A week for stocking up
Seems I haven’t posted up a shopping trip in some time! We haven’t been the greatest at taking pictures so we’ll try to remember ;)
Seems I had some room in the budget to stock up on things we needed :) I’ve had lemon juice on my list for well over a month, and was starting to run out of flour!
This reflects our needs very well :) Was happy to find that great juice at a discount.
Prices without sales:
Juice: 2x3.50$=7$
Raisins: 4.50$
Lemon juice: 2.50$
Flour: 5$
Coffee whitener: 3.29$
Kettle chips: 3.49$ (we had a free product coupon)
Blackberries: 3$ each=9$
Lime juice: 2$
Cantaloupe: 3$
Green onions: 1.50$
Lettuce: 1.50$
Pineapple: 5$
Chicken bacon: 3.29$
Cheese: 6$
Milk: 3$
Ciabatta: 2$
Total=62.07$
A savings of…about 27%! Not huge but still going strong :)
November’s Good Food Box, and how to eat all of your vegetables
Back in August, I decided to no longer buy the good food box. I had regular access to ‘clearance’ vegetables, and preferred deciding for myself what I needed (I had more potatoes than I could handle at the time). My secret store has since closed, and I’ve been finding it more difficult to get produce. I thought I’d give it a chance again, and see what I thought. This time though, we decided to get the 15$ box, rather than the 10$ one.
It was a good ‘harvest’, though I’m still in limbo as to whether the value is worthwhile. It’s a bit more trouble than going to the grocery, but then again, maybe it is simpler since I go pick up my produce at one place. However, I felt that the variety was lacking and again overlapped with my purchases. I have a 10lb bag of onions at home, already had carrots, bananas, lettuce and apples.
However, I do think it is a good value. Keep in mind that almost none of this produce is local, it is simply bought in bulk and the savings are passed on to the community through this not-for-profit. It is a great idea especially for areas without good grocery stores nearby.
So, with this abundance of vegetables, we needed some good ways to eat them! (Not that we have trouble with veggies of course. We love them).
Some months ago I kept some catering trays from work. Rather than put them in the recycling, I thought that there must be a way to use them. Well, I lacked creativity and just repeated a veggie dip tray! I thought I could make this at the start of the week and we’d have easy access to washed, cut veggies and dip. However, we ate them all in one night.
Then, we made veggies our favourite way: roasted in the over with a bit of oil, salt and pepper. You just don’t understand what happens to cauliflower and to broccoli. You need this.
How do you eat your veggies?
Some free products and canned sales
Seems as though this is a good time of year to stock up on canned goods. Week after week, I see some great prices on pantry staples like canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, and soups.
I was lucky enough to get a coupon for a free loaf of bread, as well as some free laundry detergent. We’ll never have to buy some, especially after the 2 free Purex ones we got many months ago.
A big 3,51$.
Oops, a title would help!
We’d gone WAY over budget on groceries the previous week (which I will certainly explain at the end of the month). As you may know, we have a budget of 50$ a week, and we were at like, 85$. So tough times ahead. But not actually, since we’re allowed to go over budget so that we can eat food and not starve, of course.
So I picked up some yummies for about 15$ at No Frills. These were the foundation of many meals!
Running out of onions in the fall? Unheard of.
This was a stop at the Fruit & Veggie market nearby. (Part of a week when we went way over budget on our groceries!)
Most of these prices were regular, so no sense in calculating the savings :)
Another 10 pound bag of onions, to make some french onion soup and other adventures!
Sales galore on a good shopping trip
*Not pictured - 4 pack of gum for 1.50$!
Look at us, using coupons, hitting sales and find sweet clearance deals. Wait, that’s the usual I guess!
We should have bought 20 of those Crystal Light packets. 1$ each?! That’s insane. We stopped at 3 but I’m pretty sure we’ve finished those (my main is diabetic therefore any opportunity for sugar-free liquids is stellar). That squash was for one of the most delicious soups I’ve ever made or eaten.
Sale priced cereal at 2.50$, yes ma’am. Crispers because we deserve it? Yessss.
Super cheap eggs, yes indeed.
Teav was in ‘dire’ need of coffee so we bought at full-price, and it’s just not worth buying an 8$ can when you can get the big boy for 12$. It’ll last 6 months, at least (in the freezer of course).
Prices without sales:
Crystal light: 3.50$ each - 10.50$
Gum: 3$
Corn: 75 cents
Coffee: 12$
Crispers: 3$
Shredies: 4$
Rutabaga: 50 cents
Squash: 2.50$
Eggs: 3$ each - 9$
Total: 45.25$
A savings of…. 33%!
