What We Spent, October 15 - 21

October’s been an interesting month.  I’ve worked my way to the end of our canning budget and the cupboards are full to bursting but there’s still lots of delicious, locally grown produce at the farm stands.  I’m always tempted to bring home more than we need.  Avoiding kitchen waste is important to me so when we’re at the market I have to consciously hold myself back, making a concentrated effort not to over-purchase. 

It’s time to stock up on Christmas baking supplies.  Butter, flour, and sugar are all on sale in our area this week, as are some of the dried fruits and other ingredients I use for holiday baking. 

I do less special occasion baking than I used to so I don’t need to have as much on hand as I might have in previous years, but I have did spend part of this month’s food budget to stock up on the items I use for everyday cooking.  I tucked away two 10 kg bags of all purpose flour, a 10 kg bag of sugar, and 12 pounds of butter.  (The butter went into the freezer.)  These items made my weekly grocery bill considerably higher than it would usually be, but they should last us until after Christmas.

Starting today and continuing until the end of November, we’ll be doing a “No Spend Challenge” at our house.  “No spend time” does not mean we spend nothing at all.  We’ll still be shopping for household essentials when we need them, and for fresh produce, dairy products, and eggs.  We’ll still be paying for gas for my commute to and from work.  We’ll still be buying prescriptions.  What we won’t be doing is buying clothing, gifts, craft and hobby supplies, or gas for extra trips away from home. 

I’ll be posting our expenditures for food, household items, personal care items, and gas each week until the end of our challenge.  Want to play along?  I hope so.  I always learn so much from my on line friends. 

Here’s what we spent last week:

Date	Item	Amount
Oct. 15/12	pre-payment, eggs, through  Nov. 30	$28.00
Oct. 17/12	4 liters skim milk	$4.60
Oct. 19/12	12 pounds butter	$30.00
	Gas	$41.50
Oct. 20	2 spaghetti squash (3.185 kg)	$6.24
	.855 kg broccoli crowns	$1.85
	1.38 kg cabbage	$2.40
	.21 kg red bell pepper	$0.69
	1.65 kg yellow bell pepper	$2.40
	2 kg ambrosia apples	$4.38
	1.685 kg gala apples	$2.95
	20 kg all purpose flour	$17.18
	10 kg white sugar	$10.29
	800 gr old cheddar	$8.97
	TOTAL	$161.45

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