Weekly Shopping Trip - 4/13/09

This week's shopping trip was MUCH more successful than last week's. Not that that took much. Ha! But the menu plan was fairly simple and I didn't have any high cost items that were really needed, so extra money was spent on some meat I found on sale. I am SOOO wishing we had a deep freeze so we can put some of this stuff away without filling our freezer too much. One of these days...

I also hit a different store that I don't frequent. It's on the same corner as Target, so it's not out of my way. Nature's Grocer/Vitamin Cottage. It's an all natural health food store. Honestly, I've been pretty impressed with them. I would venture to say that their selection of gluten-free items comes close to, if not rivals, Sprouts. And they're cheaper! A bag of my GF Tinkyada pasta is 50 cents cheaper and their Pamela's cookies are 80 cents cheaper. Also, I noticed they had a sale bin in the back where they had cookies and crackers close to expiring on sale for really, really ridiculous prices. That makes the trip worth it! So for those weeks where I REALLY need to be watching the pennies, they will probably win the bid for the week. Like I said, it's not out of my way. The drawback: Their produce selection is VERY limited and I don't see myself purchasing produce there. Sprouts just has everyone beat in that area. So, who knows...I might be frequenting them more often.

I don't necessarily enjoy hitting FOUR stores like I did this time, but all four stores are at three corners of ONE intersection, so I don't feel like I'm counteracting my savings with gas-money. It IS more time-intensive, but my goal is to stay under a certain amount every week. I don't think an additional 15 minutes a week to hit that goal is really much of a sacrifice. I'm comfy with it.





Target Total - $37.42
Ruffles 3.50
Hebrew National hotdogs 3.29
1 lb split peas 1.00
Malt-O-Meal Wheat Spooners 4.83
Frosted Flakes (on clearance) 2.08
Bananas .85
Small gala apples 2.89
Lean Cuisine 2.25
Apple juice 1.19
Generic orange juice 1.32
Dozen eggs 1.67
4 Generic yogurts 2.08
Wax paper 1.19
Generic paper towels 3.49
3 boxes lotion Kleenex 4.99

Natural Grocers Total - $5.98
Pamela's Mini Cookies 2.99
Tinkyada GF Penne Pasta 2.99

Tom Thumb Total - $10.31
Stouffer's Panini 2.50
Red Baron Pizza 3.00
2 Top Sirloin Steaks (on sale) 4.81

Sprouts Total - $16.15
.05 used bag credit
Rice Cheese 3.49
GF Waffles 2.49
2 lbs Ground beef 4.12
Bulk baby spinach .94
2 yellow onions .81
3 HUGE oranges 1.40
Red bell pepper .88
2 lbs grapes 2.07

Weekly Budget - $75.00
This Week's Total - $69.86
Difference - $5.14 under budget

I'm realizing as I'm typing this out, I might need another trip to the store, as I've forgotten I signed up for a breakfast item at a baby shower this coming weekend. Either way, it'll still be fairly inexpensive and I'll still be under budget. I'm still in decent shape for the month, despite what happened last week! Yay for good weeks!

If you get a second, visit Gayle over at her weekly GCC Shopping Round Up! I'm so wishing I lived close to her...I'd be attending that workshop she's hosting. Boo!