Today was my "big" shopping day. I usually save that for Friday, after I've done all the uber-deals I think I'll get at Walgreens and Target (and wherever else, but mostly those two stores) and I know how many clams I have left to use in buffering the food storage pantry. But, this week I found some deals that couldn't be missed in last week's grocery circulars and today was the last day of the sale, so out we went! The kidlets and I hit the road early in the morning and it was a dream - all 3 of us were generally still in good spirits, no one freaking out b/c someone's arm was touching theirs, etc. We hit two grocery stores and came home with this haul:
And I spent: $30.74
Yippee!
Yippee!
If my receipts are correct, I saved 53% on this stuff. Highlights for me were purchasing:
toothpaste - $0.25
kikkoman teriyaki sauce - $0.42
kraft ranch dressing - $0.49
Dole pineapple chunks - $0.71/ea (not amazing, but not bad, either)
and...
FISH SAUCE!! $1.98 This wasn't on sale at all, but I am determined to try my hand at making Thai food and all the yellow curry recipes I've looked at call for this fishy stuff. I actually can't think about it too long b/c it gives me the urge to gag... BUT I cannot get Thai food off the brain and from what I've read, fish sauce is a must, so into the cart it went! ps - anyone with experience making Thai food?? Please drop me a line!!!
Anyway, back to the shopping... :) The 5 lb bag of potatoes and the grapes were free - hooray! And the bagels came free when I bought the yogurt, so that worked out to be about $1 each (yogurt and bagels).
Since I've already revealed how neck-deep I am in this couponing thing, I will also tell you that I've set up this system for myself where I rotate an area to focus on each week. This is more for the food storage side of my shopping than the coupons, but I give myself a rough amount of dough to use towards that specific area each week. I've divided up the month into these 4 areas: 1) paper goods/bath (basically anything that's not food), 2) sauces & dressings, 3) baking items, and 4) canned & boxed goods. This week was actually my sauces & dressings week, so I had planned to be purchasing some applesauce, molasses, a few other things that aren't generally on sale and that I don't often see coupons for. BUT, I noticed a deal on canned vegetables at the grocery store and decided to switcheroo, so I made this week my canned goods week. So all those cans up there were $0.50/each. The cheapest I've found around here is $0.63 per can (and we don't have those nifty case sales some areas of the country do), so I was pretty jazzed about it. Anyway, I really love my little rotating system. It helps me make sure our storage is rounded out and not 98% ketchup or something. It's also helpful to have a certain amount of money set aside specifically for storage items, so I can buy them a little at a time before we need them, saving myself from the freak out that comes when we run out of dried mustard (or even worse, chocolate chips!!!) and I have to go pay full price and add it to my groceries that week. So nerdy. So wonderful. I love it! :)
The best part is that having a loaded pantry has totally changed how I shop. Instead of menu planning and then going out to buy whatever I need for those menus, I menu plan using what's in the cupboards and end up needing very few items from the store. Leaving more money for getting DEALS! I know a lot of you are thinking, "DUH, Lisa! Where've you been the last x number of years?!" But this is life changing for me, ok people? This week, I menu-planned and found that all I needed for our meals this week were:
1 red pepper
3 limes
6 potatoes
Sa-WEET!!!!! I will also need to buy milk, eggs and a bit more produce, but that is all!
Oh, I could ramble on and on, but I really must go put those bagels in the freezer, find space for my canned corn, and add those chips to the pantry (so we can use them when I make Chicken Tortilla soup in a couple weeks -- which is DIVINE, by the way. if you want the recipe, let me know...)... Happy Shopping everyone!!
toothpaste - $0.25
kikkoman teriyaki sauce - $0.42
kraft ranch dressing - $0.49
Dole pineapple chunks - $0.71/ea (not amazing, but not bad, either)
and...
FISH SAUCE!! $1.98 This wasn't on sale at all, but I am determined to try my hand at making Thai food and all the yellow curry recipes I've looked at call for this fishy stuff. I actually can't think about it too long b/c it gives me the urge to gag... BUT I cannot get Thai food off the brain and from what I've read, fish sauce is a must, so into the cart it went! ps - anyone with experience making Thai food?? Please drop me a line!!!
Anyway, back to the shopping... :) The 5 lb bag of potatoes and the grapes were free - hooray! And the bagels came free when I bought the yogurt, so that worked out to be about $1 each (yogurt and bagels).
Since I've already revealed how neck-deep I am in this couponing thing, I will also tell you that I've set up this system for myself where I rotate an area to focus on each week. This is more for the food storage side of my shopping than the coupons, but I give myself a rough amount of dough to use towards that specific area each week. I've divided up the month into these 4 areas: 1) paper goods/bath (basically anything that's not food), 2) sauces & dressings, 3) baking items, and 4) canned & boxed goods. This week was actually my sauces & dressings week, so I had planned to be purchasing some applesauce, molasses, a few other things that aren't generally on sale and that I don't often see coupons for. BUT, I noticed a deal on canned vegetables at the grocery store and decided to switcheroo, so I made this week my canned goods week. So all those cans up there were $0.50/each. The cheapest I've found around here is $0.63 per can (and we don't have those nifty case sales some areas of the country do), so I was pretty jazzed about it. Anyway, I really love my little rotating system. It helps me make sure our storage is rounded out and not 98% ketchup or something. It's also helpful to have a certain amount of money set aside specifically for storage items, so I can buy them a little at a time before we need them, saving myself from the freak out that comes when we run out of dried mustard (or even worse, chocolate chips!!!) and I have to go pay full price and add it to my groceries that week. So nerdy. So wonderful. I love it! :)
The best part is that having a loaded pantry has totally changed how I shop. Instead of menu planning and then going out to buy whatever I need for those menus, I menu plan using what's in the cupboards and end up needing very few items from the store. Leaving more money for getting DEALS! I know a lot of you are thinking, "DUH, Lisa! Where've you been the last x number of years?!" But this is life changing for me, ok people? This week, I menu-planned and found that all I needed for our meals this week were:
1 red pepper
3 limes
6 potatoes
Sa-WEET!!!!! I will also need to buy milk, eggs and a bit more produce, but that is all!
Oh, I could ramble on and on, but I really must go put those bagels in the freezer, find space for my canned corn, and add those chips to the pantry (so we can use them when I make Chicken Tortilla soup in a couple weeks -- which is DIVINE, by the way. if you want the recipe, let me know...)... Happy Shopping everyone!!
7 comments:
Lisa,
I LOVE cooking Thai food. I even took a class last summer to learn a few dishes. I agree with you on the fish sauce - I haven't been able to bring myself to even smell mine - I just always hold my breath when I'm putting it in things, but Thai food is SO good. E-mail me and I'll send you a link to some of my favorites :) btw - I wish I was organized/coordinated enough for the couponing thing... I'm impressed!
I've seen a few of these the other day on other people's blog and am so jealous. Every item I go grocery shopping I can only think that I am paying way too much!!! Maybe some day I can find the determination to do this too!
Oh Lisa, you don't need to ramble to me. I totally know exactly what you're thinking and feeling. Isn't it the awesome-est thing ever? I've never had the food storage we do now and we've never eaten as well as we do now - all thanks to couponing. So believe me, I totally understand whenever you need to highlight a "coupon victory" if you will.
How many Sunday papers are you buying a week?
I am getting so inspired by seeing your coupon success!! Do you have any recommendations for getting started other than store coupons and Sunday papers?
Hope you and Bryce and the kiddos are doing well -- such a beautiful family :)
Cute video! Glad to see all your hard work is paying off...you better not post too much of your secrets or you'll become one of those blogs with 1,000s of followers!
I have more questions, but will email you later ;) Happy 4th! and wish we were there to share you M&Ms...
You made me smile and I thought of you in my shopping ventures this week I saved $17.50 this week on groceries using coupons (a few double coupons)!
ooo! i need to learn this trick! lisa, we will have many discussions about this in the future! and let me know how your thai cooking goes. i love thai food, and tried a few things last year but they were most definitely not legit thai. good luck!
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