December 2016 Grocery Spending Journal

I'm posting the end of the month grocery spending journal, now, as I'll be posting our weekly Cheap & Cheerful Menus, tomorrow, and then it's on to New Year's! So, closing out December's budget today, and anything I spend between now and January 1st will fall into January's budget.


Dec. 2 Cash & Carry for all-purpose flour, 50-lbs on sale for $9.99. I had planned on buying 2 bags (100 lbs), but they only had 1 bag left, and that bag had a tear. They offered me $3 off that bag. They taped it up. It didn't look like much had leaked out, no more than 1 lb. So, I bought probably 49 lbs of all-purpose flour for $6.99, or about 14 cents/lb.

Dec. 3 Dollar Tree, I buy 1 box of graham crackers, 1 box of Wheat Thin type crackers, and 1 box of Ritz type crackers -- spent $3

Dec. 9 WinCo -- I buy 8 packages of semi-sweet chocolate chips, at $1.68 each, 1 bag of coconut for $1.38, 2 bags of marshmallows for 98 cents each, and cocoa powder, for $2.06. I received 12 cents in bag credit.Total spent -- $17.72

Dec 10 Fred Meyer, Senior discount day. I bought half-gallon of almond vanilla milk for $1.99. I received a 16 oz jar of roasted peanuts, free, a bottle of Kraft BBQ sauce, free, and a small bag of Werthers caramel candies, free. I spent $1.99

Dec. 13 Fred Meyer, another Senior Discount day. I bought 4 15-oz jars of natural peanut butter, at $1.35 each, 1.27 lbs of salted, roasted almonds, at $4.49/lb, less a $2 off coupon, 3 packages of hot dogs for 80 cents each, 4 packages of flour tortillas for 89 cents each, 2 8-oz bricks of cream cheese, for 89 cents each, less a 45 cent coupon, 4 red-tape bananas at 49 cents/lb, 1 head of cabbage for 49 cents/lb, 6 half-gallons of whole milk and 4 half-gallons of orange juice, at 89 cents each. I spent $27.37

Dec. 14 Target, picking up stocking stuffers. I also buy the 70 oz bottle of Market Pantry Medium Salsa, for $4.99

Dec. 14 WinCo for some items for a veggie platter. I bought broccoli crowns ($1.10), baby carrots (98 cents), celery (98 cents), grape tomatoes ($1.48), Ranch dressing mix (58 cents) 16 oz mini-marshmallows (98 cents), 28 oz bag of tortilla chips ($2.98). Total spent $9.08.

Total spent for December, so far -- $71.14

Dec. 19 QFC for shank hams, unsliced, at $1.29/lb, limit 2. I also find turkey bacon on markdown for $1.39/12 oz package. I bought 7 packages. Total spent $39.64

Dec. 20 Fred Meyer for another bonus Senior Shopping discount. I bought a half-gallon almond milk for $1.79 (coupon plus discount), 2 lbs of BarS Meat franks, marked down to 79 cents/lb (went into the freezer right away), 5 lb box of mandarins for $5.99 (this will be the only box of mandarins I buy this year, likely, as they are so much more expensive than navel oranges), 1 bundle of celery at 69 cents/lb (83 cents for a the bundle), box of white cake mix (Friday Freebie), 2-liter of 7UP soda (Friday Freebie), package of Tim Tam cookies (Friday Freebie).  Total spent today -- $10.19

Total spent for December, so far -- $120.97

Dec. 25 I bought a $15 gift card to Jack-in-the-Box, at Fred Meyer, for the bonus fuel points. We used this gc on Christmas Day, along with $3.95, for a total of  $18.95

Dec. 26 at Fred Meyer for discounted items. I bought candy for Valentine's Day and next Christmas, but the cost of these will come out of our holiday budget. I also bought a 16 oz container of marked down candied glace cherries (the kind used in baking and fruitcake), for $1.79

Total spent for December 2016, $141.71

What I bought:

Produce

4 bananas
1 head of cabbage
4 half-gallons of orange juice
70 oz jug of tomato salsa
3/4 lb broccoli crowns
1 lb baby carrots
2 bundles of celery
3/4 lb of grape tomatoes
5 lbs of mandarin oranges (tangerines)

Dairy

2 half-gallons of almond milk
2 packages of cream cheese
6 half-gallons of whole milk

Meat

4.25 lbs of mixed meat hot dogs
23 lbs of bone-in ham
5.25 lbs of turkey bacon

Pantry

1 box of graham crackers
1 box of Wheat Thins type crackers
1 box of Ritz-type crackers
8 packages of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 bag of coconut
2 bag of mini marshmallows
2/3 lb cocoa powder
16 oz jar of peanuts (freebie)
Kraft BBQ sauce (freebie)
bag of Werthers candies (freebie)
4  15-oz jars of natural peanut butter
1.27 lbs of smoked almonds
4 lbs of flour tortillas
Ranch dressing/dip mix
28-oz bag of tortilla chips
1 box of Pillsbury cake mix (freebie)
1 package of Tim Tam cookies (freebie)
2-liter of 7UP soda (freebie)
49 lbs of all-purpose flour
16 oz glace cherries

Other

Some fast food for Christmas snacky dinner -- chicken strips, onion rings, egg rolls


Not nearly as extensive a list of foods this month, compared to November. Our pantry, fridge and freezer are simply too full, right now.

My budget coming into December was $190 plus a carry-forward surplus of $11.84, for a total amount available to spend of $201.84. I spent $141.71. I now have $60.13 in surplus to roll over to January.

Our fridge, freezer and pantry continue to look full. We received a Honey-Baked ham, still frozen, as a Christmas gift. As we'd already planned our Christmas dinner, I put the ham in our freezer. We now have 4 hams. I'll use one on New Year's Day, that will leave 3 half hams for this next year. I also have 1 whole turkey and some turkey leftovers, still in the freezer, plus some turkey bacon, ground beef and hot dogs. We're set for meat, unless I find a great price. We seem to be well-stocked in baking ingredients and canned goods. I'll need vegetable oil and yeast, soon, but nothing els, really on the "need" list.

Later, next month, I'll do some planning for special meals this spring (birthdays, Valentine's Day and Easter), to make sure I set aside some of the meat and goodies for those specific meals.

I hope your budget fared well this month.