I’m currently challenging myself to stick with a $70 grocery budget for our family of five. This includes almost all of our breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and dinners + most household products (toiletries, laundry soap, etc.).
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Since Wednesday is my Slow Day, I had some extra time to devote to shopping. So I stopped by Dollar Tree, Aldi, Kroger, and Big Lots. And I got some great deals!
Wednesday Dollar Tree Shopping Trip — $6.44
- Brown Rice — $1
- Pinto Beans — $1
- 3 bottles Lemon Juice — $1 each
- Swabs — $1 each (After I bought these I discovered that these are a tad cheaper to buy at Aldi. Just FYI.)
- Total with tax: $6.44
Wednesday Aldi Shopping Trip — $14.14
- Colby Jack Cheese — $1.69
- Sharp Cheddar — $1.69
- Package of 7 kiwi — $1.49
- Cantaloupe — $1.49
- Strawberries — $1.29
- Chocolate Chips — $1.69
- Red Grapes — $2.67
- Natural Peanut Butter — $1.15 (I just realized that this PB was only $1.15!! I should have bought more! It wasn’t tagged at this price, though! That’s a great deal!)
- Total with tax: $14.14
Wednesday Kroger Shopping Trip — $2.93
- 2 yogurts — marked down to $0.39 each
- 2 bags of assorted fruit — marked down to $0.99 each
- Total with tax: $2.93
Did you know that Big Lots sells bread?!? I had no idea.
I haven’t been in a Big Lots store in years and had sort of forgotten about them. But some of you kept suggesting I go in there and check it out.
When I walked in the door and saw the reduced bread cart, I was all, “No!!!! This has been here for the 4 years we’ve lived here and I never knew?!?!”
They had a lot of different bread and bagels on the cart — all priced at $1.40 per loaf. If you have a Bread Outlet, you might be able to find bread less expensive than this, but this is a great deal for these name brand breads in our area.
Yes, the bread is close to the sell by date so you’ll need to freeze it when you get home. But we always freeze our bread anyway and then just use it from the freezer as needed.
I’ve never tried the Eureka bread before but some of you said it usually retails for $6 a loaf and that it’s fantastic!
Moral of the story: You never know where you’re going to find great deals! There might be some hidden gems right where you live that you don’t know about because you’ve just never checked.
Second moral of the story: If you like fantastic bread at a great price, go run and check out your local Big Lots store. (They also have good deals on olive oil and other oils. I didn’t see much else to write home about, but their stock changes every time, so I’ll keep looking!)
Third moral of the story: You guys were right. 😉
Wednesday Big Lots Shopping Trip — $4.48
- 3 loaves of bread — marked down to $1.40 each
- Total with tax: $4.48
To see me talk more about my Big Lots trip, watch my video above. (And you can subscribe to my YouTube channel here if you’re interested in watching other shopping haul videos, recipe videos, and more money-saving videos!)
I took this hot guy with me shopping this morning. 🙂 I was getting ready to hop in the car to run to Aldi and I spontaneously asked him if he wanted to come with me. It was a quick shopping trip, but we had some great discussions in the car and just love opportunities like this to get to be together!
15 years and we still love spending time together! Also, it’s so fun that our kids are old enough that we can now leave them at home by themselves!
Friday Aldi Shopping Trip — $18.73
- Cantaloupe — $1.49
- 8 Sweet Corn Ears — $0.25 each
- 6 packages of Strawberries — $1.29 each
- Milk — $2.69
- Lettuce — $1.99
- 1 package of 7 Kiwi — $1.49
- Total with tax: $18.73
I was kind of sad that I was $2+ under budget. I would have purchased another item or two at Aldi, but I was afraid that I was going to be over, so I didn’t just in case! 🙂 Oh well!
Spending Totals
Total spent on groceries this week: $67.46
Rebates: $0.50 for submitting two receipts to Ibotta, $1.36 back from Fetch Rewards for purchasing Goldfish & Suave and scanning 5 qualifying receipts. You can scan any grocery store receipts — including Aldi! The only receipt from this week that I didn’t get any points from was Big Lots. (If you haven’t signed up for Fetch Rewards, you can sign up here and use code WW7XJ and you’ll get a bonus 2,000 points = worth $2.)
Crystal,
I use to shop at Big Lots mainly for the breads. I also had the Buzz program not at all sure if they still have that but they did 20% off days on that program that saved a lot.
Bread was the main thing I bought at Big Lots in 2004 the Tide was cheap there.
Sometimes snacks are cheap as well .
I just signed up for their rewards program and I’m going to try going there every week for awhile to scout out what they have. I’ll for sure report to you all if I find any amazing deals!
My kids are obsessed with buffalo chicken pretzel thins and I stock up on them at Big Lots b/c the big bag is literally half the price at Big lots, plus 10% off when they have their friends and family sale.
Great savings! I have been finding bread at the Dollar Tree. It is good quality at mine! I also freeze mine right away. Today I was able to get hot dog rolls, hamburger buns. Bagels, all for $1.00 each!
I miss being able to get bread at Dollar Tree! Our DT’s in Kansas carried it and it was the best ever! I keep hoping maybe the DT’s will start to carry great bread here!
Big Lots clearance is seriously my favorite thing. I have found CARTS full of 5 cent items – Triscuits, Granola Bites, etc. Talk about stockpiling! They typically have a section of clearance foods and at the end of the month, carts of reduced items. At least at our store. It’s in the same strip as our Aldi, so I am usually set!
That’s AMAZING! I will definitely keep my eye out for their clearance — thank you for that tip!
That is amazing! And you look 20!?! What’s in that TN water?!? Haha! Love seeing your posts!
We don’t often go food shopping at Target on Saturday. We ran in for some stuff, and for fun I checked out their chicken. The family packs had $4 off coupons, because they were dated to sell by today. Then it dawned on me: A lot of their fresh food is marked down on Saturdays, because their new prices and sales start on Sunday!!!
Aw, you’re so sweet!
And yay for marked down chicken!!
Big Lots is my go-to place for organic and gluten free snacks. They often have boxes of larabars for a good price. in my trip yesterday, I got a 44-count box of Annie’s organic gummies for $2.99!
We have an amazing store in our town named The Bridge. It is voluntary run by one of the churches in the area. I’m able to do 98% of my shopping there and can feed my family of 3 (one of which is a growing 17 year old boy) for $40 a week.
That’s fantastic!
Awesome savings, girl! I learned recently that Dollar Tree also sells bread. I bought 5 loaves of Sara Lee for less than one loaf at the supermarket. Ask your local store what days they get their bread delivery. Keep up the good work! Cheers!
Our Dollar Tree in KS sold Nature’s Own bread. Sadly, the only bread I’ve been able to find at Dollar Trees here is cheap bread. 🙁
Just roll the $2.00 you had left over to your next shopping trip.
I could… but I find that becomes super confusing for my followers here. So I’m trying to keep it as simple and straightforward as possible! 🙂
Walmart has organic Maranatha peanut butter for $5, they have hangtags with $2-off coupons, and Ibotta has a $1.75 rebate on them (up to 5), so they’re just $1.25! We were pretty excited to find that deal.
That’s an AMAZING deal! Thanks for sharing!
I always love shopping in Aldi now. I used to shop in target, publix and Cosco.
Last week I only spend for chicken breast$6 ( which I made 3 different recipe on this) ground beef$5 ( made burger and chili soup) ,pork chops $5.bacon$3+, 10 cups (.65 cents) greek yogurt$6.50 , ganola cereal $3, 4 container of blackberries $6, 2 watermelon$5, 1 cantaloupe $1 and i honey dew $1. Bring me total $41.50. Im so happy because usually I came out in publix or target spending $180/ week
Also their salad and vegetable are great price too. I usually get the large
spring mix, carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, peppers, corn , also I found their extra virgin olive oil is only $3.99. Their milk and eggs are also cheaper. They have different kind of cheeses that are better price than publix or target( now I can
splurge with my cheeses?). I also at times purchase chicken drumstick to switch around recipes and at times purchase chicken salad when Im too tired to cook and just want to make sandwiches. Their chips and salsa and guacamole dip is great too.
I think I learn about Aldi from you . I did not know that we have one close by our home. I went and check it out and see what works for my family likes and diet . In the end my budget is better .
With chicken breast ( I did 3 seperate recipes like that chicken penne pasta pesto , chicken vegetable pasta , chicken and rice with vegetables and pork chops( I made out if this world that my 2 kids and hubby complemented me).Just imagine how this food really last for family of 4. Its a lot fun food shopping and cooking now and being creative with my budget as well ..?
Way to go!! I love Aldi!
Every time I check out the mark downs , the price is still too high. Have never been able to find price like you getting you food at. Had to stay cheap like that!
There are LOTS of markdowns I pass up because the price is too high. You have to “dig” a little and really look and they are usually there! The more you do it, the faster you get at knowing where to look!
I always get my bread there and buns too if we are having a bar-b-que or something. Big packages for super cheap!! I get a huge jar of coconut oil for $8. I also get huge bags of popcorn with himalayan salt for only $1.90! It’s a great go to snack. And matcha tea for only $3! I make a trip every week specifically for the cheap bread though!!
Thanks for these great tips!
My Big Lots doesn’t have bread, but they DO have better prices than Walmart on stuff like air freshener & scrubbing bubbles & the sponge do-dads I use on my dish wand.
They are also the best deal on Bob’s Red Mill products you will find!
I can’t figure out what kind of meals you made with any of this.
See my menu plan linked at the bottom of the post. 🙂 Most of this was stuff I was buying for *next* week since I almost had everything on hand we needed for meals this week that I had purchased in previous shopping trips. That’s the best way to save. Buy ahead when the price is low and then use what you already have to menu plan! 🙂
I am not budgeting so strictly, but I did find a lot of markdowns on organic products on an endcap at Meijer today. I had not been to that location in about nine months, and I had my three kids with me. Miraculously, they behaved (I took them to a park first). I got a variety of granola bars, organic labels with healthy ingredients, for $.98 per box. I’ve had a cold, so I also got some vitamin C buy one, get one free. I’m hoping to finish my food shopping tomorrow without kids!
We also stopped at a church rummage sale on the way to the park. I love those types of sales! I got two nice Calphalon pans with glass lids (to replace two pans that I’ve worn out with all the home cooking I do), I found a like-new Columbia winter coat for my 7 year old son, plus two shirts and a pair of Air Jordan sandals (he chose); 8 Hot Wheels cars (my 5 and 7 year olds play with these), a pair of footed pjs for my 5 year old, a purse and Hello Kitty toy and Spot it game for her, a brand-new knitting kit with yarn, crochet hook, knitting needles and tapestry needle, two other bags of yarn with alpaca yarn, one small weaving loom and a pack of erasers. We got it all for $14!
That’s amazing what you found at the rummage sale! And YAY for markdowns!!