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Friday, June 1, 2018

May 2018 Grocery shopping journal

May 1. Senior shopping day. It took me 3 and 1/2 hours from leaving my house to finishing putting everything away.

4 boxes whole wheat saltines, $1.07 each, cake mix (using a coupon), 75 cents, 5 boxes vanilla wafers, $1.43 each, 1-lb frozen wild blueberries, $3.14, canned biscuit dough, 45 cents, 12-oz frozen orange juice concentrate, $1.34, 18-ct box granola bars, $2.69, 7 8-ct packages hot dogs (for weekly cookouts, beginning this week), 75 cents, 5 boxes graham crackers, $2.15, 5 packages turkey bacon, $2.06, 1-lb butter, $2.20, 24-ct string cheese, $3.59, 2 boxes 12-ct granola bars, $1.81, 2 10-ct flour tortillas, 89 cents, 5 loaves whole wheat bread, $1.38, 30-ct corn tortilla, $1.16, 4 qts fruity yogurt, $1.34, 6 individual soy yogurt, 89 cents, 2 qts soy yogurt, $6.49, 5 dozen eggs, $1.79/dozen, taco seasoning, free, 3 48-oz bottles vegetable oil $1.49 each, 3 jars applesauce, $1.79, 1/2 gallon soy milk, $1.57, 4 packs top ramen, 25 cents, 3 bags oyster crackers, 71 cents, 3 gallons milk, $2.33, 32-oz maple syrup, $12.14, 16 bananas, 49 cents/lb, The "one thing" that each of us chose for ourselves included: a box of funfetti cake mix, for 75 cents (one daughter really wants to have cupcakes all month long), a package of salami, for 90 cents, a package of thin-sliced turkey lunch meat for $1.57, and 3 pot pies for $2.67.

Total spent $140.98


also bought whole wheat burger buns, $1.07, 10-ct homestyle burger patties, $8.10. This amount came out of a Mother's Day budget, in lieu if eating out.

I was tempted to buy boxed donuts or some other bakery treat. Instead, I bought a bag of frozen wild blueberries for making scratch blueberry muffins, waffles or pancakes 3 or 4 times. I saved some money over buying a ready-made treat, but more important to me was that I will be able to control the ingredients in scratch muffins. You might have noticed a lot of crackers this month. I had coupons to use on top of sales. I stocked up and hopefully will have a couple months' supply.

May 17. Getting a gallon of white vinegar ($2.29) at Fred Meyer. While there I also buy 1 gallon of 1% milk marked down to $1.29. Total spent $3.58

May 25. Dollar Tree for marshmallows and Hershey bars for making s'mores over the weekend. Spent $3

Total spent for May -- $147.56

I had a total of $173.93 for the month of May. I came in under by $26.37. That will roll into June's budget.  I won't write down what all I bought by category. I'm too tired.

I'm still here. I'm busy, stressed, tired, and old. I'll write more about what I'm up to very soon. I have a busy, busy week next week -- one daughter is graduating! Yay! I'm super-duper proud of her.
I hope you're all doing well. Have a great weekend!

11 comments:

  1. Congratulations to your daughter. Such an exciting milestone!

    Wow, that was some shopping trip on senior day! Lots of time and effort, but a great haul. You're always my hero!

    I love your substitution for boxed bakery treats. This is such a great idea, because, as you said, you get more AND better treats with the blueberries and probably not too much financial outlay from your staples. Packaged goodies are a lot of fun, but they're sometimes awfully expensive for what you really get, and when they're really cheap, sometimes they taste like it. DH and I had a favorite cut-rate danish we used to buy when we were young. It tasted good, but it wasn't really very "good". I started making home-made treats, and it was well-worth the time to get a REALLY "good" treat. :) Hope you enjoyed those wild blueberries. YUMMMMMY!

    Hang in there! Hugs-- Sara

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sara, you are so right about the taste of packaged goodies. During my Weight Watcher journey, I started making more of our treats since I had control over the ingredients. Now I'm so used to homemade that store-bought tastes "chemically" to me. I still buy some pre-packaged items, mostly because my blood sugar plummets mid-morning and it makes an easy snack to carry around with me at work (mostly on my feet in a hospital, so storing in a desk doesn't work for me).

      Memory lane ... still remembering your concerns, Lili, about managing college costs. Congrats to your daughter!

      Also, Lili, loving your summery food purchases--hotdogs, graham crackers .... I see bonfires in your future.

      Praying for you and your life stresses. Good to hear from you again.

      Delete
    2. Kris--

      Carry-along snacks are the hardest! DS and I snack to keep our blood sugar up and steady, and were talking the other day about the few things we've found that we can actually just shove in a pocket for a couple of hours. The best/most-convenient ones are store-bought and pre-packaged, and pricier than we'd like. So, we try to save those ONLY for when we HAVE to eat out of our pockets, rather than other times when they just look convenient and tasty waiting in the pantry. That's our way of being thrifty with our less-thrifty purchases. :)

      I know what you mean about the chemical/artificial/processed flavor (and usually overly-sweet, too). I know that some of it is for shelf-life, and some is for making it cheaply; but there's so much STUFF (besides the basics you'd use to make it at home)in some of those products. I guess it's no wonder it tastes different.

      Eating good quality and/or healthy food really does change your taste buds. :) Take care-- Sara

      Delete
  2. Congratulations to your daughter on this huge achievement. I know she has worked very hard for it. And you're not old because if you're old, then I am, too. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lili, so glad to see you're back. These days I'm feeling busy, stressed, tired and old as well. (And I've got a few years on you I think) I'm just trying to remember to breathe.

    Congrats to your daughter and best wishes for the next part of her journey.

    Great shopping trip, as usual. I've got some frozen blueberries in my freezer from my parents' bushes last season. I really need to do something with them. We've got a gathering coming up. Maybe I'll make a cobbler or something..

    Will look forward to hearing more from you when you're able. You remember to breathe as well. Hugs. Lynn

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  4. Congratulations to your daughter, Lili. That is a huge accomplishment! I know you are proud of her. You did great on your May groceries. That is a very low budget for the month for as many people as you are feeding. Kudos to you!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Lili,
    So good to hear from you. That was quite a shopping trip - I know what you mean about the time involved. Sometimes I have to think back as to where my day went!
    Congrats to your daughter!! Enjoy the celebration.
    Don't say you're old - it's just the way you feel right now. Praying for the light at the end of your tunnel!
    Jo Ann

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  6. Yay! You were under budget & your daughter is graduating! Ditto the busy, stressed, tired & old part. A few days ago, when I told my dad how frustrated I was that I don't have the energy I used to, he just laughed. I guess it's par for the course. Prayers continue for you, Lili. Melissa

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Lili,

    So glad to see you back. Congratulations on your daughter graduating! We also had our youngest graduate college. She is in Connecticut beginning an internship today and when she returns home in August she will pack up again and move to Ohio where she was accepted into the Grad. school program. My oldest daughter also is beginning Grad. school work this fall. So here we go again for another two years!

    Good job on the budget! Ours came in as usual between $550 and $600. I've got to cut it down!

    I'm with the gals about not liking prepackaged foods. My MIL loves the little wedges of prepackaged pies and prepackaged everything. I hate going to her house for dinner because it is ALL prepackaged warmed up foods. I especially hate the little pies as they taste "boxy" and there is no flavor at all to those things.

    Alice

    ReplyDelete
  8. glad to see you're still alive and well! Thanks for the update

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thank you all for the congratulations on behalf of my daughter. I'm very proud of her hard work. This week is all about celebrating her graduation.
    I still feel like i'm old these days. But I'm trying not to focus on that so much. Thank you for your kind words! They are appreciated. I'll be posting more in the next couple of days. I've been busy, doing fun, homemake-y things. Just haven't had time to write up posts. Have a wonderful week!

    ReplyDelete

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