October Month End Budget for Groceries and Eating Out

 October was a really long month.  I realize that it has 31 days but I mean it seemed to go on forever.  I  had been doing a really good job at once a month shopping where I got everything for the month on one big day of shopping but that normally takes me an entire day.  I would get a small trip to get milk and lunch meat later in the month but September messed up that processes with school starting.  I started off with the smaller trip and then spent the majority of the money on the second time. It was amazing how quickly the month was over when it seemed to take so long.

Below are all the things that I got for the month and how much I spent. I got 25 lbs of potatoes (which might have been a lot after the last two months of potatoes purchases). I got lots of meat with13 lbs of ground beef, 21 lbs of boneless chicken, 4 lbs of bacon, 2 lbs of turkey lunch meat, pepperoni, and ground sausage. These are all expensive purchases and my totals feel high but I also feel like I have a ton of food for the coming months. 

Giant $8.43

I went to the store to get the weekend specials.  There was another sale on 5 lbs of potatoes for $1.47 so I bought another 15 pounds. There was a sale on lettuce for $0.88 so I grabbed one since we were almost out of ours.  I also got four packages of Gerber baby food. 

Aldi $29.51

There was another amazing sale on yellow potatoes for $1.29 for a 5 lb bag so I picked up another 10 pounds of potatoes. I might have a problem getting this many potatoes but we really do love our potatoes. I got rice because although we had Basmati, Jasmine and some from Wegman's but my son has declared that he only likes the kind from Aldi.  I got two more packages of bacon at $2.59 a pound. I couldn't pass them up in case the price went up. I got some sausage which was $1.49 per pound and I am actually a little sad that I didn't get more for the freezer. I got a bag of Honey crisp Apples and a bunch of bananas. I got another package of Parmesan Cheese because ours was almost empty.  I got 4 blocks of Mozzarella cheese because I thought we were low but I was wrong because I had plenty but that just means that we have more for next month.  I got a bag of potato puffs because I used all of the tater tots in the freezer through quarantine.  It became a favorite for my son I grabbed a bag to taste test from Aldi. I had no idea if we were out of pepperoni so I got another bag. I got milk and 2 dozen eggs.  It was a lot of groceries to make sure that we had enough for the month.

Harris Teeter $18.10

Turkey Hill Ice Cream was on sale for Buy Two, Get Three Free so I went to get five.  There was also a great deal on Quaker Chewy Bars which we were $1.47 each. While I was there, I also saw Black Cherry Kool Aid which has been discontinued at the other stores so I grabbed some. I also got my free taste and tell drink.

Safeway $1.14

I got an amazing coupon which I wanted to use for $5 off $5 in groceries so I decided to get my son some Cheez-its which were $5.99 for the family box so I only paid $0.99 plus tax. He enjoyed it but ate it in less then a week!

Giant $0.56

 I got a free can of Pepsi with the Friday Freebie coupon that was loaded on my card. I had another coupon to get $0.50 off Duncan Hines Cake Mix which was on sale for $1.00 so it was $0.50 plus tax.

Aldi $12.95

I went to Aldi because we got a bag of chicken fries and they were gross per my son.  I returned them and got the money back and they were out of chicken fries.  I got a replacement kind which my husband and I think taste amazing but my son doesn't like. Since I was already in the store, I grabbed Cran Grape, White Vinegar, Bacon, Margarine Sticks, Margarine Tub, Honey Mustard Salad Dressing and Bacon. We didn't need more bacon but I wasn't sure what we needed.

Safeway $0

I got another freebie loaded to my card for peanut butter.  I figured that it was great for cookies and it was amazing.

Safeway $0.81

I got another $5 off $5 coupon and a price reduction for $5.69.  I decided to use my Kellogg's Family Rewards points to get a $1 off coupon. I also got one package of Gerber baby food.

Giant $0.55

Another great deal with free Crush soda from my Friday freebie coupon and $0.50 off the Betty Crocker Cake Mix which was $1 so I got it for $0.50 plus tax.

Wegman's $40.69 + $2.44

This was my crazy splurge for ground beef because they finally had 80/20 which is a lot cheaper then the 90/10 so I bought two packages which will last about 13 weeks because I put it in 13 bags in the freezer.  Flour was on sale for $1.19 for 5 pounds with a limit of 2 so I got two. I did another transaction with two more because the cashier said it was fine.

Harris Teeter $36.31

This trip was to get the weekend evic Pringles which were $0.47 after sale and coupon and they are my son's favorites. I also grabbed the $1.79 chicken which I thought I was going to get two packages but they looked pretty good so I got four.  There was a coupon for $5 off $30 purchase which also came off that I wasn't expecting so that was awesome.  Sadly they were out of the Heinz Ketchup deal so I didn't get to buy those and they still aren't offering rain checks.

Walmart $0.02

We were almost out of sugar so I went to see if they had the 25 pound bag and they did so I grabbed a gift card to pay for it with my free points.

Aldi $15.10

I got two pumpkins at $1.89 each. Splurged on cookies for my son because I found the double stuff ones which I haven't seen in months.  I got 6 blocks of Sharp Cheddar because we were running low.  I got a container of skim milk since it was my last trip to the store in the month even though we weren't out. They were out of lunch meat, chicken fries and something else that was on my list but I just didn't have the energy to hit another Aldi and Harris Teeter and I had food that had to get into the refrigerator so I ended my shopping day after my 6th store. I am grateful that we have a lot of options in the area but it is also exhausting to chase after all the deals in one day.

 

Walmart $0

I went to the store to get a new bike helmet for my son because I ordered it  online and we waited patiently.  It was over two weeks of waiting for it to leave the FedEx facility.  I checked daily and it wasn't happening so I set up a FedEx account because it said it would tell me more information.  Nope nothing! I finally found the link to complain to Walmart and they were super strange in the online chat but decided it was lost and they provided a refund or reship option.  I decided I just didn't trust them and there was stock in the local store so we went the next day and got a new one the next day.  I got a gift card on My Points to pay for some Peppermint Ice Cream for my husband.  The rest of the gift card went to our non-food purchases which I don't count into our budget. He really enjoyed it!

Aldi $16.87

I knew that I was at the end of my budget but things have been so hard to find at the store and I haven't been able to get chicken fries for months so I was down pretty low with what we had in the freezer so I grabbed three. Our budget needs to be flexible in these crazy times and I know that I was low last month so there was wiggle room. I also got some bananas for my husband's breakfast.

Lidl $9.02

I had to stop to get lunch meat because Aldi hasn't been carrying the lunch meat that my husband likes.  I talked to someone that works there and she said that they were replacing the pound containers with these little 8 oz packages that were nearly the same price.... well that is twice the price so not for me thanks!  I stopped to get two packages there and there was plenty.  I also decided to grab two bottles of Cran Grape because I thought me might be running low on the Lidl one. 

Safeway $0

I went to the store to get the freebie of the pizza that was added to my card.  We were pretty excited to have the convenience food which we got to enjoy together for lunch.

Total Retail $407.36

Total Savings $214.86

Total Rebates $2.46

Total OOP $190.04

I was initially disappointed that I was over my $160 budget. Looking back at what I got, I know that I got tons of things to use for months to come. Shopping is still difficult here with stock issues and higher prices which is hard when we switched to once a month shopping. I ask the person at Harris Teeter about the ketchup and he says try back tomorrow which is not going to happen but in the past, I totally would have gone back.  I could have gone to another Harris Teeter but I had already been to 5 or 6 stores in one day already so I just couldn't do it and I had frozen things to get home. It is so hard for me to shop sales like I have been doing for the last 12 years and I actually got a lot of sale prices this month so I am counting this as a win.  I was $11.24 over my total budget so that is not too bad (see eating out information below to see why I blame the pizza)! Also grateful to have used two gift cards from My Points which I have been working really hard on since Swagbucks has gotten so hard to save a little more on the budget.  How are you doing with shopping and budgeting?

Eating Out or Take Out

Our big splurge at the end of the month was to get Pizza Hut.  We decided to go with two pizzas so that we would have leftovers to eat before or after Halloween celebrations.  It was great to have the quick meal around the busy time.  We spent $21.20 which is under my $40 take out budget but I certainly spent the extra money with the grocery shopping.