Spend, spend, spend!

It appears that this is everyone's "spend" day. Several have posted their shopping lists, which I think is a great idea. I actually way overspent (not unusual) today, but because I printed off some recipes at work last night and shopped accordingly, I can make the food last at least two weeks.

I had to go to THREE different grocery stores to find everything I needed; apparently the trucks didn't arrive yesterday and there wasn't much produce to pick from:

Produce

$2.38 2 lemons (@ $1.19 ea)
$1.58 2 lemons (@ $0.79 ea)
$1.18 2 limes (@ $0.59 ea)
$1.42 ONE orange
$3.29 1 bag new red potatoes
$2.99 1 bag new red potatoes
$4.94 1 bag Gala apples (@ $4.17 kg)
$1.70 2 bunches gr onion (@ .85 ea)
$2.88 strawberries
$3.78 2 avocadoes (@ $1.89 ea)
$2.55 2 green peppers (@ $5.49 kg)
$0.36 4 bananas (@ $0.44 kg - maybe I could live only on bananas...)
$0.42 3 pieces ginger root (...or ginger...)
$1.98 1 pkg basil
$2.19 1 cucumber

Bakery

$3.98 2 loaves bread

Meats

$4.80 ground beef
$3.04 maple ham, sliced
$6.66 pepper steak (2 in pkg = 2 meals)
$4.69 round steak
$4.47 round steak
$5.99 turkey sausages

Grocery

$10.49 1 case bottled water (35 bottles, incl. recycling fee/deposit)
$2.99 vanilla parfait
$2.99 muffin mix
$3.69 ground round (ground chicken soy)
$4.18 2kg frozen peas
$4.18 2kg frozen corn
$3.68 ground nutmeg
$2.79 fusilli pasta
$2.79 farfalle pasta
$0.78 white vinegar
$2.89 basil pesto
$1.47 Coke
$3.69 balsamic vinegar
$5.59 organic pasta sauce
$4.69 korma sauce
$2.99 lemon & herb seasoning
$5.31 3 tins tuna (@ $1.77 ea)
$4.98 2 ltr organic milk
$6.68 2 bottles juice
$3.28 1 bottle Worcestershire sauce

Other

$5.84 8 tins cat food (@ $0.73 ea)
$15.21 bakeware

Total: $162.86/3 (wks) = $54.29 p/wk

So, taking a look at everything on my purchase list, all I'll need to buy next week is some fresh produce and probably some more milk. There's definitely room for improvement (e.g. losing the Coke and the vanilla parfait), but it's far better than I used to do.

Dinner tonight: grilled pepper steak, potatoes and steamed veggies

Admittedly, the baking tray was not a necessity, but I've already used it. It's a mini-loaf pan and I put it to use as soon as I got home. I currently have a cookie sheet as bakeware, so this addition will get a lot of use.

I'm going to take a page from Frugal Trenches blog and do a "shop" at home next time I go grocery shopping so that I'm only picking up absolute necessities. I CAN cut my budget, by quite a lot each time, as long as I'm careful, diligent and stick to my lists.