End of October already; whew! I’m checking in with another look at my grocery spending for the month. October was a month at home. We didn’t travel and we only ate out a couple times- off the top of my head we ate out for lunch twice (Jimmy John’s and Blue Star Grill) and dinner twice (Mexican and take out Indian).

We’ve always been the type to eat more often at home for both budget and health reasons, but in the past few years we’ve become even more “at home eaters.” One reason I speculate is because often what we eat at home just tastes better than a lot of restaurants. I can adjust it to our tastes and preferences and there are easy ways for everyone to tailor it to their own likings with dips or sauces.

Another reason we eat at home more is because eating at home simply makes our dollar stretch further. The girls and I ate lunch out the other day. I had a buffalo chicken wrap, Hailey had an adult burger, and Kaitlyn ate from the kid menu. We all had water. Our total with tip was $47. For LUNCH. It’s a good lunch at a place that serves quality food that I’m grateful for, but in contrast, if I were to have spent that $47 at a grocery store, it would have fed us lunch for a week.

Eating at home is definitely more work and my kitchen is almost always in a state of having dishes drying on the counter, but I’m trying to make it work for me better by embracing some of the counter clutter and taking shortcuts. Eating at home doesn’t have to mean pasta made from scratch, so I’m buying frozen meatballs and using the heck out of my rice cooker and other convenience gadgets.

I’m doing some minor food prep on Sundays. Usually I boil eggs, juice some wellness shots for the first half of the week, and prep a lunch protein. It’s not much but does help a bit, especially since as a family we are currently focused on getting enough protein. See my go-to sources for protein here.

And that about sums up October! November will be an at home month, too, except for Thanksgiving where we will be with family. I’m looking to keep meals simple and healthy; I’ll continue sharing them each night on IG stories! And now, a look at the breakdown:

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