Today is the last day of June, so I thought I’d share how I did this month (click to see larger image):

Last week, I was well under budget, so you know what I did?

Yeah, sort of insane. I get that. But I also really, really love just shopping at Whole Foods. We ended up buying some totally fancy olive oil and balsamic vinegar, good quality Greek yogurt (we adore Noosa), a jar of roasted red peppers, and other specialty type items. Could we have done without this trip? Probably. But it’s also fun knowing that you can sometime sneak a totally fun, splurge trip in like this without killing your budget if you’ve saved on other items all month long. I also found it a good environment to shop in while on a diet!

Even with this trip, I saved nearly half this month. Not bad!

I also managed to lose a total of 13 pounds during the month of June, doing the 17 Day Diet. Most of that weight fell rapidly off in the first week – week and a half. Now, it’s all about digging in and persisting. I am also upping the intensity of my workouts. I’m feeling pretty fantastic and my clothes aren’t so tight!

Here are some of the meals I enjoyed last week. All recipes are my own. I’m not using any sort of cookbook.

Irish Oatmeal with Goji Berries

Sesame Steak with Onions, Peppers, and Mushrooms

Baked Chicken with Garlic Scape Pesto (get the recipe)

Chicken Sausage and Golden Chard Salad with Wild Organic Salad Mix and Golden Berries

Corn and Lemongrass Soup (from Imagine Foods, Whole Foods), Fresh Peas from the Garden, Organic Green Tea

I hope that this was useful to see that it is possible to eat whole, healthy foods on a budget! Here are some basic recaps of how I was able to achieve this savings:

• My garden. I estimate I harvested a good $25 worth of organic produce from my garden. I’m out now out there everyday pulling up arugula, lettuce, strawberries, and peas. More will be ready in a couple weeks.
• I shopped a variety of stores. I wasn’t loyal to just one store. You’ll noticed I hit up an Asian market, the Farmer’s market, Albertsons, and drugstores this month.
• I leveraged promotions. The $20 Gift Card promotion was huge in helping my family save on items like salmon and children’s vitamins!
• I made meals that overlapped ingredients. The one jar of roasted red peppers I bought at Whole Foods was used in about 4 different dishes, for instance. Select ingredients that have versatility.

How did you do for June?

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I hope it’s been useful for me to show you what I’ve been spending and saving this month on my family’s grocery and household items. It’s been a useful exercise for me, quite frankly, to see if this can be done while on a healthful diet. Here is how my month is shaping up:

This section tells me that I bought $488 worth of food and household items for a total of $223, a savings rate of 54%. I had set the budget to $350 for this month, so this leaves me $126 for the rest of June. Which is completely do-able. I anticipate I will come under that.

Here are my transactions for the week:

Most of this was spent on produce. Tacoma Boys may have had some savings that I didn’t reflect, too. I bought large containers of blueberries for $2.50 and organic grapes for $2.99/lb.

As a reminder, my husband and I are on the 17 Day Diet, which mostly involves eating lean protein, lots of vegetables, servings of probiotics (kefir, greek yogurt), some fruit, lots of water, and green tea. Here are a few of the meals I ate this week.

Sesame Broiled Chicken, Broiled Asparagus, and fresh Radish

Curry Chicken (cooked in coconut oil), Asparagus, Salad with Grapes

Turkey Bacon Wrapped Baked Chicken with Mushrooms

If you want to see how much your spending and saving, you can download a FREE copy of the Savings Tracker I’m using.

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In my update from last week, I had spent $126 and saved 10%.

Ready to see how I’m doing month-to-date?

That’s right! I spent a total of $52.12 this week, and my month-to-date savings rate is now over 56%! This was largely achieved by the Albertsons Gift Card promotion I shared with you. I also thought I’d mention I’ve decided to track how much I estimate my garden will save me this year. Yesterday I clipped a huge bunch of organic wild lettuce mix. That would have easily cost me $5 or more at the Farmer’s Market.

And what exactly, did I buy with the $120 I earned from Albertsons?

Not pictured: 2 lbs more of the salmon, plus 2 candy bars for the kids. After Catalinas, I paid a little more than $15 out of pocket on these transactions, mostly just filling in a few things we needed. I know, I know…the amount of transactions and shopping days was insane. I get that. And I can’t recall the last time I have ever shopped so much in a week, and I sincerely hope I can get by the next week or so with only doing minimal shopping. Plus, my fridge is stuffed. 

I could have bought the cheapest items possible and really stretched the Catalinas. But in the end, hubby and I decided the best bet? Would be to use the Catalinas to buy some of the items for our diet that are harder to save on. Like the McCann’s Irish Oatmeal at $5.99 (which I will be able to eat in T-minus 2 days!), the Organic Kefir, the fresh salmon, and the ground turkey.

Diet Update

I promised I’d also share how I’m doing on my diet. As a reminder, Hubby and I are on the 17 Day Diet. Today is Day 15, and so far I’ve lost 11 pounds! The book suggests one can lose between 10 – 12 pounds on the first 17 day cycle, so I’m convinced at this point.  However, I have been craving bread pudding and cheese enchiladas…and I found myself taking a deep whiff of my son’s Crunch bar today…

Some of you wanted me to share more of what we’ve been eating. So here is a selection of the meals we ate on that $50 we spent last week ($20 of which was organic produce at the Farmer’s Market):

Copper River Salmon, Pico de Gallo on Garden-Picked Wild Lettuce Mix

Turkey Meatballs, Pico de Gallo with Arugula and Lettuce

Copper River Salmon Salad (dressed with lemon juice, cumin & olive oil) with Steamed Asparagus

Fakey-Beef Stroganoff (only it’s ground chicken and there is no cream) on yes, more Lettuce, served with Kale Chips just cuz

If you’re noticing a theme that pretty much any meat gets added on a bed of lettuce, you’ve made a correct observation.

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