We are back to the normal routine around the Spann household. J.T. started back to work last Friday and I have started back to working and studying. This means our weekly grocery trip will once again take place on Saturday morning. J.T. and I are different than most people when it comes to our sleeping schedule. Both of us are early to bed and early to rise. We normally go to Publix first thing in the morning, around 7:30 AM (sans make-up and shower for me and just shower for J.T. – hopefully you will never run into us that early). I have started working on a list of grocery shopping tips that I have learned over the past few months. These are a few rules that I stick to in order to help save money. Listed below are the first five:
- Always check your receipt before you leave the store. This week two of my items rang up incorrectly. Publix will give you one item for free of the product that rang up incorrect. I received a free organic bell pepper (priced at $1.99) and a free box of turkey sausages (priced at $2.50). Nothing stinks more than getting home from the store and realizing you overpaid for something.
- Buy dried beans. You will pay around $2 dollars for a 1 lb. bag of beans that yields about 5 cans of beans. You would pay $5 for 5 cans of beans. I cook mine in the slow cooker with water – no presoaking - bag them into 1 can portions, and freeze (1 can equals about 1 ¾ cups cooked beans). When I need a can of beans, I pull out a bag from the freezer and defrost - quick and easy.
- Only grocery shop once a week. I used to be someone who frequented the grocery store almost every day. As many of you know, I love to cook. I would constantly be out of something that I needed for a recipe, so I would run to the store. This became very annoying and I wasted more gas and money by making frequent trips. I would always pick up "something extra" in addition to the one item I needed. Always know what you are going to eat for the week and that you have ALL the ingredients that you need. This will save valuable time and money.
- Pay no more than $1.50 for a box of cereal. J.T. loves cereal and eats a bowl every morning for breakfast. We both often times eat it for a bedtime snack; therefore, we go through a lot. I buy cereal with coupons only. This week Chex cereal was "buy one get one free" at $3.69 for 2 boxes. I combined this offer with a "$1.00/2 manufacturer coupon and paid only a $1.35 a box. This is a huge savings over the $3.69 each box is normally priced. Also, when you can get a good price, stock-up!
- Buy organic bone-in, skin-on chicken. Publix has a store-brand line of Greenwise Organic chicken. Yes, this chicken can be pricy but they put it on sale frequently. J.T. and I both love dark meat chicken, so I often purchase bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. However, I take advantage of buying whole chickens when they are on sale. I cut up the chicken myself and de-bone and skin the white meat breasts. I pay $1.99/lb. for a whole chicken verse paying $4.99/lb. for boneless skinless chicken breasts. Cutting up chicken takes practice! The first time I attempted to cut up a whole chicken there was chicken skin and bones flying everywhere! I recommend using kitchen shears to break through the bones. It makes the process a lot easier.
The total amount spent at Publix this week was $49.10. Of this amount $43.88 was spent out of our grocery budget and $5.22 was spent from our toiletry budget.
- Dairy
- (1) Publix Greenwise Organic Milk @ $5.99
- Grocery
- (1) Publix Greenwise Organic Oats @ $1.99
- (2) General Mills Chex cereal (BOGO)@ $3.69
- $1/2 manufacturer coupon - $2.69 or $1.35 each
- 1 lb. Publix lentils @ $1.45
- (1) Green Giant (4-pack) canned vegetables (BOGO) @ $2.50
- (1) 16 oz. Pompeian Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (BOGO)@$3.33
- $1/1 manufacturer coupon - $2.33
- (2) Pepperidge Farm Jingos! Crackers (BOGO) @ $2.99
- (2) $1/1 manufacturer coupons - $0.99 or $0.50 each
- (1) Chips A'hoy cookies (BOGO) @ $1.70
- $1/1 Publix coupon - $0.70
- (4) V8 V-fusion energy juice (6-pack) @ $12.00
- (4)$1/1 manufacturer coupons & (4)$1.25/1 Publix coupons - $3.00 or $0.75 each
- Meat
- 1 lb. Medium white shrimp @ $6.99/lb. - $7.13
- Butterball Turkey sausage @ $2.50
- $0.55/1 manufacturer coupon - $1.95
- (2) Jones Turkey Sausage Links @ 2/$5.00
- (1) $2/2 manufacturer coupon & 1 for FREE because of incorrect pricing - $0.50 or $0.25 each
- Frozen
- (4) Green Giant Valley fresh steamers @ $5.18
- (4)$1/1 manufacturer coupons - $1.18 or $0.30 each
- Produce
- 2 ¼ lbs. Organic bananas @ $0.99/lb. - $2.22
- Organic girl greens @ $2.99
- $2/1 manufacturer coupon - $0.99
- (2) Mangoes @ $1 each - $2.00
- 1 organic bell pepper @ $1.99
- FREE due to incorrect pricing - $0.00
- 3 sweet onions @ $0.99/lb. - $1.87
- 1 garlic bulb - $0.39
- Other
- (2) Scotch-Brite (3-pack) sponges @ 2/$4.00
- $0.75/2 manufacturer coupon - $3.25 or $1.63 each
- (2) Gillette Senor 3 razors @ 20% off - $4.79
- (1) BOGO free coupon - $2.40 each
$5.00 off $25.00 purchase Save-A-Lot competitor coupon
Total before coupons $82.19
Less: coupons used (33.09)
Total with Tax $49.10
No carrots!
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