Over $500 for Only $55

I didn’t think this week was going to turn out very good, but I actually ended up purchased lots of things at some great prices! I went $5 over budget for the week, but since I was way under last week I think I’m okay. The only reason I went over was because I decided to purchase the Mega pack of play dough for my little boys. They love play dough and spend hours almost every day playing with it! They are good about cleaning it up when they’re done, but the hours of play mean it dries out pretty fast. We can never have too much play dough. I also purchased a lot of meat and produce this week… it actually looks like a relatively balanced shopping list (picture doesn’t look as balance, since we have already eaten a lot of it).

Anything that was purchased in quantity was special ordered (i.e. Gas-X, vitamins, Muir Glen tomatoes, etc) or purchased over multiple shopping trips. I’m thrilled to have so much ORGANIC diced tomatoes!

Total before sales and coupons: $511.57 (wow, I so do not have that kind of money, glad I have coupons!)

Total paid, including tax: $55.02

Here is what I purchased:

7 ½ lbs. ground beef (1 pack already used)

2 lbs. ground pork (1 pack already used)

1 (5 ½ lb.) whole chicken (used to make chicken soup earlier this week)

2 lbs. mozzarella cheese (already used to make pizza!)

2 Hebrew National hot dogs

2 (7 oz. each) Jones Dairy sausages (one pack eaten at breakfast this morning)

½ lb. mushrooms

3 lbs. carrots

5 lbs. grapefruit

3 ½ lbs. bananas (already eaten)

5 lbs. Idaho potatoes

2 Ocean Spray juice

2 Acai berry juice

4 (12 pack each) La Croix sparkling water

6 Teddy Grahams

4 Pepperidge Farm chips

4 Pepperidge Farm goldfish (“Do we really get to buy goldfish, Mommy?!!!!!!!!”)

4 Newtons, regular

2 Newtons, thins

2 Starkist tuna

1 Kraft macaroni and cheese

4 Swanson chicken broth

4 Publix brand chicken broth

3 Rotel diced tomatoes

2 Rotel sauce

24 Muir Glen organic diced tomatoes

6 (16 oz. each) olive oil

10 Fiber One cereal (donating at least 4 boxes)

4 Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal

3 (10 ct. each) Bic pens

4 UP2U Gum

14 Gas-X (didn’t just buy ‘cause it was a MM… family member uses this product often)

14 Sundown vitamins (will be donated)

3 Nature’s Bounty vitamins

1 (36 ct.) Mega Pack play dough (on rollback for $15, plus I had a $5 off coupon)

10 (3.5 lbs. each) Beyond One dog food (our big dog eats over a 1 lb. per day, so this won’t last long)

Puppy Food, Teddy Grahams and Toys!

My boys love the Transformers kits and are already playing with their two... which is why they aren't in the picture. So, gifts for my little ones and for adding to our "birthday stockpile". I purchase fun gifts when they are on sale and/or inexpensive, so I have them on hand when a birthday comes around. It means that I am not only prepared for birthdays, but I didn't cost much to get that way! It's great! Plus, since we were already at Toy-R-Us and I had some rewards to use there, the boys got to each pick out another fun toy (2 yr. old got a dinosaur shovel and 4 yr. old got a spaceship water sprinkler for this summer).

We didn't really need much for groceries and I am waiting on some items I special ordered last Monday (I sure hope they come in soon before my coupons expire.) In the mean time, I submitted for the $10 mail in rebate from purchasing the Kotex and Speedstick products. As I have explained in the past, I will NOT be subtracting the value of the rebate from my weekly total until I actually receive it. Hence, my totals this week are calculated as if the rebate does not exist. I will factor it in later when it arrives in my mailbox!

My total before sales and coupons: $339.32
Total paid, including tax: $26.25 (about half my weekly budget!)

2 (2.6 lbs. each) bottom round roasts
10 Acai berry organic juice (so yummy!)
2 Crunchmaster crackers
2 Pepperidge Farm baked chips (already eaten!)
10 tuna packs
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can artichokes
18 Teddy Graham To-Go packs (store had a HUGE box full!)
4 Sundown vitamins
2 One A Day kid's vitamins
11 UP2U gum
2 (45 ct. each) Hefty trash bags
1 Tide, trial size
4 Kotex pads
4 Kotex liners
8 Lady's Speedstick deodorant (No shelf clearing - there were at least 20 left on the shelf)
3 (3.5 lb each) Beyond One dog food
6 (3.5 lb each) Beneful puppy food (So happy to find puppy food at a good price. Max, our new puppy, has already gone through 1 bag - not pictured)
6 Kre-O Transformers construction kits (No shelf clearing - I bought 4 at Toys-R-Us and 2 at Target)
2 other toys (clearance at Toys-R-Us)

$52.25 for the Week - Lots of Bacon!

This week was fun to shop. I am very happy to have so much yummy bacon in the freezer. Bacon doesn’t seem to be an item that gets amazing “stock-up” prices on it, so (at $1.83 per 16 oz. pack) I bought enough to last us a little while. My boys LOVE bacon, so it won’t actually last very long at all. Since we were buying the bacon, I figured we would give the Batter Blaster pancake mix a try. It’s a little weird to think of using a whipped cream type can to make pancakes, but I think my 4 yr. old will have a great time making his own pancakes!

I didn’t need much for veggies this week, because I just picked tons of peas, lettuce and kohlrabi from my garden. Plus, we were given several pounds of locally grown oranges and I still have some organic carrots left (the ones I got FREE last week)! I did pick up a bunch of apples, though, since they were $1 per pound at Publix. We eat a lot of apples!

Total before sales and coupons: $383.01

Total paid, including tax: $52.25

6 Batter Blaster pancake mix

6 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts

8 (16 oz.) Smithfield bacon

2 Banquet chicken tenders

4 Tyson grilled chicken

1 lb. asparagus

6 lbs. gala apples

2 Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn

2 Fruitables juice

2 Hunt’s ketchup

4 (8 ct.) Quaker granola bars

1 quick grits

2 seasoning mixes

10 packs Happy Baby food (will be donated)

2 loaves Sara Lee bread

1 loaf Publix bakery bread

2 Triaminic children’s medicine

1 Lichi Probiotics

6 Gas-X

6 Sundown vitamins

2 Nature’s Bounty Cal/Mag/Zinc

1 Nature’s Bounty Acidophilus

4 Nivea lip balm

6 Pantene shampoo

2 Pantene conditioner

4 Dawn dish soap

1 Pampers size 5 diapers

1 Clean and Clear acne treatment

2 bags bows

4 rolls wrapping paper

1 roll ribbon

1 peel and stick gift labels

Note: I'm sorry the pictures have not been good quality recently. My camera stopped working and I am left with the camera on my husband cell phone... and it's just not the same as a real camera. Hope to get my "real" camera fixed soon.

Items were purchased at Publix, CVS and Walgreens.

Milk, Orange Juice, Flour and So Much More!

Two weeks worth of groceries in this picture! There is a LOT that didn’t make it into the picture. We have already eaten most of the veggies and some of the other items as well, but there was still enough left to take a good picture. I am thrilled to have so much orange juice, milk and butter in the freezer! We had to purchase food for our rabbit this week, so that came out of my weekly grocery budget, too. Still managed to keep my totals within $.55 of my $100 budget for the two weeks, though, so I’m pretty happy. Plus, the dinosaur shaped chicken tenders were on sale! I didn’t have any coupons for them, but my 4 yr. old saw them at the store a couple weeks ago and I promised I would purchase some when they went on sale. He was so thrilled to put them in the shopping cart. “Are they really on sale, Mommy?!... They’re not too expensive?!” He was so cute!

Total before sales and coupons: $451.09

Total paid, including tax: $100.55

Here is what I purchased (some of which did not make it into the photo):

2 (one 9 lb. and one 7 lb.) hams

4 Triscuits

2 Wheat Thin Sticks

3 (12 packs) soda

6 Kern’s juice

6 Capri Sun

6 Coke Zero

2 boxes hot chocolate

6 half gallons milk

14 Voskos yogurts

3 lbs. butter

15 lbs. flour

4 lbs. organic carrots

2 lbs. asparagus

1 ½ lbs. yellow squash

2 lbs. gala apples

2 ½ lbs. bananas

2 frozen veggies

18 ct. eggs

8 oz. cheddar cheese

1 tomato paste

3 Oral B toothbrushes

4 Alka Seltzer Plus

8 Sundown vitamins

4 Nature Made vitamins

7 Crest Whitestrips

1 (10 ct.) tortillas

1 loaf whole wheat bread

25 lbs. rabbit food

2 Santa hats

1 jump rope

2 Zhu Zhu pets

2 Snausages dog treats

4 Dingo bones

13 Vitamin waters

2 saltine crackers

4 Nestle cookie dough

12 packs Ramen noodles

6 orange juice

4 dinosaur shaped chicken tenders

2 cantaloupes

Note: These items were purchased at Publix, Walmart, Sweetbays and CVS. Sorry the quality of the picture isn't as good as usual.