This month I
embarked on a no rules pantry challenge
to use up a lot of items I had on hand in order to limit any potential food
waste and save a bit of money in the process.
Although the heat bill was less than expected this winter I still wanted
to save some extra cash, but I also wanted to focus some dollars toward stocking
up a bit so my LTFS doesn’t run too low.
I had a few gaps to fill and a nice list of items I wanted to bulk up
on.
My biggest shop this month was done at Winco
This year I am
also trying to really amp up the amount of fruits and vegetables I consume,
mostly vegetables, while keeping the ultra processed foods and even processed
food to less than ten percent of what I buy.
I’ve been doing this for a while now and it makes a huge difference in
what I spend at the stores. Buying REAL Food saves me a ton of money.
Armed with a $10 OFF $50 Purchase coupon for Winco
and a Trader Joes gift card my BFF gave me for Christmas I headed off with my
list to purchase some fresh foods as well as items I wanted to stock up my LTFS
shelves with. I was thrilled to be able
to restock some canned vegetables, canned tuna and canned clams, baking
products, a couple dairy items as well as to refill my crisper drawer in the
refrigerator with loads of fresh vegetables.
At Trader Joes I
rounded out the vegetables I wanted, added a couple dozen eggs (they had the best
price on eggs at $3.49 a dozen) and a few other items I hadn’t had for a while
like some of their turkey burger patties.
At Cash &
Carry I was able to pick up more romaine lettuce (on sale for $3.99) for my
salads and resupply my cream as well as add a new can of whipped cream making
that the final shop I needed to do this month.
My nonfood
spending was to buy some new replacement scrub sponges, snack bags and fold top
sandwich bags which I picked up at Winco when I did my big shop. At Costco I picked up a huge refill bottle of
dish soap that was on sale to add to my supply shelf in the linen closet. The total I spent on nonfood items came to $12.56
leaving me with a rollover amount (from January & February) of $18.41 which
I will add to next month’s $20 budget for a total of $38.41 to start off with.
The total spent
on food after using coupons and a gift card came in at $69.81 this month. I added the rollover amount from this month
along with the rollover amount in January to my monthly $100 budget for next
month. I now have a total of $141.27 to
begin my March shopping with. That’s not
bad at all!
Not too shabby!
How are grocery
prices where you are? Did you find any
really good sales or markdowns?
I pre-load the digital coupons and ammend my list before I go grocery shopping. This week I also found some ground beef marked down 25%, which I promptly turned into taco meat to freeze in baggies. Its easy to make tacos or toss in a salad. Other than that - I didn't score any big deals. Thursday is the day for that at HEB and lately its just worked out better to shop on Tuesday. By Tuesday my fridge is pretty empty! Your list is looking impressive.
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