I’m documenting what I’m buying each week and how much everything costs. This post covers the third week of June. I’m going to switch over to tracking monthly, with weekly check-ins. You can see what we bought the first and second weeks of June here, here, and 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 Rest of June
For weekly spending, I’m targeting $190 per week with a total monthly spend of $763.
Ralphs ($131.40 Spent)
This week I bought my groceries from Ralphs. I was pretty exhausted, so I did a grocery pickup order. There was a $10 off pickup coupon in addition to the regular digital coupons.
What we bought:
- Against the Grain Gluten Free Rolls ($8.79 *after* a $1.50 coupon) THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS. It is very expensive to be celiac.
- 5 Chobani Flips ($1.00 each)
- 2 Breyer’s ice cream ($3.99 each)
- Chobani Greek Yogurt (32 ounces) ($6.49)
- 4 Lay’s Chips (4 for $10)
- English Cucumber ($1.99)
- Finish Detergent Pods ($17.99)
- Half Gallon of Horizon Organic Milk ($5.99)
- 2 avocados ($5.98)
- 2 Kettle brand chips (2 for $6)
- Kleenex 6 pack ($10.99)
- Kroger brussels sprouts ($3.49)
- Kroger green beans ($2.99)
- 2 Kroger gluten free spaghetti ($3.98)
- Kroger sour cream ($2.39)
- Kroger vegetable tray ($12.99)
- 1.9 pounds of honey crisp apples ($3.79)
- 7 Simple Truth Gluten Free Crackers ($1.99 each)
- Taylor Farms Rainbow Cauliflower ($3.99)
- 2.2 pounds of zucchini ($3.28)
I have no words. Honestly.
Ralphs ($18.80 Spent)
I discovered that LaCroix was on sale for $2.49 each up to 5. So, I picked some up.
My Local Discount Grocery Store ($71.24 spent)
What we bought:
- 2 cases of Hint Water ($23.98 for both plus $1.50 CRV) (not pictured)
- 2 Frontera Red Enchilada Sauce Pouches ($1.98 total)
- 2 Pamela’s Cranberry Bars ($5.98 total)
- Granola ($1.99)
- Pineapple Chunks (2 for $2.58)
- Lime Tortilla Chips (Mr. FF’s favorite) ($3.99)
- Hippeas Puffs ($5.99)
- 3 boxes of cereal ($2.99 each)
- Avocado ($1.99)
- 2.26 pounds of bananas ($1.33)
- 2 limes ($0.50)
- 3 pounds of onions ($1.99)
- Sweet Snap Peppers ($2.49)
- Sweet Potato Fries ($2.99)
- Stir Fry Vegetables ($2.99)
Marshalls ($49.41 spent)
Miss FF and I went in specifically for the syrup for her homemade iced coffee. We went in when I was hungry. Bad move. But, we did need the granola, so I dunno. The receipt doesn’t name each thing other than “gourmet food,” so I’m going off of memory on the prices.
What We Bought:
- 2 Kind Granola ($3.99 each)
- 2 Torani Coffee syrup ($7.49 each)
- The other coffee syrup ($5.99)
- 1 snack ($5.99)
- 2 snacks ($4.99 each)
- 1 snack ($4.49)
Secret Shopping ($18.63)
I had another Secret Shopping gig, so Mr. FF and I had a lunch date for fast casual burgers and fries. We spent $35.63 with tip. I will be reimbursed $17 for one meal and paid on top of that. I’m just counting the reimbursement here, not the amount I’ll be paid for my time.
End of June Totals
My budget for the rest of the month was $77.39, which I knew wasn’t going to happen. And I was right. I spent $289.48 for the remaining 8 days of June. While I could have eliminated purchasing snacks, I chose not to. If I don’t have snacks in the house, Mr. FF, Miss FF, and I won’t really miss it, but my son definitely would. I’m not at the point yet where I’m going to cut that off. I’ll just try to shop better for now.
Which means, for the month of June, we spent $972.09 and were over budget by $212.09. Part of me wonders where my money is going, but then I look at the prices of stuff and it’s bananas.
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.
Frugal Forward 
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