Stuff I never buy-Grocery/Food Edition

People often ask me how I keep my grocery bills so low, and I think I can attribute it to the things that I do not buy, that most people regularly purchase. I should say "seldom buy" because I do very occasionally buy some of these things, but they are definitely not regulars on my grocery list. I'm not saying we never EAT these things...we do occasionally have treats in the house, I just generally find the grocery store variety to be too overpriced to warrant purchasing it. I also think there are many less-expensive alternatives to these things.

So without further ado, here is my things I never buy list:

Frozen waffles
Pop-Tarts, toaster strudels
Other frozen breakfast foods
Sugary cereals (maybe one box a month, mixed with less expensive, plain cereal)
Individual packets of oatmeal

Canned soups
Pre-packaged salad greens
Bakery breads
Pre-cut fruits/veggies like baby carrots or sliced apples

Sodas and cokes
Juice (1-2 cans of frozen concentrate per month)
Capri-suns or juice boxes
Bottled water

Cookies
Candy
Chips
Fruit snacks
Individually packed puddings, jello, chips, crackers, etc.
Granola bars

Frozen pizza
Frozen dinners
Frozen lasagna
Corndogs
Pizza rolls/frozen snacks
Chicken nuggets
Fish sticks
Frozen garlic toast

Boxed dinners
Rotisserie chicken/pre-prepared meats
Cream soups
Mac and cheese boxes (except the super cheap 4/$1 boxes, you can't beat the price on those)
Canned broths
Rice mixes
Spaghetti sauce (ragu, prego, etc)

Pre-seasoned meats
Expensive cuts of meat that aren't on super-great sale

Baking mixes
Pancake/waffle mix

cookie dough/ready to bake cookies
Ready to bake biscuits/cinnamon rolls

Salad dressings (only ranch and italian--make any others)

Bacon bits
croutons

Gravy packets
Spice packets (italian seasoning, taco seasoning)

Sliced cheese
Deli lunchmeat
Specialty cheeses
Individual yogurts
Go-gurt or drinkable yogurts for kids

Paper napkins
Paper towels (one roll a month and have learned to do without if we don't have)
Paper plates
Ziploc bags (seldom have to buy--wash and re-use until they fall apart)

Organic foods (just not in the frugal budget at this point)

Name Brands of anything

Cinching the belt a little tighter

Our main financial goal that we're working towards at the moment is saving for my graduate school for the Spring. I will not be going if I don't get an assistantship, because we really cannot spend more on education right now. But, if I do get an assistantship, paying for school will be in the form of a monthly paycheck, so I will need to have money to pay for my classes at the start of the semester. In order for this to be possible, I will also need to somehow earn or save an extra $1200 between now and January. So the next few months will be very, very lean. Michael is on-board with this and we're working together to make this possible.

I've dropped our grocery/toiletry budget to $300 for the month of August. I may try to go lower in September. We have $0 budgeted for eating out or entertainment. Michael and I will still each get our $40 for spending money.

Yesterday was grocery shopping/errand day. I found some really good deals in the Albertson's and Tom Thumb circulars this time, so my two-week grocery trip involved trips to Tom Thumb, Albertson's, The 99 Cents Store, Fiesta, Save a lot, Kroger, and The Mrs. Baird's outlet. The only one of those that is not all on the same two mile stretch of road is Albertson's. I have to go about a mile out of the way to get there. I did plan a good menu, and was able to stock up on some excellent meat deals that will last us much of the month. I spent $142 yesterday for two weeks worth of groceries, and also had to buy deoderant, soap, toothpaste, and dog food. I really used my grocery price book this time to make sure I found the absolute best prices on everything we needed. I bought three pot roasts, a family pack of chicken breast, and five lbs. of 93/7 lean ground beef. I have $8 left if I need some extra produce or a gallon of milk.

The Y where I work out at goes to the food pantry and brings back stuff to give to its members (it is a very low income area), so I got a few things that were helpful in meal planning. I got two turkey roasts, an angel food cake, bagels, and kaiser rolls, so I worked those things into my meal plan.

Here is my plan for the next two weeks:
English muffin pizzas, broccoli
Hamburgers on the grill, oven fries
Chicken with asparagus and roasted red peppers, mashed potatoes
Roast beef sandwiches on kaiser rolls, salad
Taco salad, corn on the cob
Turkey roast, cranberries, steamed broccoli
Pizza Rice Casserole, salad
Baked chicken nuggets, baked potatoes, greens
Chicken & Corn Chili, cornbread (double recipe)
Creamed chicken (or turkey if I have leftover) with cornbread dressing, salad
Grilled jamaican jerk chicken, rice, grilled corn
Beef tacos, lettuce & tomato
Pintos & cheese, cornbread
Steak, baked potato, peas
Breakfast for dinner/pantry meal

Bread Store Score!

Our Mrs. Baird's outlet is always a good deal, but today I got an exceptional deal! I always go through those annoying junk mail circulars that come every Wednesday just to see if I can find any really good deals or coupons. Last week, there was a coupon for the Mrs. Baird's outlet. They had a buy 1 get one free deal on bread and you could use the coupon twice. I got four loaves of bread for $2.28. That's 0.57 per loaf for you math people :)

I'll be going back tomorrow, because they had another coupon (you could only use one a day), for buy 1 get one free on muffins, so I'll be able to get my english muffins for super cheap. I'm lucky it's super close to my house.

Good finds on food at the Dollar Store

I've had really good luck finding staples at the 99 Cents Only store. My sister turned me on to the fact that they sell food, including produce. They always have different things, so I can't really plan for what I'll buy there. I usually go there first to see what staples I can get for a cheaper price than the grocery store
This week I got:
Romaine Lettuce
Butterball Turkey Lunchmeat
5 lb. bag of potatoes
A dozen eggs (I bought 2)
A big package of green onions

Everything was $1, except for the green onions, which were $0.25.

I had an awesome find of half-pints of blueberries the last time I went. They don't have any limit on how many you can buy. Nothing is out of date--I think they just get overstock, because you never know what you'll find the day you go in.

Yesterday's grocery shopping trip

I decreased my grocery budget from $180 to $175 for the next two weeks. I finished my shopping with $25 leftover for any random produce or dairy that I might need between now and the end of the month.

Here are my dinner meals for the next 2 1/2 weeks, with some of my random notes showing how I build my meals around what is on sale, and build my meals on top of each other:
1. Beef tips (stewing beef on sale $2.59/lb. at Fiesta) over brown rice (make extra rice for chicken fried rice), collard greens (always dirt cheap--0.79 ea).
2. Chicken fried rice (I have cooked chicken from last week in the freezer, and will use rice from yesterday, since the rice needs to be cold anyway), asian slaw (cabbage is the main ingredient, and it is 0.34 a lb--use only 1/3 of the head to save for later).
3. Polish cabbage & sausage dinner (sausage on sale at Kroger for $1, use another 1/3 of the cabbage) over mashed potatoes, corn (the frozen variety)
4. Meatless spaghetti & marinara, steamed broccoli (broccoli crowns on sale at Kroger for $1)
5. Asian lettuce wraps (Boston lettuce on sale at Kroger for $1, I already have some ground beef in the freezer, and I will use half a can of water chestnuts, saving the other half for later)
6. Manicoti a la Romana, garlic toast (bought at Save A Lot for $1.79), steamed broccoli (we are having dinner guests that night, so this is one of my fancy meals).
7. Potsticker skillet (I have no idea what to call this, it is a recipe that came about after a failed attempt at making potstickers--I'll use the last of the cabbage and water chestnuts, and sub in beef instead of pork, because I have ground beef on hand already)
8. Barbeque pork chops (pork chops on sale at Fiesta for $1.19/lb), baked potatoes, greens
9. Chicken noodle soup (I have chicken legs that I bought on sale at Fiesta on my last trip, I will save half the meat for a later meal, and 1 c. broth for a later meal).
10. Chicken enchilada casserole (using leftover chicken, and broth for the sauce that goes in the recipe), refried beans
11. Homemade bean and cheese burritos (well, halfway homemade--I'm going to use canned beans, but I'll make the tortillas myself), lettuce and tomato
12. Salmon skillet (salmon, new potatoes, peas, seasoned and cooked together in the same pot)
13. Six Layer dish (a simple meal from my More-with-Less Cookbook--haven't tried it yet, basically meat, potatoes, tomatoes, layered in a dish).
14. Baked potatoes and salad
15. Chili and homemade cornbread
16. Pancakes and sausage (using up the last of the milk before it goes bad, sausage on sale for $1 at Kroger)
17. Pantry/Freezer Meal

Bread Outlet Store

One of my latest finds is the Mrs. Baird's Bread Outlet Store. They sell day-old loaves for 0.89 per loaf. That includes whole wheat, double fiber, and those kinds of varieties. I also buy my hamburger/hotdog buns, and hoagie rolls from them. It's only about 1.5 miles from my house, but I try to buy enough to last through two weeks, so I don't make trips very often. I normally spend a least $1.99 for a loaf of whole wheat bread at the grocery store (on sale!), so this is a really unbeatable price. They also give me a loyalty card, where after I fill out the card and spend a certain amount, I get two free items.

A hacksaw and super glue

I got REALLY mad at Michael the other day. We had gone out and bought 21 lbs. of ground beef in bulk packs, meant to be separated and frozen. He put it in the fridge when he got home, and I guess he thought that I was going to separate it and freeze it. It sat in the fridge for two days, and at the end of the second day he noticed they were turning a little brown, so he stuck two huge 7-lb. packages of beef in the freezer WITHOUT separating them. I woke up the next morning and my first thought was that I needed to separate that meat, and that's when I found the giant hunks of ground beef in my freezer. Needless to say, I was pretty pissed. What the heck are we going to do with a 7 lb. hunk of ground beef?! I actually woke him up and reamed him out, because this is not the first time he did that. The last time, I told him he would need to defrost and cook the five lb. hunk of meat, and freeze the cooked meat individually. I thought by making him deal with it, that he wouldn't do it again, but apparently I was wrong.

So, in my anger, as he is telling me that he didn't KNOW he wasn't supposed to freeze the giant hunks of ground beef, I slammed down my coffee press. It cracked. Great, now I have to buy a new coffee press.

So I came home from work, and found out that my wonderful spouse had come up with a creative solution to appease the angry, frugal woman. He had actually taken his hacksaw and sawed apart one-lb. sections of meat. He was quite proud of himself, actually. I kind of wish I could have watched that process.

I dealt with my coffee press leaking for several days, thinking I would have to buy another press. But with some creative super gluing, it's now leak-free.

Crises averted :)

Stock up on ground beef!

Tom Thumb has awesome prices on ground beef right now! They have 80% lean for 0.99/lb, 85% for 1.99, and 90% ground sirloin for $2.99!

Definitely a stock up price! And if they don't have it when you go in, go to CS and get a rain check!

Shopping with Shirelle!

I should offer my disclaimer before I delve into my trip. There are a lot of ways to save money at the grocery store. I have my method, and it probably isn't even the most frugal. I do know people that successfully coupon and save a lot more than me. I haven't had much luck with couponing, so this is the current frugal method that I use to save money :)

Sunday was grocery shopping day. It's usually a half-day affair, as I only go once every two weeks.

Our shopping trip actually starts on Saturday night. I sit down with the ads from all my local stores, my grocery list, and my meal plan list. First I scrounge around my pantry/freezer and see what needs to get eaten. We still have a bunch of corn tortillas, and we have an insane amount of cheese that I got free from work. I have 1/2 lb. of leftover italian sausage, a couple lbs. of beef stewing meat, and several lbs. of chicken breast.

Pork chops are on sale at Sack and Save, and they also have chicken drumsticks/thighs for 88 cents/lb. I pick apart the ads and figure out where the best prices are on produce this week--Sack and Save has strawberries for $1.88, and yellow onions 3lbs./$1. They almost always have good deals on produce that aren't marked in their ad, so I'll pick some up when I'm there. Kroger has watermelons on sale for $3.88, and I know that will last us a while.

Here is the dinner meal plan for the next two weeks:

Homemade pizza with italian sausage, salad
Fried Chicken (the husband requested this), mashed potatoes, and a veggie
Homemade mac and cheese and broccoli
Fish tacos with rice and refried beans
Breakfast for dinner (pancakes, eggs, grits)
Homemade "hamburger helper" and some kind of veggie
Bean burritos (homemade), lettuce and tomato
Pork chops, sweet potato pancakes, corn
Beef and Cheese Enchiladas and beans
Oven chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, swiss chard
Tuna Casserole, some kind of veggie
Meat and potato quiche (this is a new recipe) and sauteed zuchinni
Beef curry and fried plaintains
Pantry/freezer meal

My first stop is Sack and Save. If I get there early in the morning, they usually have meat and milk marked down. I get what is on my list in the produce department, and notice that they have watermelon for $2.50, which is cheaper than Kroger, so I pick it up there. They have peaches for 68 cents/lb. and I pick some up for Michael.

I head over to dairy and immediately see the all the red mark-down tags. I pick up six gallons of milk at $1.99 each, and the dairy guy offers to mark some more down for me, but I tell him I can't fit anymore in my tiny freezer!

On the way to the meat department I notice they have hamburger buns marked to 50 cents for an 8-pack, and I pick some up, mentally deciding that I will make tuna melts with them one night. I head to the meat department and pick up the pork chops and chicken on my list, and I also notice that they have ground pork marked down to $1, so I pick two of them up. I buy the bacon that was in their ad for $1.99, and pick up TP at 78 cents for a 4-pack. I also pick up a couple of boxes of sugary cereal for my husband--they were 3/$5 in the ad. At the checkout counter, the girl looks shocked at my milk purchase, and says, "You know these are all like two days from their date right?!" I spend $50 at Sack and Save.

I'm done there, and I head over to Save a lot. I first go to the counter and buy $40 worth of gift cards. They have deal going on right now, where you save 10% off of gift cards. I buy a lot of my staples here--they have red tape bananas for 25 cents a lb. and I buy a lot of those to make banana bread for breakfasts. They don't have any good deals on meat or dairy, so I pass those up. This is my default store for canned goods, cereal, baking goods...they have great prices on staples if I can't find them on sale elsewhere. I only spend $20 at Save a lot, so I still have my other gift card for the next shopping trip, and I head over to Kroger.

I usually spend the most at Kroger. I first go grab a juice from the produce aisle which is (oops!) not on the list, and not particularly frugal. I don't have the kids with me, so I'm savoring the fact that I don't have to share my juice with a greedy two year old.

In the meat aisle, I grab some marked down ground beef, and in the dairy aisle I score another 16 ounce container of sour cream for 50 cents. They've had these way marked down the last few times that I've been in. I bypass the milk because I am stocked up! I pick up beer for the husband at (gasp!) 5.99 for a 6-pack. He'll have to settle for Modelo in the can, because I refuse to spend more than that. I pick up one brick of cheese that was on sale in the ad for $1.50. Next I pick up bread, which for whole wheat is $2.50! I consider baking my own bread again. I buy 2-2 liters of Dr. Pepper, that was in the ad for $1/each. I pick up a few staples....yogurt for the boys, frozen peas, brown rice, noodles, peanut butter(have a coupon!), toothpaste and floss, applesauce and my expensive coffee which is $5.99/lb. I'm realizing that we could save a lot more money if we drank more water!

I get everything home and make my husband and kids unload it all!

I took $190 with me, and came home with $35. So I spent $155, but I still have a $20 gift card, so I actually spent $135 on two weeks worth of groceries.

$67.50 a week is not bad!

Finding deals on staples

I tend to shop at various stores, because I've noticed that certain stores always have things marked down, or always seem to have good deals on certain things (dairy, meat, produce). I've found this to be true in the last three cities that we've lived in. In Fort Worth, Sack and Save almost always has great deals on produce. I always check Kroger's ad vs. Sack and Save's ad. Save a lot is my staple store. If I can't find it on sale at Kroger or Sack and Save, I get it at Save a lot.

I found half gallons of milk at Save a lot for 50 cents. They were on their expiration date. I bought all nine that they had and froze them. We didn't buy milk for several months. Gallons of milk are on sale at Kroger right now for $3 a gallon. Savings: $18
















I found butter at Sack and Save for 98 cents. I froze a bunch of them. Nothing wrong with them. Just a loss leader. I bought a lot....maybe 10? I usually spend $2 on butter at Sack and Save. Savings: $10