This Month's 2024 Extreme Budget Grocery Spending - June

 

I was quite impressed with the amount of produce I had leftover in my refrigerator at the end of May.  Five and a half pounds of russet potatoes, four pounds of red potatoes, a head of cabbage, a head of romaine lettuce, a bundle of asparagus spears, two pounds of carrots, a few celery stalks and a quarter of an onion.  At the first of the month I went to Trader Joes and picked up some green onions and grape tomatoes and continued making fresh green salads to go with my meals.

 

I ended the month of May with a pretty full produce drawer

My first shop of the month

I had two and a half pounds of cheddar cheese, a block of cream cheese and half a container of sour cream leftover.  I picked up a quart of cream for my coffee when I stopped in for butter that was on sale for $2.49 a pound.  I bought two packages of butter.  Condiments remain a constant thing I’m working to use up and slim down the quantity of what I keep on hand, however I do use most of them on a regular basis so I’m not sure I’ll be very successful in that endeavor any time soon.  At Trader Joes I picked up a package of grape tomatoes and some green onions to round out the produce I already had and to make some more tasty salads as well as a pair of bananas simply because it had been awhile since I’d had one.  I don’t eat bananas very often.

 

My Trader Joe's haul

All of the canned goods are for the LTFS
Tater tots for some meal prepping I plan to do next month

My goal heading into the month of June was to use up as much of what I already had on hand in the refrigerator and freezer as well as my kitchen pantry so heading off to the grocery store to do a major shop wasn’t on my radar since I was pretty well stocked.  I had only a few things left on my May/June shopping list to pick up for the LTFS so I did go to Winco mid month and pick up those items – canned tomatoes, tomato sauce and green olives.

 

Five foaming handsoaps (one is a gift) and
a FREE bottle of shower gel to make my refill solution!

For nonfood items I went to Bath & Body Works and picked up five foaming handsoaps that were on sale plus I had a 20% OFF coupon to add to the sales price.  One of those handsoaps I plan to give to a friend as part of a Christmas gift I’m putting together for her this year.  The other four I am putting into the linen closet to replace the three I’ve worn out and leave me with a spare.  The total I spent on the four soaps as part of my household items came in at $17.28 bringing my total nonfood budget spent to $29.01 and leaving me with $20.99 left to spend this year.  I’m still feeling pretty good about where I’m at with this part of the challenge.

 

This month's totals
Lot's of stock up items too!

With the year officially at the halfway point I felt it a good time to look back and evaluate my progress on this extreme grocery budget challenge I have been on.  Currently I am not depleting any of my resources.  My deep freezer and LTFS shelves are full and while I’ve been eating quite a bit of the food I home canned I’ve also added quite a bit of home canning back.  I have made chili and soups, canned some roast beef and I’ve been able to replace quite a few items in the freezer as well as on the shelves as I’ve used them.  I have had plenty of variety in my meal plans with loads of healthy and nutritious options.  Do I feel deprived in any way?  Not even a little bit.

 

No deprivation here!

So far, so good! 😊

I am really pleased with how well it is going.  My monthly budget for groceries this year is only $50 ($600 for the entire year) and although I’m at the midway point I am under budget!  So far I have only spent $266.51 leaving me with a remaining budget of $333.49.  I have big plans for the month of July as I head into it with a fresh $50 plus $33.49 left to rollover from this month giving me a total starting amount of $83.49.  Keep following me to see what I have planned for the month of July.  It’s going to be epic!