August $100 Grocery Budget 2021

 

Holy cow!  I had a great grocery month in August.  I haven't done a big haul this year because I've been pretty much in econo-mode all this time, but I needed to get stocked up for the upcoming winter and not only did I accomplish that, but I did it and stayed within budget too.  I began the month with $104.82 of unspent funds and I added the August budget of $100 to that for a great amount to get started with.  I also pulled out a $50 Albertson's gift card from my stash so I had a total of $254.82 to work with.

 

For the most part I only bought items on sale or markdown and I downloaded a boatload of digital coupons, both store offers and manufacturer coupons, onto my store rewards cards.  For items that I wanted to get that were not on sale I shopped at Winco for produce and a few pantry items.  I even popped into Wal-Mart just to pick up their two packs of cream cheese because they have the best price.  The grocery outlet and Cash & Carry helped me out as well as they had some great sales going too.

 

We made the rounds to the stores over two sales cycles.  On a Sunday we shopped from one set of sales flyer and then on that Friday we shopped the new sales flyers picking up everything on our list.  The planets aligned and the sales were just what we needed to top up the freezer, do some canning and meal prepping, and fill the gaps in the pantry.  We couldn't have planned it any better.  And!  We still had money left over for extra produce through to the end of the month which as it turns out we did not need.

 

Meat prices, well all prices really, have been higher than usual so taking advantage of special offers and sales was the only way we were going to get our freezer stocked up this year.  Fortunately chicken and pork was the deal to buy this month so we were able to do just that.  And at the end of the month we scored a really good deal on three pound chubs of 80% lean ground beef for $7.47 each.  Because I had downloaded a digital store coupon I was able to save another dollar off of that price making each one only $6.47!  I was pretty darn happy about that.  I still have some beef pot roasts on my wish list so I'll be watching for a sale and pick up a couple when it happens, hopefully it will, but in the meantime we are pretty much set to go.

 

It feels wonderful to be winter ready and know that we'll be heading into the holidays and colder months with higher heat bills and no concerns about groceries or blowing the budget beyond all repair.  It also feels really good that I was able to help my oldest daughter stock up her freezer and pantry with some meat and staples as well.  I feel very accomplished this month.

 

My total spent on groceries in August came in at $214.95!  I was over budget and will head into September with a deficit of $10.13 but I still have some money left on that gift card so I really don't feel too bad about going over.  I was not only able to get my own household winter ready, but to help my oldest to be winter ready too.  I am just thrilled.  

We are blessed once again with plenty and I am incredibly grateful for that.  Have you found some good buys lately at your supermarket?  What have you stocked up on recently?  How are prices where you live?