Tag: grocery deals

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Every Day

Two Good Deals This Morning

I scoured the ads in our newspaper this morning. I had some produce that we needed on my list and that was it. 

However when I looked at the Aldi’s ad, I saw that they had the rolls of sausage for $ 1.49. This is less than half of the cost of my Top’s market price. Hubby loves me to slice them and cook them for breakfast. I had none left in our freezers. I also use them to make sausage stuffing for Thanksgiving. Since, I have two turkeys in my freezer, I froze two to go with those. Then I froze 2 for breakfasts and put one in the fridge.

I decided to get my produce at Top’s because they had cucumbers for $ .39 each which is a great price here. I bought three and some other produce that totaled a little over $20. 

The front of our newspaper this morning had a Free coupon for a 3 lb. bag of New York apples when you spent $20. Free is a fantastic deal.

Did you find any good deals this morning?

I will not be posting tomorrow because of the holiday. Hubby and I want to get a few things done around here and have a cookout for dinner. I hope you all have a nice holiday too. 

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Every Day

The Best Laid Plans

I had planned on grocery shopping either Sunday or yesterday but you know what they say about the best laid plans. Hubby ended up in the hospital those two days. He scared the living daylights out of both of us. But he is home now and fine.

So today I got to go to the dentist for an appointment that I rescheduled from yesterday to today.  Then I was able to go grocery shopping. I purchased more than usual but that is okay since I didn’t spend much last month.

My first stop was Aldi’s where I purchased the above. I hadn’t planned on going there but decided to check prices against my Top’s list. Well I purchased more than I had planned to this week but I am stocking for winter.

This is my Aldi’s receipt. The sour cream was needed for dinner tonight. It was such a good price compared to Top’s so I got two. One for now and one for later. The chicken broth was $1.29 which is about $.70 cheaper than Top’s. I use ground coffee in my refillable cup for my Keurig. I was down to my last can and saw this large can priced at $4.89 so I thought I would try it to see if it is any good. They have the best price on the northern beans and soon I will be making ham and bean soup.  

They had Honeycrisp apples on sale for $ 1.99 a bag and they are a favorite. The frozen  veggies were great prices compared to Top’s and I am stockpiling for the winter. I only had one egg left in the house so I needed them badly. Aldi’s large eggs are small so I only bought one then paid a little more for a dozen at Top’s. We needed basil and the granola bars because I am almost out. I like stove top stuffing as a quick side when we have poultry or even pork and I had none left. We also are on our last bottle of tartar sauce and soy sauce.

So the total at Aldi’s was $ 24.82. 

The next and last stop was Top’s. I needed bacon and ham slices for Sunday breakfasts and I stock up when they have a good sale. The bacon was B2G3F. Then I bought 2 on sale ham slices. I used a coupon for get a $1.00 off any Smithfield breakfast item when you buy 1 bacon. I meant to get another flyer at the front door and use 2 coupons but I forgot so I lost a $1.00 there. I have so much on my mind right now that I am not surprised. They also had really nice chuck roasts on sale for $3.99 and that is a great price in our area. So I went to the butcher shop and picked two nice ones and had them individually wrap them for me. I would have bought more but I  am trying to make space for turkeys when they go on sale.

Hubby was out of his crunchy peanut butter and his quick meal meatballs. He loves these Rosina in a meatball sandwich for lunch. When I make spaghetti and meatballs I usually make my own. The meatballs were on sale for B1G1F and I had 2 coupons for $1.00/1 so I got 4 bags. Strawberries were on Super Coupon for $ 1.99. I bought the large eggs on Super Coupon for $ 1.29. Also the pasta sauce which I use for a base for homemade was on Super Coupon for $ .99. This week is chock full of appointments and we want to get up to the gym a few days so I picked up 4 Smart Ones for quick lunches. With Hubby in the hospital I did not have time to prepare lunches ahead for the week. We will fill in the other days with leftovers. 

Here is my receipt for Top’s. As you can see the total was $67.00. So I spent a total of $ 91.82 this week.

I roasted a whole chicken over the weekend so we have a lot leftover that hasn’t gotten eaten because of Hubby’s hospitalization. So tonight I am going to make a big pan of cheesy chicken enchiladas. They should serve us for two or more meals. 


I am out of here to try to catch up all the things that got neglected the last few days.


If you are buying any great deals at the grocery store feel free to leave a comment about them.
 

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Every Day

My Thought Process

I told you recently that I will be mentoring two couples that have asked me. I will give you more information on their circumstances next month. However they both have outstanding credit card debt and after looking at their after tax spendable income and their expenses, I have come to the conclusion that both families are spending way too much money on food. One family shops 3 or more times a week and the other spends way too much money eating out.

So some of the recent posts that you have seen me post is to get them thinking about their food spending. You may have seen this information before because I have had a # of blogs since I started doing it 11 years ago. Some of you probably know me as Precious. 

However, every one needs a reminder once in a while. So today I am again going over my thought process on how I grocery shop. You saw on Monday that I purchased 7 sirloin tip steaks on sale to grind into ground sirloin and how I saved on that. You all know that I buy at rock bottom prices on sale when I can.

I hadn’t planned on going to the market again this week. However you know what they say about the best laid plans. We have a dry erase board in the kitchen where Hubby and I write down things to get at the store. Well, it had quite a few things on it this morning and I have company coming tomorrow for the weekend. So today I needed to shop.

Above is the list I copied from the dry erase board minus the hash browns which Hubby had me add when he knew I was going to the store. 

The list here is after I thought about every item on it. Hubby does not go down to the basement unless it is absolutely necessary. It’s hard on his back. So he doesn’t have a clue what is in my pantry down there.

He wanted taco sauce to make a crock pot full of meat chili soon. We had a large bottle down there and part of a bottle in the fridge. So it got deleted from my list but put on a list of items that I don’t need right now but need to keep an eye out for a good sale price and coupons.

He wanted hash browns for breakfast this weekend. I have a 5 lb. bag of potatoes so I will grate them instead of buying a package.


We had a large can of Chinese noodles and Panda Express orange sauce in the pantry so they got crossed off and put on my other list.

That left the items above that I needed to purchase. I looked at the sale ads and pulled the only coupon I could find and marked it on the list along with a saving star rebate. Have you noticed that the coupons stink since the “Extreme Couponing Show” was on TV? They have even gotten worse recently. I actually know a coupon blogger from this area who did the matchups for Top’s each week. She has quit doing them because the coupons have gotten so bad and the sales are just as bad. Aldi’s and Walmart look better and better every day.


Then I went to both Top’s and Aldi’s. I could get the Kikkoman stir fry sauce for $.34 after the $.55 doubled coupon and a rebate at saving star for $.55 at Top’s plus I wanted to check their prices on other items so I went there first.

So this is what I purchased at Top’s:

stir fry sauce – $ .34
18 ct. large eggs – $2.19

This is what I purchased at Aldi’s:

American cheese singles – $ 1.99
Romaine Hearts – $ 2.29
4 qt. container of Vanilla Ice Cream – $ 3.99


My total for my grocery shop was $ 9.16.


The eggs were cheaper than buying them at Aldi’s by pennies. The BOGO free Kraft singles were $ 5.29 for
2 packages or about $ 2.65 each. I knew that I could get them for $ 1.99 at Aldi’s. Top’s romaine hearts were $ 3.49 or $ 1.20 more expensive than Aldi’s.

And yes, I purchased the ice cream that wasn’t on my list. It was a great price and we can use it for desserts for company this weekend. Root beer floats and hot fudge sundaes come to mind. I was going to bake something but when I saw the ice cream I changed my mind. I won’t heat up the kitchen since my A/C is still on. I sure hope we can turn it off permanently soon.  


I hope you all have a fun and safe Labor Day weekend. We will enjoy our company and have a great time.

Most of the children in the Northeast go back to school next week. I wish them all a great school year. I know that my granddaughter and grandson are excited that school is starting.

And lastly, we had a rainbow yesterday which I didn’t get a picture of and shortly after a beautiful sunset. The blues and oranges were magnificent.


I will be back posting soon.


Categories
Every Day

Analysis of My Grocery Shop and Some Price Checking

I have had company for the past few weeks and now have a little break before more comes. Since I have fed so many people, I needed to get some items that we were out of.

I don’t know about where you live but prices are rapidly changing around here. So I am now price checking again whenever I shop so that I know where the lowest prices are. 

So this morning was one of those trips. I went to Aldi’s and Top’s. 

At Aldi’s I got Clancy BBQ chips(1.79), Clancy Pretzels($1.49), and  Whole Salted Cashews($12.99). These are all snacks that Hubby likes and they will have to last him until the end of August because I am buying no more junk food until September. I purchased the Family Size Wavy Lays Potato Chips for me and to go with sandwiches. They were on sale with store coupon for $ 1.99. The cashews were the cheapest I have found anywhere even at Amazon. They are only $.43 an ounce vs. $ .51 at Amazon.

The hot dog buns($.75) were a great deal at Aldi’s this week. We have sale Sahlen’s hot dogs to use up so I will put these in my freezer until we cook the dogs.

The produce looked fresh at Aldi’s so I picked up celery($1.29), baby carrots($.89) and strawberries($1.29). I also got 2 ears of corn at Top’s for $.30 an ear. I cut up the celery into sticks and use it not only for cooking but for dipping into homemade dill dip for snacks. I use the baby carrots for the same purpose. Hubby loves it and I am trying to get him to stop snacking on so much junk. The corn will be used for dinner tomorrow night. The strawberries are used for smoothies and strawberry shortcake.

I also purchased at Aldi’s the olives($1.19),the Tikka Masala sauce($1.99), and the Cocktail sauce($.95). I have a recipe to make the Tikka Masala sauce. But before I buy all the ingredients to do that, I wanted to make sure that we like it. The olives are a staple in our home and the cocktail sauce will be used for shrimp cocktails one night for dinner. We have a 1/2 lb. of colossal shrimp left from one of our company dinners. When I serve this, we just have a small side salad with it.

At Top’s I also purchased 4 – 12 packs of Diet Coke(not pictured) for Hubby. It was on sale B2G2F and I needed it along with other things to get to the $20. purchase in order to be able to use the store coupons. I got a dozen large eggs($.99) with store coupon, 1 sour cream($1.49), 1 gallon of whole milk( $1.59) with store cpn., 1 plain yogurt($ 2.49), 8 Hunt’s Pasta Sauces(only 4 pictured- $ .88 each wyb 8), garlic salt($1.25), and 1 Crest Pro-Health toothpaste($.99 after mfr. cpn).

I stockpile cheap eggs for 6 weeks since I make a big family breakfast almost every Sunday. The sour cream is to make my dill dip. The whole milk and plain yogurt(starter) are for making my homemade yogurt. The pasta sauce I use as the base for my homemade spaghetti sauce which I doctor adding lots of other things. It is cheaper than buying tomato sauce here. I made a big pot last week when my granddaughter was visiting. It is pictured above and is loaded with 2 lbs. of homemade meatballs. We are getting low on stockpiled toothpaste so I picked this one up cheap. 

I believe all of the prices at each place were the cheapest except the plain yogurt. That might have been cheaper at Aldi’s. I forgot to price check it.

The next time, I will check these prices at our Super Walmart. 

When I shop I try to conserve on gasoline since it is so expensive here. Right now I have a discount of $.60 off a gallon but I still have 107 miles in the tank. After we do some appointments this week and next the car will be pretty much empty and I will fill up with the discount.

I am lucky that I have Top’s, Aldi’s and Super Walmart all within 4 miles of my home. So if I shop in a circle it doesn’t cost me too many dollars for gasoline.


While I have been enjoying my summer, I have been brainstorming blog post ideas for the Fall. A couple of my readers have kept in touch with me and have given me a great idea that I can expand on. So I will be back then for sure. But I will also pop in when time permits. I hope you are all having a wonderful summer!  

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Every Day

Keeping the Costs Low

Oh, the dilemma again over sending Christmas cards. Every year I try to knock down the number that I send out. I keep it down to family and really close friends. If I send a card to a family member 10 years in a row and I don’t get a response, then I feel that they don’t want contact and I take them off my list. I don’t send cards to anyone who I will see over the holiday season.

I would actually like to send e-mails instead but I don’t have most people’s e-mail address or they don’t use email. I know that is hard to believe but not in my generation.

So I sat down this morning and wrote them out. I ended up with 27 cards that are already in the mailbox. 

A few years ago, I caught a great after Christmas deal of $1.00 per box for very nice Christmas cards. So I purchased 10 assorted boxes. I am still using them so they were purchased and paid for long ago. The only other costs were my time and stamps. I am still working on forever stamps that I purchased before the last price increase. So they cost me $ .47 each instead of the $.49 they are today. Also when I purchase my stamps, I buy them in bulk at BJ’s and get a small discount. So mailing these 27 cards cost me less than $12.69 plus about $1.50 for the cards. So it is not an extreme expense.

A few things that I have been doing around here is cashing in 10 Coke code caps for $5.00 Amazon gift cards. I didn’t know that they were running this deal until my sister mentioned it. Fortunately, I still had some caps from Hubby drinking it.

All of my Christmas shopping is done. I have one more package coming today and when that is wrapped, I am all done. One of the last purchases I made was a Black Friday deal that I did online on Thanksgiving. Our Keurig is still running however I am afraid that it is on it’s last leg. It makes terrible noises. So when I found a Keurig on sale for $ 59.99 that included 40 K-cups and a bonus in the coffeepot box of 4 more plus  some iced tea ones, I jumped on it. I defrayed the cost of this by paying with some Amazon credit card points. I had been keeping my eye out for a deal like this since I did not want to wake up one morning and not be able to make coffee. I know that a Keurig is a luxury but it is one of the luxuries that we are willing to pay for but not at full price. We only drink one cup of coffee in the morning so it works perfectly for us. 

The only grocery deal I purchased this week was yesterday. Top’s had large roasting chickens on sale for $ .77 a lb. That is a really low price for my area so I purchased two for the freezer. One day when I am feeling better, I will take them out and roast them so that we will have lots of chicken already prepared. I will then freeze it until it is needed.


Not much else going on around here. We are just trying to stay warm. Anything new frugally with any of you?