The other half of Double Shopping Monday.
I was nervous about this one. I made the decision to hit Kroger first (needed that chicken), knowing it might result in lines or outages as Costco.
Visiting Costco first thing in the morning, I have been accustomed to (quickly moving) lines before opening and signs warning about items with limited or no availability. But here’s the thing: I visit Costco once a month. I’m in Kroger four to five times a month. At Kroger, it’s been very easy to get into a new routine. As the shopping conditions gradually adjust, I’ve gradually adjusted with them.
Since I’m at Costco considerably less, each visit feels like the first. Changes feel fast (to me) even though I’m sure a weekly Costco shopper would say they’e just as small and manageable as the ones at my Kroger.
So I was nervous. Because each Costco trip is a new adventure and on this particular adventure I was visiting at a time I never do. And I was expecting to already be tired from my shopping trip and grocery sanitization routine of the morning.
All my worry was for naught; there was no line. I walked right in. And saw this.
The greeting displays were of masks and hand sanitizer. It’s a mark of how different live is a few months into the rumpus, that instead of thinking “Wow, weird, masks”, I thought, “Ohhhh look at all those different scents of hand sanitizers. The lavender seems classy.”
It’s a good thing y’all talked me into saving that grocery overage from last month. Because I was not under budget this trip. In fact, I was over budget.
There were a high price items I knew I was going to need: diapers, paper towels, and batteries. So many batteries. My kids are plowing through batteries while sheltering at home. We have had to implement a new rule: you only get new batteries for various accessories on Sundays. And you only get a certain amount of batteries, depending on your chore completion. Otherwise, we were giving them new batteries every other day. This way, we ration the batteries and they decide what’s most important to get new batteries for on Sunday.
But I was more over budget than I needed to be because in the all anxiety around double shopping Monday, I forgot the Costco gift card we had from the over charge last trip. And now, insult to injury, it is somewhere on my desk but the baby destroyed my desk in what I suspect was a distraction so the other two could filch some extra batteries. BRB. I need to clean my desk before I lose my mind.
Okay, gift card is found. Now back to the hard cold truth of the numbers. My budget was $300. I spent $339.46. So we’re $39.46 over budget. Put it in the spreadsheet for the end of the month roundup.
And before y’all are like, “hold on! In that picture there are several bottles of wine! You’re going over budget on booze!” I will tell you that those were gifts and thus paid for with a different card, coming out of the entertainment budget. Which is a whole other issue for a whole other post. ;)
Back to more pleasant things. Like bacon. Have I told y’all how much I love this bacon? It’s $19.99 for two packs of two pounds of bacon. It ends up being $4.99 a pound, which I think is more than fair for how delicious it is. It freezes beautifully. Some bacon, I’ve found, dehydrates funny after defrosting. It’s extra salty or the fat renders less crispy. Not so with brand.
I love a papaya. They are, in fact, my favorite fruit. This papaya was $2.99. At my Kroger store, they’re going for twice that much and half the size. This was a steal. I’m not even mad it put me over budget.
Okay, this one I am a little mad about. Does your Costco have onion powder? Mine does not. I was running low and hoping to grab some on this trip because far and AWAY spices are cheaper at Costco. They did not have powder, but they did have this chopped onion. Thinking of rubbed vs ground sage, I thought, how different could it be? And it’s only $3.59! Turns out chopped onion is very different. I did not know the chopped onion would expand in size (and flavor!) when added to a meal. After enduring one very oniony batch of chicken, I ended up having to buy onion powder from Kroger. Now I have all this onion. What do you used chopped onion in/for? Help me redeem my budget overage!
I don’t eat a lot of sugary treats, but this is my weakness. $7.69 for a good sized amount of pretzels. There’s not too much air in that bag.
Snacks are another area where Costco is just way cheaper than the alternatives. This 18 ounces of Pirates Booty was $5.89 and over three pounds of Goldfish (!) were only $8.99.
Liquid dish soap was $7.99 for over a gallon.
Big ticket item! 150 diapers for $35.99. That makes each diaper 23 cents, which is an excellent price for such high performing diapers.
I didn’t go with a fancy scent but for $6.79, I think this hand sanitizer and I could have something really special.
How are things going at your Costco? How’s that home and grocery budget? What do I do with this chopped onion? Gimme your thoughts down below!
Kristen B. is wife to the best Prince around, mama to the spunkiest little princesses, and lover of all things Disney. She started her savings journey five years ago and is now dedicated to making her family’s wishes come true one coupon at a time. She is so excited to take her love of saving to the next level and share her journey with you! Click here to catch up on Kristen’s Savings and join in on your own savings adventure!
I use the dried onion in spaghetti meat sauce, gives it a nice flavor.
Throw it in your rice, with lime and cilantro for a copycat chipotle cilantro lime rice recipe.
Use it for your roasts or with mashed potatoes. Now I’m getting hungry!
Oh Jenni, I am loving this rice idea because this girls loves some Chipotle. Thanks for the great dupe!
Those onion flakes work well in meatloaf or homemade meatballs when you don’t feel like chopping a whole onion or you are out of whole onions.
Meredith, yes! My girls are super into turkey meatballs and the onion flakes will be perfect! Thank you!
You talked about onion, but were holding a papaya. Do you eat it cooked or do you eat it raw? I love papaya raw like a fruit. I heard it can be cooked.
Love to follow you. Prices there are sure better than here in south Louisiana. Our large name store here is a local Rouses and the other store is Walmart. We drive an hour or so for Sam’s and Cosco.
Hey Stella! Yes, I am holding a papaya, my favorite fruit. I just eat it raw, maybe drizzled with some honey if I am feeling fancy. When I was talking about onion, I was referencing the onion flakes in the picture just below the papaya. :)
My favorite ways to use dried chopped onion are, first Foodnetwork.com 6 hour tri tip marinade. Which costs a pretty penny to make but oh so worthwhile. And second, and more practical way is when making soup I will be lazy and throw in a bit of that instead of chopping an onion. I have also made my own onion soup mix (like Lipton) with beef bouillon to use in recipes.
Listen, I love any opportunity to be a little lazy. ;) Thanks for the tips AND the tri tip, Laura!