Food Budgets 101 part deux
Sep. 30th, 2011 09:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daidoji_giseiSo September is over (more or less) and according to my records I spent $162.59 on food for the month, well under my target of $200. This makes me happy, as mid-month I had bought that pressure cooker under the assumption that I was going to come in under budget, and indeed the unused funds almost exactly cover that expense. (The Halo 3 soundtrack, which I purchased at the same time, was entirely frivolous and I don't regret it.)
One of the things I got from this was how advantageous my job is, foodwise. Working at a grocery store and getting an employee discount is very helpful, especially if you shop the sales intelligently. Another thing was that my decision to count deli take-out as part of my food budget really helped cut down on my take-out habit. I think I only resorted to a deli burrito for lunch two or three times this month, and I didn't indulge in any fried chicken dinners from Russ's at all.
The final thing I noticed was that part of the reason I made budget was that I have a very large well-stocked pantry and that I didn't have to buy some food because I already had it in storage. For instance, I bought no canned tuna this month because last spring my store had a case sale on it and I was still using up the case I got then. My challenge then is to use some of each month's food money to stock some pantry items to make up for the ones I use up. Seen in this light my decisions to buy the large tin of soy sauce and the bell peppers that I froze for later were correct.
I am fascinated to see what I will learn in October.
One of the things I got from this was how advantageous my job is, foodwise. Working at a grocery store and getting an employee discount is very helpful, especially if you shop the sales intelligently. Another thing was that my decision to count deli take-out as part of my food budget really helped cut down on my take-out habit. I think I only resorted to a deli burrito for lunch two or three times this month, and I didn't indulge in any fried chicken dinners from Russ's at all.
The final thing I noticed was that part of the reason I made budget was that I have a very large well-stocked pantry and that I didn't have to buy some food because I already had it in storage. For instance, I bought no canned tuna this month because last spring my store had a case sale on it and I was still using up the case I got then. My challenge then is to use some of each month's food money to stock some pantry items to make up for the ones I use up. Seen in this light my decisions to buy the large tin of soy sauce and the bell peppers that I froze for later were correct.
I am fascinated to see what I will learn in October.
