The girls are back in school this week so our summer schedule is officially over.  My grocery shopping trips this week were a lot quieter and less excited but I am thankful for all the fun I had while the girls were home during the summer.  It costs $2 per lunch per child at their school so I am trying to make lunch meals for the girls the majority of the week for under $4 a day.  You will see some of the items are more tailored to taking lunches to school in my attempt to be budget conscious yet healthy.  Here is my weekly update on our Groceries $40 for 4.

• $14.00 at Sav Mor’s Sidewalk Box Sale we purchased 104 items making them approximately $0.13 each (that includes a Brand New DVD, whole boxes of individual items, for example a whole box of  10 Fruit Snacks counts as 1 item but will be put into the girls lunches for a whole week, and more)
  
• 2 – Betty Crocker My Little Pony Fruit Snacks (10 count each)
• 1 – Betty Crocker Devil’s Food Cupcakes (makes 12)
• 4 – Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookies (makes 16)
• 1 – Quaker Chewy Dipps Granola Bars Peanut Butter (8 count each)
• 4 – Slimfast Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bars
• 8 – SoyJoy Banana Bars
• 1 – Myoplex Lite Chocolate Chip Crisp Bar
• 1 – Balance Lemon Meringue Crunch Bar
• 4 – Applesnax Cinnamon Apple Sauce
• 8 – Solo Mint Mania Bars
• 1 – Kashi Go Lean Chocolate Malted Crisp Bar
• 1 – Zone Perfect Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Dough Bar
• 2 – SoyJoy Apple Walnut Bar
• 3 – Quaker Chewy Honey Graham Granola Bars (10 count each)
• 1 – Chef Boyardee Mini ABC’s and 123’s with Meatballs
• 1 – Old Spice Raspberry Mustard (7.75 oz)
• 1 – Wish Bone Romano Basil Vinaigrette (16 oz)
• 1 – Hidden Valley Ranch Garden Vegetable Dressing (16 oz)
• 4 – Jello and Peaches
• 1 – Krusteaz Country White Bread (14 oz)
• 3 – Atkins Chocolate Chip Granola Bars (5 count each)
• 1 – Chex Mix Sour Cream & Onion (8.75 oz)
• 1 – Vegetarian Chili (6.4 oz)
• 2 – Jello Pudding Pumpkin Spice (3.4 oz)
• 1 – Nonni’s Biscotti Chocolate Crunch (10 count)
• 2 – Act II Butter Lovers Popcorn (6 bags each)
• 1 – Fireside Frosted Animal Cookie Packs (6 count)
• 2 – Laura Lynn Pizza Sauce Packets (2 bags each)
• 1 – box Milk Duds (10 oz)
• 1 – LeBleu Ultra Pure Water (20 oz)
• 1 – Betty Crocker Super Moist Carrot Cake (18 oz)
• 1 – Mini Moon Pies Banana (12 count)
• 1 – Miguel’s Organic Vegetable & Seed Tortilla Dippers (7.5 oz)
• 2 – Mrs. Freshleys Banana Pudding Cakes (6 count)
• 3 – Kool Aid Jammers Orange (10 count each)
• 2 – Jolly Time Blast O Butter (6 bags each)
• 2 – Weight Watchers Blue Berry Muffins (3 count)
• 1 – Weight Watchers Lemon Creme Cake (6 count)
• 1 – Mrs Freshley Honey Buns (6 count)
• 1 – Chugginton “Chuggers to the Rescue” DVD – 6 episodes (Brand New & Sealed)
• 1 – Snack Pack Pudding (6 Chocolate and 6 Butterscotch)
• 1 – Campbell’s Tomato Soup (10 3/4 oz)
• 1 – Nature’s Path Pomegran Plus Granola with Cherries (11.5 oz)
• 1 – Pillsbury Creamy Supreme White Frosting (16 oz)
• 1 – Pillsbury Funfetti Vanilla Frosting with Sprinkles (15.6 oz)
• 1 – Hidden Valley Salad Kit (Spinach)
• 1 – Hidden Valley Salad Kit (Original Ranch)
• 1 – Hidden Valley Salad Kit (Caesar)
• 1 – Marie Calendar’s Creamy Parmesan Chicken (6.95)
• 2 – Marie Calendar’s Turkey and Stuffing (6.95 oz each)
• 1 – Hidden Valley Dip (Harvest Dill)
• 1 – Toilet Bowl Cleaning Gel (6 count)
• 1 – Chef Boyardee Mini Beef Ravioli and Meatballs (15 oz)
• 1 – Soft Scrub Total Kitchen (25.4 oz)
• 1 – Enviro Kids Organic Gorilla Munch Cereal (10 oz)
• 1 – Quaker Honey Graham Oh’s (12 oz)
• 1 – Cascadian Farm Organic Granola Oats & Honey (17 oz)
• 1 – General Mills Golden Grahams Cereal (12 oz)
• 1 – General Mills Cinnamon toast Crunch Cereal (17 oz)
• 1 – Kellogg’s Frosted Mini Wheats Big Bite Cereal (16 oz)

For more information on Sav Mor’s Sidewalk Box Sale check out Living on a Budget: Sav Mor Sidewalk Box Sale

Ingles Groceries:

• $20.61 at Ingles for 1 loaf Laura Lynn Thin Bread, 1 container Low Fat Cottage Cheese, 1 container regular Cottage Cheese, 1 box Weight Watchers Chocolate Cookies, 1 small package Ground Beef, 1 large package Ground Beef, 2 containers Organic Strawberries, 1 bag Bananas, 1 large bag Potatoes, 1 container Blueberries, and 1 container diced Onions (everything was on clearance including over 6 pounds of meat!).

BiLo Groceries:

• 19.81 at BiLo for 2 gallons Milk, 1 large package Chicken Breasts, and 2 packages Lean Ground Beef (BiLo still has the best prices on milk.  I got almost 6 pounds of Chicken Breast on sale and over 4 pounds of Ground Beef on clearance).

Walmart Groceries:

• $1.09 at Walmart for 1 bag of Bakery Bread (on clearance)

This week I spent $55.51 on groceries.  Even though I was only a little over on my budgeted amount for the week I was able to pay cash for the food since I was under on previous weeks.   This week I was able to stock up on several items on clearance; including meat, produce, and snacks for the girls school lunches.  Hopefully next week is an even better week and we can come under budget for the week.

It is my goal to give you regular updates on this budget section so you can celebrate the good weeks with me and thump me on the bad weeks!  As always you are welcomed to join the journey with me.  I would love to hear your story and how you are doing too.  The purpose of our family doing this it to watch our grocery spending while allowing us to feed our family, enjoy life, share with others, and yet stay on track with our budget.

Living on a Budget is a series of ways our family uses a budget to help keep us accountable with our finances.  Life doesn’t always go as planned.  We have used some of the ideas I will be sharing for years while others are ones we are just starting to implement as we continue finding ways to be creative and have fun with what we have been given.  Having a plan in place allows us the freedom to be smart with what we have been given, get more creative when it is a tight (week, month, year or a season) and when necessary live a much more simplified life.  A budget helps us stay on track so we have more opportunities to enjoy the many blessings we have been given as well as share what we have with others.  There is so much more to life than having all the stuff.  We may not have the newest or greatest items in our house, we drive used cars, and wear hand-me-down clothing…..however, if our family is taken care of and have love for each other and others we have more than all the riches in the world.