
Aldi
1 can Refried Beans
2 bags Steamed Green Beans – $0.87 each
2 boxes Mac & Cheese – $0.43 each
1 box Raisin Bran Cereal – $2.29
1 box Honey Graham Cereal – $2.05
1 pkg Hot Dogs – $1.39
1 Spreadable Butter – $3.29
1 Raw Honey – $6.99
1 Natural Peanut Butter – $1.69
1 pkg Yeast – $0.79
1 bag Sugar – $2.75
2.55 lbs Bananas – $1.15
1 Baking Powder – $1.45
1 bag Kettle Chips – $1.95
1 loaf Bread – $1
1 pkg Bagels – $1.89
2 Avocados – $0.69 each
1 pkg Fresh Chicken Breasts – $10.88
1 bag Spinach – $1.29
1 bag Caesar Salad – $2.79
1 pkg Strawberries – $2.49
1 pkg Green Peppers – $1.69
2.22 lbs Red Grapes – $3.75
1 bag Baby Carrots – $0.95
1 pkg Blueberries – $2.29
0.79 lbs Roma Tomatoes – $0.78
Total: $64.05

Ingles
4 boxes Mueller’s Pasta – $0.98 each
3 jars Prego Pasta Sauce – $1.38 each
2 pkg Danimals Yogurt – $3.58 each
2 dozen Eggs – $3.98 each
2 pkg Steak – Marked down to $2.79 and $3.29
1 Half & Half – $2.98
Total: $32.24

Sam’s Club
We recently got a Sam’s Club membership and I was excited to go and price things out this week. I was pleasantly surprised to find a few great deals on food items and plan to go every few weeks to stock up on mostly snack items and toiletries. The items I purchased were cheaper than my Aldi prices and will last us for several weeks! I’ve never had a membership before so if you have one, let me know what you think the BEST deals are so I can be on the lookout!
1 box (90 count) Mott’s Fruit Snacks – $10.12 (WAY cheaper than Aldi or Amazon!)
1 box (40 count) Pirate’s Booty – $12.16
1 box (32 count) GoGurt – $6.78 (Cheaper than my Aldi.)
1 bag (3 packages) Bacon – $10.98 (Cheaper than my Aldi price.)
1 (2 packs) Oven Roasted Turkey Breast – $9.28 (WAY cheaper than my Aldi price!)
1 Maple Syrup – Somehow the cashier did not ring this up on my receipt and I didn’t notice until a couple of days later. I’ll have to fix it when I go back to the store.
Total: $49.32
Total for all groceries: $145.61
Menu Plan for This Week
Breakfasts
Cereal, Eggs, Bacon, Bagels, Peanut Butter Energy Balls, Yogurt
Lunches
Turkey Sandwiches/Pirates Booty/Carrot Sticks x 2, Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches/Grapes/Sliced Apples x 2, Mac & Cheese/Fruit Salad/Sliced Veggies x 2, Leftovers
Dinners
Grilled Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Biscuits, Caesar Salad
Spaghetti, Homemade Rolls, Green Beans
Chicken/Potato/Green Bean Skillet, Sliced Avocados, Sliced Apples
Baked Pork Butt (from the freezer), Steamed Broccoli, Spinach Salad
Chicken & Rice Bowls, Leftover Tortilla Chips & Salsa
Out to eat
Homemade Cheese Pizza, Breadsticks
We have both Sams club and Costco memberships. I prefer sams ov r Costco but there are things I like better from each place. I make 1 trip a month to each place and stick what is needed and then Meijers and aldis as a fill in week by week if needed.
In general Sams club:milk, toliet paper,paper towels, taco seasoning, baking supplies, snacks, water, cleaning supplies,chicken bites, members mark cold cuts, salad kits, butter sticks, sour cream,…to name a few. Oh peanut butter filled pretzels are way cheaper at sams.
I wanted a Costco membership SO badly but the closest one is an hour away and I didn’t think I would be able to make that trip often enough to justify the cost of the membership. Since Sam’s is just down the road, I ended up going with that. BUT if they ever put a Costco in our town, I’m going to be the first in line for a membership. Haha! – Gretchen, MSM Team
Things I buy cheaper at Sam’s:
Bananas
Frozen fruit for smoothies
Frozen broccoli
Heavy cream
Nuts
Coconut oil (on super sale right now)
Peanut butter
Cheddar cheese block
Gogurts
Carrots
Spinach
Applesauce
Butter
Oatmeal
Maple syrup
Green beans
String cheese
Tomato sauce, paste, diced tomatoes
Starbucks coffee
TP (member’s mark brand)
Dishwasher tabs
Also vanilla extract is sooooooooo much cheaper!!!!
That’s great to know. My parents just bought me a HUGE container of vanilla extract that will last us for several months. But I’ll be sure to buy it at Sam’s from now on. – Gretchen, MSM Team
Thank you for this huge list of items. I love it and will put several of these items on my list to check out at Sam’s next time. – Gretchen, MSM Team
My favorite Sam’s buys:
My #1 tip: rotisserie chickens!! $5 for a BIG cooked chicken!! They are great! I buy one to eat for dinner and another to debone and use for other meals. And sometimes I buy one to bring to someone who needs a meal (sick, new baby, etc.). Can’t beat the price!
#2: boxed salad! Their boxed salad is huge (1#) and only $4. It tastes so much better than Walmart’s boxed salad (yuck). The best part…it lasts way longer than I expect. It rarely gets slimy and nasty before we are able to finish it.
Other favorites:
* Hearts of Romaine lettuce
*Organic carrots (5# for only $4 for big carrots or petite baby carrots for $4 for 3#
*Huge cauliflower heads for the same price as Walmart’s tiny heads
*Their grapes always taste great
*cheddar cheese in the 5# block
*sliced cheese in #5 pkg
* MM toilet paper, paper towels, trash bags
*I wait for Ziploc bags to be on sale (instant savings)
*The huge roll of ground beef is a great price and it’s great tasting meat.
Plus Membership definitely pays off. Free shipping! And you earn 2% back on most in-store purchases.
Instant savings change every month.
Scan and Go is awesome! No waiting in line!!
Thank you for ALL these great tips! This is super helpful. – Gretchen, MSM Team
Do you plan your menu first or after… love seeing this…❤️
Usually afterwards depending on what sales and markdowns I find. But there are a few staple meals we try to have every week – pizza, mexican, grilling out (my husband LOVES steak and begs me to buy it every week so I always look for markdowns on that). The other meals I usually plan after shopping and knowing what we have on hand. I hope that helps! – Gretchen, MSM Team
How do you make your chicken and rice bowls?
My 11 year old actually makes this for dinner but it similar to Chipotle. 🙂 He makes rice, cooks chicken, and then we have all the sides (beans, salsa, cheese, sour cream, chips, etc) which people can put on their chicken and rice. It’s a super easy (and frugal) dinner and we love it. – Gretchen, MSM Team
My Sam’s buys: Olive Oil, Members Mark Baby Wipes, Worcestershire Sauce, Heinz ketchup, Romaine Lettuce Hearts, Aluminum Foil, Parchment Psper, Ziplock Bags, Pam Spray, shampoo , Dove body Wash & Aloe Hand Soap Refill Bottles. These are my definite and I’m sure there are others… on yeah Splenda, Merdjool Dates, bag of lemons.
Thank you so much for this list! I’m definitely going to be checking out the pricing on olive oil, ketchup, foil/bags and lettuce! – Gretchen, MSM Team
Definitely buy your yeast at Sam’s Club and wave goodbye to those 79¢ packets from Aldi! Yeast purchased in bulk is ridiculously inexpensive. Once opened, store in a container in your freezer and it keeps indefinitely.
THANK YOU for this reminder! I completely forgot about Sam’s selling yeast. That’s on my list to buy next time I shop there! – Gretchen, MSM Team
I love Sam’s club!
My staples from Sam’s are:
Fresh broccoli, spinach
Shredded Parmesan
Rotisserie chicken
Chicken breasts, ground beef, ground turkey(marked down if you get their early. I have the premium membership so I get in 2 hrs early)
Toilet paper, tissue
20-lb bag of flour
Spices
Nuts, jerky, dried fruit
Also, if you see something marked down, use the app to scan it-it might be lower than the sign says!
Oh, this is all such GREAT information! Thank you so much. When I shopped last time, they offered me an upgrade to premium for only $10 and I wasn’t sure if it really was any better to have the premium membership. Getting there 2 hours earlier to get marked down stuff definitely sounds worth it. HA! I so appreciate your comment and tips. Thank you! – Gretchen, MSM Team
Most baking staples (yeast, flour, sugar, vanilla) are cheaper at our Sam’s. I LOVE the Member’s Mark toilet paper and paper towels. Cleaning items tend to be cheaper as well.
That’s great to know about the toilet paper and paper towels. I buy our toilet paper at Aldi, but I’ll have to price compare at Sam’s and see how the quality compares (I’m guessing it’s probably better!). – Gretchen, MSM Team
When I price compared 2 years ago, Aldi was a little less expensive.
Sam’s membership definitely pays off.
My regular good buys:
nuts–both the ones in canister for snaking and the ones in bags for cooking
flour–their bread flour is good stuff, but it’s a big bag
coconut oil–can’t say enough about it–soooo good, organic, too, and much cheaper than anywhere else
pasta
peanut butter
coffee
some cereals when on sale
some chips
granola–love this stuff!
drinks–my boy loves sports drink for his basketball games—much, much cheaper in bulk at Sam’s
yogurt
bananas
potatoes
many of the salad mixes
cheese
frozen meats that are on sale—for example–I picked up a 5 lb bag of organic chicken breasts for $4.97 recently
rotisserie chicken–seriously–big chickens for under $5 and makes a lot of meals for us
paper products
medicines–OTC and Rx
toothpaste
🙂
Yay! This makes me SO excited! I’m definitely hoping for meat sales as that’s something that’s getting harder to find at a decent price here in NC. And I really appreciate you listing out your favorite good buys. I’m adding several of those to my list to check for next time. – Gretchen, MSM Team
Some of the items I like to buy at Sams Club:
Mixed nuts
Tortilla chips
Toilet paper (members mark)
Rotisserie chicken
Hummus
Oooohh, I didn’t check their tortilla chips. That’s something we go through a lot so I’ll be sure to look for that next time. – Gretchen, MSM Team
I try to match my buys to their Instant Savings. Often the items are cheaper regardless, but the Instant Savings make them even cheaper. Instant Savings items: chip snack bags, kraft macaroni and cheese, laundry detergent, dishwasher pods (sometimes), French’s fried onions, canned ravioli, frozen digiornos pizza, frozen lasagna, swiffer items, and more.
I like their store brand paper towels, TP, tissues, maple syrup, mixed nuts, and contact solution.
I would call the store before going to the customer service with the maple syrup. My experience with their customer service has been poor and time consuming. They probably won’t think it’s worth the time to sort out the missed syrup. I’d call and ask before waiting in line forever.
Do the instant savings items change every week? I was trying to figure that out. And thanks for the tip about the maple syrup – that’s a great idea. – Gretchen, MSM Team
The instant savings deals change roughly monthly. Sam’s should send you a paper “catalog” a week or so before the new deals begin, and you can also find them on the website. It’s always something weird – for example, the current set of deals ends on January 22. If I recall, there is a delay of several days after one ends and the next set begins, so you would want to watch out for that.
Oh that’s good to know. Thank you so much! – Gretchen, MSM Team
At Sam’s I regularly buy:
Nuts – walnuts or pecans for baking, oatmeal, making trail mix, etc.
White kitchen trash bags are cheaper than anywhere else
Maple Syrup
Ground turkey (once in awhile I can get it on sale for less, but not usually)
Also, I have found that if I go in the morning on a weekday, then the chance is higher that they’ll have some meat marked down. With those markdowns, then their meat can beat sale price at grocery stores.
That’s such a GREAT tip about going early on a weekday to find markdowns. I had NO idea Sam’s even did markdowns so now I’m excited. Ha! And that’s good to know about the trash bags. We go through a lot of those. My son is severely allergic to tree nuts so I’m bummed I can’t buy those as most everyone says they are a good price. Thank you for your comment! – Gretchen, MSM Team
Things we find to be cheaper at Sams:
Chicken breasts
Olive oil
Shredded cheese
Half and half / Cream
Allergy medicine
TP
Hebrew National hot dogs
Lots of fresh fruits and vegetables
Books
Hairspray
Nuts
And a lot of their sale items end up being cheaper than elsewhere. The allergy medicine savings alone covers our membership cost!
I was really hoping the chicken breasts would be cheaper but they were priced almost $3/lb for the fresh ones at my Sam’s and even more for the frozen ones. Maybe they have sales? And our Sam’s doesn’t sell half and half. WHAT?
Ok, and you have me really excited about the allergy medicine. Two of us currently take it year round so I definitely am checking that out next time I shop there. THANK YOU for that tip! – Gretchen, MSM Team