Stocking Spree

Did any of you see PW's post about letting her food supply dwindle down and then stocking up again?

I really enjoyed that post because I am/was coincidentally in the process of doing the very same thing. A couple of weeks ago when Stephen Small was staying the week at my parents' house, I did not darken the door of a grocery store. We ate what we had. The low point was when Stephen Grande came home one day for lunch and the most appealing meal was a plain hamburger patty (no bun) and some crumbly tortilla chips.

It was worth making do because I cleaned out my fridge! I wiped it down and scrubbed all the shelves. I did the same for the pantry.

Then we went out to dinner and left town early the next morning. 

When we got back in town I decided to go on a stocking spree. We were out of so many basic things like oatmeal, pasta, canned tomatoes. And since this month is cut short for us by two family trips, I decided that this was a good time to devote a large portion of our budget to staple items and groceries in bulk to go towards meals I have in mind. 

I bought my first round of groceries from Costco and did the remainder of my stocking spree at Winn Dixie because of some great sales. Y'all know I'm really Publix gal for my day to day shopping.

Here's some of what I bought.

Different size tortillas for tacos and fajitas.
Dried beans for beans and rice.
A half a ham, cheese, and buns for freezer ham sandwiches.
Pie crusts for quiche and apple pie.
Frozen peas for pasta and peas.
Beans, Rotel, and canned soup for Lollie bean.
Creamed corn for Mexican corn bread.
Frozen broccoli for broccoli cheddar soup.
Huge bag of Mexican shredded cheese for all cheese related needs.


When choosing particular items I made sure I had a recipe in mind for the near future. I really stuck to my list.

This whole method is really straying from my norm of once a week meal planning and grocery shopping. But given that September is a crazy month with traveling and the start up of school and church activities, it seemed like a good time to stock up and loosely plan for the whole month.

I have $106 left to spend on groceries for the month of September. But it should be plenty considering all the food I have in the house. I plan to use the remaining funds for milk, bread, fruit, vegetables, Parmesan cheese, dishwasher detergent, and toothpaste.