Disclosure policy: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive compensation if you make a purchase using this link.
Here we are over halfway into my mission to cut our grocery budget by $200 this month. I am finding it easier and easier to save money at the store without making huge sacrifices and so I know I will be able to continue sticking to the new grocery budget and maybe even challenge that a bit to get it down even further! Again I came in under budget and spent just $80.42 between 3 grocery bills. That puts the monthly total at $287.78 at week 3!
I knew this week would be a challenge because we needed quite a few “big ticket” items for the house like toilet paper and detergent. I knew this week would be a challenge because we needed quite a few “big ticket” items for the house like toilet paper and detergent so I decided to get a little creative and “shopped” from my fridge and pantry first. I was shocked at what we already had on hand… especially in our little freezer.
Freezer Inventory:
Meats – keilbasa, 3 chicken breasts, sausage log, homemade sausage from the neighbors, ground chicken, 8 filet mignon, bacon, 4 sirloins, cube steak, 5 pork chops, chicken thighs, 2 cooked chicken breasts.
Vegetables – lima beans, sweet carrots, peas, corn, broccoli, peas & carrots, mixed veggies, cauliflower, tater tots, crinkle fries, chopped green pepper, chopped onion
Fruit – mixed berries, blueberries, black bananas
Cheese – swiss, parmesan, 2 bags of cheddar, mozzarella
Drinks – rum ,gin, tequila, moonshine, Tastefully Simple Ruby Orange Slush, breastmilk
Random – 4lb butter, ice cream, sugar cookies, yeast, pork gravy leftovers, bean & cheese burrito, chicken tenders, taquitos.
Yes… allllll of that fit in this tiny freezer you see in the picture. I was vaguely aware of the contents but I was even taken by surprise on a few items. This was more than enough to feed my family for the week if not for a few weeks! Some things may not be our first choice but we definitely would not starve. Let’s not forget I still have my fridge and pantry to find additional ingredients and round out the meals! So where else did I shop and what deals did I get?
First I scoured the internet for deals on toilet paper. Hubs is kinda picky about this one because of our septic tank and the best deal I could find was through Amazon. We ordered Scott Extra Soft Double Rolls (36 rolls) for $19.74 shipped. We used subscribe & save, a $1 digital coupon and our Amazon Prime membership to make this item a decent deal. It works out to about $0.55 per roll and I’m pretty good with that price. This purchase will last us a while too so spread over 2-3 months the cost isn’t bad at all!
Then we went to Wal-Mart where I stocked up on toothpaste, new toothbrushes (for our upcoming trip!), mouthwash, deodorant and aluminum foil. I spent $25.25 here on house/grocery items and saved about $4 using coupons. I have decided I really need to stay away from Wal-Mart though because I spent an additional $35.72 on shoes for baby and a hooded zip sweatshirt for me. That came out of the clothes budget so technically doesn’t count for the grocery totals!
Last up was Kroger. I used my Kroger card and digital coupons and saved $22.58 to make my total bill $35.43! Again I saved 40% on my main grocery trip! I shopped a lot of the mega savings event items and managed to get deals like General Mills cereal for $1.49, Tide for $3.99 and my lovely raspberries for $0.99! We also purchased staples like milk and eggs. Kroger is quickly becoming my new favorite grocery store even though it’s a bit further to drive!
Let’s tally up some totals for the past 3 weeks, shall we? I’ve spent a total of $287.78 of our grocery/household budget. Without using the tips learned from the Grocery University program, I would have spent $400.65 on those exact same items. I’ve saved $112.87 so far on the items I’ve bought. I’ve also spent approximately $162.22 less than I normally would have spent from this budget at this point in the month! That is a huge savings in my book!
