I’m documenting what I’m buying and how much everything costs. On August 2, I went to Aldi and Trader Joe’s and spent $416.73. I went back to Aldi on August 10th and spent $76.10 (on practically nothing, btw), which brought my August total to $492.83. I’m doing my best to stretch out stops at the grocery store to try to bring down my overall spend. I’m also trying to do curbside pickup to eliminate impulse purchases.
As a refresher, in May I set my budget at $760 per month (subject to the caveats below). In June, my monthly total was $972.09, and the total for July was $979.61. Those are actually pretty consistent. I’m still going to try to see if I can either spend less than that or, despite prices rising, keep it at a similar level.
The 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.
What We Bought
Aldi ($245.70 Spent)
What We Bought:
- 1 gluten free bread – 20 ounces ($7.35)
- 4 cases of sparkling water (12 cans per pack, Aldi brand) – ($4.35 each)
- 3 pounds of long grain white rice ($2.75)
- 32 ounces of organic half and half ($4.79)
- Half gallon of organic 2% milk ($4.39)
- 12 ounces of baby boo Choy ($2.29)
- 3 pounds of russet potatoes ($2.97)
- 1.14 pounds of eggplant ($1.77)
- 1 pound of Brussels sprouts ($2.99)
- 1.63 pounds of citrus marinated diced chicken breast ($4.87)
- 19.2 ounces of lean ground turkey ($5.29)
- 2 pounds of honeycrisp apples ($5.49)
- Gluten free brown rice crisps, 7 ounces ($3.29)
- Gluten free summer sausage, 16 ounces ($4.65)
- Genoa salami, 8 ounces ($2.75)
- 2 goat cheese logs ($1.99 each)
- Jar of Kalamata olives, 6 ounces ($2.45)
- 4 “large” avocados ($3.16 total)
- 1 pound of organic strawberries ($3.85)
- Sweet kale chopped salad kit, 12 ounces ($4.39)
- 1 pound of mini-cucumbers ($1.85)
- 0.95 pounds of bananas ($0.44)
- 2 original potato chips, 10 ounces ($4.18 total)
- 2 pints of blueberries ($2.44 each, up from $1.99)
- 4 boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios ($4.05 each)
- 2 containers of feta cheese crumbles, 4 ounces ($2.05 each)
- 2 Sea Salt and Vinegar Kettle Chips, 8 ounces ($1.65 each)
- 2 Kettle Chips, 8 ounces ($1.65 each)
- 2 sour cream and onion chips, 9.5 ounces ($4.18 total)
- Clancy’s 10 ounce bag of potato chips ($2.09)
- 4 cans of Red Thunder Energy Drinks, Aldi’s version of Red Bull ($0.89 each)
- 5 containers of Greek Yogurt, 32 ounces ($4.15 each)
- Tortilla chips, 13 ounces ($2.09)
- 1.67 pounds of organic chicken breasts ($8.33)
- 1 cantaloupe ($1.99)
- 2 pounds of Vidalia onions ($2.05)
- Pecan halves, 10 ounces ($5.49)
- Polish kielbasa, 14 ounces ($2.99)
- Case of water, 24 pack ($3.55 + $1.20 CRV)
- 2 pounds of organic grass-fed ground beef ($10.98)
- Quartered marinated artichoke hearts, 12 ounces ($2.45)
- 2 cheddar rice snacks, 6 ounces ($7.10 for both)
- 16 ounces honey smoked turkey ($4.55)
- 16 ounces of deli sliced chicken breast ($5.95)
We paid a $1.99 curbside pickup fee, and paid $0.72 for 6 paper bags.
When I got home, I realized there were 3 items missing from my order. The missing items included:
- 2 boxes of bacon cheddar burger patties, 2 pounds each box ($19.78)
- Frozen stir fry vegetables, 12 ounces ($1.65)
Aldi Trip 2 ($7.98 Spent)
When I went back to the store to pick up my missing items, I also picked up a half gallon of organic 2% milk ($3.99) and some gluten free noodles ($3.99).
Update: I previously wrote that many years ago I purchased some meats from Aldi and didn’t have a great experience with the quality. I will say that we were happy with the quality of thee bacon cheddar burger patties, the turkey burger patties, the organic, grass-fed ground beef, and the frozen ahi tuna. The diced citrus marinated chicken breasts was okay, not great. And the organic chicken breasts were not good. I won’t buy them again. We grilled them and when I say they were tough, I mean they were TOUGH. And dry.
Costco Trip 1 ($289.45 Spent)
I don’t have pictures of everything, because deliveries are still arriving, but here’s what we bought:
- 4 cases of Hint Water, 21 bottles per case ($75.96 total plus $4.20 CRV)
- 24-count of Watermelon Red Bull (8.4 ounces) ($38.99 plus $1.20 CRV)
- 18-count of Alani Nu Energy drinks (12 ounces) ($26.99 plus $0.80 CRV)
- 2 packages of Kirkland Toilet Paper, 30 rolls ($49.98 for both)
- 2-pack of Jose’s Vanilla Nut Whole Bean Coffee, 3 pounds each package ($59.99 less a $15 off coupon, so $45.99)
- 2-pack of Jose’s 100% Organic Mayan Whole Bean Coffee, 2.5 pounds each package ($49.99 less a $15 off coupon, so $34.99)
I panic bought the coffee since the tariffs on coffee are in effect and outrageously high.
Costco Trip 2 ($36.66 Spent)
I had to go to Costco to fill a prescription for my dog, so while I was in there I picked up a few things.
We were down to our last few tablespoons of tamari/gluten free soy sauce/coconut aminos, so I got this giant bottle for $9.99. Definitely much cheaper than any other store, so I’ll be buying this at Costco in the future.
The Honey Nut Cheerios were $8.69 for 2 boxes that each had 27.5 ounces, so DEFINITELY buying these from Costco in the future.
Are you sensing a theme? I got these gluten free tortillas for $8.99 each. Is this a lot? Yes. Is it cheaper than the gluten free Mission flour tortillas from my discount grocery store? Also yes. The Mission ones are $5.29 for 6 tortillas. The BFree wraps are $8.99 for 12 wraps. Hopefully they taste good. And I just noticed that they are “protein” wraps, so that’s just a bonus.
August Totals
I spent $579.79 this week on groceries and household goods. Added to the $492.83 spent in the first half of August, that brings our total to $1,072.62. If you take out the toilet paper (plus tax), that comes to about $1,017. But, that was with buying all of our protein from the store, instead of using our Butcher Box meat in the freezer. And, of that $1,017, drinks were $217 and chips were about $52. So, $269 was “unnecessary.” This may sound like an excuse, but we are a house with multiple ADHD people. Caffeine is not super optional.
I don’t anticipate spending anything else this month. I do have 2 trips planned to Trader Joe’s (to get replacement hamburger buns) and Ralphs (I have a coupon for free eggs that expires August 31st).
Frugal Forward 
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