Money Saving Mom®

I’ve received countless requests over the years for me to post my “Price List” (i.e. the price I shoot to pay for all items I purchase). I resisted doing this for a long time because I was afraid that many of you would find it discouraging since prices vary so much by area. However, I finally decided to go ahead and put this list together since many of you promised me it would be helpful.

Please note that the prices listed below are the prices I try not to pay more than. Of course, free or free-plus-overage is always the best thing, but if that’s not possible, than these are the prices I aim to match or beat when purchasing items. Also, note that these prices are normally the prices I shoot to pay by pairing a coupon with a great sale. These are not typically the shelf prices you’ll see here!

We don’t have a CVS or Rite Aid and we only have two grocery store chains in our area, so I’m not able to get some of the deals many of you can get routinely. At the same time, though, we’re blessed to have Walgreens, Walmart, Target, a few Dollar Stores and a health food store in addition to the two grocery store chains.

Toiletries/Personal Care

Bandages — $0.50 per 30-count box or less
Bar Soap — $0.30 per 2-pack or less
Cough Drops — $0.25 per bag or less
Deodorant — $0.50 per regular-sized stick or less
Floss — $0.25 per package or less
Liquid Soap — $0.30 per hand soap pump or less
Lotion — I rarely pay for lotion as I usually get trial-sized bottles for free by signing up for free samples or by using coupons.
Mouthwash — free
Pain Reliever — $1 per bottle or less for name brands
Razors — $1 per package or less
Shampoo/Conditioner — $1 per bottle for name brand, $0.50 per bottle for off brands
Shaving Cream — $0.50 per bottle or less
Sunblock — I’ve never paid anything for sunblock before.
Toothbrushes — $0.20 per toothbrush or less
Toothpaste — free

Baby Items

Baby Food — I don’t buy baby food unless I can get it for free. Otherwise, I make my own or just use a baby food grinder at the table.
Diaper Rash Ointment — free
Diapers — I personally don’t pay for diapers because I used to get them free by working them into my drug store deal scenarios. Now, I get them free by using my accumulated Swagbucks. If you don’t play the drugstore game, $5 per package or less would be a typical stock-up price. Anything less than $0.10 per diaper is usually considered a good deal. Less than $0.08 per diaper is usually a great deal. However, with the insane Amazon diaper deals right now, you can often get diapers for less than $0.04 each shipped to your door!
Wipes — $1 per 64 wipes or less

Refrigerated Items

Butter — $1.69 per pound or less (Whenever I find a great deal on butter, I usually buy a few pounds and freeze them.)
Cheese — $1.69 per 8 oz. or less
Cream Cheese — $0.50 per package or less (Whenever I find a great deal on cream cheese, I buy four to six blocks and freeze them.)
Eggs — I pay $2 per dozen for farm-fresh, free-range eggs. If I were buying non-free-range eggs, I would shoot for $1.29 per dozen or less. (Sometimes Aldi will have them as low as $0.69 per dozen, but I’ve not had great success at freezing eggs, so I don’t buy more than 4-6 weeks’ worth at a time.)
Milk — The cheapest I can usually get rBGH-free milk is $2.50 per gallon. Milk can be frozen, but we’ve found we prefer to only use milk which has been frozen in cooking. If I find organic milk marked down to $1.99 per half-gallon or less, I buy it and freeze it to use in pancakes and waffles.
Sour Cream — $0.99 per 16-oz. carton or less
Yogurt — $0.25 per serving or less

Produce

Bananas — $0.19 to $0.44 per pound (Once a week, a local store has bananas for $0.19 per pound, so if I’m out shopping that day, I’ll price-match at Walmart. Otherwise, I buy them reduced at Dillon’s for $0.39 per pound or $0.44 per pound at Aldi.)
Fruit in Season — $0.99 per pound or less
Grapes — $0.99 per pound or less
Lemons — $0.25 each or less
Salad — I buy organic greens when I can get them for $1.99 per 16-ounce tub or less. Otherwise, I try to get heads of lettuce for $1.59 per head or less. Occasionally, they go on sale for $0.99. I also look for bags of salad greens which have been reduced as this is often a better deal.
Salad Dressing — $0.99 per 16 ounces or less
Strawberries — $1.85 per carton or less
Tomatoes — $0.99 per pound or less
Watermelon — $2.99 per watermelon
Carrots — $0.99 per bag of baby carrots, $0.99 per one-pound bag of whole carrots

Frozen

Frozen Dinners — We basically do not buy these except for the on rare occasions they are free or almost-free.
Frozen Pizza — Again, we have only purchased this a few times when it was free. We much prefer homemade pizza!
Frozen Vegetables — $1 per bag or less
Ice Cream — We usually only buy Breyer’s ice cream — yes, we’re ice cream “snobs” 😉 — and try to get it for less than $3 per tub.

Meat

Beef, Ground — We buy 93% lean beef and I usually try to buy it when it is on sale for $3.69 per pound or less.
Chicken, Boneless Skinless Breast — $5.99 per 3-lb. bag
Chicken, Whole — We don’t buy whole chickens, ever. Yes, I know that breaks one of the major laws of frugality, but none of us like dark meat, so it’s more cost-effective and less wasteful to just buy chicken breasts. 🙂
Roast — $3 per pound or less
Steak — $2 per pound or less

We rarely ever eat pork, so I’m not even sure what a good price on it would be.

Dry/Canned Goods

Bread — $1.49 per loaf or less (for the nicer, higher-quality brands)
Brownie Mix — $0.39 to free
Cake Mix — free
Canned Tuna — You can often get the pouches for almost-free, so that’s usually what I buy when buying tuna.
Cereal — $1 per box or less
Chocolate Chips — $1.69 per package (Aldi regular price) or less.
Cookies — We rarely ever purchase packaged cookies, but I would buy them if they were free.
Crackers — $1 per box or less.
Flour — $0.69 per pound for organic wheat kernels (we grind most of our own flour) or around $0.50 per pound for unbleached flour.
Hamburger/Hot Dog Buns — $1 per package (I get Nature’s Own Hamburger/Hot Dog buns at Dollar Tree for $1 or Rudi’s Organic Buns for $0.99 when they are reduced at the health food store.)
Honey — Aldi has the best price the I’ve found in our area (around $3 for 16 oz. last time I checked) unless you have a Sam’s Club membership or buy from the Bulk Foods Store. I love the raw honey from Tropical Traditions and do splurge on it when I can get it Buy One, Get One Free plus free shipping.
Jelly/Jam — $1 per jar or less.
Ketchup — $0.50 per bottle or less
Mayonnaise — $1 per jar
Mustard — free
Oats — $1.69 per canister (Aldi price) or less
Pasta — $0.50 per box or less
Peanut Butter — $1 per jar or less
Soup, Canned — I pretty much only buy this if I can get it for $0.15 or less per can.
Spaghetti Sauce — $1 per jar or less
Sugar — $1.34 per pound for turbinado (raw sugar). We’ve not purchase white sugar for a long time, but Aldi usually has the cheapest price on it.
Syrup — We make our own or buy organic maple syrup when it’s on a great sale from Amazon.
Tomato Paste — $0.15 or less per can
Tomato Sauce — $0.15 or less per can
Tortillas — $0.99 per package
Vanilla — The best price I’ve found is at Sam’s Club. Last I checked, they sell one pint for $6.88.

Cleaning Supplies/Paper Products

Aluminum Foil — $0.50 or less for a 20-foot box (Walgreens sells it at this price fairly often).
Dishwasher Detergent — $0.50 or less per box of tabs
Dishwashing Soap — free
Laundry Detergent — $0.99 per 32-load bottle
Toilet Paper — $0.25 per roll or less
Kitchen Trash Bags — $2.98 for 32 bags (Aldi price)
Zipper Bags — $1 per box or less