Grocery Run

Originally, when I started this blog I had 3 growing kids at home and I shared tips on saving money at the grocery store and cooking from scratch.  I stopped doing that as the kids moved out, but now, with the shortages and high prices we are seeing at the grocery store I thought I'd get back to my roots. I still cook from scratch most of the time. But instead of having 3 growing kids at home it's just me and my husband.  And I now work full time, so meal planning and prepping in advance is key to our getting a healthy dinner on the table in a timely manner.  Years ago, I rarely had leftovers.  Now, I have leftovers that I can turn into a meal for another night or we pack them up for lunches.

I did a fairly big grocery run last night.  My last really big trip to the store was back in December, just before Christmas. I've been popping into the grocery store to buy a few things here and there since then. I've tried to keep those trips down to once a week and under $30. 

I did well until Tuesday night. I had to stop by the store to pick up snacks for the staff meeting on Wednesday. It was late. And I was hungry. I picked up 3 bags of Snickers and 1 bag of Reese's. And a 4 pack of Coconut Milk Yogurt. And 2 bottles of Vitamin Water.  Really, I didn't get that much. It filled one plastic grocery bag. It cost $36.  That's a lot of money for not that much stuff.

This trip was mostly about restocking the produce. Back in December I bought a meat bundle from our local butcher. We are still slowly working our way through the bundle, and I do not need to restock any meat at this time.

Potatoes - both sweet and russet

Onions 

Celery 

Winter Squash (uncut) Butternuts and Acorns

Baby Kale and Spinach mix

Broccoli

Cabbage

Brussels Sprouts

Apples

Oranges

Bananas

Lunch meat

GF Sandwich Wraps

DF Cheese 

DF Butter

Eggs

Coconut Milk

Corn Flakes

Peanut Butter Chips 

1 can of full fat coconut milk

*Note - the produce section at my grocery store has a seconds display where you can purchase produce that is "on the edge" of going bad.  If I find anything on my list here, we tend to eat it fast or freeze it so we can eat it later. 

All told, I spent close to $85.

I bought the biggest bag of apples, sweet potatoes, russets, and onions that I could find.

I bought a very large container of lunch meat and froze half for later.

An 18 pack of eggs.

I put as many Brussels Sprouts as I could possibly fit into a bag.  I really love roasted brusels.

I found 2 uncut butternut squashes, but I couldn't find any acorn squash.

When I checked the seconds display, I found a HUGE bag of lemons on sale for $1.50. So I picked those up, too. Stay tuned, because I'll share what I do with those next week.  I have very big plans for those lemons later today!

Hopefully, the produce will last us through most of the month and any trips that I have to make to the store will continue to come in under $30.  

How'd you do with your groceries this week?