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socal grocery deals
I love weeks when I can go grocery shopping and I don’t need to buy anything that is on sale. For our family of 5, I try and keep our monthly grocery bill under $300. We’ve been working on restocking our pantry since we moved but now we have a pretty good store of food so we typically don’t need to buy much.
Albertson’s had some great deals this week. I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that the extra arrowhead water coupons I bought off ebay will be here today so I can take advantage of the sale. You can’t see them well in this picture but there are 6 cases of water hidden in there that I got for $0.25 each.
Buying Non-Perishables in Bulk
With the exception of the cantaloupe and steak in this picture, everything I bought was non-perishable so while it does still have to be rotated, it has a long shelf life. Buying non-perishables in bulk is a great way to stock your pantry and keep a stockpile of food in case of an emergency or to tide you over until the next sale cycle.
I’ve changed my thinking about bulk food. When I used to think about buying food in bulk, I thought of going to Costco or shopping the bulk food aisle of the local grocery store (you know, where you find the enormous cans of tomato paste that promise to go bad before you can ever possibly eat the whole thing). Now, when I think of bulk food shopping, I primarily look to my Sunday coupon inserts. I use Costco pricing as a guide and try and beat it by combining coupons with sale prices. Once I find a good deal, I then buy enough of each item to get me through the next several months (or longer) until I can count on the item going on sale again. If you play the game the right way, it ends up being much cheaper shopping with coupons than it is buying in bulk from Costco or another discount warehouse.
Pay attention to prices as you shop. I now know that there are several items I usually can’t beat Costco’s pricing on (for ex. maple syrup). For those things, I stop by Costco every month or so and stock up, knowing that I won’t be able to get a better deal anywhere else.
My Albertson’s Shopping Trip
Everything purchased above can be found in my Albertson’s grocery deal matchup for this week. There were a few things on my list that I couldn’t find at my local store but I was still able to stock up on some basics. Included in this trip were 2 packages of steaks, 1 cantaloupe, 1 box of cereal, 4 boxes of pancake mix, 6 cases of water bottles, 3 tubes of toothpaste, 4 jars of salsa, 2 packs of applesauce, 4 boxes of mac & cheese, 4 packs of goldfish crackers, 12 boxes of pasta, and 3 cans of diced tomatoes.
Grand Total: $41.62
That is a savings of $92.18!
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I try and avoid taking my kids grocery shopping with me at all cost but unfortunately my kids seem to want to eat dinner every night, despite the fact that I fed them the day before so I have to go to the grocery store a lot more often than I have childcare available. I certainly can’t pass up deals like this:
I got all that (including the bottle of olive oil hiding in the back) for a grand total of $25.28. Everything I got was included in the weekly Von’s coupon matchup with the exception of a few things I had free coupons for. The free almond milk coupon printed out when I bought another brand and the other free coupons were given to me at BlogHer so unfortunately I can’t duplicate them. To get this deal I had to take my kids shopping with me though because the new grocery deals start tomorrow.
I’m convinced that if I don’t start rotating grocery stores a bit more often, one of these days my local store is going to have someone waiting for me at the entrance ready to turn us away. Grocery trips with kids usually involve multiple temper tantrums, the occasional broken jar, and end in tears (usually mine).
The first rule of grocery shopping is never shop with kids (that goes double if you have a child on the autistic spectrum). It never ends well.
5 Reasons you Should Grocery Shop Without Kids
1. You’ll likely spend more money because they will absolutely have to have everything they walk past. They probably saw a very convincing commercial and can sing the jingle if you tell them they can’t have it. Even if you turn down most of their requests, you’ll probably have a few extra things added to your cart. My youngest once filled the entire floor of one of those car carts with bubble gum while we were going through the checkout line. The cashier saw the one in his hand in time but the rest made it all the way out to the car with us before we noticed. Which brings us to the second point.
2. Grocery shopping with kids will take you 3 times as long as it normally will (which will also cause you to spend more money). I get coupon burn out every few months but it happens a lot more often if I make a habit of taking my kids with me. Shopping with coupons does add some time to your regular grocery trip but when kids are involved you may as well unpack your things and move in. You aren’t leaving anytime soon.
3. It’s hard to follow a shopping list when kids are with you. You may miss things (which will require another trip to the store) or you may forget to use coupons you were planning on using.
4. You’ll buy more chocolate. Seriously. I can’t get through a trip to the store with my kids without buying chocolate. Notice the chocolate cake and the frozen brownies in the picture above. I don’t want to think about how much weight I’ve gained from post-grocery store chocolate binges.
5. You won’t be able to catch cashier errors, and they happen more often than you think. Grocery shopping with kids requires the reflexes of a super hero (honestly, I would kill to be elasti-girl from the Incredibles). You can’t pay attention to what the cashier is ringing things through as while trying to keep an eye on where your kids are (and what they are touching). I’ve had more than one shopping trip where I made it to the car before realizing that the cashier forgot to scan a coupon or I forgot to hand one over. So far, it has never been worth it to me to take the kids back in and keep them under control while waiting in line at customer service.
If you absolutely have to take kids grocery shopping with you, be sure and go when they are in the mood to handle it. Don’t go right before dinner on a day your 2 year old hasn’t had a nap. I, of course, have never done that. Ever.
Off to put the kids to bed so I can enjoy my stash of chocolate . . .
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