Menu Planning: Third Course

Based on the menu plan I put together here, my shopping list looked like this (organized approximately by category):

tissues
laundry detergent
muffin papers
sandwich bags

baby carrots
celery
potatoes
mushrooms
fruit

corn syrup
Fiber One
Chex
coffee
hot chocolate
olive oil
crackers
corn meal
beef bouillon
condensed tomato soup
red wine
canned fruit
bean dip
salsa
A-1

milk
Parmesan
yogurt
eggs
bacon/sausage
cheese
pepperoni
cold cuts
ground beef

I ended up going shopping yesterday, since snow was predicted this morning. Here is the result:


My total spent was $103.90, slightly over my goal of $100. However, with what I already have this should be plenty of food to last us two weeks.

I ended up skipping the red wine and the bacon or sausage, in order to stay close to budget, but I still might get them if I find a good deal at another store or later in the month. The only other shopping I will do for the next two weeks is for any really great deals I hear about. Then I'll use those items to start building my menu plan for the next two weeks.

So that is pretty much an overview of how I plan menus and shop for them. I hope that wasn't too much information! Like I said, I am very much still learning in this area. This is just what is working pretty well for me right now. :-)