I’ve officially decided what to do about our foster care stipend. I’m going to take whatever portion I allocated to groceries the previous month and divide it between the weeks of the current month. So, last month, I allocated $83.60 of the foster care stipend to groceries – which means I get an extra $20.90 per week to spend this month. So October’s grocery budget is $135.90 per week.
Saturday, September 29
ALDI had this-season Gala apples for $1.49 for a 3 lb bag – and I’ve been pretty bored with store-bought applesauce – so we made a special trip to buy 30 lbs for applesauce. My plan is to can one pressure-canner load (7 quarts) at a time as long as there are cheap-ish apples available. That way I don’t have to do any marathon canning sessions (while the house falls to pieces) – but I should be able to still get some sauce that has actual flavor.
Total cost of apples plus a quart of half and half: $18.03
Tuesday, October 2
Walmart Grocery Pickup was $58.91
Do you ever see anything name brand in my grocery pictures? There are three potential reasons:
- There is no generic option (Cinnamon Life, now that Walmart stopped making a generic)
- Daniel asks me, pretty please, to buy the name brand (Honey Nut Cheerios)
- Walmart made a substitution (the Dole Pineapple in this picture)
If Walmart doesn’t have a particular item in stock for grocery pickup, they’ll sub in an alternate at no extra cost to you (they’ll also check with you car-side to make sure their alternate is acceptable to you). Generally, the alternate ends up being the name brand version instead of the cheaper generic I always buy.
Thursday, October 4
Sam’s Club didn’t have an open slot on Tuesday (first time I’ve ever not gotten my preferred slot!) so I scheduled pickup for Thursday.
$38.05
That left me $20.91 for ALDI – which just wasn’t enough. I spent $26.72
So not a bad week, but not a great one either.
I enjoy your grocery blog! Do you ever shop the ads??