And at the Half: Looking at Groceries 2024

Photo by micheile henderson on Unsplash

Well, that was different! 

We just finished the first half of 2024. (Really? Really? 2024 is really moving that fast?) As I noted back in April, I am again tracking our expenditures for groceries and household staples. At the end of the first quarter, we had spent $682.87, which put our monthly average at $227.62.

So what did the second quarter come in at and where are we at the half? Way better than I had dared hope!

Our total second quarter expenditures were $492.76. Of that, $42.28 represented household staples. The rest was food: $450.48. For second quarter, we averaged $164.25 a month. And for the year to date? $1175.63 total, or a monthly average of $195.94. Sweet. 

Now there were some atypical events that played into second quarter. One was that when my son Ben and grandson Orlando came to visit, the limited foods that Orlando eats willingly and joyously were on sale JUST before they arrived. Those foods? Sausage patties ("sausage burgers," eaten on a slider bun) and strawberries. So I stocked up on sausage patties (five 12 oz packages; Orlando downed three of the five) and three pounds of strawberries (which Meijer had as a loss leader that week at $1/pound). As for the rest of us, Ben expressed a deep desire for items he could not get in Washington: White Castle from a drive-thru (not frozen, which he can get out there) and Delco Pizza, a local pizza vendor. So while we spent money on takeout that week ($30.87 on a White Castle 20 slider sack, which lasted more than two days; $24.80 on Delco, which was $12 less because I had a birthday gift card from my local bank that one of the 12" pizzas free; the Delco made it through several meals), our groceries did not spike. (Yes, there was also ice cream and corn dogs at Dairy Depot, the local soft serve a block away.)

A second factor was that we had a road trip at the start of June to my Emerald City (i.e., Rochester, Minnesota, NOT Seattle as my dear friend Pat thought when she saw a post of mine on Facebook) and our eating expenditures were pretty low for that trip (about $100) as well, as friends and family treated us to meals and because we are just not big eaters. Our biggest splurge was Lou Malnoti's pizza (where has that been all my life?), where we spent $21.94 for the best deep dish pizza in Chicagoland that I have ever had, and even then we made two meals of it: late night dinner and then breakfast the next morning. 

The third factor, totally unexpected, was that in early June, my dad had a medical setback and ended up in skilled nursing rehab. I went out to his house and cleared the refrigerator of perishables. A few had to hit the garbage (he had not been eating regularly and not sharing that information with us), but the rest came home with me. (Including a container of cherry tomatoes—I won't buy them, but I will eat them!) That is why in the month of June, we spent only $64.24 in groceries and $14.28 in household items, for a grand total of $78.52.

A few other items of note. One is that I often buy laundry detergent for $0.00. How do I pull that feat off? My pharmacy is CVS, I get CVS bucks (their word, not mine) for my prescriptions, and with those and other coupons CVS sends me, it is almost always free. Almost always, because in June, with expiring coupons and points, I spent a whopping $2.51 on a full-size detergent. Whew!

There was also one splurge of note, so much so that I took a photo of it. Yes, lamb loin roast, $13.41 for 1.88 pounds at Aldi. 

The splurge

Yes, it was a major splurge. Warren enjoys lamb. I love lamb. We almost never buy it, for lots of reasons including price and that most of it in the stores is flown in from New Zealand (carbon footprint, anyone?). (American-raised lamb, which you can buy online, is truly eye-watering in price. I understand why and have no problem with the producers asking those prices, but lamb is way, way, way outside our budget.) 

But here's the thing. That lamb loin roast? We cut it into four (4—count 'em!—4) portions, had one that weekend, and the other three are in our freezer. So even our splurges get maximum mileage! 

So there's where we are at the half. We just did a major restocking at Aldi yesterday: $136.36. But with the exception of a few fill-ins from Kroger of items Aldi does not carry, and replenishing perishables during the month, that should be the biggest shopping trip of the month. 

On to third quarter!