Shopping Trip, Friday 9/18

I generally shop once a week. Lately it's been on Friday morning. When I start working this could change. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of my goods. I'll work on that!

I hit up 2 stores normally and lately that's been Aldi's and Kroger. I buy as much as I can that's on my list that I can't get a better price on from Kroger due to loss leaders. There is no tax on food in Indiana; this is not the case in Virginia, my home state. There is tax on household and pet items, both of which I needed this week. I also needed a lot of basics this week, so I spent about $100. Next week I'm only buying milk, bread, produce -- the bare minimum basics, so my bill will be lower. We got some fun items this week, too.

My normal purchases from Aldi, and which I got this week, include:

• egg substitute ($1.99)
  
• boneless skinless chicken breasts ($5.99 for 3 lbs. -- not bad for when no one else is having a sale)
• boneless skinless salmon ($3.99 for 4 fillets at 4oz. each; purchased weekly as my husband needs his fish oils for heart health)
• romaine hearts ($1.99)
• pecans ($2.49 for 6 oz. -- just getting what I need as I need it until the big holiday sales)
• eggs (89 cents)
• honey ($3.79)
• syrup ($1.39)
• tortilla chips (99 cents for 13 oz. -- my default was Kroger to get 10 oz for $1)
• grape tomatoes ($1.49)
• almonds ($3.49 -- also for my husband; these are so much better than him snacking on something with a lot of HFCS or sat. fat)
• kitkat bar (59 cents -- a moment of weakness as I was running behind schedule and starving; I should really remember to put a new box of granola bars in the car)
• feta cheese ($1.99)
• milk ($1.49 -- 1 gallon skim)
  

I also grabbed some household items that we needed:

• scoopable cat litter ($3.69 -- the best price I've seen outside of sales matched with Qs)
  
• gallon bags ($1.99 for 30)
• CFL bulbs ($4.99 for 3 -- best price I've gotten so far & they're brand name)

Shopping at Kroger is a bit more difficult; there's a lot more product, but they have awesome loss leaders, they take coupons and at my store they double Qs up to 50 cents. Pairing paper Qs with electronic Qs can give you some serious deals. This week they also had the whole "buy 10 of these items and get $5 off instantly at the register" so there was that to contend with as well. I buy a lot of meats from Kroger, the balance of my produce, whole wheat flour, and some treat items. I won't give a list of every item, but here are some of the better deals. Prices indicated are after store card discount, promotions, and coupons (electronic and paper).

• palmolive pure & clear dishsoap (free after rebate; actually it will be an overage since I only paid $1.24 and the rebate is for $1.99)
• 2 cans pringles (83 cents each)
• active lifestyles milk (99 cents for 1/2 gallon; this is the milk my husband drinks. It has plant sterols in it which are good for your heart and help lower cholesterol.)
• 1 box of ritz crackerfuls (free)
• 2 suave body wash (50 cents each)
• 2 digiorno pizzas ($2.97 each)
• 5lbs ground beef ($7.50 -- or $1.50/lb. 3 lbs will be cooked up and frozen in 1 lb. increments for the next time we want nachos or tortillas; the other 2 lbs will be frozen, also in 1 lb increments, raw for meatloaf or similar)

One thing to note is that a lot of the stuff lasts for a while. Yes, some things have to be purchased weekly (milk and produce come to mind), but many last us a few meals. The ground beef, chicken breasts, pizza, pringles, honey, pecans, eggs, and syrup will last a minimum of 2 weeks and many much longer than that.

On Monday I'll post my menu plan!