[nuisance26]

~I know I'm a little early on this, but I'm done for November. :teddy2: My fridge, freezer and pantry are full so I'm trying my biggest challenge yet. I aim to spend $100 or less in December. :nerv2: ~

 

[Nantahala]

I am there with you! I have a stocked pantry and freezer so there is no reason for me to buy anything more than apples, bananas, bread and milk this month. I aim to keep it under $100 as well.

 

[dmvezina]

Good luck!!

Unfortunately, my freezers are getting low, but I'm going to try hard to keep my bill low. Hopefully dh will help out there!! LOL

My pantry is pretty good. I need some basics, but do not plan on going before the end of the month. Maybe on the 1st, lol. I still need to finish adding up for this month. I've been to the store a few times in the past week and a half but only got a few items each time.

I'm not sure what I'll set my goal at. I need to do an inventory first. I may have more than I think! LOL

 

[Shellshome]

Well my bill will be higher this month as I need to restock on somethings and I have Christmas at my house for my family and then dh's also on another day. (Thou we may eat out then so who knows on that one) but my family comes here which is nice.

My plan is right around $400 for the month but I need to restock on toliet paper, cat and dog items and food (pantry,freezer and so on).

Which is really good considering how much food I am starting with for the month. I hardly went to the store in the last 3 months to get anything major so it is ok. I might get off with less then this with all my coupons and frugal shopping.

Good luck with the challenge for december everyone!:sly:

 

[jinx]

I too stocked up on some things this fall. My freezer has a good selection as well. I would like to keep the budget to just perishables this month. Christmas may kill that idea. We do xmas eve at our house, and dh tends to go overboard with food. It's really the only time he does, so I cant say much. I would like to keep it to under 150.00 not including the food for xmas eve. Going to try anyway.

 

[FrugalMomof3]

I will just continue doing what I am doing and keeping the food bill down (under $75 a month), we eat alot of rice here so that's a major plus and potatoes too! Our local supermarket has a B1G1 sale so now I have 2 bags of 5lb potatoes which will last us a while.

Good luck to everyone!

 

[nuisance26]

I will just continue doing what I am doing and keeping the food bill down (under $75 a month), we eat alot of rice here so that's a major plus and potatoes too!

~Wow! I'm impressed! What are some of your rice/potato meals? I'd love to steal your ideas!~

 

[FrugalMomof3]

Constance - I usually just make white rice with potatoes (potatoes - peel and cut into little pieces but odd shapes, add some adobo seasoning, annato for color and sofrito (spanish seasoning) and some water to a pot, let boil, turn down hit then let simmer or until potatoes are done - use left over sauce in pot as a marinade to put over rice with the potatoes).

My kids and DH love this, you can add in some kidney beans or pink beans to the potatoe mixture and add a few pimento olives too! Put the Potatoes or Beans and Potato mixture over the rice with a little of the marinade from the pot and WA LA! A good, quick and cheap meal thats good for you!

You can always make chicken, steaks or any meat to go with it! I do it with chicken but not all the time.

 

[nuisance26]

~Sounds like easy comfort food. I have adobo but not sofrito. Is it spicy? I'll bet I could find it in the dollar store. I'm so boring with my potatos, I think I'll try this. Thanks Tracy!~

 

[favesis37]

well i am about of of everything! so this will be a bad month for us, besides my sister is coming in that means i will need to feed around 23 people at the end of the month, christmas is another 24 people, hubby will be home munching for about 3 weeks after surgery. i hope to keep it around 300.00 but bet i go way over

 

[BlackstoneMama]

1/2 with Sis

Just joined the forums, you all are giving me inspiration! My sister and I have decided that we both spend too much on groceries and that this Sunday, we are going to pool what we have from our pantries and freezers and do a batch of OAMC and see how much time and money we can save together!

 

[marei]

Wow, just made it by the skin of my teeth. I budgeted $200.00 in cash for groceries and still have $5.00 in the envelope and have to say I found that a lot easier than trying to keep track of sales slips. That is for two adults and one sixteen year old boy and 1 kitten.

 

[dmvezina]

What a great idea!! Good luck!!!

Well, I just did an inventory of my chest freezer where i keep all my dinner meats. I do have more than I thought. I will not have to buy any except for my Christmas ham which I will wait til I find a good price. If I see any meats dirt cheap, then I'll stock up, but that's it.

I'm good on so many things so hopefully I can keep mine at or under $200.
That's what I'm going to shoot for!
I know I need mayonnaise, celery, and a few things this week but will probably wait til Saturday to go.

 

[thrifty gal]

Count me in for the December challenge. I do not have a stocked pantry, but I am definitely going to start one this month. I am going to aim for $500 this month for groceries. There are 5 paydays this month, and we shop every payday, so that's one reason it's a little high. And, I added a little extra for stocking up. Also, I will be hosting Christmas dinner, so that's also expensive. This amount includes food, cleaning supplies, pet food, basically anything we buy at WalMart or the grocery.

 

[lottaLove]

I am in. I went over last month stocking up, so this month there is no excuse for me to break the $200.00 mark. For me this will include food, diapers, and pet supplies for the month.

 

[FrugalMomof3]

Constance - Sofrito is a mixture of peppers, onions, garlic, etc... you can usually buy it pre-made at your grocery store in the frozen section with all the other goya products, try there, if not you can just buy peppers (red, green, orange) blend them up in the blender to make a liquid type mixture but not like a smoothie, while doing this add in some garlic, cilantro (fresh veggies section), onions and a drizzle here and there of oil, mix well and there you go!

 

[peanut]

Aiming for $260 in groceries this month. We'll see if I can do it. Still paying back clothing for the summer months of stocking up. On the up side, the freezer is holding up for us. Lots of food to eat.

 

[marei]

Did the cash in the envelope last month for the first time and so much easier to keep track of the money. Budgeted $200.00 and came in at $195.00.
This month going to be a bad one so will put $175.00 in the envelope for normal expenses and $200.00 in another envelope for Christmas. Will be feeding a total of 12 people Christmas Eve, 17 people for Christmas brunch, back to 12 people for Christmas dinner and 12 people for at least breakfast and lunch on the 26th, don't really know when anybody is leaving.

 

[Ani]

This is my first month of participating in any sort of grocery challenge, so I'm going to go easy on myself until I really start to get a rhythm down of what I spend and what we need. It's just my hubby and I, but his mom is struggling right now after the death of his dad, so she eats with us most nights as well. We also end up feeding random other family members quite often. Oh the curses of being culinarily-inclined!

So, without further adeu, I'm setting $300 for our grocery limit this month, including pet supplies, toiletries, and cleaning supplies. The pantry, freezer, and fridge are nearly bare, so wish me luck!

 

[McD]

I'd like to join in again. I stayed under the 250 mark by about 50 dollars. I am again going to shot for 250, but I know I can stay way under that. The welcoming committee just came to our house and dropped off all sorts of coupons to local business---including coupons for free groceries at local grocery stores!