Shopping List - Week 5

This is a sad, sad day. I blew all the remaining money in the budget and I went OVER! I didn't take a picture because I was just too depressed over my paltry pile. And to make it worse I didn't get any of the meat that I needed. I have enough to get through the weekend.... I think.... so next week will probably be bad since I'll have practically nothing.

$1.97 Meijer Apple Juice
$1.50 Meijer Trash Bags
$4.99 Udi's Gluten Free Bagels
$.69 Meijers Great Northern Beans
$.69 Meijer Black Beans (bought 3)
$.69 Meijer Chili Beans
$.69 Meijer Diced Tomato
$1.30 Thai Kitchen Light Coconut Milk - Minus $1.00 coupon = $.30
$1.49 Ortega White Corn Taco Shells
$1.49 Kraft Singles
$1.89 Kraft Whipped Cream Cheese
$3.20 8 Yoplait Light Cups - MInus $1.00 coupon = $2.20 for 8
$2.00 4lbs of Oranges
$2.50 3lbs of Apples
$1.25 2lbs powdered sugar
$1.00 Lunchables (bought 4)

Grand Total - About $30. I bought some other stuff, like dog food, and a dish pan, ect..... and I'm feeling too lazy to add it up properly. But I went OVER budget this week!

I'm blaming it on the bagels. They put me over. You see, I've heard so many rave reviews about Udi's bread. But I've never found it in my are, and according to their website it wasn't sold within 100 miles. Gluten free bread normally tastes like saw dust. It's gross. So I've been wanting to try Udi's for the last year. I've been missing bread! So when I saw Udi's bagels on the bottom shelf of the gluten free freezer section at Meijers I HAD to get them. They don't sell the sandwich bread, but I figured the bagels would give me an idea of whether or not their bread products are saw dust like the rest I've tried. And of course.... what's a bagel without cream cheese.... so that went into the cart too. That's $7.00. If I hadn't spent that $7.00 I would be right on budget. Darn bagels.

But it's worth it. I opened them as soon as the groceries were put away. I toasted them in the oven. And WOW. They are amazing. Like seriously heaven on earth. I haven't had "real" bread of any kind in over a year. These tasted like normal bread. I was moments away from tearing open the whole pack and eating all 4. It was that good. My 3 year old ate it with a cream cheesed faced smile.... while I sat next to hear and asked, "Are you gonna finish that?" Hands down the best gluten free product I've ever tried. And it's only $4.99 for a 4 pack, and since I split one with my daughter... that's 4 breakfasts! For GF bread that's a great price. I am in love with a breakfast food...... don't tell my husband....

So I sit here typing, my head held in shame... feeling like a failure. But sometimes you have to buy the bagels you've been longing to try for a year.... It's hard to feel too much shame with a belly full of bagel and cream cheese. Seriously, just try it.

I'll get back on track next week. At least I hope not to go over twice in a row. I'm trying to cut down on how much meat I eat (hence all the beans I bought today), so maybe my bill won't be as bad.... or it might just be wishful thinking....

Shopping List - Week 5

Had to run to Walmart for a return so I checked out their marked down meat. I was able to get a pound of extra lean ground turkey, lean turkey sausage links, and a turkey breast for about $9.

So $16.60 spent so far out of the $40.

I am not going to comment on the extra money I spent while at Walmart *browsing*...... I don't even like Walmart but whenever I'm there I get the urge to stroll through the aisles to see what's on sale. For anyone looking, they have kids fleece pj sets for $4.00. My daughter is growing like a weed and needed some pretty badly so I got her 2 pairs.

$23.40 left of the grocery budget.... not sure if I'll be spending it or not. I'm taking stock of the freezer to see if what we still need. :)

Shopping List - Week 5

I can't believe it's week 5 of the challenge! The first month went better than I thought. There were even a couple under budget weeks. This week I need a lot of things like vegetables and meat so I don't think I'll have a lot of unused money left, although I'm starting to get pretty confident that I can do this every week for under $40. For instance today at the grocery store when my original total was nearly $60 after the Kroger savings with my shoppers card (it was over 80), I didn't panic. I knew that I had my wad of coupons and my total would come down significantly. According to my receipt my total savings with sales and coupons was 91%! Maybe it's nerdy or a little pathetic, but I was SO excited by this. My final price was only $7.62! And wait till you see how much I got!

I will admit that my weekend challenge did not work out though. I did spend under $20 for the meal.... but.... the meal never happened. We'll be having everyone over another day instead, so I'm saving most of the ingredients, although the salad ingredients will be used up this week so they don't go bad.

So here's what I got at Kroger this week: They were doing another Mega sale so I noted this as well.

$1.99 Emerald Peanuts (bought 2) - Minus $.50 each for Mega sale and 2 $1.99 coupons = FREE + $.98 OVERAGE
$1.25 Vitamin Water (bought 2) - Minus $.50 each for Mega sale and $2.00 coupon =FREE + $.50 OVERAGE
$2.50 Vaseline Lotion (bought 3) - Minus $.50 each for Mega and 3 $2.00 coupons = FREE
$2.10 Coffeemate Creamer (bought 2) - Minus 2 $2.00 coupons = $.10 each
$1.25 Skinny Cow Ice Cream Cups (bought 2) - Minus 2 $1.25 coupons = FREE
$1.00 Del Monte Fruit Naturals (bought 6) - Minus 2 $2.00 coupons = $.33 each
$1.39 Franks Red Hot (bought 2) - Minus 2 $1.39 coupons = FREE
$1.29 Coast Soap - Minus $1.29 coupon = FREE
$2.28 Marie Collander Steamer Frozen Entree (bought 2) - MInus $.50 each for Mega Sale and 2 $2.00 coupons = FREE + $.44 OVERAGE
$2.00 Blue Diamond Nut Thins (bought 2) - Minus 2 $1.00 coupons = $1.00 each
$1.49 Krusteaz Cookie Mix (bought 3) - Minus $.50 each for Mega sale and 3 $1.49 coupons = FREE + $1.47 OVERAGE
$.90 2.31 lbs of Bananas
$2.29 Honey Nut Cheerios - Minus $.50 for Mega sale and $1.10 coupon = $.69
$1.49 Mom's Best Naturals Cereal (bought 2) - Minus $.50 each for Mega sale and 2 $1.49 coupons = FREE + $1.00 OVERAGE
$2.29 Honey Nut Chex Cereal (bought 4) - Minus $.50 Mega sale for each and 3 $2.00 coupons = $.79 each
$2.29 Rice Chex Cereal (bought 2) - Minus $.50 each for Mega Sale and $2.00 coupon = $.79 each

So there it is 37 items for $7.62. I think this great, especially considering I got 9 boxes of cereal and Chex is one of the only GF cereals my daughter and I like.

Now I just need to decide what's for dinner and I'm done for the day. My foot is in major pain and I'm taking it easy the rest of the day. Hopefully my 3 year old cooperates and decides she's in the mood for a lazy day too!