Sunday Spending: Bringing Home The Cow

In addition to today being the first incarnation of Once a Month Shopping, it's also the day we bring home our cow. Rather our quarter of a cow. A month ago we put a deposit down on a bulk beef order with a local organic farm we purchase from regularly at the Farmers Market. Today was pick up day. 150lbs of meat. Wowza. This meat is certified organic (duh) and grass fed. Plus, the farm (which I've actually been to) is in located in the area where I grew up. My Mom knows the farmers, who are good people we chat with regularly. It's warm and fuzzy all around.

I'm not going to sugar coat it, doing the bulk order involves a hefty outlay of cash. Really hefty. But it brings the overall price per pound down significantly. $5.95/lb. I could let you do the math, or just tell you that we paid $890 for our beef. $300 deposit last month when we ordered. The remainder today. Clearly, this is going to skew our grocer budget numbers for the month. But, Im guessing this is about a year's worth of beef for us. As we've never done this before, I'm not positive. But, hopeful.

Today's shopping involved 5 stops; Farmers Market, Grocery Outlet, Whole Foods, Costco, and the Drug Store.

Farmers Market: Minus the Cow.
Spent $103 on 3 dozen eggs, 1 pork shoulder, 1 pack bacon, 1 pack pork chops, and 8 packs of sausage. Apparently we eat a lot of sausage as it came up regularly in our meal plan for the month.
$16 for 1 gallon of milk. 1/2 of which will go to yogurt.
$26 for a Whole Chicken
+$15 deposit for Thanksgiving Turkey
$41 on peppers, peaches, tomatoes, green onions.


Eat Local: $32
I have a love/hate relationship with this place. It is inconveniently located, expensive, and the food isn't that good, except for the Almond Granola, and apparently the Graham Crackers as we discovered today. *Curses*
48oz of Almond Granola
Today's Impulse buy #1 - 1 pack of Graham Crackers. These are the best Graham Crackers I have ever eaten. Ever.
Also had $3 off coupon.

Grocery Outlet. $60
Kinda hit the mother load today, as happens from time to time at the Gross Out (as we affectionately call it).
Organic Beans $.99/can Kidney, Northern, Pinto, and Garbanzo - 10 cans total.
Red Wine. I drink about a bottle a week, usually spending $8-$9 per. I decided to take a chance, and picked up an assortment of recommendations ranging in price from $3 (!!!) to $7. At those prices its worth a shot.
Organic Peanut Butter. Usually Costco is our standby for PB, with the Kirkland Signature brand costing $3.79 jar. Its the best deal I can find. Today, I was able to pick up 6 jars of Santa Cruz Organic for $2.99 each. We go through 1 jar a week, so thats an ample supply.
Organic Bananas  $2.29. Also the best deal in town.
Babybel Mini Cheddars $1.49. These are great for lunches and snacks, but usually run about $4 - $5 for 6. At this price, I got two.
Other miscellany...
Sliced Olives $.79
Vegetarian Refried Beans $.79 (x2)
Organic Red Curry Lentil Soup $.79
Jar of Pesto $1.99 used infrequently, but such a deal.
Terra Chips $1.99
Also had a $3 coupon.

Whole Foods. $64
I try very hard to shop their 'sales' such as they are. Sometimes it's great. Others not so much.
Today we picked up.
Orzo. A little too much because of my failure to operate the bulk bins. Woops.
1/2lb King Salmon. Wild and On-Sale. 2 of my favorite things.
Frozen Shrimp
Mahi-Mahi
Cabbage
Flour
Sweet Relish
Granola (for The Husband)
Red Lentils
Horse Radish
1 Lime
Today's Epic Fail & Impulse Buy #2: Rotisserie Chicken. On sale for $4.99. I usually abstain, but we were hungry and I knew would want to eat as soon as we got home. Sale price is the same as Costco's regular price, but I actually thought this would be better chicken. Completely False. It is fatty, and mostly tasteless. Will be fine as Chicken Salad Sammies for lunch this week, but lesson learned. Cook your own Chicken, folks.

Costco. $64 Seems to be a magic number today. I sent The Husband because I hate Costco. Whats worse than a Costco Trip? A Costco Trip on Labor Day weekend.
We keep the list brief, and only get what I know is a good Deal.
Organic Olive Oil
Nuts - Cashews & Almonds
Cheddar Cheese
Mozzarella Cheese
Dishwasher Detergent

Drug Store. $16.
It's on the way to Costco, and they have the absolute cheapest price around on my absolute favorite chocolate.
1 Months supply of Salted Almond Chocolate Bars. Necessities people. Necessities.

Total Money Spent (again minus the cow): $437
Including the cow *gulp*: $1050
HOWEVER, (its a big however) if the cow does indeed last us 12 months, then total cost for beef is $76/per month. Add that to today's total for $513.

Budget Thoughts:  I often refer to our 'Grocery Budget'. Realistically, we don't have actually have one. We have an amount we spend, that varies all over the map depending on what's going on. I'd say the range is from $500 - $800.  For the purposes of this month, I'm going to give us $40 a week for incidentals, and round up.

This means we are shooting for a high water mark of no more than $650.

Total Time Investment: 4 hours + 1 hour menu, and list planning. This is not including the time it took to put away and organize everything, although that mostly surrounded the beef.

Lessons Learned:
BRING SNACKS, not coffee. Or at least have a real good food plan. Sunday morning, I get hungry even after eating oatmeal at home. Round bout 11am, we found ourselves grumpy, with rumbly tummies. This accounted for impulse buys #1 and #2.
BRING BAGS. We typically do much better on this. Today for whatever reason, there were nowhere near enough bags in our car to accommodate the amount of shopping done. I brought home a lot more plastic than I cared to, and I didn't save my incidental $.05 and $.10 here and there.

Next Week: The plan is for a quick stop at Whole Foods on our way back from some other Saturday errands. That would mean *drum roll* No. Shopping. on Sunday. Can it be done? Is it even possible?
What will I do with all my free time? Stay tuned.