February 2017 Grocery Spending Journal

Silver white winters that melt into spring . . . okay now, so when does this melt into spring, here! Yep, woke up to snow, again.

Feb. 3 WinCo after an appointment in that area of town. I forgot to check my wallet for cash until I was in the waiting room for my appt. Yikes! $6 and coins. Luckily, I had a calculator with me. I tallied everything while I shopped, and made estimates on produce items. I bought 5 dozen medium eggs, for $4.48; 3 avocados at 58 cents each; 1 Roma tomato (for lunch that day), 21 cents; and 6 bananas for $1.25. Spent $7.68. As I was leaving the store, I counted all of my remaining coins -- 67 cents. I put my bag of groceries into the car and went back into the store to buy cocoa powder from the bulk bins. Spent 46 cents. (It is difficult to estimate the bulk items; and I didn't want to go over my 67 cents. What could I say -- "can you put 1 tablespoon of this back in the bin, please?") Total spent at WinCo -- $8.14

Next stop, Cash & Carry. They do take credit cards, so I had no need to keep a running tally while I shopped. I wanted the ground beef that was on sale for $19.90, but they were completely out of those 10-lb packages. Instead, I went ahead and bought the beef top sirloin, at $2.58/lb. It is a large piece that weighs 11.36 pounds. Yes, it is a lot of beef!! I have it in the garage fridge until I can cut it into 2-lb chunks for the freezer. Restaurant cuts of beef are sealed in airtight packaging, and keep for a couple of weeks, if refrigerated. I also bought 10 lbs of carrots; a 3-pack of celery; a 5-lb loaf of medium cheddar; 1 quart of soy milk; $1.58; 12.5 lbs of popcorn, $7.09; 1 gallon of vegetable oil, $6.59; 2 lbs of yeast, $6.97; 1 large head of green cabbage, $1.50; 1-lb box of cornstarch, 99 cents; and another 14 bananas at 47 cents/lb. At Cash & Carry I spent $75.02

Feb. 5. I needed gas, plus I had a coupon for a Freebie about to expire at Fred Meyer. So, off to get gas and run into the store. I actually had 3 Freebie coupons on my card that I could use. So, I picked up my can of soup (free), my Power Bar (free) and my box of Annie's macaroni and cheese (free). I also needed one loaf of bread to get us through 2 days until I could bake a large batch ($1.67). Total spent at Fred Meyer's -- $1.67

Month to date spent -- $84.83

Feb 7. Fred Meyer for Senior Day discount (I can't miss these opportunities). I need milk, and it's on sale for 89 cents/half gallon; I buy 10, the limit. Natural-style peanut butter is on sale for $1.50/15-oz jar; I buy 4 jars of chunky. (This goes on sale often enough, and I have some at home, still, so 4 jars seems like a reasonable amount for us. Four jars will last about 6 weeks in our house.) I buy three 8-packs of mixed meat hot dogs for 80 cents each. Hickory smoked almonds are on sale through this month for $4.99/lb (my price, w/discount, $4.49/lb). I still have lots of raw almonds, but smoked will be a nice change for snacking. I buy 1.45 lbs. I need alternative milk. I've been drinking almond milk. Today I find soy milk marked down for $1.25/half-gallon; I bought 2. The expiration date is in a week, but it should keep for a week beyond that date. I'll freeze one of the cartons to use later in the month. I found Pillsbury Cookie Mixes marked down to 42 cents/box; I bought 4 boxes. They also had cans of Pillsbury frosting marked down to 32 cents/can; I bought 8 cans. I'll be able to use the frosting on cakes this spring, summer and fall. I had a $10.83 reward from the fall reward's cycle to use. My total cost for today, $20.12

Month to date spent -- $  104.95

February 17. We are completely out of whole wheat flour. This is significant to our household, as we are accustomed to eating our baked goods made with about half whole wheat, half white flour. So I made a point of getting more ww flour today. I stopped at Cash & Carry, and dragged a 50-lb sack of stone-ground whole wheat flour on to the flatbed cart ($18.99). I also picked up 22 bananas, at 42 cents/lb (they worked out to 16.2 cents each), a 3-pack of celery ($2.33), a 25-lb bag of onions ($7.00), and a 10-lb bag of oranges ($7.73). The oranges are almost twice the price per pound that I prefer to spend, but I thought they'd be nice to have, now that we have gone through all of the orange juice. I'm okay with splurging when the foods are healthy. Total spent, $39.62

February 17. Also on my errands list was Fred Meyer, to pick up a prescription for my husband. While waiting for the rx to be ready, I used my 2 freebie coupons and got 1 Hershey's candy bar, and 1 container of Chobani yogurt, for free. And of course, I couldn't help but stop at the table of marked down Valentine's candy. It still seemed overpriced, except the bags of cherry-milk chocolate M&Ms, at $1.49/bag (the bags are about 9 ounces). I only bought 2 bags, in case they're not very good. I think that I'll save one bag till next year, and make sweet little bags of M&Ms for the Valentine's candies that I give the kids and husband. The other bag will be for cookies at some point. Total spent, $2.98

For the month, so far I've spent -- $147.55

I'm doing pretty well for grocery spending, this month. I had a surplus of $121.20 coming into February. When I add that to our monthly budgeted amount of $190, I have $311.20 to spend.

February 19. One daughter is going out of town for the week, for a theater thing. Most of her expenses will be covered; but $30 will not. I took $10 from the grocery budget and gave to her. That is roughly what I calculate for what I spend per person, per week, for food. Spent $10.

For the month, so far I've spent -- $157.55

It's now the 22 February. I am trying to hold out on spending any more on groceries for the month, in part just because it gives me a thrill to underspend, but also I really want to force us into using supplies in the freezer and pantry.  It's also good to just stay out of the stores during peak flu season.

Feb. 28. So, this is where the shopping month ends! I spent $157.55 for the month of February. I had $311.20 to spend, including the carry forward surplus from the month before. I have $153.65 left over! That amount will carry forward into March, and as March is a longer month, I will likely spend into it.

What I Bought

Dairy

5 dozen medium eggs
5 lbs of cheddar cheese
1 quart of soy milk
2 half-gallons of soy milk
10 half-gallons of milk (mixed 2% and whole)
1 small yogurt (freebie)

Meat

11.36 lbs beef top sirloin
3 12-oz packages of hot dogs

Produce

3 avocados
1 tomato
42 bananas
10 lbs of carrots
6 bundles of celery
1 head of green cabbage
25 lbs of onions
10 lbs of oranges

Pantry

.15 lb of cocoa powder
12.5 lbs of popcorn
1 gallon of vegetable oil
2 lbs of yeast
1 lb of cornstarch
1 can of soup (freebie)
1 box of macaroni and cheese (freebie)
1 Power Bar (freebie)
1 loaf of bread
4 15-oz jars of peanut butter
1.45 lbs smoked almonds
4 boxes of cookie mix
8 cans of frosting
50 lbs of whole wheat flour
1 Hershey candy bar (freebie)
2 large bags of M&Ms