2021 Food Spending Report....the February Edition

 Onward to February's Food Spending report......

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for FEBRUARY 2021.

I have posted February'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 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 & tax where applicable. We are a family of 4(2-3 eating at home this month). No "kids" under 25. (I don't count all the "freebies" I get at the Discount Outlet in my totals either.)
*****************

AMAZON

OOP  $0.00

Value  $65.02

Savings 100%

BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $4.00
Value  $12.27
Savings  67.40%

CVS

OOP  $2.30
Qs/Ads/ECBs  $22.85

Value  $25.15

Savings 90.85%

MALACARI'S
OOP  $21.09
Value  $33.89
Savings  37.77%

OLLIE'S
OOP  $4.12
Value  $8.25
Savings 50.06 %

P and R DISCOUNTS
OOP  $44.05
Value  $95.77
Savings   54.00%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/BC  $893.36
Value  $893.36
Savings  100%

WALMART
OOP  $28.30
Value  $114.10
Savings  72.20%

WEIS

OOP  $108.11

Qs/Sales  $51.41
Value  $159.52
Savings  32.23%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, Amazon at 100% and CVS at 90.85%.   My worst savings rate was at Weis with 32.23%.
I shopped at 9 different stores in February(and one of those was online).  

TOTAL Spent in February......................$211.97

TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales.................$302.00

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.........$513.97

TOTAL Savings of ................................58.76%

TOTAL Out of Pocket for February w/R-A........$211.97
TOTAL Coupons/Store Sales w/R-A.................$1195.36
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid...$1407.33
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items...................84.94%

This closes out the February food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....

I went into February wanting to have a lower spending month and I did. ;-)  Most of my lack of more spending was due to a lack of good sales and then bad weather for most of the month so I wasn't going to stores.  I still got some good deals and kept the OOP fairly low considering.  We ate more from the freezer/pantry than we did in January which is a very good thing.  The freezer is getting less full by the week now and it's noticeable.

Even with this low of a spending month we still had things to give to our youngest son and for donating to the local food bank.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went UP by .88% in February 2021 to 84.94% compared to the January's 84.06% savings average.  I'll take an almost full percentage point rise any day! lol

With 2 months accounted for, I have spent a Year-To-Date Total of $507.19 on food/toiletries in 2021.

2020 Yearly Grand Total Spent....................$507.19

2020 Yearly Grand Total Value of Items....$3259.70

2020 Grand Total Saved..............................$2752.51

2020 Yearly Savings Total............84.44%

The average per month amount spent is $253.6 in 2021 so far.

LOOKING AHEAD To March 2021...........

Well I really haven't thought about March yet.  Still recovering from February. lolz  I guess we'll continue to try to eat from the pantry/freezer.  For us that means only buying something if I run out and need it, buying fresh produce and dairy as needed and buying if I find a stellar deal on items we use(not including Rite-Aid where I buy "the deals aka the freebies or almost freebies" and pass on what we can't/don't use to the Food Bank, Ex-College Boy and into Giveaways).

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 February?

*  Do you track your yearly food spending?  It's really not that hard or time consuming; just have 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 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

This Week on the Dining Table

   The "WTF?!?" Edition....

I've been meaning for some time to take a photo of this to share with y'all.  This monstrosity is at the discount grocery outlet I go to sometimes.  It's a giant banana lady with bananas on her head ala Carmen Miranda.  There's a button and when you push it(please don't!)this thing plays the Chiquita Banana Song.  They display their bananas under it(when they have bananas).  And 9 times out of 10 they have no bananas so she should sing this classic song from the 1920's.....

Onward to the meal planning!

Moving On-

This is what was planned....

1. Sunday--Leftover Mac and Cheese w/added Ham, sauteed Cabbage

2. Monday--Leftover Stroganoff, Rice, Spinach Souffle 

3. Tuesday--Seafood/Mushroom/Asparagus in Pastry w/Cheese Sauce, side Salad

4. Wednesday--Chicken Chow Mein w/added Veggies, Rice, Crunchy Noodles
5. Thursday--Leftover Beef Stew and Biscuit

6.  Friday--Not sure what ExCB wants for his Birthday Dinner yet on his day off, Cake

7. Saturday--Leftovers or ?

And this is what really happened.......

1. Sunday--Leftover Mac and Cheese w/added Ham, sauteed Cabbage

2. Monday--Leftover Stroganoff, Rice

3. Tuesday--Chicken Chow Mein w/added Veggies, Rice, Crunchy Noodles

4. Wednesday--Scallops/Mushroom/Asparagus in Pastry w/Cheese Sauce, Spinach Souffle 
5. Thursday--Leftover Beef Stew and Biscuit

6.  Friday--Chinese Take-Out, Cake

7. Saturday--FFY(I had a bowl of strawberries)

Last week saw 2 nights of home cooked dinners, 4 nights of leftovers/planned overs or FFY, 0 night of frozen pizza and 1 night of Take-Out/Eating Out.

Mostly everything planned was cooked/served except some meals happened on different nights.  The seafood in pastry became just scallops in pastry since the sea legs I took out of the freezer had burn and smelled "funny" so those got tossed.

What got put into the freezer last week....

* 2 lbs. raw shrimp

* 1 carton of ice cream

* 1 hunk of coho salmon

What got taken out of the freezer and used...

*  1 lb. of Scallops

*  1 package of Pastry Shells

*  1 Spinach Souffle

We spent $68.12 on food/toiletries/HBA/paper goods last week-2 small trips to Weis, 1 trip each to the Produce market, the Bread Outlet and Walmart. This brings our food/toiletries/paper goods Grand Total to $211.97 for February.  

There are 0 shopping days left in February.

I've earned $84.67 on Ibotta in February.

I've earned $00 on Checkout51 in February.

I've earned $4.00 on Coupons dotcom/Paypal in February.

I've earned 11,766 points from shopping on Fetch in February.

I've earned 6,001 point from food shopping on Shop Kick in February.

I've earned 0 points from food shopping on Swagbucks in February.

My savings percentage for last week was 56.01%(without "regular" Rite-Aid trips)for February and the monthly savings total for February comes in at 58.76%.(w/out R-A). 

Leftovers going into this week--beef stew, biscuits and scallops in pastry..  Hubs ate the chow mein and mac n' cheese w/ham for lunches and finished those off. 

Here is this week's "food plan".....

1. Sunday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, Tossed Salad

2. Monday--Chicken and Dumplings w/Carrots

3. Tuesday--Leftovers

4. Wednesday--Beef Pie
5. Thursday--Leftovers

6.  Friday--Broiled Salmon, Sweet Potato Wedges, Veggie TBD

7. Saturday--Cheeseburger, Fries(maybe), assorted leftover side dishes or a Salad

What do I need to buy to fix everything on this menu?  Maybe some milk.  That's it as I bought salmon and sweet potatoes last week.

What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Was last week's plan successful, did you go off plan or did you not even plan what was going to be eaten last week?

Any great deals on food at your stores this week?  Not such great deals here unless I go to the discount food outlet.

Sluggy

Ibotta and Shopping on Friday at Walmart & Rite-Aid

 I still needed 16 rebates on Ibotta to earn my $10 Bonus before March 1st so I went down the mountain and hit Walmart since that's the easiest place around here to get rebates with the fewest number of dollars spent.  And it wasn't the first week of the month so it wasn't crazy busy there. ;-)

These items were a subtotal of $32.35.  
I used a $1/1 IPQ for the Dave's bagels and a 75¢/1 IPQ for the Tums so total was $30.60+.33¢ tax=$35.93 Total.

I used a free $25 Fetch gift card I bought off my phone in the store to pay which left me with $5.60 OOP on this order.

I earned back 13 rebates(the Mooalas qualified for 2 separate rebates, there was a any antacid rebate that stacked with a Tums rebate and then the Scotties tissue and Core bar triggered 2 separate rebates for each which I had no clue that would happen).  I was expecting the Ritz rebate for $2.98 on the Toasted Chips but Ibotta changed the details on that offer which I have done before and now the Toasted Chips don't qualify. boo.  But that's on me for not checking the UPC in the store and being lazy.  But I'll keep those Ritz chips because I LOVE this Veggie variety! 

 If I take those 2 Ritz items off my total(they come to $5.36)then my OOP on the Ibotta qualified stuff comes to .24¢.
Total earned on Ibotta was $13.95 on the rebates I received at Walmart.

(I also bought a can of soup and a 5lb. bag of rice both on clearance for $5 but those aren't part of this report but will be accounted for on my monthly food spending.)

So now I only needed 3 more rebates to hit 36 so I trotted off to a bigger Rite-Aid near there.......

I bought 6 Arm and Hammer detergent as they were Buy 1 Get 2 Free and a tad cheaper in this store than in mine($6.99 vs. $7.29).  The 3 bags of laundry packs/pods also had $1 off peelie Qs on the bags.

Sweet.  And I handed over 3 other Arm and Hammer Qs(1 Manu/2 IPQs)to apply to the jugs.  Usually you can't use a Q on an item that is free with their deals but all the Qs worked!  $7.98 plus tax for 6 containers of laundry detergent (or $1.33 a bottle/pack)is not bad IMHO.  If there was an Ibotta rebate or a BC Deal on it too it would have been awesome but I'll take it anyway.

I also did the Palmolive/Ajax dish soap Deal-there is a buy2 get $2 BC weekly deal that is double dipping with a $3 BC wyspend $10 monthly deal.  With gold discount I needed to buy a fifth bottle so I got a 10 oz. Palmolive to hit the $10 mark and earned that $7 in BC.

The Gevalia was $6.39 gold discount and gave back $3 in BC.
The other stuff-the 2 Suave deodorants(BOGO50% so $3.58 total), the Neutrogena acne soap($2.79 w/gold discount), the 2 bags of gummies(2/$3 on sale)all helped get me over $40 total so I could use that $10/$40 R-AQ.

Total with $1.14 sales tax added was $26.09 after $16 in Qs(6 x $1/1 Arm and Hammer and the $10 off $40.  I used $26.09 in Bonus Cash to pay and earned a meager $10 in BC back($7 Palmolive double dip, $3 Gevalia).

But I earned back $5.25 on 5 different rebates Ibotta for the Gevalia coffee, Neutrogena acne soap, the 2 Suave deodorants and the 2 bags of Haribo giving me 18 more rebates total and put me over the magic 36 needed so I earned the $10  Bonus.

Total cash OOP for both trips.......24¢

Total rebates earned for both trips....$29.20 w/the $10 Bonus.

Now that's what I call Winning the Rebate Game! lol

I can't help but think about Anne in the Kitchen when I found this video. hehehe

Sluggy

Frugal Friday......the February 26th Edition

 Here are a few of thing frugal things that happened around Chez Sluggy this past week............

*  I already mentioned my Rite-Aid shop--

Though not "free" a good deal this week, especially since the Sundown supplements/vitamins are double dipping as there is a Buy $30/Get $10 BC weekly deal as well as a Buy $30/Get $10 BC monthly deal.  Pair that with that $10 off $40 Q and it's a great buy!

*  While I was out on Wednesday going to R-A I stopped at Burger King for a Wednesday Whopper Deal for $1(a coupon on the app...some Wednesdays it's $2, some Wednesdays it's $1).

Of course I used my BK gift card to pay.  If I keep this up and only use it on $1 Whopper specials I've got about 36 more free whoppers left for the year. lol

*  Younger son(Ex-CB)had a birthday on the 22nd but due to his schedule we are celebrating tonight.  Usually I buy a 1/4 sheet cake or an ice cream cake as he likes those but this year I found a strawberry cake mix at Ollie's(Good Stuff Cheap)last month and used a 15% off coupon.  Strawberry anything is his favorite!  So this year I made his cake.....

It's not much to look at(the cake started crumbing when I tried to ice it)but it smells really good(if you like strawberry).  I also iced the middle with strawberry jam(which I had in the pantry already).  I probably won't "decorate" it as Ex-CB won't care either way and I'm scared to touch it and make it look worse. lolz

*  I found money!

A penny at Rite-Aid last Saturday.

And another penny at R-A on Wednesday by the Pharmacy counter.

Not a stellar week for change but it's something.

Found Money This Week.... .02¢
Found Money This Year..... .91¢

We are inching close to a whole $1 for the year. ;-)

That's about it for this week.

What frugal wins did y'all have this past week?

Sluggy

Rite-Aid This Week So Far

 The local Rite-Aid ad doesn't have the $10 when you spend $40 coupon on it so I went online to print off that Q from the ad there.

I only did one transaction so far.......

2 x Sundown Turmeric BOGOFree=$15.49
2 x Sundown D3 BOGOFree=$9.79
2 x Sundown Melatonin BOGOFree=$8.99
1 x Nutella to go cup 20% Gold disc.=$1.51
1 x Neutrogena acne bar soap 20% Gold disc.=$2.87
2 x Haribo gummies on sale 2/$3=$3.00

SubTotal........$41.65 so after .14¢ tax added on and my $10/$40 Q the total came to $31.79

I paid with a combo of Bonus Cash and free R-A gift cards so Zero OOP.

I earned back $20 in new BC plus $3.50 in Ibotta cash rebates.  Not a great deal(moneymaker)but not a bad deal after $23.50 back in BC/cash.

I may hit up a different R-A on Friday(if the weather is ok)and do a variation on this transaction on another card.  I can use the 4 Ibotta rebates(plus if my Gevalia coffee one resets by then).  I am currently 16 rebates away from earning my Feb. $10 Bonus so if I can do those 5 at Rite-Aid(and spend no money doing them)that means only 11 rebates at Walmart by the 28th.  8-))

Sluggy