Frugal For One

Alright. Let's face it. I'm not the best at budgeting. Before, I had talked about $20/week for groceries and with coupons, smart shopping, and holdovers in your "stock" from previous weeks, I think that, for a single lady, it's possible.

Well, thanks to an unexpected bill for Harry's double pink-eye, I found myself with $11 in my checking account for this first week of December. (Granted, I have credit cards, but that's a slippery slope and savings is SAVINGS.)

How did I manage? Well, prior to December 1, I had purchased a pound of rice, a 4-pack of Greek yogurt, and a bag of shredded cheese for a total of $7.05 at Target. That held me through Saturday and Sunday (with some sausage I already had) since most of Saturday was spent with Grape Flu.

Now, how am I going to make it from December 3 - December 7? Monday, I had a yogurt from my 4-pack, and some leftover chicken in the office from the boss that was going to go bad. Then I ventured to the grocery store.

Here's what I needed:

• 4 Breakfasts 
• 4 Lunches (Between the chicken on Monday and two servings of rice, I had 3 covered)
• 5 Dinners

Here's what I had:

• Brown N Serve Sausage ($1 at Safeway)
• Shredded Cheese ($2.49 at Target)
• EVOO/Spices/Condiments, etc.
• 2 yogurts left from my 4-pack ($3.69 for 4-pack)
• 2 c. cooked rice leftover from the rice ($.87 at Target)

I have the right side of the fridge. Which has cheese, booze & baking soda. I am literally on empty.

Here's what I bought at Safeway:

• 2 Southwest Ranch Salad Kits (On sale at 2/$5)
• 3 Pineapple Greek yogurts (Flavor - overstock -  on sale for $.69)
• 1 can seasoned black beans (Reg. price at $.89)
• 1 can Swanson's chicken broth (On sale $.88 until 12/25)
• 16 oz brown rice ($1.99 - boo to paying $1.02 MORE than Target)

BOOM. $10.83 for a weeks' worth of meals. AND I saved 26%.

Now, how do you menu plan on so little?

Here's my plan. (Not accounting for office coffee & candy.)

Monday

Breakfast

Greek yogurt

Lunch

Boss' chicken

Dinner

1/2 Salad Kit

Tuesday
Breakfast
Greek yogurt

Lunch
Black Beans & Rice

Dinner
Remaining 1/2 of Salad Kit

Wednesday
Breakfast
Greek yogurt

Lunch
Pantry Clean Out Rice (Literally picking random spices & sauces I like)

Dinner
Black Beans & Rice

Thursday
Breakfast
Greek yogurt

Lunch
1/2 of second Salad Kit

Dinner
Black Beans & Rice

Friday
Breakfast
Greek yogurt

Lunch
Other 1/2 of the second Salad Kit

Dinner
Sausage & Cheese Rice (just like it sounds, but with onion & chili powders)

After I've typed this out, I think I'll even have leftover rice. With the chicken stock, water, and a full bag of rice, there was close to 10 cups of cooked riced.

Basically, I feel like a champion for finding deals and sticking to my budget. I think that if I increased my weekly budget to $15, I could even get some chicken in there to "beef up" the menu, too.

Have you ever challenged yourself to a budget for groceries?

p.s. Pro tip: Non-processed foods are not taxed. Look at my receipt, I didn't pay tax on any of that.