Grocery Shopping Lately....Vacation & Beyond

So while down South I did pick up a few items to tote back home for the food stockpile.
First at Costco(since brother is a member and we don't have a Costco around here).........

4 lbs. of pecans
40 oz. of cashews(a treat for me!)
3 lbs. of minced garlic
Total was $46.90 OOP
If I had to buy these things around here at reg. retail I'd have had to spend $79.78 or thereabouts.

Then when picking up some stuff at Food Lion for the sister in-law I bought this to tote home......

4 cans of FL brand tomato soup on clearance for .48¢ each
2 cans of Generic tomato soup on clearance for .47¢ each
3 packages of country ham slices for $2.29 each *not pictured*
Total was $9.73

I usually pick-up Chuck Shaw wine for $3.29(or whatever it is priced at now)for cooking when down by a Trader Joe's but the Aldi near my brother's house had a Aldi brand wine, Winking Owl for $2.98 a bottle so I got 6 bottles of that.........

6 bottles Merlot and Cab Sav w/tax came to $18.38.

The only thing I bought for the food stockpile was a package of 4 blend peppercorns at $7.16 w/tax.

All totaled vacation food shopping for home that week came in at $82.17.

I've done a lot of food shopping this week too!

I hit Weis last Friday and these were the best deals I found.......

1 x Vero Gusto Barilla pasta sauce on sale=$4.99
2 x SeaPak breaded shrimp on sale=$10.98

I used 2 x .75¢/1 SeaPak IPQs that doubled so $3.00 off the shrimp making it $7.98 out the door.

There was a $6.00 Ibotta rebate on the pasta sauce and a .75¢ rebate on the shrimp(x2=$1.50)so I got $7.50 back.
Plus another $2.00 back from Checkout51 on the shrimp.

$12.97 spent on these 3 items and $9.50 back in cash rebates.
Nice.

On Sunday I did a little shop at Walmart.  Here are a few things I had rebates on..............

8 x Chobani flips and Greek yogurts=$9.76
2 x Oikos yogurt drinks=$3.92
2 x Dial hand soap=$1.96
3 x Country Crock "plant butter"=$6.54
Total......$22.18
I earned back $10.63 at Ibotta for buying this stuff so $11.55 after rebates.
I also bought a tub of sour cream, 3 cans of whack biscuits, a big hunk of cheese, almond milk for Hubs and 4.07 lbs. of summer squash, spending $41.06 w/tax on this shop.

I hit the Bread Outlet on Monday with Hubs...........

3 loaves of bread
2 packs of English Muffins
2 packs of hamburger rolls
1 box of cinnamon rolls
1 box of cheese danish(for Ex-CB)
And we spent over $10 so got a free box of doughnuts too.
$11.89 OOP for everything here.

We also hit Ocean State Job Lot on Monday.....

I picked up the coffee Ex-College Boy likes using a $10.78 gift card which was free for buying $10.78 of select food items on a previous trip.
Coffee came to $11.97 so I paid $1.19 OOP for these 3 bags.

I also picked up 3 jars of honey on an Insider coupon deal there. $8.97 OOP for all.

And the "Free Food" table had more of those imported cranberry/muesli cookies I liked so I got 6 more tins(one is already opened lolz)and a bottle of honey/maple syrup blend Hubs wanted to try.
Total was $16.99 for all this and we got another Crazy Deals gift card.  I now have $87.99 in these gift cards.

I also picked up 3 boxes of cereal at Rite-Aid Monday........

These are $1.99 each this week.  I printed off 3 x $1/1 IPQ cereal from my Kellogg's Rewards Account, making each box .99¢ ($2.97)which I paid for with a free R-A gift card.  I earned back $2.10 at Ibotta and these items put me over a Bonus there for $5.00 so paid $2.97 on gift card and got back cash rebates of $7.10 total.
Sweet.  If Ex-CB doesn't eat this by the end of the year they'll go to the food bank as they are always begging for cold cereals.

Total spent this week so far on food is $80.10.
Total earned in cash rebates $17.73 and a $16.99 OSJL gift card.

A bit more shopping is slated for this week/month.....Aldi and Malacari's produce market and maybe the freebie at Weis on Friday.  ;-)

What food deals have you found lately?

Sluggy

2018 Food & Toiletries Spending........August Edition

Onward to August's food spending report.......

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for AUGUST 2018.

I have posted August's totals on the Total Grocery Savings Page located HERE and have updated the Totals there.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in August.  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 & tax where applicable. We are a family of 4-5(3-4 at home this month). No "kids" under 22.

*****************

BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $10.50
Value  $38.41
Savings  72.66%

FARM
OOP  $29.60
Value  $73.99
Savings  59.99%

MAINE SOURCE
OOP  $20.68
Value  $49.87
Savings  58.53%

OLLIE'S
OOP  $5.89
Value  $18.64
Savings  68.40%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/PP/BC  $719.77
Value  $719.77
Savings  100%

SHURSAVE
OOP  $138.28
Qs/Ads  $128.83
Value  $267.11
Savings  48.23%

TARGET
OOP  $0.00
Value  $99.29
Savings  100%

WALMART
OOP  $25.68
Value  $48.47
Savings    47.02%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $165.07

Qs/Ads  $198.25

Value  $363.32

Savings  54.54%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, Target at 100% and the Bread Outlet at 72,66%.  My worst savings rate was at Walmart at 47.02%.  If your worst savings rate is well over 40% that's great, right? ;-)

I shopped at 9 different stores this past month.  

TOTAL Out of Pocket for August..........$398.20

TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales...$561.40

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.........$959.60

TOTAL Savings of ................................58.50%

TOTAL Out of Pocket for August.....$398.20
TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales....$1281.09
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid.....$1679.29
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items........76.29%

This closes out the August food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
August was on target spending wise($400)with $1.80 to spare.
Go me!  I was on track to be around $300 in food spending but then some good shopportunities came along and I stocked up on some items for later this year.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went Up by 7.02% in August 2018 to 76.29% compared to July's 69.27% savings average.
The free stuff from Rite-Aid skewers my averages but without R-A I am at 58.50% savings.  So even without R-A we are doing well on the "savings" front.

With 8 months accounted for, I have spent a Grand Total of $3469.28 on food/toiletries in 2018 which is a 73.24% savings rate for the year so far and averages out to $438.73 spent per month in 2018.  We are heading back down toward my $400 a month average target again and that's a good thing.

LOOKING AHEAD To September.......
Keeping with a $400 food budget for September.   Hubs and I will be away for a few days in September but otherwise things will carry on as normal.  Maybe I can stay under budget for September.....here's hoping! ;-)

If you have other ideas or guidelines you follow please leave a comment and share yours with us all.

*  How much did you spend on food/toiletries in August?
*  Do you track your yearly food spending?
*  What was your savings percentage buying on sale and/or with coupons vs. 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