Grocery Challenge: is it possible? does it work?

I'm three weeks into the grocery challenge of spending no more than 25.00 per week on groceries.  Is it possible?  Yes, it is!  I've found that it takes dedication  (it's hard to pass up those sales!) and a good amount of pre-planning (which I'm ok with).  By shopping at Aldi and combining sales at Kroger with coupons, I've been able to buy quite a bit with my weekly amount of money.

But, there's a flaw in my grocery challenge.  It's not valid.  Why you ask?  Maybe because we've eaten take out 3 nights this week and once over  the weekend!  So, I'm thinking that the end of the school year was not the best time to take this challenge.  It's a little hard to cook dinner for the family when I'm not getting home until 7:00 or later!  Well, some days it was 6:30 but I'm sure you understand.  The last thing I want to do when I'm getting home that late is cook.  If I had time over the weekend to cook the meals ahead of time and freeze them, we wouldn't have had to order out.  But, weekends have been busy too. 

So, where does that leave me and my grocery challenge?   I will continue to shop with a weekly budget, but might bump it up to $30 or $35 dollars a week.  That will leave me room for stockpiling sales items that we use frequently.  There are only 3 days of school left, which means that I will be home and available to cook supper each night, something that I'm actually looking forward to.  That will be a big help in sticking to the menu plan and actually eating the food that I bought with the grocery money!

I will be adding a tally of my monthly grocery expense on the sidebar, but I don't plan to continue the weekly grocery pictures and cost breakdown, UNLESS I find a super deal that I want to pass along.  

FYI : I'll start posting my favorite recipes soon!