Adventures in Grocery Shopping

Big savings at the grocery store this week! SCORE!!!!

Grocery shopping $109.61

I just returned from my weekly trek to the grocery store. I shop at City Market (Kroger), because the produce is awesome and the folks who work there are even more awesome... all so super friendly and helpful.  I have been really, really trying to save my family money on our grocery bill this year and this is my best week ever.  My bill in the $150.00 - $160.00 range and then I watched the savings be subtracted... I love that part!

In the end, thanks to my coupons, my planning based upon the weekly flyer,  and my "value card", the final bill was $109.61.  I got a ton of groceries for great meals for my family.  I got a lot of meat, cereal, fresh produce, and even some treats for snacks.  I also stocked up on some sale items to stock the pantry. 

I learned a few new things this week.  I am trying to use coupons on items which are also on sale for the week for even more savings.  I am also learning I should always shoot for a certain price for certain items.  For example, I will never pay more than $1.99 for a box of cereal.   Cereal goes on sale all the time and you can always find coupons for cereal. This week, I got 3 boxes of cereal, each for $1.99.  Plus I used a coupon for another $1.00 or $1.50 off as long as I purchased 3 boxes.  I also found other cereal for 50% off (1 box was $1.65).  I ended up with 5 boxes of cereal (all with a great shelf life) for a low total price of $8.27. 

I am also making a goal to not use coupon clipping as an excuse to buy items I would never ordinarily buy.  I clipped a coupon for come pre-cooked, breaded chicken nuggets from Hormel or Tyson and the small bags of frozen chicken were nearly $8.00! 

I am also making a goal to learn prices for more items. The grocery store, I think, really switches things up to keep shoppers guessing.  "Buy one, get one free" or 50% off is not a great thing if they jack the prices up before marking them down.  So knowing the "ordinary" price is good knowledge to have.  A few weeks back, I found a special where you buy 4 boxes of cereal and get a gallon of milk for "free" for $11.00.  The prices marked on the shelf made it confusing for me to understand which boxes of cereal were really part of the "special".  Some kinds of cereal come in 3 different sizes and only certain sized boxes counted toward the special.  As I said earlier, this week I got 5 boxes of cereal and a gallon of milk for $10.26.  So the" special" a few weeks (4 boxes and a gallon of milk for $11.00) was not so special.

Here was another great find. I am only getting 2 haircuts a year nowadays (trying to grow out a 10 inch pony tail to donate my hair to "Locs of Love" who make wigs for chemo patients).  Last time I was at "Cost Cutters" a lady in the waiting area said, "Who needs a coupon?" and she handed me a coupon from the back of the grocery store receipt.  Score!  I used the money I saved to give my favorite hair cutter, Ginger, a really nice tip... she always is so nice and does such a great job.  This week I noticed my grocery store receipt had this coupon printed out at least 3 times on the back of one receipt. Enough for discounted hair cuts for a whole family practically. I'll never pay full price for a haircut again... almost makes me wish I got my hair cut more frequently.

This week, I plan to try a new recipe or two.  Here's what's on the menu!

Blacked Fish with Dirty Rice (new recipe0.
Beer Battered Fish (frozen) with mashed potatoes and salad.
Cilantro Lime Pork Roll-ups with Caramelized Onions.
Easy Spicy Minestrone Soup.
Chicken Souvlaki over Greek Salad (my lunches for the week).
Skillet Lasagna.
Homemade Gourmet Pizza (Pizza Kits... will post recipe soon).
Whole Crock Pot Chicken (will post recipe soon).
Also, the boys requested I try Orange Sherbert this week