I spent almost $20 more than I intended to on my third trial month of Once A Month Shopping (OAMS), but all that means is I have less to spend each of the 3 remaining weeks this month, so it’s all good. Plus, I was incredibly pleased with all the food I was able to buy with that amount of money! Perhaps you’ll be impressed as I was…
I physically went to 4 stores this weekend, but I also ordered some Bob’s Red Mill Brown Rice Flour from Amazon.com. Amazon has the absolute best price I’ve ever seen on brown rice flour (it fluctuates, but this time around it was $9.40 for a box of 4 24oz. packages, which translates into $2.35 ea.), plus I had a gift card balance from my Swagbucks Rewards, and with the Subscribe & Save 15% discount w/ free shipping, my TOTAL OOP (out of pocket) at Amazon.com was only $1.83.
I had a seriously massively HUUUUUUUUUUUUGEE shopping list this month, and unfortunately, not a lot of the things on my list were on sale anywhere, so I knew what I had to do: go to the Walmart Supercenter. Yeah, I know, some of you hate me now, but hey, it’s cheap! And for me, most of the time that’s the bottom line. Maybe when I am rich and famous I can avoid shopping at WM. But for now… they get my business!
WalMart Supercenter
2 boxes Barilla Plus pasta $3.96
5 lb GM Unbleached All-Purpose Flour $2.48 (This was a mistake. Harris Teeter’s brand was on sale for $1.97, but I had a mental lapse! Hate it when that happens, but at least it was only a matter of $0.50.)
1 64oz bottle Great Value Grape Juice $2.98
2 8pk Apple & Eve Fruitables $1.96
3 cans Thai Kitchen coconut milk $4.26
1 pkg Bob’s Red Mill Sorghum Flour $3.52
1 small container Badia Paprika $1.22
1 16oz bag Great Value Barley $0.92
1 pkg Great Value Whole Wheat Egg Noodles $1.00 (The whole wheat was cheaper than regular. Cool!)
2 lbs Mahatma Brown Rice $1.24
2 lbs Great Value Dry Beans $2.22
1 pkg Great Value Jelly Beans $1.00 (a special Easter treat for the Certain Little Someone)
2 24oz pkgs Sorrento Stringsters $8.24
1 lb Jamestown bacon $2.48
1.88 lbs Green Grapes $1.53
5 4pks Great Value Yogurt $7.70
1 Cantaloupe $1.74
2 64oz Silk Coconut Milk $5.00
TOTAL: $53.77
Trader Joe’s
1 32oz box TJs Rice Milk $1.69
1 16ox container TJs Sun Butter $3.99
1 1lb box Organic Quinoa $3.99
24oz Clover Honey $4.49
1 Black Pepper Grinder $1.99
2 Organic Garlic Bulbs $1.49
1 12oz pkg Dried Cranberries $1.99
1 pkg Pretzel Slims $2.19 (a special treat for my DH because he’s such a good boy)
1 lb Raisins $2.29
1 12oz bag Chocolate Chips $2.29
2 lbs Organic Fuji Apples $2.49
2 lbs Organic Carrots $1.78
1 lb Organic Celery Hearts $2.29
TOT: $33.05
COSTCO
6 lbs Sugar in the Raw $7.75
3 lbs Bananas $1.47
1.5 qts Organic EVOO $9.89
TOT: $19.11
Harris Teeter
1 6oz pkg Frozen Coconut $1.49
3 2.5lb pkgs Frozen Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts $9.99
3 lbs Pork Butt $3.72
1 8oz pkg Heluva Good cheese $1.00
5 6oz cans Starkist Chunk Light Tuna $0.50
Reduced Organic Bananas $0.47
1 Pineapple $2.00
1 Mango $0.75
2 Kiwi $0.66
Reduced Limes $0.91
Reduced Chili Peppers $0.23 (These are already chopped and in the freezer.)
TOT: $23.78
In addition to all of this, my mother-in-law found some ground turkey at Giant that she picked up for me, a total of 3 lbs for $5.00.
And one more thing… the Clipper Magazine (do you get those in your area?) has started a new program called “Double Take Deals“, along the lines of Groupon, Living Social, and the like. I find their deals to be more relevant to my life than most of the other more famous local daily deal sites: restaurants, stores and cafes that I actually go to (or would go to with the discount). Right now, in my area, they have a $15.00 voucher worth $30 to a local organic grocery store, David’s Natural Market. Click on this link to see what great deals Double Take Deals might have in your area, and get a $5.00 credit on your second purchase (in the interest of full disclosure, I will also get $5.00 off my next purchase… so click away!). I bought one of those vouchers so I now have $30 to spend at a local organic store that will significantly augment my grocery purchasing power in the next few weeks!
So what do you think? Did I do a good job this round? Do you have any questions for me about this OAMS stuff?
Wow! I live in Canada and our grocery prices are WAAAY higher! Example: Dried beans I buy at a great price of $2.50/lb, the cheapest you can find bacon is $4/lb, coconut milk is $3.50/can. You did fantastic.
Wow, those prices are high! Bacon is typically around $4/lb or more in this area, but it occasionally goes on sale for less and WM has a pretty cheap price. I couldn’t imagine paying those prices you mentioned… I’d probably never buy canned coconut milk then!
[...] I couldn’t resist the draw of the picture, though, so I determined to see if I could make it with coconut milk products instead of the dairy. I also chucked the whole concept of food coloring, and used limes instead of the lemons called for, simply because I had picked up a whole bunch of reduced limes at Harris Teeter over the weekend. [...]
Hello,
I am a newlywed working overtime to put my Hubby through his last year of college, and I am really trying to stick to the once a month shopping/menu planning. Do you have any advice? How do you always get so much, and just of the things you need for so little? Couponing? Any help you have would be appreciated!
I do use coupons, so I can take advantage of deals should they arise, but I don’t use them as often as I did when I was weekly grocery shopping. I think i use them more wisely, though, for products I use more often and/or for super cheap/free stuff. I dont’ know if any of this will help, but here’s what I do (maybe I should write an eBook once I have alittle more experience!):
I do about 75% of the shopping once a month, leaving part of the grocery budget for weekly needs and really good sales.
I keep a running list of items we need. If it’s an urgent need (like we’re out completely or it’s something we use a LOT), I buy it that week,
but if it’s something we can do without, I leave it for the monthly trip (or just forego completely for as long as necessary).
I don’t currently have a price book, but I know for the most part where the best prices are for everything; I know what I should buy at Trader Joe’s, at Costo, at the Walmart Supercenter, Target, or a grocery store. Also, I have “price caps” for every grocery item (for example, no more than 1.99/lb for meat), and I never go over my cap.
I buy a lot of “basics”: grains, baking supplies, produce, dairy, etc. With those basics, I can make almost anything I need, so there’s no point in buying most processed stuff. For example, I don’t buy any frozen pre-made food, whether a meal, or a side dish or pasta or whatever. It’s just too expensive.
I dont’ know if any of this is helpful or not! I’m planning on writing more of an “education” post about it in the next month, or perhaps doing a series, but in the mean time, please email me at quickeasycheaphealthy at gmail dot com with any specific questions you have, and i’ll do my best to help!
[...] my big monthly grocery shopping trip last week, I had $60 left in the month’s budget, or $20 for each remaining week in the month. [...]