Here’s our Big Family Grocery Spending for November, 2024 post!
Here’s how we spent our grocery budget for our large household during the month of November. We fed 13 people three meals each day, plus a lot of wonderful guests…
Big Family Grocery Spending for November, 2024
1. Costco
On November 1, we went to stock up on items we needed at Costco. We got ground beef, shredded cheese, sour cream, cream cheese, butter, heavy whipping cream, spinach, spring mix, broccoli, turkey lunch meat, chicken nuggets, shrimp (for Matt’s birthday!), tilapia, sausage links, cottage cheese, frozen pizza, chocolate chips, bananas, white queso, mayo, peanuts, pepperoni, eggs, yogurt, meat sticks, avocado cups, frozen french fries, and rolled oats. Annie’s cinnamon rolls were on sale so I grabbed them for our nephew’s birthday the next day.
Total for food at Costco: $333.83
2. Aldi
We also ran to Aldi that day, where I picked up lasagna noodles, fruit/veggie pouches for Auggie, hard salami for school lunches, pears, cake mixes and frosting, cheese cubes for lunches, Caesar salad kits, pasta sauce, fruits, grapes, brown sugar, sausage, raspberries, whole milk yogurt, coffee creamer, milk, and chicken drumsticks.
Total at Aldi: $128.45
3. Wal-Mart
On November 7, I ran into Walmart to get some of Auggie’s WIC items plus a few other ingredients I prefer to get there. WIC items included milk, beans, whole grain pasta, eggs, cereal, and produce. I got spring mix, spinach, frozen potatoes, blueberries, mandarins, and bananas. Beyond WIC, I got flax seed for Mudballs, coconut flour for Snickerdoodle Bites, and a huge tub of Sour Cream.
Of course, I checked for meat markdowns and while I didn’t find much, I did find Rotisserie Chickens marked down to just $2.02! That made them less than $1/pound.
Total out of pocket at Wal-Mart: $32.99
4. Sam’s
Next, we ran next door to Sam’s to get what we needed there. I got a 10-pound box of bacon, 10-dozen eggs, lunch meat, sliced cheese, orange chicken, frozen pizza, potatoes, raspberries, whipping cream, cheese sticks, butter, tortillas, peanut butter, coffee creamer, whole milk yogurt, maple syrup, Rotel, and brown sugar.
Total for food at Sam’s: $270.23
5. Hy-Vee
Our local Hy-Vee offers the option to order WIC items for pick-up. This has been very helpful for purchasing our three little girls’ benefits because it can be tedious to do this in the store. Here’s what we got.
Total out of pocket from Hy-Vee: $0
6. Wal-Mart and Costco
On November 21, I ran into Walmart for some produce provided to our kids through WIC (spring mix, spinach, potatoes, pears, and bananas). I found a London Broil marked down to just $3.35/pound, plus I picked up three gallons of milk. I forgot to take a picture because I was hurrying to get back out to the van where Matt was waiting with the littlest four kids!
Then we went into Costco where we got strawberries, raspberries, apples, mandarins, tortilla chips, sliced havarti cheese, cream cheese, oatmeal, chocolate chips, condiments, frozen meatballs, white queso, shredded cheese, half and half, avocado cups, butter, chicken stock, and ground beef.
Total for food at Walmart and Costco: $261.14
7. Amazon Subscribe and Save
I remembered to take a picture of our Subscribe and Save box this month!
Total at Amazon: $59.66
8. Aldi
Just before we left for a trip to Kansas over Thanksgiving break, I sent Elias and Malorie to Aldi to pick up fruit/veggie pouches for Auggie plus a few other items. They got some snacks for our upcoming Thanksgiving trip, plus a few items for their upcoming work lunches.
Total at Aldi: $49.04
9. McDonalds
We traveled to Kansas over the Thanksgiving weekend. On the last stretch of our trip on our way home, we used both Matt’s app and Elias’ app to get the best deals on chicken nuggets to tide us over until we could get home and eat more. We were pretty impressed that we could get 60 nuggets for such a low cost. While handing out nuggets in the van, I handed out applesauce and pretzels to stretch out the meal. The kids loved the treat!
Total at McDonald’s: $14.96
Total grocery spending for November: $1,150.30
— > Without WIC, our total this month would have been closer to $1,35030. <—–
Running totals for 2024:
January: $1,178
February: $849
March: $1,356
April: $1148
May: 1091
June: $1,121
July: $1,190
August: $1,611
September: $1,218
October: $1,345
November: $1,150
I love how you make healthy and delicious food for your family and have a very economical budget. I have a large family also and I am going to start weekly meal planning again I was doing backward planning but I think I am ready to save more money for our growing family.
What do you mean ‘backward planning’? I don’t understand that phrase.
Lots of good food!
Hope you guys had a lovely Thanksgiving break.
Thanks for sharing! So many yummy, healthy, kid-friendly meals.