Fuuuuuu…..
Before I show you what I did get, I’ll show you what I didn’t get!
Beef. I did not get beef. Not even ground beef.
The strip loin grilling steak was $47.89/kg. One kilogram is 2.2 pounds. For those of you in the US, that’s US$15.99 per pound, as of today’s exchange rate.
The whole strip sirloin in the second picture is actually cheaper at “only” $41.99/kg or US$14/pound.
These weren’t even the highest prices/kg for beef. They are some of the largest cuts of beef, which made for a savings/kg compared to buying them in smaller, more prepared packages.
Even ground beef was off the menu on this trip.
So this is what we got for our $606.14, after taxes. I got a lot of stuff on sale, too.
Yeah. That’s it.
We ended up getting six 9.1kg bags of dry kibble. Normally, I like to get at least a couple of 11kg bags, but the price per kg was better with the Kirkland brand. At $27.99 each, or $167.94 in total, I think these have actually gone down in price. At the very least, they haven’t changed. There are two cases of wet cat food at $37.99 each, which is about the same, too. The puppy pads were $20.99 which I don’t think has changed, either.
The Kirkland brand toilet paper was $23.99, which is high, but unchanged from the last couple of shopping trips – they used to be under $20.
Also on the non-food list, we stocked up on a double pack of large Head and Shoulders at $22.99. This has been working well for my daughter as a anti-fungal wash. My husband has similar issues, particularly in this heat, so he will be using it as a body wash, too. We picked up the Kirkland brand of laundry detergent at $19.99 The cold water detergent was cheaper but my daughter is having to wash all her clothing and bedding with hot water (anti-fungal), so we aren’t doing cold water washes anymore.
The flat of Coke Zero, at $16.99, is the same. The flat of Monster (which my older daughter paid for) is normally $44.99, but were on sale for $9 off. We ended up getting two containers of iced tea mix because they were on sale for only $9.99 each. The regular Costco price was $12.99, which is still a good price. At local grocery stores, I’ve seen them as much as $26. We also got a three pack of 2L oat milk for my daughters, at $11.99
For breads, we finally found the tortilla wraps; the last couple of times, they were out. We picked up two packs of 36 wraps for $9.99 each. We also got two 2 packs of rye bread for $6.99 each.
We still had some butter in the freezer, so we got only four pounds today, at $5.45 each. That was it for dairy.
For protein, we got our double flat of eggs (60 eggs) for $20.39, and a pork loin for $24.15. We got two panini packs this time. Normally, they are $14.99 each, but they were $3.50 off today. The biggest sale price, however, was for wild caught salmon. They were normally about $49.99/kg, but were on sale for $24.99/kg, so I got two fillets for the girls; one at $10.05 and the other at $8.45. Both were on the smaller size of what was available.
Then we stopped, because we’d reached my budget for this trip.
*sigh*
The gas prices, at least, were a huge savings. While everywhere else was at $1.349 or $1.359 per liter for regular gas, Costco was at $1.099/L It still cost me $72.05 to fill the tank.
We did have other purchases today. When we got to the city, the first thing we did was have lunch for breakfast. We went to a nearby mall’s food court and got food and bubble teas from different places, which totaled over $40. I ate only half of my Chinese food meal. The other half was supper.
We also made a quick stop at the Dollarama, where I got a few things for the garden, including supports for that black currant bush. I also found a broom for outside with plastic bristles, so it’ll last longer than the straw broom we have for outside, now, which is ready for the trash. I got more plant clips, and my one splurge was for some solar powered LED string lights. I’m torn between using it in the garden, or replacing the string of lights on the fence by the gate, which are getting old and starting to dim quite a bit. The total was just under $30 for everything.
We also stopped at the Canadian Tire to get a metal replacement winch for the clothes line. The one that came with the kit for the new line was slipping. There were several options available, but we went with the one that turned out to be exactly the same as what’s on the older clothes line. We also got four more line separators; the kind with the wheels on them. Now, each line has three of these.
While there, we found more clothes line kits that got us rather excited. The kit I got, locally, was the only option available, and had a medium duty line. Canadian Tire had kits for heavy duty and super heavy duty lines. The super heavy duty kit was about $90. Looking at the contents of the kit, sold separately, and it’s actually a huge savings. The 150′ of heavy duty line alone cost more than half what the kit cost. So when we’re ready to set up a third line, we’ll definitely be getting one of these sturdier kits. That way we can have an extra strong line for things that are very heavy when wet, like towels or blankets, while light stuff can go on the medium duty lines.
The winch and four line separators cost just over $40.
So, everything together today cost about $788, give or take a few dollars.
About $265 of that, before taxes, was just cat stuff. Closer to $244, if we don’t count the puppy pads.
Actual food and beverages for us humans came out to about $225.
There is something wrong with that picture. Especially considering the prices of cat food hasn’t gone up in quite a while.
Hey, did you know there’s a Ko-fi donation button at the top? All proceeds go directly to the care and feeding of cats!
*sigh*
So our stock up shopping was a bit short on the “stock up” part, but we did get a few really good prices in there. We’re supposed to be buying extra for the pantry, though, so that we have at least an extra month’s supplies for the winter, in case we can’t get out again. We can’t count on having another mild winter, or on not having spring flooding washing out the roads again.
We are actually very fortunate in our situation, too. I’m counting my blessings here. If we were still living in the city, we’d be in far worse shape, that’s for sure!
So I give thanks for what we have, and ma grateful for it.
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 