This Month's Grocery Spending 2023 – November

 

My goal before I did any new grocery shopping this month was to first use up all of the fresh produce in my refrigerator so that none of it went to waste.  By the time the November rolled around I was down to four potatoes, three carrots and a small wedge of purple cabbage.  Since I already had plans for using those three items I went ahead and did a big grocery shop at Winco with the main items being more fresh produce.

 

At the beginning of the month this was all the fresh produce I had on hand

I did use up those potatoes, carrots and purple cabbage as planned, but I also prepped the majority of the new produce as well adding more items to my freezer and doing some meal prepping.  Not only do I have lots of good produce options in my freezer right now, but I also had several delicious and healthy meals to enjoy during some of my busier weeks this month.  Even better, no produce went to waste.  Even the bunny and the chickens ended up with some goodies to gnaw on.

 

I restocked with fresh produce, cream and a couple pantry items

I went to Fred Meyer on the way home armed with paper and digital coupons to pick up some items that were on sale.  The three pound package of lean ground beef was cut in half and I used one of the halves to make a meatloaf along with the last of the potatoes and carrots plus some asparagus for a Sunday dinner.  That meal alone yielded five good sized servings.  The other half of the ground beef was cut in two, wrapped and put away in the deep freezer.  The remaining purple cabbage was finely chopped and added to some of the new green cabbage I purchased as well as items I already had in the pantry and freezer for a delicious Asian Chicken Salad.

 

My super sales items from Fred Meyer

At Fred Meyer I was able to stock up on cottage cheese, sour cream and canned pineapple for 99¢ each.  The two cans of pineapple plus the two cans of tuna I picked up at Winco replaced what I had recently used from my long term food storage.

 

I used half the ground beef to make a meatloaf
The other half I cut again, wrapped & added to the freezer

Just before Thanksgiving I did a mini shopping trip to pick up items on sale.  One item I was hoping to get on sale was potatoes.  Even though I live in Idaho, potatoes have been overpriced for quite some time.  I was hoping the Thanksgiving holiday would mean they would go on sale and fortunately they did for $1.29 for a 5# bag (last year they were on sale for 88¢ for a 5# bag) so I was able to restock in time for the holidays and some planned dinner guests.  I also got some butter on sale for $2.49 a pound (last year it was on sale for $1.88 a pound) so I picked up two.  I was hoping for a good price on ham, but that didn’t happen.  Perhaps next month?  We shall see.

 

Potatoes & butter on sale at Albertsons

I didn’t do a whole lot of food shopping because fortunately I really didn’t need much, mainly some fresh produce and some dairy items to round out my refrigerator.  I didn’t purchase any nonfood items.  My final total came in at $60.68 which I didn’t think was too bad considering the rampant rise in grocery prices this year.  I did contact Albertsons a couple weeks ago and expressed my concern not only over their increased pricing, but also their shrinking sizes on many of their products and cited several of those items as examples.  They actually contacted me about it and said they would forward my feedback onto their pricing department.

 

How did your grocery shopping go this month?  Were you able to stock up for the holidays and still stay within your budget?  Did you find you needed to do anything differently this year as a result of the higher grocery prices?