Grocery Challenge Day 2 - Shopping Day

Grocery day. I admit, I love grocery shopping. When I first started couponing I did it out of necessity. Now I'm addicted to the game.

Meijer shopping this morning...

First transaction was for a $50 Meijer gift card. I had a Catalina coupon for $5 off a $50+ Meijer gift card, so $45 out of pocket for a $50 gift card is like $5 in free cash. I'll track $45 as my spending but won't track anything I buy with the gift card.

Next transaction was mostly "10 for $10, Get the 11th Item Free" deals. All of these were $1:
8 packages Angel Soft toilet paper 4 pack
4 bags Chex Mix
4 packages Butterball turkey bacon
1 can Old El Paso enchilada sauce
2 boxes frozen waffles
1 travel size toothpaste
1 16 oz container cottage cheese (free item)
1 package broccoli crowns (free item)

Plus I needed cat food and it was on sale, buy one get one 50% off, so I got 2 16-lb bags of cat food ($9.99 X 2, - $5), and I needed manicotti shells ($2.05) which was the only full price item of the day.

Had coupons for:
(8) 0.45 off Angel Soft
(2) 0.50/2 off Chex Mix
(4) 0.55 off Butterball
0.50 off Old El Paso product
9.00 mPerks reward

Paid $21.97 with the gift card. I'll get 0.50 back from Savingstar for the Chex Mix.

Not a bad haul for $21.97

 

I checked my mPerks account when I got home. I have a personalized reward in there where I will get $9 off my next order if I spend $400 in 28 days. That's how I got the $9 reward I used today. Meijer gave me credit for "spending" $44.03. I'm not sure I'll hit $400 this month since I'm trying to watch my spending but we'll see!

Next stop was Kroger. They are having another Mega Sale that lasts til June 14th where you get $5 off if you buy 5 Mega Sale items. The kids wanted granola cereal. Cascadian Farms cereal is on the Mega Sale list and I have $1 coupons, making the cereal $0.99 a box. If you're not careful, cereal can cost as much as meat. My "buy" price for cereal is $1.50 or less a box. Here's where it pays to shop around and know your prices. This was the Cascadian Farms cereal at Meijer this morning...

... and at Kroger across the street

 

It was worth the trouble to go across the street

I also wanted more ice cream. I have a stack of $1 Turkey Hill ice cream coupons burning a hole in my pocket. It's on sale for $2.50 this week, so $1.50 for 48 oz of ice cream - killer deal in my book.

Ended up with...
3 boxes Cascadian Farms cereal @ 2.99 each
2 boxes Laughing Cow cheese wedges @ 2.49 each
4 containers Turkey Hill ice cream @ 2.50 each

Used...
5.00 instant Mega Sale savings for Cascadian Farms and Laughing Cow
(3) 1.00 off Cascadian Farms cereal
$1 off 2 Laughing Cow cheese
(4) 1.00 off Turkey Hill ice cream

Paid $10.95, plus I'll get $1 back from Savingstar for the cereal.

Paid $10.95

 

Since I'm working on trying to not buy a bunch of junk this month, here's how I broke down the purchases:

 

Not Food: cat food, toilet paper, toothpaste

Real Food: cereal, cheese, bacon, broccoli, cottage cheese, pasta, waffles, enchilada sauce

Junk Food: ice cream, Chex Mix

 

The reality is I'm too busy to make my own pasta sauce or enchilada sauce. I know the canned stuff has extra sugar but putting all the pieces of a dish together at home is still better than a frozen pre-made meal and certainly less expensive than carry out. I can make homemade waffles but the kids like the convenience of popping one in the toaster whenever they want. Therefore, all that stuff gets categorized as "real" food.

 

Total out of pocket tracking for the month so far is $55.95. I have $28.03 left on my gift card though so hopefully out of pocket spending next week will be less.