All You Challenge Week 4

The All You Challenge is almost over! Time to check in with how we did for week 4. Here is our menu plan for the past week.

Breakfasts: Egg, ham and cheese sandwiches, Eggo products, cereal, homemade waffles and sausages, fruit, milk

Lunches: Grilled ham and cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, PB&J, Ham and Cheese Wraps, Leftovers, fruit, tomatoes, carrots, milk
Dinners: Ham Bundles and corn on the cob; White Shells and steamed broccoli; Taco Bell and juice boxes from home; Chicken Wild Rice Casserole, biscuits and steamed asparagus; Sloppy Joes, corn on the cob and carrots; Taco Cornbread Pizza, tomatoes and steamed green beans; Crunchy Onion Chicken, mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli; milk

We went to the zoo one night (to take advantage of free admission) and decided to get Taco Bell instead of packing a picnic dinner, which I just didn't have the time or energy to do. I decided we hadn't eaten out at all this week, and it was fine if we did so once. We had room in the budget, and it's okay to splurge once in awhile since we are frugal in other ways.

Groceries: $52.70
Taco Bell: $10.22

Week 4 Total: $62.92

Week 3 Total: $57.31

Week 2 Total: $89.52

Week 1 Total: $63.74

TOTAL for the month (groceries and eating out): $273.49 for a family of 6

I'm sure I won't have the lowest overall OOP for the All You Grocery Challenge, but like I said before, I didn't alter the way we usually do things for this challenge. I hadn't added all the weeks together until just now, but we were right on compared to what we usually spend! We usually spend about $200 a month on groceries and budget about $75 for eating out.

If you participated in the All You Challenge, let me know how you did and what your strategy was. If you posted about it on your blog, leave your link so I can visit you!

Groceries This Week

I made a run to Aldi early this week because, believe it or not, we were running out of milk! I kid you not! I bought 5 gallons last week, and Ted and I don't even drink it for every meal, but with the girls each getting 3 cups a day, it goes FAST! We joke that we should get a goat or a cow--we could get free milk and it would mow our lawn for us, too! (of course, then the kids wouldn't be able to play in the backyard for fear of cowpies, but I digress...)

What I don't understand is why everyone else isn't buying this much milk. The girls were getting milk for breakfast and dinner, and usually had juice for lunch. But when we went to the pediatrician for H's six year old checkup, she told me they should be getting 24 ounces of milk a day! Seriously?!? So we upped it to milk for every meal and juice only as an occasional treat. But with all four girls on milk now (since F is one, she is drinking whole milk), we're going through it like water (probably faster than water!). What do all of your pediatricians say? Do ANY of you buy this much milk? It's crazy!

Anyway, back to the grocery runs. So I went to Aldi to get a gallon of milk to hold us till Wednesday, and while I was there I got some good deals on hamburger, chicken, and ham. This meat should last us awhile! :-)

Aldi: $18.83 for 4 items

I also went to Walmart and bought a few items, since my grocery store didn't carry the Chiquita fruit snack packs that I had free coupons for. I also picked up blueberries and tortilla chips.

Walmart: $2.69 for 5 items

Then I did my regular grocery shopping. I only did two transactions this week and doubled 10 coupons. I also used some competitor's coupons that my store honors with it's own store brand. This way I was able to get peanut butter, paper plates, and OJ for $0.98 each and eggs for $0.68. It saved me a trip to the other store, and I also didn't have to buy any of their items (the other store requires a $5 additional purchase to use the coupons). Check with your stores to find out their coupon policies--it might surprise you and you might be able to get more deals than you'd think!
Groceries: $31.18 for 38 items

These items were $1 or less after coupons and/or sales: OJ, peanut butter, paper plates, eggs, chef boyardee and easy mac x2 (which I don't usually buy, but they were all free), Knorr pasta, Yo-Plus yogurt x2, Fiber One yogurt, Kraft cheese x3, mushrooms, bread x5, cream of mushroom soup x2, Eggo bake shop (free).

Overall grocery total this week: $52.70

For the All You Grocery Challenge, I need to subtract $0.98 for the paper plates, so that adjusted total is $51.72.

All You Challenge-Week 3

During this All You Challenge, some people have been living off their stockpile or staying home to try to keep their weekly OOP as low as possible. We've been living life as normal, to show that even when you are on a budget, you can "splurge" and eat out without breaking the bank.

The first week we were on vacation, so we had to eat out, but we only spent $63.74 for a family of 6 by using up what we already had, eating simply at restaurants, and shopping wisely.

Week 2 we celebrated a birthday, and I didn't want to skip our normal routine of eating at Red Robin to celebrate just because *I* wanted to do the challenge. We even splurged a couple other times that week. But again, with shopping wisely, using coupons at restaurants, etc, we only spent $89.52 for week 2, well within our $150 budget.

This week my hubby and I had a date night planned and we went to Outback--his request--and again, *I* am the one who wanted to do the challenge, so I wanted to be able to show that you don't have to deprive yourself or your family in order to live within a budget. We used coupons, ordered water to drink and had dessert at home instead of at the restaurant, which are things we usually do anyway, so this special night out didn't break the bank (and we even had leftovers for lunch the next day!). And again, because I shop sales and coupons, we were still within our budget at the end of the week. If you'd like to see our week's menu plans, click here.

Outback: $16.44 including tip (Ordered Bloomin' Onion, two 6 oz. sirloins which came with salad and a side, and a side of 'shrooms)
(used free bloomin' onion coupon for doing a survey and $10 off 2 entrees coupon)
Groceries: $40.87

TOTAL All You Week 3 Spending: $57.31

Weekly Grocery Run

This week was slow for deals at the grocery store, which was fine for my budget. :-) I only did two transactions and doubled ten coupons. I bought 33 items and spent $35.79.

I also stopped at Aldi really quickly to check out their produce (which wasn't stellar that day, unfortunately). I did buy 5 items that I knew were cheaper there than at the grocery store, for a

total of $6.66.

Grocery Spending: $42.45

For purposes of the All You Grocery Challenge, I only spent $40.87. I bought 2 boxes of Ziploc baggies which I got for $0.79 each after coupons, so I subtracted those from my total.

Though it was a slow week for deals, I was able to get a few things for free with coupons. And because I shop the deals, stockpile, and cook ahead from week to week, I can make a balanced menu plan without having to buy too many things that aren't on sale, which saves us money. If you are new to couponing and want to know how to get started, you can check out my 6 Part "Coupon 101" course here (scroll down to the bottom).

On a side note, I opened up my blog to anonymous comments last week, and someone who probably doesn't know me and obviously doesn't follow my blog on a regular basis left a pretty rude comment saying that the reason I don't spend a lot on groceries is because all my family eats is processed foods. I hear this type of objection a lot from people who don't coupon, and it just isn't true. If you are used to shopping for groceries one week at a time, and then you look at only one week's grocery picture on my blog, you might wonder what in the world we are going to eat that week! However, I have started posting our menu plans (and can continue to do so, if it is helpful to people--just let me know by leaving a comment), and you can see that I do serve fruits, veggies, protein, dairy, etc. The key is just shopping smarter, buying what is on sale, and using from the pantry and freezer stockpile when it's not. That's why you won't see all the food we eat each week pictured in one weekly grocery trip because we also get fruits and veggies from the garden, pantry, and freezer. I realize not everyone shops and thinks this way, which is why I wanted to talk about it. Don't write off stockpiling, couponing or trying to save money just because you think processed foods are all you'll get. If you are willing to change your shopping habits a bit, you will save money!

And while we are talking about menu plans, here was our menu for this week:

Breakfasts: Scrambled eggs and toast, grapes, Eggo products, blueberries, cereal, Egg, ham and cheese sandwiches, pancakes; milk
Lunches: Macaroni and Cheese, baby carrots and dip, applesauce, leftovers, grapes, PB&J, blueberries, string cheese, raspberries and tomatoes from the garden; milk
Dinners: Chicken a la King over noodles, biscuits, asparagus and salad; Outback; Easy Enchiladas and salad with tomatoes from our garden; Brats or hot dogs, corn on the cob, Smiles potatoes and baby carrots; Boneless Pork Ribs, mashed potatoes, and salad; Homemade Pizza; milk

All You Challenge Week 2

Time to check in for week 2 of the All You Grocery Challenge! At the beginning of the week I had to fill up our refrigerator since we were on vacation for three weeks. Because double coupon day is Wednesday, I tried hard to not go to the grocery store until then. However, I did stop at Aldi to pick up some milk, eggs, ham, and fruit. Otherwise for meals we used what we had in the freezer and pantry. I'm so thankful I shop ahead to keep my pantry stocked and sometimes cook enough to freeze for later! This way I know there is food in the house even after I return from out of town. If you'd like some freezer tips and recipes, click here.

Our meal plan for this week:
Breakfasts: Cereal, bananas, Eggo products, blueberries, egg sandwiches, strawberries, pancakes and sausage, milk
Lunches: PB&J, applesauce, string cheese, ham and cheese wraps, strawberries, leftovers, chips, grapes, yogurt, milk or juice
Dinners: Mahndu and "Healthified Fried Rice" and tomatoes from our garden; Lasagna, Garlic Bread and Salad; Culver's, Alfredo Pasta and Broccoli; Red Robin; Barbecue Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, and Asparagus; Frozen Pizza; Tacos, Quesadillas, and chips; milk

We celebrated H's birthday this week by going out to Red Robin for dinner. We saved some money by using 2 coupons (free kid's meal from the birthday club and $2 off from filling out a comment card at a previous visit), ordering water for the adults to drink (which we usually do) and Ted and I split a meal. H and G got kid's meals (one was free) and for M and F we ordered 2 sides of grilled cheese for $1.29 each. This was a tip that a Red Robin server passed on to me several years ago, and their grilled cheese sandwiches are SO good! Because it was H's birthday, the server brought 4 free ice cream sundaes for our family to share. H also got some free ice cream from Baskin Robbins and Cold Stone Creamery for her birthday for signing up for their birthday clubs, which you can do here and here. Another day we went to Culver's for some Butterburgers during their anniversary celebration. Not everyone wanted one, so Ted picked up three on his way home from work and we supplemented with broccoli and noodles we had on hand.

Aldi: $11.37
Groceries: $49.73
Red Robin: $21 including 25% tip (she did a great job!)
Culver's: $3.15
Candy at the mall: $4.27 (a splurge after family pictures)
H's birthday ice cream: $0
TOTAL: $89.52

So even though we splurged a bit on eating out this week, we were still well within our All You weekly allotment of $150 for a family of six!

This Week's Groceries

I had fun on double coupon day again! Honestly, it is such a rush for me that I can start shopping with a splitting headache and it will be gone when I am finished, even if I do four separate transactions in one hour! This might be the opposite for some of you, I realize! ;-) I know not everyone enjoys couponing, but I find it very rewarding to be saving our family so much money in this way.

We returned from a three week vacation on Sunday night. Our refrigerator was pretty bare, so I made a quick run to Aldi for a few staples to tide us over until my big shopping day on Wednesday. Because I shop ahead and keep food in the pantry and freezer, we had plenty of food on hand. Milk, eggs and fresh fruit were the biggest needs, so that's what we picked up. The girls all really like sliced ham, too, so I picked that up as well to use for lunches. My total at Aldi was $11.37.

I did four separate transactions at the grocery store on Wednesday in order to maximize my coupon savings. Because I take the time to do this, I am able to shave SO much off of our bill. I also try to shop mainly for the things that are on sale, which helps us save even more.

I was able to get these items for FREE: Dawn soap x3, Cascade rinse agent, Kellogg's cereal x5, Jennie-O ground turkey

These items were less than $1: Hunt's pudding x3, taco seasoning x2, Ronzoni pasta x2, Pasta Roni x10 (the girls favorite), Eggo Bake Shop x3, Capri Sun, bananas, lettuce, Kraft sliced cheese x4

These items were more than $1 but were on sale or I had a coupon that made them a great deal: ground beef, strawberries x2, red grapes, asparagus, Redi-Whip, Dannon yogurt x2, milk x4, deli ham

My total after sales and before coupons was over $100 (before the sale prices I think it was more like $130). My total after coupons was $49.73 for 50 items! Gotta love that!

What kind of deals did you snag this week?

All You Challenge-Week 1 Recap

We've finished the first week of the All You Grocery Challenge. Since we were on vacation, we spent more on eating out this weekend as we were driving back. We ate breakfast before leaving on Saturday and then had a continental breakfast at the hotel on Sunday morning. Our lunches and dinners were at fast food places. We saved money by not ordering drinks (we normally don't anyway), ordering off the dollar menus (which we usually do anyway) and supplementing with snacks in the car. We try not to eat too much when we are on the road because we aren't really getting much exercise, so if we eat too much, we end up getting "yucky tummies". Here's the breakdown of our eating out this weekend.

Lunch at Cook Out: $16.24
Mocha at McDonalds: $2.96 (Ted needs some coffee on the road and it's a treat to get a yummy mocha. He used to get his traveling treats at Starbucks, but he's found that the mochas at McD's are good and over $1 less.)
Dinner at McDonald's: $7.93
Lunch at Taco Bell: $11.26
Mocha at McDonalds: $3.63
Dinner at McDonalds: $6.35

Eating Out: $48.37
Groceries: $15.37
Total for Week 1 (July 13-19): $63.74

This is well under our family's All You allotment of $150 a week, but is just about right on according to our normal expenses. Since we were on vacation, we spent less on groceries and more on eating out and it almost evened out.

Are you participating in this challenge? If so, how did you do?

All You Grocery Challenge

The All You Grocery Challenge started this week! Are you participating by tracking your food spending? We are! You get $25 per person per week, which includes all food items, both groceries and eating out. This week we haven't spent too much yet, as we're using a lot of things we had on hand. Here's our rough menu plan for this week:

Breakfasts: Eggo products, cereal, pancakes and bacon, fruit; milk or juice

Lunches: PB&J sandwiches, fruit, cheese, yogurt, macaroni and cheese, leftovers; milk or juice

Dinners: Camp Chicken and broccoli, Spaghetti with Meat Sauce and salad, Chicken a la King and salad, Salsa Chili and chips, Chicken Alfredo and broccoli, Taco Bell; milk or juice

Snacks: Crackers, graham crackers, Goldfish, cheese, fruit, cereal

This was my grocery trip this week. I spent $15.37 on items to supplement what we already had in the cupboards and freezer. We might have more eating out this weekend, but we have plenty of room in our weekly budget of $150, so I'm not worried at all! My shopping trip next week will look more like normal, since our refrigerator and will be pretty bare, but "normal" for me is around $50-$60 a week. I shouldn't have any trouble staying within the All You budget.

It's been fun to have this challenge to spark conversation with my sister and my parents about their grocery and eating out habits. My dad likes the thrill of couponing and I wish we could shop together every week. My sister spends WAY too much money on eating out because she feels like she doesn't have time or energy to cook. So this week I helped her make a list of items she had on hand and recipes she is interested in trying. Then we scoured the ads and coupons and made a grocery list. I went shopping with her and showed her how to add her purchases up on the calculator and keep track of her coupons. I had to rein her in a few times from straying from her list, but she ended up doing really well. She spent $31.04 and saved $35.57! She was THRILLED to have saved more than she spent using coupons and shopping sales. I went to her house yesterday and helped her prep 7 meals to put into the freezer (Camp Chicken x2, Tater Tot Casserole x2 (in the comments section of this post), and Chicken Pasta Bake x3). Today we are going to make a menu plan, plugging meals into days so that she doesn't have to think about what to cook (it stresses her out) and she will be sure to have time to thaw something out to bake it instead of running to get take out again. She kept saying, "WOW. You are SO good at this!" but I kept reminding her that I've had seven more years of practice than she has since I'm older. :-)

How about you? Are you participating in the All You Challenge? If you are, please let me know that I'm not alone! If you are blogging about it, please leave your link in the comments.

Spending--6/24/09

Here's my "haul" for this week. I got these items for FREE: Fisher peanuts, Activia yogurt, band-aids, BBQ sauce, Crystal Light to-go packs, chocolate milk, pudding mixes, frozen Banquet dinner, and Cascade rinse agent.

I got the following items for $0.50 or less: wipes, Doritos, Ritz Bits, saltines, Solo cups, mac and cheese, ketchup, Ajax, and tomato sauce.

I got these items for $1 or less: bread, tortillas, chocolate chips, peanut butter, Eggo Swirlz, Bagel-fuls, sausages, pasta sauce, Altoids, marshmallows, and angel food cake.

Strawberries from our picking trip: $9.75
Target: $4.46 (12 items)
Groceries: $34.29 (48 items)
Received rebate from Reynolds Foil: -$2.99
(submit for $2.99 rebate for Windex wipes)
Week 4 Total: $45.51
Week 3 Total: $73.49
Week 2 Total: $44.01
Week 1 Total: $38.47

JUNE TOTAL: $201.48
I didn't quite stay under $200 like I did in May, but I'm happy since I was still able to stay under our regular monthly bill of $275. Passing up deals at Walgreens and CVS has helped immensely. I know I could have gotten free toothpaste this week at Walgreens and free SoyJoy bars at CVS, among other things, but choosing not to go saved us money! I do have some ECBs that will be expiring, though, so I'll have to go in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully there will be some sweet deals!

I wanted to let you know that I'm planning to take a little break from tracking my shopping and taking pictures. I'll attempt to not totally fall off the savings wagon, though! I won't give up the bargain-hunting completely, so I will probably post some things throughout the month, but it may not be weekly.

However, All You has a grocery challenge starting July 13th, so I will probably start back up again that week to track my progress. The challenge is to spend no more than $25 per family member per week on groceries, including eating out, but not including household items. That would mean I would "get" $150 per WEEK for food! The prize is $1000 and a year's supply of Knorr side dishes. Click on the link to sign up for the challenge, then keep track of your progress and your receipts. Should be fun! :-)