Keeping to that Budget - Groceries Edition
This paycheck's budget for groceries is $100. Twenty of that is earmarked for Ben's breakfasts at work. Although I'm hoping we can keep that lower by preparing eggs, sausage, and biscuits at home!
Generally, I purchase enough food and other items at their lowest price to last 3-4 months. For example, if spaghetti is on sale for 49 cents a package {like it is right now at Smiths!} I'll buy 8 packages assuming we'll eat spaghetti twice a month. Most grocery stores are on a 3-4 month sale cycle, so by the time we've eaten all the spaghetti, it'll be on sale again!
These days things are a bit different since we don't know if we'll be moving for school in the next few months, or not. If we are moving we don't want to have a ton of food to pack, so we're focusing on eating the food in our freezer and pantry. However, our pantry and freezer don't contain everything, we still have to buy some things!
We had a list of items that we needed to buy; shredded cheese, sour cream, cleaning supplies, diapers; and then items that I wanted to round out what we already have at home. I had $80 to work with to fill in any gaps over the next two weeks of meals. Here's what I ended up buying:
-coarse salt $2.49 (Ingredient for Dishwasher Detergent)
-washing soda $4.29 (Ingredient for Dishwasher Detergent)
-comet $1
-diapers $4.49 (I usually buy Huggies but the store brand were a $1.50 cheaper and we're only using them at night with Jackson now)
-1% milk $1.99
-2% milk $1.99
-kettle chips $1.76 (2 bags; sale price was $1.88. I used a $1 off 2 coupon and submitted for a $1 off 2 ibotta rebate)
-pretzels sticks $2.33 (2 bags; sale price was $1.49. I used a $0.65 off 2 coupon)
-tortilla chips $1.50 (2 bags; sale price was $1. I used a $0.50 off 2 coupon)
-Pringles $2.28 (2 containers; 1 was .89 with mega sale savings, the other was 1.39.)
-Triscuits $1.50 (Used a $0.50 off coupon)
-Ritz $2
-Garlic texas toast $1.50 (Sale price was $2.50 and I used a $1 off coupon)
-Cinnamon toast crunch bites FREE (digital coupon when you purchase through Clicklist)
-2 lb bags of shredded cheese $9.98 (2 bags; will freeze in 8 oz portions)
-.75 lb sliced provolone cheese $2.79 (On clearance)
-sour cream $1.74 (2 containers; sale price was $0.87)
-10 yogurt cups $3 (Sale price $0.50 used $1 off 10 coupon and submitted for $1 rebate through Saving Star)
-10 cans of chili $4.90 (Sale price was $0.99; I used 4 paper coupons $1 off 2 and 1 digital coupon $1 off 2)
-Body Armor sport drink FREE (Smith's Free Friday digital offer)
-Lemon icing $0.79 (On clearance. My sister, Charissa, recommended we eat gingersnaps with lemon icing)
-Pumpkin pie spice $2.79 (On clearance)
-Lard $1.49 (I'm going to try to make biscuits that can compete with the Hospital's - Wish me luck!)
-Tortillas $1.98
-Bananas $1.36
-Apples $3.13
-Iceberg lettuce $0.99
-Romaine blend salad mix $1.03 (I used a $0.45 off coupon)
-Broccoli crowns $3.43
-Carrots $2.99 (I used a $2 off $10 produce coupon)
-Frenchs dijon mustard $2.69 (We tried using generic mustard, it just wasn't the same and not worth it to us)
-Taco bell hot sauce $1.79 (Ben says there is no comparison when it comes to other hot sauces)
-Scotch brite scrubber attachments $1.49 (On clearance)
I used a $5 off $50 digital coupon as well. My grand total for everything was $78.94. Right on the money!
I got our groceries through Smiths' Clicklist. The first three times you use Clicklist it's free. There are also several Clicklist specific digital coupons. Some are for completely free items or for dollars off your purchase.
My fridge is looking a lot fuller now!
