Monthly Groceries

Hello, hello.

I usually plan meals and buy groceries monthly, with little side trips every so often. My monthly budget just went from $200 for food and household items to $250, so I am excited. $200 was a bit tight and I usually went over by $5-$20 each month. I've seen a lot of people list out everything they buy, I'm not into that. What I will do each time, is list out the improvements I have consciously made toward buying healthier foods, as well as the amount of money I spent.

Aldi = $39.60
Walmart = $95.46
Total = $135.06 (so far, there are more veggies and several other more expensive things coming later in the month)

This included buying a replacement mixer--my old one sucked a very thick batter up inside of its motor, so it's not doing so well. It also included buying soda for the next 3 months.

I am mostly excited for the increased food budget because it will allow me to buy higher quality meat and veggies. My freezer is pretty well stocked at the moment, but as I use up the different types of meat / etc, I am going to do better.

Improvements to My Food this Trip:

• I bought King Arthur brand white flour to replace my bleached, nasty white flour. I was trying to use it all up, but we didn't use as much bread as I thought we would this month. I am just going to throw the rest of the bad white flour away. One more thing off my list. I don't feel too terrible about this considering: a.) how much bad stuff was in it, and b.) that I bought it like a year ago and still haven't used it up, because I use mostly ww flour.
  
• The soda I did buy was "Throwback" soda, meaning it was made with real sugar and not HFCS. I am happy about this.
  
• I found a replacement for the brand of applesauce I was buying, also because of HFCS. The great thing is that it was actually cheaper. It was $1.69 for a 42oz jar (Yay, Aldi!). I also threw the last single-serve applesauce away.
  
• I was really craving Cheetos, but instead of buying the normal kind, I tried to find a healthier approximate: white cheddar, natural Cheetos. No food dyes, none of the typical crap. It's not perfect, but c'mon, it's Cheetos. If I actually wanted to be 100% healthy, I wouldn't even have been in that isle. :) I will be using these with my lunches this month, I can't wait.