My final grocery
post for 2022! Unbelievable that the new year is upon us and
it will be time to start afresh again. I have
a lot planned for groceries, shopping, meal planning, cooking, preserving, money
saving, you name it, for 2023. Lots of good stuff! I can hardly wait to get started.
I stocked up on produce and a handful of pantry items
Now let's get
down to business on my December grocery spending. With the Christmas holiday and New Years Eve
and Day thrown into the mix to plan for I think I did really well in keeping my
spending super low. I shopped the sales,
stocked up on produce at the beginning of the month and dairy products in the
middle of the month, many of which were on sale. I even sprinkled in a few pantry restock
items. My final total for the month came
in at $58.16 for food. My non food
spending came in at $2 for two tubes of toothpaste and $1.48 for some detergent
I picked up at Wal-Mart.
Dairy was the main theme of this shopping trip
I'm extremely
pleased with my year end totals for food and non food spending. I did not do a lot of non food spending as
you will see. I had done a really good
job stocking up the linen closet with laundry and cleaning supplies as well as
toiletries in 2021 so I didn't need to purchase much this year. My grand total came in at less than my
monthly budgeted amount for the entire year at just $24.16 Things are looking pretty good too as far as
my non food spending next year as I'm still pretty well stocked.
Not bad for the month of December! 
Last week I stocked up on cheese when it went on sale for $1.69 per package
My final total
on food is the one I'm most proud of and amazed by this year because we ate really well. Lots of healthy and nutritious meals were
served and plenty of treats now and then too.
No deprivation here and I always had cream for my one nice cup of Keto
coffee each day. That was my priority
and it still is. I love that special mid
morning cup of coffee each day. By shopping sales, markdowns and loss leaders,
downloading digital coupons and FREE offers, making lists and sticking to them
and minimizing my food waste I was able to keep my grocery spending very low.
I am not complaining about this at all! 
What is your priority item?
As I head into
2023 my goal is to continue to keep my spending as low as possible. Cream in my coffee is still a priority item
as I've watched the price of that stuff nearly double in the past year. Unreal!
I'll be making changes and working around rising prices as best I can to
continue to keep to my extremely low grocery budget. I know I'll have to get pretty creative in
order to manage this, but I also know it can be done.
You did wonderful on your shopping budget. I always just have a monthly spending total but am going to separate food and household items to get a better look at spending in 2023. We have a well-stocked pantry and freezer so I'm doing a very low spending month for January. I will only be picking up dairy and fresh veggies and fruit. Butter is my one must have. I have 11 pounds in the freezer that was all bought for less than 2.50 a pound but I'm seeing it is consistently 4.99 a pound now. That has me a bit concerned. Wishing you a very Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteButter is important to me too. I think I have the same amount you do in my freezer. I sure don't want to pay $5 for a pound of butter. I will, but I sure don't want to. Just use it sparingly I suppose and make it last longer. Happy New Year Lori!
DeletePriority items? Definitely coffee -- has to be strong. Whole beans, if preferable. (The Brick likes Sam's Club -- but I'll get some via Amazon Warehouse when it's what we like.) Our friend left some cream in the fridge to use up -- and now we're hooked on cream or half-and-half for the coffee.
ReplyDeleteButter is important to me, as well -- but I hate paying full price. Some baked goods, like brownies, can be done with margarine. I usually just buy butter on sale and keep it in the freezer.
Whole milk is important, too -- when our budget is low, I thin it out up to 1/3 with water.
We generally get by with meat on sale, or just small amounts -- but every once in a while, a good steak just makes life good. No elk or venison were harvested this year, which means I only have a few packages left in the freezer. If something's on sale -- chicken breasts are 99 cents a pound this week -- I'll stock up. Otherwise, we just use less.
The big change is eggs. They have gone up to $5-5.90/dozen here. OUCH. IF we have them for breakfast -- and rarely now -- the Brick gets one, and I don't have any at all. (I never was that thrilled about them, to start with.) They are generally reserved for baking and other recipes.
Yes, we're paying more -- especially for eggs, milk and butter. (Butter is $2.97 on sale. Milk rings in around $4...but I buy it on sale and stash in the freezer.) But I use them more sparingly, too, which helps.
Yes, definitely coffee! LOL I was at the store yesterday and an 18 count of eggs was $6.70 and a 5 dozen pack of medium eggs was $25! I told the cashier I was going to go home and squeeze my chickens. So glad I have extra eggs in the freezer. That was super helpful for this years Christmas baking. Meat used to be my big ticket item, now its milk.
DeleteGreat job on your yearly grocery spending. Praying 2023 brings. Prices being lowered. But will be looking for sales always. 😆
ReplyDeleteSame here Judy. Praying for more normalcy with prices this year.
DeleteWhat about stuff like deodorant and lotion? Did you have a nice stock prior? Will it be necessary to purchase those items this year?
ReplyDeleteI stockpiled quite a bit so I am good to go in a lot of areas, not sure if I need to buy anything this year yet. If so, it won't be much. :)
DeleteI am following your plan and just put together my Excel sheet for household spending. We did buy produce yesterday and found a 15% off bag sale which I used for canning supplies.
ReplyDeleteMy goal is under $150 for the 2 of us on food. Hopefully lower, considering how full my freezers and pantry is at the moment. Thanks for being such a great example.
Excellent! I found the spreadsheet super helpful. Your spending goal is a good one. Keep me posted on how you do.
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