June 17, 2013

Groceries, week 4

So, after not posting the last 2 weeks, I'm back with how I'm doing in trying to save money while grocery shopping. I'm realizing that using coupons to achieve this isn't going to be as easy as I thought. Coupons don't roll over all that often, and the ones that do come out, we don't use the product being promoted. I realize that it would be a good way to try new things out, but I'm really not that adventurous in meal making. Sometimes I'll try out something new, but on the whole, I know what I like and I like knowing how to make it.

Anyway, my week 4 experience is also a little out of the ordinary, as we're going to be shopping around what we get as part of our share from the CSA we signed up for this summer. So the whole summer's shopping trips will be a little out of the ordinary. But we'll be eating out of the freezer this week, so there is no meat bought this week. Also, DH has decided he didn't want sandwiches.

The total for this week's trip was $54.85. It could have been significantly less had I not had the craving for puppy chow as I was making the shopping list. Or not bought detergent. Or the Powerades. But my justifications are good. One, I need my chocolate, so I was going to buy it in one form or another. The total for all the ingredients are kind of pricey, but this will make a ton of puppy chow. Two, the detergent was buy one, get one free, and we use that brand. Three, with DH being outside a ton in the summer, he'll go through Powerades quickly. And the sale was buy 15 for $10. So it was a great deal. Oh, and the box of pancake mix was free with the purchase of the syrup. I was going to buy syrup anyway, so I figured why not?

On the bottom of the receipt, it says I saved $14.28, so I consider this week a win, even if I didn't go into the store with any coupons.

Non-produce purchases: 15 bottles of Powerade, 2 laundry detergent jugs, 1 jug of maple syrup, 1 jar of spaghetti sauce, 1 jar of peanut butter, 1 package of pancake mix, 1 frozen pizza, 1 bag of chocolate chips, 1 box of cereal, 1 quart of milk.

Produce purchases: 1 container of strawberries, 1 container of raspberries, 3 spaghetti squash, 6 bananas, 1 red pepper, 1 head of cauliflower, 1 mango, and 4 ears of corn.