All*You Grocery Challenge Updage

I am participating in the All*You grocery challenge, which is 4 weeks of food spending of $25 or less per person in your household. This spending includes eating out as well as groceries, but does not include non-food items. For my family of five, this is $125 per week, an easily attainable goal.

I thought it might be fun to recap the week's expenses. What a crazy week! I spent only $42.40 on groceries. However, we spent $72.58 on eating out this week. This is really funny because we are not big on eating out usually.

The main lesson for the week is that yes, you can eat out on a food budget, and this even included the expense of my husband taking out a good friend who has been a boon to him professionally. You can even be generous on a food budget. Next week, however, I'm sure that out eating out expenses will be much lower!

I think the principle behind being able to spend this much on eating out this week is that strategic coupon use combined with stockpiling gives you the flexibility to take a week off from major grocery shopping.

The All*You Grocery Challenge is tracking expenses from Monday through Sunday, which is funny, because I always thought Sunday was the first day of the week.

Week 1: 7/13 - 7/19

7/14: Husband breakfast with Bible Study Group, $4

7/15: Coffee at Panera Bread, $1.81

7/16: Life Cafe lunch with kids, $24.37

(This is really unusual for me to take the kids out to lunch during the middle of the week!)

7/16: Kroger groceries, $36.74

7/17: Target, $1.27

7/17: Dreamland BBQ, $42.40

7/18: Kroger, $4.39 (food expenses only)

Total Grocery: $42.40 (37%)

Total Eating Out: %72.58 (63%)

Total Food Expenses Week 1: $72.58

I'm looking forward to week 2, especially since it has been over a week since I have been to my favorite store: Publix!