January grocery budget update

It's not the end of the month yet, but we are done grocery shopping for the month. 

I knew that Sams was gonna make for an expensive week - it normally is. I would've stayed on budget, but I didn't count on finding Sams brand t/p. This is our preferred brand. Great price & great quality. $19 for 45 2ply rolls. We didn't need t/p, but I haven't seen Sam's t/p in months. 

I also ended up getting a few items that Sams didn't have in stock in December. The 2pk Vicks is the lowest price (I've been comparing prices at multiple stores). I can't live without my Vicks. So when I saw that Sams has it back in stock, I decided to just get a pack. I'm upset that Sams didn't have any Muenster cheese though :(  I also stocked up on meat and did freezer cooking. So here's our number for January

Sams : $131.54

Produce market : $32.62

Meijer : $33.51

Walmart : $81.51

Aldi : $33.24

Kroger : 19.10

CVS : $13.17

Rite Aid : $18.49

Total OOP for January : $363.18

Earned $4 Ibotta and $1 Kroger Cash Back

My Sams total is AFTER using $40 gcs. I really don't feel bad about Sams, because there were many things that I couldn't find before. 

The drugstores threw me off completely. Not happy about RA, but that's over and done with. 

Meijer has a Buy 5 save $5 instantly sale this week & I was down to my last bottle of Kraft Salad dressing. The dressing is 89c after sale discount, so I bought a few. I also wanted to try the Old El Paso sauce (on sale for 99c). Boy, I'm already in love with the Salsa Verde. It has a nice kick to it, but not really hot (we love the heat). I haven't tried the queso yet. Then I saw that OEP jalapenos were also part of the sale for $1.49 and picked up 3 jars. Then 24pk soda. When I got to checkout, I realised that I forgot to check my Meijer coupon booklet before going shopping. Guess who has a $1 Soda and 50% off bananas q they didn't get to use. I also bought 2 wax paper that I keep forgetting to buy, but really need. I cashed in 2 trash bags of pop cans, so my Meijer total came to $15.51. I can't complain, because I got 18 items for $15.51. 

Now silly me only took 2 of the 3 bags of pop cans, because I was only planning on getting the dressing and OEP sauce. I didn't know if the bottle slip would give change at self checkout. Oh well. It was not a bad trip and I still have pop cans for the next time I go shopping. 

The good news is that we really don't need much next month. We still have enough meat in the freezer, but I want to get some tenders if Sams has it again. We love that BBW tenders so much, that the package (3lbs) I cooked this month is almost gone. It filled a large cookie sheet. Next time I'll just get double the amount (costs around $20), because it's so easy to freeze once cooked. I love that we can eat it so many different ways - wrap, with salad, with veggies or as a sandwich (we like it on ciabatta). 

A trip to the produce market is also on the list. Besides that, we only need diary. I have to admit that I'm enjoying just 'shopping' from my pantry when it's time to cook. Today I made veggie pizza and just pulled everything from the pantry and baked. Easy peasy. Also no junk food were needed, which is an even bigger win. 

Also, I've already purchased the items I need for next week's dinners, so I'll just go get eggs, cheese & milk at Walmart next week and do the produce run while I'm out. 

Next month will hopefully be a low spend grocery month. I'm not too upset about January's number, because we used to spend $480-500 per month on groceries. I'm just gonna chalk this up as a win, because it's down by at least $116.82.