The Grocery Game Challenge Aug 27-Sept 2~Tomato Heaven!
The Grocery Game Challenge for August is now in the home stretch as we face the last week of the challenge for this month. We went over budget this month as expected due to feeding 4 mouths for the month of August as well as purchasing some bulk items such as jugs of Extra Virgin Olive Oil that cost us just over $60. Starting this week we were already $32.64 over our monthly grocery budget for 2 of $190. I guess feeding 4 people cost us a bit more but it wasn’t as bad as we thought. Once you take away the oil we bought it’s not all that bad I suppose.
With Canadian food prices expected to rise by end of year up 2.5-3.0% due to the US drought many are wondering how bad it will get. That means we will see our grocery budget rise so keep that in mind when designing your grocery budget. If you don’t have the extra cash you will have to find ways to cut your grocery budget so you aren’t spending more than you have. It gets even worse for 2013 with an expected food price hike of 3-4 % according to RBC economist Paul Ferley. It might be a good time to see what products containing corn you will be able to stockpile or that have a long expiry date.
We are also now finally seeing all our hard work in the garden as it is now all ready to eat. Of course we went out and bought tomatoes and they decided to turn red the next day, oh well. We already have around 20 tomatoes in our kitchen ready to eat along with the bunch we bought. Needless to say Mr.CBB’s Tomato Salad will be on the menu all week-long. Our green peppers are ready to go as well which only means it’s time to make Mr. CBB’s Stuffed Green Peppers on mash again. If you haven’t tried that recipe give it a go. It’s so full of flavour especially with the mash and tomato sauce.
Well here is our last week of shopping and results for the month of August.
Food Basics
- 3x bottle of Coke – FPC= FREE
- 3x Old El Paso with $4 meat coupon FPC= FREE
- 1x BOGO (buy one get one free) egg Creations- $1.99
- 2x White Mushrooms Sale $1.00
- 4x limes 4/$1.00
- Fresh Peaches $1.33
- Tortellini $1.79
- water chestnuts sliced $0.79
Total Coupons Used $17.83
Total Out of Pocket $8.90
No Frills
- 1x Old Cheddar Armstrong Sale $4.27
- 8x Mr.Noodle (for our guest)
- Sesame seeds $1.49
- 6x Unico tomato Paste Sale $0.44 each
- 1x Bologna (for our guest) Sale $1.29
- Banana $1.32
- Green Beans fresh Sale $1.30
- Bok Choy Sale $0.69
- Broccoli Sale $0.77
- English Cucumber $0.97
- Iceberg Lettuce Sale $0.79
- Red Peppers Sale $0.92
- Yellow Pepper Sale $0.33
- 2x 10lb bags of Potatoes Sale $1.97 each
Total Coupons Used $0
Total Out of Pocket $24.58
Metro
- 2 x Cashmere Toilet Paper Sale $2.88-$1.00 coupons
- 2x Honey Sale $1.99
Total Coupons Used $2.00
Total Out of Pocket $8.49
Wal-mart
- 1x Sesame Oil $4.97- SCOP (Scanning Code of Practice = FREE
- 1x Noodles Sale $0.28 each rang up $0.38 – SCOP = FREE
- Roma Tomatoes for Pot-luck Sale $2.52
- 4x packages of reduced Marc Angelo Sausages $2.43 each
Total Coupons Used $0
Total Out of Pocket $12.27
Weekly Grocery Game Challenge Results for Mr. and Mrs. CBB
- Total Grocery Budget for the Month: $190.00
- Total Coupons Used this Week $19.83
- Total Spent This Week $54.24
- Total Spent So Far for August: $85.24+$118.37 +$19.03+ $54.24=$276.88
- Total Overspend for the month of August $86.88
So there you have it, we are over $86.88 for the month of August. If we didn’t purchase the oil we would have been over just over $20. Not bad but lets see how well we make out this month with 3 mouths to feed for half the month. I think we can make it!!
Are you playing our food shopping game? How much is your Grocery Budget for the month and how many people does it feed?
Here are The Grocery Game Challenge Rules.- You can start any time of the month and post all month-long even if your weeks don’t coincide with mine. It’s all about tracking!
You can Follow Canadian Budget Binder on Twitter HERE or Facebook HERE and Pinterest Here.
You can also subscribe to Canadian Budget Binder so you don’t miss a blog post. It will come straight to your email inbox here.
Related articles
- Nonna’s Pasta Sauce and Meatballs (canadianbudgetbinder.com)
- The Grocery Game Challenge August 13-19 2012 End Of Season (canadianbudgetbinder.com)
- The Grocery Game Challenge Aug 6-Aug 12-Winter Storing (canadianbudgetbinder.com)
- Reader Question: Meal Planning For The Budget (canadianbudgetbinder.com)
- The Grocery Game Challenge Aug 20-Aug 26, 2012~Stick To The Grocery Budget! (canadianbudgetbinder.com)
Photo Credit-123rf.com
Store: Item Amount Coupon Disc Total Tax Weekly Sub-total
Walmart (Aug 27)
Chipits Choc. Chips 3.22 3.22
Classico Pasta Sauce (x2) 4.94 4.94
8.16 8.16
Costco (Aug 26)
Smoked Farm Sausage 12.79 12.79
Sirloin Tip Roasts (2) 15.6 15.6
Butter 3.79 3.79
Bananas 1.69 1.69
Hazelnut Vanilla Coffee 12.59 12.59
46.46 46.46
Giant Tiger (Aug 29)
Carmel Cakes 1.88 1.88
Honey Bunches of Oats 4.69 4.69
2L Milk 3.19 3.19
9.76 9.76
Sobeys (Aug 27)
Hot Dog Buns 2.79 2.79
Crackers 2.5 0.5 2
Bacon 4.99 4.99
Applesauce 2.49 2.49
Bathroom Tissue 4.99 1 3.99
16.26 0.97 17.23
81.61
Weekly Grocery Budget 100 81.61 18.39 Carry Forward
For 2 adults.
I tossed two weeks worth of grocery receipts because I thought I had already recorded them, so I don’t know if the $18.39 is really a carry forward amount because I don’t know for sure that I didn’t overspent in the 2 previous week. 🙁
Our weekly budget is $100 for food, cleaners, haba products
Walmart
$1.14 grapes
$4.95 4L milk
$2 smartfood popcorn
$2 cheetos
$1-.50c pom juice
$4-fpc spicy fajitia kit 🙂
$2.88-$1c mini wheats mini bites
$1.27 tomato sauce
$2.47×2 alfredo sauce
$1.88×5-$5c nutrigrain bars
$2×3-$1.50c goldfish colors
$8 marc angelo 8pk skewers
$26.82 total oop
$11 total coupons
Save on foods
$8.59×2-$8c folgers kcups
$9.18 total oop
$8 total coupons
Safeway
$5-4 loafs of bread
Shoppers
$1.49 toasted marshmallows
$1.99 2kg sugar
$1.99 eggs
$1.88-$1c cheerios
$1.88-.75c chips ahoy cookies
.05 bag (blerg I always have one!!!! )
$7.60 total oop
$1.75 total coupons
H&w produce
$1.11 red peppers
$2.78 green peppers
.50 jalapenos
.99 salad bag
$2.79 bag of cucumbers
$8.17 total oop
Sobeys
$1.50 frosting
$1.90 4pk gum
$1 lettuce
$1 pudding
$1.99×2-$2c astro 12pk yogurt
.50×2 chocolate bar
$1×4 froze meals
$12.83 total oop
$2 total coupons
Superstore
$4.99 sorbet
$2.09×2 coffee creamer
.24×2 clearance candy
.54 clearance candy
$4.53 pop
$6.97-pink sticker tortellini
$18.42 total oop
$3.49 pink stickers
$88.02 weekly total oop
$22.75 weekly total coupons
Hi Juanita,
Got in just at the nick of time this month. Great shop, and you spent under budget. I wish I could do that every week. We are going to buckle down in September as we need to catch up a bit with our goals for the year with our grocery shopping. I don’t think this year we will meet our goal but we certainly will be starting 2013 with a better idea of where we are headed. Do you plan to up your budget next year with price increases? You get ballot #26 Cheers Mr.CBB
Sorry there… Stonetown is the Foodland store across the street from us. Think Sobey’s and IGA chain. Because it’s right across the street it’s where I do most of the grocery shopping, saves gas as I don’t need to drive there. We’re in a small town between two larger cities. Fifteen minutes to Stratford and maybe 35-45 minutes to London. If I’m in Stratford I will hit the Sobey’s, Zeller’s, and/or Country Bulk for what ever are the best deals. I’m very unlikely to make a special trip into town. This food feeds 4 adults as our boys live at home. The oldest is here after being in the military and a medical discharge (depression), he smokes so guess what I usually end up getting with the groceries….. I’d like him to quit but you know as well as I do that has to be his call.The younger boy is between jobs at the moment. With my husband being ill at this time I’m glad the boys are here as they help out so much. All the guy things around the house they do, plus while I look after hubby, they look after me. I was kind of surprised the bills were so high but I’m working on dropping that with sales, coupons and some stockpiling. I’ll try to get things in weekly but I can’t be sure of it. Stuff happens…especially around here. You know you’ve been to emergency too often when….. the receptionist notices you got your hair cut!!!!And asks how the kids are doing!!! We’re hanging on to our sense of humour as tightly as we can!!! The bird feeders here are cheep entertainment (pun intended) I’m aiming for $150.00 this week Saturday to Friday. I’ll be in Stratford on Wed and I hope gas prices are down then as the truck is getting low. I refuse to pay London prices for gas….
Hi Christine,
Well you know what they say about kids.. most do end up back at home until they can sort their life out. I did at one point before moving to Canada to be with Mrs.CBB… went back to live with me mum and dad. Yes your son has to quit on his own and if he is depressed it may not be the right time for him but who am I to say. Maybe you can show him my blog posts. I smoked since I was younger and it was the best thing I had ever done. You have a full house of adults and that explains your high grocery bill. Keep at it and set goals and the budget and you will do it! I hear you about the petrol prices, but I can’t complain since they are SO MUCH HIGHER in the UK. Cheers Christine and I look forward to motivating and helping you along with your budget journey along with the rest of us who post! Cheers Mr>CBB
It would take too long to type in the whole month but the break down was Stonetown- $673.76, Sobey’s- $110.22, Country Bulk-$21.58 and Zeller’s- $21.87 for a total of $827.43 with $33.38 in coupons used. This is really the first month I’ve kept track so much and there were a few non-grocery items in there. Zeller’s was 2 birthday cards plus 2 cans of coffee as the coffee was on for $6.99 each. Country Bulk was some grated parmesan cheese plus sunflower seeds and raw peanuts for the birds. So the question with that is do we include the seeds in grocery or entertainment??? The feeders are right outside the kitchen window and we sit here laughing at the birds!! Definately worth the price!! I’m feeding 4 adults here but my husband is not well so he will want this or that special, mostly juices, cereal and soy milk. I try for sales and/or coupons. I’m going to try to knock at least $25.00 a week off the totals, $50.00 would be better. That would put the weekly at $150.00-$125.00. Friday I was at Sobey’s as they had cereal on sale(4.99-5.29) and I bought 4 big boxes of it, plus pop was a really good price(3/9.99) and gingerale is a constant here plus some one wanted some cream soda.Things I know we use a lot of I try to stock up on, I’m good for laundry soap,TP,pop and cereal for a bit. The next thing to watch for is the juices for hubby so I’ll be looking for deals there. My plan is to try to get things down as much as I can, a little each month with some stocking up on basics as I go. I’m trying…… hope for some good sales upcoming!!!
Hi Christine! Welcome!!
If you post your weekly shop or bi-weekly shop it will help ease the pain of trying to post it all at once. That’s what we all do so we can all see what we bought and saved. I hope that helps a bit. It looks like your month was filled with lots of shopping. What is Stonetown? How many people does this food generally feed? Were you shocked at the total amount you spent since you tracked it this month? Sunflower seeds is misc to me however that is your decision to make. Whatever works for you. We have 2 bird feeders and we put it under miscellaneous.. as it’s not really grocery for us…
Thanks for sharing and we look forward to your shops. I post the grocery game every Tuesday! Cheers and you get ballot #25 Good Luck! Mr.CBB
My grocery budget for the week is $92.31 for 2 adults and 1 child and includes all food, household items, personal hygiene items etc.
Food Basics
Peaches – $2.97
Corn on the cob – 4 for $1.00
Green beans – $.78
Dare cookies – sale $1.99
Chewy bars – sale $1.79
Drinking boxes – sale 3 x $.88
Fruite drink – sale 6 x $.88
Total oop – $17.71
Food Basics #2
Bananas – $1.04
Ziploc bags – sale $2.99 – .50 c
Canada Dry 18 case – $4.77
Total coupons used = $.50
Total Oop = $9.31
Foodland
Schneider’s Redhots – sale $1.97
Schneider’s Hamsteaks – sale 2 x $2.49
Schneider’s black forest ham – sale $3.99
– used one of my $10.00 coupons!
Mini cucumbers – $1.97
Total coupons used = $10.00
Total Oop = $2.93
Walmart
Pampers wipes pack – $8.37
Twix mini 6 pack – $1.27
Mini muffins – $2 – 30%off = $1.40
Tostitos – $2.50
Crackerbarrel cheese – sale $5.97
Brownies – 2 x $1.87 (my crazy picky daughter actually prefers the boxed ones to homemade)
Snack packs – 2 x $2.00
Kashi pita crackers – $2.97
Rice Krispy Squares – $1.88
Fruit squirts – $1.50
Fruite juice boxes – 4 x $1
Total oop – $39.90
Total spent for the week = $69.85
Total coupons used for the week = $10.50
Monthly budget left = $400 – 69.85 – $46.01 – $112.78 – $68.92 = $102.44
So I had an exceptional month. Don’t think it will be the same next month as I now have school lunches to make and I had other things happening this month where I just didn’t need as much food. Now that summer is sadly coming to an end and life is getting back onto a regular schedule more groceries will be needed.
WOW! I’m so happy for you! You kicked butt this month!!! We didn’t do as well as you but we are going to get back on track for September with all of the grocery game players motivation… it’s not easy but it can be done. We want to work on eating the food we already have in the house. Making meals out of what’s left before buying more. Way to go!!! You get ballot #26 Good lUck… can’t wait to see your next shop. Mr.CBB
Hi i am back in the grocery budget game. i blew it last month and gave up, but then i thought i should do this since it helps me find out how much i blow each time lol no serious, since i started this last month, i been writing down all the expenses from grocery, now i have a better picture of what i spend and how i spend it, so a GIANT THANK YOU to mr CBB!!
my monthly grocery budget: $220 (but i start my month at the end of the month because of husband’s strange pay day)
so here’s the shops i did since aug 24:
Walmart
Shaker set 7.97
shoe lace 2.56
cat scratch post 12.93
Zehrs
Barilla pasta $1 – 0.75 = 0.25
coconut milk 2×0.99
duncan hines brownie mix 2x$1 – $0.35
chocolate milk $1
NN lasagna $1
Food Basics
carrot 1.47
strawberry 1.97
apple pie 1.99
sweet potato 0.71
chinese sauce 1.19
ground beef 4.53
garlic 0.97
broccoli 0.88
lettuce 2.00
nappa cabbage 2.70
chips 2×0.99
Giant Tiger
carrots 1.00
green onion 1.00
chinese noodles 2×0.50
margarine 2.97
coffee cream 12×1.00
baked beans 0.68
salad dressing 1.57
air freshener 2.97
tomato 1.47
onions 1.00
pops 2x 2.97
eggs 2.75
bread 1.97
banana 0.58
cling wrap 1.00
aluminum foil 1.00
NoFrills & Walmart
japanese noodles 3x 0.48 = $1.44
Bertolli extra virgin olive oil 2×3.00-2×1.00= $2 each
pork kabobs 4x$1 – 4x$1 = FREE
lettuce 2x$1 = $2
palmolive 1.83
classico spaghetti sauce 2x$2.47
basa fillet 1.13 kg $7.47
campbells soup 8x 4/$5 – 2x$1WUB4 =$1 each
old el paso kit 2×3.47 – 2xFPC = FREE
m&ms 3x$1 – 3x FPC = FREE
Lindt 2×2.50 – 2xFPC = FREE
therefore so far this month, 54.22+40.32+36.56=131.10
may the budget god help us! lol
Is there a Budget God lol… haha. So you bought brownie mix I see. Do you like to bake? I do have an awesome brownie recipe on my blog hint hint.. You have a fairly reasonable budget for the 2 of you. SO you have spent $131.10 of the $220.00 does that mean you will shop sparingly the rest of the month or do you have a no shop week? How do you plan to stick to the rest of this budget… nosey budgets dude wants to know. Great shopping.. this shop will go under August as this is still for August which is fine as I don’t expect everyone’s shopping to coincide with mine. You get ballot #24. Good Luck WING!
Mr.CBB
thank you for your reply mr CBB, i am not sure how i am going to stick with my budget to be honest with you. i was asking myself how after i put down everything on your blog lol we still have to get some meat from the hamilton butcher yet, a monthly shop for meat, which is half price compare to grocery stores in our city. but i think what i am going to try to do is divide the remaining amount of budget i have by the rest of the month (which is the stinky little 3 lol) after subtracting the meat amount, usually $40 – 50. i have gotten pretty much everything, except some more fresh vegs, so if i can stick to just vegs for the future 3 weeks grocery, then i should be fine. ewe, i am hating this as i am typing it already lol because i am like most people, or most ladies, i LOVE shopping lol. if there isn’t a higher power for budgeting up there, then you are our budget god, wink wink 🙂 have a lovely monday tomorrow mr CBB! (even though i am hating the figure while i am typing here, but deep down i know i can do it and i need to do it for my husband and i!)
there is actually another topic that i want to talk about regarding couples. sometimes i wonder why i am doing this trying to save money and now budgetting thingy, when my husband spends the money all the time. on beers, smokes and all…. how do others do it? does everyone here have your partner on budgetting as well? or you have a way to make him/her do it??
What we like to do is take our monthly budget which $190 and divide it by the weeks in the month> Each week (minus one no-shop week) we go shopping and that’s all we have to spend. If we spent it all in one shot then if any good deals came up in the following weeks we would have no money or end up spending more money than we should in the grocery budget.
When it comes to couples and money well there is a post here on CBB about couples and money you should read if you haven’t already. There is no rules about budgeting except that you both need to be on the same page. A budget will never work when one person is doing all the hard work and the other is undoing it by spending on crap or items not in the budget. If he wants to smoke, and drink beer you need to budget that money in. IF you are realistic budget exactly what he uses (if you have the money in the budget to do so) You need to pay for all your fixed expenses first, then your debts and then whatever else is left is the money we call variable. If you don’t have the money, where are you getting it from? For most its on credit cards, lines of credits etc… you can’t spend more than you earn, end of story and he needs to see this and be involved with your finances together with his wife…you. There are others, many others in the same situation as you wing… but realize you can’t make anyone do anything but what you can do is show him the numbers.. the numbers are what scare people because people tend to avoid them. Do you have a budget all done up yet that you follow? I’m sure others will read this and comment and help you out… Cheers and you can email me anytime. Mr.CBB This is a good read.. https://canadianbudgetbinder.com/2012/07/12/money-fights-and-money-problems/
My budget is $100/week for groceries, health/beauty, cleaning/laundry, etc. I shop for 2 adults and a 21 month old toddler. I have been trying to stock up on items this month for my son going back to daycare in September. I was $22.46 over budget last week and I forgot about that so I am over for this week 🙁
RCSS
Quaker Crispy Mini’s 4/$5.00
Mott’s Fruitsations Rockets 2x $1.97 – 2x $.50
Quaker oatmeal 2x $2.48
Campbell’s soups 4/$3.00 – $1.00 coupon
Minigo 2x $1.97 – 2x $.50 coupon
BC Cake mix $1.00
BC frosting $1.00
Breyer’s ice cream $3.97
CB cheese block (PM Sobeys) $4.99 – $.75 coupon
Lay’s chips (PM Fresh Co) 2x $2.49
NN Tuna 3x $.99
OEP taco kit $3.49 – FPC
Robin Hood Minute Oats 3x $2.48 – 3x $1.00
Kidney beans 2x $.97
Whole chicken (PM Food Basics) $7.78
Banana’s $1.69
Carrots (PM No Frills) $.99
Romaine $.78
Garlic $.79
Coupons $11.82
CD $6.24
OOP $47.54
Fresh Co
Distilled water 2x $.99
Strawberries $1.69
Spring water (24) 5x $1.97
Eggs (18) $2.97
OOP $16.49
Bulk Barn
Quinoa $4.73 (on sale – saved $1.05)
Garlic Powder $.80
Ground cinnamon $.60
OOP $6.13
Metro
Homo milk (raincheque) $3.99
OOP $3.99
RCSS
Heinz value size beans 2/$3.00
Milk to go (PM No Frills) $.99 – $.75 coupon
NN Tuna 2x $.99
OEP taco kit $3.49 – FPC
Danone yogurt $4.97 – $1.00 coupon
Vitality bread 6x $1.98 (raincheque)
PC Chicken breast (on sale) $7.99 – $4.00 oep coupon
Carrots (3lb) (PM No Frills) $.99
Onion (PM No Frills) $.99
Potatoes (10lb) (PM No Frills) $1.97
Opti-free Replenish (contact lens cleaner) (PM Walmart) $9.97 – $1.00 coupon
Coupons $13.47
CD $4.85
Minus Stouffer’s Rewards $10 RCSS gift certificate
OOP $21.32
Metro
Homo milk and 1% milk $3.99 each (raincheque)
OOP $7.98
$22.46 + $47.54 +$16.49 + $6.13 +$3.99 + $21.32 + $7.98=$125.91
I was $25.91 over budget for the week 🙁 I am $95.47 over for the month (because of the extra week in the month of August) Hopefully I will make it up next month 🙂
Hey Jen!
That’s not so bad for the month but what you could do for next year is the math for your grocery budget all year long including the extra weeks. So if you have $400 a month to spend and there is 5 weeks you only have $80 a week for the month to spend. That should help with the budget if you decide to go that route. We were over this month as well.. next month we will make up for it, or at least we better lol…
Cheers Jen!
You get ballot 20
Good Luck.
Costco – $5.99 total
2 dozen Dempster English Muffins $5.99
Safeway – $39.38 total
2 – 750 ml Stuffed Manzanillo Olives $11.38
8 Motts Clamato $22.00 << I was stocking up for Xmas while it's on sale
4 Swanson Chicken Pot Pie $6.00
Save On Foods – $18.98 total
1 case of 12 – Green Giant Creamed Corn $10.99
1 case of 12 – Western Family Mushrooms $7.99
Total out of Pocket $64.35 this week
Monthly Budget = $190/4 weeks = $47.50 per week BUT I was over $27.93 last week so that left me $19.57 available for this week's spending and I spent $64.35 which puts me in the hole even further so that I am now $44.78 OVER on the week.
But, next week is a No Shopping Week since we are going to be away from the 7th until the 16th. This will eliminate my overage & leave me $2.72 available to spend.
I expect to spend the remaining 2 weeks worth of the September grocery money ($2.72+$47.50+$47.50 = $97.72 available) in the US on our way back home.
Wow,
I’m impressed you only spent $5.99 at Costco. If I was to go in there I’d give in to temptation, likely why I never go. All those bulk items are hard to resist sometimes. Mrs. CBB loves stuffed olives. Her mother told me that when she was a little girl she got up in the middle of the night, pushed a chair to the refrigerator, opened the door and ate an entire jar. Yes she loves olives that much hence why we have so many recipes with olives.
Speaking of the no-shopping week.. wow, we missed on that mark the last month. Hopefully this month we can get back our no-shopping week this month as we will be more focused. Since we had 5 shopping weeks this month it looks like most went over budget, even us. We really need to buckle down on these 5 week shopping months as we tend to always go over. Like I mentioned to Jen I will have to break up our month even further in terms of what we can spend or we simply just don’t spend more. It can get tough when we want to buy in bulk similar to what you do. We bought that case of EVOO this month that was over $60 alone.
What items do you stock up on in the USA when you go? I’ve never shopped in the USA.
Thanks for posting Mary!
You get ballot #21
Good Luck!
budget per week $40.00 + $20.00 carry over not used last week = $60.00
Independant
12 allans apple juice @ 1.00 = $12.00
total $12.00
Food Basics
1 pkg mushrooms 1.00
4 red peppers 1.01 ( mine are all still green)
total $2.01
Walmart
1 pkg. pepperoni 4.77
3 pkg. pepperettes @ 6.97 – 1- 2.00c & 1-1.00c
1 sliced turkey lunch meat 8.00
3 naturals sausages PM@ 3.99 -3-.75c
2 pkgs. B.D. schredded cheese @4.97 – 2-.75c
1 pkg. cheese macaroni salad @ 1.77 ( cause I like the cheese one and mine never tastes like it)
1 head lettuce PM@.79-.75c
1 brocolli slaw @1.48- 1.00c
2 all bran bars@2.47-1.00c
4 100tab tylenol @4.97- 4-3.00c
1 50tab motrin@4.97– 3.00c
2 arm&hammer toothpaste PM 1.37- 2-.75 c
total $ 66.16+ 3.68 tax = $69.84
all combined total = $ 83.85
overspent by $23.85
I really didn t need to buy some of the items as I already had some but it was a case of the sale was too good or I had coupons expiring and its all products that WILL be used. The cheese and pepperoni was because we were running late with our shopping and decided to make pizzas when we got home on some tortilla wraps in the fridge to use then up. Usually don t buy alot of lunch meat but with back to school next week I wanted to have some because the first week back is always hectic. My budget is usually $50.00 per week but I dropped it down to $40.00 since my oldest was away in Quebec up until 2 weeks ago and will be leaving for University this sunday so I never raised it back up. Still eating freezer items and fresh garden veggies making room for fall items.
Hey Lynda…
Don’t be shocked if they turn red overnight haha… my tomatoes did just that right after I bought a bag full last week. That’s great if you can stick to your $40 a week budget. What do you think, can you do it? With the overspend of $23.85 will you try to underspend next week if you can? We were over this month as well but we fed 4 people instead of 2 for the month. Cheers Lynda, keep at it and trim the budget where you can and save $$$.. do you have any favourite recipes your family likes to eat that are frugal? You get ballot #19 for this months challenge. Cheers Mr.CBB
We have been eating lots of tomatoes for about 3 weeks now. i bought the plants in the early part of may and had them in so they were ready early. (2L clear pop bottle with the tops cut off make perfect individual greenhouses for early planting). Our favourite right now is brescetta bread. Chopped tomatoes, green onions, fresh basil , pinch of salt and a slash of olive oil ( marinate at least 2 hrs)….pile onto garlic bread and cover with mozzarella….in the oven until bubbling….yummy!!! Not worried about going off the budget a bit because @ the end of Sept I have to have surgury so there will be at least 2 possibly 3 weeks were I will not be shopping at all.
We did our plants from seed and started in March I believe. It takes a while so we start early. You can just smell the difference when you hold them to your nose. It makes the whole process worth it. I hope you have a quick recovery and please drop in to say hi even if you are not shopping, we will miss you! Mr.CBB
We have a food budget of $280 for the two of us. It’s a little more than I’d like but we focus on buying fresh foods and really avoid any packaged products. With our new “diet”/lifestyle I thought we’d spend more than we have but buying all vegetarian food has proved to be the same as when we were buying some meat/packaged items.
Hi Jason,
We hardly if every buy boxed or packaged foods as we tend to eat very healthy as well but we like to splurge once a week. That is normally one of my recipes of the week.. smothered in cheese. We don’t eat alot of meat here mainly sausages but we don’t really purchase roasts, steaks, chops etc. ON the odd occasion we buy ground beef. We eat alot of fresh vegetables and we grow alot in our garden as well. We are also lucky our relatives have almost an acre garden and we load up when we visit. They grow well over 1000 bulbs of organic garlic, beans, potatoes, asparagus, tomatoes, green peppers, zucchini, swiss chard.. on and on… awesome! Your budget of $280 is more than realistic given your food lifestyle and I’m sure that budget offers you some good eats! What’s both your favourite recipe to cook?
Cheers
Mr.CBB
Love garden tomatoes! Mine just won’t ripen. I got a $20 gift card from WalMart through a promo at work. Will that count as money spent or a coupon?
In our budget we have a spot where we add a GC or cash that was given to us or made extra in the month as INCOME. So once you add it as income you can count it as money spent. That’s what we do in our budget. Hope that helps a bit. If you need more info or specifics you can email me. Cheers MR.CBB 🙂
Vine ripe tomatoes are my favorite food. My tomato plant has some green ones but they seem like they will never ripen. We have good ones at the Farmer’s Market, though. I got a $20 gift card for Walmart from a promo at work. Do you have to count that as money spent or as a coupon?
I actually have gift card in my budget so we put it under gift card. You can put it as a coupon if you still want to recognize the money in your budget otherwise it’s just extra money. I also have an area in the budget I can input that $20 to show it was income that came in the form of a GC that was given to me. Hope that helps a bit.
OK, I’m in. I haven’t been to the store in a couple of week, so had to stock up yesterday. I guess this will be for September so I’m off a bit,but since we’re from the US, we can’t win anyway. Winning will be in beating our own budget. I don’t think I can list every item here but here are the totals. Our monthly food budget is $350.
.
Safeway=63.55 . Card savings was $18.63, Paper coupons=$6.68, Just for U Savings=$1.00 Total savings=$26.31 Yay!
City Market (Kroger affiliate) =$57.86, mostly produce, milk, yogurt, and some clearance chicken.Card savings=$6.18, Coupons=$1.55 Total savings=$7.73
I made a huge mistake as I thought cherries were $1.99lb, turns out they were $3.99lb, so big spend for cherries $9.02, gulp. Didn’t catch it until we got home. Oh well, fresh cherry season is almost over. These are probably the last ones.
Local Produce stand=$10.28 for tomatoes, zucchini, purple bell pepper, and sunflower greens.
Produce is the killer this week. I wish I was more of a green thumb.
Totals=$131.69, $218.31 left for the month. I shouldn’t have to shop next week.
Hi Kim! I’m so excited we have our first American poster… I’m going to share this on My Group Facebook page to encourage all the other American Friends we have and those around the world to post! This is the last post for the month of August but I do realize people’s shopping week doesn’t always jive with mine so I say post in the weeks that you shop.
Those cherries hurt, ouch.. savour them like gold my dear. Produce for the most part in Ontario is super cheap right now. We have a garden ( not huge) but we have more tomatoes and peppers than we know what to do with. It’s fun to grow your own veg and herbs and we do a little more each year. Maybe next year you can start with a herb and a veg you love. It’s so easy to grow, it’s the maintaining (watering) that is the hard part for us at least. You did well this week, and I’m jealous of that card you get to use for all your discounts. Can you explain those cards for our Canadian Posters who will watch your shops as well. In terms of coupons do you use them often? Do you document your coupon savings? We do in our Canadian budget binder spreadsheet (will be available soon) We love to know what we saved all year long. Anyways.. I look forward to your next shop. All of our posters say posting their shop and budget helps to keep the budget on track and I know, because it helps us. Next Grocery game post I will post an update on how we are making out to date in terms of savings and overall grocery budget for the year. This is one of those areas where we all overspend and if we can get it under control we can save so much money. Cheers Kim and if you are on my Facebook page.. say HI, so I know who you are! Mr.CBB