Saturday, January 24, 2009

Bargain Shopping

In light of recent conversations regarding our grocery budget and people wondering how we eat on so little, I thought I'd do a post on grocery shopping. This week, I spent $35.54 on groceries. Granted, I didn't buy any meat because we have plenty in the freezer and I'll be gone all weekend (hence nothing will be getting cooked, just eaten). I also did not buy a lot of fresh fruit because we already have some grapes, apples, and grapefruit. But I think that even if I had needed to buy meat and fruit that I could have come under our $50/week budget. Here's what I got this week:


The goods.

At Harris Teeter:
FREE 2 10-oz bottles Worcestershire
$.39 French's spicy mustard
$4.00 2 lbs of butter
$.19 Country Crock spread
FREE 2 tubes Colgate
$.50 Ricola cough drops

The Worcestershire was on sale for $1 each and I had 2 $.50 coupons which doubled, making those free. The mustard was on sale for $1.89 and I had a coupon for $.75 off which doubled, making it $.39. The butter was just a good deal...$1.99 a pound. The Country Crock was $2.39 but buy one get one free (BOGO) which means it rings at half price. So...it was $1.19 and then with my $.50 off coupon that doubled it was only $.19. The Colgate was on sale for $1.50 a tube and I had 2 $.75 off coupons, so got those for free. Then the cough drops were on sale for $1.50 and I had a $.50 off coupon, so they were only $.50.

Total before store savings and coupons: $22.91
Coupons tendered: $8.50 (3 x $.75, 2 x $.50, all doubled and then 2 x $1 not doubled)
Store savings with loyalty card: $9.35
Tax: $.35
Total out of pocket (OOP): $5.41

At Lowe's Foods:

$.16 Eggo waffles
$3.26 4 boxes Frosted Mini Wheats
$.30 small container of Quaker oats
FREE 1 gallon 1% milk
$1.30 JFG coffee
$.79 small Skippy peanut butter
$1.49 Crest sensitive toothpaste
$2.00 pint blueberries

The Eggo waffles were on sale 3 for $4.98, or $1.66 a box. I had a coupon for $.75 off which doubled, so they were only $.16. The Frosted Mini Wheats were on sale for $1.69 a box. I had 2 coupons for $1 off one, so I got 2 boxes for $.69 each. Then I had another coupon for $1.50 off the purchase of 2 boxes, so I go those 2 boxes for $.94 each. Then the store was running a special where if you bought 4 boxes of Kellogs cereal you got a gallon of milk for free. Yay for free milk. The Quaker oats were on sale for $1.50 a box and I had a coupon for $.60 off which doubled, making them only $.30. The JFG coffee was on sale for $2.50 and I had a coupon for $.60 off which doubled making it $1.30. We've never tried this kind of coffee before, but for $1.30 I figured we could try it out. The Skippy peanut butter was on sale for $1.99 and then I had a coupon for $.60 off which doubled making it $.79. Shannon has to use sensitive toothpaste so I'm always looking for a good deal on it. It was on sale for $2.99 and then with my $.75 off coupon which doubled I got it for $1.49. And we love blueberry pancakes, so for half-price I got a pint.

Total before store savings and coupons: $36.48
Coupons tendered: $10.10 (2 x $.75, 3 x $.60, all doubled and then 2 x $1, 1 x $1.50 not doubled)
Store savings with loyalty card: $16.66
Tax: $.43
Total OOP: $9.72

At Kroger:

Kroger is running a special where if you buy 10 of certain items, you can get $5 off your order. That basically ends up to be $.50 off of each item. I'm going to post the prices with that $.50 taken off.

$1.00 2 Pace picante salsa
-$.23 Rotel tomatoes
$1.49 large Coffeemate liquid creamer
-$.50 2 Green Giant steamers frozen vegetables
$1.70 box of Triscuits
$1.38 2 boxes of Orville Redenbacher popcorn
$2.22 3 boxes Fiber One granola bars
$2.00 2 boxes Quaker Simple Harvest instant oatmeal
$1.00 2 bags Cheerios snack mix
$.38 2 boxes Kleenex with lotion tissues
$2.98 2 8-oz bags shredded mozzarella cheese

These things were not in the "buy 10, get $5 off" special:
$2.27 10 bananas
$.73 2 Roma tomatoes
$1.79 dozen large eggs
$1.00 4-pack Dannon Activa yogurt
$1.25 2-liter Dr. Pepper

The Pace salsa was on sale for $1.99 each. I got $.50 off each jar from the special and then I had a $1 and a $.50 coupon which doubled, so I got 2 for $1. The Rotel tomatoes were on sale for $.87. I had a coupon for $.30 off which doubled and then with the $.50 off from the special they were actually -$.23. Coffeemate was $2.99 but with a $.50 coupon that doubled and the $.50 from the special it was only $1.49. The Green Giant frozen veggies were on sale for $1.49 each. With 2 $.50 coupons that doubled and the $.50 off each from the special they were free. Plus I had a coupon loaded to my Kroger card worth $.50 off, so I made $.50 on the veggies. The Triscuits weren't on sale, regular price of $2.20 but with the special I got $.50 off to make them $1.70. The Orville popcorn was on sale for $1.99. With 2 $.40 off coupons and the $.50 off each from the special I got it for $.69 a box. Fiber One granola bars were $2.49 a box. I got $.50 off each box from the special, had 3 $.50 coupons which doubled to make them $.99 a box. Plus I had a coupon loaded to my card for $.75 off, so I got 3 boxes for $2.22. The instant oatmeal was on sale for $2.50 a box. I got $.50 off each box from the special and then had 2 coupons for $1 off, making them $1 a box. The Cheerios snack mix was on sale for $2 and with 2 $.50 off coupons doubled and the $.50 off each box from the special, they were $.50 a box. Kleenex was on sale for $1.49 a box. With the $.50 off from the special and 2 coupons for $.40 off, I got each box for $.19. The mozzarella was on sale for $1.99 per 8-oz bag and with the $.50 off each from the special they were $1.49 each. The other stuff was normal sale price (no coupons), except for the Activa yogurt which was on sale for $2 and I had a $1 off coupon making it $1.

Total before store savings and coupons: $65.03
Coupons tendered: $22.15 (10 x $.50, 4 x $.40, 1 x $.30 all doubled, plus 4 x $1 not doubled, plus 1 x $.75 and 1 x $.50 loaded from online onto my Kroger card, plus the $10 from buying 20 items from the sale)
Store savings with loyalty card: $22.47
Tax: $.99
Total out of pocket (OOP): $20.41

So...there's a little bit about how I shop. It sounds really complicated, but I guess I started small and have worked my way up. This week I bought $124.42 worth of food for $35.54. That's 28% of the normal price. And I didn't have to deal with Walmart. 3 stores, 2 hours, and 36 coupons (worth $30.75). Free milk with cereal combined with coupons and buying things that are on sale with a coupon and then a store coupon are things that help make my grocery budget work. I wish I didn't have to do this...but I'd rather save the money that would have been spent on food and, I don't know, go to Hawaii or something this summer. :-)

Anyone out there have any other good tips for saving at the grocery store?

4 comments:

  1. Pfft...you're amazing, lol.
    I try to do the best I can with coupons and all that, but I've never pulled off something like that. I guess I'll have to do what you said...start small and work my way up.

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  2. Another thing to consider is FoodSupport. They work with local grocery chains to bring local residents prepaid grocery cards. Their website is http://www.foodsupport.org

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  3. Gosh, this post made my head spin! All those numbers!

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  4. Wow, you are really on top of things with the coupons and sales. That kind of stuff seems to make my head spin too like Di said. We don't seem to have any place around here that doubles coupons. Wish we did, I would use them more.

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Thanks for commenting!