Grocery Spending: August 2022

Another month has flown by and I’m here to do a breakdown of our grocery spending yet again. Inspired by the insights grocery tracking has given me, I’m looking forward to extending this to other household spending categories. I constructed a Google Sheets using this Youtube Video.

I first looked at a bunch of apps, but ultimately I wanted something that simply tracked earnings and expenditures, not our investment/retirement/savings accounts. I spent a solid hour setting up the sheet (I’m not a natural at Excel or Google Sheets). I plan on starting September 1 with tracking every transaction we make. David (who is a natural at the spreadsheets) created a simple input form to make data entry even easier for me. I’m really looking forward to tracking more closely!

I know budgeting is not a novel concept. We’ve always done a pretty good job at monitoring and managing our macro spending/investing/net worth but not as great of a job on the micro scale of day to day spending, which can really add up. Nothing like picking heading into the holiday season to start tracking spending right? 😉 In all seriousness though, I’m excited about it.

Anyway, groceries in August. As a reminder, you can fine all my monthly tracking posts here, as well as an overview of the first half of grocery spending in 2022 in this post.

I predicted that August would be an increased amount spent from July’s previous $952.88 because there were items I needed to stock up on (tortilla chips, salsa, marinara, flour, etc). Let’s take a look!

Publix	$351.54
Aldi	$23.52
Costco	$530.73
Target	$35.71
Whole Foods	$127.05
Food Lion	$61.52
TOTAL	$1,130.07

Costco comes home again as the clear frontrunner capturing our dollars! For feeding a family, it does make sense though. The price is about the same as the grocery store, but you get 25-50% more (based on my own observations, not anything official) of the product. I recently bought capers, about 10x more than what I need for the recipe I am making, but I’ll find a way to use the rest because I couldn’t fathom spending a similar amount at a grocery store to get so many less. Any caper recipes to recommend?

I did go to Aldi to stock up on salsa and tortilla chips, but am finding that Food Lion is gaining in the ranks for my lower-priced go-to store. They have added to their organic offerings and I’ve had good luck with their produce. Plus, it’s more convenient proximity-wise for me.

While I know it’s still 90 degrees out, I’m looking forward to heading into soup season. Soups, stews, chilies, and an active sourdough starter usually helps me stretch out our ingredients and meals.

If you’re a bone broth fan like I am, use this Kettle & Fire link and my code AHS for 20% off your entire purchase. It’s a great time to stock up; I love their turmeric ginger and coconut curry broths for sipping (once the weather cools down).

I’m coming off a few month’s high of having our bill under $1000, so seeing it above kind of bummed me out. While this exercise for me was intended to be simply an observation, it’s tempting for me to set the goal to stay under $1000 next month. I know I can but I also know that since we cook the vast majority of our meals at home, it might mean taking away some of the fun treats (frozen onion rings, cook something crazy night- we just did mussels and octopus is up next, seasonal creamer, wine), and I’m not sure I’m at a place I want to do that.