$300 Grocery Experiment: week 2 finances

What a week! I was completely swamped with school work and barely had time to finish it all, let alone do anything else.

This week was so much easier to budget than last week, but I did need to think ahead for Thanksgiving, so I didn't use my entire $75. Click here to see this week's menu and continue reading to see how shopping went.

• all-purpose flour (5lb) $1.38 Aldi
• whole wheat flour (5lb) $2.69 Kroger
• Mozzarella cheese, shredded (1lb) $3.69 Aldi
• Tomato Sauce $.25 Aldi
• Italian Seasoning $.99 Aldi
• garlic bulb $.49 Kroger 
• Pepperoni $1.99 Aldi
• Butter quarters (1 lb) $2.49 Kroger (as part of a buy 10 save $5 promotion)
• Pasta (x2) $.69 Kroger (as part of a buy 10 save $5 promotion) 
• canned tomatoes (x6) $.49 Kroger (as part of a buy 10 save $5 promotion)
• frozen tortellini $2.49 (as part of a buy 10 save $5 promotion)
• peanut butter (16 oz) $1.69 Aldi
• apples (3lb) (x2) $2.49 Aldi
• milk (gal) x3 $1.99 Aldi
• pancake syrup $1.69 Aldi
• eggs (doz) $1.59 Aldi
• powdered sugar $.99 aldi
• blackberries (6 oz) x2 $.99 Kroger
• bananas 3.4 lb @ $.55/lb Kroger
• Frozen peas and carrots (x2) $1 Kroger
• Soy sauce $1.39 Kroger
• fresh grape tomatoes $.69 Aldi
• Raspberry Jam $2.59 Kroger
• yeast (jar) $2.89 Kroger
• canned beans (x4) $.59 each Aldi
• frozen chopped spinach $1 Kroger
• block cheddar cheese $1.89 Aldi
• Turkey Ham $4.99 Kroger
• pretzels $1.29 Aldi
• Cheerios (store brand) $1.69
• Brussel Sprouts $1.99 (manager special)
• loaf bread $.65 (manager special)

I did end up needing to switch my planned meal of chef salad to ham, brussel sprouts, and bread since I found the brussels on sale and the lettuce didn't look great.
My total for the week came to: $66.96 and my total so far for the month is $141.87.

I was able to buy ahead a little this week. I bought an extra box of spaghetti, 1 extra lb of butter, and 2 extra cans of tomatoes. I also budgeted buy a jar of yeast instead of the little 3 packs, since they get so expensive. I had to buy a loaf of bread since by the experiment standards I ran too low on flour last week to make a loaf before grocery shopping, so I made sure to buy more this week. Whole wheat flour helps to fill you up better, so I may be able to get the rest of the month with what I bought this week, though I won't know for sure until next weekend.

Just for full disclosure, we did find ourselves at my parents for part of the weekend and they fed us, but I'm still treating the budget as if we really did eat all the meals I bought supplies for. I didn't get to make the tortellini soup or spaghetti, but those ingredients are independent of others, so I'm putting them away into my regular food storage.. I'm also pretending like we finished off the oatmeal during the breakfasts and the peanut butter and jams during the lunches. I made about the right amount of bread anyway, since I took some with us and fed a bunch to the pig.