Shopping for this week actually started last Friday as I needed to run into town to put my husband's paycheck in the bank and I figured I'd head to Fred Meyer to get milk. And I hit pay dirt!
I got 1/2 gallons of milk on reduced for 1.09 each (2.18 per gallon if you add that up :). I got three gallons worth as we do go through a decent amount of milk per week.
While I was there I decided to see what I could get for free with a coupon that Kelloggs sent me. I'd written to them about problems I had with Pringles being mis-colored and when the coupon came in the mail I was surprised to find that the coupon was good for pretty much every Kelloggs brand of item and maxed out at 5.00!
Instead of buying a 2.00 container of Pringles that my son would blow through in a couple of hours, I decided to look and see what else I could get. I was going to get corn flakes, but then realized that the Frosted Flakes, one of my husband's and daughter's favorite breakfast cereals, was not only cheaper for the big box, but it also contained a decent more amount of weight in the box compared to the corn flakes. So, I got those instead.
I also found that there were carts of mark downs out in the isle so I looked through them. I was able to score cans of beans for .39 per can, packs of pudding for .69 per box, a thing of Capri Sun fruit punch for .69 (the box was dented, but no leaking of pouches!) and a boxed cake mix for .69.
I also got a thing of orange rolls as they are one of my daughter's favorites because it was her birthday week and because they were decently cheap there :).
All totaled: 12.86 spent at Fred Meyer
I also desperately needed bottle liners, so I got those too, which are a pricey item when I have to buy them. The bread was on sale for 1.79 per loaf. My son loves hot dog buns, hamburger buns and soft "containing 97% air bread" so I got him a loaf as it was cheaper than buying hot dog buns this week. Doritos were on sale for 3.50 per bag, so I got those as well while I was there as we needed them for his lunches and such.
My biggest find while I was there was finding Pillsbury pie crusts on reduced 50% off. I looked at the shelf tag and found they were on sale for 2.50 per box, so once the 50% got taken off at the register they were 1.25 per box. I'm seeing some meat pies (pasties) and such in my husband's near future to take for lunches (I am NOT great at pie crust. I try, but I'm just not a great pie crust maker).
Not shown in the picture is a 20 pack of Diet Coke I had to get for my son's lunch coke as I didn't feel like hauling it up the stairs *laugh*.
All totaled I spent 43.49 at Carrs.
Total for the week: 56.35
Bright side, though, is that the milk, on top of what we already had in the fridge, definitely lasted out the week so I didn't have to pick up any extra milk during the week (yay!).
So, yeah, I picked up some extras this week with the pie crusts and such and that's what sent me over my grocery budget for the week, but I still think it was worth it.
How did you do on shopping this week? Get any good deals?
You did really well with the marked down items! You are my kind of shopper when it comes to finding deals. ;)
ReplyDelete*Laugh* I was the most excited about the milk and the canned beans. The only milk that I've been finding on reduced lately has been fat free, which my son won't touch, so I kind of went a little nuts when I saw that price. It was like adult Tetris finding room for that stuff in my fridge ;).
DeleteWow, nice job finding those awesome discount items, especially marked down milk! I'm not great at making pie crusts either, but I keep trying and I'm slowly improving. My one trick is using cake and pastry flour which really helps with making the crust flakier.
ReplyDeleteAs for my great scores this week, I found a big bag of bananas (definitely over 3lbs worth) on clearance for $1 for the whole bag! Bananas are now a minimum of $0.69lb in our area, so it was a huge score. The bananas were perfectly ripe but had brown spots on the outside (touched by cold maybe?) and some were slightly bruised...in other words, not perfect therefore people were passing them over. We ate some of them fresh and I filled up the dehydrator again to make a bunch of banana chips, some dried apple rings (using apples I bought @ 50% off a few weeks ago), plus another batch of fruit leather (using applesauce from my freezer from 2014 and peaches I canned last summer). My daughter loves to take these in her lunches and I love it because they are so healthy for her. I also found a good sized bag of caramel filled chocolate hearts in the Valentines day clearance items for $1.99. I bought them and will repackage in cute Easter themed baggies to put in my daughter's Easter basket.
My biggest problem is I am TERRIBLE at measuring up the crust when it goes into the pan, so it just is short in one area or long in another and then I'm awful at gluing the pie crust together so it works after that so it always leaks and...well it turns out not looking nice, but usually tastes alright *laugh*.
DeleteI'm so happy your daughter is into the dehydrated fruit! We're trying to work toward like colors of fruits for my son to see if we can food chain him into...you know...trying some. Right now his SLP and I are thinking french fries into pears cut into slices LIKE fries or something. Although, I'm happy in that he ate an entire corn chip on his own at therapy this week vs. the Doritos. If we can get him onto a less processed diet at this point I'll cheer. We've made so little progress over the last five years that the baby steps he's taking now feel like giant accomplishments to me. I mean he has bit into carrot sticks THREE weeks in a row!!! That's huge for him! We haven't gotten him to actually swallow them yet, but it's just great that he's putting them into his mouth :).
I'm going to speak up and say something you won't want to hear. You could have bought real food that is nutritious for what you paid for all that crap.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to speak up and say something that YOU won't want to hear. There are very real and specific reasons why she buys the food that she does. If you really feel the need make a comment like this, please read all of her blog posts and previous comments before hand so that you have a clear picture of her life. As a mother of an autistic child who is the exact same way when it comes to food, I totally get her choices. Unless you've walked in her shoes, you may not.
DeleteI recently said the same thing as Linda... and yes I did read lots of Erica's posts and I totally get her son's challenges with food so I understand the soda and chips part ... But besides her son, there are 3 of them who are not autistic and from what she is buying looks like they live of the processed store bought desserts all day... and all meat dinners, no veggies at all because few canned green beans or carrots once or twice a week don't really count... and loading your plate with veggies is way cheaper than eating meat and processed desserts
DeleteOkay, first off, we do not live on processed desserts all the time. I might make Jello once a week but that is a way to bribe my daughter into eating her vegetables or as a way to get her to eat her entire chicken leg. We honestly most weeks typically don't eat dessert. I might put it on the menu plan, but most times I end up being too tired to make it.
DeleteReally, considering that the typical American diet has french fries as the main vegetable that is eaten at the table (and ketchup is now considered a vegetable), while I know there is room in every diet for improvement we could be doing a lot worse.
And I serve a fruit or a veggie with every meal. They might be canned, true, but they are there. I have never, ever, served meat only meals that I can recall as that would cost me a fortune for one and my stomach wouldn't handle it for two.
Really, I'm sorry, but if our diet isn't for you, that's fine and you are free to go to other blogs that are a like mindset to yours. I do the best I can with our diet and I try my best to feed my family nutritious food. I might not be living to some people's idea of excellence in the culinary nutrition arena, but trust me, I'm okay with our diet (okay, not my son's diet...but we're working on that).
I have lived on a whole foods diet and a gluten free one at that due to my daughter having a corn allergy, my son having a life threatening garlic allergy and other food allergies combined between them. My son nearly starved because he would not eat anything and I am not kidding. We went into nutritionists and other specialists begging for help because he had no weight to lose and we were really, really scared about the path he was heading down. My daughter developed cyclical vomiting syndrome and couldn't keep much food down her at all for eight months and still if I fight her too hard on her dinner it throws her stomach into a cycle from the stress and she'll vomit for a week straight. She can not help it and I was so thrilled when she could keep down more than buttered toast and was capable of eating things like vegetables and meat again without a Zophran chaser I could have hugged Satan himself.
I make a lot from scratch, but no I do not make everything from scratch. I do buy processed foods because Doritos and Cheetos and Coke are some of my son's main foods, his only foods, that he'll eat right now. I live in dread of him turning on one of those foods because when he turns on a food he never wants to eat that food again. Period. So, it gets to be a scary slippery slope until we can train him to eat things that are good for him.
Such is life and that's the life God chose for us to live. I do the best I can with that life and it's circumstances. And I respect other people's rights to do that with their own. I ask the same consideration. Thank you!
It should also be noted that the groceries shown in the pictures are just what she bought with her $50 weekly budget. Again, if you had read Erika's blog, you would know that she has worked diligently last year on building up a pantry, which includes the healthier meal items.
DeleteFurthermore, Erika lives in Alaska, where "cheap veggies" are harder to come by. They have shorter growing seasons, so most of the produce is shipped in from other areas, which raises the costs to purchase them.
I have a daughter on the Autism spectrum as well. I am lucky, as she is higher on the spectrum. She is verbal, we don't have as many food sensory issues (though that is getting worse as she gets older) and no allergies to deal with. But I do remember how hard it was to function on little sleep and deal with the depression that goes with parenting autistic children. I relied heavily on "processed foods" then, because that is what got me through my day. As things improved and my daughter got older, I was able to change my cooking habits and cook more from scratch. One thing I'm sure of is that insensitively criticizing her food choices is definitely not helpful.
Great finds on all the markdowns! I really look forward to reading your posts.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if your family prefers whole milk or if you got it because it was on markdown...if the latter, and since you mentioned (re your son) trying to save some calories: after using a cup of each half gallon, you can add a cup of water, shake the half gallon, and I'd challenge anyone to notice any difference. I know some people purposely buy whole milk when it's the same price as 1% or 2% and dilute it with a lot of water (not just a cup) to make it like 1% or 2% but costing less.
I also have struggled with making perfect pie crusts. I finally realized that if I keep the ice in the "ice water" right up until the second I'm going to use it, they come out much, much better.
I've tried with the milk and water and unfortunately unless it's like nearly 100% milk my son can actually tell the difference. Blows my mind every single time! I don't mind the whole milk in his diet, honestly, it's the chips and soda that are the real problem areas when it comes to empty calories so I'm trying to slowly work on other alternatives for him.
DeleteI do use that trick when baking, though. It works fabulous for stretching milk and the baked good can't tell the difference *laugh*.
That reminds me: THANK YOU for stating in an earlier post about using milk-going-sour in baking. I somehow never made the connection when I sour milk with lemon juice or vinegar that it's the same thing. I had a partial gallon going sour (didn't want to drink it anymore) and after your post, I googled recipes with sour milk and there are tons! Many from the WWII era. So I went to town baking. Thanks again! This will save me $$ in the future as I won't spill out nearly as much going-sour milk.
DeleteYou know it took me forever to make that connection too. You just get so used to doing things via a recipe and don't think that you're actually just souring fresh milk, so why not use sour milk instead? I had a gallon go sour on me years ago because due to sleep deprivation with a newborn I left a gallon of milk on the table overnight and I refused to throw it out, so I went through my cookbooks and found every recipe I could find to make that sour milk not go to waste. We ate a lot of buttermilk biscuits that week and other things, but it got used *laugh* and I've been refusing to throw it away ever since :).
DeleteI want to try making cottage cheese from sour milk some time. It looks very simple to make, but I just haven't taken the time nor worked up the nerve to actually try doing it. Some day...
DeleteYou know I'm in the same boat on that. I keep wondering if it'll work as well since you add the acid to the fresh milk and then cook it to get the acid to coagulate the proteins. I don't know if starting with sour milk would work as well, but I'm pretty sure that's what would have had to have happened back when cottage cheese was developed right?
DeleteI might have to try it here soon as I'm really curious about it. I also have rennet tablets, but as of yet haven't been able to part with enough of the wonderful gold plated milk to make cheese *laugh*.
My mother told me that when she was a kid, they had some milk go sour and my grandmother made it into cottage cheese. I've looked up instructions on how to make cottage cheese, and it does say that you can use sour milk or sour it if it is fresh. It also does not require rennet. Here's a link if your interested:
Deletehttp://www.theorganicprepper.ca/how-to-make-cottage-cheese-01132013
Great job on those finds! I don't think I have ever seen marked down milk in any store here, although we only drink about a half gallon every other week, so...clearly it's not necessarily on my radar. :) Cans of beans for $.39 is an amazing deal!
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to give you a little additional encouragement regarding some the dietary issues your kids are struggling with now. A friend of mine in college had ulcerative colitis. She was diagnosed in high school, I believe, but it took quite a while for anyone to figure out exactly what was going on. Before they found a treatment plan and even after for a while, as her digestive tract was healing, she could pretty much only stomach BRAT diet foods and plain boneless skinless chicken breast. It got better eventually although she still has occasional flare ups. What I think people don't always realize about traumatic illnesses that involve serious negative reactions to food is that it really does a number on your relationship to food. Logical or not, food was hurting my friend and only a few things were safe. She has a pretty varied taste at this point, but it took a long time for her to feel comfortable trying new foods in any way. Anyway, I think you are doing a great job filling the needs of two very specialized diagnoses!
Thanks. Yeah, we've had to build my daughter's diet up slowly. Very slowly. I was so proud of her when she'd finally fight her body's instinct to reject food in her mouth and actually fight past it to swallow it and bit by bit she's gotten to a point where she can eat things like lettuce and canned green beans and such. There's still so many textures and tastes that her body will just reject out of hand that it gets hard to tell where she's being stubborn and where her medical condition kicks in, but it's getting better. SLOWLY. Really for a nine year old she'll eat things she couldn't before, so it's great to see the progress she's making as time goes on.
DeleteGood to know your friend has a varied diet, though. For a long while I honestly didn't know if we'd ever get past bread and butter as my daughter's one food she could tolerate. She's still tiny for her age and I really do think it's because she was so sick for so long.
Crappiest part is that with cyclical vomiting syndrome they don't even know what causes it so all they can do is guess and then give you Zophran to stop the vomiting when it starts. Not ideal.
Great deals!! I was thrilled to get milk $2 a gallon this week too. I didn't get many food deals, because at Walmart and a new thrift store I just tried, they had amazing clearnce clothes and getting my little guys new Jammie and like new children's place jeans and Tony hawk shirts for $2 and staying on budget was more important that stuff I just wanted to stock up on. Even found a nice down vest for $1.25, it's red and black color blocked and I was thinking how much my oldest would like jt, when I saw it had a tag on it from 1985! Nearly died laughing! It's almost as old as me! Must have been in the back of a closet because it looks brand new, and colorblocking is the trend again.
ReplyDeleteOh, and if you have a dollar tree, they have this week 6 packs of Gildan brand athletic socks for kids $1! Cushion ones too.pillow pet pee wees too.
And don't let anyone get you down about what you feed your kids. As a mom you have to do what is best for your kids. And it sounds like you are. Heck, if I could get my 8 year old to eat a veggie, I'd be estatic. Same with my 3 year old. Glad to hear ketchup counts because he would drink it from the bottle if you let him.
Are your kids fed? Clean? Clothed? Warm? Happy? Loved? Alive? Not injured? Awesome! Another day well done! Thas all the stuff that matters.
*Laugh* the image of a kid chugging ketchup just made me flinch, but yeah, ketchup got approved a nutritious vegetable. I was kind of baffled when it happened.
DeleteI wish we had a dollar store or a dollar tree up here. As close as we get are things like "Dollar Plus" (things that are sometimes CLOSE to a dollar) and things like the "Buck Buck Buck" store, which is out of business now, but had things for like 2 to 5.00 in it and most if was resin statues that were all out of whack and things...I never find anything useful in them.
GREAT scores on the clearance clothes! That's like thrift store prices and you scored new. I would be scrimping to get by on a meager grocery budget for the week if I ran into sales like that too :).
I'm actually rather proud of my daughter. With her stomach condition she really mistrusts new foods and will gag a lot when they are introduced as it's her stomach's natural reaction to reject food. But she's really fought that instinct hard the last year and will now eat canned green beans, canned pears, canned peaches, fresh oranges and apples (the apples have to be peeled and she sucks the orange flesh out of the membrane as those don't sit well on her stomach), fresh grapes and strawberries (which is why I SO look forward to summer and in-season fruit of decent quality up here) and a few other things. We also have got steak and chicken down for meats and she's working on pork chops. It's a slow process with her, just like my son, but it's a different kind of fight. She's doing good though, so keep at it with your kids. Eventually they might actually try a veggie. Might ;).
Wow, I couldn't believe that someone would have the nerve to question how a mother feeds her children and her family and to put her feelings out there so bluntly. You handled it with much more grace than I think I would have. You love your kids and do a great job. Until someone walks in your shoes they don't know the road you're on. Guess she was having a bad day or just being bitchy. Either way sorry you had to hear that from anyone. Take care.
ReplyDeleteThank you :). I totally missed this comment somehow. I appreciate the support and you're right. Judging others doesn't go well because you don't know what their life is like or what they deal with from day to day. I have a firm belief that we all do the best we can with what we are given and work hard to not judge others. It seems like the best way to live.
DeleteBlog reading is pretty much my hobby. I started telecommuting when we moved to Colorado, and being in a new place without much outside contact was really lonely. We have since moved again, to Arizona - same thing, telecommuting, not a lot of chances to spend time with people. Blog reading helps with loneliness, and helps me to keep my mindset where I want it to be. Having said that, occasionally blogs move in directions that I'm not interested in or that I simply dislike. At that point, I just unsubscribe! It's really as easy as that! No need for rudeness; no need for critical comments. We are all doing our best. My life is quite a bit easier than yours, I think. Reading your blog makes me appreciate how easy I have it with kids without huge eating preferences or allergies. Your can-do attitude inspires me, and I appreciate the glimpse into how you handle things. Blogs like yours help keep me from negativity and to tell the truth, from laziness also. :) Please don't allow the negative people to discourage you. Honestly, every time some obese person tells me how Diet Coke is unhealthy, I want to say, neither is overeating, no matter how healthy the item you are eating is, and lack of exercise horrifies me. Usually I manage to just smile and say I know it's not. Moving on!
ReplyDeleteHave a great day! I'm here to find that pork chop recipe to print it off to make it for dinner tonight.
*Laugh* thanks. I always try to keep in mind that while my life can be challenging, there are people that are worse off then me. In a way I'm lucky. My son might be non-verbal, but he can walk on his own without a wheel chair and he's not on a feeding bag because he won't eat food at all (which I've met a couple of kids like that and it'll break your heart). My kids are happy and content for the most part, are decently healthy (with two kids in two schools it is double the germs, but it could definitely be worse) and are their own little people. So, really, isn't that we are all aiming for with our children in this world?
DeleteI'm used to criticism. I've dealt with some whoppers when it comes to my son with his special little quirks, especially from strangers who really needed to learn to keep their mouths closed if they didn't have anything nice to say. I just get to a point that people have the right to criticize others, but really the only person I worry about facing criticism from at the end of the day is God. Well, and my husband, but I'm allowed to be critical right back at him if he wants to be nasty ;).
I hope I didn't give the impression that I was feeling sorry for you! That's not what I meant at all! I have my own challenges. I just don't have the same ones as you and I want to make sure I appreciate the things in my life that are easy so I don't become overwhelmed with the things that are hard. I am really, really struggling with cooking lately, so I was thinking how easy I have it in comparison with you in that aspect, but there is always something to challenge us. But one way that my life is much easier than yours is my kids are 19 and 15. :)
DeleteI don't know if this will post, I am having trouble on your site. You do a great job Erika, ignore others.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Sorry about Blogger. It's a pain when it comes to comments it seems :(.
DeleteI notice the above comment and hope you don't mind if I don't read anyone else's comment. I hope people remember that one can leave a page if they don't like it and DO NOT need to leave any comment if it is nasty. I ended up putting preview on my blog because I do have some that genuinely dislike either me, the lifestyle, living on less, or perhaps all of these.
ReplyDeleteAs to milk, when my kids were at home I froze the milk. You take about about a cup then freeze it. It turns a bit off yellow but comes back to white when defrosted. This works amazingly well.
I must add a smilenote as I type, I bought a generic bag of cool ranch chips from Alberstons and I am munching on them! What is it about a bag of chips that well is so yummy? It is something I buy every now and then and enjoy. My soda choice is a Mexican brand Jarritos and it is Mandarin flavor~so wonderful!
I like that you have an accountability for your budget and share to keep you going. The overage is what makes you real and why one can connect with your blog. You keep things as is and if over a few dollars off the budget you share. Thank you, and stand firm in your journey as it is yours no matter what else is going on, you can be you!
Jennnifer
I've had Jarritos. I can't think of where I got it, but it was tasty. That much I remember :).
DeleteI keep forgetting about freezing milk. I really need to try and do that more often.
So the generic cool ranch chips taste good? I'm pretty sure Albertson's is owned by Kroger so it should be the same brand that Fred Meyer carries. I keep looking at them and wondering if they tasted close to the Cool Ranch Doritos. I'd like to try them on the son as they are so much cheaper, but if the taste isn't close it would be a waste of money. So I keep passing them by :).
And thank you for the words of encouragement. I really appreciate it!
You really racked up the deals at Fred Meyer! That box of Frosted Flakes was a huge coup! Curious...why do you need bottle liners?
ReplyDeleteOne of the only nutritious things my son will consume is whole milk and unfortunately he insists on it being in a bottle and a bottle of a certain type at that. It's the same bottle type he's used since he was a baby. I've talked to his dentist, his doctor and his specialists and they all agree that it's more important getting good nutrition down him then worrying about things like having to maybe get braces later in life. It's a sensory thing with him, but so far it's the only way we can get him to drink milk. Hopefully, now that he's fully potty trained and such he might make the jump to drinking milk before going to bed only so I don't have to mess with the bottle and all of the fun it holds (I have to deal with milk soaked blankets a lot), but one step at a time :).
DeleteAh, ok. I figured they must be for a bottle but then was confused because I didn't know he preferred using one. Plus, the bottles I used for my kids didn't need liners (Dr. Brown's), do I thought perhaps there was some nutty kitchen use for them of which I was unaware. :) But yes, get that nutrition in him however he'll take it!
DeleteDarn autocorrect...so, not do and nifty, not nutty.
Delete*Laugh* auto correct is at times both equally humorous and frustrating. Some of the texts I get from my husband are classic when auto correct takes over *laugh*.
DeleteI only got a chance to read through this post and comments tonight.
ReplyDeleteThe comment about your daughter eating so much bread and butter cracked me up. This is because today we ate lunch at my sister's house. We left church earlier than my sister did and her autistic/m.r. daughter came with auntie and uncle. We went to Cash and Carry, where Rob bought 3 bags of white rolls, which is one food she will eat. Then, we spoiled her (her words) by going by McD's for a Coke. Usually, they are not serving french fries when we go by there--too early--but today, because we had gone to the store first, they had been serving them for 2 whole minutes. So, we had to have some of those today. We made her share with the other girls in our van, and she did, but informed me that she was "a french fry eating machine." Back at the house, she ate a plate of rolls for lunch. Period. Piled with butter. Little brother, who is special needs as well, but not as severe, ate butter with a little bit of roll attached. Lots of butter. Period. My sister put green beans on his plate, but if he ate any, it was maybe 1-2. And, we were glad to see them eat that! When Michaela, my niece, was young, she was literally starving herself to death. She has so many troubles with textures, tastes, etc. that she didn't want to eat. She has been to so many therapies, etc. They have worked with her for hours. She is 18 now, and eats several foods. She communicates well, and lets us know what she needs. She can also go into full meltdown at the drop of a hat. Little brother will eat more than she will, but really doesn't want food very much. The rest of us enjoyed the lasagna, salad, beans and birthday cake (and rolls, if desired). We enjoyed it so much more than if we were having a food war with anyone, or if we were worried that someone wouldn't eat and was truly starving themselves. No amount of money can buy a peaceful meal with family who love each other. We have been so blessed by these children and our other nieces, nephews and our own children.
Between my 2 sisters and myself, we have 11 adopted children, and 3 who are not. (8 are mine) It is wonderful that, even though there are many different special needs represented amongst the children, there has never been a way that they have been treated differently by the grandmas, aunties or uncles, except when they need a concession for their special needs. The whole family has learned much when it comes to dealing with these kinds of children, and they are accepted for who they are. That includes food issues. So, the meals at our family gatherings look kind of strange sometimes, but it works for us.
Also, anyone who has never lived through a special needs meltdown, probably doesn't really understand how important it becomes to find ways to distract, thwart the meltdowns, coax, and, yes, even bribe a child into compliance. The more meltdowns I experience, the more I get "trained" by the child to smooth things over to avoid them in the future. And, sometimes it happens anyway. But, lots of times, it doesn't, which is a triumph.
Hang in there with your kiddos.