Today I tried to get into more a routine and started my day off with my big beginning of the monthly grocery shopping trip. I went to four locations, Gordon Food Service (GFS), BJ's Wholesale Club, Aldi, and a local discounter Marc's/Xpect. The last two months were way under budget so I knew I'd be spending more money on stocking up meat for the freezer. I am hoping that I won't have to buy hardly any meat in July outside of what I will need to get for L's graduation party.
I began at GFS where I spent a total of $ 35.94 and brought home a jar of au jus base, a 5 lb bag of seashell macaroni, a 5 lb . bag of penne pasta, a 2 lb. bag frozen peas, a 2 lb. bag of frozen capri blend vegetables, and a 6 lb. bag of regular popcorn (for popping in the whirly pop!).
The next stop was BJ's Wholesale club. I spent $19.20 on a 36 roll of Charmin toilet paper and the rest, $ 127.75 on food, mostly meat. I brought home a gallon of organic milk, a 48 oz box of Cheezit crackers, a dozen assorted flavors of Chobani greek yogurt, 5 lbs. of ground beef (which became two large packages of ground beef, 4 cheddar burgers, and 3 Montreal Steak burgers), 3 lbs. ground turkey (which became 8 turkey burgers thanks to my burger press!), two London broil, a large eye of round (which became one roast and 6 steaks), a large pork loin (which became a bag of kebob cubes, a bag of fajita strips, and 10 pork chops), and a large brisket which I cut in half for two meals.
The next stop was Marc's/Xpect, foodwise where I spent $21.43. Foodwise I only bought a bag of broccoli slaw, a bag of Hawaiian sandwich buns, a bag of Hawaiian rolls, a gallon of Arizona green tea, and 15 envelopes of koolaide for a cost of $12.93. The remainder of $8.50 was for a box of generic bandades, a box of generic antibiotic cream, and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide.
My final stop was Aldi. I have been aiming to spend the lion's share of my budget there and this month was no difference. My total was $156.13. $12.66 was on nonfood items of storage bags, trash bags, and a citronellla bucket candle for the patio. I spent $143.47 on food and brought home one box of 'sundae'cones, one box of 'eskimo pies', one box of popsicles, 4 slim jims, a 3 lb bag of boneless skinless chicken breast, two packages of cheddar brats, one pineapple, two red bell peppers, 1 jar spicy brown mustard, two cans black olives, 2 lbs. spaghetti, 1 bottle mango-tangerine juice, 1 bottle apple juice, 1 bottle ruby red grapefruit juice, 1 bottle cranberry juice, 1 bottle grape juice, 1 jar Spanish olives, 1 jar miracle whip, 4 bottles steak sauce, 1 box cinnamon grahams, 1 quart strawberries, 1 pint blueberries, 2 lbs. elbow macaroni, 1 box ritz style crackers, 1 jar coffee creamer, 1 bunch celery, 1 bag spinach, 3 heads garlic, 1 bag shredded cheddar cheese, 1 block swiss cheese, 1 bag shredded Colby-jack cheese, 1 bag deli sliced mozzarella cheese, 1 bag spring greens, 3 lbs. bananas, 1 bag romaine hearts, 1 cantaloupe, 2 lbs. lemons, 1 pint mushrooms, 10 lbs. russet potatoes, 2 boxes chocolate pudding mix, 2 boxes Neufchatel cheese, 1 quart lowfat cottage cheese, 1pint lowfat sour cream, 1 pint blackberries, 1 pint red raspberries, 1 quart cherries, 2 packs hard salami, 1quart half and half, 1 pint heavy cream, 1 bag string cheese, 1 ball fresh mozzarella, 1 can whipped cream, 4 greek yogurts, 6 regular fruit yogurts, 1 dozen eggs, 1 bag croutons, 1 jar salsa, 5 bags assorted chips, 1 bag pistachios, and 1 loaf of bread.
A total of $ 320.09 from a budget of only $300 for food and I know I will go to the farmer's market for fresh produce at least one more time. Household expenses on nonfood items was extremely low since we are pretty well stocked up on almost everything so I only spent $40.36,
Sounds like a good stock up trip. Sadly, having just done my household accounting books, I am officially spending July grocery monies at the moment. Moretorium on spending for the rest of June to be sure. College girl is taking a break from school and has returned home for now, so I am charging "rent" to offset increased utility and food costs, with $70/month earmarked towards food. Still, with this increase, I am over budget, but well stocked at the moment. Our CSA just started back up, I have some things growing in planters on the deck. I took advantage recently of some loss leaders and marked downs on meat, so the freeer and my meat supply is in good shape. Have you ever tried Aldi's 18 count double roll tp @ $6.99? We like it, find it comparable to Northern. Also, have you tried Aldi's generic Koolaid packs? also significantly cheaper than Koolaid.
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Carol in CT
I have not tried the Aldi tp. I will have to look at that, thanks for the tip. I have tried the Aldi koolaid but the kids swear it is not as good as the "real" stuff.
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