Smith Brothers Milk $11.16
I decided to save a little over a buck a week and canceled Monkey Boy’s chocolate milk and replaced it with another half gallon of 2%. Having milk delivered has kept me away from the grocery stores lately which was the main goal for signing up for home delivery.
One of my goals for 2014 was to get my house organized. I haven’t started on the pantry yet, but I’m hoping to clean it out and see what we have and what needs to be consumed so it does’t go to waste.
Fresh Produce Market $5.06
Now that Mr. Produce Guy and I have broken up I’ll be buying my own bananas and other produce from now on. I’m sure going to miss all those freebies, but knowing the fruits and vegetables are going to a good home it was totally worth it.
Target – $6.45
I picked up spinach, yogurt, limes and a box of Milk Duds while we were at Target buying some bins last week. I don’t know about you, but I still think it’s a little weird they sell groceries. Clever, but weird.
Panera – Free
For the fifth year in a row my parents gave me a big fat gift card to Panera for Christmas. If you have never tried Panera’s creamy tomato soup, holy smokes is it delicious. And their bread, well that’s pretty RAD too. 😉
Well that’s all I bought this week, how about YOU? Are you still trying to eat everything you bought for the holidays or are your cupboards getting a little bare?
~Mavis
Total Spent This Week $22.67
Total Spent This Year $35.03
Total Spent This Year on Garden Seeds/Supplies $0
Go HERE to read more Shopping Trip Stories.
Kelly says
I love Panera’s tomato soup! One of these days, I need to find the recipe & try making it muse of!
Lana says
We still have way too much food on hand so we are only buying milk, produce and nearly free deals.
Kathy says
Still eating leftovers that I froze lol. But this past weekend I broke down and went to grocery store. One was sick and will only ear Campbells chicken noodle soup instead of my homemade, so I had to get soup. Some ground meat, sausage and canned diced tomatoes (I ran out of the home canned ones…oh no!) at one, spent $13.33. Then on to Walmart for the soup and pizza plus some non food items, $7.89. Was gifted yet another turkey, a whole chicken, a pork roast and several ccontaiers os spices, hot cocoa and tea. And bartered with my sister for other things. Life is lovely right now. $21.22 so far this year.
Mary G says
Looks good. I was able to pick up marked-down bananas for 25 cents/LB and a LB of organic baby spinach for $1 this week. I mostly bought basics this week–produce, dairy, and a few pantry items. I like Panera, too. Our local restaurant donates all its day-old bread to our local food bank, which I think is awesome. 🙂
Theresa from NNY says
Our Panera does the same but they also donate to some local churches. I think it’s wonderful that it isn’t just thrown in the trash.
Mavis Butterfield says
Our Panera does the same. It’s nice to see that the food does not go to waste.
Judy says
Mavis you can save money on monkey boys chocolate milk by buying him chocolate syrup instead of the ready made chocolate milk which is more costly. You can buy the double pack of huge bottles of the hershey’s syrup at Sam’s or Costco too! And you get way more glasses of chocolate milk per package then the carton stuff! Even cheaper then the stores!
I see this as a win win deal, except for maybe monkey boy who will have to make his own chocolate milk! Haha!
Jen says
Better yet, make it from cocoa powder! It will be better for you too. I buy organic roasted cacao in bulk from Mountain Rose Herbs for $13/lb
April Myers says
At first I was wondering how the gift card should be counted towards your grocery haul. But then I realized, you make a good point without saying it outright, that one way to save on food costs is to let it be known that you appreciate gifts of food and gift cards for food. So if any gift-giving is involved, you get something useful and consumable instead of more things to organize next year. Clever.
peggy says
While I love your website and your ideas and you make me laugh, I have to say to stop getting choc milk for your son to save a few cents – well I think it’s a bit overboard. Everyone needs a treat in their day and if the choc milk is his, for heavens sakes let him have it! You save on so many other things that my boys would never eat and do so many things to save money that the few cents you are saving is just not worth it. I am impressed that your children will eat frozen bread in sandwiches – mine wouldn’t. And they were not picky eaters and they ate things they didn’t like – often days at a time – for me to make ends meet. So for the few cents you are saving – let me ask you – is it really worth it? I remember my parents mixing Carnation Dry milk with whole milk to make it go further – well it did because we wouldn’t drink it. Let the poor boy have his treat!!!!!
Kim O. says
Try googling creamy basil tomato soup by the Silver Palette. It is the bomb! Very close to Panera. I love it! Mavis, you never cease to crack me up! My kids were just like, mom, no not another Mavis story! Hee, hee!
Mavis Butterfield says
Thanks for the recipe tip!! 🙂
Natural Health Mom says
Hi Mavis,
On your inspiration, I gathered my strength 2 weeks ago (just before the breakup) to ask my Safeway produce guy if he could give me lots of free rotten food.
He said they weren’t allowed to give it away, because people might bring it back and try to return it. He also said they gave away their good stuff to goodwill.
Then I called goodwill, and they said YES! they would give me free rotten produce – so my chickens are in luck, at least!
Can you give us an example of what your family actually does eat? I know you can’t all survive on milk duds, milk, and spinach for a week! How much are you eating from the garden vs just “not eating…” 🙂 Inquiring minds want to know!
Thanks for a hilarious blog!
Emily
Mavis Butterfield says
Hi Emily, if you look back though the previous grocery posts you’ll see that I stock up on bulk items several times a year as well as freeze lot’s of fruits and vegetables during the summer months. http://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/category/weekly-shopping-trips/
Theresa from NNY says
Amazing! Here it’s only the 13 of January and I’ve already spent $280 on food. And that’s shopping mostly at Aldi and one other store and buying what’s on sale and using store and MF coupons. We’re a family of 5. I’ll keep working at being more like you! Although I doubt that’ll ever happen. You truly impress me.
Mavis Butterfield says
You will be fine Theresa. 🙂 I freeze a lot of produce in the summer months and that really helps cut our food bill.
Heather T. says
January is my month to “not shop” except milk and some produce, good time to cook what we have and see what we may have forgotten about.
kristi says
I printed up a list of everything in our freezer and made a three week meal schedule (so far) and added sides from the fridge/pantry. Then circled the few things needed to complete the meals. So only need to grab fruit and milk and those few items. Plus we know what is for dinner that day and can only shop for the great deals at the store and let the others pass by. Every meal is different with the exception of chicken. I didn’t specify how it would be prepared. HTH!