Big Family Grocery Spending for January, 2025

Here’s our Big Family Grocery Spending for January, 2025 post!

Here’s how we spent our grocery budget for our large household during the month of January. But first…

This January wasn’t normal

This was a very challenging month with a much lower-than-normal spending total due to illness running through our household all month long (first a stomach bug for 10 of us, followed by Influenza for 8 of us).

Appetites were much smaller overall, and parents didn’t have energy to go grocery shopping the last half of the month. So we ate through our stockpile of food from our pantry and freezer, and we had plenty to work with. Next month might be an extra-large-spending month as we make up for what we didn’t spend this month!

Big Family Grocery Spending for January, 2025

1. Aldi

On January 9, we needed to restock many of our staples so we headed to Aldi where I got many of our favorites: whole milk, whole milk yogurt, granola, oranges, Caesar salad kits, blueberries, ground sausage, ham lunchmeat, Fritos, bananas, fruit/veggie pouches for Auggie, sweet peppers, pear cups, powdered sugar, and salami.

Total for food at Aldi: $87.31

2. Costco

From there, we went into Costco where we really stocked up!

We got a lot of produce: apples, mandarins, mini cucumbers, spring mix, spinach, broccoli, two kinds of grapes, blackberries, raspberries, pears, and potatoes. We also got cream, half and half, beef sticks, almond crackers, yogurt squeezies, mandarin orange cups, avocado cups, eggs, tortilla chips, pasta sauce, rotel, maple syrup, olive oil, coconut rolls, tortelloni, mini corndogs, applesauce cups, granola, two kinds of shredded cheese, frozen french fries, chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, chocolate chips, sour cream, and tilapia.

Back at home, as we unpacked from Aldi and Costco, I loved seeing all the variety of fruits and veggies we had to work with as we fed our family meals and snacks.

Total for food at Costco: $429.33

3. Wal-Mart

On January 16, I took Anna and Auggie with me to Wal-Mart so that we could get some of their WIC items and a few other family necessities (boots, tennis shoes – ooh, I scored a pair of shoes for Brayden on clearance for $5!). Elias’ birthday was coming up so I picked up some groceries for his upcoming celebration.

What I find every time I go shopping without Matt or one of our adult kids: One cart is not enough. But with two kids tagging along, two carts wouldn’t have worked either. So I made one cart work – barely!

This shopping trip, WIC provided lots of fruits and veggies (fresh and frozen), eggs, cheese, beans, cereal, pasta, and rice. This is such a blessing!

Total out of pocket cost for groceries at Wal-Mart: $81.06

4. Amazon Subscribe and Save

I didn’t remember to take a picture when our order came in this month, but we got several cases of applesauce, yogurt pouches, pizza crust, and Annie’s mac and cheese.

Total from Amazon: $48.66

5. Wal-mart 

During our time with Influenza, we were not going through groceries very quickly because no one had much of an appetite for many days. But Matt did go get the oil changed in our small car so while at Walmart, he grabbed a few gallons of milk and some bananas to get us by.

Total from Wal-mart: $9.80

6. DaVinci’s Pizza

Someone gave us a gift certificate for Christmas, and we held on to it to use on an evening we needed it. After our many days of Influenza, as appetites were coming back but energy was low, we decided to take advantage. We ordered two extra large specialty pizzas, which was a fun treat after so many days of misery.

Total for DaVinci’s Pizza: $0 (completely covered by gift certificate)

7. Russ’ Market

We don’t normally shop at this local store because its prices are much higher than my go-to stores. But the kids had brought home a $15 grocery certificate at Christmas time (the school sent these home with families who qualify for free lunches I guess?) and it expired this month. So on January 31, I went to use this certificate, plus we had a few WIC items left in our benefits package that needed to be picked up.

Total out of pocket for groceries at Russ’ Market: $21.58

Total spent in January: $679 (would have been closer to $890 without WIC and the grocery gift certificate)

This was less than half of our budgeted amount. But all of our appetites are coming back, plus we have two birthdays to celebrate in February. I’ll take higher spending ANY DAY over having a house full of sick people for four weeks. February, I’m so glad to see you!