Saturday Grocery Update

I just returned from the store with my weekly groceries. My menu for the upcoming week is:
"Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich" (From Pioneer Woman Cooks)
"Beans and Cornbread" (I'm not making the cornbread from scratch this time)
Tuna Noodle Salad and rolls
Meat loaf and mashed potatoes
Homemade macaroni & cheese and chicken nuggets

I only listed five meals as we may be going out one of these days and another I hope for some leftovers, or otherwise we have the ingredients for homemade pizza. All the meals will be served with vegetables and fruit and whatever else we have on hand. Lunches are anything on hand in the house (sandwiches, mac & cheese, leftovers) and breakfasts are several different choices of what is on hand. Here is my shopping trip today:

4 boxes Rice Krispies $3 x4

1 box Smart Start cereal $3.99

Package Hoagie Rolls $2.59

Flour $2.49

Denta Stix (for the dogs) $3.29

Malt-o-meal brown sugar $3.99

Dried pinto beans, 1 lb. 85 cents

Co-Jack cheese $2.19

Paper plates $2.19

Tropicana OJ 89oz. $3.99

Ovaltine $3.69

Applesauce 99 cents

foil 99 cents

butter $1.88

Cornbread mix 43 cents

chicken nuggets $2.50

brown sugar $1.49

bread and butter pickles $1.89

shell noodles 99 cents

egg noodles 99 cents

sliced chicken for sandwiches $2

lemon pepper 79 cents

tabasco sauce $1.29

honeydew melon $1.29

margarine 99 cents

seasoning salt $1.79

dozen eggs $1.50

celery 99 cents

ketchup 99 cents

onion 96 cents

carrots 88 cents

bologna $1.52

cube steak $4.51

1.70 lb. of apples $1.17

4 oranges $1

gallon whole milk $3.09

gallon 1% milk $2.75

The reason I bought five boxes of cereal is that the store circular had a "Buy 5 get $5 off coupon". I also had two coupons for "buy two boxes of cereal get $2 off milk" and one "$1 off Smart Start cereal". So in the end I paid $6 for five boxes of cereal and we like rice krispies not just for breakfast but also for our granola bar recipes and rice krispie bars. I also had $2 off the dog treats, and $1.50 off the flour. So the grand total was....$67.87! I once again came in under $75! The kids have been going through so much milk lately that I'm sure I'll have to buy another gallon or two by the end of next week but it's still under budget!

Some of what I bought, such as the flour and seasonings added to the total but will used throughout the month (or year) so should bring my totals down a different week. Once again, I bought paper plates. We will be trying to steer clear of them at some point but with three little kiddos at home with me all day it saves my sanity to use paper plates at times. I have been using our real plates more though so hope to reduce our paper plate usage by half for starters. I bought bologna too...I know it isn't great for us but my husband likes it and the kids do too. I hope to start cutting back on processed meats in the near future. I figure I will start to do these cuts slowly so as not to get burned out from the start.

I do find it amazing that by setting a lower budget for groceries I am able to meet that budget. I am saving $25 a week just by paying a little more attention at the grocery store.