2015 Groceries Week 52 - $435.54! Annual wrap-up

I ended the year with a big bang and a huge grocery bill.  The first few days were normal, but then I had 3 (count 'em 1-2-3) big, unplanned trips.  Read on to see what happened.

First up was a quick stop Monday for ingredients I needed for an allergen free salad: Spinach, red onion, pears, pomegranate.  I picked up GF corndogs for DD#2, pickles because my kids have a renewed love affair with them, a clearance roast and 2 bottles of sparkling cider for an alcohol alternative at the party we were attending that night.  I spent $21.76.

Also on Monday I went to Costco for a gift I had to take to the party that night and to pick up photos.  I ended up doing a bit of grocery shopping, too.  I spent $80.51 on the stuff in the photo: lettuce, organic spinach, feta, coconut curry and vindaloo, organic chicken, organic chips, organic canned tomatoes, butter, and tortillas.

Tuesday I stopped at County Market because I had a $4.00 off $4.00 purchase coupon that expired that day.  I'm also near County Market on Tuesdays so it worked out.  I bought juice, baby puffs and chicken for $6.16 after the coupon.

And I was back at Costco Tuesday for the photos that weren't ready on Monday.  I also bought organic salsa, organic maple syrup, gluten free frozen pizza and bell peppers.  No photo, $37.66.

I was already done shopping for our normal week's worth of groceries, but knew I needed fruit for a party the weekend after Christmas.  One more trip for the fruit tray & oranges, but of course I found a bunch of other stuff on clearance.  Organic apples on clearance 3/$1.00, nitrate free chicken sausage for $2.49, organic celery, ranch, olives, broccoli, and bell peppers for a veggie tray, Star Wars coffeemate for $1.99 each, sour cream, and a bunch of clearance canned goods.  I spent a big $48.97.

Now I REALLY should have been done shopping.  In fact I was patting myself on the back for not 'stocking up' prior to the pantry challenge I do every January.  But then my aunt asked me to run to Costco with her.  No problem.  I didn't go crazy, but bought GF pizza so DD#2 could have pizza with the rest of us for dinner, more organic canned tomatoes and some crackers & fruit snacks for a January trip to Disneyland.  No photo, those were $37.16.

Now this is a little embarrassing, but I went to happy hour with a girlfriend and I'm a little weird in that I don't like to order the same thing as someone else.  She ordered nachos, which are what I really wanted, and I opted for the quesadilla.  And I spent the whole meal coveting her nachos!  So on the way home I stopped at the grocery store for chips since I felt unsatisfied.  And I hit the GF JACKPOT!  Seriously I couldn't say no to all these ridiculous clearance deals.  GF Special K for $1.39 (qty.3), Bob's Red Mill GF pie crust mix for $1.00 each (qty. 3), organic lollipops-40 & fruit snacks-10 for $2.99 per package (qty 2 suckers & 4 fruit snacks), Annie's GF bunny cookie snacks for $1.00 (qty.12), allergen free chocolate chips for $0.99 with $1.49 off peelies so I got these for FREE plus $0.50 given back to me per bag (qty. 10), organic brown sugar for $1.99 (qty. 2), and Glutino Brownie mix for $1.49 (qty. 6)!  Crazy deals! I picked up a bunch of other groceries on clearance, too including a quick bread mix for $0.99, granola packets for $1.99, 'Simple Truth' turkey lunch meat for $2.50 each (qty. 6) for a detox I'm doing in January, hummus & pico de gallo, and pomegranates for $.50 each!  Oh, and those Doritos I went in to the store for in the first place!  I spent a whopping $92.83 on all this.  And now I'm SO set for a roadtrip to Disneyland.

 4

Now I should have just not entered a store again, but one kiddo needed pull-ups and you can't really delay buying those.  I am SO GLAD I went to the store because I scored 25 pounds of organic ground beef for $3.99/lb!  Seriously, this is such a good price for organic ground beef and it's already conveniently packages into 1# portions. =)  I also bought more of that Star Wars creamer, nitrate free sausages for $1.99/14 oz package, 6# organic potatoes and some organic green onions for the potato soup one of the kids had been begging for.  It was my first time buying organic russet potatoes.  I spent $110.49.

So, as it turns out I'm REALLY stocked up now for the pantry challenge, but that's OK. I already see things we'll run out of fast and I (and the kids) will miss.

This last week of 2015 I spent $435.54
That means my annual total is $6,045.65 - Wow, $6,000 on food for the year.  It really adds up.
My weeky average was $116.26 which is actually pretty great for as much organic and gluten-free foods we eat.

However, it's so much higher than my 2014 and 2015 averages which were just under and just over $100/week.  I wonder how much a difference it made having no garden in 2015?  How much did the cost of basic groceries go up and impact the rest?

My goal for January is to spend as little as possible on groceries to have a big impact on the weekly average all year.  Look for a menu plan on Monday.

Katie