June 2016 Grocery Spending Journal

June 1. Out late with one daughter while she had some printing done at FedEx (they're open 24/7). While she was printing out stuff, I ran over to Fred Meyer just down the block. I have 2 FM in the area. This one is always dirtier, busier, and has a strange clientele, especially at midnight. But it's close, and milk is on sale for 99 cents/half-gallon, limit 6. I pop in for my 6 (all whole milk) and spent $5.94.

June 2. This time going to my regular Fred Meyer. In addition to more milk (4), I'll pick up 2 orange juices (also 99 cents), my free w/ coupon bakery donut (I chose a Bismarck, tomorrow's breakfast), 1 box of Quaker Breakfast Thins (Friday freebie), 1 2-ltr soda pop, lemon lime (Friday freebie), and 1 small jar of blackstrap molasses ($3.79). I had a $5.69 reward to use towards this purchase, so all I spent was $4.04. The cashier did a double-take when he saw the price, because he'd about filled the top of my little cart.

June 2. As I was driving, I remembered I had a rx to pick up for my husband at Bartell's. I stop in there, but also check their dairy case and found 2% milk in gallons marked down to $1 each. I buy 3, and spend $3. The sell-by date is today, so I'll freeze most of it, make some pudding, and make a bottle of chocolate syrup (for chocolate milk).

Total spent for the month, so far -- $12.98

June 3. Cash & Carry for a case of 15-dozen large eggs (about 57 cents/dozen), $8.59, 2 4-lb jars of chunky peanut butter ($5.27 each), 9.60 lb pork loin, boneless, at $1.68/lb, 5-lbs shredded sharp cheddar ($9.48), 5-lbs shredded mozzarella ($9.73), 8 bananas at 45 cents lb. Spent $56.10

Total spent so far -- $69.08

June 7. Fred Meyer for the Senior Shopping discount. I spent 1 hour and 20 minutes from the time I pulled into the parking lot, until I drove out. That's about my limit for focus when shopping. I'm trying to be mindful of that, as I make more errors/bad choices, when I exceed that amount of time shopping. Here's what I bought:

1 box of Nabisco Good Thins rice crackers (free with download coupon), 1 small jar of blackstrap molasses ($3.41),  25 ounce canister of decaf coffee ($4.49 -- I don't need it yet, but it was on sale and I had my discount, so this will get me through August, I hope),  30 ounce canister regular coffee ($4.49 -- I didn't go with French Roast this time, as those cans are significantly smaller now. I'll blend what's left of the French Roast can with this one, to stretch the dark roast flavor), 1/2-gallon 2 % milk, marked down to 99 cents (I was hoping for the Senior Discount on it, but was told dairy markdowns no longer get that discount), 3 lb canister vegetable shortening ($3.73 -- it was on sale, plus discount, better price than WinCo, with the sale & discount, otherwise, WinCo has the better priced shortening), 3/4 lb of whole almonds, for $5.84/lb, 4  10-oz packages of sliced baby portobello mushrooms, marked down to 99 cents each. They had several packages, I took them over to the scales and weighed them all and chose the 4 heaviest ones. The price works out to $1.58/lb.

On groceries, I spent $25.62.

While at Fred Meyer, I also bought ibuprofen, duct tape, bathroom tissue (a package with a small tear in it, marked down, plus it got my senior discount), plastic wrap (also a markdown, due to box had a tear in one end, now taped shut, works fine), and an inexpensive box fan, on sale (no AC, here). All of these items qualified for the Senior Discount. I used my calculator to price out best price per unit on the OTC, the tape, the bath tissue and the plastic wrap. The bathroom tissue is about the same price as what I bought at Cash & Carry several months ago, but better quality. The plastic wrap was $1.07 for 200 feet. The last time I bought plastic wrap was at Dollar Tree. I spent $1 for 100 feet. So, today I got twice as much for almost the same price as Dollar Tree.

So far, month to date spending on groceries -- $94.70

June 9. Dollar Tree for once per month or every other month. I bought 5 24 oz bags of pasta (rotini, spaghetti and elbow macaroni). The price works out to 67 cents/lb, which is the best I can do around here for pasta. Spent $5

June 10. WinCo for bulk stuff. I bought steel cuts oats (62 cents/lb) ground chipotle pepper ($9.87/lb), chopped dates ($2.14/lb), yellow split peas (73 cents/lb) milk chocolate chips ($3.11/lb -- plan on making English toffee candy this week), cocoa powder ($3.08/lb), raisins ($1.79/lb), soy beans (85 cents/lb), raw sunflower seeds ($1.36/lb), unsweetened coconut ($3.15/lb), 9 bananas (48 cents/lb), sliced almonds ($6.55/lb), dry roasted peanuts ($1.55/lb) and a 72-ct package of corn tortillas. I spent $19.61

June 10. Also went to the produce stand and bought a bag of small red potatoes, 2 zucchini, 1 large green pepper, 2 onions, Roma tomatoes, a bundle of celery and a lime. Spent $7.03

Spent so far this month, $126.34

June 14. Fred Meyer -- milk on sale again. I'm over that way so I stop in and pick up 4 half gallons of whole milk and 2 half gallons orange juice (99 cents each, limit 6 total of beverages). Spent $5.94

June 17. Cash & Carry for another 15 dozen eggs, at $6.98 (about 47 cents/dozen), 3 5-lb bags of mozzarella cheese, at $8.75 each ($1.75/lb), 8 bananas at 45 cents/lb. Total spent -- $34.54.

June 24. My daughters and I had a girls night out at Five Guys. I decided to take the cost of that night out from the grocery budget, as I'm doing okay with it this month. Cost -- $19.72. Was it worth it? From a stand-point of was a meal of 2 burgers, 1 cheese hot dog and an order of fries worth almost $20. No. But was a dinner out with my daughters worth $20? I think so. It's not something I would do every week. But it is something I would do every once in a while. We also ate the free peanuts, and drank free tap water. Anyways, for the month of June, I'm now up to $186.54. Time to rein in the spending for the month! Our freezers and pantry are well-stocked, and the garden is producing, so we're good with what we have on hand, until July's budget kicks in on Friday.

June 30. I was going to make my run down to the produce stand tomorrow, but I was visiting a friend today, and this friend lives near the produce stand. So, even though this will put us over budget for this month, in the end it saves us money in gas, on my not driving back down to that part of town.

Country Farms produce stand -- I buy 2 watermelons (39 cents/lb), 2 lbs of cauliflower (50 cent/lb), 3 red peppers, (33 cents each), 2 small cantaloupe (25 cents each), a small bundle of celery (49 cents), 8 bananas (50 cents/lb). Total spent -- $16.27

My monthly budget for groceries is $190. As the month ends, I have spent $202.81 for all food purchased, over budget by $12.81. Subtract that surplus from the $252.70 surplus from the past several months, combined, and I now have $239.89 in surplus, to use for stocking up in the fall.


Free meals -- large bowl of tossed salad, plate of brownies, 3 tomatoes, 3 slices of pie


What I bought this month:

Meat

almost 10 lbs of pork loin

Dairy

14 half-gallons whole milk
1 half-gallon 2% milk
3 gallons 2% milk
30 dozen large eggs
5 lbs shredded sharp cheddar
20 lbs mozzarella cheese

Produce

4 half-gallons orange juice
33 bananas
4  10-oz packages sliced mushrooms
chopped dates
raisins
small red potatoes
large bundle of celery
2 zucchini
1 green pepper
2 Roma tomatoes
1 lime
2 onions
2 large watermelons
2 small cantaloupe melons
small bundle celery
2 lbs cauliflower florets
3 red peppers


Pantry

2 ltr lemon lime soda (Friday freebie)
1 box granola-type bars (Friday freebie)
1 Bismarck donut (freebie with coupon)
two 16 oz jars blackstrap molasses
8 lbs of peanut butter
1 box crackers (Friday freebie)
25-oz can decaf coffee
30-oz can regular coffee
3-lb can shortening
3/4 lb whole almonds
7  1/2 lbs pasta
steel cut oats
ground chipotle powder
yellow split peas
milk chocolate chips
cocoa powder
soy beans
sunflower seeds
unsweetened coconut
almond slices
dry roasted peanuts

Meal out

2 burgers, 1 cheese hot dog, 1 medium order of fries, free peanuts in the shell

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for the last of June

Friday

Leftovers for 1 (chili, bread and vanilla-rhubarb butter, tossed salad, carrots sticks and peanuts), dinner out with GF for son, and my daughters and I had a girls night out at Five Guys. Totally out of character for us, but we enjoyed it immensely.

Saturday

Scrambled eggs, topped with cheddar, salsa, chopped canned tomatoes and ground chipotle pepper
Rhubarb crumb muffins (scratch, Jayne's recipe)
Mustard glazed carrots (added mustard, brown sugar and butter to saucepan, after steaming carrots)
Tossed green salad from garden

Sunday

Roasted chicken leg quarters (the ones I bought for 49 cents/lb in 10-lb bag at Albertson's), canned tomatoes, salsa, black olives and seasoned with a mix of chili powder, oregano, garlic powder and salt, over
Brown rice
Sauteed kale, from garden, in saved ham fat from freezer
Fresh berries from the garden

Monday

Chicken and rice enchiladas (using the chicken left on the bones from the night before, mixed with leftover rice, for the filling, topped with scratch enchilada sauce from Belinda's site, topped with cheese and olives)
Green salad from garden, with homemade vinaigrette
Blackberry-rhubarb gelatin, using bulk gelatin, sugar, and wild blackberries, garden rhubarb

Tuesday

Garbanzo bean and pumpkin soup (pumpkin from the free pumpkins last fall, pureed and kept in freezer, plus homemade chicken stock, garlic powder, shallots and cumin, pureed with cooked garbanzo beans)
Garlic toast (on homemade hot dog buns from the freezer)
Green salad from garden, with homemade 1000 Island dressing
Fresh raspberries from the garden

Wednesday

Brown rice and yellow split pea pilaf
Deviled eggs
Salad of greens, garbanzo beans, black olives and vinaigrette
Poached plums (frozen plums, stewed briefly in their liquid, a bit of water and cherry extract)
Bran muffins
Brownies

Thursday

Cheese souffle
Pasta and veggie salad
Watermelon
Leftover brownies


I finally tackled that 10-lb bag of frozen chicken leg quarters. I broke it up into 4 portions, each portion has 2 leg quarters, which is about right for making something like enchiladas, or chicken in a sauce over rice.

And you'll notice that 3 of us actually ate out in a restaurant this past week. I was needing a girls' night out, my husband would not be home till almost 10 and my son was gone for the evening. So just us girls went to Five Guys. It was good, yeah, but I'm okay if we don't do that again soon. Two days later, us girls had more time together during the afternoon, and that time, we chose to bring sandwiches to the beach, along with iced tea, for an al fresco lunch by the Sound. And honestly, I enjoyed that just as much as the burgers and fries from Five Guys. Every so often, I need to stick my toes in the water to see if I'd like to go in. (That's me, every once in a while, eating out just to see what I am or am not missing.) Anyways, I didn't have to cook that night. Yay!

Also, still a lot of eggs and beans. I've come to really enjoy preparing eggs for suppers, as I don't have to think too far in advance, the way I do if I need to thaw meat or soak beans. And my family doesn't seem to mind all of the egg meals. So, alls good with that.

How about you? What was on your menu this past week?