The $60 Grocery Budget

Lately I've gotten back to coupons and menu planning. I realized that my grocery spending was getting a bit out of control again and I wanted to reign it in a bit. I've been reading Danielle's posts at DenverMetroMom and her $40 a week grocery/household budget. We eat a tad differently so I think I might need a bit more per week, but it's been interesting to see how successful(and disciplined) she is with her spending.

As you can see from our weekly menu, we keep things pretty "whole foods", I would say that probably 85% of our diet is that way(mama loves her Snickers and coke). Basically we avoid heavily processed foods, High Fructose Corn Syrup, and white and/or bleached flours. Those are the biggies on my list. I should work harder on cutting out white sugars, but I haven't really found an alternative that we like, so for now I just use it in limited quantities. Oh, and I should care more about where our meat comes from, but so far I haven't been able to suck it up and pay $5.99 a lb(on sale!!) for Bison or chicken breast. And, last but not least, I don't buy organic. I know, I know...

Anyway, so the guidelines I watch for our menu are pretty simple- Nutritious, vitamin/mineral packed foods for each meal, with as many raw fruits and veggies as possible.

So, now you know my challenge. I'll try and post my shopping list for each week so you can see what I'm buying and how I'm doing budget wise :)