February Month End Spending for Groceries and Eating Out

 We have a monthly budget of $160 for groceries and $40 for take out. We have found that if we save on eating out that it is nice to splurge on some things for the grocery budget. The two budgets are interconnected for us and it is easier to manage them together. I make sure that I work as hard as I can to be under $200 for the month on both.

Normally, I shop sales and use coupons to stretch my budget the farthest. It has been harder during the pandemic because we have limited time in stores and more limited deals. I have been going to the store mainly once a month and getting all of the things for the month. It is tough with my son doing virtual learning at home and needing help which limits when I can leave the house. I have enjoyed having the stockpile of supplies in the house but things are getting low now so it will be interesting to see what shopping is going to look like in the coming months.

Below are the things that I got at the store during the month with a picture and description of all the items that I have gotten. It also gives you all the prices that I spent on the items and my totals.

Target $42.04

 

I put in an order online at Target because they discontinued my son's favorite vitamins and we needed a replacement so we got the Flintstones Sour Gummies. We also found out that they just discontinued his Calcium Vitamins and they were only available at one local Target.  My husband ran out and grabbed them at night so that I wouldn't have to get it during my busy shopping day.

Harris Teeter $45.67

 

I went to Harris Teeter and got lots of fun things which had coupon deals and sales.  I got Quaker oatmeal for my husband because he was out of the one that was his favorite and it was on sale. The Cheez Its are my son's and husband's favorite snacks and they were on sale.  I got the Capri Sun because there was an electronic coupon for $1 off and it is one of my son's favorites so $1.89 seemed like a good price. I grabbed Pringles for my son because they are his favorite chips which he ate very quickly after he cheered after I brought them home. I got two bags of 8 lb potatoes so that we had 16 pounds for the month which we used all of through the month. The Heinz Ketchup was on sale for $2.50 and if you bought $10 then you got $2 off so it was $2 a bottle which is the normal sale price and we didn't have any in the pantry and we have been using Lidl ketchup through a lot of pandemic because it is closest to Heinz that we have found.  My family can't tell the difference (although my husband claims to but we switched back and he hasn't noticed). I got a can of Rico's Nacho cheese which we enjoyed last month to dip with chips and it was on sale for $2.00. We were out of our favorite Ortega taco seasoning and it was on sale for $2.99 for the big jar.  I have found that I can use 3 tbsp instead of 4 tbsp and stretch the seasoning farther. I had a coupon to get the Lipton tea for $1.44 so that I could make my daily iced tea. The yogurt was free after electronic coupon. I got the Tums for my husband because we were out and I got Act for my son to rinse with his braces.  Both were on sale and I used coupons. I got a Suave Shampoo for my son for $0.50 after electronic coupon and sale.  I got the evic eggs which were $0.77 a dozen and I got three. McCain potato products were on sale for $2 and there was a buy one, get one free coupon so they ended up being $1 each bag.  I also got a $0.99 head of lettuce for the month. Mission tortilla shells were $0.97 after coupon so I got two packages for my husband. The last deal was the Dum Dums which were $1.14. The best part of this is that I got an electronic $5 off $30 purchase and then I used a competitor coupon for $5 off my purchase too.

Aldi $8.23

I went to the store to grab ice cream bars because they have been hard to come by and I got two jars of salsa because my son has decided that he only like Aldi salsa and not the Lidl salsa that I just purchased. My husband also said he wanted more crackers even though he still had most of a box left but I grabbed it because it was only $0.75. He still hasn't touched the other crackers so it is still sitting in the pantry.

Lidl $14.10

I went to Lidl and grabbed a free chocolate bar for my birthday bonus on my Lidl account. I used a coupon to get the tea bags for $1.09. I got three bags of Cheese Puffs which were on sale for $1.09 each.  My son loves these tortilla chips so I got 2 bags for $0.92 each. I got the apple juice for $0.95 because my son had already finished the one in the fridge and it is only $0.95 at Lidl. I got the penne pasta for $0.75 each. The Goldfish were still in stock from the earlier sale for $7.49 and a favorite of my son's too.

My husband was out of turkey lunchmeat because the one that I had gotten from Lidl before was bad when he opened it even though it was well before the date.  There was such a horrible fight to get the turkey lunch meat for free because the cashier didn't know and the manager had to come over and still didn't know what to do.  I eventually got the free lunch meat and my money back but it wasn't the best experience and certainly harder then Aldi exchange.

Aldi $21.89

I went to get the celery because it was on sale for $0.65.  I went to the other store on the other side of town and it wasn't on sale for the same price so I had to go to my normal store to get it for $0.65 each. The sugar was something we needed and it was $1.93 for the 4 lb bag and we needed 2 bags for the month. I got the gallon of skim milk for $2.41. I got a bag of white round chips because they were $0.79 so I thought we would try them again. I got one honey mustard because those are hard to find and only $0.89. I got one package of turkey lunch meat.  I got my husband hamburger rolls so that he could have some of his frozen hamburgers which he has been enjoying on the store $0.59 rolls. We were out of the other pot stickers and they don't have these often and they are $3.99 and my husband loved the dipping sauce in this package last time. I got another container of store oreos for my son and myself for $1.29. Then we always need more cheese and Aldi is a bargain at $1.25 a block which is an amazing deal.

 

Safeway $0

I went to the store to get this because it was free after coupon.  I actually couldn't reach it because it wasn't pushed forward so I had to ask one of the employees to reach and grab it for me. I like to use this in bread and baking when I don't have other milk so that I don't use my son's milk.

Harris Teeter $57.22

I went a little crazy at the store and I knew that I was going to be over my grocery budget when I went but I was on a mission to get a bunch of things and save lots of money.  The Coke products were on sale for $2.47 limit 4 so I got some soda for all of us. The chicken was on sale and we were running low so it was on the top of my list to look for.  Bonus is that they were really stocked up so I got 4 packages which was a little over 20 lbs. In the back hidden behind the chicken is the HT Penne which was on sale for $0.49 per box so I got them to see if my son would like them and he did so I will be looking for that sale since I haven't gotten free coupon pasta in a long time. There was a sale on frozen veggies so I got them for $0.77 each. I got the Cabot cheese for $1.50 after sale and coupon. The HT Margarine was on sale for $0.49 so that was less then Aldi so I grabbed 6 packages. I got 20 pounds of potatoes because the 5 pound bags were on sale for $1.99 each and they looked better then the 8 lb bags that I have been buying at nearly the same price per pound. I got another head of lettuce because we were running low. I got the big bag of rice for $1.50. Hidden behind the rice is a two pack of Philly cream cheese which I got to enjoy on homemade bagels and it was $1 per package. I got a bag of Cheetos for free with coupon that I got in the mail so we did a taste test comparison and my son was the only one that preferred it over Lidl. I got two boxes of Barilla Orecchiette pasta for $0.59 which is the tasty like home made pasta so I thought it would be nice to have. I was happy to use a $10 off $50 coupon that was in the newspaper that I saw before I left the house.

 

Total Retail $382.02

Total Savings $192.87

Total OOP $189.15

I was over the grocery budget by $29.15 but totally under my eating out budget so I was still happy with my crazy spending this month.  I also set myself up for a great month next month with the stuff that I got at the end of the month. I know that I didn't make the healthiest purchases this month but those are often the months with little take out to make sure every one in the house is super happy. We have been making lots of things at home like bread, rolls, bagels, muffins, quick bread, cookies, cakes and more so that we always have more things then are pictured here and lot of food in the freezers.

I am super excited that we finally cleaned out the freezer so we have tons of space to rearrange things and get a better idea of what we have.  I found a few applesauce and banana containers to make bread with and tons of pumpkin puree that I have made in past years. We did eat a lot of our chicken broth with recipes that I have made and not replaced because we haven't had a lot of whole chickens to make more broth. I was super glad to get the updated inventory to do the monthly meal plan. Ready to make use of my new cleaned out freezer to easily find things...okay I can always find things but no one else can so I am the only one to go down and get things out. Yeah to a clean freezer!!

Eating Out/Take Out Budget

We only got take out once this month and we had a gift card so we spent no money to get one pizza from Pizza Hut which is my son's favorite.  We got it one night that I was exhausted and didn't want to make dinner so my husband kindly picked it up and we really enjoyed it with one free Book It Pizza and one large pizza.  It has been super fun to get the Book It pizzas to enjoy a little deep dish pizza with the hand tossed we normally get. We will be getting another one next month when we go to get pizza.