Saturday, April 30, 2011

What I Bought - April 2011

Here is my recap of my April grocery spending. This is mostly for my own reference, although I know there are a couple of you out there who enjoy this kind of post as well.

I ended April with a total of $92.50 spent on groceries. That includes sales tax, and is just for food items bought at the store to consume at home. It doesn't include any household, pet or HBA items, nor any meals bought away from home. Also, we are a family of three.

Most of the groceries were bought at Aldi. The rest was bought at other grocery stores when on sale or when I just had to have something not available at Aldi.  Unless I've listed a brand name, all items are store brands.

This month of was very atypical; our total was very low.  For starters, I was trying very hard to use up food we already had in the freezer, fridge and pantry.  For another thing, I took a 4-1/2 day trip out of town to see Shane; that week I didn't grocery shop at all, and I bought very little in the two weeks after my trip.  Also, I was able to harvest quite a bit of asparagus which helped a little.  Of course, our dining out budget was a lot higher than usual this month.  Shane gets a per diem allowance for part of his room and board while he's gone, but it certainly wasn't enough to cover my meals while I was with him.

Here's what I bought for $92.50:


MEAT, POULTRY AND EGGS
Farm fresh eggs - dozen - 2
Store-bought eggs - dozen - 2 (white eggs for dying for Easter)
Johnsonville bratwursts - 19 ounce pkg. - 1
Sliced turkey breast - pound - 1

SEAFOOD
None

VEGETABLES AND FRUITS
Strawberries - pound - 1
Iceberg lettuce - head - 1
Dried cherries - 9 ounces - 1
Seedless grapes - pounds - 1.5

DAIRY
Half and half - quart - 1
Regular whole milk - gallon -1.5
Cream cheese - 8 ounces - 2
AE Brand Greek Yogurt - 6 ounces - 1
Cottage cheese - 24 ounces - 3
American slices - pound - 1

PASTA, GRAINS, BEANS
Brown rice - pound - 1

BREADS
Oat bran bread - loaf - 4
Flour tortillas - 10 count - 1
Whole grain mini bagels - bag - 1
Hot dog buns - 8 count - 1
Panko bread crumbs - 8 ounce box - 1


BAKING/COOKING STAPLES
Condensed tomato soup - can - 1
C&H Sugar - 4 pound bag - 2

CONDIMENTS/SPICES/HERBS
Chili seasoning mix - packet - 1
Taco Bell taco sauce - 10 oz. - 1
Morton Tenderquick curing salt - pounds - 2 (for making venison sausage)
Heinz malt vinegar - 10 oz. - 1

SNACKS
Cheese curls - bag - 2
Tortilla chips - bag -1
Potato chips - bag - 4
Cheese crackers - box - 1
Saltines - box - 1
Yogurt-covered raisins - bag - 1

BEVERAGES
Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice - 64 ounce - 1
Generic soda - 2 liter bottles - 2
Pepsi - 2 liter bottle - 3

SEMI-PREPARED MEALS
Breaded Chicken Breast Strips - pound - 1

4 comments:

Frances said...

Wow! You had a great month! I think I came in around $300, but that is for food, HBA, pets, etc, everything we bought at grocery, drug and dollar stores.

Melynda@Scratch Made Food! said...

We don't keep track, Honey does the shopping here and he has his own ideas! I am sure he spends more than I would, because I plan shopping to get the best buy.

Dr. Alice said...

AJ,

Can you link to your info about growing asparagus? It's such a wonderful (and expensive)vegetable. I know it takes an invwestment of time and planning but I would be willing to do so for homegrown asparagus.

Annie Jones said...

Dr. Alice - Unfortunately, I really don't have much to offer here. We bought our asparagus starts at Lowe's, I think, and planted them two years ago. That year, we didn't touch what few spears that came up. The second summer (last year), we didn't get much and ate about half of it, leaving the rest alone.

This year, I estimate I've gotten about 2 pounds worth from our 8 plants. It's about to wrap up it's season, so I think I'll not cut anymore that might come up. Hopefully by next year, there will be more. If not, we'll have to look into getting more starts. We really like eating it.