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My food budget for September is $490 (my budget for September actually runs from August 23 to September 22 to coincide with my husband’s once monthly pay). I’m dividing that budget between our cow share ($54), beef CSA ($50), Azure Standard ($135.23), Dining out ($50) and Grocery Store ($200.77). In my last spending report I had spent a total of $319.82 and still had available beef CSA $50 (I think I’ll be getting that next week), Dining out $21.12 and Grocery Store $99.06.

I had my daughter pick up stuff from the grocery store twice since then for a total of $23.92 and a friend called and asked if I wanted to get 25 pounds of tomatoes for $25 so I did. That leaves me with $50.14 still available for my Grocery Store part.

Now let’s talk for a minute about Dining Out. Last week some friends called and asked us to go with them away for the weekend to Deadwood, SD. So we did 🙂 While in Deadwood we payed for breakfast Sunday morning but with money that Joe and I had won at the Black Jack table and when we got home from Deadwood I took Christopher (our baby) and Joe out for brunch also with Black Jack winnings. So while not technically out of our budget we did spend that money and eat that food. Breakfast for 4 was just under $28 and our brunch was $24. I’m going to add those in to my budget but I think I’ll add the additional money won in to the budget too (does that make sense?) so my new Dining Out Budget is $102 which increases my total budget for September to $542 and leaves me with a Dining Out budget still at $21.12. Does this all make sense? I hope so because it barely does to me.

One of the grocery stops my daughter made was to pick up stuff for the kids to eat while we were gone. Since it was short notice to go, I didn’t really have time to make stuff ahead for them. So we bought them some of their favorite junk foods. They thought it was a wonderful treat. Macaroni and Cheese, cardboard Pizzas, and a gallon of milk for a total cost of $10.56.

The second stop was for 2 pounds of kidney beans, 2 pounds of butter, 4 limes, 2 onions, .42 pounds of jalapeno peppers and a bunch of cilantro for a total of $13.36 (I made salsa out of some of those tomatoes I got).

Recap: New budget for month is $542
Still Available:

• Beef CSA– $50
• Dining Out- $21.12
• Groceries-$50.14

Total Available: $121.26

I’ll admit, I’m not sure I can make the budget this month. Today is the 9th and I still have almost 2 weeks left of this budget. oy. We do have quite a bit of venison in the freezer now thanks to Joe. Also our friends that we went away with sent us home with some of their elk from last year. Plus we have a few of our home raised chickens in the freezer with a few more that will be added soon. I’m quite pleased with my meat options. Oh and some other friends keep giving me their surplus garden items which is wonderful. I see lots of venison, elk, chicken and summer squash helping me out with my budget for the rest of the month.

We are still without milk from our cow share. The cows are dry but hopefully soon they will calve. And I’m expecting my chickens to molt at any time which means my egg supply will decrease alot. But I do have 4 little Silver Laced Wyandottes that have just started to lay, my Khaki Campbell ducks should start in the next few weeks and my Buff Orpingtons should start mid Octoberish. So hopefully the lack of eggs will be very temporary. Of course, then winter will be upon us and chickens normally lay less during the winter. Chickens…