Taking my pantry for all it's worth...

Guess who spent all of April's grocery money before April even began...

I DID!

This is not something I'm proud of. I now have a few tasks to accomplish:

1) Figure out how I'll pay for groceries this month.

2) Spend as little as possible on groceries this month.

3) Remedy my spending habits.

4) Use what I have as much as possible.

My first tactic is going to be to identify the cheap foods. Lots of veggies are cheap, like lettuce and carrots. Carrots make a great snack. Especially with dip! Bananas are also very cheap. You can get like 6 bananas for about $1. Pasta and rice are pretty cheap considering how much you can get out of them. By the end of this month, I expect to have scoured the grocery store for the cheapest products they have.

The foods between your knee caps and your eyeballs at the grocery store are the most expensive. Check out the top and bottom shelves for the cheap foods. Seriously. Get down on those hands and knees and crawl around a little if you have to!

You know those fliers at the front when you walk into the supermarket? They put those there to tell you what's on sale in the store. (Yes, this was a revelation I had today) Take a look through that thing to get a feel for what's cheap that week and find inspiration for upcoming meals.

Keep an eye out for more updates on how to eat cheap, use what you already have, and do minimal spending!