Super Savings Saturday

The last 2 weeks I have done really well on our grocery budget. Last week I spent $40 and got enough for a couple weeks. This week I spent $19. We are going out of town next weekend and then we are on vacation a week after that so I'm trying to use up a lot of what we have and save extra money for the out of town trips.

Here's what I got this week:

• Frozen Chicken strips $6.28
• Chicken strips from the deli (lunch for husband while we were running around) $5.88
• Extra Virgin Olive oil $4.28
• Mustard $.97

The really cool thing is that because I have such a stockpile built up, this was all we needed and I don't think we will have to spend too much more before vacation.

Buy For Less Sales 1/6/09-1/12/09

Buy for Less does not double coupons and does not accept Internet coupons.
Here are their current sales:

• Chicken thighs or drumsticks $.77 lb
• Peter Pan Peanut Butter $1.68 -$.40 All You
• Sara Lee Bread $1.88
• V8 8pk cans $4.44
• Bagelfuls $1.99
• Hiland Sour Cream 8 oz $.69
• Hiland Fat Free 1 Gal $2.99
• Green Peppers $.39 lb
• Carrots 1 lb bag $.69
• Zucchini Squash $.69 lb

Homeland Sale Prices 1/7/2009-1/13/2009

Homeland Stores doubles coupons up to a dollar. They also take Internet printed coupons.

BOGO Sale

• Smart Ones Entrees $2.79
• Crystal Light Drink Mix $ 3.99
• Hunts Tomato Sauce $.57
• Red Gold Tomatoes $1.37 Sign up here for mailing list and coupons
• Hiland Ice Cream $5.79 Coupon Match: $.40 12-07 insert or $.25 11-09 insert
• Soft Pretzels $3.15 Coupon Match: $1.00 mailer
• Health Harvest Pasta $1.69
• Tresemme Shampoo/Conditioner 3.09

Other Sales

• 3 lb Corn Dogs $4.99
• Green Peppers $.69 ea
• Green Delicious Apples $.99 lb
• Pears $.99 lb
• Seedless Grapes 3.99
• Bush Red Kidney or Chili Beans 2/$1

You must have a Homeland One card, sign up in store or online, for all the sale prices. Homeland will double coupons up to $1.00 on the first coupon used. I have never had any problems with Internet coupons, they accept up to $4.00 Internet coupons, and they do double any up to $1.00.

Shopping with my husband

On Monday I didn't feel like going grocery shopping, but there was a threat of bad weather and we had nothing in our house to survive on if we were shut in for a few days. (The way the weather people were talking that's what was going to happen.) So, I asked my husband to go with me and help me, which he so sweetly did. I had a list planned out, I had a menu planned out, but he doesn't like to go all over town to save money. So we went to Walmart to do the shopping. We got a lot of groceries, things we needed, and things that looked good because we were both hungry when we went. When it was rang up, I only had a few coupons to use, so I knew I wasn't going to like the total. It came to $120. I used $4 in coupons. When we left, I was upset because I knew that I could have gotten better deals at other stores, and spent a lot less. My husband doesn't go shopping with me much because I am willing to go to 3 stores (not far apart) to get good deals. My husband actually made the comment that we haven't done any real grocery shopping in a long time...I do this every week by stockpiling sales and using coupons. He just normally doesn't pick out what he wants, I ask his opinion when I make the menu, and sometimes he tells me what he wants other times he says he doesn't care. I am so used to trying to shop with $50 a week $120 for about a weeks worth of food, and nothing stockpiled seemed crazy to me, but normal to him because that's what we used to do a couple times a month. I love my way of shopping and saving money, and as soon as all the busyness with Christmas is gone I am hoping to get back on a budget of some sort in January.

Grocery Shopping 11/11/2008

This week I came in under budget for the first time in a while. I was so excited! I did not get pictures this week.

At Aldi:
Tomatoes 1.49, Strawberries 1.89, Bananas 1.21, Romaine hearts 1.99, Celery 1.19, Green Peppers 1.89, Zucchini 1.99, Meatballs 1.99, Curly fries 1.59, Butter .77, Shredded Cheddar 3.79, Refried Beans .65, Black beans .45

Total: 22.52

At buy for less:
Buttermilk 1.39, Bread 1.18, Self rising flour 1.99, Gravy Mix (3) 2.07, Cucumber .69, Green Onion .50, Yellow onion .48

Total 10.07

At Walgreens:
Glade Wisp 5.99 -3.00
Almay Mascara 6.99 -1.00

Total 9.99 (used gift card)
Rec 8.99 Mail in rebate

Total OOP: 32.59
My actual budget is 50.00 a week. I have been spending way over that so I increased my budget for sales and to stock up on things. I am still working it out but I will use $10-15 for this. This week there was not any good sales so I bought only what was going to be used for my menu.

Stockpiling

I have been trying to build a stockpile lately. One of my first questions was, What should go in a stockpile? I want it to be something useful, so I sat down and looked at many of the recipes that I make regularly. One thing that I use a lot of (more than I realized) is beans. My favorites are black beans and chickpeas. I also use kidney beans, pinto beans and chili beans. I make a lot of soup and chili so vegetable stock and canned tomatoes are pretty popular in my recipes. I also like to have frozen vegetables in my freezer. I also like to keep hamburger meat in my freezer as well as chicken. I also eat a lot of whole wheat pasta. Anytime I find these items on sale I buy extra. Toiletries are another thing that you can stock up on. I like to stockpile items that have a long shelf life and that I will use. If you are trying to build up a stockpile, look at your favorite recipes and things that you eat often and start making a list from there.

What items do you stockpile?