His and Hers Tamales

$68.22. That’s what we’ve spent on food this week. That’s going to go up a bit, as I need to do a small shop today to get us through the weekend. But I don’t expect to spend more than $20 or so to do that. We are WAY under budget this week. Of course, the free tamales our neighbor made for us didn’t hurt the effort, but they amounted to one lunch for each adult, so I think it’s fair to say it wasn’t the gift food that made the difference. (Ah, but free food is delicious. Especially when made by a neighbor who can COOK. My god, can that woman cook.)

Let’s assume I end up spending $90 total this week. That’s about fifty bucks less than I spent last week. So what did I do so drastically differently this week? Well, I did a better job of meal planning to ensure that all the leftovers got used up. That helped. And the kiddo didn’t get to dictate any purchases. That helped. And I didn’t buy any bread or bagels because I baked instead. But also, no big staples were needed this week. Last week we bought canola oil, tamari, and tea. That’s almost $30 right there. I know, that sounds like a lot, right? But the oil and tamari will last us the rest of the month at least. We get the big oil and tamari because we use a lot of both. The tea won’t last quite that long, but Billy loves his PG Tips and the man deserves some pleasures in life. (That, and it’s the second cheapest tea in New Seasons.) Staples that aren’t purchased on a weekly basis are going to skew things. I’m thinking the total at the end of each month is going to tell a truer tale of how we’re doing than the week-by-week will. That said, I’m still feeling pretty damn triumphant about this week’s total.