No pictures and its not even close to Sunday. Boo. I am hopelessly derelict in my report on weekly/monthly grocery spending, both in how we rounded out October and kicked off November. Enough with the preamble. Let’s get to it.

October: If it wasn’t so sad, I’d laugh. We came in at $745 spent on Groceries for October. That is a whopping $5 less than last month. Yes, folks $5. I should take that as a win, such as it is. Once again I was derailed by good food, namely beautiful in season peppers this time around, which are safely tucked away in my freezer ready to ward of the tastelessness of South American produce during the bleaker months. While that brings me some comfort, I continue to be distressed at how much it costs to eat well. ‘Well’ of course being relative. In our case it means whole, local, mostly organic foods, procured as close to directly from the source as possible.

November: Last weekend’s shopping was actually for the November meal plan, which officially starts today. It’s coming out of the November budget. I was not as organized as I have been in the past. I suspect our weekly grocery shopping lists will be longer than they have been recently. This makes me grumpy, but it was a busy weekend. Unavoidable. Here’s what we spent.

Farmers Market: $86

Whole Foods: $91

Costco: $41.

Plus the $72 for our 2 CSA boxes this month and our $76 cow amortization. This brings us in at $366 so far for November. Looking back at previous Mammoth Trips, this is a little low. Again, I anticipate that due the rushed nature of these trips, our November strategy was not as comprehensive. Since we have Thanksgiving on the horizon (believe it or not), having a little wiggle room should be a good thing.

Dare I set an overall spending goal for November? Given my abysmal performance on the last two and the Turkey Day wild card, I’m not super anxious to sign up for a third month of under achievement. I think my goal is going to be ‘less than’. Less than last month, even if it is only by $5.