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Thursday, March 30, 2023

March 2023 Grocery Shopping

March 8. My daughters and my husband love, love, love fast food. (I've tried "reforming" them, to no avail.) We all needed a pick-me-up this week, so I swung by McDonalds to get them some burgers and fries. Spent $13.67

March 9. It's been almost 2 weeks since I grocery shopped last. Needing primarily milk, eggs and produce, I went to WinCo and Walmart. I had 2 other family members with me, getting their own snacks and special foods that they pay for. They also requested we stop at Grocery Outlet. So, I actually went into 3 stores, but only bought items in 2. At WinCo I bought 1 bottle ketchup, 1 gallon whole milk,1 corned beef, 1 bag turkey breakfast sausage, 1 pack turkey bacon, 4 avocados, 3 Roma tomatoes, 3.5 lb bag apples, 4 lbs tangerines, 2 bunches bananas, 1 large red pepper, 1 bundle celery, I lost my shopping list halfway through shopping. I backtracked but couldn't find it. I hope I bought everything I needed from the list. I spent $35.92

At Walmart, I only bought 1 60-ct case of eggs, $11.06.

Total spent today --$46.98

spent for the month, so far -- $60.65

March 13. I had 3 digital coupons at Fred Meyer I wanted to use before they expired. I also needed some gardening supplies (not items carried at WinCo, so I knew I'd be buying these at Fred Meyer). I bought 2 whole chickens on a buy 1/get 1 deal (averaged $1.10/lb), 5 half-gallons milk for 99cents each (the half-gallons of milk have been on sale for less per ounce than the gallons for the past year or so, so buying a couple of "halfs" in place of 1 gallon is a money saver), 3 16-ounce chubs of maple breakfast sausage at $2,49/each, and 1 free bag of frozen edamame. 

spent today -- $24.29

spent for the month, so far -- $98.61


March 16. Picking up a couple of foods for my daughters' birthday picnic at Dollar Tree. I bought 1 box faux GS Thin Mints and a loaf of sliced French bread. Spent $2.50.

March 17. On way to daughters' birthday fun we stopped by Grocery Outlet. I sent my daughters into the store to get 2 cake mixes (10 cents ea) and 8 boxes of cereal (4/98 cents). Spent $3.06. (One of my daughters had been to GO the day before and saw both the cereal and cake mixes. I told her we could stop by to get some of these deals.)

Spent so far this month -- $104.17

March 22. I needed a couple of gardening items from Fred Meyer, plus some decaf coffee for myself. I bought the decaf ($4.99), and also found corn flakes and rice crispy cereal on clearance for $1.07 ea, 48-oz carton rainbow sherbet (for birthday dinner) on sale for $1.99, and 4 gallons of 2% milk on clearance for 96 cents each. I spent $12.96

March 24. WinCo and Walmart with a daughter buying birthday dinner foods. I bought 8-oz shredded cheese ($1.98), 1 head lettuce (98 cents), 3 Roma tomatoes (98 cents/lb), bulk Jordan almonds for Easter ($3.98/lb), 6 packs hot dogs (68 cents each), bag of frozen turkey breakfast sausage ($5.90), turkey bacon ($2.78), and a frozen turkey for Easter dinner (88 cents/lb). I spent  $30.74 at WinCo. At Walmart I bought 1 bag of Fritos-type chips and 8-oz sour cream to use in birthday dinner. Spent $2.90 at Walmart. Total spent today -- $33.64.

Spent for the month so far -- $150.77

March 30. I decided on adding a ham to Easter dinner, so I went to Fred Meyer where there was a deal this week. I bought the ham (89 cents/lb), 2 jars of decaf coffee ($4.99 ea), 10 packs of turkey bacon on markdown ($1.24 ea, due to expire in 1 week, I froze it all once home), 5 bags of tortilla chips on markdown (60 cents ea, best-by date in June -- I'm all set for Cinco de Mayo, husband's bday, and Father's Day - hubby's favorite is Tex-Mex), and 4 boxes of pop-tarts on markdown (38 cents/box, best-by date in November 2023). I don't normally buy pop-tarts, but 3 of the 4 of us do enjoy them, and at 38 cents/box, they were a steal for junkie stuff. I needed to make a $25 purchase (before adding in ham) to buy the ham at 89 cents/lb. Including the ham I spent $34.55.


Total spent for the month -- $185.32

what I bought

4 avocados
6 Roma tomatoes
1 bundle celery
1 red pepper
3.5 lbs apples
4 lbs tangerines
2 bunches bananas
1 head lettuce
1 bag frozen shelled edamame

12 packages turkey bacon
2 large bags turkey sausage
1 corned beef
3 lbs breakfast sausage
2 whole chickens
6 packs hot dogs
frozen whole turkey
1 ham

7.5 gallons milk
5 dozen eggs
8-oz cheese
8-oz sour cream
48-oz sherbet

1 bottle ketchup
1 box cookies
1 loaf French bread
10 boxes cereal
2 boxes cake mix
3 jars decaf coffee
bag corn chips
5 bags tortilla chips
4 boxes pop-tarts

1 lb candy

1 fast food meal for 4

In addition to the above foods and meal, we also spent some money on pie in a bakery and a fast food meal on the drive home from the vintage district, both on my daughters' birthday. The expense for those foods came out of a birthday budget and not the grocery budget. 

I found several amazing deals this month: the frozen turkey, hot dogs, turkey bacon, cold cereal, tortilla chips, cake mixes, pop-tarts, frozen edamame, gallons of milk, and a ham. For the most part, the rest of what I bought was well-priced too, just not amazing. I spent more time in the stores than I have in 3 years, checking all of the spots where I know to find marked down items.

A good grocery month overall. We still have a lot of food in storage, as well as a garden beginning to produce for spring harvests. So I think April looks good, too. I hope you found lots of bargains too this past month!

6 comments:

  1. Sounds like you scored a lot of DEALS this month. I'm excited to still find a lot of deals in stores even though prices are sky high. I bought half bushel of "deer" apples for $4 on Saturday and I won't be feeding deer with those. I sorted through them and didn't find a single rotted one but I found a couple of bruised ones that I made a big pot of applesauce with while using many good ones from that half bushel. I put the rest in my refrigerator for fresh eating. They are so good and crisp and crunchy. I find meat regularly and buy only what temps my husband and I have found milk discounted. I'm also going to buy as much boneless, skinless chicken thighs whenever I see that discounted because it is our favorite. Sadly, I don't see chicken marked down very often.
    Alie

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    Replies
    1. I did! And with your deer apples, it sounds like you did too! I hadn't heard of deer apples before. Interesting. I looked the term up and a site indicated that deer apples are sometimes wild apples, sometimes a variety that most people find too tart, or sometimes apples that are commercially grown but for one reason or another less desirable. I'm so glad you could make applesauce with the bruised ones. I also had to look up weight of 1/2 bushel of apples. That's about 21 lbs. What a bargain you got -- $4 for 21 lbs of apples.

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  2. Wow, Lili, you scored on some of your items! My best bargain has been butter at Aldi for $2.49/pound. I've bought a total of 4 pounds during the past couple of weeks. We have been eating down our freezer recently, and as you mentioned a few posts ago, my husband has planted lettuce seeds and put them under the cold frame. It really does extend the gardening season to use one--I've been pleasantly surprised. All to say, while I haven't come across many bargains while shopping, we continue trying to manage our money the best way we can.

    While a steady stream of fast food meals isn't good for you, I think an occasional treat like what your family got is a fun thing to do. No judgment here! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That $2.49/lb on butter is spectacular! I'm glad you were able to buy several pounds.
      I think an occasional treat of fast food is okay too. And likely a mood-booster for my family.

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  3. We are stocked fairly well so our shopping is mostly about sales, and clearances. Costco always has items on clearance in their produce, frozen and refrigerated aisles, and the offers are different for each store. The prices may drop lower from the initial clearance offer. This week was Cilantro Lime dressing, 32 oz for $1. Bought one last week for $1.97. It was close dated so we froze most of the bottles. Yesterday we tried the dressing on clearance priced tostada (.25 bag), topped with clearance priced mozzarella cheese slices ($2.97 for 36oz), sale priced Portofino tuna with a slice of tomato. It was soo good. The tostada and cheese were bought months ago and stored in our freezer.
    This morning we had whole wheat toast made with clearanced whole wheat flour (5lb for $2). We are not picky and have learned to adapt our menu around clearance and sale items.

    Have a great weekend,
    Laura

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yum! Your bargain goodies sound delicious. And that's such a great price for mozzarella. My current "buy" price on any cheese is $3/lb or less. I haven't found any at that price in a couple of months. Enjoy your bounty of clearance foods!

      Delete

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