So I'm sure reading about my grocery shopping is a thrilling experience :) It does help me keep tabs on where our money is going, I hate keeping receipts!
This week I tried something a little different but I think it was pretty unsuccessful. I downloaded all of the sale ads for our stores and marked down everything we use that was on sale. I know a lot of people buy whatever is on sale but I'm super picky so we really don't need like a cabinet full of tuna fish if no one is going to eat it, even if it was $.10/can!
Kroger did have a sale on Ronzoni Pasta half price @ 10/$10 so we bought 3 boxes. Since it's just the two of us it takes us about a month to go through a box so we should be set for awhile. Total Savings: $3
Their crescent rolls were also on sale at 10/$10 so I grabbed 3 of those, we eat them every 2 weeks or so. I thought that was a pretty good deal. Savings: $2.61
Cheese....dude we eat so much cheese. Well we don't even really eat it, I think I've just started stockpiling it since it's been on sale the past few shopping trips. It seems like every time I buy it it's like $3.29/8oz so we now have a pile of cheese. Good thing it lasts a long time! This round I bought 2 8oz packages for $1.64 each.
Chicken! Purdue boneless skinless chicken breasts were on sale for $1.99lb. I picked up a pack for $3.50 and I should be able to stretch it out into 3 meals for us.
My Kroger receipt shows that we saved $18.03 with the loyalty card. Not too shabby!
Here's the rundown:
Aldi
Honey Nut Cereal 1.59
Crushed Tomatoes .99
Coffee Filters .99
Cucumber .39
Spinach 1.69
Garlic .99
Cantaloupe .99
Celery 1.19
Strawberries .99 (x3)
Ibuprofen 1.99
Frozen Blueberries 2.49
Potatoes .65
Stewed Tomatoes .59
Canned Soup 1.39 (x2)
Plums 1.65
Total 21.94
Walmart
Green Apples 2.90
Bananas 1.32
Grapes 2.97
SobeLifewater 1.00
Vinegar 1.24
Yeast 1.48
QuesoMelt 3.78
Bread 1.98
Total $16.67
Tortilla Chips 1.00 (x2)
Ice Cream Pint 2.00
Greek Yogurt .80 (x5)
Tomatoes .69
Crescent Rolls 1.00 (x3)
Orange Danish 1.00 (x2)
Cheese 1.64 (x2)
Tomato Sauce .28
Ragu-Tomato 1.77
Ragu-Alfredo 1.77
Pasta 1.00 (x3)
Vanilla Yogurt 1.99
Chicken 3.50
Milk 2.98
Toaster Pastries 1.39
Total $37.96
Weekly Total: $76.57
I can't decide if stocking up on things is worth it, Phillip gets it and is cool with buying a 72 pack of toilet paper or 25lb bag of flour if it's cheap compared to the smaller units. He knows we'll use it eventually. I on the other hand am perfectly content to buy the $.99 4 pack of toilet paper every week because the initial cost is smaller.
For next month I am going to add more to our grocery budget because we seem to keep going over our weekly limit of $50. I think I'm going to up it to $75/week and hope that having more food in the house keeps us from going out so often or stopping by the store more than once/week (more on that in another post).
How do you budget for groceries? Any money-saving tips that we aren't utilizing? Please share!
4 comments:
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I use yeast about 1/month, tonight I'm making pizza crust and I probably won't make another one until next month. I'll keep that in mind though if I start baking more regularly!
We typically buy store brand on everything except bagels, random right? Phillip swears Sara Lee is the queen of bagels.
We don't really buy snack foods, we buy lots of fruit and usually just have chips/salsa or queso for snacks.
Do you coupon? Maybe that helps. I fail at couponing.
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No couponing. It's hard to coupon when you don't buy a lot of processed food and most of what you buy is generic. My big couponing is reserved for when we eat out.
Do you own a bread machine or a Kitchen Aid stand mixer with dough hooks? (By the way, this is Tracy C.)
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Hehe I assumed it was :) That's the problem I've had with couponing too. I mean no one ever sends coupons for bananas.
We don't have a bread machine or fancy dancy mixer, even though it would look super awesome in my kitchen! We really don't eat bread that much, just for panini sandwiches and toast.
I've used a bread machine at work and was really unimpressed with it.It may just be a crummy brand or quite possibly I did it wrong! I made banana bread and it had a super thick crust to it. It also annoyed me that there was a big hole in the bottom from the mixer part.
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One thing - yeast. I know it's easier to buy it in the little envelopes, but if you bake a lot (I didn't see flour on your list, so I don't know) it is cheaper to buy it in a jar. Just keep it in your fridge once you open. This is only cheaper if you use it before the yeast dies. Also, don't be afraid to buy generics instead of name brand. There are a few things we don't buy generic - rice krispies and mayo come to mind.
I'm really trying to figure out why your food bill is $75/week when I spend about $100 for the 3 of us. Maybe it's because I do have a "stockpile" built up.