Grocery Budget Challenge: Week 2

Hey friends! I officially survived my first week of a grocery budget. Like, literally, I survived. I didn’t starve. Shocking, I know.

I did do better this week. I had my goal in mind ($200 for the week) and stuck to it. I was still a little disappointed with my first grocery run of the week because I spent $129 dollars, only leaving $70 for the rest of the week. In hindsight, that shouldn’t be a problem, but I was hoping to spend less because my husband was out of town this week, therefore I was only feeding 3 mouths. Eh, it’s okay. Still met the goal, right?

Since I did spend slightly more than I was hoping, I saved my receipts to see where I could cut down on spending next week. Here’s what I found:

• Egg Whites– $4.99 These are store brand, but still a little pricey. I eat egg whites almost everyday, so I’ll probably keep these on the list. I hate to buy or use regular eggs just for the egg white. It seems wasteful to me.
• Magazine– $3.99  Oops. My grocery temptation: the magazine. I notice I’m especially prone to buying magazines when my hubs is gone because I flip through them at night. It’s not the worst thing (or most expensive thing) in the world, but they add up. They just do. Most of the time too, I don’t find anything useful in them so I’ll try to watch that habit of mine.
• Spaghetti Sauce–  $4.19 Little pricey for spaghetti sauce, but here’s my reason for buying this brand: no sugar added. I swear I looked at a million different labels and almost all of them had added sugar. I like that about this brand so I’ll probably keep buying it.
• Apples– $4.60 Hmmm…apples. They’re not in season, so maybe they’re a little more pricey than they are in the fall. Honestly, I don’t really know. Maybe I could buy another fruit that’s in season and a little cheaper, like peaches? It might be worth looking into. I like having apples around though because they’re a.) healthy, b.) easy to transport, c.) yummy.
• Peanut Butter and Co. Peanut Butter– $4.19 Sort of an impulse buy…oops. I just love having some sort of flavored peanut butter or almond butter around. I guess it satisfies a sweet tooth. Hey, at least I didn’t buy Justin’s or something? Could have been like, 6-9 bucks instead of the 4. So, I kind of cut down on costs… :).

My second trip to the store during this week was pretty good too, only spent $20.34 (but again, just three mouths this week).

My expensive items during this trip were a head of cauliflower ($5.37) and green grapes ($4.52).

These were the highest priced items on my receipt, but both of these provide enough food for at least 2 meals/snacks so I think they’re worth the price.

I actually looked up what the price of these items are on average and found that cauliflower usually runs about $4 for a head, (so I paid more), and grapes are around $2.87 a pound. I paid less for the grapes at $1.99 a pound #winning.

Total For the Week

My total grocery spending for this week was $149.83. I came out under my $200 AND under $150, which is awesome!

Overall, I did a pretty good job sticking to my lists. I see a few spots I could work on (impulse peanut butter), but I’m satisfied with week #1.

 

Next on the agenda I’ll be tackling Amazon orders, whether coupons are worth it, Costco, and Farmer’s Markets.

What are your best strategies for cutting costs at the grocery store? Do you use coupons? Hit up Farmer’s Markets? Buy in bulk? I’d love to hear your thoughts!