Last week was pretty easy peasy grocery wise but I still ended up going over budget. This week I am going to try and only buy milk in an effort to get a grip on our grocery budget.
Although I do think we will be spending less over the summer and fall months, the budget is still pretty out of whack right now so I feel like I need to start making some drastic changes if we are going to meet our goal of only spending $100 a month on groceries for 2013.
Perhaps a few bartering sessions with the neighbors is in order. We’ll see.
Here are the groceries I purchased this week:
Vitacost $ 4.59 after credits and rebates.
I used my Vitacost credit and was able to purchase all the snacks above for $7.75. Then Ebates gave me a rebate of $3.16 for going through their website to make my purchase. So in the end I only had to pay $4.59 for everything above.
If you’ve never made a purchase from Vitacost before you can get a $10 credit just for signing up, and right now Ebates is offering a 12% rebate on any Vitacost purchase. Pretty cool if you ask me. Plus, if you are new to Ebates, you can also score a $10 gift card for signing up to their website as well.
It’s a pretty win-win deal if you ask me.
Harbor Greens Market $8.62
Harbor Greens Market has Fuji apples on sale this week for $0.69 a pound, avocados 3 for $1, red peppers 2 for $1, bananas $0.59 a pound and asparagus for $1.99 a pound. Not to shabby if you ask me.
Homegrown Microgreens
We harvested a batch of homegrown microgreens a few days ago. If you’ve never grown microgreens before, they are super easy and are great for winter salads as well.
Oroweat Bread Outlet $5
I stopped by the Oroweat Bread Outlet when I was in Puyallup the other day picking up seed potatoes at Watson’s and scored an awesome deal on whole wheat bread.
$0.50 a loaf for whole wheat bread? Heck ya I’ll buy a few loaves. Okay, maybe I bought 10. But for 5 bucks? What a freakin’ deal.
QFC $ $5.96
I scored a deal on fresh, local milk that had just been marked down.
Albertsons $3.99
I picked up a bag of spinach so I could make a batch of Quinoa Salad with Cranberries, Spinach and Feta and we were out of sugar as well.
How did YOU do last week? Are you under or over so far this year?
~Mavis
Total Spent This Week $28.16
Total Spent This Year $464.28
Total Spent This Year on Garden Seeds/Supplies $744.79 {I bought a Meyer Lemon Tree, Rhubarb crowns, 6 Fruit Trees , 15 yards of soil} and 90 pounds of seed potatoes.
Sarah B says
I have checked my local QFC in Maple Valley and Fred Meyer and neither carry that milk! I want to try it…have you found it outside of your local QFC?
Sarah B says
Looks like I have to go to the Renton QFC! In case anyone else is wondering where they can find it:
http://www.twinbrookcreamery.com/store-locations.html
We just don’t drink much milk, but I wonder if this would change it!
Evonne says
Thanks for the link Sarah!
Rachel says
Just wondering but what does the glue stick have to do with anything? Is there more to the story your not telling us Mavis. ;0)
Angela says
Yesterday I made your broccoli raab, chickpea, bacon salad and it was amazing. One of the best recipes I have made in a long time. My dad gave me the broccoli raab and now I have to get more. Thank you!
Mavis says
Yummmmmm! I’m glad you liked it.
Elise Adams @WholeFoodWholeFamily.com says
Wow! I thought I was doing quite well…until I discovered your blog. But your posts have me thinking DEEPLY about what we should aim for as a healthy budget. See, we get food stamps right now (ugh! in school full time for nursing…in a year or two our lives will NOT be supported by the government!) so we’ve had a terrible habit of spending whatever we get on the card…running out in the last week…adding a little cash and calling it good. This habit will NOT serve once we’ve on our own two feet again, however. In addition, we’re eating Paleo these days because of family-wide food sensitivities which adds to our challenge. All that to say THANK YOU for sharing!!! We’re going to be following you and adding our own budget challenge to our picture very soon!
Georgia says
Sarah, TOP Foods off Union in Tacoma carries it, as well as Metropolitan Market (assuming you’re a better person than me and can walk out of MM for less than $50). Its wonderful milk, reminds of of the milk our Jerseys gave when I was a kid way back in the early 80s. The glass bottles alone are awesome; I use them to make mead and hard cider.
Abby I. says
We bought that big bag of lettuce from Albertsons too, we got romaine though..just FYI started to go brown as soon as we opened it! But for the price its not bad at all! Also, there is a Franz bakery outlet we go to in Tacoma, right behind the B&I if you’re ever in that area!
Random Person Named Melissa says
Humm I followed your link to the blueberry bushes and I got mine for $4.95… though they don’t have a plastic bucket (roots were bagged), same price for some raspberry plants. (*cring* walmart my current nessisary evil) The price might be that low because I’m in Florida though…
Carrie says
We shoot for $120/month for three people, but I am a little over budget this year due to having a MONSTER pregnancy appetite, and being too tired some days to bake bread and stuff. I’m looking forward to feeding another mouth instead!
Heidi says
When my budget for the month gets out of whack I recalculate my budget into smaller amounts so I can hit my budget. Lets say I spend $100 per month (ha ha I wish) and I spent $38 of it the first week. I then recalculate by dividing the remaining amount by the remaining weeks of days left in the month. So here in my example it would look like this:
$62 / 3 = $20 per week or $62 / 23 = $2.69 per day. Somehow this makes attaining my goal easier.
So the moral of my long drawn out example is…..YOU CAN DO IT MAVIS!
Becky says
My problem of the budget of $1,200.00 a year is I am getting a half a beef from the neighbors so that will shoot my budget but with the 1/2 pig we got we will not need meat all year, maybe I can trade for products.
Barbara says
OMG I am so jealous of the deals on fresh milk, bread and produce you get. Where do you live to get those kinds of deal?. Can’t buy fresh milk in Georgia:( Guess we’ll have to move!
Tali says
Mavis, what does “436.12 +464.28” mean….surely you have not spent $900 already?!
Tracie says
Yes I was wondering the same thing