For a few weeks it seemed like our grocery bill just kept on increasing, and despite my best effort to combine coupons and sales, I had a really difficult time keeping our weekly grocery spending under $75 for our family of 5. I know that part of the reason was that I was trying to buy more veggies and fruits, and with two growing boys we go through a lot of lactose free and soy milk each week as well.
Last week I decided to skip the grocery store. I had to get diapers, so I bought diapers on sale at Walgreens, and I just picked up a few items at the produce store and OJ and a few items at Target.
Last night I finished organizing my coupons and I made the grocery list, so that I was prepared for grocery shopping today.
With the baby in the babybjorn, and my toddler in the Car cart, I entered Publix with a very detailed grocery list, and while I wrote everything down to keep track of my spending, I still kept my fingers crossed, when I got to the register.
When the amount crept above $100, I felt my hands getting sweaty, and I just wanted the numbers to stop. When the lady started entering the coupons, the amount slowly started decreasing, and I could sigh out of relief.
The total ended up at $72.02, below my goal of $75, so I was very excited to finally be back on track.
Between coupons, rainchecks and sales I saved a total of $77.58
The best deals of today were:
- A raincheck for White House %100 Apple Juice on BOGO (buy one get one free) sale. They were $2.79 each, and I got 4 for $5.58 ($1.40 each)
- Perdue dinosaur chicken nuggets on BOGO sale at two for $4.39. I got four for $8.78, used 4 x $1 coupons, and paid $4.78 ($1.20 each)
- Birds Eye Steamfresh Meals on sale at $4.99. I got 4 packages for $19.96, used 2 BOGO coupons and paid a total of $9.98 ($2.50 each)
- Cheez-It crackers on bogo sale at 2 for $3.99. I got four boxes for $7.98, used 2 x $1.50 coupons and paid a total of $4.98 for 4 (1.25 per box).
- All detergent on sale at $2.99, I used a $2 coupon and paid $.99 cents. (I had first grabbed another bottle, but when I got to the detergent aisle, I noticed that some of then had 25 percent extra in the bottle, so I grabbed this one instead.)
I loaded up on all the fruits and veggies. Apples, Florida tangerines, cucumbers, corn, potatoes and squash were all on sale, which left room for a couple of extra veggies.
The splurges for today were:
- Breyer ice cream on BOGO sale at 2 for $4.99, I used 2 x .75 coupons and paid a total of $3.49 ($1.75 each).
- Sabra hummus at regular price $3.99, I used a $1 of Deli item coupon, and paid $2.99
- Flat Out flat bread on bogo sale at 2 for $2.89 ($1.45 each)
- Sugar cones (for the ice cream) at regular price $1.89
To find coupons for Birds Eye's Steamfresh go to FrugalMom's Favorite Things.
Do you have a set budget for grocery shopping, and are you finding it hard or easy to stay within your budget?
Did you get any great grocery deals lately?
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Comments: 41
I don't really have a set budget. I just go in the store and get what we need, but I always buy the sale items, or the less expensive item, and use coupons if I have them.
You have CVS (we don't)
You have Winn Dixie (we don't)
You have Publix (we don't)
None of these are anywhere within an hour or 2 of here. All we have here is Pick and Save, Aldi and Walmart and a Walgreens. :( So we are incredibly limited on what we can save here. Grrr.
And it can be very frustrating as we have little we can do. Either pay the money or get other stuff we don't want just in the name of saving a dollar here and there (and it's obviously less healthy)
We do the best we can, it's all you can do.
I spent about $125 yesterday on groceries. Aside from the milk, yogurt, and produce, I'm pretty sure I got enough food for two weeks. Of course they go through milk and produce like crazy.
Lean Cuisine meals $0.99 each
Cheez-Its $0.24 each
Dannon 4 pack Yogurt $0.49
Snuggle fabric softner FREE
Chocolate Chex Mix $0.49
Birdseye Stemfresh veggies $0.49 each
Birdseye steamfresh veggies $0.79 (one coupon was for less than the others)
Birdseye Steamfresh meals for two $1.99 each
Ricola cough drops FREE
How old are your sister-in-law's children? I can only imagine how much the boys will go through as they get older, especially in that pre-teen/teen face.
My nephews are 9 and 12 right now. I can't imagine what she spent her money on though, because she doesn't even have to buy any beef (they just had a cow slaughtered) Well, I know part of her problem is that she lets them eat what they want--which is not really healthy, and she often cooks seperate meals for them, because they are SO picky. Plus she buys a lot of junk, for home and the expensive personal size snacks for their lunches, since they won't eat cafeteria food.
I put my foot down at cooking seperate meals for Elliott. He can either eat what we have or not, but I will not make him his own personal dinner!