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.

Challenge accepted!

Something needs to be done. Seriously. It shouldn't cause me this much stress, but it does. And I have to subject myself to this 4-5 times a month, every month, forever and ever. What is it? Grocery shopping.

Funny thing is, I used to L.O.V.E. grocery shopping. I used to go multiple times a week. But that was back when I worked, and for the most part, DH & I each got our own groceries with our own money, and made our own meals. Once we started living off of only one income, we consolidated our lists and money into one, and I began shopping once a week, and cooking most meals. And then once we started Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, the whole ballgame changed. I now H.A.T.E. grocery shopping. It stresses me the F out.

Our budget for groceries is a strict $400 a month, which seems quite high for only 2 people. In our defense though, we eat very little packaged, processed food, which is usually pretty cheap. Most meals are made by scratch, and we spend a little more to get better cuts/quality items. So that accounts for most of our $400 a month. The thing is, some months, that $400 is gone super fast. I try to keep each week's groceries to $100 or less, but sometimes I fail to realize that there are occasionally five Sundays in a month instead of four (I shop on Sundays), or special events take place which requires me to spend a little more in a trip. Groceries are also getting more and more expensive. So by the time the last Sunday of the month rolls around and I look in the grocery envelope, I often find only $50 or so. DH's sandwich stuff alone takes up about $25. Like I said, it stresses me the F out.

So one day a few weeks ago, I watched an episode of TLC's Extreme Couponing on Netflix, and it got me thinking that perhaps I should start couponing a little more to help even out my weekly stress levels. I have to point out, that at this time in my life, I don't have the time to dedicate to full-on couponing like you see in those episodes. But I do have time to look through circulars and clip the coupons I want, and I also have time to look at online coupon offerings. I wouldn't get huge stockpiles, just one or two of an item, and since no store in my town doubles coupons, the chances of me getting anything for free is slim to none. Perhaps later on down the line, it'll be worth the trip to Fargo every 2 weeks so I can shop in a store that does double. But for now, I'll stay in town. Anyway, I just want to cut $10 off my weekly trip. More would be nice obviously, but let's start small, shall we?

To keep track, I'll post weekly shopping updates. This week's trip is a little different, in that DH is going to try a mostly fruits and veggie diet. So the produce is about double of what I normally get, and there are no sandwich ingredients. And I didn't go full-on couponing. I did get a few things though. I spent $93.18, and I saved 4.30 through coupons. A nice trial run.

Non-produce purchases: Gummy cola bottles, 2 pounds of extra lean ground beef, 2 packages of shredded cheddar, a bottle of Italian soda, a gallon of orange juice, a half gallon of milk, 4 things of baby food, 3 cans of peaches, a bottle of hot sauce, a package of fish sticks, a bag of rice, a container of puppy chow, a microwave meal, and a Sunday paper (I want to see if it'd be worth buying every Sunday just for the circulars).

Produce purchases: a cantaloupe, a container of strawberries, a zucchini, a cucumber, an avocado, 2 bunches of celery, a bag of spinach, a bag of sugar snap peas, 2 pounds of carrots, 5 pounds of potatoes, 2 green peppers, a spaghetti squash, a head of green leaf lettuce, 6 ears of corn, a bag of organic lemons, a head of cauliflower, 3 roma tomatoes, 7 bananas, 3 oranges, 8 gala apples, and 8 kiwi.