My First Grocery Shopping of 2009

I have mentioned in several posts now that we are working towards paying off our debt. It is going to be a long journey to get us to no debt. Taking the first step is the hardest part. We are taking baby steps. Yesterday I went grocery shopping for the first time this year. My goal? To spend $50. Did I succeed? No....... or depending on how you look at it yes! I spent a total of $78.41 for a total of 57 items. I went over my budgeted amount by $28. 41. Yikes! Yes I could have put some items back. On the way home from the store I was really kicking myself thinking that gee the first attempt at keeping us on track and I blew it. THE. FIRST. TIME. Ugh.

When I got home and started putting away the items, it dawned on me that really do not have to shop next week. So That $78.41 divided by two turns into $39.21 each week. Leaving me with $10.79 (the difference left if you subtract $39.21 from $50)! So for this coming week I have $21.58 that I can spend on fresh fruit, veggies and bread!. It is all in the way you look at your spending.

I did my shopping at Aldi. I do most of my shopping there since it seems to be the cheapest. Here is what I got for my $78.41 ( you can click on the picture to make it larger)

Bananas (49 cents per pound) $1.01

Frozen corn .95

Frozen broccoli .95

Frozen peas .95

2 loaves white bread (.79 each) $1.58

Hot dog buns .85

Hamburger buns .85

2 dozen large eggs ($1.45 per dozen) $2.90

10 lbs russet potatoes $3.69

2 frozen concentrate juice (.95 each) $1.90

2 frozen concentrate apple juice ( $1.24 each) $2.48

2 frozen concentrate oj ( $1.25 each) $2.50

Romaine hearts lettuce ( three per pack) $2.29

Devil's food cake mix .79

Fully cooked ham (3.25 lbs) $9.60

Grape tomatoes $1.98

2 cans condensed chicken noodle soup (. 49 each) .98

Elbow macaroni (2 lbs) $1.69

Thin spaghetti ( 2 lbs) $1.69

cheese (like velveeta 2 lbs) $3.99

onions (3 lbs) $1.49

8 cans of diced tomatoes (.49 each) $3.92 ~ I'll be making spaghetti sauce later this week)

2 cans cream of mushroom condensed soup ( .49 each) .98

Ramen noodles (12 per case) $1.76

White Vinegar ( 32 oz) .79

Tall kitchen trash bags (30 count) $2.49

2 cans tomato paste ( .39 each) .78

5 cans tomato sauce ( .25 each) $1.25

Cooking spray $1.39

Turkey bacon (12 oz) $1.99

1 jar minced garlic $1.19

1 bag of navel oranges (10 per bag) $2.89

1 lb butter $1.99

1 bag shredded Colby Jack cheese ( 12 oz) $2.99

1 bag shredded cheddar cheese (16 oz) $3.79

2lbs carrots $1.19

1 bag pepperoni ( 8 oz) $1.99

1 box tea bags (100 count) $1.69

The next step is to make a price book to keep track of sizes and prices so I can find the cheapest price for the items we need. We also just re joined BJ's. We had been members for many years and decided it was not worth it for us as the temptation was to great to over spend. Larry's work was offering a discounted membership so we decided to give it a try. I want to see if it would be cheaper to buy items like block cheese and shred it ourselves.

One thing you won't see on my regular grocery list is milk. We drink a lot of milk here, but since Larry works at a dairy he is able to buy our milk there. Right now we buy a case of milk (12 quarts) for $6. That is a substantial savings for us.