We spent $66.14 on groceries this past week

Want to see what we bought for this week’s $70 grocery budget? I’m currently challenging myself to stick with a $70 budget for our family of seven (two adults, two teenagers, one preteen, and two babies*). This includes almost all of our breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and dinners + most household products (toiletries, laundry soap, etc.).

For live updates, be sure to follow my Instagram Stories. See all posts on my $70 Grocery Budget here.

*Note: Champ’s formula is currently being covered by the state since he’s in foster care so that’s why you don’t see it in my grocery shopping trips. Kierstyn is mostly nursing, though we are supplementing with 4-6 oz. of formula each day since my supply is low despite all my efforts to increase it. So she goes through one big tub of formula about every month. We also haven’t bought any diapers because friends were so generous and gifted us boxes of diapers to last us for a few months, at least. We may change the budget in the near future as the babies get older and their needs change. We’ll see!

We had such a good week this past week! It started with traveling back from Johnson City, TN where we met up with two of my sisters and their families this past weekend, then my mom got to come visit Monday through Wednesday, Kathrynne got her learner’s permit and worked a full day almost every day (they have a big project at work so she’s been working extra hours to help out), Kaitlynn had Cheer Camp, and then the week ended with an all day (12 hours, 4 games!) baseball tournament for Silas.

After weeks and weeks of quiet, it feels so nice to be back to some normal things — even though we’re having to learn a new normal with social distancing and masks involved. But some normal is still so nice!

I went to Kroger twice this week and here’s a rundown on what I bought:

Kroger Shopping Trip #1:

• 4 pounds butter — $1.99 each
• Eggland’s Best Eggs — marked down to $1.89
• 4 bags Chex Mix — $0.99 when you buy 5 or more participating items
• Taco Seasoning — marked down to $0.25
• Olives — marked down to $0.69
• Suave Body Wash — $1.99 when you buy 5 or more participating items + used $1/1 Kroger digital coupon = $0.99
• Kroger Tortilla Chips — $1, used $0.35/1 Kroger digital coupon = $0.65
• Whole Wheat Tortillas — $1.59
• Tamales — marked down to $2.49
• Rolls — marked down to $0.89
• Bananas — marked down to $0.67
• Onions — marked down to $0.99
• Sweet Potatoes — marked down to $0.99
• Peaches/Nectarines — marked down to $0.99
• Coconut — $1.27
• Greek Yogurt — marked down to $1.29
• 4 cartons blueberries — $1.67 each
• Total with tax: $34.82

Kroger Shopping Trip #2:

• 2 Simple Truth Egg Whites — marked down to $0.99 each
• 30 eggs — marked down to $0.79
• Greek yogurt — marked down to $0.39
• 6 boxes Kellogg’s cereal — $1.49 when you buy 5 or more participating items
• 4 bags Goldfish crackers — $0.99 each when you buy 5 or more participating items
• Proteen Cereal — marked down to $1.39
• Milk — $2.59
• Bread — marked down to $1.49
• Oranges — $2.88
• Lettuce — $1.79
• Oats — $2.49
• Water — $0.79
• Total with tax: $31.32

Total spent on groceries: $66.14

What We Ate This Past Week

Note: When you see the meals below, please remember this: I buy ahead often. Which means that when I find a great deal on something I know we’ll use, I buy as much as I can afford in our budget to have on hand.

This means that you aren’t going to see all of the groceries my shopping trip that I used to make all of the meals we ate.

Please also remember that I’m putting this out there and it’s not a perfectly balanced menu. This is just really what we ate — and I hope that it encourages you to see the real-ness and lack of perfection here.

Breakfasts — Cereal, Oatmeal, Eggs/Blueberries, Energy Bites

Lunches — Yogurt, Eggs, Salad/Toast, Leftovers, Cereal, Strawberries, Bananas

Snacks — Cereal, Energy Bites, Oatmeal/Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chex Mix, Banana Bread

Dinners:

• Monday — Meatballs, mashed potatoes, peas, sweet potatoes, salad, strawberries
• Tuesday — Chicken Bean Rollups, Mexican Rice, Fruit, Salad, Avocados, Chips
• Wednesday — Sausage/Sweet Potatoes/Onions in the crockpot, Rolls
• Thursday — Pancakes, Eggs, Fruit
• Friday — Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Salad, Banana Bread
• Saturday — Snacky Dinner at baseball (I brought Energy Bites, Banana Bread, Fruit Snacks, Chex Mix, & Blueberries in a cooler.)
• Sunday — Leftovers/Fend For Yourself

Cashback Earned: 75 points from Fetch Rewards, $2.85 earned from iBotta for buying Kellogg’s cereal