Trip Grocery Challenge

As previously noted, money for this trip is extremely tight, even moreso than I’d originally thought. I think we’re still in the clear though between gas and a hotel room, though I might have to bow out of some social interaction with friends due to lack of funds.

Tonight we’re making our trip to the grocery store and I’m going to try to spend less than ten dollars tonight, which means I won’t actually have to pay anything because that will finish up the credit on our Dillons card. Last night we made a trip so that we’d have breakfast and lunch for today, but some of that can carry over easily, including the impulse Twizzlers we bought because they were only a buck for a package and I am a Twizzler fiend.

We also scored two things of hummus for a dollar each. We both like hummus and couldn’t say no to the deal. So far, we have a few things to take with us already:

Twizzlers
Hummus
Crackers
Water
Yogurt

I’d like to also pick up:
Bread – 78 cents
Lunchmeat - $1.35
Cheese - $1.66
Pop – 2.19 (12 pack)
Bananas – 1.00 (about a pound a half)
Oranges - 1.00 (for two)
Quaker Quakes - $1.00
Breakfast Cereal Bars - $2.00

So it actually comes to about $10.98. I don’t actually need the Quakes, but their so good! Oh well…if I take them from the list I’ll be under my total, though that doesn’t include tax. For now, I’m going with this list because I think I might be able to find cheaper versions of the cereal bars, cheese and lunchmeat.

For anyone who might be shaking your head and wondering why I’m even taking this trip if I don’t have the money, the truth is that at this point, I need to see my family and I’m willing to do it on a tight budget. Luckily I won’t have to spend a lot of money there, so the travel will be worth it, and I’ll have gotten paid by the time we come back, so the trip back is not a worry at this point. Besides, it’s kind of fun seeing how frugal we can be when it comes to travelling.

Today's Gift from Dillons

A cool and interesting thing happened at Dillons today. A week or so ago, I clipped a coupon from the paper insert for $20 in free groceries if you transferred your prescriptions to their pharmacy. I'd been wanting to transfer anyway, but this was the perfect time to do it since things are tight and we're trying to make sure we have money to go to Michigan. The credit was put on my Dillons card and so I figured I was good. I did up a grocery list and a meal plan and was pretty excited because a week's worth of groceries wasn't going to cost me more than ten dollars, and that was high ending everything.

I went shopping today, figuring everything would be good, but when I got to the checkout, the credit didn't come off. I kind of freaked, and I realized I was testy about it, but I was really frustrated and kind of embarrassed because there were people behind me. I explained to them I was supposed to have the credit and that I'd been relying on that and would have to void the order if it didn't work.

Apparently, Dillons will do everything possible to avoid voiding a transaction. The floor manager called the store manager and told her what was going on and was told just to store coupon $20, that they'd been having some issues with that particular promotion. After my coupons, my actual total was only $5.11...talk about a sigh of relief.

However, after the cashier scanned my coupon, the credit from my card kicked in and the system took off the $5.11. The floor manager looked at my receipt and laughed and said that I still had a credit of fourteen dollars. I told her that wasn't right, I didn't feel right taking the extra credit and asked if we could go to the service desk so I could make it right (yes, I am that honest). So she went with me up there and we showed the store manager what happened. I told her I wanted to work it out and pay what I owed since it wasn't fair for me to get extra for the promotion.

The manager looked at the receipt and asked the floor manager if the cashier's till would be off, which it wasn't. The manager said "Okay, Merry Christmas. Keep the credit." I just kind of looked at her and said "Are you sure?" She said, "Yeah, we'll do the paperwork and take are of it."

So Dillons paid me to shop with them today. I made sure to apologize to the girls for being testy and told them I just panicked because I didn't want to be that bitchy lady the store does what they need to to get rid of. Tonight I had to go get orange juice and sure enough, the credit came off and I got my orange juice free too. As long as we're okay on groceries through the next week, we'll use that credit to buy snacks for our trip. Our goal is to avoid fast food restaurants on the drive to Michigan to save money and attempt to be healthier on vacation.

Not a bad shopping day at all...I would definitely chalk this up to an ultra success.

Today's Savings

My first saving of the day was the gas I saved when my BF and I walked to the 2-Mile Fun Run/Walk we participated in today. It's only a short distance, but it's still a few cents in gas, not to mention the stress it saved me in having to find a parking spot.

This afternoon, we went to Dillons to get some lunch. They have a big salad bar that we've been wanting to try and I figured today would be a good day. While there, we picked up some good deals. My faves?

A box of Special K Blueberry cereal for 1.99 with coupon (normally about $4.00, on sale for 2.99, used a coupon for $1.00 off)
Two boxes of Kelloggs Fiber Plus Bars for 1.39 each (normally $3.09, on sale for 2.39, used a coupon for each box for 75 cents off, and then the Dillon's system multiplied it to take off an additional 25 cents).
Half gallon of one percent milk on Manager's special for $1.19 with a week left before the expiration date (we'll finish it by then).
Fuze drinks (part of their 10 for $10 sale, and since I'm trying to cut back on soda, I got five of them to take to work with me this week).

It's a good thing we saved where we did because our salads ended up costing ALOT. Jon's was over $10 (4.99 per lb...he was hungry). I got a regular salad and a fruit salad which weren't that high. They both cost about $7.50 together. Mine could be made for alot cheaper I think, but I can justify Jon's since he piled his with all sorts of things that would have cost more to buy individually. But I'm cool with it...it's a nice treat for us having finished our walk this morning.

Menu Planning 6-7-08

Though it was never anything I found exciting before, since I've started cooking I've really enjoyed planning a weekly menu for the BF and I. Not only do I feel organized, but I consistently see how much money I'm saving by doing this.

This past week, I planned for six full meals rather than the three and leftovers I'd previously been doing. We're getting to the point where we have the money to spend on groceries, so while leftovers will definitely be eaten, we have more options and can start taking the second portion to work.

One thing that's helped my menu planning is to keep things varied. I planned one meal based each around a different meat (beef, pork, and chicken). I then picked a Mexican dish, a different kind of hamburger dish, and planned for a soup and sandwich night. While there are other categories I'll use in the future, this method allowed me to make sure I had a good variety. A couple of the dishes will still stretch for two meals and we won't get bored. I also made sure they would be easy to cook, so I planned for a crock pot recipe and a couple meals that I know will take only 15-20 minutes to prepare, like the soup and sandwich and a Helper night.

This weeks menu:
Garlic Mushroom Chicken (which incidentally does not have mushrooms; recipe will follow)
Cheesy Nacho Chicken on Corn Tortillas (crock pot)
Oven Baked Pork Chops (recipe will follow)
Hamburger Helper
Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese sandwiches
Cheesy Spinach Burgers

The most exciting part about the menu is the grocery cost. After making my grocery list based on my menu and any hard to ignore deals in the Dillons ad, I estimated about $60 for groceries. My actual total? $27.30. And that includes not only the main course, but applicable sides and drinks, as well as sandwich stuff for lunches.

The breakdown comes to an average of $2.50 per meal per person. Which means on the 7th day, if we can splurge, we're having Little Caesars!

The Joys of Hamburger Helper

I have a confession...I used to be a Hamburger Helper snob!

I'm not sure why. It wasn't that I looked down on it as a meal. I think part of it was growing up and remembering how often we had noodles and meat, so the thought of it as an adult wasn't appealing. Another part of it was the preparation. Up until recently, I've never felt comfortable in a kitchen, and even now I'm still finding my feet. But it always seemed like such a pain to have to brown the meat and mix everything (I know, right? That's pretty lazy of me).

Cooking dinner tonight, which was Hamburger Helper (Three Cheese if anyone was wondering), I felt silly for being so snooty about it. HH is a really cheap, pretty tasty, easily made dinner for people who are aiming to save money. It comes in a ton of different flavors and when you get sick of hamburger, you can fall back on Tuna Helper and Chicken Helper.

Some nifty things about Helper meals:

1. Low Cost of Item - The brand name starts at about $1.50 depending on the area you live in, but it seems to be one of those items that goes on sale alot. Look for local sales on HH. The most common one brings the price to about a buck a box, so stock up when you find them to keep around for an easy dinner. If you want to go generic, there's many off-brands of this type of meal, though you might not get the same variety.

2. Budgeting for the meat - The thing that's going to drive an HH meal up is going to be the meat which has gotten more expensive over the past few years. Depending on the type of hamburger you buy, it can get really expensive. We opt to buy the cheapest/easiest we can find which is the small pound tubes of it at WalMart for $2.12 (plus tax). We're currently working with limited freezer space so these one shot servings work best, though if you can find bigger packages at a lower per lb price, buy up, divvy the meat into storage bags, and freeze away. Also remember to drain the grease too as the cheaper hamburger will produce alot of it.

Chicken breasts for CH are a little pricier and take more preparation but not much. If you really want to save time, buy the canned chicken. TH is probably the cheapest as you can get a can of tuna for less than a buck. A Helper meal covers your meat and grains, so adding a cheap veggie and a glass of milk can help cover some of the others.

3. Not a health food, but... - Hamburger Helper is a little higher in calories and fat than alot of foods, but if you're trying to save money you can still compromise. For a slightly higher cost you can buy a leaner cut of hamburger, or you can buy ground turkey instead. I haven't bought ground turkey in a long time, but last I remember, it's actually cheaper than hamburger but gives a similar taste and is much healthier. Substitute "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" for butter/margarine and use skim milk for the mix.

Portion size is also something you can control and can make your meals cheaper. Check the box to see how many it will serve, especially if you're cooking for two or just yourself. Divvy the portions up accordingly. This isn't always easy with families, as different people eat different amounts, but you can try it a couple of ways. After separating it out for one meal, decide if you want to further multiply it. A single person can get two large meals or four small meals out of one box. Two people can one or two meals, etc. The more meals you can get out of one box, the cheaper each meal becomes. Keeping that in mind will also help you stay on track with healthy portions.

The BF and I were lucky enough to have acquired three boxes of HH from a friend who was moving so our meal was a bit cheaper. But taking into account the regular price of HH from WalMart, the meal breaks down into the following:

HH = $1.50
1 lb Hamburger = $2.12
Milk = negligible, but estimated at about $.50.
Total = $4.12

We opted for no sides and we didn't go the healthy route on this, deciding on a big dinner after a long day of work. Therefore, this meal came to $2.06 per person.

Planning a Menu

I'm proud to say that today is the first time in years I've planned a menu.

The way it's planned, I'll only have to cook three nights and then we'll have leftovers for three nights, tweaking the meal only a little bit, like having mashed potatoes with the leftovers instead of noodles.

Two of the recipes are crock pot recipes. I've never cooked any of these things before, so this should be interesting.

The trick now is to get everything for my menu at the lowest cost possible.

Online Pre-Browsing

I really hate buying something at one store only to find later that I could have gotten it cheaper at another one. I'm currently in the process of coming up with a database that will tell me the different prices of different things at different places. Unfortunately, it's a work in progress as I'm not about to go through three different stores and take notes on every price. Since we're just in the early phases of cooking, we don't even know what our staples are going to be.

I found out today that one of the local grocery stores has a site that shows their weekly ad prices. After working in retail for many years, the general rule seems to be that big grocery chains generally have higher prices than say WalMart or Aldi. But they also tend to have the best sales. Checking sales online before going shopping can save gas money and a small piece of mind.

In this case, I made a list of all the sale items that would work with this coming week's menu and their sale prices next to them. I'll take this list when I go to one of the other stores and will be able to compare sale prices with regular prices. Granted, this doesn't work on regularly priced items, but it's one step to take to make sure you're getting the lowest possible price on groceries.

Bratwurst Dinner and Grocery Shopping

We decided to do something different for dinner tonight and cook something a little more wild than just tuna helper or hot dogs. So we decided to go for a bratwurst dinner with french fries.

This dinner was actually a little more expensive than our last few. The bratwurst were on sale for $2.50 for a five sausage package and the fries were $1.79. Our original idea had been to make the bratwurst last for two meals, but after a traumatic over-broiling experience (my bad), we ended up having a larger dinner than we'd planned for. If you add in the bread and condiments we used, this meal for two people came to a little less than $5.00. I thought it felt extravagant, but when we compared it to a typical Taco Bell meal, we came out alright, considering that's less than what most people pay for an individual TB value meal.

SHOPPING TIPS: On today's shopping trip, we visited Dillons. Like many regular grocery stores, I find that their stuff is a little high priced compared to Aldi and even WalMart. But we decided to check it out and by looking at their ad prices, we were able to get some great things on sale.

Oscar Mayer Bologna was on sale for $1.00 each for the larger packs (regular price $3.29). Like hot dogs, not everyone can stomach bologna, but I have no problem with it and actually kind of like it. We bought two packages to stock up for lunches and the occasional dinner.

Kroeger's Bread was also on sale for $0.88 per loaf, which is about 60 cents lower than it's original price and almost 10 cents cheaper than Wal-Mart bread. Again, we couldn't beat the sale, so we got two loaves, which we can use for hotdogs, hamburgers, toast, and sandwiches. If you can get a sale like this and have freezer space, stock up.

We also scored some ketchup and mustard for under a dollar each and a dollar pack of cookies. Dillons is one of the chains that requires a savings card to get the deals. When all was said and done, we went from a grocery bill of $21.00 to one of $14.00 by using the card.

Wal-Mart Shopping

Wal-Mart is a little pricier than stores like Aldi and Sav-A-Lot, but they have a good selection and you can still find some pretty cheap finds if you hunt for it. On our latest WM shopping trip, the BF and I did everything we could to spend the least amount of money and get the most meals out of it.

Bar-S Hot Dogs are only 67 cents for a package of 8. Many people don't like hot dogs at all, and if they do eat them, they have to be beef. If you're like me and don't care, you can make these last for a couple of meals. We paired a pack of them with a loaf of GV bread ($0.96) and some mustard which we already had. Pringles are a dollar per can, so we bought two. This gave us a dinner and a lunch. We also picked up two cans of GV tuna fish (0.56 each) and two GV Cheesy Pasta dinners (like Tuna Helper but semi-generic) for 96 cents each. That's two more meals, four if we halve each one.

We splurged a little on a pack of 98 cent GV cookies. The most we spent was $1.88 for a canister of GV sugar free drink mix. Though we spent over a dollar on it, it's actually the best deal. You get 6 tubs of mix in a canister, and each makes 2 quarts of drink. Since it's sugar free, it's already flavored, so we saved by not having to buy sugar. Once we figured it out, we found it was the healthier and cheaper option.

The total cost for four meals for two people, including dessert and drink: $10.23.

Not too shabby.