Fun Friday Shopping Totals: See how I feed my family of six (including 3 teens) for around $125/week. See our $125 Budget Weekly Menu here.
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PRODUCE MARKET–Spent $33.74
(items pictured above plus 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts for $7.84)
Money Saving Tip: Check local produce stands and ethnic markets. They often have much lower prices on certain items than chain stores. I picked up a 15 lb bag of potatoes for $3.99 or just $.27 cents a pound, pint grape tomatoes for $1.49 and watermelon for $3.49.
DOLLAR GENERAL ––Spent $11.35.
Money Saving Tip: Check alternate stores for lower prices on staple items.
Early in the week we were in Dollar General to purchase a non-food item and I noticed the grocery section. I was just too tired to handle Walmart that day, so I picked up a few items we needed. The cheese was a little more expensive, but the other items were cheaper than Walmart prices (eggs were $.30 cents cheaper a dozen!). I may add Dollar General to my weekly or biweekly grocery route.
WINN DIXIE–Spent $39.85.
Money Saving Tip: Buy meat at it’s lowest price and freeze it for later. We will use about half this meat this week and the rest will go in the freezer for later. Instead of paying full price for meat when we decide we want it, I save by purchasing the meat at the lowest price for our area, and “shop” my freezer later in the month.
WALMART–Spent $42.77.
I did finally make it to Walmart by the end of the week to purchase some items we were out of. There are a few items that are slightly cheaper at Save A Lot, but I wanted to make one stop, so I chose Walmart.
Weekly Total: $135.55
June Monthly Total: $302.96
($125/week budget for six people–$10.55 over for the week, but I was able to buy meat that we will use for a couple of weeks, so hopefully I can keep the budget in line the rest of the month.)
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I wanted to tell you about a conversation I had with a nice lady (employee) in the meat department at Publix recently. I am concerned about the meat and chicken, especially after I read an article about high levels of arsenic in chicken. I approached her and started asking questions. She was extremely knowledgeable and aware (she recommended I watch the movie Food, Inc.)
She explained that Publix gets their chicken from only 2 suppliers and they are not the Big-Agra farms. She said they are involved in every aspect. She assured me that I didn’t need to worry about arsenic in chicken feed from any chicken I buy at Publix. She said I was safe with any chicken, not just Greenwise. She explained that Greenwise chicken is only sourced from small farms in Florida.
She said that you can look at the sale flyer to see what meat is on sale (ie sirloin steak, NY strip, etc) and you can pretty much find out what meat goes into their fresh ground beef. They are required by law to put the 70/30 on it, but it is usually much superior meat. I can attest that I bought it once and there was NO GREASE at all in the pan. My husband even commented on how good the meat tasted.
Anyway, I have decided that Publix meats can be trusted and warrant the higher price tag. I thought I would pass this information along because I am not aware that it is put out there in marketing material (it should be).
Thanks so much Mandy. I need to ask about Winn Dixie meat.
I went a bit over this week, by about $15. We’re going to an outdoor music festival for 4 days next weekend so I had to buy extra things I don’t normally buy like heavy duty spray sunscreen, wet wipes, and some travel sized toiletries. There will be 4 adults in one 30′ trailer, so space and water are both limited. I also bought them at the grocery store which is slightly more expensive than Target, but our store is offering double fuel reward points this month, so my $90 in groceries equaled 180 fuel points. 20 more points and I’ll get 20 cents a gallon off gas, so that’s a good savings! Plus, Target is a “trigger” store for me… I always end up buying extra stuff when I go in there, so it’s best to avoid!
I totally know what you mean about Target Julie! Thankfully we have to drive over 10 miles to find one, but every time I go to that store I end up buying lots of things that weren’t on my list. Do they have some special shopper hypnotizing music or something? Haha!
I love how you show pictures and that some of your items are generic or store brand and others are brand name. I wish I had more stores to choose from to be able to get really good deals but so far my budgeted amount has been working for us.
I always like to show real life, not some ideal. I generally only buy the name brand stuff if it is on sale, but I have decided to spend a little extra on buying better bread, so if it’s not on sale, I spend the extra money. The important thing is to set a budget to begin with, so good for you!