOUT the numbers.  For the first year of the blog I was hovering around $120/month on groceries.  Now, that's making about three fun, creative recipes a week plus my regular breakfast and snack items.  Basically, that number is not exactly penny pinching, it's mindful but lax.  As the blog grew I became a better cook and started experimenting more with recipes and ingredients.  My excitement got the best of me and my grocery bill crept up to $175/month.  That's waaaay too much!

Last month, the final count was $98.  I'm particularly proud of this final figure because my grocery shopping was done almost exclusively at my local grocery store rather than the big national chains where I used to shop for deep discounts.  Also, I did not have access to my favorite produce markets where there was always a large selection of good produce at super low prices.  That I miss dearly.  The other key to cutting my budget was not cooking more than I needed for the sake of having something fun to post.  You may have noticed fewer posts last month and that is why.

Making my own bread was definitely a success and money saver.  My favorite was naan because it is super delicious and versatile.  The bagels were also awesome and I plan to make more soon!  Although the no-knead bread was a life changing experience at first, I am now on the fence about it.  I continue to experiment with the recipe to see if I can get it just right but I will most likely post a regular bread recipe soon.

Anyway, I plan to continue this cost cutting venture because this is what the blog was all about to begin with.  Cooking is super fun and it's easy for your budget to slip away from you.

FYI: I use Quicken to track all of my spending.  I use a super old version from 2003 but plan to upgrade soon.  On my version you can break down your receipts into separate categories which is particularly helpful for grocery store rceipts (I don't include household items like toilet paper in my grocery expenses, those go under "household expenses").  Plus there are tons of tools to make charts and reports to easily see your spending breakdown. It's a lot of fun... if you're a geek like me.

So, what tips or tricks do YOU have to reduce your grocery budget?

There is a wealth of knowledge among the readers here and I love it when everyone shares and we all learn from each other!