Time for a Food Budget *(update)

I don't know what it is, but I have decided I am somewhat of a food collector. I love having a full pantry and refrigerator. I is perfectly logical to do this in my mind, always ready for company or that last minute, "We're having potluck tomorrow, honey." event. If I am not crazy about what is on the menu, I can change it on a moments notice. If I forget to thaw meat, no problem... However, my grocery budget is non-existent, and one of my goals is to get that under control. I have no idea where we are with our current spending but my goal is to pare it down to $550 a month for 6 people and the occasional guest, while trying to eat local, organic and natural as much as possible. No problem on the local, I shop here for my produce and cereal, we get our beef from a local dairy farmer who raises it on the side and our neighbor plans to raise 10 chickens for us this summer. No problem organic as my bulk items come from Country Life Natural Foods since there is no Azure Standard drop by us. No problem natural, I love to cook. So what's the problem? Staying on target with the budget.

Here we go, week 1. Saturday 5/29.09
Bad start.... I decided to use my hour in town on Saturday as a power shop trip. One hour to run to the dreaded big box while hubby watched #1, #2 and #3 play soccer. While I stayed on target spending only $75.97 ( I don't have to buy beef) not one lick of anything I bought was local or organic. I did however hold to the natural, as most of what I bought were ingredients for homemade dishes. I splurged on cereal and fruit bars for the kids, creamer for me and a bag of noodles, but that was it. One out of three things isn't bad right? Check out my menu to see what I will be making with my purchases. If I get a bit more organized, next week I will take a photo of my purchases like my favorite grocery blogger, Gayle.

*(Update)
Hmm, starting to step away from the budget already. Hubby wanted grillers... who can resist chicken wrapped around cheese, ham and asparagus right? Costly $23.45 stop at local grocer for what was a really good lunch, but could have been made for a fraction of the cost....

*(Update 2) 6/03/09
Ok, add another $20 for milk for the week. We pay this way because we get our milk from a local family with happy cows, :-) Yesterday I saw them all laying in the grass and I would swear they were smiling...

*(Update 3) 6/04/09
Schwans man today. I love Schwans, it just makes me happy to see that big yellow truck pull into our driveway. Substantial order at $75.65 for the month. This would not be so bad if I had not also gotten my bulk order from Country Life today too. This includes my pb, dried fruit, oatmeal, olive oil (a gallon), sucanat, pasta and wheat berries, beans, and vinegar. It added up to $100.02, yikes!