What a week of grocery shopping. Somehow by Tuesday my husband was complaining because we were out of milk and salad and we had also run out of fruit for all of our lunches. So on Wednesday, I already had to grocery shopping. Never a good sign.
I just finished reading "No Impact Man", which I highly recommend, and was more determined than ever to attempt to get our food as local as possible. For example, I just can't understand why right now Meijer is stocking red, green & yellow peppers from Holland when we can get them from our local farmers. That blows my mind.
So my first stop on Wednesday was a local market where I got some tomatoes, cucumbers and potatoes. Then I ran off to Meijer where I found more potatoes on sale and I had to buy them up. They were on clearance, but they didn't appear to be going bad so I bought 3 bags of organic potatoes for under $6. I also got my free organic carrots (thanks Recyclebank!!!) and they had raspberries for $1 a pint. Yum, Yum!!!! I really didn't buy much at Meijer and somehow my total was close to $50 - my second bad sign! My third bad sign was when I forgot to use my $25 giftcard that I bought last week for $22. So this coming week I must do that!
At Kroger I spent $114, which was appalling to me considering I just spent $50 at Meijer and some more (I forgot how much) at the farmer's market. I did buy soccer snacks which amounted $17, but I really didn't buy that much overall and I was totally shocked when I saw the total. I recently lost my calculator that I used to track my spending as I shopped. Boy do I need that calculator!
But, I wasn't done spending yet, there was still the local meat store, CVS, Walgreens & another farmer's market to go to. All told I am $89 over budget this week and I don't have a lot to show for it. I was thinking of increasing our budget to $150 if I am going to shop at the Farmer's Market. It is more expensive, but the truth is I don't mind. If I am supporting something that I believe in I am willing to pay a bit more. We will also be getting our first CSA purchase this week. It totals $64 and from memory it includes veggies, milk, cheese, wheat berries, meat and some other things I can't remember right now. Well, after actually seeing (rereading) what I just wrote I do believe a jump in our budget is appropriate. It is times like this when I really don't understand how some people are able to maintain such a tight budget and buy quality foods. It obviously requires restraint that I don't have :(.
Here is the breakdown of the shop. Warning: It is a L.O.N.G. list!!!!
| 3-Sep | ||
| CVS | ||
| 4-3 packs of gum | $6.00 | |
| 5 cans olives | $5.00 | |
| Dawn | $0.99 | .75 coupon |
| $6 in ExtraCare Bucks | ||
| Total Spent | $5.62 | |
| Total Saved | $17.14 | |
| Total Coupons | $6.75 | |
| Walgreens | ||
| 6 cans Mand. Org. | $3.00 | |
| Total Spent | $3.00 | |
| Total Saved | 6.98 | |
| Total Coupons | 6.98 | |
| Local Meat Store | ||
| 2+ lbs Chicken | ||
| 1 lb. bacon | ||
| .25 lbs. cheese | ||
| .75 lbs. ground chuck | ||
| .75 lbs. ground sirloin | ||
| Total Spent | $19.22 | |
| Meijer | ||
| PingPong balls | $1.46 | |
| Shin guards | $7.49 | |
| 3 bags Org. Pot. | $5.57 | Marked down :) |
| 2.34 lbs. grapes | $4.66 | |
| 2-16oz org. Carrots | $2.00 | $2 coupon |
| Org. Yog. | $3.56 | |
| Org. Spinach | $4.99 | $2 coupon |
| 2 Goldfish | $2.39 | .55 coupon |
| 2 Org. Romaine | $5.98 | $2 coupon |
| Watermelon | $3.49 | |
| 2lbs. Org. Carrots | $1.00 | |
| 5-8oz Raspberries | $5.00 | $1 each AMAZING!!!! |
| 2-16oz Blueberries | $5.00 | |
| Total Spent | $46.58 | |
| Total Saved | $27.86 | |
| Total Coupons | $6.55 | |
| Kroger | ||
| 5 reusable bags | $4.00 | |
| 2-6 packs soda | $6.00 | |
| 2 Org. Eggs | $7.98 | 2-$1coupons |
| 4 Capt. Crunch Cereal | $8.00 | 2-$1 coupons |
| String Cheese | $3.99 | $1 coupon |
| 1 box Capri Sun | $1.99 | For Soccer |
| Olive Oil | $3.59 | Marked down |
| 6 cont. Peanut Butter | $10.00 | |
| 3 Org. Garb. Beans | $2.67 | |
| 3 2 liters soda | $2.37 | |
| Capri Sun | $3.98 | Soccer |
| Nabisco Snacks | $7.98 | $1 coupon for soccer |
| 2 Pudding | $1.00 | $1 coupon |
| Flour | $3.99 | |
| 2 Pretzels | $2.00 | |
| Org. Milk | $5.49 | |
| 3 cans Spinach | $2.37 | |
| Pickles | $2.07 | |
| 2 Bologna | $2.00 | |
| Cinn Rolls | $1.25 | |
| 2 Hot Dogs | $6.00 | .75 coupon |
| 2 Org. Cereal | $4.50 | $1 coupon |
| Oreo Snacks | $3.99 | Soccer |
| Bagged Salad | $1.99 | Forgot to use my coupon!!!!! |
| Chips | $2.25 | Forgot to use my coupon!!! |
| 3 strawberries | $6.47 | |
| 2 Guacamole | $5.00 | |
| 3.56 lbs bananas | $1.96 | |
| 2.13 lbs. org. Bananas | $1.47 | |
| .25 coup. Eggs | ||
| .4 coup. Cereal | ||
| Total Spent | $114.35 | |
| Total Saved | $42.30 | |
| Total Coupons | $9.15 | |
| Farmer's Market | ||
| Tomatoes | ||
| Eggplant | ||
| Garlic | ||
| Peaches | ||
| Cucumbers | ||
| Potatoes | ||
| Plums | ||
| Pears | ||
| Apples | ||
| I can't remember how much I spent | ||
| Guess | $25.00 | |
| Total Weekly Spending | $213.77 | |
| Total Savings | $94.28 | |
| Total Coupons | $29.43 | |
| Total for September | $214.00 | |
| Budget | over by $89 | |
| Monthly budget | over by $89 | |
| Yearly Spending | $3,065.50 | |
I'm just guessing but first you have the bags at Krogers are these for your trash pick up?
ReplyDeleteThat is $4.00 right there.
If you can next week try printing out all the organic coupons you can find and try not shopping at Kroger just Meijer only and then Kroger for just the things you can't find at Meijer or are on deep discount at Kroger try this a few weeks and see if this helps with your Budget. My Kroger had just gone through the roof so this is what I have started doing and it is helping the past two weeks instead of being over budget I was 10 and 20 under the same foods. Just avoiding Kroger for them. Also, for the soccer snacks you did well with the Nabisco idea and the coupons for Nabisco but if your taking a lot of snacks try Brownies and Rice Krispy or Peanut butter cookies ( There are even no bake kinds out there) watch out for kids with allergy to nut. Oatmeal cookies. My go to snacks when i had no time were orange slices and brownies . I could back a few sheets of brownies slice like 6 oranges and have enough to feed the entire crew teem for much less! You have to slice the oranges like you see on breakfast bars really thin and like a half smile but the kids eat them up this way!