Because of our very limited budget I have had to force myself to totally redo how I do my grocery shopping. It's been about a year now, and I get perhaps a little too much enjoyment out of stretching what we have on hand, making things from scratch, and seeing how low I can manage to keep our grocery budget. I made a post awhile ago about how we try to reduce our grocery bill.
The ads last week weren't very good at all, so for these next two weeks (well one week left now) I planned on trying to use what we have on hand as best as possible, while still providing good meals for my family. Because my work schedule is kind of all over the place we will have a few "leftover" nights. I'll make a big meal with plenty of leftovers so that we can all have lunch or an easy dinner on the nights I work late. Anyways, I am extremely happy with how the shopping has gone for the next couple of weeks.
Prep time: approx. 1 hour
Shop time: 2-ish hours
Stores: 3
Total: at budget and under $100
Yay me!
Our biggest dinner staple is chicken breast. It's inexpensive and I have found many different recipes for chicken. One of the many reason's why I love Sam's club is because they always have fresh, boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $1.88/lb. This shopping trip I made a stop at Sam's club for a few things, WalMart where I bought the bulk of my groceries (while not my favorite store, you just can't beat their prices), and one of our local grocery stores. I hadn't planned on hitting the local grocery store, but my in-laws stopped by just before I was headed out and gave me a flier for a weekend Celebrate Nebraska sale. They were having a big sale on items made right here in Nebraska. While right now I am really focused on saving as much as possible, I do prefer to buy local when I can. Our favorite BBQ place was at one of the locations, but not the one I went to unfortunately. I was able to get milk, bread, and ham from the deli, all for a fantastic price, all produced right here in Nebraska.
So ya, I am way too overly proud of myself for efficiently using what we already had on hand, and staying right on budget for our grocery shopping, and still making yummy meals. Yay me!
Showing posts with label Groceries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Groceries. Show all posts
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Their Twin Bond Makes My Heart Melt
Some days having two toddlers drives me nuts, but I can't imagine life without them. They do some pretty adorable things sometimes that makes my heart feel like it's going to burst with love.
We had a busy weekend and so the boys didn't get a nap either day. (They were surprisingly well behaved though.) Saturday we spent over at John's parents getting caught up on laundry. The boys really enjoy going over and spending time with Nama and Papa. Sunday we spent the day running errands and grocery shopping. We stopped by the toy store, saw one of our good friends, and left with more toys than we came in with. The highlight of the day was going to the pet store and picking out more fish for our new fish tank. The boys love it!
We got home and the plan was to have an early dinner then put the boys to bed extra early. Poor Oliver was so tired that at dinner he drank all his milk then immediately fell asleep in his high chair without actually eating dinner. So we let him nap there for awhile while I colored with Owynn. It's not terribly often that we get to spend one on one time with them. At about 8:30pm we started getting them ready for bed. As soon as I put on Owynn's jammies he immediately fell asleep on my lap. And not just kind of asleep, the kiddo was totally out. So we put him to bed and spent some time playing with now wide awake Oliver. Play time didn't last long though, Oliver was upset that Owynn was asleep in bed and he was gated out of their room. Finally Oliver got his point across that although he wasn't tired or ready for bed yet he wanted his jammies on and to be put in his room too. He was much happier playing quietly (you know for a 2 year old) in his room while Owynn slept, than to play with us in the living room and watch cartoons. We gave him strict instructions not to wake up his brother, and he didn't. He can be such a sweetheart. I can't get over how much the two of them love each other so much.
Right now it's nap time, Owynn is sound asleep and Oliver is just happily playing in their room. Satisfied because he is with his brother. He is usually the one who ends up crawling into bed with his brother at night too. Every once in awhile he'll open the door just to make sure we are still out here.
We had a busy weekend and so the boys didn't get a nap either day. (They were surprisingly well behaved though.) Saturday we spent over at John's parents getting caught up on laundry. The boys really enjoy going over and spending time with Nama and Papa. Sunday we spent the day running errands and grocery shopping. We stopped by the toy store, saw one of our good friends, and left with more toys than we came in with. The highlight of the day was going to the pet store and picking out more fish for our new fish tank. The boys love it!
We got home and the plan was to have an early dinner then put the boys to bed extra early. Poor Oliver was so tired that at dinner he drank all his milk then immediately fell asleep in his high chair without actually eating dinner. So we let him nap there for awhile while I colored with Owynn. It's not terribly often that we get to spend one on one time with them. At about 8:30pm we started getting them ready for bed. As soon as I put on Owynn's jammies he immediately fell asleep on my lap. And not just kind of asleep, the kiddo was totally out. So we put him to bed and spent some time playing with now wide awake Oliver. Play time didn't last long though, Oliver was upset that Owynn was asleep in bed and he was gated out of their room. Finally Oliver got his point across that although he wasn't tired or ready for bed yet he wanted his jammies on and to be put in his room too. He was much happier playing quietly (you know for a 2 year old) in his room while Owynn slept, than to play with us in the living room and watch cartoons. We gave him strict instructions not to wake up his brother, and he didn't. He can be such a sweetheart. I can't get over how much the two of them love each other so much.
Right now it's nap time, Owynn is sound asleep and Oliver is just happily playing in their room. Satisfied because he is with his brother. He is usually the one who ends up crawling into bed with his brother at night too. Every once in awhile he'll open the door just to make sure we are still out here.
Friday, October 5, 2012
How We Try to Reduce Our Grocery Bill
A few weekends ago I was actually able to do some serious grocery shopping, it felt great. It has been a long time since our freezer and pantry were full. Lately I've been keeping to the same few extra cheap meals to keep us on our super tight budget. We spent more than normal and a bit more than I would have liked last time around, but our cupboards were pretty darn bare.
I have been in charge of our budget and the grocery shopping / meal planning for several years now, and here are some of the things I do that I have found that save us money and keep us within our budget. Some of these may seem like common sense, but you'd be surprised how many people I know that don't follow any sort of budget or grocery list.
John teases me sometimes about my notebook, but that thing is like my best friend and keeps me organized. In it I have my master list of all the meals we make. I keep record of all the grocery sales, my grocery list, and meal plans for the week. For me grocery shopping is a bit of a process, between organizing and planning and shopping at several stores, it can be time consuming. I think I make up for it though with the money we save. I get the Sunday paper every week for the coupons. I'm not into the whole extreme couponing thing, but they definitely save us money. A few weeks ago our local paper was having a promotion where if you prepaid for a subscription they would deliver the Wednesday and Sunday papers for only $1 a week (awesome!) I buy the Sunday paper pretty much every week anyways, and was thrilled to get such a great deal.
I shop mainly at 5 different stores, yes 5! Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Walgreens, and two of our local grocery stores.
Wal-Mart - Where I get most of my dry / frozen good staples. I find they usually have the lowest prices on these type of items.
Sam's- I go there usually for only a few specific things that I know I can't get cheaper anywhere else. Like apple juice, fish sticks, and boneless skinless chicken breasts are only $1.77lb (I keep an eye out at the grocery stores for a cheaper price).
Walgreen's- Drug stores are typically more expensive, but they have some good sales once in awhile. I can get milk at a great price and Sara Lee's cheapo brand bread for 99 cents a loaf. Last month I was able to get a 12 roll package of Cottenelle toilet paper for only $2.75! They offer "friends and family day" fairly often where you get the employee discount. It was on sale for $5, then 15% off = $4.25, then they had $1 off in store coupon, plus my $.50 off manufacturer coupon =$2.75, yay me!
Local Grocery store- I get my meat and produce there. I also am constantly checking the sale ads for good deals.
I do our grocery shopping every two weeks on the weeks that I get paid. First I go through the sale ads; I've gotten to the point where I know off the top of my head what a good price is for several items we buy on a regular basis. I write down everything that is a good price and we can use. I then make a list of all the meals we will eat, starting with any meals we may not have had in the previous two weeks. I base my meal plans off of what is on sale that particular week and what we have already in the house. I make my list off of what I will need to make all these meals, then I add on any staples we need that we may have run out of. I make several recipes from scratch and I tend to bake a bit, so I make sure I always have flour, white and brown sugars, and yeast on hand. I also try to keep ingredients on hand for quick easy meals, like tacos, in case something comes up and I need adjust my meal plans. After I have everything planned out and my list made, I go through my coupons, then it's off to the different stores to do all my shopping.
We don't keep junk food in the house any more, which helps keep our grocery bill down a lot. Occasionally I will buy some sort of "treat", like Oreos, donuts, or ingredients for dessert (brownies, cookies, rice krispy treats, etc). This summer we also tried to reduce the amount of soda we drank, and that saved us a surprising amount. We haven't been as good with this lately, we just love soda too much. At the same time though I refuse to pay any more than $2.50 a 12-pack, so if it's not on sale we don't buy it. If I do find something that we use a lot on sale for a great price I try to stock up on it. Lately we've stocked up on things like: 99 cent packages of tortillas, 80% hamburg at $1.99/lb, Kraft cheese for 88cents a bag (amazing!), and bread for 99 cents a loaf. By stocking up on these type of things, it saves us quite a bit in the long run. Usually by the time I'm running low on something it has gone on sale again. I've also been trying to freeze more, I currently have meat, bananas, bread / buns in the freezer. You can freeze a surprising amount of food that I totally didn't know you could until pretty recently.
By far though the biggest things that save us money is meal planning and sticking to my list when at the store. Unless I come across a good unadvertised deal, if it's not on my list I don't buy it.
I have been in charge of our budget and the grocery shopping / meal planning for several years now, and here are some of the things I do that I have found that save us money and keep us within our budget. Some of these may seem like common sense, but you'd be surprised how many people I know that don't follow any sort of budget or grocery list.
John teases me sometimes about my notebook, but that thing is like my best friend and keeps me organized. In it I have my master list of all the meals we make. I keep record of all the grocery sales, my grocery list, and meal plans for the week. For me grocery shopping is a bit of a process, between organizing and planning and shopping at several stores, it can be time consuming. I think I make up for it though with the money we save. I get the Sunday paper every week for the coupons. I'm not into the whole extreme couponing thing, but they definitely save us money. A few weeks ago our local paper was having a promotion where if you prepaid for a subscription they would deliver the Wednesday and Sunday papers for only $1 a week (awesome!) I buy the Sunday paper pretty much every week anyways, and was thrilled to get such a great deal.
I shop mainly at 5 different stores, yes 5! Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, Walgreens, and two of our local grocery stores.
Wal-Mart - Where I get most of my dry / frozen good staples. I find they usually have the lowest prices on these type of items.
Sam's- I go there usually for only a few specific things that I know I can't get cheaper anywhere else. Like apple juice, fish sticks, and boneless skinless chicken breasts are only $1.77lb (I keep an eye out at the grocery stores for a cheaper price).
Walgreen's- Drug stores are typically more expensive, but they have some good sales once in awhile. I can get milk at a great price and Sara Lee's cheapo brand bread for 99 cents a loaf. Last month I was able to get a 12 roll package of Cottenelle toilet paper for only $2.75! They offer "friends and family day" fairly often where you get the employee discount. It was on sale for $5, then 15% off = $4.25, then they had $1 off in store coupon, plus my $.50 off manufacturer coupon =$2.75, yay me!
Local Grocery store- I get my meat and produce there. I also am constantly checking the sale ads for good deals.
I do our grocery shopping every two weeks on the weeks that I get paid. First I go through the sale ads; I've gotten to the point where I know off the top of my head what a good price is for several items we buy on a regular basis. I write down everything that is a good price and we can use. I then make a list of all the meals we will eat, starting with any meals we may not have had in the previous two weeks. I base my meal plans off of what is on sale that particular week and what we have already in the house. I make my list off of what I will need to make all these meals, then I add on any staples we need that we may have run out of. I make several recipes from scratch and I tend to bake a bit, so I make sure I always have flour, white and brown sugars, and yeast on hand. I also try to keep ingredients on hand for quick easy meals, like tacos, in case something comes up and I need adjust my meal plans. After I have everything planned out and my list made, I go through my coupons, then it's off to the different stores to do all my shopping.
We don't keep junk food in the house any more, which helps keep our grocery bill down a lot. Occasionally I will buy some sort of "treat", like Oreos, donuts, or ingredients for dessert (brownies, cookies, rice krispy treats, etc). This summer we also tried to reduce the amount of soda we drank, and that saved us a surprising amount. We haven't been as good with this lately, we just love soda too much. At the same time though I refuse to pay any more than $2.50 a 12-pack, so if it's not on sale we don't buy it. If I do find something that we use a lot on sale for a great price I try to stock up on it. Lately we've stocked up on things like: 99 cent packages of tortillas, 80% hamburg at $1.99/lb, Kraft cheese for 88cents a bag (amazing!), and bread for 99 cents a loaf. By stocking up on these type of things, it saves us quite a bit in the long run. Usually by the time I'm running low on something it has gone on sale again. I've also been trying to freeze more, I currently have meat, bananas, bread / buns in the freezer. You can freeze a surprising amount of food that I totally didn't know you could until pretty recently.
By far though the biggest things that save us money is meal planning and sticking to my list when at the store. Unless I come across a good unadvertised deal, if it's not on my list I don't buy it.
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