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The Grocery Challenge: Week# 2 ($175)
I am proud of myself for this one. In week #2 I spent $175. This week’s goal was to only go market shopping once and to just eat other things if we ran out of favorites. One problem I tend to have is to immediately run to the market if we run out of one thing, say fresh mozzarella or bananas. That’s not necessary – we are just fine eating American cheese or clementines instead until market day. I believe this will help me spend less since I can never buy just one thing.
I am also finding that my money thoughts are spreading to other parts of my life. I had to buy something from CVS, and I actually waited until I had a coupon before hitting up the store. When there, I only bought the item on my list. I couldn’t believe that I went to CVS without spending at least $30.
Before heading to buy my groceries this week I googled around to see if I could find coupons for packaged items. We had to buy more pita chips since a quick family illness sent us all on a carb diet. However I couldn’t find any current coupons for Stacy’s online. Anyone have a site they know and love for manufacturer coupons? The manufacturer websites didn’t have any valuable coupons available for any of the items I needed – if they had any coupons at all.
Last, for the first time in what feels like years, I really paid attention to prices. A few things I noticed – I wasn’t going to buy Annie’s bunny grahams because the tiny box is so expensive at $3.99. However, Whole Foods had the giant family size box available for the same price. I wouldn’t have even noticed this before the challenge. At BJ’s I bought clementines because I figured they must be cheaper. One big bag was $6.49. Next time I will buy them at Whole Foods, though, because the same size bag with the same quality clementines was only $5.99 there.
I’m not feeling the veggies I saw in the markets this week so we will be mostly eating salads + steamed veggies from the freezer. I didn’t realize how expensive fresh vegetables can be until I didn’t buy many this week.
Oh! And I actually asked an employee for the price of something for the first time ever. I was looking at the eggs, and they all seemed to be about the same (cage free, organic, yadda yadda) but they were all missing prices. I asked someone for the prices and bought the cheapest biggest eggs that fit the type of egg we buy. I was proud of myself for taking the extra minute because I saved us $1. I also bought family packs of chicken to freeze because it is cheaper.
People mentioned food waste – we don’t waste food unless it’s on the kids’ plates. I’m getting better at serving them less, but sometimes a little kid food waste is inevitable. We rarely throw something away just because it went bad though – I don’t let that happen. So this challenge is more about spending less buy buying differently and intelligently instead of buying less quantity.
Here’s my list:
BJ’s: $75
hot sauce
1 bag clementines
1 rotisserie chicken (not organic)
2 family size boxes of Annie’s bunny grahams
2 scones as a treat for the kids and I
– Baked chicken wings with baked potatoes and salad (from last week’s shopping)
– lamb kefta with steamed broccoli (from freezer)
– chicken legs marinated in green sauce (basil, parsley, spices, olive oil), rice pilaf, green beans
– chicken cobb salads (rotisserie chicken, bacon, boiled eggs, avocado, tomatoes, cucumbers, feta)
– lentil soup with homemade broth from the chicken bones + salad
– homemade falafel & hummus sandwiches on homemade pita
11 Responses to “The Grocery Challenge: Week# 2 ($175)”
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Do you get the BJ coupons in the mail? Sometimes w/ a coupon you can get a free bag of Stacey’s with a purchase of hummus or vice versa.
I used my Stacy’s coupon the week before but Trig was really sick and ate the whole bag! I wasn’t sure if there was a way to get a second coupon from BJ’s?
if you go to the front desk and ask if they have extra coupon books they will give you them. sometimes they ask for your bj’s card but most clubs have no problem giving you one.
ok Stonyfield has monthly coupons on there site you get to print once a month just sign up. heres ones I think will work really well for you
http://www.healthylifedeals.com/ wholefoods match-ups
http://www.commonkindness.com/printable-grocery-coupons/5 lots of organic coupons
http://www.mybjswholesale.com/ bj’s match-ups
http://moneysavingmom.com/ has a list of lots of grocey stores plus drug store, target etc!
Thank you. This was stuck in my pending comments but I see it now. heading over to the BJ’s match up site right now before I head there!
I am new to your blog however, I couldn’t help but reach out to you with help about coupons because this is one thing that is really important to me. First, I wanted to mention to you about trying to get your Stacey’s Pita Coupon. Sometimes you can also go to their Facebook page, and if you like them, they will offer coupons. Also if you subscribe to Coupon Mom (www.couponmom.com) you have the option to put in Various zip codes and sometimes you can find some awesome deals. Another website I wanted to recommend is A Full Cup (www.afullcup.com). This is a great website, as they help you find deals and have forums for people with whom have great ideas for finding great deals, trading coupons, or just finding about deals to which you can get stuff next to nothing. Also Whole Foods online has coupons: http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/coupons. And finally, I wanted to let you know about also Mambo Sprouts.com, this a healthy foods website. They are great at providing coupons for the Bunny Luv Crackers, as I’ve seen them on there before. I hope this helps. 🙂
Thank you! I am checking out all of your resources right now!
I thought your little guy was alergic to peanuts? But you still eat it? My son also has a peanut allergy and we were recommended not to have it in the house at all. We have substituted with almond butter and like it very much!
Yes, he is allergic. That’s interesting because our pediatric allergist told us to keep it AROUND him as much as possible so that his allergy wouldn’t get worse. I eat peanut butter sitting next to him every morning and he has not had any issues so far. I’m careful to remove my plate and clean it immediately after eating. For several months we were a peanut free household but we are now following the suggestions we were given at his follow up appointment. He eats almond butter and loves it and knows he has a peanut allergy and is very careful about asking us before he eats anything (especially when out). We also keep all peanut products really high up in our pantry. We also give him products produced in a facility that has peanuts per our allergist’s recommendation.
Recipe for the chicken legs marinated in green sauce please! Sounds delicious
It’s coming! I didn’t have quite enough basil to do them right, so as soon as the spring comes and my plant grows I will share it!