Weis & Other Shopping This Past Week

Oops!
I thought I posted my Weis trip when I wrote up the Frugal Friday post but I hadn't so here it is.....

Here is everything I bought at Weis this week............

5 x Powerade drinks on sale .57¢ wyb5=$2.85 *not pictured

1 x Tin of Anchovies on sale=$1.79 *not pictured

3 x Kellogg's cereals $1.76 wyb3=$5.01

1 x Kellogg's new cereal reg. price=$3.39

4 x Hormel wraps on sale $1.25=$5.00

1 x OM Cotto Salami reg. price=$3.50

SubTotal..........$21.54

Coupons Used

3 x .50¢/1 Kellogg's cereals(2 Raisin Bran/1 Rice Krispies)IPQ doubled=$3.00

1 x Free new cereal wyb3 other Kellogg's cereals IPQ*free up to $3*=$3.00

4 x .50¢/1 Hormel wraps IPQ doubled=$4.00

1 x $3/1 Instant Discount Sticker on OM package=$3.00

Coupon Total.......$13.00

$21.54-$13.00=$8.54 OOP

When I eat cold cereal Raisin Bran and Multi-Grain Cheerios are my preferred types.  The Rice Krispies can always be made into treat bars for College Boy and the Chocolate Donut cereal was free(well almost free)with my Q and one of the kids will eat it(if not, I'll donate it to the food bank).  CB requested the Powerades, the anchovies were needed for a new recipe I tried this week and Hubs wanted the salami for lunchtime sandwiches(and with the instant discount sticker it was .50¢....nice).
The Hormel wraps were something to try for CB.....he often needs a quick handheld something to eat as he rushes off  to the studio or when he gets in late at night.

Other grocery stops this week--

I picked up a head of iceberg lettuce at Shursave on the way home for $1.28 for our club sandwich meal.

There was a Maine Source restaurant supply store run last Sunday for $54.65 which included a 5 lb. log of Cooper cheese($3.59 lb. this way as opposed to $7.99 a lb. reg. price at the grocery store delis), gallon of veggie oil, 10 lb. of onions, gallon of milk, 1K pack of napkins, 1/2 lb. of deli roast beef , loose zucchini, yellow squash, a rutabaga, tomatoes, bananas, 2 lb. packs of whole mushrooms and 3 pints of blueberries.  I had a $5 wyb $50+ emailed Q so saved another $5 off the great prices there.

A stop at Dollar Tree for lasagna noodles(Maine Source wanted $3 for them)so I could make the lasagna on Sunday.  I also picked up potato bread rolls for CB and a big pouch of cornbread mix so $3 out the door.

This is all the grocery shopping that got done this week.  $67.47 OOP.

Sluggy

Food Budget Talk....the Good and the Bad

I usually budget $400 per month for food and toiletries for our family of 4(there are 5 of us but oldest son is at college).
But with being in the hospital at the beginning of April and the family loose without a list or a clue in the grocery store in my absence(!!!)because I wasn't able to get to the store yet, AND then with the special foods and changes to my diet which cost more than what I usually spend, I didn't know whether I'll be able to stay under the $400 mark.

The family picked stuff up here and there the first half of April and managed to make a $122.61 dent in our food budget.  We were eating mostly from what was here but they still managed to go to the store every other day for 2 weeks, buying non-sale items.....don't even THINK they used a coupon! lol

From the 17th through the 21st, under my watch, we were able to spend $232.91.
5 days.....$232.91
Yikes!

Most of that was $123.12 at the Restaurant Supply Store where I got some awesome deals.
The produce deals seem much better here compared to weekly sales at the local market too.  Even the regular prices on fresh produce are good.
Here are some comparisons to the prices they charge in the grocers locally......

* 9.27 lbs. of colorful peppers for $9.17 vs. $1 per pepper on sale at Weis(would have cost $22)
* 6.05 lbs. of zuke and squash for $5.99 vs. $9.11 at $1.49 lb. on sale at local grocer
* On the vine tomatoes for $1.29 lb. vs. $2.99 lb. or $1.99 on sale at local grocer
* Bag of red potatoes for $1.49 vs. $3.49 at local grocer
* Large loose mushrooms for $2.69 lb. vs. $3.99 lb. loose or $4 for 2-8 oz. containers at local grocer
* Jumbo frozen shrimp for $16.99 for a 2lb. bag vs. $24.99 a 2lb. bag on sale at local grocer
* 5lb. bag of frozen peaches for $10.99 vs. $17.45 for 5 x $3.49 a 1lb. bag in the grocer
* 1 lb. of crabmeat for $7.99 vs. $10.99 on sale at local grocer
* $1.29 for a dozen eggs vs. $1.89(this week) at local grocer
* Even a gallon of mayonnaise for $8.99 vs. 4 jars of Kraft or Hellman's at $3 ea.($12) on sale or $3.99($15.96) reg. price in the grocery store AND it's lower in sodium than those others.)
* 8.10 lbs. ground chuck for $2.49 lb. vs. $3.49 lb. reg. price charged at local grocer

Add 1 2ltr. of soda, a watermelon, iced tea & a cheesecake(for Daughter), and a case of paper plates(Summer entertaining!lol) and we did pretty well at the store.
$123.12 vs. $175.16(using local grocer sale prices if on sale).
I'll take it! 8-))

Unfortunately I'm not done spending on groceries for the month.
I racked up a $75.77 bill yesterday at the grocer.  Most of it was goodies for the bottomless pit I call #2 Son(lunchmeat, cheese, bagel thins, frozen chicken, ice cream, frozen French fries, breakfast cookies, etc.)  The "good" groceries were OJ, facial tissues, decaf teabags, no salt added canned tomatoes, bread crumbs, vinegar, 1 box of cereal, sugar, 6 bags of frozen veggies, a piece of ginger and more fresh produce(lemons, cuke, mango, lettuce, apples, strawberries).

With that trip I am up to $431.29.
Kaboom!  I am officially over budget.
8-(
And I'll probably make another trip to the Restaurant Outlet this weekend for more fresh produce as Daughter has talked me into "juicing" with her.
More on that later......

I'll now shoot for keeping the budget under $500 for April.

How is your food budget doing this month?
Better or worse than expected?

Sluggy

 

Shopping and Errand Day Last Week

I did 2 more transactions on Friday of last week at Rite-Aid.

Friday was my big shopping/errands day.  I hit the bank and 6 stores.....driving a looped(or was it LOOPY?LOL)route and hitting each store I wanted to go to along the way.  We did the bank in town, the Rite-Aid downtown, the CVS on the western part of town, then to the Restaurant Supply store further west, to the CVS in the next town over, to the Weis Market in that town, down the block to that town's Rite-Aid, then home.
I know y'all were just dying to each all that details, are you not? ;-)

So here is the 1st Rite-Aid I hit and what I hauled home.....

I found 2 of the cheap, non-battery powered Gillette razors that were on sale for $9.99.  With the 20% Wellness discount these were less than the sale price, at $8.79.  After using the $4/1 ManuQ from the paper and receiving the $5 +Ups for each one, you got them for free + overage.
I got the Oral-B toothbrushes on sale for $2.99 that gave the $2 Ups.  Using the $1.50/1 ManuQ from the paper made these better than free as well.
I didn't find any ProFoot items with Qs inside the package so I could'nt do that deal and I still had +Ups to use up before Saturday.  Not knowing if the other Rite-Aid, I was going to hit later in the day, would have anything this late in the week, I went ahead and bought chips to put away until the Graduation Party next month.  The assorted chips were on sale for $2.50 a bag, so $10 total.  I had IPQs that got you free 2liters of soda WYB a bag of Lay's Kettle Cooked or Sun Chips so the sodas above were free.
I spent $19 +Ups and got $14 +Ups back and paid .16¢ OOP on my free gift card.


Then I hit up CVS for free Ivory soap....

Of course they only had 1 package of the soap on sale for .99¢....sigh.
I got a raincheck to use the remaining 3 coupons I had at a later time, then I succumbed to dirt cheap Easter clearanced malted robin's eggs......
Spent $.99 OOP, saved $3.49 and got a $1 ECB for my winter spending reward(all those Finish dishwasher tabs I bought back in Jan.).


Then it was off to the Restaurant Supply Store.....

I got a 5lb log of Cooper sharp cheese(I "heart" cooper sharp!), a gallon of the best-est blue cheese dressing EVER! and a package of pretzel rolls.  These seem to be IN right now and I see them everywhere now so I picked them up on the spur of the moment.  Not exactly frugal but what the hell.....

I spent $37.80 at the RS store.  Regular retail value was $70.36, for a 46.28% savings rate.

The black boxes in that photo?  Oh, those are from the purchase I made 2 stops later, after going into another CVS looking for .99¢ Ivory soap bars(which they were also out of, rats!).
Then it was off to Weis Markets to run the Purina dog food Catalina Deal again and I received another $10 Catalina Q.
I also picked up those 3 boxes of hamburger patties at Weis.  Each box was 2 lbs. of patties and marked down to $3.99 each from $7.99 each, so $2 a lb. for hamburgers.  These are also for the Graduation party.

Then around the corner from there to this town's Rite-Aid......

I found a ProFoot product with the $1.50/1 Q inside the package and another ProFoot product with a $1/1 PeelieQ on the front.  These paired with the $1/1 IPQ I had printed out.  I had no shame standing in the store and taking a pair of scissors to the package, hacking it up to get that ManQ out to use on my purchase.  I don't care  anymore if anyone stares....lolol

      (My handiwork)

So I did the ProFoot deal(3 for $15, used $3.50 in Qs, got a $2 +Ups back and submit for the ProFoot SCR for $10), for a .50¢ overage.......WINNING! 8-)

I also found some cheap Revlon Tools and a Dove Men's Deo to do those deals on BIL's card.
I spent $17.88 in +Ups and received $13 +Ups back($2 ProFoot, $3 Dove, 2 x $4 Revlon), plus I qualified for a $10 ProFoot SCR(#2).  I put the remaining .87¢ on my free gift card.


Then it was home to put it all away.


THESE TRIPS--Just the Rite-Aid stuff
Number of Transactions.....2
Total Spent....$1.03 (put on free Rite-Aid gift card)
Value of Items....$86.94
SCR qualified for...$10.00
Other Rebates earned...$0.00
Gift Cards earned....$0.00
+Up Rewards earned...$27.00
+Up Rewards spent.....$36.88
+Up Rewards left to spend.....$53.64 And I have $41.89 left on my gift card.


Rite-Aid GRAND TOTALS--MAY Rebate Period so far

Number of Transactions......8
Total Spent....$5.61 put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Value of Items purchased....$366.65
SCR qualified for....$12.00
Other Cash....$0.00
Additional Rebates....$0.00
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....$0.00

+UPS Totals for May SCR period
+Up Rewards carryover from 5/4.....$63.52
+Up Rewards spent....$54.88
+Up Rewards earned....$57.52
+Up Rewards left....$53.64  includes ALL +Ups not just ones from this SCR period


Sluggy