I had planned for this week to be a stock-up week, since we had spent less than $20 on groceries each of the previous two weeks and, as a result, I had accumulated over $80 in grocery money to spend. So stock up we did!
Here's what we bought:
The above is the combination of what we purchased in a trip to Target, Dillons, the local health food store, and Whole Foods Market (which we stopped by when we were in Kansas City).
At Whole Foods we bought: 8 ears of corn (on sale 4 for $1), fresh green beans (on sale for $0.99/lb.), a little fresh-ground peanut butter (not pictured since we ate it on sandwiches before the picture was snapped!), and close to 5 lbs. of organic spring wheat kernels (priced at $0.69/lb.). All totaled, we spent $6.75.
At the local health food store, we bought Newman's Own Fig Newtons (reduced to $0.99), Health Valley Graham crackers (reduced to $1.29), organic spinach (reduced to $0.99), tortilla chips (reduced to $0.99), and 4 half-gallons of organic milk (reduced to $1.59 and I had 4 $1/1 coupons so they were only $0.59/half gallon!). So I spent $7.04 there.
We stopped by Dillons (our Kroger affiliate) and purchased: spinach (reduced to $0.99), 2 cartons of Breyer's ice cream ($1.99 each after coupons), Digiorno Flatbread Melts (free after coupon), 2 cartons of strawberries ($1.88 each, 2 boxes of Wheat Thins ($0.97 each after coupon), BBQ sauce (free after coupon), sandwich bags ($1.85), butter ($0.85 after reduction and coupon), baking powder ($1.25), mozzarella cheese ($1.15 after sale and coupon), 2 cantaloupe ($1.67 each), one Asian salad mix ($0.79 after reduced price and coupon), one gallon milk ($2.50), Purex laundry detergent ($2.30 after sale and coupon), 2 pounds of turkey sausage (reduced to $1.49 each), chocolate chips ($1.40), yogurt 4-pack ($1 after coupon), 2 Reach toothbrushes ($0.37 after sale and coupon), and cottage cheese (reduced to $0.79). I spent a total of $35.61 at Dillons.
And then we stopped by Target and did this transaction which I outlined here spending just shy of $6.
I wasn't planning to do anymore shopping the rest of the week, but I had to run out and get a few things at Target later on in the week, so I decided I might as well get a few more grocery bargains while I was there. So here was my second Target trip of the week:
After coupons, I spent $3.65 on everything shown above. You can read more about these deals here.
So, after coupons and sales, I spent $58.99 on groceries this week. Considering I had a little over $80 I could have spent (and still kept within our $40/week grocery budget since we've been underbudget the past two weeks), I was thrilled. I am beginning to hope more and more that we just might be able to consistently stick with our $40/week budget again for awhile even with our growing family. We'll see. But as of right now, our freezers, pantry, and refrigerators are quite full and we are over $20 under budget for the month!
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Did you snag any great deals or bargains this week or save money in other ways?
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link must link directly to your Super Savings Saturday post.
I did my Publix shopping last night. I’m still really new at this but I ended up spending 30.61 and saving over that at 42.04!
I’m curious what you do with frozen milk? I’ve never heard of doing that! Thanks!
I am sure you have answered this before, but it seems like I don’t see a lot of staples in your grocery runs. I think I have read that you grind your own wheat, but what about sugar, vinegar and other staples like that? Do you buy them in bulk?
I can’t believe you buy all your diapers using swagbucks!! PLEASE tell me how you manage to earn that many swagbucks- I try and try and only get a few! Thank you for any advice you can give me on the topic.
I went to Target today to do the Keebler cookie deal and saw that their small boxes of Pop-tarts are on sale for $1.59. If you buy 10 and use 10 of the .55 cent coupons (either found in the coupons a week or so ago or from the pads at Wal-mart) you’ll make a few cents off the deal after you submit your $10 rebate from Kellogg’s.
Hi MSM,
I wish you lived in the UK so that I could see how much I could save here. Unfortunately, we don’t have coupons (well only very, very few). You could never get that amount of food over here for such little money.
I have followed all your advice on budgeting, menu planning and making lists and we have saved a lot of money. I also found that sending my husband to the shops also saves money as he only buys from the list (no impulse buys).
I love reading your posts – it always motivates me to do better. Your advice is much needed.
Katie
I set an ambitious goal to get out grocery budget down to $400 a month for a family of 5 hearty eaters. I originally thought it was aiming way too high, as we were already lean on a $500 monthly budget. But I did it, remained diligent, and prayed about it. At the end of the month, I was shocked to see that I came in $20 under budget. And there was definitely no shortage of food. God is so good, I know it is through Him that I even met this goal!
I agree, Kim! We are a family of 3 (myself, hubby, and 4yo son) and we adjust accordingingly. I keep our budget at $40/wk too. We’ve tried to go less but was not able to due to the fact that hubby works 12+ hr days 5 times wk and needs lots of small snacks and drinks to take with him. If not, he would easily spend $10+ everyday! Now, it just takes about $10 extra each wk so we save $30+ wk doing so! We may have a wk where it costs less or more, but usually it evens out in the end!
Very nice! As usual. 🙂 I hit up that same corn-on-the-cob deal at the Whole Foods near me, I am freezing some of it as we speak because i got too much for my husband and I to eat (intentionally).
Crystal, I just love your site! It is nice to meet other Christian mommas out there being good stewards of what God has given us! I also had a wonderful trip to Publix this week. I saved $119 and spent $8ish. I just love saving my family money! Check out my site: http://www.mysweetsavings.com
My sister said something to me that was very helpful.(She often does!) My husband and I feel that the area to improve is our grocery budget. I was getting discouraged because I just can’t seem to beat this grocery game. She said this–
Keep in mind that MSM has two small girls. Her family size is different. Her girls may eat 1/2 peanut butter sandwich and a couple apple slices. My 14 year old boy is going to eat 2 sandwiches, a whole apple, a banana and then wonder what else is there. We also drink a gallon of milk a day. There is no way I can have a $40.00/week budget. It just isn’t going to work for us.–
That really hit home for me. Now whether or not MSM’s girls eat more or not 🙂 the point is still there. As Crystal has said many times, each situation IS different. I have to do what is right for our family situation. Hope this encourages others.
Im impressed by your idea of sticking on a grocery budget and also the fact that youre UNDER budget! *applauds*
Bleah! I screwed up my first Mister Linky entry by putting my URL in where my name was supposed to go. Oops. Feel free to delete my first one. lol
My Kroger does markdowns on their dairy, but I have a hard time using a coupon on a markdown, so really I have stopped even trying. I do better with Publix, Aldi’s and Trader Joes and the occasional farmers market hit.
Crystal, a quick question for you on the health food/Whole Food finds…I notice you frequently find stuff on markdown…do you know about this ahead of time? Do you have any particular strategies or tips to finding all this good stuff on markdown? Is there a method to this or just plain good luck? Thanks! – Angela
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Money Saving Mom here: My strategy is just to get to know your local stores and which ones mark things down and when they are more apt to mark them down. And then shop then and there. Every store is different so I just recommend shopping at different times and days until you learn which ones are the best to go on!
Hi MSM,
I love your blog and you continually inspire me to do better. When you buy that much milk do you end up freezing it or does your family go through that much milk? And I’m curious how many newspapers you get…when you say you had 4 coupons for milk is that because you get 4 newspapers or you just happened to get those coupons some other way?
Thanks for all your help!
Lisa
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Money Saving Mom here: I froze all the organic milk to use in whole-wheat pancakes and waffles. It was expiring the next day so there’s no way we could have used all of it. But I’ll totally pay $0.59 per half gallon for organic milk to use in baking!
We only go through close to one gallon of milk per week–and that’s only if we’re eating lots of cereal. We don’t drink milk so we go through it rather slowly compared to many families!
As far as coupons go, I actually don’t buy any newspapers. I use printable coupons, blinkie coupons (which is what those milk coupons were), some friends pass along their extra unused coupons, and I get coupons out of the recycling bin. I don’t have any shortage of coupons so I’ve not found it necessary to actually buy the paper right now.
Hope that helps!
To Marie:
I won’t try to speak for Crystal (promise!), but I do know that she – and many of the other wonderful frugal bloggers out there – recommend you find what budget works best for you and your family. We all have different priorities, different family sizes, different stores with different prices… there are so many variables.
The best idea is to work with what you have. If you really feel your budget can improve, then try to figure out if there are ways you can cut back here and there. But don’t try to lower your budget just because someone else’s budget is less than yours. You should only do it if you feel you need to and want to (and can) based on your individual circumstances.
I know for me, it’s important that my family eats plenty of unprocessed, real foods, and balanced meals that include plenty of natural protein and healthy fats (which for me is butter, organic olive oil and organic coconut oil). I like to buy a lot of organic products when possible. My budget is $90 per week for a family of four (two adults and two under 6). I’d love a $40 a week budget, but it wouldn’t be in line with my priorities and what is available right now for me.
Great job this week! I like that you showed that the bulk bins at Whole Foods can actually yield healthy bargains.
I wouldn’t worry too much about people feeling bad about what your target prices are. To each his own. We eat a lot of granola bars and cereal around here, so I’m willing to pay more for it than others might be. Plus we don’t have Dillons anymore (insert big sigh here).
A question to all of you:
I budget $80 a week and still have struggles. What am I doing wrong? I try to plan all my meals based around what is on sale. Should I try instead to stock up more so more of my ingredients will come from rock bottom prices? I’d love anyone’s input!
Have you ever thought about making your own laundry detergent? There are recipes for it online- once you have a couple more kids it might really be worth it.
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Money Saving Mom here: Yep, I tried. And it was one of the worst failed frugal experiments I’ve ever had. It turned out ick and it didn’t work at all. I ended up throwing it all out.
I think I’m just not cut out for making own laundry detergent/soap. 🙁 But I have great respect for so many of you who do. And maybe some day I’ll work up the courage to try again!
Great job!!! I am so jealous!!! There are no Krogers, Dillion’s, etc. near us…we are stuck with local grocery stores and Walmart. The local grocery stores either double coupons, but don’t take internet coupons, or don’t take internet coupons at all and don’t double ugh! My grocery budget is $170 every 2 weeks, so $85 a WEEK…I admit, after starting couponing, I am able to get more for my money, but wow, not like you!
I had a great little trip to Target–I had already used all of the $1 coupons for Eggo bake shop products last week and I have a regular target, not a supertarget so I could not find Kashi trail mix bars or waffles; however, I was able to get 2 boxes of Kashi cereal, 1 degree deoderant, and a $5.76 play dough set for $1.78–I realized I would have overage from the coupons for the cereal and deoderant and I wanted to buy more play dough and some play dough cookie cutters for my son, so there you go (I did not get a B1G1 degree coupon in my 6/28 SS–must be a regional thing, but if I had that I could have also gotten a degree body mist)! You could also use the overage towards the Eggo bake shop products if you haven’t already maxed out all the coupons you can print for that, but I was excited b/c the play dough set was something I was going to buy anyway (I know you can make your own play dough, but I wanted the cookie cutters b/c he has been getting into my real cutters and I’d rather have some designated just for play dough)! Thanks for all the tips and coupon match ups!
After seeing all of your great deals it makes me want to move out of NY!!
Thanks for sharing all the great tips. I accidentally put my chick-fil-a link on this one. Feel free to remove it…I added it to the right post!
My husband got a phone call on Monday to go up to Lowes food becaue they were putting meat out on a mangers special.We had extra money and bought $150.00 worth of meat for $50.00.Our freezer is stocked.
I have been able to save lots at Kroger this week also-used some of the coupons as you,
We live in a rural community but are visiting the Dallas metroplex with my mom. WE had a ball this weekend hitting Super Target, two drugstores and 3 grocery stores. Thanks for the inspiration to get good deals. Can’t forget 7-11 and chikfila, too!
HEY MSM,
great post- would you mind answering the following (as I am new to bargain shopping)-
1) when you say $40 a week, what is included in your personal grocery budget (ie are fem hygiene, cleaners, baggies, misc things like diapers, etc included or just food items?).
2) Would you be able to do a post where you highlight your price points for a variety of items like toilet paper, cereal, cheese, milk, diapers, wipes, deli meat, tuna, and lots of other basics that I’m sure would help those of us who are newer to snag a good deal…I realize prices are regional but I still think a post like this would help a lot of your readers-if you have done one already, could you link me back to it?
Thanks;-) I really appreciate your blog.
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Money Saving Mom here: Our grocery budget includes everything like household products, cleaners, toiletry items, etc. However, since we no longer have a CVS store and I can’t work the diaper deals my deal scenarios, I’ve been purchasing diapers in bulk on Amazon with my Swagbucks. So they don’t cost me anything, but they also aren’t coming out of the $40/week allotment.
I am considering doing a post with my target prices because so many people have asked recently. However, I’m still debating whether that would be helpful or whether it would just be discouraging to people who live where prices are higher.
Wow! Amazing week Crystal.
I was thinking of visiting the a whole foods market which is about an hour away for me. I was wondering what you thought of the prices?
these posts make me so jealous to have a target with groceries! None here!
Boy, after reading your blog for many months now I’m still encouraged to get better at my couponing. Great buys this week!
Question for you, have you found that laundry detergent is relatively all the same. I’ve always been brand loyal to Tide, but have recently purchased a bottle of Gain. When I saw that you purchased Purex it sparked a thought. Is soap…soap? Do you find that the more inexpensive brands clean just as well as the hight priced brands?
Thanks for your input.
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Money Saving Mom here: I personally have not found much of a difference in laundry detergents/soaps so I usually just buy whatever I can get for $2.50 or less/bottle when we’re getting close to needing some more. On occasion, I’m able to get it for less than $1.50/bottle so then I usually buy at least a few bottles.
i was able to get some AWESOME deals this week too! check them out: barbourshop.blogspot.com
Great trip. Thank you for being so detailed. That really helps me out in this learning process.