I hit Carrs and Fred Meyer this week for different things and oddly enough Coke and Doritos weren't on my list this week again. I managed to eek out the meager amounts of Coke we had around here to last the rest of the week and I found two bags of Doritos that had gotten shoved into the kitchen cabinets instead of into the pantry (I'm thinking I was tired, harried and not thinking straight when I did that...because I know that I DID that), so we were covered for the week with those things.
I hit both stores on Friday, mainly to take advantage of the fact that strawberries were still on sale at Fred Meyer for 3.99 for a two pound container. So, I grabbed one of the only ones that wasn't really nasty looking (they were definitely getting down to the bottom of the proverbial barrel when it came to strawberries) and I found that they had a bunch more apples being put out by the produce guy. So, I grabbed the heaviest ones (you want to get odd looks? Take clearance bags of apples over the scale and start weighing them one at a time to find the ones that are the heaviest out of all of the bags). I also grabbed tortillas while I was there as they are about 2.00 cheaper there than buying them normal price at Carrs (and I had a coupon to make them even cheaper yet).
I found a bunch of things on reduced at Fred Meyer while I was there too, other than produce! Boxes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch for 1.69 per box. Corn flakes for 1.89 for a big box. The only type of pop tarts that my son will eat (it was a treat for him as his allergies have been flaring pretty bad lately) for 1.69 for the box. Tuna fish for .49 per can. Boxed crushed tomatoes for .49 per box, a thing of crushed pineapple for .59. Green beans for .39. A thing of Cream of Mushroom Soup (that I used to top some pork chops for dinner that night) for .69 for the can. I even managed to find a box of tissues (my son's classroom teacher sent home a list of things they had run out of and tissues was one of the requested items, so I picked those up and brought them in) for .99. It was cool!
I then ran to Carrs for 5.00 Friday and got shredded mozzarella for 2.50 lb (this was for the manicotti I was scoping out to have for dinner this week) and some string cheese (2.50 personalized price). Eggs for 2.49 for a dozen jumbo eggs (these things keep fresh WAY longer than the large or medium eggs I can get anywhere else...why I'm not sure, but I'm not complaining!) and two gallons of milk. I also picked up tuna salad for my son (1.58 per container personalized price, so I stocked up) one more box of pasta being on sale for .75 and two gallons of milk for 2.99 each with the in-ad coupon (I got the last ad too to get the coupon!). I hit the reduced carts and I managed to dig up another box of corn flakes this one for 1.25 after the discount was taken. Corn flakes is a cereal that my daughter will eat, my husband and I both like and we're working on getting my son to eat in feeding therapy, so I was thrilled to get boxes of it so cheap.
Total spent between the two stores, once coupons were applied (of which I had a few) was 51.30 (including the 2.00 off 10.00 of produce coupon that Fred Meyer had sent me a couple of months ago before it expired on me and a personalized rewards coupon for 2.00/2 tortillas coupon, which made the packages of tortillas .69 per package).
Anyway, tangent aside they did have bunches of bananas for .50 per lb (that's cheap up here) so I grabbed one of those and went up to the counter to pay. The gal who was working the counter was flagged over by the gal I had helped with the moldy strawberries as they'd just sold the last of the strawberries. Next thing I know the gal is ringing up my strawberries at 6.00 and I pointed out her mistake saying that the case should be 9.00. She just smiled and said that the other gal had told her about me helping with the moldy strawberries and that had probably helped them to sell the rest of the strawberries before they went bad, so they had given me a discount. I was thrilled :).
So all totaled this week I spent 57.89 on groceries for the week (I still haven't had to pull the other loaves of bread and things we got from the Franz outlet from the freezer yet, so I'm not counting that on this week's grocery shopping). None too shabby especially considering I got 28 cups of cleaned and sliced strawberries from those strawberries (2 cups ended up being desserts and snacks while the other 24 cups went into 8 cup portions and put into the freezer for strawberry preserves later and 2 cups I froze in a separate freezer bag for future snack/dessert fodder).
Now I have to make apple pie filling (it's been a rough week and I haven't gotten to that yet) and maybe some more strawberry preserves. As "putting up for winter" preparations go, I have to say that at least ONE thing is going well so far. Here's hoping it continues!
How did you all do for grocery shopping this week? Find any good deals?
Wow, your canned good prices are better than ours! Pop tarts too! Great deal on your berries!
ReplyDeleteSo this week, and the next few, trying to go under grocery budget to apply it elsehwere, and so when I hit kroger I,knew from getting the hams last week I was a little less than usual, and had $53 with me. I was generally adding in my head, but was shocked that it came to $53.09 at the checkout. I'd thought I'd been over and planned to use my personal money so was thrilled. Stocked up on mozzarella cheesemtoo, to make ham and cheese pockets one of these days.
Oh, and baNana tend to collect in our freezer too. I've had good luck using them as faux milkshakes, add chocolate power or peanut butter and it's awesome.
ReplyDeleteGlad I'm not the only one with the bananas. When I cleaned out the fridge freezer I couldn't believe the amount of bananas I had in there that were OLD (and freezer burned, and nasty). I think that was the one thing I ended up throwing away when I finished cleaning it out. I am making a point to buy just enough bananas to use for snacks and a loaf of banana bread if I need to and calling it good with them. No point in ending up with tons of bananas in the freezer that aren't going to get used before they go bad.
DeleteWow, you paid $1.50 per container of strawberries...that's unheard of around here!!! Awesome shopping again this week, Erika...not to mention you will be able to can up more preserves for next winter with this haul! You must be so pleased.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I held off posting a comment as I was going shopping today because there was a really awesome sale at one of the grocery stores. I bought 4 pineapples for $2 each (I will be dehydrating all of it because it's just like eating healthy gummy candy that way), 4 bottles of BBQ sauce for $1 each, 4 bottles of Diana BBQ sauce for $2 each (we use this on meat balls in the crock pot), 10 Pillsbury crescent roll containers for $1 each (we make ham and cheese roll ups with these), a jumbo sized package of sliced & seasoned cooked turkey sandwich meat "ends" for $4 (repackaged into smaller packs and put over half in freezer for later use), 4 packages of breakfast sausages for $2 each, and 4 packages of English muffins for $1/pack of 6 just to name a few of the deals! I go back to work on Monday, so I knew I wouldn't have time or energy to shop this sale next week.
Oh, I almost forgot! I wanted to mention that I just discovered a band new British series on BBC called "The a word" that I think you would completely appreciate. It's about a family with a 5 yr old boy that just receives a diagnosis of being on the Autism spectrum. So far, I am totally relating to almost every single emotional response they have as parents. I don't know if it is available on line or through Netflix but I wanted to let you know about it's existence so you can look for it!!!
DeleteThanks for the advice on the show. I'll have to look and see if I can find it online somewhere to watch for free. Sounds like a neat show.
DeleteAnd those ARE some awesome sales! I would have taken advantage of them too!
With the strawberries...yeah that price is unheard of around here too. I've NEVER gotten strawberries that cheap since I moved here. Ever *laugh*. I'm looking forward to getting those preserves canned, especially since my husband gave his thumb of approval on eating them on ice cream the other night (I had about 1/2 of a jar left over in the fridge from when I made them). If I leave them chunky enough I think my daughter might even eat them...she might be picking around the strawberry pieces to get at the jelly, but I'm thinking it could definitely work :).
Yum, Cinnamon Toast Crunch is one of my favorites! Wish I could find some for 1.69 per box. This is kind of random, but did you know you can make your own soft drinks? The Wellness Mama website has a recipe for a ginger bug yeast culture (sugar, water, and ginger root) that you can use to make all kinds of soda. You can ferment and carbonate the sodas in reused plastic bottles, so there is no special equipment needed. I know coke is probably your family favorite, but homemade might work in a pinch.
ReplyDeleteI am able to shop at the military commissary so that really helps the budget. I budget $250 every 2 weeks for our family of 4 but am usually under that (unless it's around the holidays). This includes spending on toiletries, household items, and beauty items like Oil of Play and my hair color. :)
ReplyDeleteI recently went into Also to make notes on prices to compare to the commissary on items I buy frequently, and while Also was a tad lower on some items, the commissary was the clear winner overall. Plus, it's bigger with way more options!
I only shop every 2 weeks and yesterday I took my 6 yr old with me and started teaching her about unit price. :) I was really successful in combining saes, coupons, and Iobotta rebates, so it was worth the 2 hrs I spent shopping. Some of my favorite deals from yesterday include:
*getting 3 whole chickens (~6-7 lbs each) for about $6 each thanks to a $1.25 off sticker on each
*getting Kashi and Cascadian Organic cereal for about $1.75/box thanks to sales and coupons (and doesn't include what I earned from Iobotta rebates)
*getting 1.5 lbs of pears for 51 cents thanks to a $2 off pears coupon if buying another product that I was already planning on buying
*Buying personal sized frozen pizzas for 33 cents each (I never buy this kind of thing and it's probably crappy pizza, but I got 4 to use as a future last-minute meal because they were so cheap!!!
*I needed to get some items for Teacher Appreciation Week (the PTA wants contributions to feed the teachers all week). I snagged 8-packs of Keebler cracker sandwiches for $1.50 each and boxes of Oatmeal Creme Pies and Honeybuns (not Little Debbie brand but a lesser known brand) for 4 cents each!!!
*Name brand milk on sale for $2/gallon
I was out the door at $211 including all of my other purchases and the 5% surcharge they tack on (no sales tax, though).
Darn autocorrect... Oil of Play and Aldi.
DeleteIt did it again!!!!! Olay!!!!
DeleteThe snack cakes were 49 cents each, not 4.
Delete