Onward to February's Food Spending Report.....
Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for February 2025.
I have posted February's totals on the Total Grocery Savings Page located and have updated the Totals there.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in February. If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals Sum. My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods, Pet Food. We are a family of 2(and 2 dogs).
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ALDI
OOP $16.30
Sales $7.75
Value $24.05
Savings 32.20%
BROOKSHIRE'S
OOP $2.79
Sales $1.71
Value $4.50
Savings 38.00%
KROGER
OOP $234.63
Qs/Gift Cards $223.28
Value $457.91
Savings 48.76%
SHOPPER'S VALU
OOP $41.77
Value $58.89
Savings 29.17%
WALMART
OOP $63.13
Qs/Gift Cards $25.24
Value $88.37
Savings 28.56%
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My best Store Savings Total was at Kroger with a savings of 48.76% and most of the grocery dollars were spent at that store. My worse rate was at Walmart with 28.56%, unfortunately Walmart was where I spent the second most of my grocery dollars. Not a bad savings rate average overall though.
I shopped at 5 different stores in FEBRUARY.
TOTAL Spent in February.....$358.62
TOTAL Coupons/Sales/Gift Cards....$278.10
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.....$633.72
TOTAL Savings of........43.41%
This closes out the February food/toiletries/etc. spending.
THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month....Nice job this month. Didn't spend a lot, for us, in our situation, but got some good deals and lots of savings.
The Monthly food spending savings percentage went DOWN by .73% in February to 43.41% compared to January's 42.68% savings average. When savings percentage goes down it's a good thing.
Since we have an adequate income and food should be a pleasure in life(no way am I going to eat unseasoned rice and beans for my remaining days like some people-because I don't have to). I will buy quality food and pay the price at the register. I may not like the price but I will deal with it.
With 2 months accounted for, I have spent a Total of $759.05 on groceries/HBA/paper goods/etc. in 2025. Food prices have gotten to the ridiculous level, haven't they? And it will be awhile until they come down as we recover from Bidenomics.
2025 Yearly Total Value of Items $1,332.43
2025 Total Saved $573.38
2025 Yearly Total Spent $759.05
2025 Yearly Savings Total of 43.03%
Remember that I withdraw all my cash rebate monies(Ibotta, Shopmium, TaDa, Checkout 51, Swag Bucks, My Points and other miscellaneous rebates-Aisle, Tremendous, Sampoll etc. and have it sent to my Paypal)at the end of the year and add it back into my food budget, so at the end of the year my food spending will go down. I don't add in all the cashed out savings until the end of the year,
The other savings apps like Fetch, Shop Kick, Kroger Cash Back that let us get free gift cards(or $ off your grocery total-Kroger Cash Back), those are added back in when I cash those points in along the way. Alexa app gave me Amazon credit onto my account but I don't buy food on Amazon(sometimes I buy dog food there)so I really don't know how to count that and it's defunct now so I won't worry about that bit.
Because I don't like to let money sit in these rebate accounts and Paypal, I send $$ to my bank account throughout the year. So far I have sent $489.82 from various rebating programs and through Paypal to my bank. If you add in all that my food spending at the 2 month point in 2025 comes in at $269.23 or $134.62 per month.
Besides all I sent to my bank account I have more $ sitting in these various rebating programs as well as in Paypal. This is not counting Alexa, ShopKick or Fetch, which all comes out in gift cards or Amazon credit.
LOOKING AHEAD TO MARCH 2025....
I will continue to be using up what is here. We have 2+ months to get all this food gone(not counting what I donate to the local church's food bank). Mostly for personal use, we'll be buying fresh vegetables and fruits. But that's just us as we continue to empty the freezer and pantry ahead of the move. Other than fresh foods this will mean a lower grocery bill until we get out of Dodge.
If you have other ideas or guidelines you follow please leave a comment and share your thoughts with us all.
* How much did you spend on food/toiletries in February?
* Do you track your yearly food spending? It's really not that hard or time consuming; just keep your receipts and either track it in a notebook or on a spreadsheet.
* What was your savings percentage buying on sale and/or with coupons versus buying at regular retail price last month, if you track that sort of thing?
* What are your methods for keeping your food spending in check?
* Is anyone out there up for tracking expenditures and trying to spend less but still eat well?
Sluggy
Food prices are awful but I am going to eat well and just deal with it, like you said. I basically buy replacements for my normal weekly foods. In February I was in soup mode and now that it is March I am in sandwich and salad mode, where I will remain until October. In February I was buying mostly potatoes, tomatoes, mustard greens, whole heads of cabbage, carrots, orange juice, lots of cheese, occasional meats other than sandwich meats, etc. While I ate sandwiches for breakfast and lunch, I ate soup for dinner usually. It was mostly mustard greens soup or cabbage soup with extra vegetables and sometimes meat or fatback, put in both. I did eat wedge salads with homemade blue cheese dressing which I eat year around also. Cindy in the South
ReplyDeleteI forgot to say I cook a lot of dried beans and peas in the winter and add them to my soup. I do not eat as many dried beans and dried peas in the summer but do eat fresh peas a lot. I am big on watermelon, okra, squash, fresh local tomatoes , and Vidalia onions in the summer also. Cindy in the South
DeleteI track my food purchases on an Excel spreadsheet. In the past 4 years our food bill has risen a whopping 76%. I've eliminated so many things out of our budget but rarely touch our food categories. We're not giving up great quality foods. We care about our health more. health is wealth. But I will be honest, some of the current prices I've been seeing has given me pause. the price of beef is insane. And we all know about eggs! Not eating eggs but we still cook many dishes with them. We used to spend $400 a month for 2 adults. Now, it's more like $700 and nearing $800. I think a few cuts will be coming to our food bill. Oh well. Millie.
ReplyDelete