Joyfully Prudent

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April 16, 2013 by: JoyfullyPrudent

Groceries/Meal Plan April #3 PLUS an ORGANIZED FRIDGE & a FOOD STORAGE TIP

Yay for me again!  I didn’t have another mid-week run this week.  Although the hubster did get some ice cream during the week ($4.44).  We’re starting this week with $207 spent so far on groceries.  Since we budget $360/month, we have $153 left for two weeks.  And the last week is actually 9 days.  Since the new month (May) starts on a Wednesday, I won’t do another shopping trip till that day.  As usual, here is our meal plan and grocery spending.

MEAL PLAN:

My breakfast and lunch stay the same each week, so I won’t include those anymore.  Click the FINANCE tab and look under Meal Plans if you’re curious what I make for breakfast and lunch.

Dinner:
Sunday – Pulled Pork Sandwiches (this is from last Monday).  This made so much meat!
Monday – Taco Chili Soup in a Crockpot (we didn’t get to this last week)
Tuesday – Leftovers
Wednesday – Meatloaf with potatoes, veggie, and biscuits
Thursday – Crockpot Beans & Salad, with leftover biscuits
Friday – Dinner out or Leftovers
Saturday – Burgers and Beeritas…we’re having friends over
Sunday – Cornbread Chicken in a crockpot

GROCERIES:

This week I went to Tom Thumb, Kroger, Market Street, and Wal-Mart.  I live less than 3 minutes from all these stores.  It’s a perk when it comes to shopping.  I had to make an extra trip back to Wal-Mart because I didn’t find the milk I needed at Kroger, plus I forgot a few things, so that was a bummer.

Wal-Mart #1– $46.18
This first trip was fairly small.  I got some good deals at the other stores.  I need to return that spring rod because it ended up not working for what I intended.  

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Wal-Mart #2 – $16.06
I didn’t get a picture of this, but I bought cantaloupe (price matched $1.00 each), strawberries (price matched $1.25), 2 bottles of salad dressing (after I cleaned our fridge, I realized most of our dressing was expired, so I restocked), and organic milk since Kroger didn’t have one that expired in May.  Organic milk usually has a long expiration date, and I didn’t want to have to buy another one before May.
Tom Thumb – $22.15
I was a marketing major in college and I have to say this store does a brilliant job marketing their products.  They have their online coupons that you can upload directly on your phone and save when you go to their store.  I literally pull up the Safeway app on my phone, look through the products they have coupons for, and click “add to list” if I think I might buy it.  It’s automatically loaded to my Rewards card so when I swipe that at checkout, all my savings appear.  Plus, if I forget what I loaded or which product it is, I can pull it up on my phone under “My List.”  It’s eliminating clipping coupons.  They make it super easy and if it draws me in (a very money conscious shopper), I’m sure it works for other consumers.  Tom Thumb tends to be one of the higher priced stores, so I only shop here for sales. 
I will say I failed on the watermelon buy.  It was $5 at TT, but only $3.88 at Wal-Mart.  That’s why I like shopping Wal-Mart first, but didn’t this week.  93% ground beef was BOGO, which ended up being $2.77/lb.  That’s super good for that meat.  I bought 4 pounds.  Pirates Booty was on sale for $1.49, normally $3.29.  I’m obsessed with this stuff!  Brownies were $.99.  Cheese was $2.09.  It’s cheaper at Wal-Mart and Kroger by a few cents, but wanted to try this kind.
 
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Food Storage Tip: These were 2 lb. packages of meat.  Divide meat into 1 pound each (I simply cut it in half).  Flatten out in plastic baggie for the freezer.  This helps when you need to thaw it quickly.  Plus, it’s in 1 lb. portions.

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Market Street – $3.49
And the winner is….Market Street, for best deal of the week.  Clementine’s on sale as a BOGO – 2lb. bag for 3.99, making it $2 each, but we had a $.50 off coupon, making it only 1.75 each.  That’s a GREAT deal!  Beckham can destroy some clementine’s so these go fast in our house.  They’re so easy to throw in his diaper bag if we head somewhere.
 
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Kroger – $7.49
Ryan likes their chocolate milk, so I HAD to go here.  They had oranges on sale for 2/$1.00 (normally 4/5.00…who would pay that????!!!), so I grabbed a few of those for Ryan to keep at work.  I also got eggs.  They have reasonably priced organic, cage free eggs.  We don’t buy all organic (if it were for Ryan, we would buy NOTHING organic), but we do buy organic milk and eggs. 

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In total this week, we spent $95.37!  That’s alright, but I’m cutting it close for next week (9 days of groceries).  We have about $57 left for the month.  Luckily we have a lot of ground turkey, ground beef, and chicken breasts sitting in the freezer.  Feel free to share a cheap recipe with those items.  I can do it, I can do it! 

HOW DO I KEEP TRACK OF EVERYTHING AND SET OUT ON MY GROCERY RUNS?
1. Collect grocery ads and circle items on sale that I want.  Also add items on the Safeway App for Tom Thumb, if any.

2. Make my meal plan for the week, check calendar to make we know what’s going on that week (i.e. soccer game nights need a lighter, easier meal; nights Ryan is gone need to be quick or crockpot meals).

3. Make grocery list on my planner.  This is what I use.  This helps tremendously and keeps me SUPER organized in the store.
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4. Highlight items in different colors for each store, so when I shop I’m not confused with all the different items on my list.  I don’t highlight Wal-Mart items.  I also write the price or “deal” for that item next to it. 

5. Shop Wal-Mart, then the other stores.  Wal-Mart often has other store’s sale items for cheaper.  I hate to find that out after I’ve already bought it.  For example, I went to Tom Thumb first and on my way home, I ran into Market Street to grab the clementine’s.  I went home, dropped off the groceries, ate lunch with the fam, put B down for a nap, then headed to Wal-Mart.  Dropped off groceries, then headed to Kroger.  I could’ve swung by there on my way home, but can’t remember why I didn’t.   

I’ve been searching how to organize my LIFE on Pinterest and it motivated me to clean/organize my refrigerator.  I took out everything you could and washed it.  I wiped down everything inside, then put all the food back in the fridge nice and neat.  It took forever, but it’s so nice now!  Check it out!  I wish I had a before picture.

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Have a great week!

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