It's that time again! My 2 week grocery haul

Well, we made it through our first two weeks of our $400 January grocery budget challenge. We had to get very creative the beginning of this week but overall it's been okay. 

So, this grocery haul cost $220.00 so, I did end up going over. We have ended up feeding our church missionaries three more times than planned so, as long as we make it these next two weeks, I will count it as a success.

In this grocery haul I got more fruit and veggies then last time. It was something we ran low on  during our first 2 weeks so I wanted to make sure we had enough this time. I also found a 7.60 lb block of mozzarella. I paid $2.49 a pound for it making it $18.92. This block will actually last us for a month or so but we use a lot of cheese, especially when we eat a lot of rice and beans. 

I was pretty bummed that Sharp Shopper didn't have any milk alternatives this week so I had to pay $2.98 each for Almond and Cashew milk. 

Also in this haul I got some clearance Christmas chocolate for .50 a bag at Aldi. It is actually some of my very favorite chocolate and they only have it for Christmas and Easter so I got 4 of them. We will use them for family home evening or a movie night.

Not in the picture is 6 loaves of french bread for .60 each and a 50 lb bag of chicken feed.  

Overall, I thought it was a pretty good haul. I did have to adjust my grocery list due to prices and availability but that is how I shop anyway.

I do have to change my menu. This challenge has shown me that we work best with a 1 week menu. No matter how hard I try to keep ingredients around for planned meals, we still end up running out. 

We were blessed by a few people who gave us food. My visiting teacher gave us a bag of tortilla chips and a jar of grape jelly and my brother gave us a bag of rice, a bag of dried beans and 4 cans of beans, tortillas and tortilla chips. These items helped us a lot. It's amazing how much I take these items for granted until I am low on food and then they are such a blessing.

If you are thinking of doing a grocery budget challenge, I encourage you to do it! If only to give you an idea of how much your family really eats and what they will eat when you are low on food.