Big Family Grocery Spending for February 2024

If you’re curious, here’s the breakdown and total for our Big Family Grocery Spending for February 2024…

I thought it would be fun to keep track of everything I bought and share what I spent throughout the month as I shopped for food.

Here’s the amount we currently budget for groceries so that we can feed 13+ people every day at our house. Household items, diapers, and cleaning supplies are a separate line item in our budget, so this amount is just for food.

Ready to see where I shopped, what I bought, and how much I spent?

Big Family Grocery Spending for February 2024

1. Special Bro Dinner

Elias and Brayden spend some one-on-one Bro Time each week. One of their “outing activities” early this month was to go to the grocery store to buy food in order to make a meal together to give Mom a night off. They decided to make Pasta with Red and White Sauces plus Veggies and Texas Toast. While shopping, they also picked up Blackberries and a box of Brownies to make for dessert. The cost for this was a bit more than I typically spend for a meal. But was this priceless? Absolutely.

Cost for this meal and experience: $25.

2. Goodcents Kids Meal Treats

We had a stack of Free Kids’ Meals coupons that we’d received back in October. So on the first Saturday of the month, we decided to take advantage of those on our way home from the library. Matt bought himself a meal and six kids shared five free kids’ meals.

They LOVED this and altogether we only spent $12.90.

3. Sam’s

It had been a couple of weeks since I’d been grocery shopping and it had been nice to save money during that time by creating meals with what we had on hand. But we were completely out of fresh produce and almost out of all dairy products. So February 6, I had a stock-up trip at Sam’s for a lot of basics.

Total spending for food that day: $348.86.

4. Walmart

The middle of the month, two of the girls and I went to Walmart to look for Pediasure for BabyBoy#11.

While we were there I picked up a few other things I needed like sour cream and ice cream (<—emphasis on the word needed, haha.) I also looked around for markdowns because I usually find some. Indeed, a few of their pizzas were priced really low!

Total out of pocket spending at Walmart: $52.25

5. Aldi

Another day we went to Aldi so I could pick up Fruit and Veggie Pouches for BabyBoy#11. While there, I  found Organic Blueberries on sale plus amazing 1/2 price markdowns on three Pork Putts!

Total spent at Aldi: $39.51.

6. Costco

I ran to Costco that same day for diapers and grabbed strawberries, butter and discounted Annie’s while I was there.

Total at Costco for food: $51.95

7. Walmart

Later in the month, we went to Walmart to get more of the Pediasure needed for BabyBoy#11. We also picked a lot of the little girls’ WIC items that they get through their Adoption Subsidy.

I always scan through the aisles and meat section for markdowns, and today I scored this big package of chicken breast for just $1.76/pound!

Our WIC benefits covered almost all of this shopping trip, which is a HUGE BLESSING.

Total spent at Walmart: $59.12

8. Costco

On February 23, I went to Costco for a big grocery haul. I got cooking basics that we needed plus lots of fruits and vegetables. A huge blessing: I had received our once-a-year Costco Rewards Certificate that I was able to apply to this purchase. So I decided to use it to buy some convenience items to free me up a little bit for busy days and for picnics we like to take as a family.

Among other things I got Fish Sticks, Chicken Nuggets, Frozen Pizza, Mac and Cheese, Crackers and Cheese, Nut Packets, Fruit Bars, Meat Sticks, and Sweet Potato Crackers. I found Halo Cookie Kits on clearance and bought one to enjoy with the kids.

Thanks to our Rewards Certificate, I only had to pay $239.81 out of pocket for all of this! What a gift!

Total at Costco: $239.81

10. Amazon

We receive a monthly subscribe and save order from Amazon, mostly for toothpaste and other household items. But I did spend $20 on a couple cases of GoGo Squeezes for the kids.

(I forgot to take a picture; here’s something similar.)

Total from Amazon: $20

Grand Total Grocery Spending for February, 2024

We ended up way under budget by spending a total of: $849 

The Costco Reward Certificate certainly helped. But even without that, we would have been under budget. Thank you, God!

Running total for 2024:

January: $1,178
February: $849