Tag: grocery budget

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Our New Grocery Budget

We have all been spending more money on groceries since Covid 19 hit. Prices went up at first because of shortages. Then with all of the money that the government has been spending (printing out of thin air) inflation started to take hold and will continue to go up with each new spending package. This trend will continue on the backs of middle class Americans. The people whose taxes they will raise are corporations and many small businesses who will raise the prices on their products which gets passed down to us.

Since I had been stockpiling during part of 2020, I was spending a fortune. I was trying to stick to my budget but it was becoming very difficult. So I was taking lump sums of money from savings to continue that way of shopping. When I took a step back during my break from here, I realized we were spending a fortune. I was finally well stocked and really needed to slow the shopping down and get on a regular budget again. I think many of you can probably relate to this.

So about 6 weeks ago, I started doing things differently. I know prices are up and will continue to go up. But I slashed our grocery budget to $400. per month. I am going to try to continue budgeting that amount as long as I can by incorporating into our meals everything that I can from our stockpile ( pantry, freezer, and refrigerator items).

I am menu planning a month at a time now so that when I go to the grocery store I know what I need for the month for the meals that I have planned out.

One week a month I do a large shop at Walmart, Top’s, Niagara Produce or Aldi’s or a combination of them. I do not buy meat at Walmart except for frozen chicken wings. Most of our meat comes from the other three stores. This week I spend the majority of our monthly budget.

How do I determine the big shop week? I watch the grocery flyers and my Niagara Produce weekly specials and go the week that has a lot of things on sale (especially meat and fish) that are needed to replenish what we are using. Meat and fish are expensive so buying at a good price is the best time to stock. Walmart and Aldi’s has the cheapest prices on other items that we use.

I actually was considering joining Costco before the gasoline prices went up. However, it is a 110 mile trip to the closest one. We only get 20 miles to the gallon so that trip would cost us about $16.00 in gasoline each time we went. After paying a $60.00 membership fee, I couldn’t justify the cost. We know the gasoline prices are only going to go up further.

Then I took a look at joining Sam’s Club which is 37 miles round trip. That would only cost us about $ 5.80 per trip. They have a membership deal that works out to be free after a $45. gift card they give you to join. This would be my logical choice if I decide to join. Costco is so much better than Sam’s or B.J’s. I did not renew my B.J.’s membership because I believe they are going belly up. They’re never well stocked and the prices are prohibitive for the quality. So for now I will just stick to my current plan.

The other weeks of the month, I just shop the loss leaders on things like fresh produce, creamer, cream cheese, sour cream, milk, eggs, and butter, etc. It takes me a few minutes to make a list every week and just go in each store for those items and nothing else. No impulse purchases! These shops don’t cost a lot and keep me within my budget.

This has really been working well and is saving me time and gasoline. Before I was going to too many stores just about every week.

Also, we make sure that every morsel of food is used up that is purchased. Nothing goes into the trash! We have a leftover night or two a week which is built into our menu plan. If produce isn’t getting used up, we freeze it for smoothies. If we have onions, celery, or peppers starting to get soft, we slice them and flash freeze them and use them in casseroles, stews or omelets.

If prices keep going up, I will find other ways to stay under budget. For now it is working.

On Wednesday, I will show you my small shop from last Friday. It was an inexpensive week.

Are you finding ways to stay under your grocery budgets even though prices are rising? Feel free to comment and share with all of us.

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How Much Is My Grocery Budget?

 


Curious minds want to know! How much is your grocery budget? What does that have to cover?

I have gotten a few people over the past few months asking me these questions. So it is time to explain how we do it in our household. Our food budget is the  3rd largest line in our overall budget with school and property taxes being the largest and medical being the 2nd largest.

Hubby and I agreed upon a grocery budget of $500. per month effective January of 2020. There is just the two of us. Once in while we have company for dinner but that has only been family this year. Our son and grandson eat Sunday morning breakfast with us many times during the year. Our family in Albany visits a few times during the year. We also get take out and go out to dinner in a normal year a few times. It has not been very often this year and has been infrequent takeout.

So at the end of December when our entire budget was set in motion for 2020, $6,000., which is the yearly amount, was put into our grocery account. Then when Covid19 happened and prices started to rise, we put an additional $1200.(1/2 of our stimulus deposit amount) into that account. So essentially, I had $7200. for groceries for all of 2020.   

That $ 7200. has to cover all food including eating out and any takeout. The other items that it has to cover is household items like cleaners and soaps, personal care items like shampoo, deodorants, shaving cream, razors, toothpaste, floss and mouthwash, etc. It also needs to cover any medical items like bandaids, neosporin, and OTC medicines. Prescriptions drugs is a different budget. 

The large stockups I do are included. For example, my stockpiling for winter has to be within this budget and any stocking that I do at Thanksgiving and Christmas sales also has to be within this budget. 

So far it is working this year. But I have to admit, prices have risen and if I didn’t have full freezers and pantries to begin the year with, I think we might have had to raise the budget.

If you have noticed, I have not spent a lot on groceries the past few months. That is because I am keeping money in the account to be able to buy the rock bottom priced items that we see at Thanksgiving sales.

But since Hubby and I are starting to make our 2021 overall budget, I am really thinking that we need to raise the grocery budget. By how much, I have not determined yet. I did some research online and have seen figures of $ 593. per month up to $700. for the two of us. 

At this point, I don’t know what we will be comfortable with. That is still a work in progress. It will also depend on how much meat prices rise by the end of the year and how much the food shortages in China and Australia affect our prices here. 

I hope I have answered your questions. Now, since curious minds want to know, how much is your food budget this year? Are you going to raise it for 2021? How many people are you feeding and do you include household, personal care, and OTC medical items?

Please leave a comment and share the answers with us. I am curious and I am sure other people are too.

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August 31: The Last Day of the Low Spend Month Grocery Challenge

Today is the last day of my Low Spend Month Grocery Challenge. I have no intention of shopping today so I can tell you how much I saved. 

As I explained to you in my post about doing this challenge, I have $500. budgeted every month for groceries. When I went to the bank to get my cash out for August, I only took out 1/2 of that or $250. So that was already savings for us. 

After totaling up all of my receipts for the month, I had $11.12 left in my wallet from that $250. So I spent a total of $ 238.88 for the month.

I think I did pretty well considering that I had West for almost two weeks and he had some junk food requests. Now it might not have been possible, if I didn’t have food in my freezers and pantries. Regardless, it is very nice to have $ 261.12 in our pocket instead of the grocery store’s pockets.  

I will be back to my budget of $500. for the month of September. But I will be shopping strategically and carefully so that I can keep some of that money to spend on Thanksgiving sales in November.  More on that on Wednesday.

For breakfast, I cooked a dozen hard boiled eggs in the pressure cooker. I also cooked a 12 oz. package of bacon in the oven. I ate 2 hard boiled eggs and 3 pieces of bacon for my brunch. Hubby loves it when I cook the eggs because he loves egg salad on crackers. Me, I am happy to get back to eating healthier food. It was hard while West was here. He is a very picky eater. But I couldn’t have him starve so I cooked things that he loves. 

For dinner tonight, we had taco salads. Yeah, I have been craving one.  Hubby put them together: lettuce, cherry tomatoes, diced onion, a bit of diced cucumber because I love it, sliced black olives, guacamole, and Mexican cheese. I cooked the ground meat with the hot and spicy taco seasoning. Then it was all topped off with a dab of sour cream. They tasted so good tonight!


I hope you have a great evening.

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August 22: Low Spend Grocery Month Challenge

I went out the door early this morning to go to Niagara Produce. They had their turkey cutlets on sale again for $2.99 a lb. Hubby loved this turkey recipe that I made a week or so ago so he wanted me to get some more cutlets.

I only had room for 5 packages in the freezer so that is what I purchased. Since we are having hot dogs for dinner tonight, I picked up hot dog rolls too. I have given up wasting precious space in the freezer for bread.

As I was driving back home, I remembered that West had mentioned that he would like donuts for breakfast one day. So I stopped at Tim Horton’s for a dozen donuts. They have gone up a $1.00 in price to $ 9.99. They were so good that there are only two left. 

I had $ 99.68 left in my monthly grocery budget. I spent $29.47 this morning. I have $ 70.21 left for the rest of August. 

Dinner tonight was easy hot dogs on buns. This was Hubby’s. West opted last minute not to eat hot dogs. He does not like Sahlen’s hot dogs because they have the skin on the outside that he does not like.  I always have meats and cheeses in the deli drawer so he had his choice of many different ones. He opted for sliced pepperoni and cheese. He ate a plate full and was very happy. He and Hubby had oreo cookies for dessert.

I haven’t heard from West’s parents this weekend but I imagine they are loving having a weekend to themselves. West texted them earlier and they were out in the car geocaching. I had no idea what that was but West explained it to me.

We are about to play a board game. I hope you all are having a great weekend.

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August 11: Low Spend Grocery Month Challenge

This is all the grocery shopping I am doing this week.
Aldi’s was my first stop. I got 2 dozen eggs, some shells and cheese(for West’s stay), peanut butter cookies (also for West’s stay), unsweetened applesauce, 4lbs. of chicken wings, 2 cans of mushrooms, a party size box of Ritz crackers, a large bottle of Zesty Italian dressing, 2 containers of iodized salt, 1 box of tissues(not pictured) and a bottle of Avocado oil. I also purchased a mug and some reading glasses that will not be included in the food total. Here is my receipt:

I couldn’t resist the mug and I needed the reading glasses. So my total for food was $ 29.81.


My last stop was Top’s:

I am only showing the food prices here but I did get some greeting cards and some other non food items that Hubby wanted. We had a death in the family and Hubby’s secretary is retiring after 46 years. We wish her the very best of luck in whatever she does now.

The popcorn is a treat for Hubby and was $ 2.99. He also loves the peanuts so I got two bags since they were on sale for $ 4.99 each. The hoagie rolls were needed for dinners. They were $ 3.99. The family size oreos are a treat for West and were $ 2.99. The large box of goldfish is also a treat for West and was $ 6.99.

The potatoes are for brunch on Sunday and were on sale for $2.49. The au jus packets are needed for future meals and were an outrageous price of $ 2.49 each. The bacon was a coupon item and cost $ 3.99. The two cans of tuna( $2.09 each) and 2 cans of chicken($3.19 each) were stockpile items.

The SF marinade is for a future meal and was $ 4.29. The coffee was B1G1F so they cost $ 4.99 for both cans. The strawberries were a coupon item and cost $ 1.99. The ice cream is for West and was $ 2.99. The mozzarella cheese was needed for our hot Italian dinners and was $ 2.50.

So my total for Top’s was $ 65.72. So the total for my shops was $ 95.93. That leaves $ 99.68 in my budget for the rest of the month. 

West is coming to stay with us starting Sunday for two weeks so I needed to load up on some treats and things. My son has been back at work for a month or so and my daughter in law is a college professor and needs to go into work for a couple of weeks. So we will be having lots of fun over the next couple of weeks with West before school starts.

For brunch this morning I again had 2 eggs and some mashed avocado. Hubby had some banana bread.

Neither Hubby nor I want take out tonight for dinner. Since we had take out for lunch over the weekend, that was enough for now.

So with my zero waste policy, we will again be having hot Italian sausage. Mine will be just on a plate like last night. Hubby will again use a hoagie roll.

I have ordered a new Keto cookbook that should come tomorrow. It is highly rated so I am anticipating making a couple of different meals from it next week. I have to mix it up so that I don’t get bored with my diet. 

I have been having trouble with my camera. Hubby is looking at it now to see if he can find out what is going wrong with it. Sorry about the blurry pictures.

I hope you all have a good day.     

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August Will Be A Low Spend Month For Groceries

Over the years, I have seen many people have what they call a Low Spend Month. So I have decided to do one for the month of August. If anyone would like to join me, let me know in the comments. I realize some of you are probably working on your stockpile so keep doing what you are doing. Being prepared for the Fall and Winter is so important!


Those who would like to do the Low Spend Month should inventory your freezers, refrigerators, and your pantries so that you know what you have. You have a few days to do this before the 1st. However for those of you who feel it is a daunting task, just look through those areas so that you have a pretty good idea of what you have.

I still have money set aside for stockpiling. If I see a great deal that fits into my stockpile, I will let you know. But in August I will be concentrating on spending less monthly grocery money. 

Most of the time, I have $500. for a month’s worth of groceries. I will be cutting that amount by 50% for August. So I will have $250. for all of our groceries. Any money leftover in July will be put back into our savings.

We will be eating from our pantry which is our usual BUT with a twist. How many of you have a grocery item or two or maybe 10 or more that you purchased or were given that you have never used? You know the ones that you see in your pantries all the time and ignore. I know I do. They keep staring me in the face. Pictured above is just a few of the items that need to get used. The tuna and pancake mix will get used in the next week. I will have to see how to make the quinoa and I can’t even remember what I bought the xanthan gum for. Any ideas? 

In August, I will be incorporating those items into our meals to use them up and not end up throwing them out which throws your money in the garbage. If I don’t know how to use an item, I will research for a recipe or ask you. I am hoping to use up a whole bunch of “odd to me” stuff.

I will let you know every day what we are eating and post recipes when I can. 

I will take “you along” on every grocery trip so that you know what I am buying and why. Only needs or family requests(Hubby makes requests on a regular basis) will be purchased with only one exception!  The things that West wants while he is staying with us for two weeks will be incorporated into my $250. grocery budget. I have to spoil my grandson while he is here visiting. That is just what Grandma’s do.

I will post our menu for the following week starting on Friday.

So you may ask, “Why are you doing a no spend month?” Because I thought it would be fun! We also have a savings goal that we are working on. We gave away $ XX,XXX. this month so we will be working on replenishing that money over the next year or so. Lowering the grocery budget will be a good start. Who knows, I may find out that we don’t have to spend $500. per month and continue to be able to save that 50% of our grocery money. 

When you don’t have a mortgage, car payments, or credit card payments, money from investments accumulate quickly. So they will also help replace our giving money. At our age, we rarely travel anymore so we don’t do a lot of spending on items or travel like we did when we were younger. We spend very little on gasoline. Most our money goes into things we want or need for our home. Needed items like pest control, landscape maintenance, and fertilizing services, home maintenance, car maintenance, etc. And of course there are the normal bills that come with owning a home like utility bills, taxes, cable, house phone and internet, insurances, and the cellphone. Gifts for family members are also very important to us.

I am also hoping this low spend month will keep us home more because we have some projects that we are working on. I don’t know how long each post will be in August. Some may be long and some very short but I will post every day. The length will depend on the topic and how much time I have that particular day. I will also keep posting our Frugal Things topic. 

So if you would like to do this low spend month right along with me, don’t forget to let me know in the comments. You can post in comments on each day’s post to let us all know how and what you are doing to keep some money in your pocket.    
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Busy Shopping Day Yesterday

After doing some things around the house yesterday, I made my shopping lists for the week. I decided to go to Top’s with plans to go to Walmart and Aldi’s afterward. My plans changed because Top’s was so very crowded. Thinking that the other two stores would probably be worse, I decided to wait to go this week while people are working.

I did both regular grocery shopping and stockpile shopping.

The regular shopping was 2 pizza sauce($1.00 ea.), flour($1.99), lettuce($.99 with store Q), monterey jack cheese($1.79 with store Q) and T bone steaks($19.00) that I needed for this week. I was out of pizza sauce. I don’t have enough flour to make bread. The lettuce is for salads. Hubby loves the monterey jack on his hamburgers.  The T bones are to be grilled for our 53rd Anniversary dinner. Since we are not going out to a restaurant, we will make a nice dinner here at home which will be steak, salad, and strawberries and raspberries with SF cool whip for dessert. We might even enjoy a glass of wine if I get to the liquor store to buy it.

In order to get the lower price of $ 8.88 a lb. for the steaks, I had to buy what they consider a big package of 3. So 1 of them will get frozen for the future. 

The rest were stockpile items. I got 10 Gatorade Zero which were $.80 each when you purchased 10. The pound of bacon was $3.99 with a store Q. The hand sanitizer was $ 5.99. The Softsoap refill was $ 8.98. The yeast was $ 5.99. The canned mushrooms were $1.00 each. I got 2- 50 oz. Purex for $2.50 each. Lastly, I got 1 of the gallons of distilled water for $ .69 with store coupon and 2 gallons on sale for $ .88 each.

Right now I am stockpiling things that I know we will use in case the sickness comes back to our state. I am not waiting until fall because if we lock down again, the supply chain will be affected. Just look at Texas and the supply problems they are having. If it doesn’t come back, we will be set for the fall and winter.

I spent $ 25.77 on the regular groceries and $ 43.76 on stockpile groceries. That leaves $ 458.78 in the July grocery budget. My stockpile budget was $ 1200. minus $ 43.76 = $1156.24. 

Did you find any good buys this week? 

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Our Grocery Strategy

Grocery and meat prices have rapidly risen since this sickness came here. Beef prices are extremely high per pound as are many other meats. Chicken seems to be about the only thing that I can purchase at a decent price. But with inflation already here and continuing because of the stimulus payments and other acts that were passed or may be passed, everything will continue to go up. So much money has been printed that we will not see prices in the future like we are used to.

I was in sticker shock when I shopped last Sunday. So many grocery items have risen so rapidly. There has to be a better way to purchase what we need without paying so much money.

The first thing I do is make a list of what our necessities are. Then I check the ads and Flipp to see who has the best prices on those items. The first page of the ads are usually the best prices or what they call the loss leaders. They are the items that the store puts on sale and lose money on hoping that you will buy a whole lot of non sale items while you are in the store. I will strive to only purchase the loss leader items. Then I look at the back page which usually shows the fresh produce sales and I strive to buy those things to make our salads and other side dishes. To me the front and back pages are where you strike it rich!

The second thing that I have been doing is going into the grocery stores as early in the morning as I can so that I can scope out the prices and pick my items according to sales. No more grocery pickups for me. Walmart usually was out of 10-15 items every time I ordered but didn’t tell me until the morning of my pickup. It was frustrating me because I would then have to go into a store anyhow. I used Instacart a couple of times and the fees and the higher prices on each item weren’t worth it to me.

I also have been very conscious of using up everything we buy. Not so much as a teaspoon of food goes to waste!  We eat leftovers for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We use everything. We eat a lot of salads and soups to use things up. When I got home from my trip, I found potatoes going soft so I made mashed potatoes and froze them. Tomatoes were getting soft so I made spaghetti sauce. Onions were also getting soft so I diced and froze them. We had bread and rolls getting stale so I made salad croutons. There are so many other ways to use up your food. Don’t throw your money in the garbage! You work very hard to make that money.

I refuse to raise my grocery budget for the things that we buy and like. Fortunately, we have full freezers and most of the items in them are meat, poultry, fish, and seafood. It should last us at least 6 months. Perhaps by then, some of the meat prices will come down a bit. If not, we will find cheaper ways to get our protein like eggs, beans, dairy, and peanut butter.


We do have a good supply of frozen and canned vegetables and fruits too. Condiments and sauces are in good supply too. We will use them up and perhaps learn to make many of them. I make quite a few now but not nearly as many as I could make. 

I told Hubby that we are going back to basics for as many things as we can as our food gets used up. As rolls and bread get eaten, I will make those things from scratch. Flour and sugar is cheap purchased in 25 lb. bags or stocking 4 or 5 lb. bags during the holidays. I will be checking recent prices at all of my grocery stores and the warehouse club. I am doing a good job of checking most prices and updating my price book. 

I will buy as little prepared foods as possible. 

In the future,the majority of my shopping will be done around the perimeter of the store: produce, dairy, meat, bacon, fish, seafood and some frozen(mainly veggies, emergency pizzas, and ice cream). The bakery will be skipped. I already make most of our cold cuts from cooking turkey, chicken and ham. We slice them ourselves on our meat slicer. 

The grocery aisles will mostly be potato chips, tortilla chips, popcorn kernels, baking goods, dry beans,  canned tomatoes and tomato sauces, canned vegetables and fruits, corn or flour tortillas, chocolate chips, cheap cake and brownie mixes($1.00 or less), canned pumpkin, cranberry sauce(around Thanksgiving), cheap after holiday candy(for Halloween, gifts, and to put in cookies), nuts, coconut, olive and avocado oils, vinegar, spices including salt, coffee, diet soda or flavored seltzers for Hubby, Crystal Light, Gatorade Zero, canned meats like tuna and chicken, pasta, rice, evaporated milk, raisins, cream soups, salsa, olives and pickles, bouillon cubes, tomato powder, chicken and beef broth when it is cheap at Thanksgiving, a few boxes of cereal, pizza sauce, rock bottom priced spaghetti sauce, and a few other things that I have probably forgotten. I will buy more store brands of these items if they are cheaper.

I am including HBA, OTC meds and vitamins, paper products and cleaning products in our budget. They will be purchased when needed on sale and with coupons if there are any.

We spend $500. a month now on our food and our HBA, OTC medicines and vitamins, paper products, and cleaning products. I do not plan on raising that any time soon. I will include any family feasts or holidays in this budget also.

Any Fetch gifts cards or bottle deposit money will be turned back into the grocery budget.

To be right up front with you, we have not spent any of the $1200. of stimulus that I have earmarked for  stockpiling meat at rock bottom prices. We got $2400, in stimulus. We saved the other $1200. As the freezer starts to get empty, I will be looking for rock bottom meat and frozen vegetable deals and will use some of that stimulus money to restock it.

I will keep track to the penny what we spend and on what and share it with you. I will also be updating our inventory so that we always know what we have on hand. 

How do you plan on making every penny of your food budget count? Are you buying cheaper cuts of meat or more store brands? Are you eating every drop of food and not wasting any? Have you cut back your portions? I would love to know. We can each help each other by commenting and telling us your tricks to contain your food budget.

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Every Day

Grocery Shopping Day

With the exception of buying sea scallops, 4 lbs. of organic ground beef, and a large package of chicken breasts, these shops are all that I have purchased at the grocery store since the last week in December.

This is what I purchased at Aldi today:

6 Hass Avocados – $ .59 ea. = $ 3.54

2 bags of Riced Cauliflower – $ 1.69 ea. =$ 3.38

1 pkg. of Romaine Lettuce – $ $ 2.39

My total was $ 9.31.

This is what I purchased at Top’s:

1 bag of corn – $ 1.00

Bananas – $ 1.20

2 dozen Eggland Best Eggs – after Q’s – $ 2.00 for both

My total was $3.95 after my Senior Discount of 6%.

I have tried more than once to rice my own cauliflower. I just can’t make it taste as good as the frozen. So I have given up. When the frozen is on sale like today, I buy a couple. 


Does anyone know how to freeze avocados? I know you can buy them frozen in a bag so there must be a way to do it at home. I am guessing that I dice them into chunks and either put lemon or lime juice on them to prevent them from turning brown and then freeze them. If you have done this would you let me know how. I would love to be able to freeze them when they have a rock bottom sale like this because I eat a half of one every day.

It has been a productive day. Besides shopping, I did my exercising, talked to my dentist for a while to figure out our next step on the very long saga of my teeth(more about that in a later post), cooked a pound of bacon in the oven(I forgot to take a pic after it was cooked), scanned my receipts into the Fetch app., and worked some more in the basement. We have almost the entire storage wall done. Hubby is installing everything on his new computer so he has quit for the day. I may go back down and work there for a while. 

Are you being productive today? Did you get any good grocery deals this week?    

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Grocery Shopping This Past Week

Grocery shopping was done after the roads had been salted and sanded. Finally the sun came out yesterday. We had about an inch of ice coating our trees and roads on Sunday evening. We could not even see out of our windows the ice was so thick. Then on Monday we got about 4 inches of snow. For we in the Buffalo area, this was really nothing.

My son, DIL, and granddaughter went home on Saturday because they were supposed to get hit with a huge snowstorm starting on Sunday. My son and his family also were watching the weather and they went home from NH on Saturday also. 

My granddaughter had yesterday and today off from school. She is delighted. My DIL also has had these days off because of the snow. They ended up with 22 inches of snow. I am happy that they are all cozy and warm at home and that I didn’t have to worry about them traveling home in bad weather.

But yesterday, I was able to maneuver the roads and go to Top’s. This is what I purchased:  

Fresh Haddock – $ 8.79

6 Hass Avocados – $ .79 each – Used 2 $.75/3 cpns. that doubled = $ .29 each = $ 1.74

3 Black Olives – 3/$5.00

1 dozen Organic Eggs – $ 3.99

2 SF Cool Whip – $ 2.19 each = $ 4.38

1 Half & Half – $ 2.69

1 Box of SF Popsicles – $ 4.99

1 Riced Cauliflower – $ 2.89

1 Large GG Mashed Cauliflower – $ 5.49

1 Gallon of Distilled Water – $ 1.00

1 bag of Skinny Pop – $ 5.49 

Total OOP after 6% Senior Discount($ 2.97) was $43.50 including $ .02 tax. 


Hubby loves haddock and I love salmon. I am still using the salmon that I purchased at half off for $3.84 back in July.


The Hass avocados were a great deal at $.79 each but even better when my DIL found me coupons for $.75/3 that doubled. I have been going without avocados because I refused to pay $ 2.50 each for them. The olives will be used for a meat and cheese platter that we are taking to a Christmas party soon.

I was almost out of eggs so I got a dozen. I only had one half & half in the freezer and we drink a lot of coffee.  SF Cool whip was needed to go with our dessert of SF jello. SF popsicles and the Skinny Pop are my guilty pleasures once in a while. I love these cauliflower products. They are so yummy as a side dish. The water was needed for a medical device.

I am back down to spending about $ 50. each week and I am hoping to lower that in 2020. We have so much food in our pantry, fridge, and freezers that we are eating out of them continually and just filling in with what is needed each week. 

Did you get any great deals this past week? Please share with all of us.