I'm going to be focusing a lot on reducing my food expenses the next couple of months, as this is one expense I have where the expense is not fixed and I know there is room to cut.
Ironically, I started this attempt to reduce food expenses over the next couple of months by increasing the expense. Last week I spent $200 on groceries (gulp!) Much of this was that I took a field trip to the nearest Trader Joe's (over an hour away) and stockpiled "goodies" for the rest of the summer. I'm trying not to eat out this summer since I'm not working, but I do yearn for variety and the occasional prepared meal, so I went and loaded up on prepared burritos and frozen Asian dinners etc. One find was a hearts of palm/artichoke Bruschetta spread, a tablespoon of which turns my ordinary lunchtime turkey sandwich into a delicacy.
I also finally plugged in the downstairs freezer. I was lucky enough to "inherit" an upright freezer in the basement when I bought the house last fall. It's remained empty so far, but after my TJ's run, I plugged it in and started filling it up.
I also spent money to buy a bunch boneless/skinless chicken breasts on sale. I baked them in a soy-ginger marinade, and then sealed them in FoodSaver bags and tossed those in the freezer as well. Between that and the frozen salmon fillets and turkey burgers that are already in there, I won't have to buy much meat at least through July.
Groceries
June 22nd, 2006 at 03:17 pm