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Big Family Grocery Spending for September, 2025

October 1, 2025 by Laura 4 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

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

Curious how much we spent during the month of September and what groceries we bought? Here’s the breakdown!

Big Family Grocery Spending for September, 2025

1. Costco

On September 3, I filled up a cart at Costco! I got four bags of apples, a watermelon, 4-pounds of strawberries, 2 containers of raspberries, sweet peppers, oranges, bananas, spinach, cream, half and half, sour cream, butter, shredded cheese, three boxes of frozen pizza, crusted tilapia, laughing cow cheese for lunches, beef hotdogs, bacon cheddar brats on clearance, coffee, chips, barbecue sauce, cocoa powder, pancake mix, pepperoni, and sliced cheese.

Total for Groceries at Costco: $377.99

2. Aldi

I went to Aldi that same day, hoping my chance to score some meat markdowns. I didn’t find any, but the prices on several items were great per pound so I grabbed boneless chicken thighs ($2.49/pound) and grass-fed hamburger patties ($5.49/pound). We use Aldi’s sausage patties for breakfast sandwiches so I got two more bags of those and five gallons of milk.

Total at Aldi: $88.74

3. Sam’s

On September 6, I ran into Sam’s on our way home from a church event because it’s right on the path. I needed Peanut Butter and Bacon, and as you can see, I very much stocked up on Peanut Butter! This is our favorite kind and Sam’s is the only place I can find it. As I always do, I checked for mark-downs on meat. I scored BIG on hamburger patties and even BIGGER on racks of ribs. The ribs were marked down plus each package was an additional $5 off. And they were double packs. So I got two packages each of two racks of ribs for around $13 each. AMAZING.

Total at Sam’s: $196.45

4. Aldi

On September 10, I went to Aldi for our weekly milk plus a few other needed items. I do crack up at the fact that this is what my shopping trip looks like when I just need to “run into Aldi for a couple of things.” :) I got five gallons of milk, Caesar salad kits, cilantro, spaghetti sauce, cantaloupe, granola, lots of yogurt, chips, crackers, cumin, raisins, bananas, limes, frozen fries and tots, shrimp, lasagna noodles, fruit/veggie pouches, sliced pineapple, meat sticks, hamburger meat, and salami.

Total at Aldi: $147.32

5. Hy-Vee Pick-Up

On September 13, we got most of our WIC items for the month through Hy-Vee Pick-up. Acacia aged out of WIC last month, so we get fewer items now. Still, we are so blessed to get several boxes of cereal, some cheese, whole grain pasta, beans, eggs, and produce through Josie and Auggie’s benefits. I forgot to take a picture until most of our groceries were put away…

Total at Hy-Vee: $0 out of pocket

6. Costco

On September 17, I went to Costco and got shredded cheese, rolled oats, milk, sweet peppers, spinach, pears, strawberries, raspberries, meat sticks, graham crackers, potatoes, frozen meatballs, white queso, nectarines, sour cream, butter, chips, bananas, mandarins, chocolate chips, canned pumpkin, pickles, sliced ham, broccoli, and a Rotisserie Chicken.

Total for Groceries at Costco: $217.91

7. Sam’s

On September 24, I stocked up at Sam’s and found meat markdowns while I was there too! I bought 20-pounds of ground beef, three packages of chicken breast tenderloins marked down, plus spinach, spring mix, baby carrots, cream, half and half, oatmeal packets, butter, bacon, brown sugar, pickles, French fries, bananas, raspberries, apples, 10-dozen eggs, avocado cups, sliced cheese, chocolate chips, rotel, canned corn, sausage links, yogurt, honey, maple syrup, spaghetti sauce, egg noodles, minced onion, veggie straws, and some packaged snacks for lunches and soccer games (like granola bars).

Total for Groceries at Sam’s: $490.69

8. Wal-Mart

After I left Sam’s that day, I went next door to Wal-Mart. I forgot to take a picture, but I bought four gallons of milk, seven bags of frozen veggies, a big bag of frozen hashbrowns, three cans of pineapple tidbits, two packages of shredded coconut, two packages of cubed ham, and a pork roast marked down to less than $2/pound.

Total for Groceries at Wal-Mart: $52.63

9. Amazon

Also not pictured is three boxes of Go-Go Squeeze applesauce or yogurts that came in our subscribe-and-save order this month.

Total at Amazon: $31.42

Total for groceries September, 2025: $1,603

Our WIC benefits provide our littles with around $120 worth of groceries each month. You can read here to learn our 2025 Grocery Budget plus look over ways I’m able to keep our budget at this level.

Running Totals for 2025

January spending: $679
February spending: $1,459
March spending: $1,346
April spending: $1,364
May spending: $1374
June spending: $1,127
July spending: $633
August spending: $1,501
September spending: $1,603

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Big Family Grocery Spending for January, 2025

February 3, 2025 by Laura Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

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!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Big Family Grocery Spending for November, 2024

December 2, 2024 by Laura 4 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

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

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

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