Alas, I did not make my goal this month. I thought perhaps I might, when I saw that I had only spend $198.26 on groceries. Plus, Matt went away for Thanksgiving, which meant not much cooking for a week.
But no, when I crunched the numbers, I came out at $42.06 per week. That is $4.36 per week more than the Thrift Food Plan. It is, however, $4.74 less per week than the Low-Cost Food Plan.
I’m guessing I’m not going to hit my goal in December, either, as my monthly WinCo shopping trip ended up with me spending 80% of my food budget.
Thanksgiving turned out not to be a problem. I was in charge of the rolls, and the ingredients flour, yeast, milk, and salt are all fairly economical. Butter is not, but it’s cheap in comparison to say, turkey. If I were making a thanksgiving for myself, the turkey would be the main expense.
I’m guessing I’m not going to make my Thrift Food goal unless I plan each meal ahead of time. Right now, I’m relying on my monthly WinCo trip to stock a pantry and then filling in things around the edges with additional trips to New Seasons and Fred Meyer. I might play around with more complete meal planning in 2018 and see if it makes a difference.
Progress during a holiday month is quite well done. I am impressed.