I love Trader Joe’s – they have some fabulous prices, especially on produce. We stopped into Trader Joe’s last night, after sports, to refresh our produce. I spent $37.55 and bought the following items:
Arugula mix – $2.29 x 2 = $4.59
Cole Slaw Mix, Organic – $2.49
Vegetable broth – $1.99 x 2 = $3.98
Bananas – $0.19 cents each x 6 = $1.14
Carrots, Organic, 1 lb – $0.99 x 2 = $1.98
Carrots, shredded, 10 oz = $1.29 x 3 = $3.87
I love these for salads! Other stores carry them for $2+ a bag
Celery hearts, 2-pack – $2.49
Iceberg lettuce – $1.49
Cucumbers, hothouse – $1.49 x 2 = $2.98
Tempeh – $2.29
Wild Rice – $5.99
Love this for soups in the fall
Garbanzo beans – $0.89 x 2 = $1.78
Hummus – $2.49
The difficult thing about shopping at Trader Joe’s is they have so many amazing seasonal items and it’s easy to splurge on a lot of little things that add up. This trip was a no-nonsense trip for the basics, but they have some fabulous extras we passed on this week.
We got home around 7 pm and I made up a double-batch of Butter Chicken Curry – my family LOVES this stuff. I buy it on Amazon and it comes out to $2.37 a package and I typically use two packages – about $5. I follow instructions on package but always add lots of extra veggies. Last night I added cauliflower (it was $0.99/lb at Safeway), a bag of frozen peas (remember that $0.99 Kroger sale?), a couple carrots ($0.99/bag from Trader Joe’s), onions (bought at Chef Store) and a can of garbanzo beans (Trader Joes, $0.89)! Served over rice. We typically buy our rice at Costco – but I am going to be watching the Chef Store for price comparisons.
Earlier this week I had picked up chicken thighs for $0.99/lb . . .so while I was making the rice (in Instant Pot), making the curry on the stove top, I roasted up the chicken thighs in the oven. I’ve cut meat out of my diet a few weeks ago – but my family added chicken to their curry. Both my son and husband took left over chicken, rice and curry for lunch today. There is quite a bit left.
Other meals I’ve made this week include:
Roasted chicken legs, roasted garlic/rosemary potatoes and roasted cauliflower with parmesan.
I took a whole chicken out of the freezer earlier in the week and I roasted a whole chicken with potatoes and onions.
Thanks to all the beets I’ve been getting in my CSA/farm box, I made up another batch of Creamy Beet Soup. . .but this time I added cabbage (instead of kale) because that’s what I had in the fridge.
Although I didn’t take pictures – one night we had pesto pasta with mushrooms – I had up all that pesto last week and the mushrooms were a markdown. We also ate eggs (from our chickens) and the breakfast sausage I picked up for $1.99/package, along with steel cut oats and fruit for breakfast.
Week of September 2 Grocery trip – $160.57
Franz Outlet Bread – $24
CSA – Farm share box (weekly) – $32.66
Chef Store trip – $43.22
Week of September 9 Grocery trip – $99.63
CSA – Farm share box (weekly) – $32.66
Amazon Subscribe & Save delivery – $49.31
Spud’s mini grocery trip – $9.46
Week of September 16 Grocery trip – $66.22
CSA – Farm share box (weekly) – $32.66
Week of September 23 Grocery Trip, $0.99 stock-up sale – $53.41
Week of September 23 Produce Grocery Trip – $17.78
CSA – Farm share box (weekly) – $32.66
Safeway trip, September 26 – $26.66
Trader Joe’s September 28 – $40.92
GROCERY TOTAL FOR THE MONTH =$718.45
I’m working on a wrap-up post for this month’s Feeding My Family series. . . I hope to continue these types of posts to help you save money on your family grocery budget. Did you find these posts helpful? What do you like the most about these posts?
PLEASE READ . . . Feeding My Family Series “Fine Print” – This series is meant as a guide to help you turn deals into meals. Every family has its own budget, dietary needs, diet choices and preferences. Manager markdowns vary by store, day and time – there is no guarantee that you’ll find similar markdowns at your local store, but it gives you an idea of what to look for. I will not tolerate any shaming or derogatory comments about my purchases or those of other people sharing their savings. Take the tips that will work for you and if something doesn’t align with your family needs – keep scrolling, without comment. If you have recipes or money saving tips, please share!
Hi Heather,
I’ve been enjoying this series! It is all too easy to fall into a cooking and shopping rut and seeing your purchases and resulting meals has been a bit of inspiration for me. I have 4 kids, so there will be anywhere from 5 to 9 people at dinner, depending on activities and whether we have guests. I tend to overspend at the grocery store because I like to stock up when the sales are good. Prices for a lot of staples are still high here in Arizona, but I am seeing improvement. I need to be better at consciously meal planning. I hope you continue this series!
I loved this series! I would love for you to keep it going and include a month that you go to Costco. I tried to add up my monthly groceries today and realized I need to separate food from other things. For example, do you include toiletries (toothpaste, shampoo, vitamins, etc. as “groceries”.)? Also, how much in the way of groceries do you purchase on Amazon? I guess I’m trying to compare “apples to apples” – no pun intended! So that I can gauge how I’m doing. It’s just my husband and I, so I hope our monthly expenses will be lower. I realize we have different size families and different needs and financial situations, but I live in Olympia too, so that puts us on a level playing field to start. You are doing wonderful things here – please keep it going 🙂
Hi Carolyn – thank you for your comment! You bring up some good questions. I do not include toothpaste/shampoo/paper products in the grocery category – that’s a household category for us. I do shop Amazon for groceries – pantry items, via subscribe and save. I posted about that this month and included it in the total. This month I spent $49.31 via subscribe and save – https://queenbeetoday.com/saving-on-food-with-amazons-subscribe-save-feeding-my-family/
We did skip Costco this month – mostly because we were stocked up on things like rice, broth, seasonings, etc. But will probably go next month.
When calculating your monthly grocery expenses, the biggest thing is to TRACK YOUR SPENDING. That’s the first step. And to keep track of your dining out spending – because you can have a low grocery bill and a huge dining out budget. Once you know what your working with – you can work to lower it.
I hope to expand on all of this more – and continue to share how I’m feeding my family – maybe not in as much detail, but with tips and sale notices. I think the Kroger and Safeway grocery ads this week aren’t that great – so I’m skipping a trip to those stores and hit up Trader Joes.
Hope this helps! You got this. 🙂