wow, thank you guys!! so many good ideas!
the beverages amount was very shocking to me too. I usually think of myself as "only drinking water, tea, and alcohol," I'm not sure how I forgot about all the Red Bull I drink :) most of the other stuff was either my boyfriend (he likes to drink gin and tonics, and/or just tonic and lime... and tonic water is pretty cheap so that one's not one of my big worries) or kind of anomalous (I gave up beer and wine for Lent, so I made myself a "mocktail" to bring to a party and that's what the grapefruit juice and ginger ale were for... I know, I'm still totally spoiled! we usually don't ever buy soda though.) I'm a huge tea drinker and now I have a ton of varieties on hand (the 3 boxes in March was an unusually high number to purchase) so it should be easy to make myself sub that for Red Bull (and much healthier!!)
cheese--we don't have Costco in Oklahoma :( huge bummer. we do have a Sams Club membership, though, so I will check prices there! thanks goblinchief!
floral--really I guess I should take this out of the grocery total along with non-foods. I usually buy 1 or 2 of the $7 grocery store bouquets per month. I just really really like to have fresh flowers on my dining room table. I am comfortable keeping this one for now :) since although I still have student loan debt I'm paying it off pretty fast and maxing out my 401k... but I understand the facepunches for sure!!
meat--it does look like a shit ton of meat (and rice/pasta), doesn't it?!? we are pretty stocked in the freezer right now so it'll be interesting to see how April compares. I don't know that this necessarily reflects our CONSUMPTION in a month, but we will see. Either way, I know we can do more vegetarian meals. Right now we do 1-3 per week, but if we could hit 3 consistently I would be a lot happier. I used to cook almost totally vegetarian when I lived by myself (and my boyfriend is pretty flexible about it) so I'm sure we can do this!
Bread--I actually started making bread and pizza dough after I got a KitchenAid for Christmas. The bread has been a bit of a struggle in terms of getting it to cook through without burning the outside (we have a super crappy, unevenly-heating, small apartment oven, which I don't think helps), but I actually had my most successful loaf to date on Saturday!! so I'm pretty sure it's all uphill from here :) that said I baked two loaves of French bread this month and bought two. better planning could help this. the other things in this category are English muffins, corn tortillas (dirt cheap), and ciabatta rolls (bought once for sandwiches for dinner), so I think the only improvement I would make there is that we ended up having to buy the more expensive English muffins twice because we were out and were at the wrong store (we have generic brand refrigerated muffins we prefer, they taste better and are $1.19 for six). I did try making these once last year but it was an epic fail, and just not worth the time and frustration when I can get them for relatively cheap.
We do make beans in the crockpot and freeze them in can-sized servings, which I absolutely love! I can't believe the beans $ was so small because I feel like we eat a decent amount of beans... but I guess dried beans are cheap. I would use them even more often but bf doesn't like the gas factor :) still, might be able to use them more, especially to help with our "more vegetarian meals" goal.
Also, I love Budget Bytes! :)
Yogurt--this is so dumb but I didn't even think of just buying the big container! DUH! Haha, thanks for the idea!!
1967mama, thanks for the reminder on ECOS detergent!!! I used to buy that when I lived in Pennsylvania, I was so excited the first time I saw it in the grocery store because it is SO much cheaper than other environmentally-friendly detergents. I forgot about it because I haven't just run across it here in my normal shopping, but I'll have to do a little research!
Powdered milk--genius, I never thought of this one either! will definitely check it out.
I'm sure there are more things to respond to, I'll have to read through the thread again. thanks so much, feel free to keep the suggestions coming!!