Let me just say upfront, it can be difficult eating healthy gluten free dairy free food on a budget when your child is sick! Cuddle Bug got sick for the third time in six weeks. By Friday, she was running a 101 degree temperature, and on Saturday, it jumped to 103 degrees. Saturday night she said she was having trouble breathing, so we took her to the ER where she was diagnosed with walking pneumonia.
I didn’t leave the house for five days while I was taking care of her, so my husband did all of the grocery shopping. We also bought foods that we though our daughter might eat because she was not eating much.
The good news is that she’s on her last dose of antibiotic today and is feeling like herself, albeit with a seal-like cough. The other piece of good news is that I was under budget last week, so this week’s groceries didn’t derail my grocery budget plans.
Eating Healthy Gluten Free Dairy Free Food on a Budget {Week 2 of 52}
Besides the sickness, I mentioned that November might be a challenging grocery month because I had to do some stock up ordering at VitaCost and Azure Standard, which you’ll see below.
As a reminder, we’re trying to lower our grocery budget by using these 11 strategies.
VitaCost – $62.22
The total for this trip was $66.22 in stock up groceries.
VitaCost had a 20% off sale, so I took the time to stock up. I know I said I was going to make more items from scratch, but when I mentioned making gluten free pancakes from scratch, my family revolted. So, I bought the boxed pancake mix on sale. I also bought some chocolate chips for Christmas baking and Nugo bars for when we’re out of the house at snack time.
I planned to buy 25 pounds of gluten free oats from Azure Standard, but they were out. I bought them at VitaCost, but they were much more expensive! Hopefully Azure will have them in stock next month.
Costco & Trader Joe’s – $75.91
The total for this trip was $7.56 in stock up groceries and $68.35 in weekly groceries.
I don’t think my husband did too bad! He stuck to the list, and the only minor problem was that he bought apple juice instead of orange juice.
Fry’s – $29.50
The total for this trip was $9.96 in stock up groceries and $19.54 in weekly groceries.
The Classico was only .99 each. (We bought 5 but somehow only 4 showed up in the picture.) I like having these on hand for Pizza Cassrole or spaghetti for a quick weeknight meal.
Sprout’s – $21.27
The total for this trip was $4.99 in stock up groceries and $16.28 in weekly groceries.
The organic grapes were on sale for $2.50 a pound, but silly me didn’t weigh the bag. That little bag had 2.58 pounds of apples in there and ended up costing me $6.45!! If I had known they were going to be that much, I wouldn’t have bought them.
I’m also slowly starting to buy items for our Thanksgiving dinner. This week, it was Wholly Gluten Free pie shells, essentially for our pecan pie as I mentioned in our favorite gluten free and dairy free Thanksgiving recipes post.
Fry’s – $30.33
The total for this trip was $14.94 in stock up groceries and $15.39 in weekly groceries.
I tend to stock up on Almond Milk when it’s $1.99 to $2.49 a carton, which it was this week if I bought 10 items. That sale also gave me .50 off the premade salad mixes and some kleenex I bought.
Our Weekly Grocery Goal
As a reminder, our weekly grocery goal is to spend no more than $125 on weekly groceries and $50 on stock up groceries. I’m also setting aside an additional $25 a week for bulk meat purchases from places like Butcher Box and U.S. Wellness Meats as well as an occasional 1/4 side of beef purchase.
Week 2 Totals:
This week we spent $103.64 in stock up groceries and $119.56 in weekly groceries.
Week 2 Total: $223.12
November Totals:
Stock Up Groceries: $162.89
Weekly Groceries: $167.10
Week 1 Total: $106.79
November Total: $329.91
Weekly Average: $164.96
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