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Sunday, September 29, 2019

I've Got My October Grocery List Put Together


Friday and Saturday I worked on my grocery list for October. (What? Where did September go?) We will need the usual milk, coffee (decaf), and non-dairy milk, all items that I buy every month. In addition, we will run out of eggs (fresh and frozen), whole wheat flour, lemon juice, vegetable oil, and possibly ground cinnamon before the end of October. So, I'll pick up all of those foods. It would also be nice to have more cheese and tofu, but we can do without both of those if the prices are too high.


Our budget is the *new and improved* amount of $135 plus $13.31 leftover from last month, giving me $148.31 to work with for October.

So, I sat down and made a list of the must-haves and nice to haves. This is what I came up with. 


Cash & Carry Smart Foodservice
Tutto Benne Extra Virgin Olive oil, gallon, 20.07
Vegetable oil, First Street 35-lb 16.98 thru 9/29
ADM whole wheat flour, 50-lb 11.99 thru 9/29
First Street pizza blend cheese 5-lb, 11.77, thru 9/29
First street sharp cheddar cheese 5-lb, 11.77 thru 9/29
First Street ground cinnamon, 11-oz $3.39
5 dozen extra-large eggs, $4.09
Lime juice, 1 qt, $1.99
Lemon juice, 1 qt, $2.39


Fred Meyer (Senior Discount day - 55+ Oct.1)
Milk, 2 gallons whole, 6 gallons 2% 16.49
½ gallon almond milk $2.51
Kroger tuna, 5 oz 71 cents (2) – maybe skip?
Kroger refrig orange juice, $1.50, 64 oz (2)


Walmart (check before FM for milk)
Great Value Oj,12oz frozen conc. 1.23 (3)
Bananas 42 cents/lb (10 lbs for month)
Decaf instant coffee, $3.57
Tofu House Foods, 16-oz firm, $1.44 (1)
Milk, 2 gals whole, 6 gals 2% -- $1.78/gal (14.24)


Budgeted amount -- $114.82 (if Walmart milk and FM OJ) 
If also skip tuna, then $113.40

produce to look for in October – apples, garlic, pumpkins

(milk also at Safeway/Albertsons, 89 cents ½ gal w/ coupon limit 4 through Tuesday, Oct.1)

If I happen to be in this neighborhood, I'll also go by WinCo and pick up ingredients for the cocoa mix. I'll check around for other deals while I'm there. My 2 purchases will increase my spend by $2.

WinCo -- total maybe, only if in that area
dry milk powder, $1 worth
dry coffee creamer, $1 worth


You'll notice some of the items at Cash & Carry are/were on sale only through 9/29. I pre-spent some of October's money to buy those items over the weekend. It was a savings of about $7 to buy those items 3 days ahead of the month.

As indicated, I will keep an eye out for apples, garlic, and pumpkins at a good price. My list puts me at about $35 below my budget, so there is plenty of wiggle room for unplanned bargains.


We are buying not one but two kinds of cheese this month! Yay! A pizza blend and a sharp cheddar were both on sale at Cash & Carry. We're big pizza lovers, and sharp cheddar adds so much zip to cheese dishes. I couldn't pass on either of those deals.

Currently, the best price on eggs is a 5-dozen box, at about 82 cents per dozen. I compared both Walmart's and Cash & Carry's price on 5-dozen boxes of eggs. In fact I checked every store in my area for egg prices. Cash & Carry saved me 66 cents over the next nearest price (Walmart). 

I have been buying the 12-oz cans of frozen concentrated orange juice at Walmart for $1.23, which is a pretty good price for oj. This week, Fred Meyer has the half-gallon jugs of refrigerated orange juice for $1.50 (with Senior discount). When comparing the jugs to the frozen concentrate (reconstituted makes 48 ounces), the savings is 10 cents for every 48 ounces for the jugs. Sometimes, finding the best price includes looking at different forms of a food -- frozen concentrate compared to bottled, or canned compared to fresh or frozen.

I decided to buy olive oil this month, as it's supposed to be anti-inflammatory. Right now, the least expensive olive oil is in the 1-gallon container. We keep our opened, large containers of olive oil in the refrigerator and fill a small, dark glass bottle with oil as needed, then stored in a dark, cool cupboard. Based on past use, I anticipate that we will use this gallon of EVOO in about 1  1/2 years, before it has the opportunity to become rancid. (fingers crossed)

So, that's my shopping list for the month. It doesn't look terribly exciting, does it? I remind myself, it's what we do with ingredients that lends excitement. Back to the kitchen to see if the scratch brownies are about done. Like I said, it's what you do with the ingredients that makes the product exciting.

12 comments:

  1. I don't see any produce. Are you really not planning on buying fruits and vegetables?

    The baked goods look amazing. Yum yum.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great stock up items! And the baked items look so good but I'll just enjoy looking but not making or eating them!

    We got a few groceries ourselves this weekend. We found some good discounted priced meats at Horrock's. Two large pork roasts that I cut in half making 4 meals. 2 small packages of ground beef and 2 large packages that I divided in half making 6 meals and 2 pork chops that will feed 3 of us since they were big and thick. Looks like I got 11 meat meals from that purchase. It's a cost for September but will be used into October and maybe even November.

    I really want a taco soup or chili but I will need to make two types--one my husband can have with beans and chunky veggies and one for my son and me that would have beans and chunky veggies. It won't be hard to do as I'll divide the "base" into two and add more to the one we can eat.

    Hubby is doing very well. I've noticed he is eating a lot lately and I'm sure that is part of healing and getting better. Very exciting to see.

    Alice

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous Sheri said...
    I don't see any produce. Are you really not planning on buying fruits and vegetables?


    Hi Sheri,
    I appreciate your concern. I guess I should have mentioned that our garden is still producing, plus we still have fresh carrots, onions, and cabbage from markets and some canned and frozen (from our garden) veggies. As I indicated, I have dedicated $4.20 to fresh fruit (will likely be 10 lbs of bananas) and I will be seeking out other produce deals, such as fresh pumpkins/squash, garlic, and apples. In addition to all of that, there's that $35 of extra in the budget that may be spent on produce.

    We aim for 5 servings of produce per person, per day. Some of that comes in the form of juice, fruit from our trees/bushes (still have everbearing raspberries), the frozen blackberries from foraging, fresh and frozen veggies from garden, in addition to produce that we will buy. And if all of this turns out to not be enough -- I'm starting some sprouted lentils and indoor micro-greens in October.

    Thanks for your concern. I can see how on the surface it looks like we're not getting enough produce in our diet.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Alice said...
    We got a few groceries ourselves this weekend. We found some good discounted priced meats at Horrock's. Two large pork roasts that I cut in half making 4 meals. 2 small packages of ground beef and 2 large packages that I divided in half making 6 meals and 2 pork chops that will feed 3 of us since they were big and thick. Looks like I got 11 meat meals from that purchase. It's a cost for September but will be used into October and maybe even November.

    I really want a taco soup or chili but I will need to make two types--one my husband can have with beans and chunky veggies and one for my son and me that would have beans and chunky veggies. It won't be hard to do as I'll divide the "base" into two and add more to the one we can eat.

    Hubby is doing very well. I've noticed he is eating a lot lately and I'm sure that is part of healing and getting better. Very exciting to see.


    Hi Alice,
    I'm so glad to hear that your husband is doing so well in his recovery. What a difficult and trying time this has been for your family. I can also understand the difficulties in trying to make meals that suit his needs as well as yours. Like Kris said the other day, having to cook for two different health needs can't be easy. You're doing a terrific job of it, though, and have the best possible attitude to approach this. Good job!

    You found some great bargains on meat at Horrock's! Those will really help your budget for October. I haven't seen very many really great deals on meat (aside from Walmart's 69 cents/lb chicken leg quarters) in a while. I'm hoping to stock up enough on meat later this fall to get through winter. I may have to scout around the meat departments of all of my area stores for their markdowns.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Alice, glad to hear your hubby's appetite is picking up. I'm sure that's a good sign (and relief to you, as well!). Since the weather in our neck of the woods (yours and mine) will abruptly become colder this Wednesday, I'll have to think about adding chili to my menu, too. Good idea!

    Lili, your baked goods look sooooo tempting! In response to your comment about my crockpot cooking the other day, yes, I find myself using it a lot--I often find that I have later-in-the-day appointments, or I am working, and crockpot cooking makes my life simpler. A couple of years ago, I stumbled on The Best of Bridge slow cooker cookbook in our library, and they had several recipes which I have incorporated into my cooking rotation. Sometimes slow cooker recipes seem either too complicated or too boring, but I was pleased with what I found from that book and would recommend it if you want to add a little variety in.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Our dollar tree has lemon juice 32oz. I didn't know if you knew.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I truly don't know how you keep track of all the prices. I barely can keep track of my grocery spending. My ancient brain just can't manage so much detail!
    On making crystalized ginger directions, I opened your response and the post simply vanished in a nano-second. I searched everywhere on my phone, tablet and my husband's Dell and I cannot find it. Pretty please, could you direct me to it? I am very excited to try it. We have a huge East Indian supermarket opening, and I'm eagerly hoping to find all sorts of goodies. I have found that this cuisine is very kind to my digestive disorder (in general). Thank you for your efforts to help us keep the grocery bill in check.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Kris said...
    . . . In response to your comment about my crockpot cooking the other day, yes, I find myself using it a lot--I often find that I have later-in-the-day appointments, or I am working, and crockpot cooking makes my life simpler. A couple of years ago, I stumbled on The Best of Bridge slow cooker cookbook in our library, and they had several recipes which I have incorporated into my cooking rotation. Sometimes slow cooker recipes seem either too complicated or too boring, but I was pleased with what I found from that book and would recommend it if you want to add a little variety in.


    Thank you for the cookbook suggestion, Kris. I'll see if I can get it at my library. It sounds like a good one!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Lona said...
    Our dollar tree has lemon juice 32oz. I didn't know if you knew.


    Hi Lona,
    Our DollarTree has lemon juice in quart bottle, too. I gave it a lot of thought, There's been controversy concerning discounted lemon juice for a few years. (Dr. Oz highlighted lemon juice purchased from discounters on his show a while back.) I thought and thought about getting it there, because it would save over $1. But I was just too leery this time. Do you think their lemon juice is as good as name brands? Like, it's not diluted in flavor at all?
    Thanks for thinking of me and adding this comment. I appreciate it!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Bonnie said...
    I truly don't know how you keep track of all the prices. I barely can keep track of my grocery spending. My ancient brain just can't manage so much detail!
    On making crystalized ginger directions, I opened your response and the post simply vanished in a nano-second. I searched everywhere on my phone, tablet and my husband's Dell and I cannot find it. Pretty please, could you direct me to it? I am very excited to try it. We have a huge East Indian supermarket opening, and I'm eagerly hoping to find all sorts of goodies. I have found that this cuisine is very kind to my digestive disorder (in general). Thank you for your efforts to help us keep the grocery bill in check.


    Hi Bonnie,
    for the prices, I check them all each month at the various stores, going online to various store websites and search the items I want to buy that month. It may sound tedious, but it is helping my family save money on our grocery bill.

    Oh what a frustrating thing to happen with your phone. Here's the link Making Crystallized Ginger

    I hope your new store has lots and lots of great finds for you!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Winco had 5 dozen eggs cheaper. Did you look there?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous Anonymous said...
    Winco had 5 dozen eggs cheaper. Did you look there?


    Thanks for this information! I wish WinCo published their prices online, so I could better compare from home. I won't be getting down to WinCo for a couple of weeks, but I will check out their egg prices this month. Again, thank you! Every dollar saved. . .

    ReplyDelete

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