So, I did actually go shopping this week.
And I spent more than the $20 I shelled out last week. 😉
However, if there's a reward for being the most disorganized, random shopper, well, this week I'd win it.
First up, last Friday I had some coupons for a local grocery store, so I popped in there for a few things.
I had a coupon for a free muffin, $1 off bread (I bought a loaf that was $1.29), $2 off meat (the marked-down uncured sausage was $3.67, so $1.67 after the coupon), and $2 off produce.
And I bought the milk and eggs full price because I needed them!
I spent $15 on that stop, even with the coupons, which reminded me just how lovely Aldi's low prices are.
Speaking of Aldi, early in the week, we realized that we were completely out of butter, which is kind of an emergency.
(!)
So I went to Aldi to pick up butter, and some other things we were out of. I spent $68.16 for these groceries.
I'd planned to do a more official grocery shopping trip early in the week, but I kinda procrastinated on that, so I stopped into a local grocery store for necessities ($37.15) for the meals I was making.
And finally, I was near Costco on an errand, so I stopped to fill up my van with gas, and also popped into Costco for coffee for Mr. FG and for milk. I spent $24.42 there.
Oh, and it was produce box week, which costs me $33.
Altogether, my random trips ended up totaling $177.73.
Monday
I had a different dinner planned, but my day went wonky in the afternoon (because, parenting).
So I ended up rummaging through the freezer to see what could be cooked quickly!
I found several packages of sausages, which I grilled. I also discovered a package of frozen, marked-down croissants (I just halved and heated those in the oven) and I roasted some carrots from the fridge.
Sausages are not the cheapest thing to eat for dinner, at least by themselves, but I like to keep them around for occasions such as these because they are still far cheaper than eating out.
Tuesday
We had turkey and ham hot subs (with lettuce, tomatoes, mustard, and mayo), plus veggie chips from Aldi, and sliced apples.
Wednesday
I made paninis, and this time I filled them with chicken, mozzarella, and pesto, and I added some sliced tomatoes after I cooked the paninis.
(Because some members of my family are squicked out by warm tomatoes.)
We had fresh pineapple with our paninis.
Thursday
I made clam chowder early in the day because I had kind of a crazy day planned. I used leftover homemade French bread from the paninis to make garlic bread, and we had a green salad as well.
Friday
It's pizza night, but my kids are going to be here and there, so I'm not sure exactly what dinner will look like tonight!
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Oh, before I go, I want to share a time-sensitive thing. Limeapple (a small company that makes the activewear sets from Costco which I reviewed earlier this year) also makes comfy holiday dresses for active girls, and today they're having a one-day 40% off sale.
They sent Sonia and Zoe each a Gracie dress, and while this dress is fancy enough for a holiday event, it's made of stretchy, activity-friendly material. Aaand, its washable, which is great, because I am not about to dry-clean my children's clothes (not even holiday clothes!)
Our Limeapple activewear sets are looking brand new even after many washes, so I think these holiday dresses will still be in great shape when it's time to hand them down to my nieces.
One note: we find that Limeapple clothes run a little bit on the big side, so do be sure to use their size chart when you order, and go by that rather than by the size your girls usually wear.
I don't get a kickback when you order from Limeapple and these are not affiliate links. But 40% off of a dress from a small company that makes high-quality clothing is a deal worth checking out, so, there you go.
I looked through Limeapple dresses, and they are all pretty short. I love in Northern New Hampshire, and my daughter's legs would freeze if I took her anywhere wearing a dress that didn't even come to her knees. Does anyone else have the same frustration with holiday dresses? It takes a lot of hunting to find a Christmas dress that's actually designed to wear in winter.
I feel the same way about short-sleeved holiday dresses. So many are that way, and I keep wondering if they're designed to wear in Florida or something!
(Women's holiday dresses have the same issues, actually.)
So, I was pleased that these were long-sleeved. The Gracie dress does come to Sonia and Zoe's knees, and they'll wear them with tights and boots and they'll be fine. But I'm more in the middle of the east coast, so it is not as freezing here as it is up where you are!
I don't live in a cold climate, so maybe this isn't a solution for you, but I usually wear leggings with my short dresses, both for modesty and comfort. Athleta has started making fleece-lined leggings, so I'm sure more affordable retailers will/have follow suit. Maybe try that?
Yep, my girls do that all the time, especially Sonia, who is a girly-girl through and through and likes to wear dresses/skirts all year.
(Lisey's all, "Bring on the jeans!" when the weather gets cold!)
I'm going to have to look for the fleece lined leggings! Thanks for the heads up. 🙂
Fending off a cold, and my husband was too excited by what he saw on sale at the grocery store (Reese's cups) to remember to get what he was sent for (a specific brand of 100% whole wheat pasta - Bionaturae, because ATK said so and my tastebuds agree). So we didn't really eat what had been planned, either...
--- Leftover chili with (fresh) rice for him, and he made me roasted vegetables (mushroom, tomato, carrot, garlic) with fettuccine
--- Grilled cheese and our favorite premade soup: roasted pepper and tomato
--- Grilled hot dogs, baked beans, raw carrots and peppers
We did have some food waste because of my cold. And if there's chili in the fridge he doesn't want anything else! Luckily the things we skipped can mostly be put back on the menu. I'm thinking we'll do chicken cordon bleu to use up his lunch ham, old bread (=crumb coat) and some Jarlsberg, and another night we'll do chicken florentine to use up the last of the spinach that was supposed to get eaten this week. One or both will be served with shallot pasta, which is what I wanted the wheat spaghetti for. (It's a Rachel Ray recipe.)
I looooove sausages, could eat them every day. But to cut costs I slice 3 or 4 of them really small and mix them with carrots, potatoes/sweet potatoes and oil, and put all in the oven. So it's a casserole that tastes like sausages without actually having a ton of sausages in it. And it gives at least 2 meals for 4 people (2 adults, 2 small kids)
My goodness, how much milk do you people drink? Maybe it's time to buy a cow (or goat) 😉
In all seriousness, I am still more in the random Aldi trips method of shopping, though hopefully that will change. We're still eating out of the freezer. I did use up some chicken stock to make rice pilaf and ate the leftovers of that another day with a rotisserie chicken from BJs.
Today I get to buy Chex as we're making Chex Mix tonight.
I really do want to get back into the groove of things. I'm sure it will come soon.
Well, one of the gallons was for making yogurt, and the Costco gallon still isn't opened. So we went through two gallons in a week for drinking/baking/cereal.
I never drink milk, but Mr. FG does sometimes and so do several of my kids. I pretty much only ever use it for cooking/baking and pouring on cereal.
My husband drinks about 4 gal/week of milk all on his own!!! It's either that or Pepsi... so this is as least lower in sugar and acid than the alternative. (He also puts 3 heaping spoonfuls of sugar in his coffee.. but the alternative is Starbucks Double Shot espresso energy drinks, so again - it's at least better than the alternative. And we make the coffee at home.)
This week's menu has some FG savings tips, so thank you for all you share and do . . . it makes a diff!
Mon- Slow Tuscan white bean/kale/sausage soup*, kale salad, garlic bread
Tue - Teriyaki glazed salmon**, brown rice, petite peas
Wed - Veggie burgers, cumin-soy glazed sweet potatoes, salad
Thur - L.O. soup from Monday, salad, garlic bread
Fri - Pollo asada***, veggies & pinto beans in tortillas, cilantro salad
*The FG chicken stock came from my freezer, yeah!
**The salmon, wild caught, was on sale recently for $4.99 a lb. I bought a two pound section, and used my food scale to cut it into six filets, which I then froze. At three suppers total for two people, that averages $1.68 a serving. Not bad for wild salmon!
***Seemed like a bargain at $2.99 a pound, but when I got home and opened the packet I realized it was just marinated chicken thigh with a few small chopped veggies. Hmm, lesson learned. Next time I'll make my own using .88 a pound chicken thighs from my freezer!
Am curious if other parts of the country have big sales on canned vegetables each January? I am generally able to stock up on enough canned beans and tomatoes to get me through the year at about half what buying same on an as-need basis would cost.
You are such an organized inspiration. Well done!! I love the clam chowder recipe by the way.
I didn't grocery shop at all this week, though my husband picked up a frozen pizza for himself one day.
Monday: we had dinner at a family member's house (we brought a cake that I made with pantry ingredients)
Tuesday: Chipotle Chicken Alfredo pasta, frozen green beans
Wednesday: leftovers from Tuesday (husband at the above-mentioned frozen pizza)
Thursday: spaghetti with chicken instead of ground beef, frozen broccoli
Friday: I think we're having leftovers from last night
And now I desperately need to grocery shop for next week. Our fridge is empty except for two hard-boiled eggs, some American cheese, and a gallon of milk...
No shopping for us - vacation!!! We'll pick up some yogurt, cereal, etc while we're for breakfast.
Tonight, as I try to clean out the fridge before we leave tomorrow, we have a weird (but nutritious!) dinner before us. A big batch of soup will go in the freezer, since I ended up with lunch meetings all week and didn't get to eat my delish lentil/butternut/tomato soup. The leftover chicken and chickpea concoction will be mixed with our crisper residents (broccoli, half a zucchini, 1/3 of an onion) and served over pasta tonight.
I might mention this is quite the frugal beach vacation. The condo owners, who are hubby' s clients, simply asked us to pay the $100 cleaning fee. And because our Mamas raised us right, we're also sending them thank-you flowers for their Thanksgiving centerpiece.
Niiice! Have a lovely, lovely time!
I did really well this week, eating at home every meal this week until I went to Memphis last night for an event and had Indian food. I apparently cannot have diary foods because today, that led to a take out pizza. 🙁 Very bad when you are not only to maintain a budget but trying not to eat crappy food!
So. Lesson learned-- dairy doesn't help with my junk food cravings!
Hi Kristen, It's me, Jenny S., writing to tell you that I see now how this works! I can just read the emails, but if I want to comment or read comments, I have to go here, to the regular website. So, all is well, and thanks for your patience in answering. I really appreciate your writings and your thoughts!
Yay!! So glad you figured it out.
We needed butter this week too. Usually I buy mine at Costco because it is cheaper there but our Kroger had it for $1.99 a box if you bought 10 of their promotional items so I bought 10 boxes. I hardly ever find butter for under $3 a box anymore. Good thing I had finally made some space in my freezer. We eat a lot of sausage too because its easy but I started getting icked out by what might in it so I started making my own. Last time pork butts went on sale I bought 20 lbs worth (two huge butts...lol) and ground it to make breakfast sausage, bulk Italian sausage, and Italian sausage in casings. It was so much work though that I was cursing my idea on day 2 of the project. However I now have enough sausage to last us quite awhile at only $0.99 per lb so now I'm glad I did it.
My grocery shopping trip- pick up a few items I had coupons for- got derailed by mark down meat pricing! Since meat prices are regularly high, I will stock up when I get something lower. I snagged 2 HUGE Pork shoulders and tossed them into the freezer for future crock potting. 10lbs of ground beef made its way home. I browned, seasoned and drained off 2 of the large flats of beef. After it cooled I weighed it into 1-lb containers and tossed 3 into the freezer for future use. 1 lb went into a quick dinner of cheese burger crescent roll. The last flat of ground beef was mixed into meatballs and quickly baked on the broiler pan to defat. Those were cooled and packed for 2 future meatball sub/pasta bake suppers. I also grabbed 2 large flats of fresh sausage link ( hot and sweets) and froze those for my Christmas meal Contribution! Since I added so much to the freezer I re-arranged them both and was able to record all that is available and know what we will be eating over the next few weeks!
I'm too lazy and not remembering well enough to recap the whole menu, but we ate at home and had pretty good stuff. I really enjoy Trader Joes frozen fish- some marinated, some not.
It's my version of avoiding takeout!
It sounds like I had the same supermarket coupons as you. I would never buy a muffin at the supermarket (or anywhere actually!) but I took advantage of the free coupon. My daughters selected the gigantic double chocolate muffin. We actually cut it into sixths (!) and our family of five shared it for a snack this afternoon. Now we have to fight over the leftover slice. Holy moly though, that was a huge muffin (aka piece of cake!).
Yes...muffins are awfully easy to make, so I'm never tempted to buy them in a store. Plus I often feel like the ones in the store have sort of an odd texture, or they leave a weird feeling in my mouth. It's almost a greasy feeling.
So yeah, homemade muffins are where it's at!
We FINALLY got an Aldi store and I am ecstatic! I found many items that are comparable to what I have been buying elsewhere at quite the savings, although their produce was pretty sad. I'm hoping it's the whole new store, gotta get things/suppliers figured out. Also our store is much smaller than some I have visited when we were out of town. But beggars can't be choosers!
Hang in there! I actually go to our Aldi specifically for the produce, they even have organic at great prices (apples bananas carrots) - hopefully yours improves!
You are the Frugal Girl if you managed to get out of Costco for $24. I walk in and I'm like "well, the toilet paper is cheap, and we always do need toilet paper, and since I'm here..."
Haha, it IS easy to do that. And it only takes maybe 6 things at Costco before you hit $100!
I just found packages of 8 sausages for .99 cents each at my local Krogers. I bought all they had and tossed them in the freezer 🙂 I buy so much discount meat....the good meat is so expensive otherwise!
I love when stores mark food down instead of just letting it expire and then trashing it. And I feel like buying the marked-down items encourages them to keep on doing it, so I feel like I'm making a principled decision AND saving money.