My Pantry Diet: Killed by Mashed Potatos for Breakfast
I totally caved. Yesterday, I bought groceries for the first time in well over a month. I really wanted to stick to the Pantry Diet, but, honestly, the only way I had left to do that was to have spaghetti or mashed potatos for every meal–including breakfast. So, as I sat at my computer yesterday morning, eating leftover mashed potatos before getting ready for Mass, I made up a grocery list and went directly after church.
I’m just under the $100 limit I set for myself at the beginning of May for the May Grocery Challenge at Give Me Back My Five Bucks, though I’m running low on milk, but I don’t want to go over the $2.04 I have remaining. On the other hand, I’ve never stayed this close to $100 with groceries and I’m pretty proud of myself.
I wasn’t expecting to have to buy Drain-O for my bathroom sink, but it didn’t cost too much. I also had to buy things that I was out of (due to the pantry diet) that I like to have on hand: flour, baking powder, pancake mix. Other non-monthly expenses were toilet paper and toothpaste. The most “luxurious” item purchased was boxed wine. My best friend and I (and sometimes her husband, sometimes my boyfriend) get together every Wednesday, usually at my place, for Boxed Wine Wednesdays. It’s cheap and delicious, if unclassy. One box will generally last 2 1/2-3 visits depending on how much we drink and how often I imbibe on other days of the week. I wouldn’t be able to afford BWWs otherwise. Two weeks ago, for example, my best friend and I killed two bottles of wine between us (I was given a few bottles for my birthday last month and haven’t bought boxed wine in a while), one of which she brought. If we each bought a bottle of wine each week at $7 apiece, we’d spend approximately $672/year, for a total of $336 each. Instead, I’m paying under $200 a year on the boxed wine and drinking tons of beer and wine at her house on most weekends, evening it out.
In the future, I think that I’ll try to keep my grocery budget to something slightly easier like $120/month, especially during allergy season when I live off of generic Claritin.
