One was a gift of some Amazon giftcards, which between them and some other giftcards I had from redeeming Swagbucks and doing a research study with a college on autism research (it was a 2 year project I've been involved in) I worked really hard to make those giftcards go as far as I possibly could on Amazon. I bought my son his yearly supply of Hersheyettes MUCH cheaper than if I'd gone through Chocolate World (actually not only did I get said chocolate cheaper I got twice the amount I normally get through Chocolate World as well, which will save me a bundle not having to buy more chocolate candy for the holidays and such through my other go-to nut free online store). The biggest thing I saved on with buying them that way was the savings in shipping due to the lesser price of shipping on Amazon once I reached their minimum free shipping threshold (REALLY need to get Prime sometime soon, though as 49.00 for free shipping now? OUCH!). I was also able to get some non-food items we desperately needed around here as well (I'll go more into detail on that later on so I can focus on food items here). I'm very very grateful for the blessings that I received with those gift cards.
For Mother's Day (speaking of giftcards) my mother-in-law gifted me with a Fred Meyer gift card,so I decided to use that to go toward canning lids and sugar that I needed for my monthly shopping needs as I was still pretty low on sugar and knew I would need it if I should run into any produce that I wanted to can and such (not to mention I just hate to run too low on staples like that). So, I went to Fred Meyer figuring I'd get a big 25 lb bag of sugar, but they were out. So, I settled for 12 lbs for about 6.00 (the sugar was like 2.12 per bag or something like that...sorry I just have the total for the trip in front of me *laugh*).
I also ran into a really nice sale on canning lids! The regular mouth canning lids, normally over 2.00 per box anywhere I'd look were only 1.70 per box about and the wide mouthed canning lids (which is where the REAL savings were as those are up to nearly 4.00 per BOX regular price!) were 2.49 per box! I stocked up!
I also got cat food while I was there as it is much cheaper there than at Carrs.
I was worried that my seeds for my peas weren't going to come up with how cold it has been a lot of this summer so far, so I grabbed some pea seeds that are hardy in cold or heat and was going to plant those should the other ones fail to germinate (luckily my peas finally started coming up the last couple of days, so I'll just save the other ones for next year).
I also got my Friday Freebies that I had saved from my friend and from me (thanks again, Stephanie). I was so frazzled and so busy lately I completely spaced the bread freebie until it was gone, but luckily my friend was more with it than I was and I was able to get her freebie for that. I had looked for it last week but our stores hadn't had it in yet, so I was thrilled to find it this week.
I was also able to score a free Lindt stick candy thingie that my mom sent me a free coupon for (it looked like a coupon from the company, so I have no idea where she got it from to send me, but I was happy either way :).
The Doritos and Oreos were for my son for reinforcers (the cookies) and for snacks and stuff. They were on sale or cheaper than I could get at Carrs.
All totaled after gift card and coupons I had I spent 17.39 at Fred Meyer. I didn't think that was too shabby really.
I then ran to Carrs to fill my daughter's prescription and got milk and eggs (eggs were on sale for .99 a dozen with in-ad coupon). All totaled I spent 8.37 at Carrs (I would have gotten milk at Fred Meyer, but I forgot. Go me!).
I'm really hoping that I can start to rack up some rewards points this period as they are once again doing their double rewards points on the weekend thing (you just need to load the E-Coupon once to your card for the entire period and it lasts all summer long). We are usually in town on Saturdays, so I'm hoping to be able to just run and get my shopping done at Fred Meyer that I need to get done that day.
Anyway, tangent aside, I spent a total of 27.04 on groceries this week. Not too bad. Of course next week's shopping trip is going to cost more because I have "son food" to get, but overall I'm happy with this week.
The green beans I bought I'm planning on blanching and freezing tomorrow to hopefully use as dilly bean fodder a bit later in the year once I have some dill. The spinach and the lettuce we've been mixing for a more flavorful salad and are enjoying them thoroughly.
So what about you? Found anything good at the stores lately?
happy to see someone else besides me knows what dilly beans are. I can them every year and pickled asparagus too. Love them both. lol. My husband doesn't like them so more for me. You did good shopping this week.
ReplyDeleteI've never actually made them *laugh*, but have always wanted to try making them. So, I figure this is a good time to try it :).
DeleteThose gift cards came at just the right time for you, Erika! I'm sure that was a huge relief. You did very well with stretching them to the max. I'm glad you were able to get more sugar and canning lids. Those will go a long way for restocking the pantry for next winter.
ReplyDeleteI haven't bought my groceries yet this week (usually I do this on Friday), but last week I did amazing with groceries! I thought it was worth sharing, so here it is:
4 dozen eggs @ $1.77/dozen, 2 bags of apples for $1/bag (2.2lbs each bag), 2 bunches of celery for $1/bunch, a container of fresh mushrooms for $1, 3 large containers of yogurt for $1/container, 4 large cheddar sausages for $1 each, 2 jars of dry roast peanuts for $1/jar and 4 cases of bottles water for $1/18 bottles (restock for emergencies and to use for day trips). We also found hot cross buns (my mom LOVES these buns) discounted @ 50% off because they were close to the expiration date, so we bought 2 paying $2.50 for both and put them in the freezer.
In addition, my daughter's bowling banquet was last weekend. My husband volunteered to help cook and prep the food served at the banquet, at the request of his mother (he does it every year). Afterwards, we were allowed to bring home some of the leftovers. We brought home 2 full Little Caesar pepperoni pizzas, 2 full bags of crazy bread, a bunch of cheese cubes, an entire 6 pack of romaine lettuce (from Costco) plus some lettuce in a bag that was cut up, a huge bottle of Caesar salad dressing (Costco sized, unopened) plus what was left in an open bottle, an almost full bag of croutons (from Costco), an almost full bag of bacon bits (from Costco), 2 unopened large bottles of plum sauce and an unopened large container of onion dip. Nothing like free food to restock the pantry! Also, we were paid $100 to make 3 treat trays for the banquet and we had plenty of treats left over to use for lunches and desserts for a while.
Wow!!!!! Those were some awesome sales you found and great scores on taking home the left overs from the party! Good for you =D. Free is always the best price, but cheap is NEARLY that good ;).
DeleteRhonda, that sounds like a pretty sweet gig you an your husband had! 😃
ReplyDeleteI just stocked up on blocked cheese. They were 10 for $10 and then get the 11th free.This weeks trip was $60 but, I ran out of things I normally don't buy ever week like wheat flour.
ReplyDeleteThat was like me with the sugar. I don't really buy it more than once a year and normally that is around canning season, but I ended up canning a bit earlier this year and looking in my sugar bucket I was like, "No way! I'm nearly out???" Kind of surprising. It was like when I searched around my fridge and realized that I didn't have a reserve pound box defrosted in there for toast yesterday. I never let things like that lapse...well I guess I can't say "never" but rarely do I let things like that lapse, so it kind of surprised me that I did that.
DeleteGreat find with the cheese! I would love to find a deal like that up here. They go on sale for 2.50 for a 1 lb block on some sales, but that's about as cheap as they go and it's usually a limit of like 2.
Wow! Everyones gotten good grocery deals!! My Kroger trip yesterday was nothing special but the grocery outlet I went to today had a few items on my list to buy next week for about 50% less so stocked up. I mostly went there because my 3 year old ONLY wants for breakfast this one kind of mini pancakes that I can ONLY get there and Ive been out for 2 months because of collage students buying them all. Twice Ive been there this week and come empty handed. Hes really frustrating me with breakfast so I cant inagine how hard it is for you with your sons preferences on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteI have to hit my bread outlet tomorrow, along with a few other stores and I'm hoping they have their certain brand of English muffins on reduced as my daughter found she loves them and unlike when I make her toast she won't try and remove the crust from the English muffin and will instead eat the entire thing which not only saves us time in the morning it doesn't waste food, which I prefer.
DeleteWell, Alvah is pretty easy to please. So long as the food is heavily processed, preferably a bright orange not found in nature and covered in nacho cheese he seems happy. Me, not so much, but we're working on it. At feeding therapy this week we had him crunching up Wasa crackers and I found he LOVES popcorn with Parmesan cheese on it, which honestly if he's going to eat something covered in cheese, I'd prefer it be something like that :).
Popcorn is another whole grain! I imagine progress on that front might seem slow, but it's wonderful your son will eat a few different whole grains. Looks like you got some great finds this week!
DeleteHi Erika! Are the Hersheyettes the little round chocolate coated candies? Sort of like M&Ms but without certain ingredients? Those are soo yummy! I think I had them for Easter at a party, are they pink and white? It's ironic sometimes that what makes us happiest as moms is the ability for us to make our kids happy. Yay!
ReplyDeleteYup, those are it. They come in pink and white colors at Easter in some places (not here unfortunately) and red and green at Christmastime. I normally buy them five pounds at a time from Chocolate World in PA because they are the only place, non seasonally, that I've been able to find them. They are the most like M&M's that I've found and my son LOVED M&M's before the peanut allergy (and so he now loves the Hersheyettes *laugh*). I was really happy to find them on Amazon, though and at a good price too :).
DeleteYou got so much stuff this week! I'll bet that makes you feel awesome and encouraged.
ReplyDeleteI am hanging in no specific deals for me I was trying not to shop. I spent my 88.00 a couple weeks ago and have only had to go back for gatorade (husband works out in heat) and two ginger ale I also bought a bag of tater tots. So that was like 16.00...I took it out of my household budget so it all worked out! I did though get free bread from the local bread basket and a box of odds and ends groceries that another church gives away once a month. That's how we are making it work. We have two summer events to save for so stretching it in ways I can since my son needed braces and our insurance would not pay for any of it despite the doctors report and extensive photos..trying to make a dollar out of .15....lol we are all getting good at it.
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