Thursday, September 3, 2009

What can you buy for $150 (a month?)

I have been thinking lately about grocery buying patterns, and what I actually buy with my budget in a typical month. Here are all of the things I bought with my $150 grocery budget from August, with $9.42 to spare!

DAIRY
  • 2 - Breyer's (small) yogurts
  • 1 - bag of Mission tortillas
  • 7 - bags of (8 oz) shredded cheeses
  • 1 - (32 oz) bag of mozzarella cheese
  • 1 - container of sour cream
  • 1 - brick of cream cheese
  • 1 - package of Swiss cheese slices
  • 1 - jar of Parmesan cheese
  • 8 - packages of Perdue short cuts
  • 1 - Coffee Mate creamer (32 oz)
  • 2 - International Delight creamers (16 oz)
  • 2 - containers of spreadable margarine
  • 1 - package of butter ( in quarters)
  • 6 - Perdue Chicken Bites/Nuggets/Cutlets (I froze them)
  • 3 - bags of fresh dough
  • 2 - gallons of Milk
  • 1 - half gallon of chocolate milk
  • 1 - container of ricotta cheese
  • 2 - packages of Pillsbury crescent rolls
BREAD/BAKERY
  • 1 - bag of bagel bites/pieces
  • 2 - loafs of Italian bread
FROZEN
  • 6 - bags of frozen ravioli
  • 13 - ½ gallons of ice cream (hey, I’m stocking up! ;) )
  • 11 - frozen meals (Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine, etc)
  • 3 - frozen desserts
  • 1 - box of Popsicles
  • 2 - Boxes of Totino's Pizza Rolls
PANTRY/DRY STOCKPILE
  • 2 - Packages of Kashi Cookies
  • 2 - Cans of Goya Black Beans
  • 1 - A1 Marinade
  • 2 - Boxes of Granola Bars
  • 4 - 4 packs of Dole fruit cups
  • 2 - Dole Fruit Jars
  • 1 - Jar of Colonna Artichoke hearts = $1.19
  • 1 - Bag Santitas Tortilla Chips= $1.76
  • 1 - Big Y Brand Apple Juice = $1.00 ea
  • 9 - Bumblebee Chunk Light Tuna Pouches
  • 1 - Jar of minced garlic = $1.69
  • 3 - Cans of Big Y Coffee
  • 2 - Nonni's Tuscani
  • 1 - Big Y Chocolate Sauce
  • 2 - KRAFT dressings
  • 1 - College Inn Culinary Broth
  • 1 - Carpelli EVOO (large)
  • 2 - Velveeta Cups
  • 1 –box of Ritz crackers
  • 4 – boxes of cereal
  • 1 - bag of Quaker quakes
  • 4 - Lipton pasta pouches
  • 2 - Reese’s
  • 16 - Meow Mix cat food cups
  • 4 – Snicker barss
  • 5 - Polar Green Tea ginger ales
OTHER
  • 1 - Box of plastic forks
  • 4 - Chinet luncheon plates
  • 1 - large Glade soy candle
  • 2 - packages of Bounty napkins
  • 1 - Cascade Crystal Clear
  • 1 - Package of foam cups
  • 2 - Mr. Clean Magic Erasers
  • 1 - Soft & Dri Deodorant
  • 4 -toothbrushes
PRODUCE
  • 3 - heads of Broccoli
  • 1 – bunch of Scallions
  • 14 - bananas (3 purchases worth)
  • 2- iceberg salad bags
  • 2- Bolthouse Farms carrots
  • 1 - cantaloupe
  • 2 - peaches
  • 2- nectarines
  • 1 - pint of grape tomatoes
  • 1 - package of Baby Bella Mushrooms
  • 4 - ears of Sweet Corn
  • 1.31 lb white seedless grapes
What do you think? Not bad for around 200 items, right? After looking back on what I've bought, I've realized I spend a lot on wet cat food (my cats are picky), frozen meals (keeping svelte) and ice cream (= reason I need frozen meals... j/k) ;) This does not include my CVS and Walgreens transactions where I paid for items with ECBs, RR's or gift cards.

What do you spend the most on each month?

6 gave me some sugar:

Erin said...

In the last few weeks we have spent a lot of wet cat food as well. Our cats are so picky! They love the Meow Mix ones with the baby shrimp.

We also bought a lot of pop over the last few weeks because both Cub and Rainbow have their 12-packs of pop for only $1.49 each! I think we are set until way into 2010 with that!

katy said...

I'm not as organized as you. Maybe I'm afraid to know how much we spend each month. We drink too much Diet Coke. Our cats eat Hill's Science Diet dry cat food and that isn't cheap and I rarely see a coupon for it. We go through a lot of bread but I pay 77cents a loaf at Aldi. Also got to have lots of peanut butter.

Sue said...

You.Rock.

JusFrugal said...

Nice list! Let's hope I can post one as equally impressive at the end of this month!

Anonymous said...

Hi! I was wondering where your meat products are? Do you and your spouse not eat meat? That would be the majority of our budget. . . Thanks.

Lindsay said...

Hi Anonymous,
I buy meat like I buy my other necessities - as much as possible at the lowest possibly price! I date it and freeze it and just keep stocking up.

You can see an example of meat I stocked up here:
Great prices on Wholesale meat

HTH!