What are the grocery staples you always buy? Now that two kids are in college, our grocery bill is much smaller. At one point, I was getting two Costco lasagne, two rotisserie chickens, and two to three pounds of hamburger a week. These days, since it’s just three of us at home, grocery shops are simpler. When I’m writing, I make sure to have strong coffee, yogurt, berries, canned soup, and granola on hand. We always have carrots, hummus, microwave popcorn, brownie mix, and ice cream too.
How often in a week do you dine out versus cook at home? We used to cook elaborate meals at home, but at some point, we got so busy that we pretty much only cook well on weekends. During the week, it’s takeout or simple meals at home. If we’re feeling cheap, we bring bread and cheese to Zilker Park. If we can afford to go out to a beloved Austin restaurant, we will.
How often in a week did you dine out while growing up? Once or twice, always at our preppy country club and I always ordered a cheeseburger.
How often in a week did your parents cook at home? My mom cooked every night—one dinner for us kids and a separate one for her and my dad. When they divorced, we got KFC a lot. With extra biscuits.
The expenses
Week’s total: $532.39
Restaurants and cafés total: $301.40
Groceries total: $186.99
Most-expensive meal or purchase: Birthday dinner, $195.99
Least-expensive meal or purchase: Frozen Snickers bar at the movies, $5.94
Number of restaurant and café meals: 7 (including a movie theater snack counter and take-out)
Number of grocery trips: 2
The diary
Saturday
10:32am: My husband and I start the weekend with a taco “hike,” which involves walking across the Barton Creek Greenbelt to Tacodeli, where we eat tacos at a picnic table and then hike home. I get the Otto (refried black beans, double bacon, avocado, Jack cheese) and my husband gets the Migas Royale Plate (migas, queso, Jack cheese, avocado, and pico de gallo with mashed potatoes, refried black beans, queso fresco, and tortillas). My teen daughter misses the whole thing; she’s still at home asleep. Our total comes to $13.75.
