March Food Budget....torpedoed by Heinz & Kraft & Hormel

Ok, first off, I am insane.

Insane to think that I could anyway possibly stick to a self-imposed food budget of $250 in March for both buying needed grocery items for the weekly menu AND continuing to add to the stockpile in the pantry.

HA!

I sort of kept the weekly spending on food for the menu under $150 as planned. As reported in previous posts I only had to buy 3 or 4 items the last 2 weeks in order to prepare the dinner meals. Add to that the bread, juice & milk we run through quickly w/my 3 teenaged eating machines and you come out at around $150 for the month. That left $100 in the food budget for stockpiling deals I found for the whole month.

Then Price Chopper lured me in with TRIPLE COUPONS & awesome markdowns in their Dairy Dept. at the beginning of the month.

Then I had to take advantage of the Ronzoni Pasta coupons combined with the sale on Ronzoni at the stores in my Teeny Tiny Town to stock up on 14 boxes of pasta @ 50¢ a box.

Then I had to use those dog/cat food coupons to get Pet Kibble for cheaper, to stretch my $$ for the donation to the local Animal Shelter.

Then the chain grocery store in Teeny Tiny Town had Catalina Deals Week. Our Catalina Deals aren't as awesome as the ones at Kroger, Publix, etc. but it's all we gots here, so I had to buy those 10 bottles of Heinz and those 10 LARGE bags of Kraft Shredded Mozzarella(b/c my $1 Hellavu Cheese deal didn't include Mozzarella last month & we need italian cheese in this house, by gum!).

Then I had a stack of coupons for Hormel Chili I had to use before they expired & the grocery store's price freeze on Hormel Chili ended. We go through A LOT of chili here. the Eating Machines have to have something to go with those homemade Burritos, right?

Then the chain grocery store in TTT had boxed Green Giant Veggies for $1 & I had coupons that made them 50¢ a box.

Then that warehouse Grocery Store across the river had really really good price on Toilet Paper for which I had $2 coupons, so how could I not buy 10 packages?

Then it's time to fill those EASTER BASKETS, so finding candy cheaper is put on my radar and eventually purchased.

Then the chain grocery store in TTT clearanced their entire organic grocery dept. to $1 an item. How could I not purchase things we need/use at such low prices through the tears I shed over it's demise?

Then the hubby goes and decides to pick food things up at the store without consulting me.

Then that blasted chain grocery store in TTT said I had to use my Rewards Point last Wed. OR ELSE lose them & the 20% off one entire grocery bill shopping trip discount I had earned by buying stuff there. (This is 20% off BESIDES all the coupons I use!)

Then K-Mart had to go and have another DOUBLE COUPONS Week and I did have some coupons for things that I could stock up on.

In between all this, WAGS & CVS lured me in to get cheap or FREE Toiletries. Cheap doesn't sound dangerous to a budget, but cheap isn't Free and if you buy enough cheap, it DOES add up! Granted some of the cheap toiletries are going to find their way to the local women's domestic abuse shelter in April, but even so....

All this adds up to a combined total expenditure of $855.39 in March for Food & Toiletries.

To put a positive spin on this......

It IS $368.72 lowever than February's total.

And it IS less than the US Govt.'s food plan budget amount for their LOW COST Option of $1038-the option I decided to follow.

So I am not going to beat myself up over this mont's total. It was silly to try to stick to this little amount for 5 adults/teens especially when I was still building a stockpile.

What about April?

Well, let's see......now that the stockpile is pretty much done, I will not have to buy any of these things in April;pasta, ketchup, cheese(except parmesan), tomatoes or spaghetti sauce, chili, soup, cereal, granola bars, canned fruit, bacon, ground beef, frozen veggies, frozen fish, soy milk, sugar, toilet paper, napkins, facial tissue, paper towels(I'll rant about those another day), soap, crackers, seltzer, soda, deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste, razors, hair coloring, air fresheners & bandaids.

Heck, I shouldn't have to buy any of the toiletries except the paper goods for 1-2 yrs. from now!

So where does this leave me in terms of a food/toiletries budget?

I'm going to try for a $500 limit for food/toiletries for April and I'm going to post a weekly update this coming month in order to try to keep a closer reign on my spending. If I have to check in with weekly totals, maybe I'll be less likely to be suspectible to the Torpedoes the stores have aimed at my budget.

Sluggy