Frugal Forward

I’m documenting what I’m buying each week and how much everything costs. This post covers the second week of June. I’m going to switch over to tracking monthly, with weekly check-ins. You can see what we bought the first week of June here.

My 2025 Shopping Rules

I went into detail on what my new shopping rules will be in this post and this post, but in short, my initial goal is to keep purchases for food and household goods to $190 per week with 2 caveats.

We make most of our meat and seafood purchases from Butcher Box throughout the year. We also make sporadic larger bulk purchases from Azure Standard to save money over what we can buy in the grocery store. I currently contribute $350 per month in a separate fund for these purchases.

With all of that out of the way, here’s what we bought this week.

What We Bought: The Second Week of June

As I talked about in my last post, we have adjusted our budget since our son moved back home. For weekly spending, I’m targeting $190 per week with a total monthly spend (not counting our $350 to the sinking fund for Azure Standard and Butcher Box purchases) of $763.

Food

Ralphs ($138.11 Spent)

What we bought:

This week I bought my groceries from Ralphs. I kicked some serious ass in this shopping trip. I had quite a few coupons (mostly digital, some paper coupons I received in the mail directly from Ralphs). Due to these coupons, some identical items will have different prices.

• Cheerios x 3 ($0.79, $0.79, $1.79)
• Lucky Charms x 2 ($1.79 each)
• Kroger cottage cheese x 4 ($1.29 each)
• Kroger sour cream x 2 ($0.79 and $1.29)
• Mountain High yogurt ($2.49)
• Kroger Pepper Jack Cheese (32 ounces – $5.99)
• Bubly x 4 ($2.99 ea plus $0.40 ea for recycling fee)
• Green Beans (2 pounds) ($5.20)
• Spring Mix ($2.79)
• Green Lettuce ($1.87)
• 2.27 pounds of zucchini ($2.98)
• Personal Iceberg Lettuce ($2.99)
• 3 pounds of organic honey crisp apples ($4.99)
• 2 packages of raspberries ($1.57 each)
• 2 bell peppers ($1.98 for both)
• 2 English cucumbers ($1.58 for both)
• 15.65 pound watermelon ($7.67)
• Blue Diamond Nut Thins x 5 ($0 for 1, $2.49 each for 4)
• GF bread ($6.79)
• Heritage Organic Milk ($4.99)
• Nutpods Half and Half ($4.99)
• Italian Sausage Links ($2.93)
• 2 smoked turkey deli meats ($2.49 each)
• Cedars Feta Dip x 2 ($3.22 each)
• Salsa ($5.49)
• Fresh Fish and Veggie Meal Kits
  • 3 shrimp with potato, butternut squash, and herb butter ($3.42 each)
  • Lemon Salmon with potatoes, zucchini, and herb butter ($4.93)
  • Salmon with potatoes, asparagus, and herb butter ($4.54)

My receipt says I saved $75.08 in coupons, but that doesn’t include the discounts on the red sticker items. For example, each of those seafood meal kits were originally $10. This means I got $50 worth of meal kits for $19.73.

Additionally, the Ralphs app is also showing the following prices for the Cedars feta dip and the cottage cheese:

So, the amount I saved off of regular price is a lot higher than what my receipt reflects.

My Local Discount Grocery Store ($32.96 spent)

What we bought:

• Organic Lemonade ($2.99 plus $0.10 CRV)
• Kettle Brand Chips x 2 ($4.29 each)
• Pamela’s cereal bar things x 2 ($2.99 each)
• Sliced pineapple ($1.29)
• Hippeas ($5.99)
• Poppi Root Beer ($3.99 plus $0.60 CRV)
• Udi’s Gluten Free Bagels ($2.99)

Coffee Treats ($7.80)

Our local coffee place had $3 frozen coffee drinks, so my daughter and I each got one (with an extra charge for subbing almond milk). They were so good. No picture, because we were in a time crunch.

^{CVS ($6.60)}

Using CVS coupons and extra care bucks, I was able to get Starbucks cold brew coffee concentrate and some tea for $6.60.

Second Week of June Totals

That brings my second week of June total to $185.47.

My budget for Week 3 will be $184.54 ($190 – $5.46).

What’s your grocery strategy right now? Are you cutting back, swapping brands, or just crying in the produce aisle? Drop a comment below—I’d love to hear how you’re surviving this mess!

*Some links in this post may be affiliate links. For links to products on Amazon, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. You are not charged for using an affiliate link. If you use my link, I earn a small commission, which I can use to offset the administrative costs of this blog. If you use my links, thank you.

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