Each month, I share an update on exactly how much my family spent on groceries, plus what we harvested from the garden, complete with pictures!
Though I came in under my goal of $300 for the month of August, I harvested so much food from the garden, my grocery expenses really should have been lower. I could offer up excuses but, the honest truth is, I didn’t plan and prepare well for traveling and didn’t cook as much as I could have.
We’ll chalk it up to multiple camping trips and my son’s birthday (week). Do you know how much food 4 teenage boys can go through in 24 hours?! I was in sheer awe of their ability to eat massive amounts in such a short amount of time.
It will be interesting to see how grocery expenses compare to my summer costs after school is in full swing. I felt like I was spending more with the kids home all day. And now that I will be driving my daughter home from school each day I can stop at a couple of stores I avoided during the summer (since they are on my way).
August Grocery Spending Total
So, what exactly did I spend on groceries in August? August’s groceries came in at a grand total of…$257.97.
How did I do it? Check out this post and this one too for more details. If you are wondering exactly what I include in my grocery category, check out this post.
As I’ve mentioned before, Hy-Vee offers fuel saver rewards on some of the products purchased. This month we earned $0.80/gallon credit for gas up to 20 gallons. Since we use the full 20 gallons at the discounted rate, the amount saved in gas through these grocery purchases is $16.00 for the month. If you figure that into the grocery expenses, it brings my total down to $241.97.
The garden harvest was plentiful in August. We seem to be having an early fall here (plus I’ve been hit hard with blight and pests), so I expect a dramatic decline in the garden produce for September. While I’ll certainly miss the fresh veggies, I won’t have to spend as much time on canning/freezing and working in the garden.
So, here you are, grocery voyeurs – the photos of the actual food purchased, stores I shopped, money spent and food grown! Enjoy!
What I bought
What I grew
Not pictured (oops!):
- Costco: Tortilla Chips (2), Coffee (2), and Garlic Powder = $30.35
- Fareway: Bananas and Dill Seed (3) = $4.35
How much did you spend on groceries in August? Do you have a garden?
Wow! I am super impressed by your garden haul. We don’t have a garden at the small house, which is something I’d like to change next year in an effort to cut more from our budget. Our cupboard-cleaning exercise continues to help us reduce our spending each month as our dry goods supply dwindles!
Thanks, Claudia! It was a great harvest – it all just seemed to come in at once, so I was busy trying not to let any of it go to waste. I canned some, froze some, and ended up giving some of it away. I need to take a page from your book this month and do some cupboard cleaning!
Wow another absolutely gigantic haul from your garden!
I really love how beautifully lined up you put your groceries for the photos – it makes my organisation side very happy.
Jasmin
Thanks, Jasmin! I’m glad it looks organized, because when I come in with the groceries, start putting them away, and then realize I did NOT take the picture (and proceed to get the groceries back out of the fridge/pantry) I don’t feel organized. 😉
That is a great haul from the garden! We plant a few things, but because we were gone the first 6 weeks of summer (and had a house sitter) we kept things simple. Our growing season is so short in Montana, so I am really amazed by the melon. Some years even tomatoes can be tricky, but I let mine grow onto our patio which helps keep them warm.
Thanks, Ms. Montana! The garden is really winding down fast here this year. I still have some tomatoes and look forward to the potatoes and beets that are yet to be harvested. I imagine it could be difficult to grow a lot in Montana, but it’s great you’re getting the melon this year!
We have 2 stores with gas rewards. One of them this week has 4 times rewards for gift cards so I’m picking some up.
If you go through milk quickly see if you can find some withen about 3 days of the sell date. Most stores will reduce it because they have to throw it out after that day.
Hey Doug! Thanks for stopping by. 4 times rewards on gift cards is awesome! I’m not a coupon person, but I do think the fuel rewards helps with the groceries enough to make it worth whipping my card out at the cash register.
Great point on the milk! I’ll often pick up bags of ripe bananas at a discount and either make banana bread or freeze them for smoothies.
Always amazed at how well you keep you food costs under control. I recently started bringing my lunch to work so I should save an extra $20-25 per week. Adds up to an extra $1040 at a minimum a year, that’s a lot of dollar bills!
I’m having a hard time forecasting my food needs though because it’s only been a couple of weeks that I started shopping with a completely different recipe set so I should get better as time passes. Thanks for sharing!
Right!? $1040 is nothing to sneeze at! Have you done the calculations to see how much that will be if you invest it for 20 years? I love doing that.
It takes time to get used to new shopping/food buying strategies. Soon, you’ll have it memorized and it won’t take any time at all!
You got a lot of food for relatively low cost! Way to go.
We spend an embarrassingly high amount of money on groceries and toiletries for just two people – $630 for this month. That’s a little higher than usual. When we get busy, we often resort to more expensive meal options.
Thanks for stopping by, FS! Being busy is a budget killer. That’s kind of what happened to me this month, otherwise the cost would have been lower. I know I bought too much junk food for camping and the kids little get-togethers with friends, but still not too bad.
Another great garden haul! Looks like you’re going to have plenty of pickles and tomato sauce.
Thanks, Mr Crazy Kicks! I have lots of canned dill pickles and refrigerator pickles. I decided we had enough and just started eating the cucumbers and giving quite a few away. I did can salsa and stewed tomatoes, but also experimented with freezing some oven baked tomatoes (with garlic and basil) and am using those for pasta – it worked better than I imagined and saved time on canning too.
I don’t keep records of what I spend each month on groceries but I just got back this morning from a $130 run that will get us by a week or so. I only have one teen at home right now but it is football season and he can certainly eat right now! One thing I have noticed since I went back to work for a few months is that I totally need to meal plan better. We open the fridge and half a meal is there – chicken to grill but no veggies, cereal but the milk has run out, etc. I am really impressed with your garden haul! That’s so awesome to supplement your grocery store visits!
That’s really not bad at all, Vicki! The garden does supplement our food supply, but August didn’t really reflect much savings. Meal planning has, admittedly, been an issue at my house as well, lately anyway. I’ve been feeding them more pasta, grilled cheese and scrambled eggs than usual to try to make up for my lack of planning. I vow to do better in September!
Hi Amanda,
Loved the produce you grew in your own garden, especially the cucumbers and tomatoes; they look so healthy. Thanks for sharing the pictures.
The only things I grow and consume are: aloe vera (lots; they multiply quickly); moringa trees; kilek tree (from Thailand). The lady I bought the plants from said that you can eat the kilek leaves like the moringa leaves for medicinal purposes. When I had them in pots on my patio I would eat them more often than now that they are in the ground in my backyard.
I have planted citrus seeds (lemon, orange, etc.), but they are too young to produce any fruits yet. They might grow faster if I were to use fertilizer, but I don’t like such things; so, who knows when they will be bearable.
Thanks, Karlene! The produce was great to have! I still have some trickling in and have potatoes and beets to dig but, otherwise, the garden is not producing whole lot. I left the healthier tomato plants planted to see if they would get a second round and, so far, so good there.
It sounds like you live in a warmer area. I would love to grow the citrus fruits! Like you, I don’t tend to fertilize much and it’s showing with my blueberries. As long as they survive this first year, I figure they’ll come back stronger than ever in future seasons.
Wow, I’m amazed at your ability to keep your costs so low with a full house! I think we spent around $1,200 with two teenagers in the house and no garden. East coast living is not cheap and neither is organic. Well done!
Thanks, Jon! Cost of living plays a factor with the grocery budget for sure (and teenagers do as well!). We live in a moderately low cost of living area, though we live close to a larger city, so our costs are higher than the rest of the state. Still, comparatively, our costs are definitely lower than most of the East coast. The teenagers play a huge factor – I’m constantly negotiating grocery purchases with mine.