Groceries and Menu Plan - Jan 13 - 19
Groceries
One of my favorite 'tricks' is to buy a sale item - especially a produce or quickly perishable item - at the beginning of the sale week and again at the end of the sale. That's what happened this week with pineapple. They were $1 each at King Sooper, so we bought one on Wednesday, ate it up, and then the following Tuesday (last day of sale) I picked up one that is a day or two from ripe. That way we aren't eating pineapple for days and days and days in a row, but we get a good amount of fresh pineapple, which we love! Other items - jumbo navel oranges were .50 per pound, milk was 1.69 a gallon and potatoes were 1.49 for a 10 pound bag - all three of those were at Albertson's. I picked up twenty pounds of the potatoes because here, that is a really good price, and this time of year they will keep well in our cool basement.
At the Asian market I picked up bean sprouts (.68), Shanghai bok choy (.58), a very large Napa cabbage ($3.42), 15 pounds Calrose rice ($11.99), Tamari ($3.99) and my "something new to try" was a 23 oz. bottle of fish sauce ($1.75).
Safeway had some Just-For-U offers that worked well for us this week - $1.49/lb for pork shoulder (that one is just over 10 lb.), $1.79 for Celestial seasonings teas and .99/lb for the apples. In addition, I had 75 cent coupons for the tea, which doubled up to $1 off - so the tea was only .79 per box! ALSO, I was offered a bonus $5 off a $20 purchase. So after the loyalty card, coupons, sale prices and the $5 off, the total went from $37.91 to $16.36 - 57% savings.
At Walmart we did a bit of price matching and picked up a few items for the coming week, possibly longer. We picked up carrots (2lb, 2 bags, .99 each), 2 cans tuna (.59 each), cheetos and fritos, three total ($1.77 each), potato chips (.98) and iceberg lettuce ($1.38). Husband paid for the peanut butter cups ($1.50) but we included them...just because. :)
We had some reward points at Kmart that were going to expire. Husband picked up two jars of Jif peanut butter, used the points and spent an additional nine cents.
We spent $10 of our grocery money to purchase a local 'deal of the day' for $20 worth of meat at a local butcher shop. That's not something we ordinarily do, but we have plenty of grocery money on hand and we wanted to give this place a try. When I pick up the meat, I'll share a photo. Meanwhile, here's a link, if you're local to me and want to take advantage of this deal - just click here.
Total spent this week: $66.80 (that's counting the $20 worth of meat for $10 that I didn't get yet)
Total spent this month: $86.74
Previous Purchases This Month - Week 1 and Week 2
Meanwhile, my friend gifted me with a really large container of especially lovely mushrooms. I adore mushrooms, and so I've been slicing and incorporating them into my lunches, and even into some of my breakfasts. My family doesn't care for them, so I will slice, season and cook the rest, then eat them through the week. Thank you, Kelly!
Enough shopping already - what are we gonna eat??
Menu
Breakfasts
eggs, omelets, etc w/sausage, rice or quinoa
cereal, fruit, milk
bagel and cream cheese, fresh fruit
peanut butter toast, oranges, cocoa
Lunches
lunches are often leftovers from previous suppers - Husband takes a 'supper meal' along with snacks (nuts, fruit, chips, etc.)
pbj, carrot sticks, oranges
salad-in-a-jar
snack-y lunch
Suppers (not in order)
nachos, frozen fruit smoothies
grilled chicken salads, fruit salad
grilled steak, baked potatoes, green salad, oranges
herb roasted chicken with winter vegetables, green beans, oranges
kahlua pork, rice, kim chee, bean sprout salad, vegetable stir fry, pineapple
taco salads, pineapple
panfried ham w/home-canned ham glaze, quinoa, broccoli, apples
Snacks
trail mix - nuts and dried fruit
homemade pudding
fresh fruit
frozen smoothies
peanut butter and crackers
fritos and homemade bean dip
baguette toast and hummus
One of my favorite 'tricks' is to buy a sale item - especially a produce or quickly perishable item - at the beginning of the sale week and again at the end of the sale. That's what happened this week with pineapple. They were $1 each at King Sooper, so we bought one on Wednesday, ate it up, and then the following Tuesday (last day of sale) I picked up one that is a day or two from ripe. That way we aren't eating pineapple for days and days and days in a row, but we get a good amount of fresh pineapple, which we love! Other items - jumbo navel oranges were .50 per pound, milk was 1.69 a gallon and potatoes were 1.49 for a 10 pound bag - all three of those were at Albertson's. I picked up twenty pounds of the potatoes because here, that is a really good price, and this time of year they will keep well in our cool basement.
 |
| fresh pineapple and milk - $2.69 |
 |
| four (very) jumbo oranges, $1.38 |
 |
| 20 pounds Idaho potatoes, $2.98 |
 |
| Asian Pacific Market - $22.41 |
At the Asian market I picked up bean sprouts (.68), Shanghai bok choy (.58), a very large Napa cabbage ($3.42), 15 pounds Calrose rice ($11.99), Tamari ($3.99) and my "something new to try" was a 23 oz. bottle of fish sauce ($1.75).
 |
| Safeway - $16.36 |
 |
| Wal-Mart - $10.89 |
At Walmart we did a bit of price matching and picked up a few items for the coming week, possibly longer. We picked up carrots (2lb, 2 bags, .99 each), 2 cans tuna (.59 each), cheetos and fritos, three total ($1.77 each), potato chips (.98) and iceberg lettuce ($1.38). Husband paid for the peanut butter cups ($1.50) but we included them...just because. :)
We had some reward points at Kmart that were going to expire. Husband picked up two jars of Jif peanut butter, used the points and spent an additional nine cents.
We spent $10 of our grocery money to purchase a local 'deal of the day' for $20 worth of meat at a local butcher shop. That's not something we ordinarily do, but we have plenty of grocery money on hand and we wanted to give this place a try. When I pick up the meat, I'll share a photo. Meanwhile, here's a link, if you're local to me and want to take advantage of this deal - just click here.
Total spent this week: $66.80 (that's counting the $20 worth of meat for $10 that I didn't get yet)
Total spent this month: $86.74
Previous Purchases This Month - Week 1 and Week 2
Meanwhile, my friend gifted me with a really large container of especially lovely mushrooms. I adore mushrooms, and so I've been slicing and incorporating them into my lunches, and even into some of my breakfasts. My family doesn't care for them, so I will slice, season and cook the rest, then eat them through the week. Thank you, Kelly!
 |
| I've been making mushroom tacos with these - so yummy! |
Enough shopping already - what are we gonna eat??
 |
| homemade fried rice from last week |
Menu
Breakfasts
eggs, omelets, etc w/sausage, rice or quinoa
cereal, fruit, milk
bagel and cream cheese, fresh fruit
peanut butter toast, oranges, cocoa
Lunches
lunches are often leftovers from previous suppers - Husband takes a 'supper meal' along with snacks (nuts, fruit, chips, etc.)
pbj, carrot sticks, oranges
salad-in-a-jar
snack-y lunch
 |
| won bok (napa cabbage) in salted water for kimchee |
nachos, frozen fruit smoothies
grilled chicken salads, fruit salad
grilled steak, baked potatoes, green salad, oranges
herb roasted chicken with winter vegetables, green beans, oranges
kahlua pork, rice, kim chee, bean sprout salad, vegetable stir fry, pineapple
taco salads, pineapple
panfried ham w/home-canned ham glaze, quinoa, broccoli, apples
Snacks
trail mix - nuts and dried fruit
homemade pudding
fresh fruit
frozen smoothies
peanut butter and crackers
fritos and homemade bean dip
baguette toast and hummus
Comments
Can I just say, "thank you" for being honest with the junk food? As much as I wish I could be satisfied with homemade saltines, it just ain't gonna happen! :) When you eat such produce-rich meals and you find good sales, I think junk food is a perfectly acceptable treat.
Something else I've been thinking about are foods that I consider a serving, like an apple or an orange. Like you, I just picked up huge oranges and was thinking about the price per orange. It made me realize I could change my perception of a "serving" of such large produce from one whole fruit to a fraction of a piece of fruit and get more bang for my buck.
I like potato chips. And coca cola. There. I said it. :)