To Market, To Market

I have been spending part of this week trying to get my head around the family budget. And I am quickly coming to understand why I did not choose accounting as a career; it would seem that numbers really are not my forte. But I digress. One of the largest numbers on our budget is our grocery bill. So my plan is to shop and cook smarter this year and see if I can't make some of those numbers just a little (or maybe even a lot) smaller.

And so to market I went. More specifically, the Queen Victoria Markets.

The fruit and vegies at the market are so fresh and even better, they are so much less expensive than the supermarket or the fruit & veg shops. With prices ranging from 25 - 75% off what you would usually pay how could you go wrong?

This is all the lovely fruit and vegies I bought ... 12 x new season apples, 6 x oranges, 600gm strawberries,  7 x bananas, 5 x  plums, watermelon, 3 x capsicums,  500gm beans, mushrooms, 4 x zucchinis, 3 x broccoli heads, cucumber, 2 bunches of asparagus, 2 bags of baby carrots, 4 x leeks, 5kg potatoes, 3 x sweet potatoes and 1.5kg onions. This huge pile of produce cost me a grand total of $50.

The meat prices and quality are just as good. 2kg of premium mince for $10, lamb loin chops $9.99kg, porterhouse steaks $13.99kg. Today I spent $107 on meat and I have enough for 17 meals : 5 mince, 2 beef strips, 3 porterhouse steaks, pork chops, 4 lamb loin chops, kebabs and hamburgers. That's an average of $6.70 per meal on quality meat.

So now I have done the shopping and the packing, I think I deserve a rest. For tomorrow, I cook.