The Grocery Budget Challenge Proves to Be Challenging

James came home from Wal-Mart and said, “I did something bad.” That single sentence sums up week two on the grocery budget challenge for me. The “bad” thing he did was spend $2.50 on a six pack of Dr. Pepper. He stared at me, I stared at him, he spoke, “At least it was a good deal.”

A good deal, James?!? He never shops, he doesn’t know that a good deal is actually when Kroger runs them on sale for 1.99. Where was your laser focus when I needed it, James? Why was he even out of the house shopping alone, you ask? Perhaps you are thinking it’s because of the Coronavirus, that maybe we were stocking up. Well, if buying over a pound of Sour Patch kids is how you stock up for a pandemic…then we NAILED it!

How did I get here? Rookie mistakes were made. Three major mistakes have put me in a serious bind with this budget. 1. We got a free Sam’s membership and waltzed around that store like king and queen. 2. Ibotta, the app that’s supposed to save me money is actually costing me money. 3. Eating Out. Let’s start with the Sam’s Mistake.

Related Post: My Money Saving Game Plan

Sam’s

James and I have never had a membership to anything ever, so when the opportunity arose to get one for free, we snagged it. Only, it wasn’t quite free. The deal was that if you joined Sam’s they would give you a 45 dollar credit which would negate the cost of a membership.

We weren’t sure the next time we would be back at a Sam’s so we decided to spend it. I thought, “This will be great, let’s get staples that are pricier elsewhere.” Unfortunately, I couldn’t find organic meat anywhere in that store. Do they have it there? I did find the milk we buy in a three pack, but it wasn’t as cheap as when I find it on sale at Kroger, so I didn’t get it.

I ended up leaving with a giant tub of greek yogurt (for my pizza addiction) which was the same price as a smaller tub at any other store. Then the only other products that I thought were good deals were Organic maple syrup, organic raw honey, a two pack of Dave’s killer bread, and then James had to have a giant tub of peanuts. James is killing me this week.

Sam’s food court debacle

We were in St. Louis that day because I had two doctor appointments. One in the morning, and one in the afternoon. We ate peanut butter at the park for lunch, but dinner I had planned to eat in the Sam’s food court because it is cheap. I figured we would get out of that food court with 10 dollars spent and bellies full.

Except my children, who reliably eat like birds, decided they each had the hunger of 10 grown men. I guess the peanut butter didn’t fill them up. Maybe they worked up quite the hunger playing in a park for 4 hours with their dad while they waited on me in my appointments. Either way, we ended up spending 17 dollars in that food court! (which is still not horrible for a family of five, but still not good!) Now my food budget had 67 dollars eaten out of it, and we still had no food for the week. Ugghhh!

Ibotta

My other mistake was Ibotta. When I joined Ibotta, they gave me 14 days to redeem 10 offers to get a bonus 20 bucks. I can’t say no to free money, and I managed to find items I use in my house anyway. The problem was the items I use, are not the items I was going to purchase to keep making cheap meals. I got them anyway because I wanted that 20 dollar bonus. This made me spend much more than I would have on groceries.

Then yesterday I realized I was still two offers away from claiming my 20 dollar bonus. I could use it for a rebate on shredded cheese, which would have been sensible, but I hate shredded cheese. I shred my own.

Instead I behaved as the grown child I am and got candy. Lots of candy. Doomsday amounts of candy. I sent James to Wal-Mart super late (to avoid the coronavirus, obviously). James returned with two full size butterfingers, and 18 ounces of Sour Patch Kids. Stocking up on candy during a pandemic makes as much sense as stocking up on toilet paper, but the first one is much more fun.

Either-way, the junk food James returned home with added 9 dollars to my dwindling food budget for the week. It’s hard to be too mad about it, I’m currently eating candy happily as I write this.

Eating Out

Last but not least, I was forced to eat out twice. The first one was at Sam’s. Then Friday of last week we took the boy to get his haircut at 10:30. There were so many people there that we were seriously not out of the place until 1!!!! (Why did we all go together? We do everything together because we are pack animals).

The kids were starving and cranky so we went to McDonald’s to ward off their hunger while I made a proper lunch. We used the app to get a dollar large fry in the drive through, a dollar cheeseburger, then I went inside and used the app on my phone for another dollar fry. hahaha. No doubt these were very healthy decisions. That outing cost $3.20, which is pretty impressive, but that could have gone towards fruit or something that would last. Every cent counts in a contest.

What Are We Eating This Week?

Our leftovers last week were like the fish and loaves from the Bible. That means by eating leftovers we didn’t have to cook more than half the meals I had planned last week. Here is how this week’s menu is shaping up.

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-Vegetable Fried Rice with chicken (from this cookbook)
-Fish, Rice, and Broccoli (pantry and freezer, no recipe)
-Quinoa tacos
-Chicken and Wild Rice Soup (this recipe tweaked to be healthier)
–Homemade Pizza (always)
-Quinoa, Sweet Potatoes, and Black Bean Bowls
-Costa Rican Red Beans and Rice with Salad (cookbook)
-Lime rice with black beans and a green smoothie
-Lots of no knead bread
-Chicken Stir-Fry (cookbook)

Due to blowing my budget on mass amounts of candy and honey, you can see we were forced to eat out of the pantry and freezer. There is lots of rice this week. LOTS. I cooked 8 cups and we are still eating on it. Luckily, my kids love rice.

Moving Forward

My total amount spent on food this month so far is 217 dollars. I spent 107 dollars total this week. That includes the food eaten out, giant jugs of syrup, candy, giant containers of peanuts, and James’ Dr. Pepper. I mean, that’s not total failure. I am still saving money each week on groceries. So far I am 83 dollars below where I normally am on a good month.

The other good budget news is that with Ibotta rebates and odd jobs, I’ve made 72 dollars this month. If I take that out of my overall food budget, I’ve only spent 145 this month. Which means I’ve saved 155. That doesn’t count for this contest, but that’s awesome and I’m proud of myself.

Next week will hopefully be much better. There will be no more junk food purchased, or pop, James! Ibotta won’t be making me make bad choices, I won’t visit Sams, and I will have a clear plan to forge ahead.

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Right now I’m in solid second place. But in the words of TobyMac, “I’ma gonna go down swinging, if I go down.” Win or lose, this contest is 100% the reason I am doing so well with this food budget, so I already feel like a winner. Week 3 here I come.