December 1. Fred Meyer for Senior Discount day. 10% off all house-brand foods. Bought 6 half-gallons of whole milk for 89 cents/half gallon, 1 pint of heavy whipping cream for $1.79, 1 box of Stash tea for $2 (with coupon), 3 2-lb bags of confectioner's sugar, $1.35 each, .46 lb of pecan halves ($7.28/lb -- I had bought lots of pecans in November, but with this good price, I'll freeze these for using much later in the year), 1.45 lbs of blanched, slivered almonds ($5.60/lb), 1 mushroom, for a pizza (33 cents). Not a whole lot I was interested in food-wise this month. I spent $24.98
December 2. 2 stops at Walgreen's on my errands today, for cream cheese, 8-oz, 99 cents each, limit 4 w/coupon. I buy 5 so far (and got a raincheck for 4 more, as one store only had 1 package available). Spent $4.95 There's another Walgreen's on the way to choir practice tonight. I'll stop in there and also pick up something I forgot on my other stops (forgot my little slip of paper with my list at home).
Dec. 2 evening -- went by Walgreen's on way home from choir practice. I picked up 4 more packages of cream cheese (99cents/each) and 1 8-oz jar of Maxwell House decaf instant coffee (99cents). I'm not a huge instant coffee fan, but for 99 cents, I'll use it. There was a section of marked down items at the register. The coffee is the only thing that tempted me. (and I got the hydrogen peroxide that I forgot earlier in the day, 3 bottles for $1) spent on food -- $3.75
So far, month to date, I've spent $33.68
Dec. 5. I stop in to Walgreen's for more cream cheese, after dropping daughters at choir practice. No cream cheese, but I find several gallons of milk marked at 99cents. My fridge and freezers are full. The sell-by date on the milk is in 3 days. I see 2 of the gallons are whole milk. Even though we are well-stocked with milk, and couldn't possibly freeze or drink this milk, I buy 2 gallons of the whole fat milk. I do so with the intention of turning this milk into yogurt, and then straining a good share of it to make yogurt cheese. Homemade yogurt will keep up to one month, if the jars were properly sterilized, and kept in the fridge. This will prolong the usability of this milk by almost 4 weeks. An by turning it into yogurt cheese, to use over the holidays in place of cream cheese, I will save about half the sale price of cream cheese, in holiday foods that I make this season (a cheese spread one night, and a cheesecake later in the season). So, I got a raincheck on the cream cheese, to use sometime in the next 2 months, and I bought 2 gallons of milk. Spent $1.98
Dec. 5 Dollar Tree for a couple of "special" items for the holidays -- pretzels, crackers, one more box of mini candy canes. Spent $3
Dec. 8 Fred Meyer. They offered one extra Senior Discount Day this month. I bought 4 8-oz bricks of cream cheese, for 89cents each. Spent $3.56
Dec.18 QFC has half hams on sale for $1.29/lb, limit 2. I buy 2. Also, I found half-pints of heavy whipping cream for 25 cents each, to use within 1 week. I buy 4. Spent $26.19
month to date spending -- $68.41
Dec 18. Albertson's -- find 24 oz containers of cottage cheese marked down to $1. I buy 1. I use this for lasagna. Spent $1
Dec. 21. Fred Meyer for celery, lowest price I've seen this year in my area, 69cents/ lb. I buy 2 bundles, plus 1 1-lb box lasagna noodles ($1.17), and I find 6 cartons of repackaged eggs at $1.19/dozen. I spend $10.61
Dec.28. Fred Meyer for milk, on sale half-gallons for 99cents each, limit 6 w/coupon. I buy 6. Spent $5.94
Dec. 28. Go by Trader Joe's for bananas. They're priced at 19 cents each. I buy 14, and spend $2.66
Dec.30. Fred Meyer for gas, while there I buy 2 more half-gallons of milk at 99 cents each. Spent $1.98
Month to date spending -- $90.60
Items bought in the month of December
produce
1 mushroom
2 bundles celery
14 bananas
dairy
14 half-gallons whole milk
1 pint heavy whipping cream
4 half-pints heavy whipping cream
13 8-oz packages cream cheese
2 gallons whole milk
24 oz cottage cheese
6 dozen eggs
meat
2 half hams, bone-in
pantry
1 18-ct box of Earl Grey Double Bergamot tea (one of my favorites)
6 lbs of confectioner's sugar
almost 1/2 lb of pecan halves
almost 1 1/2 lbs of slivered almonds
8-oz jar instant decaf coffee
1 bag pretzels
1 box crackers
1 box mini candy canes
1-lb lasagna noodles
Finally, what is in the pantry, refrigerator and freezer should be enough, for a while.
Coming into the month of December, I was $93.78 over budget. With a monthly budget for food groceries of $200.00, that left $106.22 to spend this past month. I spent $90.60, which is $15.62 UNDER budget!!
I never felt like I was depriving myself of anything, all month, never felt I was limiting my purchases severely. So, this must mean I have bought all I wanted to buy, and am well-set for the coming month or two. I'll still pick up great deals as I find them. And I will replenish milk supplies as needed. But January should not be a big spend month for groceries for me.
