I am a SNAP recipient who receives $193.00 per month in benefits. To augment that, I am able to budget an additional $32.00 per month for food. Altogether, that leaves me with a budget of just over $50.00 per week. Join me as I share what I do to make it work.
Welcome to Week Seven
Well, so much for my increased food budget. I just got notice that my rent is increasing by $28.00/month, and that will have to come out of my food budget. That means, beginning in April, my monthly food budget will be $225.00. That works out to 51.92 per week, so I’m pretty much back where I started.
I have to laugh though because I spent so much time writing about my increased food budget, and that increased food budget lasted all of one month!
Anyway, I’m used to the struggle, and based on my inability to drop those Holiday Pounds, your girl definitely isn’t wasting away—although that is most likely from indulging in no bake cookies and homemade cakes. My sweet tooth is my only vice, and I admittedly tend to overindulge. No, fruit does not scratch that itch.
Moving on, let’s have a look at what I’ve eaten this past week in between mouthfuls of sweets.
Meals
Frozen Pizza (Thu night)
I’m not really a fan of the crust on Chicago deep dish, and I would not normally pay $7.99 for a frozen pizza. However, the sauce on this Gino’s East pizza is good, and they load it up with cheese. I can only eat two slices of it in one sitting, so not only is it dinner but also lunch for the next day.
Taco Soup (Fri, Sat, Sun nights)
This taco soup recipe from New York Times kept showing up as a sponsored ad on Facebook, so I decided to try it for soup night. The verdict: it tastes like my chili but with extra steps; I don’t add chicken stock, tomato paste, or green chiles to my chili. This soup was tasty enough and it’s thick, so more like a stew. The recipe also makes a huge batch, so there was enough for three dinners…and a couple of lunches.
Gyro, Hummus, & Fattoush (Mon night)
As I’m sure most people know, Grub Hub is p r i c y. Regardless, Sam has free GrubHub+ because she’s an Amazon Prime member. She recently got a 35% off promo code from GrubHub that she’s not able to use, so I gladly used it.
I’ve been craving a gyro or a falafel wrap, neither of which I make at home. Well, I’ve made falafel, but I don’t generally care to fry things in my apartment. Anyway, I ordered me a bunch of food, and the discount essentially covered the tip & service fee.
Everything was delicious, and I’m very glad I decided to treat myself.
Potato Salad (Tue night)
I was going to do baked potatoes, but I decided what I really wanted was potato salad. Sam isn’t a fan, so I never get to eat it. And while it’s usually served as a side, it’s just me, so why not load up on it? After all, if baked potatoes can be a whole meal, why not potato salad too?
The salad wasn’t fancy. It was just your standard issue potato salad: russet potatoes, hard boiled eggs, onion, and celery in a simple dressing of mayo, mustard, and a bit of vinegar.
I had planned to split it between two dinners, but I chose to have the aforementioned impromptu Mediterranean meal on one of those nights. So, I ended up only doing one dinner with potato salad, and it’s a good thing. There would not have been enough for two meals…probably because I had a few bowls of it outside of dinner time.
Fettuccine Alfredo (moved to next week)
I was supposed to do two nights of fettuccine alfredo, but I forgot the cream…even though it was right on my list…and I checked my list twice. So, I moved that to next week.
Pasta & Meatballs (Wed night)
Luckily I always have ground beef in the freezer, as well as plenty of pasta and crushed tomatoes on hand. So, since I couldn’t do alfredo, I thankfully could do pasta & meatballs. That is what I’ll be having tonight. I’ll also be having it tomorrow night, but that’s technically next week as far as groceries go.
I say “pasta” and meatballs because I’m not sure if I’ll be using spaghetti or something else. I’m not a fan of eating spaghetti; I find it difficult to eat, especially with meatballs. Eating should not be difficult! I may try penne.
Total Spent on Meals: $42.73
Fruit & Yogurt Parfaits
Last week, I did a copycat version of McDonald’s sausage breakfast burritos. This week I am doing a copycat version of their discontinued fruit & yogurt parfaits. I had enough yogurt to make 5 half-pint parfaits with strawberries & blueberries.
Total Spent on Fruit & Yogurt Parfaits: $11.47
Treats:
Since Frederik’s by Meijer candy was on sale, and I also clipped a digital $2.00-off coupon, I decided to purchase a bag of the milk chocolate covered English-style toffee candies. Well, first of all, my $2.00-off coupon was not applied. Secondly, these candies were disgusting. How do you screw up toffee? It’s butter & sugar! Yuck!
I decided right away that I would be returning these on my next shopping trip, but first I would complain to Meijer. I heard back from someone the same day. They apologized and issued a $2.00 courtesy coupon to my mPerks account. Good!
I should probably feel guilty about making $2.00 off of this nasty candy, but I don’t. I just added another bag of Frederik’s candy to my online cart to see if the coupon would be applied. Nope. They haven’t fixed it. Everyone who has clipped this coupon is still getting screwed over.
While I am a faithful Meijer shopper, this company is known for these kinds of things. You have to be very vigilant to make sure that you’re getting the advertised sale prices as well as making sure your discounts and coupons are being applied. Since I’m tracking my purchases on a spreadsheet, they’re not going to be able to pull a fast one on me. However, most customers understandably do not have the time or patience to do this. As a result, whether or not it’s purposeful, Meijer is going to continue cheating their customers like this.
Total Spent on Treats: $5.49 ($0.00 as of Thursday)
Baking/Dessert Project
I didn’t have any official projects planned; I haven’t been inspired to test out any new baking or dessert recipes. I did, however, make unplanned no bake cookies as I often do.
Total Spent for Baking/Dessert: $0.00
Stock Up
There was nothing to stock up on this week, so I bought the fixings for parfaits instead!
Total Spent to Stock Up: $0.00
The Final Tally
This week’s regular price total at Meijer was $44.35. I saved a total of $8.08, which includes the redemption of $5.00 worth of my mPerks rewards points. So, my Meijer total was $36.27, and after I return Frederik’s nasty chocolates tomorrow, my adjusted total will be $30.78.
Then, I had the pricy Mediterranean food, which cost $18.42, so my grand total for this week’s food was $54.69. However, it will be $49.20 after I return the chocolates, so I technically stayed under budget.
Grand Total Spent on Food This Week: $54.69/$49.20
In Conclusion
I did well at Meijer for this week’s groceries, which allowed me to treat myself to an impromptu dinner of some Mediterranean favorites without blowing my budget. However, I would have never used Grub Hub had I not been able to apply the 35% off promo code. I would have never went and picked up the food myself, either. If you are familiar with the Frandor area of Lansing, you will understand why. It’s a clusterf&#k that I avoid at all costs.
Maybe GrubHub isn’t the best idea on a tight budget, but that discount code was calling my name, and let’s be honest, sometimes a girl just needs a gyro. Mediterranean feast night was a definite win. Here’s to another week of making it work!