A while back, I did this post on my one of my favorite places, Price-Rite. If you're interested, feel free to check it out - I'll try not to repeat everything I wrote before!
I needed groceries today, so I went to Giant and Price-Rite and here is what I bought
Price-Rite Total Spent = $74.88
Cadbury Royal Dark candy bar - $1.29
Hunt's spaghetti sauce - 2 for $1.92
Price Rite party peanuts - 2 for $3.38
Haribo gummy candies - 3 bags for $2.77
Milky Way bag - $2.49
1 lb rigatoni - $.99
Nature Valley granola bars - 2 boxes for $5.00
brown rice - $1.29
Mott's 100% juice boxes - $2.49
5 lbs sugar - $2.59
dried figs - $2.99
dried apricots - $2.99
2 heads of green leaf lettuce - $2.37
1 head of cabbage - $.63
2 large sweet potatoes - $1.73
sugar peas - $1.33
pkg of white mushrooms - $1.89
2 cucumbers - $1.00
2 heads of broccoli - $1.81
3 sweet onions - $1.71
3 lemons - $1.49
1 pomegranate - $1.59
5 lbs of grapefruits - $4.39
3 Valencia oranges - $1.19
2 lbs of grapes - $2.13
2 1/2 lbs of bananas - $.99
quart of buttermilk - $1.29
pint of heavy cream - $1.29
1 lb salted butter - $2.69
4 Breyers yogurts - $1.33
cream cheese - $1.09
Oscar Meyer roasted turkey lunchmeat - $2.49
2 pkgs sliced provolone - $3.38
2 lbs cheddar cheese - $2.98
baby wipes - $1.29
Giant total = $46.29
Progresso hearty tomato soup - $1.99
Natural Jif - $2.29
Whole chicken, cut up - $5.75
Spare Ribs - $6.41 (enough for two meals)
London Broil - $5.71
Salmon - $12.68
Sandwich pickles - $1.83
Egglands Best eggs - $2.89
1 quart whole milk $1.07
2 boxes Kashi crackers - $5.98
Typically I buy my meats and eggs at a local butcher shop at our Farmer's Market, but they aren't open on Wednesdays, so I just bought my meat and eggs at Giant. Obviously I also have other food in my pantry, but this should last us about a week. I still need to buy milk at my local dairy farm and I'd like to get some pears at our fruit stand. A good bit of what I buy is for the kids lunches (I bribe them with a small piece of candy if they let me pack their lunch instead of buying) and for snacks, with the remainder for meals.
I bought all of this with no coupons. I hate coupons. Hate them. There was another lady in line at Giant with me and the young mother - she had coupons. Her total order was very inexpensive but her cart was filled with Doritos, soda, flavored frozen chicken tenders, and all kinds of processed foods. I'm not saying that we eat perfectly, but I won't feed my family in that way. One of my pet peeves (I was going to do a tick-off Tuesday post on this, and still might) is that large manufacturers only provide coupons for processed, prepared foods. I would love to see coupons for natural foods. I would also love to see those sample tables offer fresh fruits and vegetables that most people have never tried. Wouldn't that be a good idea? I almost always walk right by those sample tables because what they are offering, I would never eat.
I feel a little badly that I wasn't able to help the young mom any more than suggesting she shop at Price-Rite to help her food budget. Food is expensive, but with a little careful shopping, I feel pretty good about the amount I spend to feed my family quality food.
First of all, I am extremely impressed that you struck up a conversation in line at the grocery store AND you wish you had given her your phone number. What have you done with Kirsten? :) I'm sure that the lady is very thankful for the Price Rite tip.
ReplyDelete2nd comment: What are you going to do with only 2 sweet potatoes?
#3: I can't wait for the Tick-off Tuesday post on coupons!
I know, I don't know what got into me! :)
ReplyDeleteI bake them (they are pretty big)and then split them into 5 pieces, we slather butter on them and eat em!
Oh, I really do hate coupons, can't wait to tell everyone! that, and the dollar store - might be a combined post! :)
I have always dreamed of being able to use coupons . We dont have them here and food is expensive compared to your neck of the woods.
ReplyDeleteThat's an impressive haul of food for the cost!
I'm sorry Mrs P - if I could send Price-Rite to you, I would!
ReplyDeleteI wonder why everything is so much more expensive for you? is it the taxes? is your lamb at least inexpensive?
First, I think you were right where you needed to be for this family.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I want to say way to go wiht shopping on a budget.
Third, and final, is there something wrong with me that I'm more impressed you took the time to lay out your groceries like that more than your savings? ;p
Beck -
ReplyDeleteYou should have seen my table before I laid everything out! It was a total mess and I just moved it all to the counter :)Don't be too impressed!
I too have always envied that you have coupons over there, after this post, not so much. That would really tick me off that they were only for processed foods. I don't know why it is so expensive here, it just is. Maybe it is the size of the population, the relatively small part of the land that is able to be farmed. It is also probably that we really only have two major supermarket chains that have created a monopoly. I try to go to the local Farmers Markets as often as possible, also I try to buy organic where possible, however often the price is prohibitive. I love being able to use the freshest ingredients and making something from scratch.
ReplyDeleteLamb here varies from the cheaper cuts at $8 a kilo (2.2lbs) to $43 a kilo for expensive cuts. Beef is similar in price it ranges from $9 - $40 a kilo.
I will do a post on coupons, but first I'll get the circular of them from my mom's Sunday paper - for a fair and balanced look at them. Sometimes you can find a good coupon - most often, though, they are for stuff I'd never feed my family.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the info, Marg!