This Week’s Grocery Trip Under $40
September 1, 2008 by Katelyn Thomas
Filed under groceries
Since there was interest in my $40 a week grocery budget, I thought I’d share this week’s trip with you. I will still be going to Walgreen’s and buying some things, but I’ll be paying with $15 in Register Rewards, so I didn’t save anything back from the grocery budget for the Walgreen’s trip.
I tend to buy a group of things each week. Last week it was meat. This week it is beverages and pet stuff:
Box of Tetley tea
39 oz coffee (Yikes. I bought the store brand and it still was $6.99, but no one has a good sale this week.)
2 bottles of V-fusion juice (on sale and $1 off coupons. A good deal and they taste great, so the little guy will drink them.)
Gallon of milk (Cheapest place around. Martins sells milk for $3.09 a gallon.)
4 bags of cat treats (free with coupons)
2 bags dog treats (on sale and $1 off coupons. I buy dog treats to avoid costly home repairs from Gus getting bored.)
5 pounds rice ($5.69! Rice used to be a few cents a pound.)
Big box of Bisquick (Cheaper than specialized waffle mixes.)
2 loaves bread (Hit the clearance rack for 88 cent loaves that don’t expire for four more days and tossed them in the freezer.)
2 bags hard pretzels (Way too much money for snacks.)
Package of instant potatoes ($1 for a two pack box. Not terrible.)
Total after coupons $38 and change.
I always hate these “Hey, I’m out of coffee and snacks,” trips because they are expensive, but my brother does kick in a bit of money every month for groceries, so I have to get him the stuff he wants.
Because I’ve been doing this awhile and have a stockpile, I can do kind of odd trips like this and still have food for all our meals for the week. Using last week’s meat stock up and produce from the garden, I’ll make a dish with rice and chicken, a meal of pork chops and potatoes, a stir fry to toss over rice, etc. Lunches are usually leftovers or pb and jelly. Breakfasts are eggs, cereal, or bagels from the freezer. Don’t expect to be able to stick completely to your budget at the beginning, since you will be stocking up, too. I started by using an additional $10 to buy things for the stock pile and then cut it out after the stock pile was well established.
I may cheat a bit, though, and go to Target to get the deal on Rice Krispies Treats and PopTarts. (Buy 4 for $9 and get a $5 gift card back.) I have a $10 gift card from a prescription transfer and 2 coupons to use, so I won’t spend anything out of pocket and I’ll basically be able to roll part of the gift card I’m spending into a cute $5 card for a stocking stuffer.
These are great tip.
I think you have some pretty good tips there, but buying instant potatoes is not one of them! Real potatoes or any real veggie may seem more expensive but in the long run you are getting the nutrients and vitamins that you cannot get in the highly processed food… But you already know that, right? Oh yeah, the other thing, replace the bisquick with your own mix = to every 2 cups of flour, add a tablespoon of baking soda, a tablespoon of sugar and a teaspoon of salt, store in an airtight container — to make pancakes from that add 1 egg, beat together with 1/4 cup veg oil and add enough milk or even just water to make 1 7/8 cup of liquid, mix with 1 cup of your pre mix — the initial purchase may seem larger, but in the long run cheaper and healthier…
Miss Snips,
Oh, yes, I did already know it and I hate buying them, especially since I have enough new potatoes from my garden to last us for months. However, my brother will let them rot before he uses them for mashed potatoes. He only likes the taste of instant!
I may be able to get him to try your bisquick recipe, though. I’ll give it a shot. Thanks!