After I had completed my "no groceries for a month" challenge, I took a friend with me to Costco and re-stocked my grocery supply. This friend of mine has recently begun her journey in housewifehood and, like me, she strives to live a simple and frugal lifestyle. I had been talking to her about how I cut up my own chickens and make everything from scratch to save money, and I was excited to take her grocery shopping with me. (I know, how boring does that sound? But I was seriously excited about it!)
I LOADED my grocery cart up. Like, I could not fit another item in if I wanted to! We headed to checkout. Total with tax? $263. I'm pretty sure I saw my friend's eyeballs pop out of their sockets! How in the world could I claim to be frugal and live simply when I drop $263 in one day at Costco?! I still stand my my frugality with this purchase. Let me explain.
I LOADED my grocery cart up. Like, I could not fit another item in if I wanted to! We headed to checkout. Total with tax? $263. I'm pretty sure I saw my friend's eyeballs pop out of their sockets! How in the world could I claim to be frugal and live simply when I drop $263 in one day at Costco?! I still stand my my frugality with this purchase. Let me explain.
Here's the breakdown:
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Let me start by acknowledging the things I could spend less on, or not buy at all. I could buy cheaper hot dogs, but I like Costco's and I get grossed out by the ones that that are mixed meat. I could buy cheaper toilet paper and paper towels, but I buy what I buy because of the durability and feel. Croissants are not necessary, but if you've ever tasted a heavenly buttery croissant from Costco, you'd know why I buy them! (P.S. I heard you should buy things you like and crave regularly at the grocery store. Doing so will help curb your desires to eat out, paying double for your cravings! I agree with this.)
Ok, now here's a break down of what I'm doing with the rest of my supplies.
With the tomato sauce, I make spaghetti sauce. I took that ground beef I bought, and divided it up into 12 bags (a little over a half pound each). When I buy this big can of tomato sauce, I dump it into a stock pot and add in my seasonings to convert it into spaghetti sauce. I then divide the sauce up into 4 bags, making 4 dinners of spaghetti, serving 4 to 6 people per bag. I take a bag of the sauce, a bag of the beef, add in noodles (I only buy noodles for BOGO at Publix), and I end up with spaghetti that only costs $0.80 per plate!
That 25 lb bag of flour ($6.39) equals 112 cups of flour. What do I do with 112 cups of flour? I can take it and make 300 giant cinnamon rolls, 24 large pizzas, or 56 loaves of french bread. I do a little of each and then some other random baked goodies. The last 25 lb bag of flour I bought was in December. I used the last quarter of it during my grocery challenge in March.
96 ounces of Lemon Juice makes us 8 gallons of lemonade. We are trying to cut back on sodas (specifically diet coke), and having lemonade in the house helps. Add in the sugar and water, and it costs $0.93 per GALLON of fresh, homemade lemonade!
The 2 pounds of pecans are for my chocolate chip cookies. Add in the cost of butter, sugar, flour, and vanilla in my recipe, and it costs me $2.45 per dozen of chocolate chip cookies with nuts. It's not the best deal you can get on cookie dough, but I can control the ingredients and that's worth it. (P.S. I make and freeze my cookie dough into balls so I can take out the desired amount of cookies I want to bake at any given point.)
Now the Jimmy Dean sausage makes about 18 sausage patties. I take the eggs, croissants, sausage, and I make sausage breakfast sandwiches that cost me $1.60 each (the croissants are large, so I put 2 sausage patties on each croissant). I usually skip or do a light lunch whenever I make these because they are big and super filling!
The honey is mostly used for all of my healthier recipes and it lasts me a LONG time (6 months to a year). I use it as a sweetener substitute in hot tea or homemade granola bars, and it's also good added to whole wheat bread or rolls.
The queso lasts through about 6 Mexican meals. With the hot dogs and buns, it costs me $0.48 per dog. The organic blueberries make up to 144 blueberry muffins. I won't need to buy blueberries for a few months. 4 pounds of fish sticks make 20 servings.
Last but not least, the chickens. Two whole chickens are cut up into 4 breasts, 8 wings, 4 legs, and the rest is slow cooked to make chicken broth. I make 4 family meals out of the 4 breasts, Shane and I enjoy hot wings (4 wings each), and we get two different meals of legs and thighs. That's 14 meals for $0.87 each, with chicken broth!
I have a deep freezer that enables me to make and freeze as much as I do. I don't have to buy in bulk, but I do because I make so much from scratch. Anyway, I won't need to return to Costco for anything but milk and juice for the next month. I've got enough meat to last me a couple of months easily. For fruits, veggies, and other sides needed, I head periodically to Publix or Aldi. I'm excited about re-stocking my freezer with homemade, prepared meals and goodies now!
With the tomato sauce, I make spaghetti sauce. I took that ground beef I bought, and divided it up into 12 bags (a little over a half pound each). When I buy this big can of tomato sauce, I dump it into a stock pot and add in my seasonings to convert it into spaghetti sauce. I then divide the sauce up into 4 bags, making 4 dinners of spaghetti, serving 4 to 6 people per bag. I take a bag of the sauce, a bag of the beef, add in noodles (I only buy noodles for BOGO at Publix), and I end up with spaghetti that only costs $0.80 per plate!
That 25 lb bag of flour ($6.39) equals 112 cups of flour. What do I do with 112 cups of flour? I can take it and make 300 giant cinnamon rolls, 24 large pizzas, or 56 loaves of french bread. I do a little of each and then some other random baked goodies. The last 25 lb bag of flour I bought was in December. I used the last quarter of it during my grocery challenge in March.
96 ounces of Lemon Juice makes us 8 gallons of lemonade. We are trying to cut back on sodas (specifically diet coke), and having lemonade in the house helps. Add in the sugar and water, and it costs $0.93 per GALLON of fresh, homemade lemonade!
The 2 pounds of pecans are for my chocolate chip cookies. Add in the cost of butter, sugar, flour, and vanilla in my recipe, and it costs me $2.45 per dozen of chocolate chip cookies with nuts. It's not the best deal you can get on cookie dough, but I can control the ingredients and that's worth it. (P.S. I make and freeze my cookie dough into balls so I can take out the desired amount of cookies I want to bake at any given point.)
Now the Jimmy Dean sausage makes about 18 sausage patties. I take the eggs, croissants, sausage, and I make sausage breakfast sandwiches that cost me $1.60 each (the croissants are large, so I put 2 sausage patties on each croissant). I usually skip or do a light lunch whenever I make these because they are big and super filling!
The honey is mostly used for all of my healthier recipes and it lasts me a LONG time (6 months to a year). I use it as a sweetener substitute in hot tea or homemade granola bars, and it's also good added to whole wheat bread or rolls.
The queso lasts through about 6 Mexican meals. With the hot dogs and buns, it costs me $0.48 per dog. The organic blueberries make up to 144 blueberry muffins. I won't need to buy blueberries for a few months. 4 pounds of fish sticks make 20 servings.
Last but not least, the chickens. Two whole chickens are cut up into 4 breasts, 8 wings, 4 legs, and the rest is slow cooked to make chicken broth. I make 4 family meals out of the 4 breasts, Shane and I enjoy hot wings (4 wings each), and we get two different meals of legs and thighs. That's 14 meals for $0.87 each, with chicken broth!
I have a deep freezer that enables me to make and freeze as much as I do. I don't have to buy in bulk, but I do because I make so much from scratch. Anyway, I won't need to return to Costco for anything but milk and juice for the next month. I've got enough meat to last me a couple of months easily. For fruits, veggies, and other sides needed, I head periodically to Publix or Aldi. I'm excited about re-stocking my freezer with homemade, prepared meals and goodies now!