July Food Spending Week 4.....4 Shopping Trips but Frugal

I am going to update each week in July on my food spending. After the last 2 months of going over, maybe this will help me stay on track more if all of y'all are watching me.....watching me in a good way, not the bad, creepy way. ;-)

Between July 24th and 31st I made 4 trips to the grocery store! 
I spent a total of $54.40.  

The 1st 2 trips were to Weis Markets and the Bread Outlet.  I talked about those on this post HERE.

Hubs picked me up a gallon of white vinegar for $2.99, which was the 3rd trip.  For trip #4, on Saturday he bought some fresh ground beef and 1 tomato for burgers on the grill.  He also picked up a gallon of milk for the 15 yr. old milk guzzling machine that resides with us.lol
With the $54.40 spent last week, I have a grand total spent in July of $200.24 for food, or $175.27 after I deduct the cash rebates received in July.

 

I think by staying focused on the weekly totals, it helped me keep to my budget better than last month.

If you recall, June's food spending was $348.05.  I have halved that total in July.

I have already checked out this week's sales ads, so now I am off to peer into the freezer and pantry and come up with a Meal Plan for the week.

How about you?  Are you eating from your pantry/stockpile this week?   Or are the sales ads tempting you to spend at the stores?

Sluggy

What Food I Bought in July...A Big Boring List Only for Other Nerd's Eyes

My good blogging buddy, Annie Jones, over at Real Life Living posts what she buys every month. The way she tells it, it shows people that she really does get a lot of food for the little amount she spends each month. You can eat well and still be frugal.

I think it's helpful to see it all written down in one place so you can gauge how you are doing with the food money each month.

So I thought this was a real good idea and decided to steal borrow her idea and post all the food I buy in a month to feed my family of 4-5.
Besides, I am a big fat NERD who likes doing this!

For July, we had 3 people at home--2 adults and a 15 yr. old teen boy. 

 I stockpile items when they are rock bottom price, so besides the obvious fresh produce & dairy, this list is not necessarily ALL we ate in July.  We may have items on the list we didn't buy to consume this month and we may have eaten many items already canned or in the freezer from past stocking-up.  But it shows you how far you can make your money go by buying on discount, bulk, sale and paring coupons and/or rebates with the deals.

Here's the food items, including pet foods, I bought in July for an out of pocket of $175.27 after rebates.

This list doesn't include the few toiletries I bought where I actually had to pay money for them(not bought at Rite-Aid).

MEAT, POULTRY AND PORK

Chicken    13 lbs.

Hot Dogs   3 packages

Turkey Lunchmeat   2 packages

Steak   10.5 lbs.

Ground Beef   5.75 lbs.

Pork Ribs  7.5 lbs.

Kielbasa   5 lbs.

Ham Steak   1

Scrapple   1

SEAFOOD
Fish 2 lbs.

VEGETABLES AND FRUITS

Salad   2 bags

Watermelon  3

Cucumber    2

Cantaloupe   1

Yellow Squash   4.50 lbs.

Broccoli   1 lb.

Lettuce   1 head

Corn   4 ears

Red Bell Pepper   2

Onions   2 lbs.

Tomatoes   1
Raisins box   1

DAIRY
Milk gallon  3/quart   1

Eggs dozen  2.5

Cheese  8

Sour Cream   2

Cream Cheese   2

PASTA, GRAINS, BEANS

0

BREADS

Bread loaves   13

Hot Dog Rolls   2

Donuts, Danish, Cake  12 boxes

Bagels 6-pack  1

Croissants   4

BAKING/COOKING STAPLES

Nutella   1

CONDIMENTS/SPICES/HERBS

Vinegar   1

SNACKS
Peanuts   2
Cookies  3
Doritos   2
Potato Chips   4

CANDY
Candy Bars   2
Gum   2
Sample Chocolate Boxes   8
Choc. covered Cherries   2

BEVERAGES
Soda-12 packs  11
Ginger-Ale 2 ltr.   1

Kool-Aid packets  50
Amp energy drinks  4
100% Juice   1
Green Tea single bottle   1
Iced Coffee single cans   2

PREPARED

Ice Cream   2  1.75 quarts

Frozen Fruit Bars   2 boxes

Croutons    4

Whack Biscuit Rolls   3

Sauerkraut   1
Flavor-Ice   2
Breakfast Cereal   2

DOG FOOD
0

I didn't realize until I saw this list that I had bought so much meat in July!  We could stand to up the fresh produce consumption though.  I know #2 son was home this month as the milk, bakery products and soda purchases were much higher.lol   I used a lot of +Up Rewards to buy junk food at Rite-Aid this month....chips, peanuts, gum, chocolate, soda drinks....
Bleh.

So what foods did you buy in July?

Sluggy

July Budget Results.....Food and Toiletries Spending

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for JULY 2011.

I have posted July'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 July.  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.
******************

CARONE'S(small local independent store)
OOP  $31.91

Qs/Ads  $36.31
Value  $68.22
Savings  53.23%

BAKERY OUTLET
OOP  $22.45
Value  $105.14
Savings  78.65%

DOLLAR GENERAL
OOP  $21.51
Qs/Ads  $12/43
Value  $33.94
Savings  36.62%

PRICE CHOPPER
OOP  $10.67
Qs/Ads  $140.75
Value  $151.42
Savings  93%

RITE AID
OOP  $7.83 (whole amount put on free Rite-Aid Gift Cards)=$.00 actual OOP
Qs/Ads/+Ups  $399.04
Value  $406.87
Savings  98.08% before gift cards/ 100% savings after free gift cards

WALMART
OOP  $7.21
Qs/Ads $0.00
Value  $7.21
Savings  00%

WEIS (local chain Grocery store in my town/doubles up to $1 total)
OOP  $105.16
Qs/Ads  $117.80
Value  $222.96
Savings  52.83% 

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 JULY
Pinecone Research....$9.00
Rite-Aid SCR...$6.99
Snapple....$8.98
Subtotal........$24.97

GIFT CARDS and CERTIFICATES
$0.00

TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received...$24.97


COUPONS and FREEBIES

Glidden......Free Qt. of Paint
Kotex....$2/1 Q
Pantene.....Free ITEM Q

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were from Rite-Aid at 100%,  Price Chopper at 93% and the Bakery Outlet as 78.65%.  I shopped at 7 different stores in July.


TOTAL Out of Pocket...............................$200.24
TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$795.52
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$995.76
TOTAL Savings of...................................79.89%


TOTAL of CASH Rebates........................$24.97
TOTAL Out of Pocket After Rebates........$175.27
TOTAL Savings including Rebates...........$795.52
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$995.76
TOTAL Savings After Rebates...................82.40%

Since my Rite-Aid shopping(which contains No OOP)always skews my savings percentages, I like to figure my Totals without the Rite-Aid numbers also.
TOTAL OOP after Rebates.....$175.27
TOTAL Value of Items Purchases(w/out Rite-Aid items)....$588.89
TOTAL Savings After Rebates(w/out Rite-Aid items).....70.24%
My food savings percentage seems to run about 50%-60% for the strictly food items only.
Those Rite-Aid purchases always boost up my savings total about 20% points.  This month Rite-Aid purchases only boosted my Savings Percentage 12.16%.



This closes out the July spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month-
I kept my food spending well under my $250 budgeted amount.  I have been buying more produce in July but not from the farmstand yet.  And we've been eating down some proteins in the freezer.
The only stocking up I seemed to do in July was on soda, soap and chips type snacks foods.


What's ahead for August.....
Well be up to 4 at home and then 5+ at home at the end of this month as the kids(and their friends)come back and then leave again for college.  It's a crazy month here.....busy with Band Camp, Summer Jobs, getting ready for school/college plus trying to can/freeze fresh produce for the winter.  I am going to try to keep up the cooking at home/no eating out schedule we've been following in July.  There may be a few meals out however in celebration of everyone home.  Our eating out does not come out of the food budget so I'll have a full shift of meals to pay for with the food kitty.
Hopefully I can stay around the $200 mark for August(before any rebates)and then use that $75 I didn't use last month and about $50 of the $250 budget for Aug.(giving me $125 combined)and put that toward my fresh farmstand purchases to preserve for winter.

How did you do in July with your Food Budget?
What are your challenges for August?  Any family coming to stay....or are you trying to figure out a food budget for a vacation? 
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

Rite-Aid JULY Single Check Rebate Period GRAND TOTALS

I did a small transaction on Tuesday before the July SCR Period ended....

2 x Reach Toothbrushes on sale $2.99=$5.98
1 x Sampler Russell Stover chocies w/20% Wellness discount=$1.27
SubTotal....$7.25

Coupons Used
1 x $2/2 Reach Toothbrushes IPQ=$2.00
2 x $1/1 Reach Toothbrush AdPerks/VV Q=$2.00
Coupon Total....$4.00

$7.25-$4.00=$3.25
I used $3 in +Up Rewards and put the .25¢ on my Rite-Aid gift card.

I received $3 in +Up Rewards back($1 Russell Stover, 2 x $1 Reach).

  THIS TRIP
Number of Transactions.....1
Total Spent....$.25 put on free gift card
Value of Items....$11.57
SCR qualified for...$0.00
Other Rebates earned...$0.00
Gift Cards earned....$0.00
+Up Rewards earned...$3.00
+Up Rewards spent.....$3.00
+Up Rewards left to spend.....$22.50
And I have $38.24 left on my gift card.

And here's the wrap up for this SCR Period....

Rite-Aid GRAND TOTALS--JULY Rebate Period

Number of Transactions......13
Total Spent....$3.50 put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Number of Items purchased.....80
Value of Items purchased....$376.15
SCR qualified for....$22.38
Other Cash....$0.00
Additional Rebates....$0.00
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$0.00

+UPS Totals for July SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 7/23.....$22.50
+Up Rewards spent....$101.69
+Up Rewards earned....$66.88
+Up Rewards left....$22.50  includes ALL +Ups not just ones from this SCR period






Analysis**  I brought 80 items home with a retail value of $376.15, used $3.50 off of my free gift card.  I will additionally receive $22.38 in cash rebates. 


In exchange for $3.50 on my gift card, Rite-Aid paid me $22.38 to bring home $376.15 worth of products.
How can you NOT love Rite-Aid! 8-))



Sluggy

$25 Gift Card Giveaway Results....

And the Winner of the $25 Walmart Gift Card is............

McVal!


McVal said...
Woohoo baby!!! Sign me up! With the wedding getting moved up and up, I need SOMETHING to buy the kids their school supplies with!
July 27, 2011 11:52 AM


Congratulations McVal!

Please email me directly(go to my "See Complete Profile" page to find it)with your Name, Mailing Address and Phone Number(yeah, it's MyBlogSparkso they want that too. lol)and I'll get the info. to the Powers That Be so they can mail you out your winnings.

A big thank you for everyone who entered.  Hopefully I'll see y'all commenting again and reading my humble little blog. 8-)

Sluggy