Wow, all I can say is it was an expensive month for us. Between getting another order of beef, my twin daughters' birthday, our wedding anniversary, and Easter, I felt like I was spending money every time I turned around.
I shopped at Fred Meyer 3 times, Grocery Outlet 1 time, WinCo 1 time, and Walmart 1 time. My arrangements with the rancher for beef are handled online and delivered to us.
I spent $65.54 at Fred Meyer, buying coconut milk, deli salads, bananas, strawberries, taco shells, potato chips, watermelon chunks, rye bread, tossed salad kits, cheese, butter, green cabbage, sparkling water and milk. A lot of these items were for a picnic celebrating my daughters' birthday and the cake that followed, plus a nice anniversary dinner at home.
I spent $16.61 at Walmart, buying corn tortillas, milk, prune juice, canned olives, Roma tomatoes, and bananas.
I spent $25.71 at Grocery Outlet, buying Cheez Balls snack, canned beets, canned pumpkin, graham crackers, saltine crackers, and a bag of apples. This was a stop after church. We discovered they mark a lot of items down on Sundays. Everything on the list above was significantly reduced in price, such as graham crackers for 49 cents/box, canned pumpkin for 25 cents/can. I stocked up!
Last but not least, I spent $55.16, buying milk, dried dates, smoked salmon, eggs, cheese, grape tomatoes, sliced pepperoni, 2 bags of apples, tofu, peanuts, radishes, bananas, asparagus, celery, and strawberries. Most of what I bought on this day was for Easter dinner.
So, in grocery stores I spent $163.02. Our beef order came to $359. So in total, I spent $522.02.
April shouldn't be too bad for grocery spending for us, much, much lower than March. We do have 2 birthdays this month, and those always add something to our grocery spending. However, we are trying to empty one of the freezers, so I can defrost it before I begin to harvest and freeze garden produce. And that effort will encourage us to use what we have on hand.
How did grocery spending go for you in March? Do you tend to dine out for special celebrations, or do you cook at home? If you use a budget, how does holiday and special occasion meal-related spending fit in with your regular grocery budget? I used to keep a separate budget for holidays and special occasions. I dropped that a few years ago, mostly to simplify the budgeting.
The beef was your main expenditure and that doesn't happen all the time. And you have already determined that was an expense that you were willing to have because of quality and support for local farmers. And I bet even though you got some special foods, you did that a very economical way.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Live and Learn. The beef is something our family has agreed is a priority, for several reasons. And we did find some good deals, even on the special foods. It still seemed like a high amount spent for us, though. I guess I just have to get used to this.
DeleteEven with your beef coming in at such a low amount, your totals are still impressive. We often hover around the $522 per month without any special items and hardly any beef or other meats. I don't remember if your totals are only food or all inclusive but mine are for everything even cat litter and food and now I pick up things for 2 babies coming in the next few months!
ReplyDeleteAlice
Hi Alice,
DeleteI limit our grocery budget to human food only. Other items can be so variable in expense from one household to another, or from one month to the next. I should total up the "other" consumable items we buy for the household sometime to see how much higher our spending would be. And if it were my budget, I'd probably not include items I was buying for not-yet-born babies. Those would fall under a "gift" heading in my mind, even if those items were consumables. But that would be me.
Even at $522 I bet you are significantly lower than most people feeding a family of 4 adults. It amazes me when I see what people spend a month on groceries. How long will that beef last you? We bought a half about a year ago. I’m about out of roasts I think, but still have a lot of ground beef and steaks.
ReplyDeleteI hover around $300 a month for 2, but a lot of months it’s $250, but that doesn’t include buying any beef. I do still have to buy other meat though.
Diane
Hi Diane,
DeleteSadly, I think you're right about how much others need to spend on food. It amazes me, too.
The arrangement I have with the rancher is a new delivery every 3 months. I can cancel or pause deliveries if I need to. At the moment, we're not going through all of each shipment before the next one arrives. We've given several packages to my son and daughter-in-law. I think they appreciate a gift of a couple of steaks. I'm thinking I may have to skip a delivery sometime down the road, so we can catch up with what we have.