Reverse Meal Plan Makeover: First Check-In

It’s check-in time!

A couple of weeks ago I was inspired by blogger Melanie Anderson and committed myself to a “Reverse Meal Plan Makeover” for the month of October. Well, today is my first check-in, and boy do I have some things to share.

Let’s start with my first grocery excursion at my local Ralph’s:

Note, I did my first round of shopping on Sept. 29th (a Saturday) and counted it toward my first week of October. I usually do my weekly grocery haul on Saturday mornings.

Total spent: $119.07

Savings (Coupons, Clearance/Sale items, etc.): $33.09

For me, this wasn’t bad! I would usually spend $160 – $230 on a Saturday grocery trip, plus another $35 purchasing In-N-Out burgers for the family for Saturday lunch.

I felt like a little bit of a failure, since I wanted to keep my spending below $100 for this (Melanie has got this down pat–she manages to spend just $233 for the ENTIRE month!). I think there were a few things that may have skewed or contributed toward skewing my grocery bill toward the higher side.

1. I totally forgot to check ahead of time as to WHEN would be the best times or days to hit up the grocery store and grab those clearance items. As you can see from my receipt, I didn’t make it into the store until 11 a.m., which is a little “late” in my opinion, because everyone is out and about shopping around that time on a Saturday.
2. I chose a Saturday(?). I do suspect if I had gone on a Monday or Wednesday, I would probably have seen more things on clearance.
3. I’m purchasing for a family of 8 (Husband, me, and 6 kids) plus food and litter for our cat. I’m also counting things like toiletries, napkins, household cleaning items as part of our “grocery budget.”
4. My husband and I are eating according to the ketogenic diet, which means we rely heavily on protein (meats), fatty foods (avocado, nuts, butter, etc.), and unless we’re willing to break keto we won’t buy a big bag of rice and beans, nor much bread. However, I do still buy carbs and snacks for the kids.
5. I totally admit this was my very first try, so I knew it wouldn’t be perfect, but that’s okay! 🙂

 

What did I get with my $119?

Produce, dairy, canned goods, frozen veggies, meat, cereal, etc. As you can see, I scored quite a few items that had the yellow and red clearance stickers. I was so happy to grab that Matcha Green Tea (usually $4 – $6) for just $1.99! I also got low carb tortillas, bacon for $2.99, sausage for 0.79, fancy shmancy bread marked down from $5 to $2, etc., and I was able to use these ingredients to make meals for the family throughout the first week of October. We did not buy any fast food or takeout pizza.

Okay, BUT…

I did have to stop at Aldi for fruit (and, yes, I saw this Maple Bacon Coffee and succumbed to temptation). I don’t think the particular Ralph’s I went to had a wide selection of fresh fruit and I felt I could get it, and cheaper, at Aldi. So, there I went to grab fresh strawberries, blueberries, watermelon cubes, and MAPLE BACON COFFEEEEEEEE!!!! (This added $19 to my grocery tally. Ouch.)

Here are some of the yummy dishes I made throughout the week:

 

The next Saturday (Oct. 6) actually fared better! I called my local Ralph’s and found out that they tend to put out their clearance items early morning 8-ish or 9-ish, and sometimes they may be delayed (for example if the required packaging/bags aren’t available to put them out in a proper display). That was good to know. As you can see below, I shopped again on Saturday morning, this time around 9 am, and spent less than the first time.

Total spent: $86.78

Coupons/Discounts: $9.67

Umm, but this week (Oct. 13) I got a little over-confident.

I went back up today, Oct. 13, spending $106.14 (but still, not horrible for buying 56 items) and it looks like I saved $54 this trip!

Although my three trips so far were higher than what I expected or hoped, I am still encouraged by the fact that I managed to even get it down this low.

Just think, before I started this challenge, I was spending almost $1600 a month (which included a couple of Starbucks trips, $35 per week for In-N-Out on Saturday afternoons, and $20 per week for pizza on Friday nights). Now, I’ve managed to get it all down to $86 – $138 per week. If I hold to this for all weeks of the month, I will be spending up to $552 per month–which makes a HUGE difference, because that will save me a little over $1000 per month. Yay!

I will keep challenging myself, keep saving and looking out for deals, and I look forward to the next two weeks.

My next update will be Saturday, Oct. 27. See you then!