March 8. My daughters and my husband love, love, love fast food. (I've tried "reforming" them, to no avail.) We all needed a pick-me-up this week, so I swung by McDonalds to get them some burgers and fries. Spent $13.67
March 9. It's been almost 2 weeks since I grocery shopped last. Needing primarily milk, eggs and produce, I went to WinCo and Walmart. I had 2 other family members with me, getting their own snacks and special foods that they pay for. They also requested we stop at Grocery Outlet. So, I actually went into 3 stores, but only bought items in 2. At WinCo I bought 1 bottle ketchup, 1 gallon whole milk,1 corned beef, 1 bag turkey breakfast sausage, 1 pack turkey bacon, 4 avocados, 3 Roma tomatoes, 3.5 lb bag apples, 4 lbs tangerines, 2 bunches bananas, 1 large red pepper, 1 bundle celery, I lost my shopping list halfway through shopping. I backtracked but couldn't find it. I hope I bought everything I needed from the list. I spent $35.92
At Walmart, I only bought 1 60-ct case of eggs, $11.06.
Total spent today --$46.98
spent for the month, so far -- $60.65
March 13. I had 3 digital coupons at Fred Meyer I wanted to use before they expired. I also needed some gardening supplies (not items carried at WinCo, so I knew I'd be buying these at Fred Meyer). I bought 2 whole chickens on a buy 1/get 1 deal (averaged $1.10/lb), 5 half-gallons milk for 99cents each (the half-gallons of milk have been on sale for less per ounce than the gallons for the past year or so, so buying a couple of "halfs" in place of 1 gallon is a money saver), 3 16-ounce chubs of maple breakfast sausage at $2,49/each, and 1 free bag of frozen edamame.
spent today -- $24.29
spent for the month, so far -- $98.61
March 16. Picking up a couple of foods for my daughters' birthday picnic at Dollar Tree. I bought 1 box faux GS Thin Mints and a loaf of sliced French bread. Spent $2.50.
March 17. On way to daughters' birthday fun we stopped by Grocery Outlet. I sent my daughters into the store to get 2 cake mixes (10 cents ea) and 8 boxes of cereal (4/98 cents). Spent $3.06. (One of my daughters had been to GO the day before and saw both the cereal and cake mixes. I told her we could stop by to get some of these deals.)
Spent so far this month -- $104.17
March 22. I needed a couple of gardening items from Fred Meyer, plus some decaf coffee for myself. I bought the decaf ($4.99), and also found corn flakes and rice crispy cereal on clearance for $1.07 ea, 48-oz carton rainbow sherbet (for birthday dinner) on sale for $1.99, and 4 gallons of 2% milk on clearance for 96 cents each. I spent $12.96
March 24. WinCo and Walmart with a daughter buying birthday dinner foods. I bought 8-oz shredded cheese ($1.98), 1 head lettuce (98 cents), 3 Roma tomatoes (98 cents/lb), bulk Jordan almonds for Easter ($3.98/lb), 6 packs hot dogs (68 cents each), bag of frozen turkey breakfast sausage ($5.90), turkey bacon ($2.78), and a frozen turkey for Easter dinner (88 cents/lb). I spent $30.74 at WinCo. At Walmart I bought 1 bag of Fritos-type chips and 8-oz sour cream to use in birthday dinner. Spent $2.90 at Walmart. Total spent today -- $33.64.
Spent for the month so far -- $150.77
March 30. I decided on adding a ham to Easter dinner, so I went to Fred Meyer where there was a deal this week. I bought the ham (89 cents/lb), 2 jars of decaf coffee ($4.99 ea), 10 packs of turkey bacon on markdown ($1.24 ea, due to expire in 1 week, I froze it all once home), 5 bags of tortilla chips on markdown (60 cents ea, best-by date in June -- I'm all set for Cinco de Mayo, husband's bday, and Father's Day - hubby's favorite is Tex-Mex), and 4 boxes of pop-tarts on markdown (38 cents/box, best-by date in November 2023). I don't normally buy pop-tarts, but 3 of the 4 of us do enjoy them, and at 38 cents/box, they were a steal for junkie stuff. I needed to make a $25 purchase (before adding in ham) to buy the ham at 89 cents/lb. Including the ham I spent $34.55.
Total spent for the month -- $185.32
what I bought
4 avocados
6 Roma tomatoes
1 bundle celery
1 red pepper
3.5 lbs apples
4 lbs tangerines
2 bunches bananas
1 head lettuce
1 bag frozen shelled edamame
12 packages turkey bacon
2 large bags turkey sausage
1 corned beef
3 lbs breakfast sausage
2 whole chickens
6 packs hot dogs
frozen whole turkey
1 ham
7.5 gallons milk
5 dozen eggs
8-oz cheese
8-oz sour cream
48-oz sherbet
1 bottle ketchup
1 box cookies
1 loaf French bread
10 boxes cereal
2 boxes cake mix
3 jars decaf coffee
bag corn chips
5 bags tortilla chips
4 boxes pop-tarts
1 lb candy
1 fast food meal for 4
In addition to the above foods and meal, we also spent some money on pie in a bakery and a fast food meal on the drive home from the vintage district, both on my daughters' birthday. The expense for those foods came out of a birthday budget and not the grocery budget.
I found several amazing deals this month: the frozen turkey, hot dogs, turkey bacon, cold cereal, tortilla chips, cake mixes, pop-tarts, frozen edamame, gallons of milk, and a ham. For the most part, the rest of what I bought was well-priced too, just not amazing. I spent more time in the stores than I have in 3 years, checking all of the spots where I know to find marked down items.
A good grocery month overall. We still have a lot of food in storage, as well as a garden beginning to produce for spring harvests. So I think April looks good, too. I hope you found lots of bargains too this past month!
