Gratitude Sunday

Three things I'm grateful for this week:

My wonderful neighbors! They had such a nice baby shower for us yesterday and we stayed for hours just chatting and laughing. Fabulous friends, food, company...

Fresh snow! It is a fairytale outside my windows. My pup had such an amazing time frolicking in the snow with her friends last night and this morning. I'm also grateful that it wasn't too much snow and the commute tomorrow should be tolerable.

Baby hiccups! I can't stop laughing at the little man when he gets the hiccups in utero. Who knew?

I just realized that this post is full of exclamation marks. I have had an exclamation mark filled week, despite not making much progress on my never-ending to-do list. I love my life right now, and my list of blessings grows every bit as fast as my to-do list.

Menus and Grocery Budget

So last week's grocery spending at Costco was a complete disaster... I could make excuses... For example, we stocked up on diapers for the first time. In addition, I have been buying more food than usual as I am stocking up my freezer with cooked meals for after baby arrives. Theoretically then, our budget should even out in March when we'll be working off the inventory in the freezer. We'll see. Anyways - this was the first month of budgeting, and I hope we'll get better at this as we go. Besides, the eating out is easily half what it used to be, so I'll claim victory (of sorts.)

Groceries:
Safeway: $42 last week and $68.45 this week
Remaining for this month: -$10.15

Eating Out:
My husband took out our house guests while I was at my baby shower $81.57, and this week we went out for Greek food, $45.15.
Remaining for this month: -$14.26

Costco:
Here's where it completely falls apart... $404.24
Remaining for this month: -$204.24

Here's the menu for this week:

Breakfast: Oatmeal, smoothies, toast, homemade blueberry muffins
Lunch: Soup, salad, leftovers

Sunday: Pork stew in roasted pumpkins (it was amazing, and I froze 1 meal)
Monday: Pinto bean and butternut squash chili (+1 to freezer)
Tuesday: Flounder Meuniere with green beans and potatoes
Wednesday: Chicken Cacciatore (+ 2 to freezer)
Thursday: Beef schnitzel, roasted vegetables
Friday: Pasta with clam sauce
Saturday: Quiche

Thanks heavens it's the end of the month and we can start over!

Gratitude Sunday

Three things I'm grateful for this week:

Being able to sleep in this morning! I didn't wake up until 8:30 this morning after going to bed around 11 last night. A full night's sleep has not happened for me in a while!

A stand-up freezer - I have been cooking like mad to fill it up before the baby arrives. It gives me so much pleasure looking at all the neatly stacked meals that will nourish us when we bring our little man home.

Being pregnant - we have wanted this little boy for a long time, and my pregnancy has been easy and uneventful.

Menu and Food Budgets - Last Week

Okay, so this post is late... wayyyy late. I did track and make a menu, but for whatever reason I didn't get a chance to post, so there will be two budget and menu posts today.

I (still!) haven't finished our budget for this year. I'm working with $100 per week for groceries, plus $200 for Costco. We'll limit meals out to $200 per month. Here's the scoop on last week's food budget and eating out:

Groceries:
Safeway: $73.29
Remaining for this month: $100.30

Eating Out:
none
Remaining for this month: $123

Costco:
Still haven't gone yet...
Remaining for this month: $200
Here's the menu we followed for last week:

Sunday: Thai Chicken
Monday: Chicken Thighs with mushroom and thyme sauce, rice, veggie
Tuesday: Roasted Salmon with tomatoes, leftover rice.
Wednesday: Home-made burgers!
Thursday: Cassoulet (froze half for later)
Friday: Lasagna (froze half for later)
Saturday: Dinner out with Mom and brother. Indian food hmmmmm.
Sunday: Leftovers! (love leftovers!)

Menus and Grocery Budget - Last Week

I haven't quite finished out budget for this year as there are so many changes in our life right now. For groceries though, I think the budget will be approximately $100 per week, plus $200 for Costco. We currently spend too much money going out, and I'd like to limit that to $200 per month. While that may sound like way too much for two people, it would be a vast improvement over our current spending.

Here's the menu we followed (mostly) for last week:

Sunday: Pizza (whole wheat dough from Trader Joe's with salami and olives)
Monday: Slow cooker beans and sausage
Tuesday: Steaks (hubby found steaks on sale and convinced me the baby wanted steak - didn't take much convincing. I just move the rest of the menu on day forward)
Wednesday: Cod, potatoes, green beans
Thursday: Pasta Puttanesca (froze half for later)
Friday: Sushi and for me, alas, cooked Japanese food - we ate out and spent
Saturday: Tapas (Garlic shrimp, Spanish ham and cheese, Fierce Potatoes, Spinach, olives)
Sunday: Thai Pork in the slow cooker.

Spending so far for January:

Groceries:
Trader Joes - $94.06
Safeway: $132.35
Remaining for this month: $173.91
(Obviously seriously not good)

Eating Out:
Japanese Food: $77
Remaining for this month: $123
We can manage through this one easily...

Costco:
Haven't gone yet...
Remaining for this month: $200
May go today, calculator in hand for sure!