I made my weekly shopping trip to
Macey's on Saturday. I spent $91.67. I usually spend between $60-$80 a week on groceries for my family of 5. I like having a $60 a week grocery budget, and a $20 per week food storage budget, because it allows me a little more wiggle room. I used to spend $80 a week on groceries, but I found that when I reached the $80 max each week, I felt too restricted. This way, I know I have a little bit more wiggle room, and when things like chicken breasts come on sale for $1.49 a pound, I spend a little bit more money in order to bulk up my food storage.
I also had several things on my list that were things I had to buy, but I did not want to run all around town to get other items that I needed, so I decided to stick with one store and see how it went.
Scotlyn was with me, and was a pro on the calculator, it made it nice to have her keep track of how much we were spending.
I was so excited about this shopping trip when I got home, because I really felt like I bought a lot with the money I had. I have mentioned to several people before that I really feel like I have been blessed by shopping the way I do, and this night was no exception.
I bought the following things on my trip to Macey's:
2 packages of boneless, skinless chicken breasts - $1.49 per pound
1 roast - $1.99 per pound
2 dozen eggs - $1.49
5 lb bag of potatoes - .99
Plastic Gloves - $1.49
Pads - $2.49
2 containers of Lysol wipes - $1.99 ( I used a coupon for $1.00 off of 2)
4 pounds of Banquet cheese - marked down to $1.99 per pound. This was one of those surprise finds. I have found at Macey's that they will have random items marked down because of the dates on the products. Two of the packaged of cheese were dated 1/31/11, and two were dated 3/11/11. $1.99 is a great price for a pound of cheese, so, I bought 4. These items usually do not stand out on the shelf, so you usually have to look closely for them. In fact, I had walked passed the cheese once, and decided not to buy any, but then I thought I would look again, and that was when I found this deal.
1 gallon of milk - $1.99
Dish washing detergent - $2.79
9 boxes rice a roni - .79 I used 3 coupons for a free box of Pasta Roni when you buy 4 boxes of Rice a Roni. When the cashier scanned the coupon, it automatically took the full $2.00 off of my order, which I was really surprised about. Usually with a coupon like this, the cashier will scan the coupon, and then the register will ask for the cashier to enter the price of the product, which they enter, and then write on the coupon. This coupon automatically took off $2.00, which made the pasta roni free, plus an overage.
3 boxes pasta roni - .79 (free after above coupon)
potato chips - $2.50
Bananas - .59 per pound
Apples - .99 per pound
Cucumber .50
Dried Eggs - $3.99
4 Kraft Puddings - .88 each
Romaine Lettuce - .79
3 bottles of Maalox - $4.99 - used a $5.00 off coupon, which made them free. The coupon beeped at the register. The cashier was not sure why, so I explained to her that the item was cheaper than the coupon. (You'll find that the more you coupon shop, that some cashiers are more coupon savvy than others.) The cashier called the manager over, to find out how to enter the coupon, and she told her to enter it for the full $5.00 off. She was a great cashier, and was very coupon friendly.
Schiff Mega Red Vitamins - $27.99, used $3.00 off coupon. (I usually wait until Rite Aid or Wal-green's has these vitamins on sale BOGO, because I can get two for this price, but I needed to buy them. We have a doctor/prescription budget that I used for things like this, which allowed me to spend more than my regular grocery budget this week.
Lemon Pepper & Season Salt - .99 each. These seasonings are located in the produce section, and more than twice the size of the regular spices. When I can't get to Winco to buy spices, I try to maximize my money by buying them at Macey's.
Roma Tomatoes - .79 per pound
2 Ranch Dressing Mix - .59 each
Milk - $1.99