Hey friends! I’m back with another monthly grocery haul! I took a break from sharing our grocery shopping in January because I was focusing all of my blogging time and energy on working with my Grocery Budget Hero students. I really had a great time sharing all of my strategies for having a low grocery budget and sticking to it! If you missed out the first time around, I suggest joining the waitlist so you can be the first to know when the course opens up again. If you want to lower your grocery spending and actually stick to your budget, then this course is guaranteed to help you!
UPDATE: Grocery Budget Hero is now open for enrollment!
For those who are new here, our family of 8 budgets $500 per month for groceries. We spend the majority of that in one big monthly grocery haul. In February, we spent about $400 in our monthly haul, which included shopping at Winco, Sam’s Club, and a local orchard.
The funny thing about our shopping trips is that it really doesn’t give you any idea of what our actual menu will be. In addition to fresh produce and dairy, I shop according to what we are getting low on in our pantry and food storage, as well as what is on sale. Most of the things on our menu are made from ingredients we already have in our pantry, food storage, or freezer. For example, last night’s dinner was a delicious bake with sweet potatoes (stored from last year’s garden), kale (from our winter garden), sausage (from our freezer), and cheese that we stocked up on months ago.
If you want to see a video walkthrough of our haul, you can check out the video below, otherwise, scroll down for the complete price breakdown!
Winco– $135
- Whole wheat bread $1.78 x 16 = $28.48
- Frozen berries (16 oz) $1.88 x 4 = $7.52
- Tomatoes 7.1 lb x .98/lb = $6.96
- Coconut flakes $.98 x 2 = $1.96
- Green onions $.58
- Cilantro $.48
- Hashbrowns (24 oz) $1.06 x 6 = $6.36
- Chopped dates .7 lb x $2.18/lb = $1.53
- Dried apricots 1.13 lb x $1.98/lb = $2.24
- Onions (3 lb) $1.28
- Celery $1.28 x 2 = $2.56
- Potatoes (10 lb) $2.98
- Carrots (5 lb) $1.98
- Eggs (5 dozen) $8.39 x 3 = $25.17
- Conversation hearts 1.32 lb x $1.98/lb = $2.61
- Cinnamon hearts $1.47 lb x $1.98/lb = $2.91
- Cream (1 qt) $3.86
- Whipped topping $2.79
- Black beans $.48 x 24 = $11.52
- Diced tomatoes $.46 x 12 = $5.52
- Corn $.50 x 12 = $6.00
- Canola oil (1 gal) $4.98 x 2 = $9.96
Sam’s Club $181
- Honey (40oz x 2) $12.94
- Raisins (30oz x 2) $8.98
- Ranch (40 oz x 2) $7.98 x 2 = $15.96
- Tortillas (70 oz) $4.98 x 2 = $9.96
- Tortillas (94 oz) $6.28 x 2 = $12.56
- Mandarin (5 lb) $4.96 x 3 = $14.88
- Avocados (5 ct) $3.42
- Tortilla chips (96 oz) $7.98 x 2 = $15.96
- Romaine (6 hearts) $2.88 x 2 = $5.76
- Animal crackers (5 lb) $6.12
- Sour cream (3 lb) $3.72 x 3 = $11.16
- Craisins (48 oz) $6.68
- Almonds (3 lb) $9.98
- 2% Milk $2.74 x 6 = $16.44
- Strawberry jam (64 oz x 2) $5.48 x 3 = $16.44
- M&Ms (62 oz) $10.78
- Oranges (8 lb) $5.98
- Bananas (3 lb) $1.49 x 6 = $7.45
Local Orchard $80
- Pink Lady Apples 90 lb for $60
- Arkansas Blacks 40 lbs for $20
I was just at WinCo and one of my list items was Coconut flakes. I finally found them, and had to compare the bag and the price, the bag and the price, multiple times. Only 98cents??????? It was funny to read that you were just there and bought some, too. And green onions! I never buy green onions anywhere but WinCo or Larry’s Produce (in Fairfield) because knowing that they only REALLY cost around 30c-50c makes it impossible to pay the $1.00+ other grocers charge. It’s always great to read your posts, Stephanie 🙂
We’ve discovered that it’s all about the amount of daylight per day for chickens to lay eggs, not the temperature. We keep a heat lamp on 24/7 through the coldest months, but it also means our hens have been laying through the winter. We did keep the heat lamp off for the first 6 weeks or so they stopped laying so that they could have a break (and because they were molting something awful), but once their feathers were back in, we turned the light on and have been happily enjoying the 7-9 eggs we get each day from our flock of 10 🙂
We’ve actually had so many lately that we’ve had my 5-year-old start up a little egg-selling business, mostly just so we can teach her about tithing and saving and money in general. It’s been really fun!
I saw you bought a bunch of eggs—are you no longer keeping chickens, or are you just letting them winter over their egg production naturally rather than turning on a heat lamp for them?
Hey Torrie! Yes, we still have chickens! I think there are 16 hens, 1 rooster, and a duck, but our oldest could tell you for sure since she’s the one who takes care of them. They don’t lay much in the winter though. For us winter usually just means nighttime lows in the 40s (frost is rare), so not cold enough to need a heat lamp (unless we have chicks). Maybe that would make them lay more though? It warmed up for a couple of weeks, so they are starting to lay more. 🙂
I am really jealous of your apples from a local orchard! Can’t wait to see what all you make with them.
It really is a great deal to wait to Jan/Feb after “apple season” because the price drops so low on the apples they’ve had in cold storage. Every year the varieties they discount are different. This is the first time we’ve gotten the Pink Lady apples there, but they’re quickly becoming a favorite!
I love apple chips!, and baked apple fruit “compote” w/ a sprinkling of brown or white sugar on top as a healthy but amazing desert. Low effort, high reward 🙂