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| September Groceries 9/14/26 |
I put in an order of groceries on Sunday night and they were delivered this Monday morning. I wanted more half and half for my daughter as she mentioned that the previous container, bought last week, was starting to taste a bit off. We also wanted more fruit and I wanted some meal replacement drinks and yogurt as I have another dental appointment coming up (next Monday). The canned tuna was a stock up item and I can always do with another tray of chicken drumsticks and a loaf of bread! I received everything I ordered with one substitution - the name brand yogurt because they didn't have the store brand (the shopper took some photos of the shelves and sent to me).
I didn't order any vegetables because the garden is still producing kale in abundance and lots of moringa pods.
Here's the receipt:
Order Summary
Item Details
14 Items
Order Coupons
-$1.00
Other Fees
$0.20
I spent a total of $42.66 on this grocery order.
My September grocery budget (for food items only) = $250
Spent to date = $56.50 + $42.66 = $99.16
Balance remaining in the September grocery budget = $250 - $99.16 = $150.84
Pondering the Grocery Budget:
When I first started this blog (July 2014), I budgeted $150/month for groceries (food, only) for my daughter and myself or $75 per person, per month. When daughter went away to attend university, I budgeted $75/month for myself and set up a budget of $100 for my daughter as grocery prices in the Bay Area were a little higher. My budget, at the time, included an additional $25/month for eating out/take out.
During the Covid pandemic, I chose to do curbside pick up of my groceries from a slightly more expensive supermarket which offered this service (free of charge with a minimum purchase), instead of shopping in person at the less expensive stores I used to shop at pre-Covid. As a result, I found it difficult to keep to the $75 budget I had set for myself. But, since I was not eating out or getting take out, I added the $25 from my eating out budget to my grocery budget and increased it to $100/mo. and that worked out quite nicely.
Later, when my daughter came to stay with me for an extended period of time during the latter part of the Covid pandemic, I increased the budget to $200/mo. for the two of us and when she went back to the Bay Area, I decreased my budget to $100/mo., again. It was still $100/mo. in October 2024. Then, my daughter came home for another extended stay from November 2024 until end of March 2025 and I increased my grocery budget to $200/mo. for the two of us. But, when she went back to the Bay Area after her trip to Japan in April, I went back to budgeting $100 /mo. for myself. But, prices had gone up and I overspent in April (I used unspent money from my car fuel budget to cover what I overspent on groceries).
Then, in May 2025, I increased the budget to $150/mo. because I was stocking up on coffee for my daughter. Her favorite coffee was on sale for $7.99/12 oz. package and I bought a total of 10 packages during the month, using nearly $80 or over half of my grocery budget for the purpose! I budgeted $150 again in June 2025, too, but, in July 2025, I set the grocery budget at $100, again.
However, in August 2025, my daughter came to live at home, permanently and I increased the food budget to $250/month for the two of us. I'm still keeping to that budget for the most part, adjusting what I buy as prices go up, in order to keep to that budget and carrying over any balance (positive or negative) into the next month. I stayed under budget in January and February, went over by $3.70 in March, stayed under budget in April, went over the budget in May, stayed under budget in June, July, and August! I had $1.30 left in the August grocery budget, but, I didn't carry it over to September and started September with a $250 budget.
With grocery prices likely to increase in the upcoming months, sticking to this budget and still eating a fairly well balanced diet might be a challenge. I am wondering if I will have to increase my grocery budget next year.
In the meantime, I am grateful for:
- Being able to order groceries online
- Having the groceries delivered
- The availability of groceries
- Garden produce
- Eggs from our own chickens
Do you have a monthly (or annual) grocery budget? If so, are you able to keep to your budget even with grocery prices increasing?
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