Grocery Savings 4/15/11

Well, I believe I did the best in my "savings' journey so far with a Trip to Meijer today. I saved a total of $110.85!!!! I spent $142 for a week and a half's worth of groceries. Now remember from my last post-we bought a 1/4 cow in September so that is why theres not much meat! Here is a breakdown of what I bought:

Tampons (no getting around this ladies!)

Gillette Deodarant (FREE!)

3 Gillette Bodywashes (FREE!)
Dial Soap
Croutons
Maple Syrup
4 1lb rolls  of ground turkey
Baby Wipes (FREE!)
Tomatoes
Grapes
Bananas

Oranges

Waffles

Lettuce

Salad Mix

Celery

Carrotts

Potatoes

Green Peppers (2)

Strawberry Jelly

Heleva Good Dip (2)

Cat Food

Cookie Dough

Dog Food

Huggies Diapers (HUGE chunk of my money $18.97-$3.00) + the FREE Wipes!

4 cans of Beefaroni

2 boxes of Toaster Strudels

3 boxes of PopTarts (.88 a piece!)

Daninino Yogurt (.89 a piece!)

Corn Flakes

2 loafs of White Bread

Orange Juice

Deli Meat Turkey

2 Bob Evans Mashed Potatoes ( I NEVER do this however Mike will be making dinners 3 nights out of the week...need I say more?!)

3lbs Ground Beef
2 Plastic Containers of the Apple & Cherry Strudels (B1G1F!)
2 bags of Doritoes (B1G1F!)
6 bags of Tostidos ranging in different flavors
3 bags of Tyson Frozen Chicken Breasts (HUGE savings at $4.99 a bag!)
2 boxes of Rice a Roni
2 boxes of Pasta Roni
4 boxes of Cheez Its (On Sale 2 for $5.00 I had a 2 $1.00 off coupons making them CHEAP!)
4 gallons of milk
3 packages of Ball Park Hotdogs
2 Tide Laundry Detergents
1 ALL Laundry Detergent
3 Del Monte FruitCups

Now, I think that is pretty decent for the amount of food I bought. Not too shabby if I do say so myself! What are your savings this week?!

Be on the lookout!

I spent majority of my morning gathering the ads, looking online and figuring while the kids are gone, this is going to be more of a "stock up" week. Mike & I bought a 1/4 of a cow back in September, so the main meats I purchase is chicken and ground turkey. What some don't know is you do NOT have to pay the $3.99+ for ground turkey. No Sir! If you head to the frozen food section, usually by frozen sausage is frozen ground turkey for $1.50 a pound! Sometimes you can get lucky and Meijer will use this on their $10 for $10 days but I haven't seen this in a while. I usually get away with once every week and a half having to go grocery shopping. Usually its to stock up on whats on sale, and to buy fresh produce, snacks etc. I don't think I'll spend more than $100 and on my list are the following:

Now, remember majority of these items are featured in Meijers "$10 for $10 get the 11th FREE" sale.

Aunt Jemima Frozen Breakfast-5 of these @ 1.00
Pizza Roll Boxes-11 of these...I will pay $8.00 for $11.00 boxes...not bad
Texas Toast- Not sure on the price but Ive got a .50 coupon
Old Orchard Frozen Juice-THIS is the bargain this week. I will be buying 22 of these. I found a B1G1F coupon,(if you have a scanner scan these its worth it!) $1.00 off four coupon AND they are on sale for $1.00 this week. For .50 a piece (maybe less) I think I can stock up! http://bricks.coupons.com/Start.asp?bt=wi&tqnm=yckocuh13596643&o=84088&c=OO&p=0LKkyBsj
Green Giant Vegetables Frozen- I will be buying 5 of these, all is said and done after coupons I will have only paid $1.50 for all 5
Meijer Ground Turkey- 4 (Im  hoping I do lucky enough to steal these for $1.00...we'll see!)
Aunt Millies Bread- On sale for $1.00 + a .55 coupon. STEAL! Wish I had more!
Special K Cereal On sale for $2.99 + a .70 coupon- $2.29
Lays Chips 2 for $5.00
Pretzels 3 @ 1.00 a piece
Pepsi 2 liter @ 1.00 + .55 off coupon
Barilla Pasta- 11 boxes @ 1.00 each however Meijer mealbox has coupons for $1.00 off 4 making these about .81 a box. 
Spaghetti O's- 5 @ 1.00 with coupons turns out to be $2.00 for all 5
Ragu-If I  buy 2 cans of Ragu, I get another box of Pasta free. While I do make my own sauce, sometimes this is nice when Mikes gone because the kids and I don't care as much as he does :)
Lysol TB Cleaner- have a coupon for .50 off
Cascade Power Gels-On Sale for 3.99 with $1.00 off 2 coupon ends up being $5.00
Swiffer Dust and Shine-I have a B1G1F coupon + $1.00 off. I don't see this being more than $2.00
V8 Splash 3 of these-On sale for $1.99 I have $2.00 off making it $3.97 total.

My grand total as of now would be $53.17 without tax. For everything above.  Look at the quantities! Now, I do have other things on my list (grapes, carrots, potatoes, celery, bananas,  milk etc) but since I'm unsure of the price that's why I said I expect not to spend more than $100.00 this week. I've also got coupons for Mikes deodorant B1G1F, body wash at B1G1F + $1.00 off but again, unsure of the pricing. Check back later to see if I stayed within my $100.00 and also for a picture of what I bought. How much do you think I'll end up spending?!!?

Starting out...

The key to finding that "perfect deal" is a lot of patience and organization. On Sunday I look through the ads, plan my meals according to whats on sale and what I have a coupon for (I try NOT to buy anything at whole price but sometimes you have to!) and spend some time on the computer gathering more coupons on certain websites. Majority of the food you like will have a facebook page. Click "Like" and 9 times out of 10 there will ALWAYS be a coupon! Same goes with their website. Write your list and take the time to check the websites. Yes, it may seem like a pain at first, but for every hour of your time when you head to the store and you can get a box of cereal for .50-1.00 or $4.00 deodorant for $1.25 you will thank me later!

Here are some of my favorite websites I search weekly:

Bargainbriana.com
frugallivingandhavingfun.com ("Like" this on FB-best site there is!"
savingsangel.com (you pay for this service but the deals are already there for you!)
couponmom.com
bargainstobounty.com


Up until a week ago, I would go put all my coupons in a folder,  pull out the coupons I needed  put them in an envelope and head to the store only to find a deal while walking through the store. I would then stand in the aisle going through a folder of coupons and making fellow shoppers angry. NOT anymore! After seeing a friends post about organizing her coupons using a binder and baseball card holders, I decided to head to Salvation Army to see if I could find some. BINGO! For .99 I bought a blue binder with about 100 clear baseball sleeves. SCORE! I would highly recommend you doing the same. This will be a LIFE saver!




After 2 hours of organizing and cutting-I think this will be much easier!



Little bit about myself

Hi, my name is Jillian. I live in a tiny town in Michigan and love it! I am a stay at home Mom to 3 beautiful children. While I am lucky enough to stay home, I find it is my job to save us as much money as I can. With the rising cost of grocery prices, I have now more than ever being more "frugal" with our spending. It is my hope this blog will not only help you, but show you that this is something everyone can do!