Food Budget Talk....the Good and the Bad

I usually budget $400 per month for food and toiletries for our family of 4(there are 5 of us but oldest son is at college).
But with being in the hospital at the beginning of April and the family loose without a list or a clue in the grocery store in my absence(!!!)because I wasn't able to get to the store yet, AND then with the special foods and changes to my diet which cost more than what I usually spend, I didn't know whether I'll be able to stay under the $400 mark.

The family picked stuff up here and there the first half of April and managed to make a $122.61 dent in our food budget.  We were eating mostly from what was here but they still managed to go to the store every other day for 2 weeks, buying non-sale items.....don't even THINK they used a coupon! lol

From the 17th through the 21st, under my watch, we were able to spend $232.91.
5 days.....$232.91
Yikes!

Most of that was $123.12 at the Restaurant Supply Store where I got some awesome deals.
The produce deals seem much better here compared to weekly sales at the local market too.  Even the regular prices on fresh produce are good.
Here are some comparisons to the prices they charge in the grocers locally......

* 9.27 lbs. of colorful peppers for $9.17 vs. $1 per pepper on sale at Weis(would have cost $22)
* 6.05 lbs. of zuke and squash for $5.99 vs. $9.11 at $1.49 lb. on sale at local grocer
* On the vine tomatoes for $1.29 lb. vs. $2.99 lb. or $1.99 on sale at local grocer
* Bag of red potatoes for $1.49 vs. $3.49 at local grocer
* Large loose mushrooms for $2.69 lb. vs. $3.99 lb. loose or $4 for 2-8 oz. containers at local grocer
* Jumbo frozen shrimp for $16.99 for a 2lb. bag vs. $24.99 a 2lb. bag on sale at local grocer
* 5lb. bag of frozen peaches for $10.99 vs. $17.45 for 5 x $3.49 a 1lb. bag in the grocer
* 1 lb. of crabmeat for $7.99 vs. $10.99 on sale at local grocer
* $1.29 for a dozen eggs vs. $1.89(this week) at local grocer
* Even a gallon of mayonnaise for $8.99 vs. 4 jars of Kraft or Hellman's at $3 ea.($12) on sale or $3.99($15.96) reg. price in the grocery store AND it's lower in sodium than those others.)
* 8.10 lbs. ground chuck for $2.49 lb. vs. $3.49 lb. reg. price charged at local grocer

Add 1 2ltr. of soda, a watermelon, iced tea & a cheesecake(for Daughter), and a case of paper plates(Summer entertaining!lol) and we did pretty well at the store.
$123.12 vs. $175.16(using local grocer sale prices if on sale).
I'll take it! 8-))

Unfortunately I'm not done spending on groceries for the month.
I racked up a $75.77 bill yesterday at the grocer.  Most of it was goodies for the bottomless pit I call #2 Son(lunchmeat, cheese, bagel thins, frozen chicken, ice cream, frozen French fries, breakfast cookies, etc.)  The "good" groceries were OJ, facial tissues, decaf teabags, no salt added canned tomatoes, bread crumbs, vinegar, 1 box of cereal, sugar, 6 bags of frozen veggies, a piece of ginger and more fresh produce(lemons, cuke, mango, lettuce, apples, strawberries).

With that trip I am up to $431.29.
Kaboom!  I am officially over budget.
8-(
And I'll probably make another trip to the Restaurant Outlet this weekend for more fresh produce as Daughter has talked me into "juicing" with her.
More on that later......

I'll now shoot for keeping the budget under $500 for April.

How is your food budget doing this month?
Better or worse than expected?

Sluggy

 

SEPTEMBER 2012 Budget Results....Food & Toiletries Spending

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for SEPTEMBER 2012.

I have posted September's totals on the right side bar under Total Grocery Savings for 2012 and updated the Yearly Totals.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in September.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals Summary.

My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Pet Supplies, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods & tax where applicable.We are a family of 5(3-4 at home this month)& 2 dogs. No kids under 16.
******************

BREAD OUTLET
OOP   $20.89

Value   $73.21

Savings  71.46%

BIG LOTS
OOP   $15.12
Value   $21.79
Savings   30.61%

GERRITY'S
OOP   $7.00
Qs/Ads  $2.45
Value  $9.45
Savings  25.92%

RITE-AID

OOP  $38.65

Qs/Ads/+Ups/Gift Card  $523.23

Value  $561.88

Savings   93.12%

SHURSAVE STORES(small local independent affiliated stores)
OOP  $138.18

Qs/Ads  $93.06

Value  $231.24

Savings  40.25%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $204.76

Qs/Ads  $158.14

Value  $362.90

Savings  43.58%

I don't track Rite-Aid's +Ups here, nor CVS's ECBs & Walgreen's RRs. They will be included when used on purchases under "Coupons".   I'll keep track of what rebates are received monthly.  Rebate money/gift cards will be considered 'income' & will go into the Food/Toiletries budget, offsetting the Out of Pocket. Cash will go immediately into the Budget kitty, while Gift Cards will be calculated in when spent.

REBATE CHECKS RECEIVED IN September
Rite-Aid Single Check Rebate for July

Total...$6.00

GIFT CARDS and CERTIFICATES
TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received...$0.00

COUPONS and FREEBIES

Nothing.

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were the Rite-Aid at 93.12%,  the Bread Outlet at 71.46%, and Weis at 43.58%.  l shopped at 6 different stores this past month.

TOTAL Out of Pocket........$424.60

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$808.95

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$1,233.55

TOTAL Savings of...................................65.58%

TOTAL Out of Pocket after Rebates received this Month......$418.60
TOTAL Savings after Rebates of..........................66.07%

This closes out the September spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....

I went into September with $400 budgeted for food/toiletries for the month.  I obviously blew through that mark plus another $18.60.   I know I did a bit too much stocking up on a few things and I bought a few too many snack foods for #2 son.  It's nothing I can't live with though.
My grocery savings hovered at below 45% for September.  I used very few Qs this month.  This lack of coupon usage seems to be a theme with me lately.  I do still buy on rock bottom price(or at least very good sale price) but don't find Qs much here for food items I want/need to buy.

 

LOOKING AHEAD TO OCTOBER......

I will be keeping my food budget at $400 for October.  We don't have any special dinners or holiday food spending this month.  I've already bought the Halloween candy to give out, but that came out of another pile of money that isn't the Food Budget anyway.
I'm going to try to cut back on spending a little this month but I'll leave the $400 budget in place since I now give Daughter a portion of the food Budget each month for her to buy convenience foods to take to work for her meal there.  The portion she spends is unpredictable so far.  I'll try to keep track the next few months to see if I can pin down how much it needs to be monthly and adjust my spending accordingly.
Hopefully I'll have a little leftover from my budget when the month is over but it is not guaranteed.

How did you do in September with your Food Budget?
Did you stick to it?
Did you find any good rock bottom prices to stock up on groceries?

Please leave a comment or link to your post and let us hear about your progress!  By sharing our struggles and efforts we can help each other stick to our budgets and learn to be better guardians of our resources.

Sluggy

October Budget Results.......Food and Toiletries Spending

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for OCTOBER 2011.

I have posted October's totals on the right side bar under Total Grocery Savings for 2011 and updated the Yearly Totals.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in October.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals Summary.

My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Pet Supplies, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods & tax where applicable.We are a family of 5(3 at home this month)& 2 dogs. No kids under 15.
******************

BAKERY OUTLET
OOP  $12.78
Value  $43.40
Savings  70.55%

BIG LOTS
OOP  $50.33
Qs/Ads  $40.00
Value  $90.33
Savings 44.29%

CARONE'S(small local independent store)
OOP  $257.26

Qs/Ads  $159.96
Value  $417.22
Savings  38.34%

FOOD LION
OOP  $36.87
Qs/Ads  $11.57
Value  $48.44
Savings  23.89%

GIANT PA  

OOP  $17.78

Qs/Ads  $24.74

Value  $42.52

Savings  58.19%

REDNER'S
OOP  $63.79
Qs/Ads  $74.56
Value  $138.35
Savings 53.90%

SAVE-A-LOT
OOP  $14.21
Qs/Ads  $6.40
Value  $20.61
Savings  31.06%

WEIS (local chain Grocery store in my town/doubles up to $1 total)
OOP  $152.04
Qs/Ads  $317.94
Value  $469.98
Savings  67.65% 

I don't track Rite-Aid's +Ups here, nor CVS's ECBs & Walgreen's RRs. They will be included when used on purchases under "Coupons".   I'll keep track of what rebates are received monthly.  Rebate money/gift cards will be considered 'income' & will go into the Food/Toiletries budget, offsetting the Out of Pocket. Cash will go immediately into the Budget kitty, while Gift Cards will be calculated in when spent.

REBATE CHECKS RECEIVED IN SEPTEMBER
Pinecone...$3.00
Subtotal........$3.00

GIFT CARDS and CERTIFICATES
$0.00
TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received...$3.00

COUPONS and FREEBIES

2 MyBlogSpark Giveaways

1 Shampoo & Conditioner to Test

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were the Bakery Outlet at 70.55%, Weis at 67.65 and GiantPa at 58.19%.
I shopped at 8 different stores in October.


TOTAL Out of Pocket....sit down for this one!.....$605.06
TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$665.79
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$1270.85
TOTAL Savings of...................................52.40%


TOTAL of CASH Rebates........................$3.00
TOTAL Out of Pocket After Rebates........$602.06
TOTAL Savings including Rebates...........$668.79
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$1270.85
TOTAL Savings After Rebates...................52.62%

This closes out the October spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month-I did indeed go WAAAAAY over my $250 food budget, as planned.  But there was a method to my madness here.  The local independent grocer has a 5 week program where if you hit a certain amount of purchases during that time, you get a gift certificate at the end of November.(They also threw in another Buy $30 of baking items, Get a $10 Catalina Q deal so these items qualify you for both certs.) So I've been buying items there to get me to the total I need for those 2 certs.  It's stuff I'd be buying anyway maybe in the next couple of months, so I'm just buying them a bit earlier to get the bonus cert.  I have been waiting until items go on sale, so at least I am not paying full retail for them, but I am not, for the most part, able to use coupons on the items there.

It's weird after 9 months(and the year before this one as well)to have spent so much money on groceries in 30 days time.  I look back about 4 years ago, to when I use to go the the grocery store with a "sort of list" and no meal plan whatsoever.  I would regularly spend $150-$200 a week and barely have anything left at the end of the week.  If I had to replenish staples(eggs, flour, butter, etc.), I'd spend even more.

What's ahead for November.....
I've still got some more spending to do to get to my gift cert. at the local independent grocer.  As for Turkey Day provisions, I'll need a bird and a few other things but not much to make that meal.
I'm going to try to use down the frozen foods I have here in November.  The freezer can use a clean out and a defrosting before winter sets in.  I'm going to shoot for $300 in food spending in November.

With 2 months left in the year, we have spent a total of $2,509.75 of our income on food/HBA in 2011.
That comes out to $251.27 per month.
We brought home items with a reg. retail value of $12,469.57.
That's a savings of $9,959.82 or 79.85%.

How did you do in October with your Food Budget?
What are your challenges for November?  Any family coming to stay....Holiday Celebrations?.....or is your school/work schedule too busy to shop/cook/eat as a family?

Please leave a comment or link to your post and let us hear about your progress!  By sharing our struggles and efforts we can help each other stick to our budgets and learn to be better guardians of our resources.

Sluggy

Food Spending for Week 3 & Meal Planning Week 4

Last week's meal plan is in the books.  Here is what actually happened....


SUNDAY--Country Fried Steak, Roasted Potatoes, Green Bean Almondine
MONDAY--Leftovers
TUESDAY--Soup
WEDNESDAY--Barbeque Pulled Pork, Coleslaw, Rolls
THURSDAY--Chicken Parmesan, Spaghetti, Sauteed Cabbage
FRIDAY--Scrounge whatever you can find
SATURDAY--Chinese Take-out

I only cooked half of what I had planned.  #2 son didn't want to eat the nights Hubs wasn't home so I just had soup or leftovers.

I spent....sit down for this...... $148.60 at the grocery stores last week.
Ack!
I did the Kraft Deal at the local store 3 times.  How could I not when it gave me bags of shredded cheese for $1.87?lol  I also bought canned veggies for half price, cranberry sauce on sale, bags of sugar to get to $30 to earn a $10 Catalina(not quite there yet)and some on sale frozen fruit bars, chips and some soda to hide from  #2 son.  I am also working on my Thanksgiving Voucher at this store so all things being equal, I'll be going there until Thanksgiving to spend the grocery money.

I also used my $10 in Redner's Cats to get 3 bags of sweet potato fries and 3 jars of pasta sauce for .14¢ OOP.  The $5 Weis Cat was used on 3 bags of burritos, leaving me an OOP of $5.01.  I am going back up to Weis today since the burritos were advertised as 3/$10, but my receipt has the amount it took off keyed in wrong in their system, so they came out to 3/$10.01.  I am going to have them make good on their "if it rings up wrong on sale, you get your money back and the product free" guarantee.

Hubs just shook his head at me and said, "You are REALLY going up there because you were overcharged a penny?", when I told him my plan.
Damn right I am! lol

My savings percentage was 45.83% last week, as the reg. retail was $274.32 on the groceries I brought home.

This week's menu.....
SUNDAY--Baked Catfish, Crab Cakes, Hush Puppies, Coleslaw
MONDAY--Kielbasa, Onions, Sauerkraut, Rolls
TUESDAY--Chicken & ? or ?
WEDNESDAY--Lasagna in the Freezer or ?
THURSDAY--Hot Dogs or ?
FRIDAY--?
SATURDAY--?

The Brother-IL is staying here for 3 days and we are bugging out for a mini-vacation so I have little control over the menu after Monday as he will cook what he wants.
When we get back I'll whip up some meals or have what we didn't last week(like the Chicken & Dumplings and/or Quesadillas).

At present, my October food spending stands at $459.82 with 7 days left in the month.  I've left $400 in the dust and am creeping up on $500 for the month...which is double what I usually spend.  Between laying in a few things today for BIL, nephew and #2 son and leaving them some cash for necessities I forget, $500 is gonna happen at least.

I'm hanging onto a 55.22% savings rate over regular retail for October.  Hoping to stay over 50% for the month when all is said and done.

How much have you spent this month on food/toiletries?
Has it been an expensive month or a cheap month for you?

Sluggy

Food Spending for Week 2 & Meal Planning Week 3

Last week's meal plan is in the books.

SUNDAY--Burger King-Hubs was not home, #2 son had a sleepover so I used a coupon to get fast food for $9.99 + tax for the teens.  I had whatever leftovers where in the fridge.
MONDAY--Grilled Reuben Sandwiches
TUESDAY--Tacos, Corn, Refried Beans
WEDNESDAY--Hot Dogs on buns, Boston Baked Beans
THURSDAY--Pork Chops, Roasted Potatoes and Carrot/Broc./Cauliflower Medley
FRIDAY--Leftovers
SATURDAY--Subway since #2 son was gone to a competition until 1 am.

I spent $28.50 at the grocery stores last week.  $5.08 was for rye bread and  sauerkraut for Ruebens, $12.78 at the Bread Outlet for 10 items(the seasonal bagels-pumpkin and cranberry were in!!, rolls, bread and donuts for Hubs).  The other $10.64 was for milk, 3 bunches of celery at .99¢ ea. and to do the GM deal at the local market, by getting 8 packages of Green Giant veggies, which after $4 instant discount, sale prices and 2 x $1/3 manuQs cost me .50¢ per package.
There was also a Redner's Cat deal I could have rolled my GM Cats AND I could have done the GM deal more times at the local market but my back is still not up to snuff, so I only did the bare minimum of driving/leaving the house last week.   Which was good for my wallet but bad for getting the deals.

And what did I do with 3 bunches of celery?
I cleaned and cut them up and frozen it for later!  .99¢ doesn't come around very often, so I won't be forced to buy any this winter when it's $3.49 a bunch!  Celery is something you always need....from soups, to chowders, to making bases, to stuffings, to mire poire.  I'll probably buy more when it goes on discount again right before Thanksgiving. ;-)

My savings percentage was 61.03% last week, as the reg. retail was $73.14 on the groceries I brought home.

This week's menu.....
SUNDAY--Country Fried Steak, Roasted Potatoes, Green Bean Almondine
MONDAY--Chicken Quesadillas, leftover Green Beans
TUESDAY--Breakfast?
WEDNESDAY--Barbeque Pulled Pork, Coleslaw, Rolls
THURSDAY--Chicken Parmesan, Spaghetti, Sauteed Cabbage
FRIDAY--Chicken and Dumplings
SATURDAY--Kielbasa, Onions, Sauerkraut, Rolls

Tues. Hubs won't be home for dinner so I might just make a big plate of pancakes for #2 son's dinner, as that would please him immensely and I'll just have soup or something.
The Pulled Pork is leftovers in the freezer from this summer when I smoked a pork shoulder.
About the only item I need for this menu is a head of cabbage(for coleslaw)and I'll saute the other half up to have with the Chicken Parmesan.

There are 2 deals at the local market this week.....a Kraft Buy $20/Get instant $5 off Deal(basically a 25% savings on each item you buy)and a $10 Cat WYB $30 of baking products Deal.  I see lots of cheese, some Oreo cookies, sugar and flour in my future.lol  I need to buy at the local market anyway to get my purchases up to a level to earn a Thanksgiving check so this helps.

I have $5 Cat to spend at Weis and $10 Cat to spend at Redner's.  No Cats to roll them into but I'll find something to buy.

At present, my October food spending stands at $311.22 with 14 days left in the month.  At this point, I foresee going over $400 by the end of the month. 
I'm trying not to freak out over this, as I haven't been higher than $364.30 in any month so far this year.

How are your food expenses doing this month?

Sluggy

I Have Sunk The Food Budget for June

Yes, it's official.
I have sunk my food budget for June.
With 4 more days to go, I have spent $374.77.

I was doing ok until I decided to buy fresh lobsters for Hubs and I as a belated Happy Father's Day present last week.  $42.98 later and my budget was officially shot to heck.

After that I figured I might as well do some more damage....what could it hurt, right?lol

I had 2 $7 Catalina Qs for Weis Markets that were expiring on July 2nd.  As there were 2 Catalina Promotions last week(ended 6/25)at Weis, I went ahead and rolled them instead of waiting until this week and hoping there would be a Catalina Promotion this week.
I'm glad I didn't wait as there are no Cat Deals at Weis this week! 8-)

I took advantage of a few good deals while I was there, so here is what I bought on Saturday....

One Cat Deal was Buy $20/Get $7 Cat Q.
I bought 2 large bags of charcoal(not pictured)and the Clorox Clean-Up Spray.
After the $7 Cat Q I used I spent $11.98 on these items(plus tax)and received another $7 Cat Q.

The other Cat Deal was GM products, Buy $35/Get $10 Cat Q.
I bought--2 Chex cereal, 5 Chicken/Tuna Helper, 4 Suddenly Salad, 3 Totino's pizzas, 2 Froot by Foot.
After the other $7 Cat Q and other Qs, I spent $11.50 and received a $10 Cat Q.
There was a double dip as well on the Helper....buy 5 and get a $2 OYNO off of meat Cat Q.


I also picked up 3 blocks of Helavu Good cheese on sale for $2 each.  My .50/1 IPQs doubled to $1/1, so my cheese was $1 a block after Qs.
The muffins had a 50% off sticker so were $2.25 a pack.
The bags of salad and strawberries were both BOGO.
The Perdue ground chicken was on sale for $3 and each package had an instant $1.50 discount meat sticker making them $1.50 each.
I picked up 2 bags of frozen mushrooms on sale for $1 each.  This price made them a better deal than fresh or the canned ones.

The only item I paid reg. retail for was the bag of bagels for $2.99, but by the bag they were less than buying them individually. ;-)

Reg. retail on all would have been $105.17 and I paid $47.88 after sales and Qs.
The Catalina items cost me $23.48 and I received $19 in Catalina Qs back.

Now I'm going to try to stay out of the grocery store for 4 more days.
Wish me luck!lol

Sluggy