Shopping Day

So I got my week's shopping done today. I went to two stores this week Fresh Market and Smith's. 

So here's my menu for the week:

Spaghetti with Turkey Meatballs
Beef Roast with Mashed potatoes
Chicken tenders with Potato wedges
Pork Tenderloin with noodles
Tuna casserole
Chunky Chicken and Vegetable Soup
Chicken and rice casserole

As always I went to my pantry firstand then made my shopping list for the remaining foods I need to complete my meals. My shopping list for this week's menu is: 

Fresh Market

1 box of Barilla Whole Grain Pasta (shells) $0.88

1 dozen large eggs  $1.50

2.15 lb Beef Roast  $7.50

1 lb Ground Turkey $1.57

1.61 lb Chicken Tenders $2.88

1.7 lb Hormel Pork Loin Mediterranean Herbs and Olive Oil $5.99

1 lb Cheddar Cheese $3.99

1.05 lb Asparagus $2.09

3 Yellow onions $0.86

Western Family Frozen Orange Juice  FREE

Total: $27.26

Smith's 

Red Pepper  $1.50

Garlic  $0.39

Yellow Squash  $0.69

1.25 lb Broccoli  $1.24

2 cans of Chicken of the Sea Tuna $1.00

2 gallons of milk  $3.33

1 lb Land o Lakes Lunch Meat  $2.99

4 lb bag of frozen chicken breasts $5.99

1 box of fruit loops $1.67

Total: $22.13

Grand Total: $49.39

A couple of notes here. I got free orange juice by using a coupon from the Fresh Market ad. When I bought 1 dozen eggs I got the orange juice.
 

Also at Smith's when you bought four boxes of Kellogg's cereal you got two gallons of milk for free. As you can see I only have one box of cereal in the list and a price beside the milk. Since we will only eat part of one box of cereal in a week my need for the week is one box not four. I bought all four to get the free milk but the other three boxes will go into the pantry to use another week.So the list here only reflects what I will use this week, not nescessarily what I bought (I'll talk more about this is a minute). To figure out the price of the milk I just figured that I bought 6 items for $10 (four boxes of cereal plus the two free gallon of milk) so divide $10 by 6 items and you get a price of $1.67 each.

Ok I as I mentioned before I bought more than I needed for the week. This is how I stock my pantry and how I have things on hand that I can use in later weeks. When there is a great sale on something that I use frequently I buy more of that item and store it in the pantry or freezer. That way when I need it I have it and paid typically less for it then I would if I bought it later and it wasn't on sale. 

Also most of the time if you buy an item in bulk it saves you more money than if you buy a smaller portion. For instance I will only use about half of the 3.22 lb of chicken tenders that I actually bought this week (which is why only half of that is reflected in my shopping list), but had I only bought 1.5 lb of chicken tenders I would have probably paid nearly $3 or $4 dollars a pound. This way I paid more this week but I can use rest of the chicken next week and save some money.

Most of the grocery stores have twice yearly Case lot sales. This is a great opportunity to take some of the money you have been saving on groceries each week and stock your pantry. I like to buy things like diced tomatoes, black beans and baking goods (flour, sugar, chocolate chips etc....)

If you want a list of "pantry/freezer" items that I bought so you can get an idea of how much I spent on those items here it is: 

1.61 lb chicken tenders  $2.88

3 lb Ground Turkey (it came in a 4 lb package)  $4.71

4 cans of chicken of the sea tuna  $2.00

Kraft salad dressing $2.50

3 boxes of cereal  $5.00

Pork roast  $6.03

Total: 23.12

So in all I spent $73.02 but I can use the meat in those pantry/freezer items for 7 more meals. It was worth it to spend a little more this week to save more later. 

Week 3 Shopping List

So this week I decided on the following menu:

Brats and Saurkraut

Country-style Pork Ribs with Mashed Potatoes and corn

Manicotti with green beans

Fish with Lemon Rice

Cabbage Soup with warm rolls

Pork Chops with Baked Potatoes and peas

Chicken Rice and Vegetable Casserole

My shopping list: 

1 gallon of milk

grated Parmesan cheese

1 dozen eggs

1 box of cream of wheat

1 head of cabbage

1 yellow onion

garlic

5 lb bag of potatoes

1 (16 oz) pkg frozen peas

1 (16 oz) pkg frozen corn

1 bunch of Bananas
4 lemons

1 jar of Siegfried's Saurkraut

1 box of Manicotti shells

1 28 oz can of whole tomatoes

3 (10.5 oz) cans of Campbell's Beef consume

3.26lbs of fresh chicken

2.71 lbs Pork Country-style Ribs

1.68 lbs Boneless Pork Chops

2.13 lbs Ground Beef

1 loaf of Whole Grain Farm Bread

hot dog buns

1 can of Western Family Crescent rolls

1 bag of Lays chips

As I explained in my last post, I didn't check the dates on the ads and I compiled my menu from old ads. Since I didn't figure out my mistake until after I had already shopped for half of the list I knew I had to stick to my menu and I would be over budget. I wasn't over by as much as I expected though. I spent $65.82 so I was only over budget by $15.82....not too bad. However it does show the savings that you really do get by buying the food on sale!

Week 2 Shopping

I was so tired today and the last thing I wanted to do was think about menu planning but I forced myself to sit down and do it and I think we have a yummy menu for this week.

1. Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, steamed broccoli with lemon

2. Baked Ziti, Crescent Rolls, Corn

3. Chicken nuggets, Roasted Potato Wedges

4. Olive Garden's Minestrone Soup

5. Bacon, Eggs, Hashbrowns, Toast, Sausage links

6. Beef Stir Fry and rice

7. Roasted Pork Tenderloin, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Peas and Corn

I decided to only go to Macey's this week. I probably could have saved a few dollars by going to another store for a few things, but I was tired and it wasn't worth it to go there also to save $2. So again after a trip to my pantry this is what my shopping list looked like:

1 16 oz bag small shells (I couldn't find whole grain so I just bought regular pasta)

1 can Hunts Garlic and Herb Spaghetti Sauce

1 box Ronzoni Whole Grain Penne Pasta

2 14 oz cans of Swanson Vegetable Broth

1 package Whole Grain Farm Bread

small tub of Western Family Cottage Cheese

1 tube Western Family Crescent Rolls

1 bag of TJ Farms Souther Style Hashbrowns

1 16oz bag of Western Family cut frozen green beans

1 can frozen Western Family Orange Juice

1 16 oz bag of Western Family frozen stir fry vegetables

1lb package of stir fry beef (in fresh meat section)

1lb smoked bacon

1lb package of Land o Frost Lunch Meat

1 package Farmland Sausage Links

2lb package of Ground Beef

3.87 lb Pork Roast

2 Gala Apples

Bunch of Bananas

1 head of Broccoli

2 lemons

2 yellow onions

1 zucchini

garlic

My bill came to $43.73......however they were out of the chicken I wanted. They had 20 oz packages of boneless skinless chicken breast for $4.49 in the ad but were out in the store. I got a raincheck and will go later this week to get some for my chicken nuggets. Also Josh had just bought a dozen eggs because we were out and since I'll be doing breakfast one night I'll include those in my weekly total. And lastly I didn't have room in my fridge for a gallon of milk but I know I will need more soon. So with all of that taken into account my total will go from $43.73 to about $52.00. A little over budget but I can handle $2. Like I said earlier I could have saved that by going to a second store but today was not a day for that.

Check back later this week for this week's recipes!

WHEN THERE IS NO PLAN CHAOS ENSUES!

We've all had those awful shopping trips. You know the time when you actually sat down and wrote a list only to forget it in the car. It also had to be that day that your husband got called into work so you had to bring your kids shopping......do I even need to go on? By the time you leave the store you have a cart full of groceries (none of which was on your list) but you spent ten times more than you intended.....oh and when you got home you realized that you forgot the milk!

Saving money means starting with a plan and sticking to it. Yup keep on walking past the bakery, close your eyes and plug your nose if you have to. Stick to your list!

I have my list. I looked at all of the grocery store ads and picked out the best prices on meats. Then I planned 7 dinners I can cook with the list items. After a quick inventory of my pantry I finished the list with the ingredients I need for the meals that I don't already have in my pantry.

So the 7 dinner meals I decided on are:

1 Fajitas

2 Turkey Chili

3 Spaghetti with Turkey meatballs

4 Shepherd's Pie

5 Roast and Potatoes

6 Slow Cooker Orange Chicken

7 Meatball soup

My shopping list (everything I need for my meals minus what I already had in my pantry):

3 lb bag of chicken

Beef Roast

green pepper

red pepper

purple onion

3 yellow onions

16 0z bag of frozen peas

2 16 oz bag of frozen corn

5 lb bag of potatoes

6 oz can of frozen orange juice

tortilla shells

pkg of Whole Grain spaghetti noodles

Gallon of milk

loaf of multi grain bread

a bunch of bananas

a 3lb bag of cuties

5lb bag of Tillamook Shredded cheese

2 19 oz pkg of ground turkey

1 can hunt's spaghetti sauce

I went to Macey's, Smith's and Fresh Market to get my items and spent $50.05 on my groceries. You could pick just one store that has the best prices and still get a good deal. My grocery stores are fairly close together so I just go to them all.

Finding recipes to meet your budget isn't hard, especially with the internet at your fingers. Casseroles and crockpot recipes are great budget friendly ways to feed your family a healthy meal for less money and less time in the kitchen.....both pluses in my book! One of my favorite websites is A Year of Slow Cooking http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/. Basically anything you can make in your oven you can make in a crockpot (she even has a recipe for Cheescake cooked in a crockpot!) There are lots of great websites with recipes. Be adventurous and step out of your recipe box.