Tag: grocery budget

Categories
Every Day

Grocery Haul, etc.

I finally got to go grocery shopping yesterday at Top’s. Chicken is hard to find around here. Not only is it scarce but it does not look good, kind of gray in color and the price keeps going up. Top’s had some on sale for $.99 a lb.- leg quarters, legs, and thighs on the bone. They did not look good.

However they did have large rotisserie chickens on sale for $ 6.99 each with a limit of 2. I can buy them at B.J.’s for $ 4.99 each. However, it was not worth the gasoline to go down there. It is 30 minutes away and I had no other reason to go down. I can’t buy a whole chicken for this price let alone roast it. So this was a savings of both time and money. I can’t buy a large raw whole chicken for under $8.00 even at Walmart.

We had some of it on a huge salad for brunch yesterday. Then I made stuffing and gravy to go with it for dinner.

Today I cut all of the chicken off and used my food saver to package it in 2 cup portions for other meals like soup or casseroles. They are now in the freezer. The total cost for the chickens was $ 13.98.

They had chuck roasts on sale for $ 5.99 a lb. I purchased 2 large ones for a total of $ 41.15. They will make 2 stews and 2 beef barley soups. My last purchase was this Red Baron pizza that was $ 3.99 with a Super Coupon. This is for dinner tonight.

My budget for the month of January was $400. I spent a total of $ 145.93. So way under budget which I was thrilled with.

We will continue to eat out of our stockpiles here and spend as little as possible in February also. I do want to stock a year’s worth of corned beefs when they go on sale for St. Patrick’s day. We love reuben sandwiches. Meanwhile our freezers are going down so that I can stock on sale beef when I see it. Most of that beef will go on the bottom of the freezer. I believe that beef will skyrocket soon to where it is unaffordable. Once I have enough of that and chicken, I will stop buying meat.

Otherwise, I am buying as little as possible. The prices will not come down until people stop buying so much food. It is the inflation but also supply and demand. If the demand is down the prices will come down. So I will do my part to control it here at my home.

While I was out yesterday, I went to the drugstore and picked up one of Hubby’s prescriptions. I also went to Ace Hardware to pick up the battery operated shovel that I showed you in a prior post. Hubby ordered it online and they let us know it had been shipped to our store. He is outside right now trying it out on our walk. I just have to learn how to use it.

With the errands all done for the week. I will not be going out again this week except to get our mail.

Have any of you saved money on groceries this week? Have you gotten a good meat deal?

Categories
Every Day

2024 Budget Plan – Food

We all have spent a fortune on food the past couple of years. Inflation has caused some items to go up over 60-70%. We have dealt with fresh food that goes bad a few days after we purchase it. We have dealt with a slew of recalls that they tell you to just throw away. That sure is money down the drain. I personally have not thrown a slew of recalls away. That food is too expensive to just throw it away. Take it back to the store or call the manufacturer and insist that they replace it free of charge. Keep an eye on the recall list here: https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts . There are many posted almost every day.

I have dealt with rotten meat and gotten my money back at the store. Don’t let the manufacturer’s of all of these things just pocket your money. I know it takes your time, but do what you have to do to protect your hard earned dollars.

Bottom line is that prices are so high now that I will do whatever needs to be done to not overspend my food budget again. It has been hard to stay below what you think or want to spend. I have gone over it many, many times. I am sure a lot of you have too.

So I have set a monthly budget of $ 534. a month for the two of us in 2024 and that will include any extra meals that we make during the year for our sons’ families or when we have company. This is how we came up with that figure. We went here: https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/resource-files/Cost_Of_Food_Thrifty_Food_Plan_October_2023.pdf and looked at the thrifty plan for our ages. That gave us a total of $ 502. per month for us. Then we added $ 32. more per month as a little buffer for inflation. Hence the $ 534. per month.

We chose the thrifty plan because these government plans are extremely high. Also we do have some food left in our pantry and freezer that we will be using up in 2024.

We also tend not to waste any food. It is too expensive to not use it and just let it rot. We always use up or freeze leftovers for future meals. Twice a week, I check my refrigerator to see what needs to be used up before it goes bad. Then I make a plan to have those on 1-2 leftover days for brunch or dinner. If I have a lot of lettuce that needs to be used up, I will make tacos, taco salads or serve a side salad with a meal. Every veggie that needs to be used up will go into those salads. This year I am also going to make sure that I am not buying too many fresh vegetables and fruits at one time when I shop. I know how much we use, so one to two weeks worth when I shop is what I will buy.

We eat a lot of eggs so I buy the 60 count box from Walmart. The prices have started escalating again because of the bird flu again so I have been buying and freezing eggs to get ahead of the price increases. I just put one egg in each part of an ice cube tray, freeze them, and put them in a Ziploc bag. That way I can pull out one or two to thaw each time I need them. I try to use them up within 4 months for freshness but you can keep them and they will last a year.

I am not renewing my Instacart which expires this month. I found I didn’t use it enough to make it worth it. B.J.’s is expiring the end of this month too. I will make one more trip there before it does. I only need a couple of things. Then I will wait for 6 months or so (after the winter) and use a coupon to get a membership for $ 20. or $ 25. again. The one delivery service that I use a lot is Walmart+ especially in the winter. It just renewed the beginning of this month. I don’t like driving in snow and ice. In my area, Walmart is the cheapest for most things unless they are on sale at the more expensive grocery stores. They even beat Aldi’s on a lot of items. So I check Walmart online whenever I am planning to buy an item at Aldi’s to check the prices. I do not include my memberships or the driver’s tips in in my food budget. We budget those in a category called the Cost of Food Delivery.

I am also planning on using some sources for food that are farther away from where I live. But they will only be used when things are at rock bottom prices and I have other errands in that direction. I have to make my expenditure of gas worth it.

I could write a lot more but you will see the things I do during the year to save with posts that I put up.

Have you set a budget for 2024 for food?

Categories
Every Day

Frugal Things The Past Few Days

I want to let you know that most of the things that I showed you that were leftovers in my recent post have been eaten or frozen.

So here is a new group of leftovers plus 2 other ingredients that I made into a couple of different meals this week.

I had leftover hot Italian sausage in the spaghetti sauce from the other night. I cut it up and used 1/2 of it on pizza along with some mushrooms also. Hubby likes the sausage. I love mushrooms. I also used an 8 oz. can of tomato sauce from my storage on the pizza because I find leftover spaghetti sauce too much on pizza. I make pizza on the artisan bread that I purchased at Aldi. Just add mozzarella cheese and seasonings and it is delicious.

Last night I heated the leftover spaghetti sauce after I took the rest of the sausage out and cut it up for another pizza which I will make soon. I added the sauce that was left in the jar too to the pan. Some of the mushrooms and the spaghetti were microwaved to heat them through.

Meanwhile I air fried two pieces of chicken after preparing them with the Shake and Bake. I added some mozzarella cheese at the end. So we had chicken parmesian on the leftover spaghetti and I added some mushrooms to mine.

All I have left is the sausage, some mushrooms, the tomato sauce for pizza. The leftover spaghetti sauce was frozen for our next spaghetti meal. We also have two pieces of chicken breast to use tonight. I haven’t decided yet how I will fix that. Depending on the weather, we may grill it and add BBQ sauce.

We did have a lot of Italian meals this week but we haven’t had them in a long time and we were craving them. Rather than waste leftovers, neither one of us care if we eat the same things made into new meals over and over again.

I had to run to the drugstore for a prescription yesterday so I stopped for a loaf of bread. That cost me $ 2.99 so now my grocery budget that is left for the month is $ 346.71.

Our lawn is so dry that we scheduled the sprinkler system to run every other day. But if I get up in the morning and it has rained overnight, I turn it off until the next day that it is scheduled for. I believe our water bill the end of this month will be much less than last year’s. Our system broke this year and we had to wait 6 weeks for them to come out to repair it. That is how booked up they were.

We only eat two meals a day and have been doing this for a very long time now. That is saving us money but honestly we didn’t do it to save money. We just aren’t hungry in the morning. Coffee is enough.

We continue to drive our 10 year old SUV. We take immaculate care of it and make sure to take it to the garage for necessities like inspections and oil changes. It only has 47,000 miles on it and has never had a repair. The only time it has been to the dealer is for recalls. Maintaining things that you own pays off in the long run. My son has done some brakes for us.

Hubby is cutting my hair again tomorrow. Finally all the color from my salon appointments will be gone. My white hair I like and so does Hubby so I will not be coloring it again.

I ran the dishwasher really full. I am using the auto wash setting which I find uses less water and electricity.

That is it for today. What have you done recently to save some money?

Categories
Every Day

My Journey To Keep My Grocery Shopping Under Control

We had the spaghetti with Hot Italian Sausage last night. It was so good. Since we have sauce and sausage leftover, I will make a pizza tonight using that and the Artisan flatbread I purchased today. I will also add some mushrooms for me.

I ran errands today to Top’s and Aldi’s. At Aldi’s I purchased three of the Artisan bread. Each package makes 2 pizzas for us. Since this is our favorite pizza crust and it is often out of stock, I put one package in the fridge and the other two in the freezer. Six crusts will last about 6 months for us. My total cost for this at Aldi’s was $ 10.77.

Last stop was Top’s where I purchased 5 Shake and Bake. When you bought 5 you paid $ 2.99 each. I love using these for a quick meal in the air fryer for pork or chicken. Especially in the winter when we are not grilling outside. The cucumber was $ 1.00. The celery and carrots were on B1G1F and ended up costing me $ 3.49 for both. The half and half was $ 5.99 for a half gallon. I stock this ahead in my fridge because it has far out expiration dates. We use it in our coffee and for any milk that we need. We used to buy milk for pudding, cereal, etc. but it always went bad before we could use it up. So I quit buying milk and we use half and half instead for everything. It works well for us. Out total for Top’s was $ 25.43. My total for today is $36.20. I also purchased a 60 ct. box of eggs at Walmart this week for $ 5.18. So my total for the week is $ 41.38.

I started with $ 391.08 in my grocery budget less the $ 41.38 leaves $349.70 left for the rest of the month.

I am off to do some cleaning. I hope you all have a great day!

Did you get any bargains at the grocery store this week?

Categories
Every Day

Are You Tired of Overspending Your Grocery Budget?

Today is your lucky day! I have been busy while I have been ill so you get a BONUS post today!

I have asked this question of family, friends, and neighbors and I keep getting the same answer. Yes, we are sick of rising prices and having to spend so much more for the same products we purchased just a few weeks ago. If you shop at Walmart and/or Aldi, it seems their prices have really risen of late especially in my area. I see increases at my other stores but not as much because I always just buy mostly the loss leaders sales. The only prices that seem to have come down in recent weeks here are for eggs and butter. What are you guys seeing in your areas?

Over the past 2 and a half years, it has been very difficult to work within a budget for food. Would I like to go back to what I was spending back then? Sure I would but with inflation that is never going to happen. Even if they finally figure out how to get inflation back to about 2% a year, these prices you see now are not going to go back to what they were. It makes it so difficult for families to stay within a reasonable budget.

Well what is a reasonable budget today? Here are the USDA’s amounts for May 2023 which is the latest: https://www.fns.usda.gov/cnpp/usda-food-plans-cost-food-reports-monthly-reports.

Many months I have spent more than these figures. It all depended on what we wanted to eat those months. Hubby is always adding to my grocery list things for complicated(lots of ingredients) recipes. One of his hobbies is finding recipes he wants to try and then I buy expensive ingredients( think spices) that only get used once. I need to find him a less costly hobby. I am guilty of going to the store with a list and coming out with more than what is on the list. How many times have you guys done that?

The other problem at least in this home and I would bet in all of your homes is you don’t eat what is already in your refrigerator, freezers, and on your shelves. Yes, I keep a pretty good check on leftovers, produce, and meat. I try to alternate my shelf food by eating the oldest first. We have very little waste in our home. However, I go to the store almost every week and buy more food because there is a great sale! How many of you are doing this? How many of you are stockpiling food for a disaster like a collapse of the economy, war, hurricanes and tornadoes just storms that take the power out? Do you have enough? What is enough? Three months, a year or two?

Well, I have decided that we have ENOUGH! This cycle of buying food every week has to stop. If we need it that is fine! But if we are just buying more each week just because it is on sale, I need to stop. Anyone else feel the same way?

So on July 1st, we came up with a better way to control our spending on groceries, etc. And we are not paying attention to what the government tells us we need to spend! I am tired of putting out money on overpriced products and watching the large corporations earn record profits every year while so many families are just trying to eat. The only way to get these prices to come down is through supply and demand. So I am going to do my part to lower my demand and buy fewer products. Over the past few weeks, I have already refused to buy products that I deemed way to high in price.

We have set a budget of $ 400. per month for the two of us. This will include all food, cleaning products, and personal care products. Our OTC medicines get lumped into our prescription budget. I will not spend one penny more and we will not starve. We will start incorporating what we already have into our meals. We will never waste food. Hubby has agreed to stop hunting for recipes and I will cook as simply as I can not only to use up what we have but to save on utility costs. I am actually hoping to save some of that $400. a month to build up some money for when it comes time to replenish on the sales.

Soda and junk food is out! We will finish what we have and I will not be buying more. They are empty calories and so very expensive. I drink water now and so does Hubby. We also drink iced tea and coffee. That soda and junk food money can be used for real food like fruits, vegetables, and meat. We will have treats but I will make them here in our home. Popcorn has lots of fiber, is cheap, and a 50 lb. bag lasts a very long time. The best part is that you can control any butter or salt.

I expect you guys to hold me accountable. I will show everything along this journey. I will show you all of our meals, what I purchase at the grocery store, how I use up leftovers, etc.

Anyone else tired of all of these high prices?

Categories
Every Day

Our New Grocery Budget

We have all been spending more money on groceries since Covid 19 hit. Prices went up at first because of shortages. Then with all of the money that the government has been spending (printing out of thin air) inflation started to take hold and will continue to go up with each new spending package. This trend will continue on the backs of middle class Americans. The people whose taxes they will raise are corporations and many small businesses who will raise the prices on their products which gets passed down to us.

Since I had been stockpiling during part of 2020, I was spending a fortune. I was trying to stick to my budget but it was becoming very difficult. So I was taking lump sums of money from savings to continue that way of shopping. When I took a step back during my break from here, I realized we were spending a fortune. I was finally well stocked and really needed to slow the shopping down and get on a regular budget again. I think many of you can probably relate to this.

So about 6 weeks ago, I started doing things differently. I know prices are up and will continue to go up. But I slashed our grocery budget to $400. per month. I am going to try to continue budgeting that amount as long as I can by incorporating into our meals everything that I can from our stockpile ( pantry, freezer, and refrigerator items).

I am menu planning a month at a time now so that when I go to the grocery store I know what I need for the month for the meals that I have planned out.

One week a month I do a large shop at Walmart, Top’s, Niagara Produce or Aldi’s or a combination of them. I do not buy meat at Walmart except for frozen chicken wings. Most of our meat comes from the other three stores. This week I spend the majority of our monthly budget.

How do I determine the big shop week? I watch the grocery flyers and my Niagara Produce weekly specials and go the week that has a lot of things on sale (especially meat and fish) that are needed to replenish what we are using. Meat and fish are expensive so buying at a good price is the best time to stock. Walmart and Aldi’s has the cheapest prices on other items that we use.

I actually was considering joining Costco before the gasoline prices went up. However, it is a 110 mile trip to the closest one. We only get 20 miles to the gallon so that trip would cost us about $16.00 in gasoline each time we went. After paying a $60.00 membership fee, I couldn’t justify the cost. We know the gasoline prices are only going to go up further.

Then I took a look at joining Sam’s Club which is 37 miles round trip. That would only cost us about $ 5.80 per trip. They have a membership deal that works out to be free after a $45. gift card they give you to join. This would be my logical choice if I decide to join. Costco is so much better than Sam’s or B.J’s. I did not renew my B.J.’s membership because I believe they are going belly up. They’re never well stocked and the prices are prohibitive for the quality. So for now I will just stick to my current plan.

The other weeks of the month, I just shop the loss leaders on things like fresh produce, creamer, cream cheese, sour cream, milk, eggs, and butter, etc. It takes me a few minutes to make a list every week and just go in each store for those items and nothing else. No impulse purchases! These shops don’t cost a lot and keep me within my budget.

This has really been working well and is saving me time and gasoline. Before I was going to too many stores just about every week.

Also, we make sure that every morsel of food is used up that is purchased. Nothing goes into the trash! We have a leftover night or two a week which is built into our menu plan. If produce isn’t getting used up, we freeze it for smoothies. If we have onions, celery, or peppers starting to get soft, we slice them and flash freeze them and use them in casseroles, stews or omelets.

If prices keep going up, I will find other ways to stay under budget. For now it is working.

On Wednesday, I will show you my small shop from last Friday. It was an inexpensive week.

Are you finding ways to stay under your grocery budgets even though prices are rising? Feel free to comment and share with all of us.