Wednesday, May 19, 2010

A Recipe to Spend Too Much Money

Combine:
1 Tired Mom
1 empty refrigerator
2 empty cupboards
1/2 c. Coupon Burnout

Fold in:
1 Trip to Costco (to pick up a prescription, of course!)
1 empty stomach
Cook in the slow-walk-around-Costco crockpot for 2 hours....

and......you get a tired, grumpy mom that just spent $365 at Costco.....

But seriously....prior to the trip, my hubby and were talking about how I go to the grocery store(s) and buy (what feels like) a ton...only to have everything look bare again in a few days.  Very frustrating....I just can't seem to get a handle on the correct quantity to buy of ANYTHING.....that being said, the older girls are at school all day, but when they come home we really don't police the snacking.  However, none of them are overweight, and they all eat a good amount at meals (we rarely have leftovers).....so where does all this food go (of course, Dad and I eat our fair share too) ???!!!???

Here's some of our standard quantites...........
Milk -> 8 gallons a week
Bread ->  1/2 to 1 loaf a day
Strawberries -> 1 pound in 1 sitting
Cereal -> 1 box a day (if they all eat the same one)
Instant Oatmeal ->  1 box every other day (if they eat oatmeal 2 days in a row)

Give you an idea?

You might recall that last trip (on May 9) I purchased 10 boxes of Quaker granola bars....
Today (May 18) we have 1 box left.....

Of course we would save money if I made more from scratch...and I like to do that....but I have to balance my time since I spend 36 hours a week working outside the home.....and there's also the laundry, the cleaning, the shopping, the diabetes, and the blogging.....oh ya, kids too...

Well...anyway.....we went on our merry way to Costco, thinking that we would buy the larger quanitities and see if it makes a difference.... ha ha....(don't laugh at me....)

Here's what we bought:

BIG bag of tortilla chips - $3.39
Frozen Meatballs (these are REALLY good) - $13.99
Eggos (60 count) - $7.99
Tilapia Fillets (fresh) - $18.23
Cheddar/Jack shredded cheese - $10.99
Cookies - 24 count - from the bakery - $6.49 (did i mention i had an empty stomach)
5 dozen eggs - $4.49 (that's less than $1 a dozen PEOPLE!)
A......cheesecake..with strawberry topping.....$14.99
3 lbs sour cream - $3.79 ($1.26 per pound, not good - Winco = $1.09/lb)
Crumbled bacon (real) - for salads - 7.99
Frozen chicken tenders - $13.99 (i think it is 6 lbs?)
BIG can of Yuban coffee - $7.99
4 lbs of bacon - $9.99
Pre-formed hamburgers, frozen (ground sirloin) - $14.99
Cocoa mix (70 envelopes)- $6.49 ($0.09 per envelope)
Nestle Chocolate chips (72 ounces = 4.5 normal bags) - $8.99 ($1.99 per bag)
Frozen corn dogs - $8.69
Frozen chicken chimichangas - $12.79
Frozen lasagna - $11.59
Honey Bunches of oats - $6.89 (i think this roughly equals 3 or 4 boxes of cereal)
4 pounds of butter - $7.19 (that's $1.79 per pound - AWESOME, if you use real butter)
Marinated Pork Loin (to BBQ) - $15.22
Minced Garlic - $3.39 (we eat garlic on everything.....except cheesecake)
Pepper grinder, with pepper - $3.99
1 gallon Best Foods Mayo - $6.89 (we go through 1-2 regular jars a week)
Panda Express Orange Chicken sauce (44 ounces) - $4.49
2 (2) loaf packages of Iron Kids bread - $4.49 each =   $8.98
3 jar pack of Classico Alfredo Sauce - $5.99 ($1.99 each)
2 pack Skippy Peanut butter (each jar is 3 lbs)- $8.39
3 jars of Classico Spaghetti Sauce - $6.99 ($2.33 each)
13 gallon trash bags (200)- $12.99  ($0.06 per bag)
1 Gallon Kosher Dill pickles (we are pickle eaters!) - $3.49
Pepsi (for Pigeon Man) - $9.50

Still need to go to Winco to get produce....

We also purchased paper plates ($13.79) and plastic cups ($10.99) - both are very large quantities.  We have curbside recycling here in California, so we keep a recycling container next to the trash can, plates are scraped then put in the recycling.....this is controversial, but we are going to try it in the name of simplification....and mom's sanity.....

So, your thoughts??? anyone???? some of these items truly were a good deal....

How do you balance warehouse club shopping with regular grocery shopping?
If you stick to a budget, how do you budget your warehouse shopping?


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