Trader Joe’s $124.48
I started the year off with a stock up trip to Trader Joe’s. I love Trader Joe’s… Have I mentioned that before? I love the SIZE of the store {not ridiculously overwhelming with 2 aisles dedicated to breakfast cereal or an enormous produce section half filled with subpar fruits and veggies}.
I like the smaller functional layout that’s fully stocked with both basics and frills and seasonal items to boot.
The employees are helpful and friendly and seem to actually like working there. And they have flowers at the front door to greet you as well. What’s not to love? You can get in, get your goods and get out happy within 15 minutes. That’s my kind of store!
I loaded up on both produce and ready made freezer meals. January {and February and March} are going to be busy months for us. My goal is to get enough wool dyed and kits and patterns made up by the end of March so I can take the rest of the year off from doing those things.
I want to play in the dirt this summer. I want to hook some BIG rugs. And in order to do that, I need to get all the wool dyed and patterns made first so I don’t have that distraction.
Trader Joe’s Bon Bons!!! C’est magnifique! Are bon bons french? Hmm.
Fact: Trader Joe’s cereal is cheaper than the big name brands and you don’t have any {unrealistic} annoying marketing junk on the boxes either.
Their french baguette is really good too. It’s not crusty on the outside like the kind you get at the bakery, but still really good.
Costco $15.17
I also popped by Costco on the way back from Trader Joe’s to pick up some more lettuce greens and potatoes. And of course the rotisserie chicken. You can’t go to Costco and not come home with the chicken.
I was going to pick up some asparagus too, but when I flipped the package over to check the pack date I realized the asparagus was over 2 weeks old and put it back. Do you do that? Check the pack date on produce? I always do.
They had puffy coats on clearance!!! $6.97. But none in my size. Boo!
The HH made my favorite copy cat Panera tomato soup.
And some chicken soup too!
I whipped up {opened a bag} of Trader Joe’s Kung POW chicken.
I also popped one of their lasagnas in the oven.
We had bigs salads…
We had some rosemary ham sammies too. It was a good week!
Have you bought any groceries yet this year? Get anything exciting? Do you have any food/mealtime goals for this year? My goals for January/February/March are convenience convenience convenience. 🙂
~Mavis
Total Spent This Past Week $139.65
Total Spent in January $139.65
Connie says
That all looks great. My closet TJ`s is 5 hours away. But I go when we visit family. It is the best. I need to do bigger hauls there.
As I age ,with just 2 of us, our cooking and eating are getting simpler.
Erin says
I haven’t been cooking much the past year & 1/2 due to long covid. I stocked up before the snowstorm this weekend (14” where I am in southern coastal Maine!) & am determined to start cooking again, hoping good, nutritious food will help me regain some energy. I made a roast in the crockpot yesterday along with some baked cabbage & instant pot baby potatoes , & I hope to be able to make some stir fry or other rice dish today that’s loaded down with veggies. I live convenient to the TJ’s on the peninsula but I never go because grocery pickup orders are so convenient. I really should do a stock-up trip though because we need some nuts & dried fruit & TJ’s sells the perfect size packages.
Jamie says
I got a bag of cutie style oranges at Costco this fall and they were terrible. Horrible flavor, couldn’t eat them. Looked at the bag & it said they were packaged last February!! That couldn’t have been right? I will look from now on and yes gross on the old asparagus. I always check greens for a fresher date.
Jeri says
We had that happen with Cuties from Costco, too! They were so blah. No flavor, no sweetness, and dry. I didn’t think to look at the date. However, I purchased some at the grocery store, and they were perfect!
Jennifer says
Our dd and her dh recently joined Costco and got a $40 gift card for joining. They invited us to come along and spend the gift card. Free meat? Sure can. Well, we got there and they said, “get anything and everything you want”. They know how we’ve been struggling financially lately but we didn’t want to break their bank so we got a few things and the total may have been $100, maybe.
While we were walking around, they were shopping too, but when we got to the checkout, their ” stuff” was simply things we said we liked, so our few things turned into a lot of food that we want have to buy anytime soon. Chicken breasts, thighs, pork loin, frozen meals, bread, toilet paper, paper towels, snacky stuff, and a rotisserie chicken, you name it. What a blessing that was for us!!
Funny story. When her dh (I refuse in law in any shape or form) paid, his card was declined (y’all, I could’ve cried). Thankfully, the bank just thought it was a fraudulent transaction because of the amount. Too 15 minutes to clear up, but we now have a fridge and two freezers stuffed with food.
Holley says
Oh Jennifer, what a blessing! That girl must have been raised right!
Margo says
What a wonderful, thoughtful, and practical gift!
Virginia says
That’s wonderful, Jennifer. Their generosity and your appreciation in equal measure.
Holley says
It seems like you got a lot of food and it wasn’t too bad on the $$$!!! Maybe prices are coming down? Everything looks yummy!
We are (kinda) doing a pantry challenge. There is so much food in this house and it’s time to use it up. I’m going to go through one of my freezers today to see what we have and try to meal plan.
Bec in the PNW says
I made my husband’s favorite butter chicken last night. I doubled the recipe so he could take it in to a co-worker who loves it, too. But turns out that the co-worker is on vacation! So I guess we’ll be eating butter chicken all week. Womp womp.
Donna says
I love Trader Joe’s for all the same reasons, but the only store reasonably close to me is always **packed** with customers and that makes it very difficult to get in and out. I do wish I had an alternative for fresh flowers….they just can’t be beat on that front! Neither of our adult children live close to one, so we will be stopping on our way out town with their lists of must-haves before we meet up with them for vacation here shortly. 🙂
Lana says
Our store is packed too and the parking is nearly impossible so we never go. But, we have Lidl and they have nice flowers and plants and many wonderful products like their German made jams which we love.
Lana says
I look at those produce packed on dates too. They can be crazy! We have salvage grocery stores all over town and we can buy restaurant convenience foods for crazy cheap. Our favorite right now is a ham and cheese stuffed croissant, 10 pk for 3.99. But, we are doing a pantry clean out that could take months to get through a bunch of food that needs to go so we have only spent $15 so far this year on milk, eggs and produce. Leftover grocery money will go in our money market that is paying 5% right now. Win, win!
Kathy Christiansen says
I LOVE TJ’s rosemary ham! My TJ’s is always busy ae well but if I go early (8:15ish), I can get in and out in 15 minutes.
Elizabeth says
I don’t have any year-long goals this time, but for this month I’ve challenged myself to spend no more than $100 on food. I haven’t done that in years, but I think it’ll be doable with the things I already had in the pantry. I’ve bought everything I think I’ll need for the month and spent $83, so there’s a little bit of room left in the budget in case I need it. I need to get better at meal planning, and this will be good practice.
Brianna says
I shop less and less at Costco for many reasons, but one is that I often find undesirable produce. I think they are sneaky how they package the produce so you cannot view it all and I often end up with one or two ‘bad apples’ in the bunch. I have always tried to look for the stamp of when the produce was picked or expires. I have no issues buying damaged, ripe, or ugly produce if it is reduced in price, but when I pay full price for it I expect better.
PSUCHIC06 says
Have to chime in 🙂 worked there… never ceased to.amaze me how.many members don’t look at product throughly…like huge spider webs in a box of grapes, obviously bad bacon (air seal had been popped), bag potatoes…
That said, I think stockers try… members can’t see how.much gets chucked and written off 🙁
But I get what you’re saying… put a complaint I the box by the exit.door…it goes to the building manager and corporate buyers. They want to know the last person on the supply chain is disappointed!
It.does help…I’ve seen items change vendors, due.to the complaints
Costco, though… is changing, with leadership rotating… I am sure anyone that shops there senses it with employees 🙁
Sue S. says
I love Trader Joe’s especially since ours is only a 20 minute drive. Prices are better and I know I’m getting food, not junk. It takes less of my time, the prices are great, and the employees so friendly, helpful, and just plain nice. Thought of you Mavis whole checking the frozen bagged meals. I have never checked produce pack dates — thanks for the tip. What I do check for though is sodium count and cholesterol in prepackaged food.
I don’t buy anything with MSG in it.
Vy says
I always check the veggie dates, and I also dig around in their backstock for stuff that has more recent dates. Not amused when my food goes bad before I can finish it!
Kathy says
how long is asparagus good to use if packed in Peru on 12-16-23?
FeralCat says
My food goals this year concern microgreens, pizza and cappuccinos. I live in a house with a shady yard, but still want to grow something. I am contemplating a microgreens setup in my house. Figuring out how to make a really nice pizza in my oven is another goal. I also picked up a reduced-price espresso machine a few months ago, and am going to start practicing on it this month. This should be a substantial money-saver for me, since I do stop by at a local cafe at least once a day for an espresso drink. It should be a good food year for me.
Claudia says
Just so glad to see what you’ve cooked and what you’ve spent this week 😉 Thank you!
Judy says
I really enjoy seeing what you’ve bought and your meals. Gives me great ideas. Thank you
Ashley Bananas says
Hi Mavis, Are you doing any kind of monetary goal for spending on groceries this year?
Mary says
Rotisserie chicken at Costco. Can you tell me what you paid? The prices on those chickens are going up here at home.
Mavis Butterfield says
$4.99.
Mary says
Great price
Kippy says
I always check expiration dates whichever grocery store I’m in. One time at Safeway I had to tell the clerk they might want to pull the Platinum yeast that was three weeks past expiration date.
TJ County Potatoes! I also love the Vegetarian Fried Rice. Per one of your commenters a few weeks ago I baked some TJ Gnocchi. Super! Like mashed potato and French fries flavor and texture
Terry McA says
I did go to the store this week, and purchased honey, lemon juice, my favorite tea, eggs, and carb-zero tortillas. 18″ of snow this week, and now the cold will set in. Meals this week included taco salad, the last of my lamb stew, chicken soup, beef stroganoff, and steak and potatoes. For breakfast, I did an Italian sausage and mozzarella frittata, which lasted me most of the week.
This week, going to start planning for a meal day, my freezers are getting low and I’d rather make 40-50 meals I can simply throw in the oven or crockpot during this busy season coming up! Basketball games (I run the scoreboard), time to start planning the garden (it’s going to be triple the size this year), and finals coming up before summer.