{"id":25514,"date":"2023-07-08T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-08T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/08\/what-a-sales-manager-and-a-house-husband-spend-on-a-weeks-worth-of-groceries\/"},"modified":"2023-07-08T14:30:00","modified_gmt":"2023-07-08T14:30:00","slug":"what-a-sales-manager-and-a-house-husband-spend-on-a-weeks-worth-of-groceries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/08\/what-a-sales-manager-and-a-house-husband-spend-on-a-weeks-worth-of-groceries\/","title":{"rendered":"What a Sales Manager and a House Husband Spend on a Week\u2019s Worth of Groceries"},"content":{"rendered":"


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We independently select these products\u2014if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Credit: Photos: Courtesy of Athalia and Leroy, Shutterstock<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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Name<\/strong>: Athalia
Location<\/strong>: Raleigh, North Carolina
Ages<\/strong>: 30 and 29
Number of people in household<\/strong>: 2; me and my husband, Leroy
Occupation<\/strong>: I work retail part-time at a toy store and am also a freelance writer; Leroy is a house husband while we wait on his work visa approval
Salary<\/strong>: $31,200
Where you shopped<\/strong>: Trader Joe\u2019s, K-Town
Weekly food budget<\/strong>: $120
Amount spent<\/strong>: $68.04<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Trader Joe\u2019s and a Korean supermarket here in Raleigh called K-Town. At Trader Joe\u2019s we pick up plenty of inexpensive additions to our daily meals. The frozen meals we enjoy are never more than $6.99 a bag and most produce comes in at between $2 to $4, so we capitalize on that! At K-Town we treat ourselves to a red bean bun for Leroy and taro mochi for me. We didn\u2019t have to stock up on essentials this week because we did a big shop the week before (more on this below), so we got away with spending only $68 of our $120 budget.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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What\u2019s your grocery strategy?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Once a month we allot $150 to $180 to stock up on pantry and fridge staples at BJ\u2019s Wholesale Club and Lidl<\/a>. At Lidl, for example, we pay $12 to $14 for six HUGE chicken breasts that Leroy butterflies into 12 serving-sized breasts. They typically last us a month because we lean on chickpeas, black beans, and tuna for other protein. (We have four of these butterflied breasts left at the time of this diary.)<\/p>\n

Last week, we spent $174.80 at BJ\u2019s on staples that should last for two to three months. Before we go (and sometimes even while in-store) I use the BJ\u2019s app to clip vendor coupons on items I know we need and use so we net a ton of savings. I do my best to avoid the temptation to browse and clip coupons for items we don\u2019t need, but did give in to one for Venus razors and another for sunscreen this last trip.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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This trip to BJ\u2019s allows us to make $25 to $30 supplementary trips to Trader Joe\u2019s for specialty ingredients and snacks and meal starters, and saves us a ton of money.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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We don\u2019t feel it\u2019s worth it to eat out often, due to my allergies and intolerances; I am allergic to mangos, avocados, and pork; intolerant to cow\u2019s milk, eggs, cannellini beans, and kidney beans. Leroy can eat anything he likes. I\u2019ll cheat and eat something with milk once in a while, like yogurt or cheese, and just take a dairy pill to help with that intolerance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In the mornings! After coffee, Leroy asks, \u201cWhat do you want for dinner?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In the early days of our marriage, I used to reference my handy-dandy Trello recipe board to figure out what I might want to eat and how to teach Leroy to make it. (Trello\u2019s card structure allowed me to show him the dish and include my notes on how to make it.) Now we have a pretty good feel for his capabilities and settled into a few solid rotating main courses, like tuna gohan bowls, turkey-spinach-hummus pitas, taco-seasoned chickpeas and fresh tortillas, Instant Pot black beans and rice, Instant Pot chicken and rice\/chicken and dumplings, and chicken Parm.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Now when Leroy asks what he should make for dinner,\u00a0I think about what we have stocked and talk it out with him. We do this because if left to his own devices, Leroy would make Instant Pot chicken and rice or paprika oven-baked chicken every day, and if I were left unbridled, we would have party food (pholourie, fried chicken, crepes, patties, apple crostatas, fried plantains, Hasselback potatoes.) every day. On my days off, I do cook like this! As you\u2019ll see, I like to treat Leroy to something fun and delicious.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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