The $50 Grocery Budget: Cooking Chronicles, Continued

In past posts, I have reviewed my foray into cooking. It was a skill I really procrastinated on mastering. It all seemed (and still is) so daunting to me. Like drawing, or juggling. To be honest, I could probably learn to juggle much easier than it was for me to learn how to cook simple dishes.

But, my late 30's loomed and I figured it was time I learned how to feed myself properly. I took an online course (Summer Tomato) and slowly started to try to cook. There have been, let's say, a decent amount of flops. There was the time when I tried to use all of the suggestions in an article on how to make mashed potatoes delicious, and subsequently ruined the dish completely. There was the many-week bout with Brussels sprouts before I realized I didn't like them no matter how they were cooked. There were a few dishes where I had to dump the whole lot down the garbage disposal after one bite. There's the fact that I still cannot make decent stir fried rice or homemade mac n cheese (I blame NZ cheeses for this one--it just tastes awful!) and I actually still use 2 min rice because...who TF has the time for dat?

Because I was learning, I never put a real limit on my grocery bill. As long as I was cooking, I was satisfied. Despite the flops and money spent over the last 3 years, I feel like I have come to a turning point and can start refining my methodologies. Here's what I normally do:

1. Monday/Tuesday, figure out what I want to eat all of next week. I usually plan my meals around a craving I have, to be honest. 
2. Meal plan. Select several recipes or a favorite recipe, if I have made the dish before.
3.  Select everything I need on the Countdown online shopping website for the meals. 
4. Either select getting the groceries delivered (it is $14 so I save this for very special occasions or when I am slammed) or picked up on my normal Thursday evening errand run. 
5. If pick up, I select the pick up location based on which store has all the items I need. Several stores just don't carry the things I buy regularly, like ground turkey. 
6. Book a car for Thursday. Make a list of items I need that didn't go on the list because the store didn't have them (they don't offer hot roast chickens on the site, either--when I have a meal that requires one, I have to go shopping normally for it).
7. Pick up groceries at the end of my Thursday errand run. Put away groceries.
8. On Saturday or Sunday, cook the meals for the week. 
9.  And round and round she goes. It gets exhausting!

It all makes me exhausted but not as much as it used to when I first started. It's almost automatic now. The first refinement I can make is to my grocery costs, so I am going to introduce another element in there:

the $50/week grocery bill!

Countdown charges $5 for click and collect grocery checkouts that are less than $50, so I am going to try to get it as close to $50 without going under for a few weeks and see how I go. I will likely need a 'big shop' once every month to get food and household staples that are costly, like meat, toiletries, and cleaning supplies. I also will stock up when there is a sale on non-perishable items that I buy regularly. I will give myself those outs only.

Here is how the past few weeks have gone: 

This week's meals: 

Breakfast: spirulina smoothie, poached egg w/ homemade hollandaise sauce, 1/2 sandwich thin with butter

Lunch: mini English muffin pizzas with pizza sauce, veggies, shredded cheese

Dinner: pesto chicken with cherry tomatoes, mashed potatoes, asparagus 

I already had some of the items, so my grocery shop was $50.35 for:

English muffins (6): $3

pesto (325 g): $10.90

apples (0.1 kg): $0.40

asparagus (2 bunches): $6

courgettes (0.3 kg): $1.50

potatoes (0.5 kg): $1.25

strawberries (2): $8

cherry tomatoes (2): $7

peanut butter: $6

chocolate block: $4.30

paper towels: $2

 Next week, I'm having:

Breakfast: spirulina smoothie, poached egg w/ homemade hollandaise sauce, 1/2 sandwich thin with butter (am on a kick)

Lunch: courgette soup, bread, shredded chicken

Dinner: Turkey meatball zoodle spaghetti with veggies

Grocery shop so far: $50.30 for:

bread roll (1): $0.60

shredded chicken (0.1 kg): $2.90

milk (600 ml): $2.23

spirulina smoothie: $4

bacon (180 g): $5.49

capsicum: $1.50

courgettes (1 kg): $6

mushrooms (0.1 kg): $1.30

potatoes: (0.4 kg): $1.20

strawberries (2): $7

eggs (6): $4.30

crushed tomatoes: $1.20

toilet cleaner: $3.49

chicken stock cubes: $2.50

dijon mustard: $3

tomato paste: $1.49

spring onion: $2.10

The bacon and strawberries are my luxury items for the week--I had a craving for bacon and didn't have any this week. The mustard is good for dressings and I ran out, so I'm replacing it. I already have the turkey mince I'll need, as well as condiments and cheeses. 

My freezer is tiny and I have to share it with two other flatmates, so that makes stocking up on perishables really hard. I do a lot with what I have, though!!

Let's see if I can do this for 3/4 of the month going forward!

Selling the Good Points about My Flat to New Flatmates

My new (1 year in--they still feel new to me!) flatmates are applying for work permits as their current visas expire soon. It isn't certain what will happen, or if they will stay in my flat if they do get approved. I may need to advertise for new flatties soon!

I know my flat is a bit more expensive than others. I know I will need to 'sell' the flat in my ad.


First up: finances. New flatties always first ask how much rent + utilities are per week.

Base Rent: is currently $342.50/week for a couple. That is $171.25 per person per week. For a single, the rent I'd need to afford the place as Head Tenant would be unfair as I'd have to charge a ridiculous amount. So it's basically couples only.

Internet: unlimited broadband, fibre, $94/month. This is ~$8 per person per week.

Electricity: ranges from $142 ($12/week/pp) to $240/month ($20/week/pp).

Total: between ~$380 - $400/week, with utilities


Is it worth it? Hell no, not from my perspective! But, hey, people have to have a place to live, and I try to make it as nice and homey as possible. Here's what they get:

Bedroom:

--fully furnished with comfy Queen bed, 2 nightstands, large dresser, full length mirror

--two large closets (with built-in shelves and storage system) that run the length of one wall

--bonus storage closet in room

--has its own sunny (NW-facing) balcony

--5 m ceiling, lots of light

--plenty of room--can fit a desk or do yoga/workout even with all the other furniture in there

--Perfect for a couple

About the apartment and complex:

--two-story terrace house in a historic, small, quiet boutique complex

--90 m2 2-bedroom apartment plus balcony and tiled courtyard

 --completely furnished

--Countdown, Britomart, Queen St are < 7 min walking distance

 --very safe and secure: swipecard entry to complex + key/lock to apartment

--recently remodeled kitchen and bathrooms--brand new stuff!
--Washer and (new!) dryer in unit

--modern kitchen with every piece of cookware you could possibly need, huge pantry

--new dishwasher, insinkerator, oven/cooktop

--new comfy couches, new carpet, new flatscreen TV (no Sky but you can get it if you wish)

--large main bathroom with bath tub upstairs—shared by all flatties

--separate bathroom (toilet/sink) downstairs—can be theirs exclusively! Up to them if they are willing to share with guests or not; I do not use it unless the main bathroom is in use and it is an emergency (v. rare)

--extra storage under stairs in the Harry Potter closet, and in the garage storage unit

--friendly, quiet, considerate neighbours with pretty gardens

--wonderful, responsive landlord

--no dampness in winter

--cute patio courtyard to grow veggies, herbs, fruit, and flowers. Currently there are: blueberries, strawberries, limes, lemons, lavender, jasmine, gardenia, basil, mint, a cabbage tree, and assorted flowers. Small bbq for summer coming soon!
--secure garage for free bicycle, moped parking; car park spot can be added for ~$70 per week extra


What do you think?  Does this sell the place nicely?


I also include a little blurb in there about myself as a flatmate.

Full rent is $580 per week, and their portion is $171.25 per person per week. On TradeMe, there are very very few rooms available at this price or lower, and even then, they'd have to share with ~5 people and have much less space. From that perspective, it really is a great deal, even though the costs seem quite high.

(My portion is then $237.50 per week. I also rent out the car park for $70/week, further lowering my rent to $167.50 pw. Landlord loves this and highly approves of my cunning plan as then she doesn't feel as bad raising my rent every year! Honestly, though--a $2.50 pw increase every year is about as good as it gets in Auckland.)

Suckered by AMEX

Accruing credit card bonus points is a major part of my budget and finance plans. I've been doing well at it for US credit cards, but wanted to see if NZ had caught up at all. Turns out, there are some offers out there that aren't too bad. Unfortunately, I am not eligible for the one I want because I currently have a no-fee AMEX NZ Airpoints card. All the offers I want require you to be a new customer.

In order to be a new customer, then, I have to cancel my current card, wait for a few years, and then apply. I never ever use my AMEX, because so few places take the card here in NZ. I should have canceled that card 3 years ago, 1 year after I received the bonus on it (50 airpoints). But I didn't...so now I'm stuck. In order to be eligible later, I decided to cancel it.

Then the wrench: they offered me airpoints to not cancel. I agreed. What am I canceling for, if not to get more airpoints, I figured? Why not get the airpoints now?! So their ploy worked. I should have seen if I could have gotten MORE out of them, but that will come later. I'll wait 6 months and try again, and see if they'll MATCH this offer of 200 Airpoints for signing up for a $195 annual fee card, and negotiate from there.

Anyway, they are free points so I'll take them. It does delay my plan to sign up for more bonus cards, but that's OK for now. I hope that doesn't make a huge difference later!