Thursday, September 25, 2008

Shopping List for Hunger Challenge

Below is my finalized shopping list for the week’s food (non-staples) with prices paid. I was able to take advantage of some phenomenal sales. For example $1.99 pound for boneless, skinless chicken thighs, 39 cents a pound for cabbage, four pounds of rice for $2.49 and a two gallons for the price of one deal on the milk. While these values vary from week to week, they represent what was out there while I was planning my menus. Most of the shopping was done at my neighborhood Safeway and Lucky’s, but items were also bought at Grocery Outlet and an independent supermarket.

Diced tomato $1.85
Chicken Broth $3.34
Stewed Tomatoes $1.38
frozen spinach $0.99
frozen broccoli $0.99
boneless chicken thighs $5.97
green cabbage $0.93
onions $0.89
red jalapeno peppers $0.20
garlic head $0.25
ginger $0.25
potatoes $2.49
bananas $0.50
apples $6.99
red leaf lettuce $1.29
pinto beans $0.99
rice $2.49
cheese - 2% cheddar $5.00
eggs $2.69
milk $3.29
turkey meat balls $5.00
pasta $0.88
bread $3.00
blackberry jam $2.50
cereal $2.00
peanut butter $1.99
firm tofu $1.79
carrots $1.49
celery $1.99
whole grain waffles $3.19
frozen oj $3.50
yogurt, plain, low fat $2.49
pasta sauce $1.55
ground beef, frozen $4.00
nectarines $1.50
fresh tomato $0.99

Some Assumptions
The cost of staples (such as butter, canola oil, sugar, flour, etc.) made my tab higher than $84, but since I would only be using a fraction of those ingredients in my weekly menu I only counted the amount used for each meal. Because I tried to buy the smallest packages available, that did mean my per ounce price was less economical. In addition other ingredients would also probably last beyond the one week period such as peanut butter, but I included them entirely in the weekly total, although in my price per meal I figured out how much the ingredient cost for the ounces used. I did just count half of the cost of my eggs in the weekly total, since they were on sale -- two 18-egg packs for the price of one. (I included the other half in my staples accounting.) Since many households may have one or more of these ingredients in the house already, that would bring the shopping total down even further.

To recap from a prior post, total shoping was $96.55, of which $15.92 was for staples. Total weekly groceries were $80.63 and I used $3.35 of staples which made my total $83.98.
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About the photo -- one of the many list of ingredients, recipes, shopping lists, etc. I created during the challenge.

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