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Wednesday, December 30, 2020

December Grocery Recap: Spent $77.98 for the Month

Santa brought everyone individual caramel-apple "kits"
that's a mini-tub of caramel dip under the apple


Sooner or later, it was bound to happen. I only grocery shopped once in an entire month. We simply had so much food in the house that we didn't need a second trip to the store. I went mid-month for a curbside pickup at Walmart. 

I spent $77.98 on groceries (food-only) for the month of December. This doesn't include grocery items that I bought for gifts but does include special items I bought for Christmas brunch, New Year's Eve dinner, and New Year's day dinner. Keep in mind, though, that I am relying heavily on my freezer and back-up pantry storage. 

It's now been over 2 weeks since shopping. I'll put in another order sometime next week. Aside from knowing I'll buy milk, I haven't given any thought to what to order. That's a pretty good indication that we're still well-stocked.

What I bought:

Dairy
8 oz Swiss cheese, $1.68 (for New Year's Eve mushroom burgers)
1 gallon whole milk (for yogurt), 6 gallons 2% milk (drinking/cooking), $2.18 ea
16 oz whipping cream, $1.98 (for making eggnog)

Produce (fresh, frozen, and packaged)
9 lbs clementines, $1.04/lb (they were out of oranges, so I got extra tangerines at the orange price)
2 heads cabbage, 40 cents/lb
10 bananas, 42 cents/lb
4 avocados, 58 cents/each
6-pack individual applesauce, $1.84 (for Christmas brunch)
20 oz frozen shredded hash browns, $1.76 (for Christmas brunch)
2 10-oz bags frozen mushrooms, $1.98 ea (for mushroom burgers and general cooking)
large bag frozen red and yellow pepper strips, $1.92 ( for Christmas brunch)
1 bundle organic celery, $1.26 ea
2 heads iceberg lettuce, 40 cents ea
3 lb-bag fuji apples, $3.23 for the bag
2 green peppers, 76 cents ea
2 6-oz bags dried apricots, $2.87 ea (for general eating, plus making a holiday treat)

Pantry
1 10-oz bag dark chocolate (60% cacao) chips, $1.98 (for making the holiday treat w/dried apricots)
2 boxes Toasty O's cereal (GV-brand Cheerios), $1.23 ea
6-pack individual caramel dip for apples (Santa's surprise), $3.58
36 oz honey, $7.92

Refrigerated non-dairy
14 oz tofu, $2.64 (for making Chocolate-Tofu Silk, New Year's Eve tradition)
4-pack canned biscuit dough, $2.14 (for making pigs in a blanket  some night and for making quickie donuts on New Year's day)


Easy shopping month. I expect January will be equally easy and limited -- we're still well-stocked with staples. Watch! Now that I've said that, I'll have a super-spendy month! We'll just have to wait and see.

9 comments:

  1. Well done! We have benefited from a couple of gift cards to Meijer. I feel like we are well-stocked with lots of food, both in the pantry and the freezer, and that's a good place to be.

    In other news .... I am scheduled to get my first covid vaccine tomorrow. That's a hopeful sign for 2021!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yay, on the vaccine! You are the first person I know who is getting this, Kris!
      That's great that you are also well-stocked.
      Enjoy your evening, Kris!

      Delete
    2. So glad that your are getting your vaccine, Kris!

      Delete
    3. It feels good to be so well stocked, doesn't it? Especially in these times when grocery shopping can be difficult.

      Delete
    4. Hi Live and Learn,
      I'm glad to not need to go out shopping if I don't really want to right now.

      Happy New Year!

      Delete
  2. Sounds like a great accomplishment, keeping the budget low while incorporating some special treats!

    We were well-stocked for a while but have been running out of things left and right the past couple of weeks. I did some stocking up on Target/Sam's pickup orders yesterday as well as an in-person Aldi trip last night. Even in a normal year, I like to go into January/February well-stocked in case of inclement weather.

    Happy New Year to you and your family as I'll be out backpacking for the next few days.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Cat,
      Good point -- it's a priority to keep us stocked through the time of year with icy/snowy possibilities.
      I wanted to thank you for suggesting Target pick-ups. Both my daughters used Target pick-ups this past month as a result. They liked that they could place an order in the morning and have it ready within a few hours, instead of needing to snag a pick-up time at Walmart a couple of days in advance.

      Happy New Year to you, too! Have a great backpacking trip!

      Delete
  3. Happy New Year! One of the best dips that I have ever tasted is 1 8oz block of cream cream and 1 cup of dark brown sugar. I was making another recipe and this was the second layer. It is delicious with apples. Our Walmart brand cream cheese is .64 so it would be frugal as well. Hope that you try it. You could do 4 oz cream cheese and 1/2 cup of dark brown sugar.

    Let cream cheese come to room temperature and cream with sugar in mixer. Dip until your hearts content.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Lona,
      Your dip recipe sounds delicious and easy! Thank you.

      Delete

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