Whip Your Grocery Budget Into Shape: Buy Generic

Welcome to the second major series of posts on Frugal Made Fun! Each week, I'll post 1-2 tips on how to develop your own plan to save money on groceries. I'm going to start with some of the most basic, easiest things you can do to save money, and then progress from there. You can take as much or little advice as you like. As the series progresses, a little more work may be involved, but you will definitely save more money.



Buy the generic version. There are a handful of items that I am unwilling to compromise on the brand. However for 95% of our other purchases, I can hardly tell the difference between the brand name and the generic. If you are willing to stick with the grocery budget plan and master using coupons, you'll actually be able to get the brand name items for a fraction of the price of the generic items using coupons combined with sales. However, if you don't have time to cut and use coupons, buying generic is the way to go!

Menu Plan Monday

Sunday: Grilled lemon chicken, grilled veggies
Monday: Sausage & Broccoli Noodle Casserole
Tuesday: Macaroni Grill's spicy sausage and pasta
Wednesday: Chicken quesadillas (tortillas in fridge, cooked chicken in freezer)
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Homemade calzone
Saturday: Chilli Noodle Casserole

Be sure to check out Menu Plan Monday over at Org Junkie's site. Over 300 bloggers link up which means lots of new recipes and ideas!

Publix Trip

This week was a quick trip before we went to the mountains for the weekend! Again, it ended up being a bigger trip than anticipated!
Spent: $32.93
Saved: $67.35
Bought:
4 boxes Morningstar veggie burgers
5 boxes Kellogg's cereal (Submitting for $5 Publix Gift Card offer through Kellogg's)
1 box Ritz crackers
1 box Ritz pretzel/crackers
2 bottles Mayo
1 box of tea bags
2 bags of Dove peanut butter chocolate candies
1 five pound bag of potatoes
Zuchini
Squash
1 package Fiber One Yogurt
4 Campbell's Select Harvest soup
4 Cream of mushroom/chicken soup
1 package brats
1 4-pack TP (this was the penny item this week....toilet paper for $0.01? Yes please!)

And here is our Aldi trip pre-mountain getaway:

Spent: $18.10
Saved: ???? a lot hopefully :)

Whip Your Grocery Budget Into Shape: Make a List!

Welcome to the second major series of posts on Frugal Made Fun! Each week, I'll post 1-2 tips on how to develop your own plan to save money on groceries. I'm going to start with some of the most basic, easiest things you can do to save money, and then progress from there. You can take as much or little advice as you like. As the series progresses, a little more work may be involved, but you will definitely save more money.



Make a list! Now that you are looking through the flyers every week, why not just simply write down the things that you need that are on sale, in addition to whatever else you are out of. Now, the hard part about lists is not writing one, it is sticking to it! When you go to the grocery store, do not put anything on your cart that is not on your list!

Whip Your Grocery Budget Into Shape: Stock Up!

Welcome to the second major series of posts on Frugal Made Fun! Each week, I'll post 1-2 tips on how to develop your own plan to save money on groceries. I'm going to start with some of the most basic, easiest things you can do to save money, and then progress from there. You can take as much or little advice as you like. As the series progresses, a little more work may be involved, but you will definitely save more money.


Stock up when things are on sale. If you are looking through the flyers, you can see when stuff you use is on sale. If it's on sale for half price (or buy one, get one), just buy a few extra! If you absolutely know you are going to use it, why would you not buy it when you can get such a discount?! A little overwhelmed or short on space? Start by just stocking up on the items that are easy to store and last a long time (pasta, cereal, canned goods, etc). These items stack well on a built-in shelf or two that you can get for about $10 at Walmart.

Menu Plan Monday

Yum! I've been on a menu planning kick lately! And surprise, surprise, I didn't stick to last week's meal plan so you may see some repeats in the next several weeks.

Saturday: Strawberry salad and mozzarella pesto grilled cheese
Sunday: Almond Chicken & Rice Casserole, Basil & Pesto Hummus
Monday: Crockpot Bruschetta feta chicken, salad
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: Beef & Rice Enchiladas
Thursday: A1 Mozzarella burgers, corn on the cob
Friday: Beef & Vegetable Kebabs
Saturday: Savory steak, grilled potatoes, grilled veggies

Be sure to check out Menu Plan Monday over at Org Junkie's site. Over 300 bloggers link up which means lots of new recipes and ideas!

Publix

I have quite the obsession with Publix. Every week I hope that they don't have anything good on sale so I won't have to spend money that week......and then that week ends up being a bigger shopping trip than usual! I can't really complain though, because we did stock up on a lot of things at rock bottom prices (like $0.35 for Lysol and $0.40 for canned tomatoes).

Spent: $42.42 ($33.72 not including the beer)

Saved: $69.03

Bought:

2 boxes Hefty garbage bags
2 bottles Lysol disinfectant
1 6-pack Octoberfest

6 cans Hunt's diced tomatoes

2 jars peanut butter

1 20 ct Excederin

1 3-pack Dial soap

4 packages Feta cheese

1 Green Giant Valley Fresh steamers veggies

1 Macaroni Grill frozen entree

1 box Fiber One bars

1 box Fiber One cereal

1 jar Olive Oil

3 bags New England coffee

1 bag salad

I also went to Aldi and bought some fruit, eggs, and bread. And I'm thinking I'm going to make this (Strawberry Salad with Mozzarella Pesto Grilled Cheese) for dinner tonight. I can't wait!

Groupon

Are you familiar with Groupon? I keep hearing everyone rave about it but haven't really had the opportunity or desire to check it out......until today! The groupon deal (today only) is a $50 gift card to the Gap for only $25. That's 50% off!!!

How it works: Every day Groupon offers different deals for 50-90% off! The catch? Enough people have to purchase the deal for it to work (it's kind of like buying things in bulk). If not enough people purchase it, you will not be charged, and you will not get the deal.

As I mentioned above, today's deal is for the Gap, however a lot of times the deals are city-specific and will be to restaurants, theaters, spas, stores, etc in your hometown.

And remember, as with anything else when it comes to being frugal, only purchase the deals if you were already planning on spending money on that particular item! Good luck!

Whip Your Grocery Budget Into Shape: Shop the Flyers

Welcome to the second major series of posts on Frugal Made Fun! Each week, I'll post 1-2 tips on how to develop your own plan to save money on groceries. I'm going to start with some of the most basic, easiest things you can do to save money, and then progress from there. You can take as much or little advice as you like. As the series progresses, a little more work may be involved, but you will definitely save more money.


Pay attention to what is on sale that week. Most people should get the weekly ad in the mail (even if you don't have a subscription to your local paper). If you don't, almost all grocery stores post their weekly ads online. Simply peruse through the flyer before you go to the grocery store and make a mental note of what's on sale.

Whip Your Grocery Budget Into Shape: Shop at a Supercenter

Welcome to the second major series of posts on Frugal Made Fun! Each week, I'll post 1-2 tips on how to develop your own plan to save money on groceries. I'm going to start with some of the most basic, easiest things you can do to save money, and then progress from there. You can take as much or little advice as you like. As the series progresses, a little more work may be involved, but you will definitely save more money.


Shop at Walmart or Target. (Ugh, I cannot believe I am promoting going to Walmart - Every time I step foot in that store my stress level rises and I think I shave a few months off my life expectancy). That being said, stuff IS cheaper there, especially compared to grocery store prices. If you're wanting to save a few bucks but simply do not have the time to follow some of the upcoming recommendations, shop at a Supercenter a couple of times a month.

Menu Plan Monday

Sunday: Broccoli Casserole
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Beef & Rice Enchiladas, corn on the cob
Wednesday: Spicy Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup
Thursday: Pasta with pesto, garlic bread, salad
Friday: Homemade pizza, salad
Saturday: Almond, Chicken & Rice Casserole

Be sure to check out Menu Plan Monday over at Org Junkie's site. Over 300 bloggers link up which means lots of new recipes and ideas!

Publix & CVS

This week was definitely an "overbudget" week, but I'm okay with that because we've actually had several "underbudget" weeks last month. That's the beauty of budgeting and saving, when you go a little bit over budget, it's not the end of the world! I also bought a bunch of fruit and veggies from Aldi and 3 packages of boneless, skinless chicken breasts from Food World (on sale for $1.77/lb). Enough rambling, here is what I got at Publix this week:
Spent: $25.91
Saved: $33.32Bought:
6 boxes Aunt Jemima frozen pancakes ("snack" for the hubby)
1 Publix frozen pizza
3 boxes Scotties tissues
1 box Superpretzel soft pretzels (another snack for the hubby)
2 Pillsbury dough rolls
4 bags of croutons
1 Sirloin tip steak (for the mountains.....mmmmm kebabs!)
1 box orzo
1 package Dentastix
1 cucumber




As far as drugstores go, I usually lean toward Rite Aid because I really like the idea of getting cash back (in the form of a rebate) that I can simply deposit back into my checking account, instead of getting "drug store money" that can only be used at that particular "drug store." However, Rite Aid recently jumped on the drug store money bandwagon and it seems (to me at least) like they are not offering as many rebates as they did previously. I had been wanting to try out "CVSing" for some time now, it seems easy enough to get a lot of household and toiletry items for free and they hands down have better customer service than Walgreens. Here is what I purchased today:

Spent: $4.11
Saved: $15.07
Bought:
Dawn Dishsoap (free)
Dry Idea deodorant (free)
Purex 3-in-1 detergent ($3)

Received: $2 in ECB (Extra Care Bucks) that can be used on my next purchase at CVS and a coupon for $4 off my next $20 purchase.

Whip Your Grocery Budget Into Shape: Buy in Bulk

Welcome to the second major series of posts on Frugal Made Fun! Each week, I'll post 1-2 tips on how to develop your own plan to save money on groceries. I'm going to start with some of the most basic, easiest things you can do to save money, and then progress from there. You can take as much or little advice as you like. As the series progresses, a little more work may be involved, but you will definitely save more money.

Buy in bulk. Shop at a warehouse club for things you commonly buy at the grocery store. Even if you just go once/month, you will be saving money. They won't have everything you buy at the grocery store, but you would be surprised with the number of items they do have. Even if you don't do anything else to save money, your cost per serving/person will likely be a lot less if you buy in bulk as opposed to buying items at the grocery store (especially if they're not on sale!).

Whip Your Grocery Budget Into Shape! Set a Budget

Welcome to the second major series of posts on Frugal Made Fun! Each week, I'll post 1-2 tips on how to develop your own plan to save money on groceries. I'm going to start with some of the most basic, easiest things you can do to save money, and then progress from there. You can take as much or little advice as you like. As the series progresses, a little more work may be involved, but you will definitely save more money. Enjoy your first tip!

The title of this series is "Whip Your Grocery BUDGET Into Shape!" The key word being "Budget!" The first step to setting a budget on groceries is to get an idea of what you are currently spending. For the next couple of weeks, save your grocery reciepts and at the end of each week add up how much you spent. By the end of 4 weeks, you should have a pretty good idea of what you average on groceries per week. If this "average" seems appropriate in relation to the number of people in your family and in regards to your salary, then make that average your new grocery budget number. If it seems high, at least you have a starting point. Try to decrease it by 10-20% each month until you feel like you are at an appropriate number.

(For what it's worth, our food budget is about 12% of our takehome pay. But we also include household supplies, pet food, spending money, etc in that 12%. So technically it's probably more like 8% but I've never done the numbers officially).


Here are a couple of blog posts to help you start thinking about how much is appropriate for your grocery budget:

Appropriate Food Budget for Family of Four by Trent @ The Simple Dollar
The Average Food Budget of a Family of Four by eHow
The Grocery Budget at BeingFrugal.net

Menu Plan Monday

I think last week was the first week we actually stuck to our Menu Plan! Well, almost. I didn't make the Avocado & Cilantro soup because I didn't read that it has to chill for 2.5 hours. And the Tortellini soup got bumped to Sunday because Tom decided to cook for me Saturday night :D

Sunday: Tortellini soup, salad
Monday: Rosemary Ranch chicken in Crock Pot, rice, green beans
Tuesday: Cheesy shells (pasta with velveeta), baked tilapia with dill sauce, salad
Wednesday: Chicken & gravy, mashed potatoes, veggies
Thursday: Birdseye Voila meal (we still have not had this yet! Anyone want to take bets on if we actually eat it this week?)
Friday: Stuffed shells, salad, garlic bread
Saturday: Meatball sub casserole, salad

Be sure to check out Menu Plan Monday over at Org Junkie's site. Over 300 bloggers link up which means lots of new recipes and ideas!

I can't stay away from Rite Aid

So, once again, as of last night I had no plans to go to Rite Aid today. I did need to run by Walmart and pick up a new bottle of iron pills. I figured I would check the flyers first to see if they happened to be on sale anywhere. Turns out, they were! Rite Aid was having a B1G1 (buy one, get one free) sale on them. So I looked through the flyer, searched online for some coupons, and checked a couple of blog posts to make sure I could maximize my deals. And boy did I ever. I got all of this below for a total of $6.43! AND THEN I got home and saw there was a peelie on one of the Curel bottles of lotion. I particpated in a 5 minute online survery for them and am now anxiously awaiting a $15 prepaid gift card in the mail!!

Curel: $5 each
Crest: $2.69
Nature Made: $8.29
Nature Made: $4.79
__________________
$30.17 + tax
Minus $4.79 (free Nature Made with sale)
Minus $5/25 printable Rite Aid coupon
Minus $1 Nature Made Coupon
Minus $1 Nature Made Coupon
Minus $3 (3 Curel coupons)
Minus $0.75 Crest coupon
Minus $3 +Up Rewards earned last week
_______________________
$12.23 (including tax)
Minus $5 SCR (single-check rebate) for buying 3 lotions
Minus $2.69 SCR Crest toothpaste
_______________________
$6.43 Total!!
And I am going to receive a $15 prepaid gift card in the mail!!

Weekly Publix Trip

I love stocking up on things for super cheap!! Here is what we got this week at Publix:

Spent: $20.55
Saved: $42.34
Bought
1 box Cinnamon Toast Crunch
1 box Lucky Charms
2 jars peanut butter (Yes, more peanut butter, I had a raincheck & new coupons)
2 jars Ragu
2 jars Ragu alfredo/cheesy sauce
2 boxes Healthy Harvest pasta
Peaches
Salad
4 bottles Wishbone salad dressing
3 boxes Crystal Light Pure Fitness (these ended up being free)
1 tin Almonds
1 package cookie dough

Saving money vs. natural sunlight

I love sunlight. I love living in apartments that are south or west facing to maximize the amount of natural light you get during the day. The downside? An increase in energy expenditure and more expensive power bill in the summer. One of the first tips you will read about when looking up ways to cut energy costs is to keep your curtains drawn during the summer.

We haven't bothered to put curtains up in the 4+ years we've lived here, partly because the whole process of picking out which curtains we want greatly stresses me out. But partly because I always want the blinds open when I'm home.

The other weekend we went out and bought curtains and rods for our bedrooms (it wasn't in the budget, and that stressed me out for a few minutes....but luckily being frugal and thrifty with most of our purchases allows us to have some extra money for random expenses like this).

We bought the energy efficient/blackout curtains and so far they have been great! We can keep them drawn all day while we're at work and as soon as we get home open them up to let in sunshine.

I am quite pleased with our purchase...and hoping to see (even a minor) change on our power bill next month. If curtains, rods, & hooks are not in your budget, here is a really cheap, although not beautiful, way to block out the light.

Menu Plan Monday

Looks like it's going to be a yummy week! There are several tried & true recipes in here and a few brand new ones that I'm anxious to try!

Sunday: Squash Casserole
Monday: Curly's BBQ sandwiches, Garlic Green beans, pasta side
Tuesday: Avocado & Cilantro soup, Roasted potatoes with a cilantro avocado** dipping sauce
Wednesday: Broiled Tilapia Parmesan, Orzo w/ parmesan and basil, Sesame green beans
Thursday: Spinach & sausage crescent bread, frozen veggies
Friday: Pizza
Saturday: Tortellini soup

Be sure to check out Menu Plan Monday over at Org Junkie's site. Over 300 bloggers link up which means lots of new recipes and ideas!

**I made this up from a couple of different recipes.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup sour cream
1 avocado
1/4-1/2 cup cilantro
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup lime juice
sea salt & ground pepper
1/4 cup hot sauce

Mix all ingredients in food processor.

Please vote!

This post doesn't have anything to do with being frugal, but it's for a great cause! Bookmark the site and please vote every day!

Rite Aid

I really had not planned to go to Rite Aid today, but you know me, I can't pass up a good deal. I was able to get all of the products pictured below for only $3.72. On top of that, I earned $3 in +Up Rewards (which is like free Rite Aid money) that I can use on my next purchase.

Here is how I did it:
Item (Sale Price) (Coupon) (Rebate) (+Up Reward)
Aussie Shampoo ($2.50) (None) (None) ($1 wyb 2)
Aussie Leave-in Conditioner ($2.50) (Free wyb Aussie shampoo) (None) ($1 wyb 2)
Gillette Deodorant x 2 ($4.50 each) (Two $2 coupons) ($3 rebate wyb 2) ($1 wyb 2)
Pantene Shampoo & Conditioner ($3.50 each) ($2 off 2 coupon) (None) ($1 wyb 2)
Gillette Proglide razor ($9.99) ($4 coupon) ($5 rebate) (None)

Total before any coupons: $33.33 (with tax)
Minus $5/$25 Rite Aid coupon (from website)
Minus Manufacturer coupons $12.50
Total Due: $15.83
Minus $4.11 leftover from RA gift card I received from transferring a prescription
Total Due: $11.72
Rebates I will be getting back: $8
Total out of pocket $3.72!!





wyb = when you buy