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| It began snowing this morning! A very light dusting. |
Nov. 4. I was needing some unsweetened cranberry juice. My daughter went out and bought it for me. Spent -- $4.99
Nov. 9. I'm thinking through my shopping this week. It's been over 2 weeks since I grocery shopped last. I had the opportunity 🙄 to go through my freezers 10 days ago, when our kitchen fridge/freezer stopped working. This appliance is only 13 years old, so it came as a complete surprise. I had to quickly unload everything and find places in our other freezers/spare fridge for everything, so as not to lose anything. In the end, I did have to throw out some fish and some meat fat. The rest was salvageable and caught early enough in the thaw process. But the upside, I was able to see what we have in all of the freezers. I came across about 4 dozen frozen eggs in containers of 4 to 6 eggs each. This means I won't need to buy eggs this month. We still have a case of 5 dozen fresh eggs in the fridge. Between the fresh and frozen, we should be able to get through December on the eggs we have. We do need milk and whipping cream for Thanksgiving. We're going to roast a whole chicken instead of turkey. While there are deals on turkeys, I don't have enough on my list to make the minimum spend. I'll be looking for a deal on potatoes.
On the fridge -- the repair guy said it was a dead compressor controller module. He said these typically fail after 5-7 years in newer fridges. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this replacement will last longer than 5 or 7 years. Fridge is fixed and we didn't lose too much food.
Nov. 11. The first of my twice a month grocery shopping trips. WinCo doesn't have an online database of their prices. Walmart does. So I checked the prices on items I needed for Walmart, wrote them down, then shopped WinCo first. When I got to WinCo I first checked potatoes -- super expensive, over $3/10-lb bag. I skipped potatoes. They had acorn squash for 38 cents/ lb. I picked up 10 acorn squash. Truthfully, at first I picked up 6 squash. Then after shopping around the store I decided to increase it to 10. Sometimes, even I have to talk myself into buying the larger amount. Next I checked the dairy section. Cheese was over my price limit of $3/lb. Milk matched Walmart's price of $3.16/gallon, limit 2. I picked up 2. Whipping cream was lower at WinCo, $4.88 for a quart, compared to Walmart's $4.98/qt. I bought 1 and will hold off on opening the carton until Thanksgiving day. It should keep until Christmas (sell-by date is Jan. 1, but after opening, product deteriorates faster). I bought two 30-oz jars of whipped salad dressing for $2.78 each. Whipped salad dressing is typically less expensive than mayo, and my family doesn't notice the difference. The mayo was $2.88 each. And I bought some holiday treats/gifts, not part of grocery budget. Total spent at WinCo -- $24.61
My other stop was Walmart. My daughters were with me to pick up their own necessities. Walmart has great prices on the things they needed. Although I didn't need anything (I'd bought what I needed at WinCo), I did go in and check the clearance sections. I found a 26-oz bag of trail mix marked down from $5.68 to $3.20 (works out to $1.96/lb). When I find snack treats like this, I buy them for when we have guests over. I'll fill a bowl with this trail mix on Thanksgiving day for the "before dinner" period when my son and daughter-in-law are here.
Potatoes were even more expensive at Walmart. I'll be checking less traditional sources for potatoes in the coming weeks. Gas was $4.89/gallon this week at our "cheap" place.
Total spent today -- $27.81
Total spent for the month -- $32.80
Nov.14. I won't have a car for a while again, so I decided to go to Grocery Outlet (a salvage store) this morning, hoping to find a better price on potatoes. Their potatoes were over $3/10-lbs, too. Fred Meyer is just up the hill, so I'll swing by there for potatoes, as they're advertised this week for $2.79/10-lb bag. That's the best price I'm likely to find this fall. Anyway, at Grocery Outlet I did find a spiral sliced ham for $1.29/lb. I think this is a good price for this year. I'll use this for Christmas dinner. I also found Hillshire Farm beef summer sausage for $2.49. The sausage will be for our tree decorating party. Total spent at Grocery Outlet -- $19.08.
Next stop, Fred Meyer. I had a few things on my list for here. As I shopped both online and in-person this month, I've been comparing prices on specific items, milk, eggs, butter, various meats, potatoes, pretzel twists, mixed nuts, cheese, and peanuts. Fred Meyer looked like it would be the place for several of these items. I picked up 3 of the 10-lb bags of potatoes, a bag of small pretzels for making chocolate-covered pretzels for a gift ($1.50), a 34-oz can of mixed nuts (also for a Christmas item) for $9.99, a 34-oz canister of roasted peanuts for $4.49 (less than Walmart's price), and 2 32-oz blocks of cheddar and 3 32-oz bags of shredded mozzarella for $5.99 each. My limit on cheese is $3/lb. Total spent at Fred Meyer -- $54.30. I could have qualified for a turkey at 69 cents/lb with my purchases today, but I'd already decided I didn't want to deal with taking the turkey apart. It's a lot of work, very messy, and I just don't like doing this. I'll still have to take apart the whole chicken I plan on roasting, but that's a much smaller bird and shouldn't take as long.
So much is interrelated and providential. I expanded my potato beds this past season. I would have no idea that potato prices would have nearly tripled in my area stores. I am grateful for the bonus garden potatoes and the 30 pounds of commercial potatoes I bought today. And my hubby was super stoked when he saw me bring in several bags of spuds. He's one who doesn't like to be limited in his potato intake! And all are glad I bought a ham today. We'd been talking about forgoing a ham if I didn't find a great price.
Total spent for today -- $73.38.
Total spent for the month so far -- $106.18. That's not too bad, especially since I was buying foods for Christmas as well as November.
What's left on my list to buy later this month? We do a breakfast of mini donuts, juice, and coffee the day after Thanksgiving. I've got the juice and coffee, but I need the mini donuts. This is definitely a splurge for us, but treats are good for morale. I'll also need more milk before the month is over. Oranges and clementines will also be on my next list. Our garden is still producing, plus we have a lot in the freezers and pantry.
Nov. 23. The car was finally ready for pick-up. My daughter got it just before rehearsal. She's offered to stop by WinCo and get the post-Thanksgiving Day donuts for us, as well as some black pepper. I'm grateful she'll do this shopping for me. She did kind of get excited about buying donuts and bought 4 bags of mini donuts at $2.49 each. The black pepper from bulk bins came to $1.38, for a total spent of $11.34. I'd planned on spending about $5, but oh well.
Total spent so far this month --$117.52
Nov. 28. I drove one daughter to and from work today. We needed gas. $4.55/gallon at our cheapest place. It's down from $4.89, but still so, so, so much higher than same time 2021. With one car for 4 adults, we split the cost of gas. So there's that.
Our milk has lasted through the end of this month, thankfully. I found some frozen milk and began using that whenever cooking or baking called for milk. I also thawed some of the frozen eggnog as a milk-based beverage. And I mixed up more cocoa mix for the family to enjoy. And, I didn't need to open the whipping cream on Thanksgiving. My son and daughter-in-law brought over some pumpkin spice flavored whipped cream to top our dessert. I'll open the whipping cream in December and surely it will keep until New Year's. I do have shopping on my list of activities for later this week. Once again, I don't need a lot, just more milk, oranges and/or tangerines, avocados, and I'll check for deals and clearance items.
I am still harvesting produce from the garden. I picked 5 heads of cabbage this week, brought them in, washed, and have them tucked away in the fridge. The Brussel sprouts will keep even in this light snow for another week or longer, as will the kale. I'll go out and harvest all I can in a day or two to chop and freeze for winter meals.
So that's it. I spent $117.52 for November.
What I bought:
fruits & vegetables
bottle unsweetened cranberry juice
10 acorn squash
30 pounds potatoes
dairy
2 gallons milk
1 quart whipping cream
10 pounds cheese
meat
spiral-cut half ham
beef summer sausage
pantry
2 jars salad dressing "mayo"
large bag of trail mix
large can mixed nuts
large container roasted peanuts
bag of pretzel twists
4 bags donuts
black pepper
It doesn't look like I bought very much, does it? No worries. We have packed freezers and pantry. In case you're wondering, the donuts lasted 5 days.
