And Sometimes We Eat Steak

All I talk about on this blog is about scrimping and saving. Sometimes we do live rich on the cheap.

Our monthly grocery budget is $450 which on a Canadian budget is lower than the average Canadian and slightly higher per person than a frugal budget but if you consider that we eat roast beef, skinless boneless chicken breast, shrimp and steak on a regular basis it is pretty low.

"Extreme Couponing" is a USA based show. In Canada things are much different. A good deal means scouring the fliers and stockpiling when things are on sale. There is no doubling of coupons and clerks have to manually punch in each coupon to give you a reduction which usually means a 20 second pause for each coupon. Frankly, if I lived in the USA I could eat for free based on couponing. There are far less coupons available to Canadian consumers and rarely to we get great deals on meat and produce.

This week I was fortunate to stumble across a great deal on Alberta Beef (some of the best in the world) 15 days aged steaks vacuum sealed perfect for the freezer at $10 per package of four small (or two large) steaks. This is a smoking hot deal as usually a good steak from Costco costs about $18-$25 per steak. I refuse to pay that kind of price.

The steaks were absolutely the best with no seasoning required (although we add sea salt to ours for premium taste) and were eaten with green pepper, mushroom and onion Shish-k-bobs. Total cost of meal with a glass of wine for 2 was approximately $18 (a cheap bottle of wine here is $10, a good one $30). A similar meal in a restaurant would have been $75. Fortunately both hubby and I enjoy cooking so we eat well.

To give you the idea of cost of goods in Alberta:
4 litres Milk $3.89
Bread $1.99 to $3.99.
Bag of 60 shrimp medium size shell on frozen $13.99 (I buy these when they go on sale b1g1)
10 lb russet Potatoes $2.99 summer $4.99 winter
Corn on the cob winter $1 per cob, summer .33 per cob
Frozen Pizza average price $7.99, on sale price $4.99
Long English Cucumber Summer .99 to $1.29, winter $1.59 to $2.99

I would love to eat local and do as much as possible but if I restricted us to a 100 mile diet we would be eating meat and potatoes and not much more (except in summer).

Three quarters of our monthly budget goes to meat, and fresh produce. Hopefully one day when we move to Vancouver Island where produce is plentiful, year round and cheap will I be able to shave even more off the grocery bill. This year, more so than others companies have been giving Canadians more free product coupons to try out their product. As a result this is my best freebie year so far.

Freebies this week:
P&G mens brandsampler (value approx $12)
Coupon for free Asana Yogurt (not shown)
Coupon for free Chocolate Cheerios