A Look At A Typical Grocery Run

I did my biweekly shopping trip yesterday and spent right at $85.00. I know because I took $100 in cash out of my husband's paycheck, designated specifically for groceries for 2 weeks, and I have $15.00 left.

I'm giving this, Dave Ramsey inspired cash method a try because I'm trying to be a little more disciplined and aware of grocery spending. When the $100 is gone, that's it. No more shopping...period. If we're out of milk, so be it. If we use the last slice of bread 3 days early, oh well! I'm just tired of making trips to the store all the time, thinking that I'm doing so well on my budget. When in actuality, it's WAY off because of all the extra little trips. So, $100, spent over two weeks ($200 a month, tops!) is all I get. And this trip, I still have $15 left in case we run out of bread and milk!

I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but with some planning, coupons and comparison shopping at several grocery stores, you can so make it work! I know people who do a great job of feeding their families with a lot less. The trick is to not buy junk food, soda, a lot of packaged foods and mixes, to try to buy meat on sale and to try to cook from scratch. Now, you'll see below that I do in fact have a few packaged, ready-made items, but they were such a good deal, I could not pass them up.

Here's a couple of pics of what I purchased. I looked at sales fliers from 2 different stores and tried to get some good deals at each. Keep in mind, I have my pantry stocked pretty well now. That's something I've been working on for a while. So, with these groceries, I'm able to make lots of meals, mostly from scratch.

Notice, I got a lot of fresh fruit. Meijer had a lot of their produce on sale, so I took advantage!

So here's what $85 looks like....

-8 Totinos Pizzas (I usually don't purchase these because they're too expensive. I can make little pizzas for lunch for the little one using tortillas for much less. But with coupons and an in-store catalina, these ended up being only $0.56 a piece. You can't beat that!)

-1 bag of Tyson Chicken nuggets- (I usually don't buy these either, but with a coupon, they were only $2.99. And G will eat them when I make something "yucky" for dinner).

-3 pkgs of split chicken breasts, $1.29lb

-5lbs of ground beef, $2.00lb

-2 pkgs thick cut bacon (which I cut in half when I cook bacon. So for us, it will work for 4 breakfasts! I do waffles on Saturday mornings and a big breakfast with homemade biscuits and gravy on Sunday....yum!)

-1 pkg pepperoni (for homemade pizzas!)

-1lb of sausage ($.99 with coupon)

-bananas

-3lb bag of apples

-red grapes and green grapes (at $0.99 a pound, I splurged and got two bags! They are RARELY that cheap!)

-Two containers of strawberries, 2/$4 (I will freeze these for smoothies!)

-1 head of lettuce

-1 head of cabbage (I never buy cabbage, but for some reason, I am craving it. Can't wait to cook some up!)

-1 bag of onions

-1 bunch of celery

-2 bags of baby carrots ($1 each)

-1 bag of raisins (not on sale, but I have been wanting homemade oatmeal raisin cookies)

-10 pkgs Ramen noodles ($0.10 a piece! G and I split one for lunch quite a bit. Can't beat lunch for a nickel!)

-1, 4lb bag of sugar


-lemon pepper seasoning ($1.00)

-Jif peanut butter (with a $1.00 off Q)

-Smuckers jelly (also with a $1.00 off Q)

-Big container of vinegar (for recipes and for cleaning)

-Dawn dish detergent (with coupon, it was $0.59!)

-6 pack of Brawny paper towels ($4.99 with Q)

I also love this time of year because people are so generous and are practically BEGGING you to take some of their garden produce off of their hands! A good friend of mine gave me a bunch of gorgeous tomatoes which I'm going to blanch, peel, chop and freeze. And my neighbor's pear tree has already been a real treat to partake of (he said to take as much as we wanted because he doesn't like pears...go figure?). I gathered about 30 or so pears (mostly that had fallen to the ground) and let them ripen on various window sills! ha! We've been enjoying them peeled and sliced primarily. They are sooo juicy and delicious! But I made a rustic pear tart for a get together the other night that was delish! And last night I used the rest of them for a warm and comforting pear crisp. It was so good, I didn't even miss the ice cream (well, maybe I missed it a little). :)

I'm working on a menu for the next two weeks that I'll post in the next day or so.
How much do you spend on groceries a week? A month? I'm interested to know what other people do.
Have a great, blessed weekend!