Can't believe that, until A Perfect Fit , I had not written new blog post in over a year. Time flew, life was lived, and lessons were learned. Most noteworthy is that I've assumed a more relaxed posture towards housekeeping. I found that keeping up with the standard of clean and tidy I had become used to, having household help overseas, is unmanageable. I still clean thoroughly, if not as frequently, and we still endeavor to have a place for everything and everything in its place. Still, with three young children, I spend much of my day tidying. We attempted to ease the burden of cooking by enjoying takeout out a few more times a month but quickly realized that eating out more than a handful of times per month, even at inexpensive restaurants, has a significant effect on our food budget. For a family of five, the only way to stay under budget, $5 to $7 per person, per day, is to prepare the majority of meals at home. To put things into perspective, what we can reasona...

Ah ha! I have been had. I have been, for a few months now, a huge fan of Costco Same-Day (Instacart) and I still am but... Costco Same-Day (Instacart) and Costco 2-Day pricing are not the same. I was so overcome with joy about being able to get my Costco fix on the same day that I never looked closely at the 2-Day service.  You will probably get the the best bang for your buck ordering non-perishables via the 2-Day service unless there is a sale on the Same-Day side. Try to fill your Same-Day and 2-Day shopping carts at the same time and compare every single item before you checkout. I bought the following items and saved $4.30.  Unfortunately, I failed to cross check my carts and accidentally missed out on sale prices for almonds and cereal. I would have saved an additional $3.50 if I put those items in my Same-Day order. It is just a few bucks but we are penny pinching, remember? Costco 2-Day vs. Same-Day Service Kirkland Signature Minced Garlic in Wa...

Since my No Ramen Here post about grocery shopping, I have made some adjustments to the way we shop for food. I increased the frequency of our Costco orders to weekly when I realized that we were visiting the local grocery store very frequently and spending significantly more for basics - eggs, milk, juice, and fruit. I determined that it was better to order in bulk and get more bang for our buck. For example, a tray of 1 dozen eggs at our local supermarket costs about $3 but I can get 2 dozen eggs for $4.29 from Costco . We are at the end of the third week this month and still have about $60 left in our $700/month food budget. The fridge, freezer, and pantry are stocked such that we won't need to go to the store for groceries through the end of the month. Under budget months are my opportunity to stock up on baking supplies, canned goods, and bulk snacks. Here is a breakdown of our shopping trips and spending: 3 x Costco - $436.82 3 x Whole Foods - $126.52 1 x Trader...

Meal planning is a daunting task but looking at the credit card statement after weeks of mostly eating out is horrifying. We are making a huge effort to eat-in and my husband packs his lunches. We just ended our first three week period of our new meal plan. We've determined that a Costco order every three weeks ($300), a once weekly supermarket trip ($50) and one or two online orders of dry goods ($40) is adequate for our family. This works out roughly to about $700 per month or about $5 per person per day. This calculation does not include occasional, non-essential, eating out - about $60 every two weeks. Soon after the big Costco order was received, I spent an entire day prepping, cooking and freezing meals so as to minimize spoiling of fresh veggies. I split the supersize bag of spinach and froze one half for use in pasta and quiche type dishes. The other half was refrigerated for use in salads and sandwiches. Crustless Vegetable Quiche What we ate: Crustless Veget...