I'm still holding the line at $35.00/week.
It was interesting looking back over the responses on this thread for the last couple of years. A couple years ago I was budgeting $35.00/week and it was getting tough. I really don't understand how it works, but it does, I have been able to absorb various price increases and or adjust my shopping to take advantage of the "dips" and stay within the $35.00/week budget.
I have started experimenting with the idea of a "simple kitchen". I have started looking at the number of pantry items I have on hand and am making an effort to reduce that number by adjusting the way I cook. Part of it is to save a few pennies and part of it is the challenge of creating great food using a limited number of basic ingredients. One example came to up recently with CWS4322 and her flour based frosting recipe that uses granulated sugar. The recipe makes a great frosting without using confectioners sugar. By choosing this wonderful frosting or perhaps a 7-Minute frosting I can eliminate the "need" for confectioners sugar in my pantry.
I would be very interested in hearing what others do to eliminate or reduce the number of bottles, boxes, cans and pouches on the pantry shelves.
$35/week is amazing. Good job.