Tag Archives: saving money

May 7 2012

Simplified Grocery Shopping

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About a year ago I decided to simplify my life by moving to scratch cooking. Some recipes require a little more time but I think it’s worth it. It’s cheaper and tastes better –like lemonade made from fresh squeezed juice. It’s even better with two little helpers in the kitchen.

One of the great things about scratch cooking is a simplified shopping list. When you make things from scratch you just need the basics: flour, milk, eggs, butter, meats, vegetables, spices etc. I now buy a fewer items but buy them in bulk.

I buy most things at Costco and fill in with smaller items from the regular grocery store. Shopping is easier because there are several things I no longer buy:

  • Baking mixes (cake, brownie, biscuit etc.)
  • Frozen meals (lasagna, Chinese food)
  • Rotisserie chickens
  • Pizza of any kind
  • Rice mixes, pasta mixes (Rice-a-roni)
  • Canned soup
  • Cookies or other desserts
  • Fruit snacks

This is not to say that you won’t find a few packaged items in my pantry right now. I’ve got some macaroni and cheese for the kids and a can of chicken noodle soup for an emergency.  And I do occasionally buy a package of Oreos because they the kids love them and I can’t duplicate them!

My goal is to take it to the next level and eliminate even more processed and packaged items. These are on my next hit list:

  • Soda
  • Jams, jellies & syrups
  • Boxed cereal
  • Granola bars
  • Bread
  • Flavored coffee creamer
  • Jarred pasta sauce
  • Juice

These items will take more effort to banish from our home. Some will be replaced. Soda and juice will be replaced by iced teas. Cereal by oatmeal or farina.

Other items will be made from scratch. I plan to make some jams and syrups for the first time this summer. I am also in search of good recipes for bread, granola and pasta sauce. Lucky for me there is Pinterest so I will have no problem finding recipes to try!

Do you cook from scratch? Do you think my list is too ambitious or just right? Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

 

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Feb 29 2012

Saving a Few Dollars on Gasoline

Save Mart Fuel Rewards cardGas prices. Ugh. It’s one thing we can all complain about, no matter your political affiliation. And there’s not much we can do about it.  We’re kind of at the mercy of the gas companies.

But here is something easy that you can do, if you live in California near a Save Mart or Lucky grocery store.  You can get a fuel rewards card.  It doesn’t cost anything.  You just swipe it each time you shop and your spending is recorded.

Here’s how it works:

  • Pick up a Save Mart Rewards Card at participating Save Mart locations.
  • Carry your Rewards card and scan it every time you check out at the store. For every $50 you spend in qualified purchases at Save Mart or Lucky, you’ll earn 5¢ per gallon.
  • Redeem Fuel Rewards at participating Shell or other fuel stations.
  • Insert your Save Mart Rewards Card at the pump.
  • Select your form of payment and fuel grade.
  • Watch the price drop – dispense up to a maximum of 20 gallons of fuel per purchase.

I’ve been doing this for several months, and I usually save $0.20 to $0.30 per gallon.  It’s an easy way to save on gas since I shop there anyway.  For full details see the Fuel Rewards section of their site.

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Mar 21 2011

This Week’s Grocery Results

shopping cart full of groceriesI’m getting better at couponing – and saving 46-49% off regular retail when I shop.  I have yet to get to the magic 50% mark, but it’s coming.  This week’s sale items weren’t too exciting so I just stocked up on a few things.  I shopped at Safeway and saved $109 off regular prices.  This is what I got for my $120 spent:

  • 6 boxes of Kraft Mac-n-cheese
  • 4 boxes of cereal
  • 4 jars of natural peanut butter
  • 2 packages Nathan’s hot dogs
  • 4 12-packs of Diet Coke
  • 4 bags of chips
  • 3 bags frozen steam-in-bag veggies
  • 2 bags frozen potatoes
  • 2 pkg Morningstar Farms veggie patties
  • 2 California Pizza Kitchen large pizzas
  • 2 cans refried beans
  • 2 dozen eggs
  • 2 pkg Oreo cookies
  • 1 box graham crackers
  • 1 Danimals drinkable yogurt
  • 1 Jello-O temptations
  • 1 ricotta cheese
  • 1 larger container of coffee
  • 1 box taco shells
  • 1 pkg of top round steak
  • 1 bag of pretzels
  • 1/2 gallon of milk
  • 1 box microwave popcorn
  • 1 bottle of sugar-free pancake syrup
  • napkins (400 ct.)
  • bagels
  • snow peas
  • fresh bean sprouts
  • grapes
  • tomatoes on the vine
  • mushrooms

You’re right, that is a lot of food for $120.  With gas prices soaring over $4.00 per gallon, it’s nice to be able to control my food costs. 

The other thing I’m really enjoying about couponing is having a good stock of our regular grocery items on hand.  Yes, I have 6 bottles of toilet bowl cleaner in my garage - but I only paid $0.99 each for that toilet bowl cleaner, instead of the $2.50 I used to pay.  And I don’t have to buy it again for at least 6 months. I have enough of a stockpile going that I won’t need to buy certain items for almost a year.  How’s that for peace of mind in a bad economy?

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Mar 7 2011

Kicking Grocery Store Butt (with coupons)!

I did my weekly shopping at Safeway on Sunday and saved a bunch!  I spent a lot of time Saturday clipping and printing coupons, updating my coupon binder, reviewing CouponMom.com and the Safeway website for all the deals available.  I set out in the afternoon by myself – a big thank you to my husband Paul for watching the kids while I went out to shop.  It was MUCH easier to manage my lists, coupons and make decisions without one (or two!) preschoolers in tow.

Some of my favorite deals this week:

  • Buy 2 Coke 12-packs, get 2 free, plus two free bags of tortilla chips.
  • Quaker Oatmeal Squares cereal for $0.49 a whopping 80% off regular price!
  • Oscar Mayer bologna 16 oz for $0.99 that’s 74% off.
  • Lysol toilet bowl cleaner for $0.99, 60% off.
  • I got $5 in catalinas (coupons that print out at the checkstand for future purchase) from my General Mills and Quaker purchases!

My total spent for the week was $180, with $166 savings for a total of 49% off retail!  My garage stockpile pantry is very well stocked up now, so I should only need to buy meat, dairy and produce for the rest of the month.  I’ve been working on getting my grocery spending down, and I’m happy to say that I’ve gone from about $1000 a month to only $700 with a goal of getting it down to $500 or less over then next few months.  I know that’s going to be tough with produce prices this spring, but I am optimistic that I can do it.

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Feb 8 2011

Coupon Savings, Part II

I went to the store again on Friday only because there was an additional insert for the Super Bowl with some really good prices.  They were doing 12-packs of Coca Cola products at 4 for $9.00.  It was a “must buy 4″ and “limit 4″ sale.  So that came out to $2.25 per pack, which is about the lowest I have seen soda in a long time.  Too bad it was limited to four packs, I could have really stocked up at that price!  I also found fruit snacks on sale at $0.99 per box and had coupons for $1.00 off 2 boxes, so got those for $0.49 each.  My best score: I had a coupon for a free dozen eggs with the purchase of Kikkoman soy sauce.  I also had a coupon for $1.00 off any size Kikkoman soy sauce.  So I found a small bottle of soy sauce on sale for $1.69.  The result is a dozen eggs and a bottle of soy sauce for $0.69! 

The girl bagging my groceries questioned what the binder was and I showed her all my coupons.  I have a feeling they don’t get a lot of serious couponers at the store where I’m shopping -it’s in a well to do area.  She was amazed and was just as eager as I was to see what the final total would be.  She said that was the highest percent saved she had seen! 

Here is my register receipt from Friday’s shopping. 

Receipt from 2/4/2011; 47% SAVINGS!

See there, it’s a 47% off the regular retail price by buying club card sale items and using coupons.  I had $126.17 in savings ($20.65 of it was coupons!!).  So I got $273 in groceries for only $147.  I also had a rebate offer for a free pack of Pediasure, so once I send that in with my receipt ($11.99) I will actually be over 50% savings!  My next goal is to get to 60% savings on my next shopping trip.

We’re well stocked up now on non-perishables for the next month or two.  I should only need to buy meat and produce for the next few weeks. I’ll continue to clip my coupons and check the sales for any great deals.  I’m really excited about all the savings and how fun it is to beat the stores at their own game.  Too bad we don’t have double coupons in California, then I could really save a lot!

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