Winco Haul -- How'd I do?
As I mentioned yesterday, it was high time for a big ol' Winco shopping trip. Even though I absolutely wasn't in the mood for it. Then again, an unfortunate amount of being a functional adult is taking care of unpleasant tasks without procrastination. Which is so unfair!
Here's the majority of what I bought. It excludes a few items from the previous photo as I scooped some things from the bulk bins for my step-mother.
I also grabbed chicken, bratwurst and potatoes, which didn't fit in the previous photo.
And here's the receipt:
Total for 36 items? $101.05, which is frankly less than I thought it would be. (Note that I didn't use any coupons.) You know . . . in "today's uncertain economic times."
Well, I don't have much to contribute today except 1 big score.
Local farm market (formerly owned by Mennonites) has a HUGE egg sale going on.
$2.00 / DOZEN!!!!
DH's jaw hit the floor when he saw how many eggs they have...and they said there was more in the back!
DH brought home 4 dozen.
For the person who lives in Bloomsburg, PA, it's at Crest Haven on 54 between Riverside and Elysburg. IDK if they have them at the Bloomsburg location or not.
Katy, You did very well. It was worth the schlep. Unlike in some other areas, it seems like saving money on food involves quite a bit of effort. It is something we can't do without so I exert some effort in that area but don't worry about getting the lowest price all the time. Our Costcos are always crowded and/or involve terrible traffic because of road construction. Our local Aldi can feel dirty if you don't go when they open.
Great job adulting despite all you are dealing with.
Amazing, as always! I'm impressed you never buy paper towels. I use them sparingly, but I do buy them.
I have Aldi, and Food4Less, which is Food4NotMuchLess. But I can get discounted gas there, which is nice. Food4Less used to have a clearance produce shelf, but it wasn't well managed -- rotten fruit, anyone? And then it disappeared.
Methinks the health dept. could've discovered the rotten fruit on the clearance shelf, and maybe that's why it's no longer there. If so, Food4NotMuchLess would've been in a heap o'trouble.
I suspect that is exactly right!
Katy, your cupboard won't be bare for some time to come! Good job! (When's supper? I'll be right over! LOL!)
Because we have to manually enter prices into the cash register where I work, I am well aware of prices. Surprisingly, our little drug/general store is cheaper than Aldi or Walmart or the supermarkets on a lot of things, including energy drinks and cologne.
Yesterday, an HEB employee came in and bought groceries -- I know this bc he was wearing his uniform shirt, and their employees get a 15% (?I think) discount. Yet, he bought from us and no doubt saved $$.
Moral to the story: you have to know where to shop and when to shop.
As an example: Our store is having a clearance sale on Dr Pepper products, including most forms of DP; 7Up, Big Red, and root beer; and people are swarming in to get those sixpacks of 16 oz. bottles for $2.99. We earlier sold completely out of 12 packs of cans for $3.99.
We have some nice and heavy off-brand paper towel rolls for 99 cents each, although some shoppers still insist on getting two rolls of Bounty for (egads!) $7. And the latter is not quite as thick as the other!
They just dropped the price of our 24-bottle cases of bottled water from $2.29 to $1.99 (yes, that's for the whole case!), and when I tell first-time customers about this, they get out of line to get one of those cheap cases.
However, Aldi and HEB have cheaper prices on gallons of milk. So I never get milk from our store.
Likewise, Ollie's Outlet and the dollar stores are cheaper on greeting cards --but I can't tell our customers bc I have to tout our 40% off list price greeting card promotion. (Ergo, a $4.99 card at our store sells for $2.99, but that's not as cheap as a 99-cent card from Ollie's. Or the 25-cent greeting cards from a thrift shop.)
Again, you have to know where to shop and when to shop. And not every store is the best source of every product you need. (But all you NCAs knew that already, didn't you?)
Fru-gal Lisa,
Wow, the store where you work is offering some absolute steals!! I just picked up a 40-bottle case of water from Kroger for $3.99 last week. We don't use bottled water at home (tap is just fine), but my son's marching band needed some for a competition this weekend. They generally encourage the kids to use reusable water bottles when practicing at school, etc., but that gets a little unwieldy when they're performing out of town.
Making the grocery budget stretch these days feels like being on some kind of weird game show. I know the very few things that are less expensive at the fancy grocery store, then there's short trips to Dollar Tree, the regular neighborhood store that issues lots of store brand coupons, Ollie's and Aldi. And toilet paper at the drugstore, which is just about the only affordable thing there with digital coupons, and trash bags with a coupon from the hardware store.
All this does keep our total expenditure down to what we used to spend, with everything bought at one store in one visit, during pre-pandemic days, but it's quite a trek.
I'd win that game show. However that is a pain to pick up from so many different stores.
Your prices are much better than here. I have been boycotting Walmart and only shopping at Piggly Wiggly and Cost Plus and DT and Dollar General. Aldi will not open new store that is 30 miles away until next month. So I think you did fantastic!!!!
We've had a dollar general for the few years. But I found it dirty, and cluttered, so I never went back. Might check it out again
The rest of the grocery stores are standard pricing, which is to say . . . much more expensive!
You did well! I am always amazed at the great prices @ Winco. My cousin and I make a fun day away on our WinCo shopping day as it is 25 miles each way . we choose between two towns that have wonderful thrift stores and fun food truck courts.
I do buy a huge roll of the brown paper toweling that is found in public restrooms. I start the roll in the center and cut a chunk off as needed. One roll usually lasts us 4-5 yrs. Mostly use the blue surgical towels and rags.
Making gf lemon bars today, invited mom's cousins for high tea. Made cucumber, egg salad and ham sandwiches and fruit salad.
I love your "high tea!"
Since this seems to be a grocery themed post I'll try to add to the topic.
1.I had some gift cards w/ small amounts of $ on them. I finally figured out how to use the small amounts. (I tried at Walmart to do a partial pay but could not use them.) At Albertson's I could scan the cards and then pay the remaining amount. Yes, Albertson's is expensive, but they have loss leaders at times. I am happy to use the dribs & drabs of the GCs & delete them from my phone. And I know a strategy I can use in the future for small amounts on GCs.
2. I made a hodge podge Italian casserole. I don't like cold pasta salad & had a box of it. I boiled the pasta. I had some leftover meatloaf; I crumbled the meatloaf. I layered the pasta, canned pasta sauce, cheese, the pasta mix seasoning, and the meatloaf to make the casserole. It was tasty & I used up the box of pasta salad mix.
3. I made an eggplant casserole w/ some free eggplant I got on Nextdoor Neighbor.
4. I found some baby bibs & a bumper pad. These were washed in hot water & will go in the donation box.
5. I went to my part-time teaching gig in scrubs I already had & took my lunch. I did have to buy a pr of black scrub pants at the thrift store as mine were rather faded. (We expect students to look neat & professional so I can't look shabby myself.)
Hey Texasilver - re Your #5 - have you considered getting a box of black dye and un-fading your scrubs? I was trying to get my middle son to let me do that for a pair of his jeans however he informed me that he liked them faded (natch). It probably is worth the trial, for you, if the scrubs are otherwise sturdy.
Ecoteri: I have considered this but was afraid the black dye might linger in my washer & ruin some of my non-black clothes.
Entertaining on a budget:
Hosting two different meals tomorrow.
1. Hosting for breakfast: I'm making Dutch babies (eggs $2.30 per dozen from Bjs; milk free from mystery shop; maple syrup free from Christmas present; peaches [homemade canned] free from CSA that partner gets free from work; breakfast sausage free from mystery shop [well, free ground pork that I'll turn into breakfast sausage]). Coffee (on sale), tea: free bags from fancy food show, hotels, etc.
2. Making chicken Marbella - chicken was free from mystery shop, oregano dried from garden, garlic free from sister's garden, capers 40% back from Ocean State Job Lot. Roasted potatoes (on sale), kale salad - kale free from CSA & pecarino free from mystery shop & whatever veg I can find on sale from grocery. Panna cotta - cream frozen from when housesitter left behind & free milk from mystery shop. Topped with peach compote (more free peaches from CSA). Appetizers: panisses with garlic aioli & olive crumble (olives a gift from neighbor) chickpea flour 40% off at OSJL, served with beautiful Comte given to us from friends that we visited when in France, radishes & sliced peppers (from CSA)
3. Centerpiece: whatever flowers and greens I can harvest from the yard
4. Guests asked what they can bring: one person is a former bartender, so he is making cocktails & another was GM of a restaurant so I asked her to bring some wine.
5. In between: free festival (donate what you want): HONK! - festival of activist marching horn bands. We will walk from house, so no transportation cost, and I'll bring my water bottle.
6: Hosting has given me aeason for cleaning house (with I loathe with a passion, but I'm too cheap/frugal to pay for someone when there are only 2 of us, we live in 1099 square feet, and I am physically able to do so). And, a clean house does give a sense of contentment.
Well, I have now gone and googled chicken Marbella and panisses. We had a local food truck that used to sell panisses and I just adored them, so that is on my list, now! thanks. The chicken looks fabulous, too. YUM
Dang, that is CHEAP for all that food! Good on you! I can't even believe how cheap that is. I wish we had Winco here in Denver. (There is however another discount grocery chain I noticed recently that I think I should go check out soon) I also appreciate your realness at how much you had to drag yourself over there to do this important chore. I definitely feel that struggle! Pat yourself on the back for sure for this successful trip.
I have a question. On the receipt it shows Fage Yogurt, 2 @ 2.48 = $6.20
The only problem is, $2.48 X 2 =$4.96
Did I miss something?
I can see why you're reading it that way, but the $2.48 is the string cheese and I was charged $4.96 for two bags. I bought one container of Fage yogurt for $6.20.
Thank you for setting me straight, we don’t have a Winco here in the south, sadly.
Good finds!
I went to a few stores today, but $2/1 green peppers, cheap BBQ sauce and free bandaids felt worth all the schlepping around. Also found 27 cents in the change return. When I got home I made stuffed peppers with our homegrown beef. I'm reading Loving Frank by Nancy Horan and generally having my favorite kind of day- "puttering", as my Mom would call it!
I enjoyed Loving Frank. It got me interested in Frank Lloyd Wright and his work. I live somewhat near Oak Park, so I am right in the middle of his old stomping grounds. But the grand tour is very expensive, so I haven't done it yet.
Well, I would like to say that I always buy the cheapest or discounted fruits and vegetables but I don't. Today the grocery store had Sumo oranges out, my favorites. I bought one. It cost $9. Husband and I split it for a snack, and I would do it again. But I did have some victories:
1. Our entire evening meal yesterday was free thanks to mystery shops. Homemade Chicken Kiev. (Still spelled the old way.) Bagged salad. Baked potato.
2. Sold a box of Christmas decorations on FB.
3. Sold six glass pumpkins that I no longer love. On FB.
4. Had a large box of premium yarns but I seem to be falling out of love with knitting. I have enough sweaters, hats, gloves, and thick socks, as does the husband, so sold it for $175. Probably worth five times as much (and don't even count what it took to drag most of it back from Scotland over a few years time) We were having a fiber festival in town so I dragged the bag there. Attendees know quality when they see it, so the selling took all of 15 minutes because the second person who saw me setting it out on a table scarfed it up without even trying to bargain .
5. Trimmed husband's hair and he trimmed mine.
5.
You did really well on your shopping trip. I went to BJ's this morning. I let my friend (I watch her mom) know as well as my kids. They all gave me lists. I spent almost $400 for all of us and the cart wasn't even full. I did use $19.50 in coupons. My kids and I split some of the items too. My son went to Aldi and Trader Joes since they are near each other. He grabbed me bananas, eggs, and milk since they are cheaper at Aldi. He did his laundry while we hung out. He took some veggies and fruit from the garden home. I cleaned off a book shelf and offered him some stuff.
My daughter is supposed to come over tomorrow. She will be offered the rest and then I will donate whatever is left over.
I baked muffins, made dog food, and have the bones from the rotisserie chicken cooking now. I will make soup with it tomorrow.
1. Today was Science Works day! Purchased a discounted membership for $25 for myself and my husband. Online it says that there is a 3 month option, which would have only cost us $12.50, but unfortunately we were informed that that was not available any more and they could only do the yearly memberships. Womp womp. Our kids loved it so much that we'll just have to get our money's worth and go back.
2. Packed a lunch and snacks and even had enough to bring home leftovers! Saved a ton of money by not getting anything from the vending machines or overpriced fast food on our outing.
3. Gave my husband a haircut this morning. His hair grows very thick and FAST! so it saves us hundreds of dollars a year by doing it at home, even compared to "cheap" places (are any of them really cheap anymore?).
4. I found $0.35 while walking today with the kids.
5. Husband replaced a part that finally arrived (curse you Amazon!) in our washer. It only took about 45 minutes start to finish and now our washer is spinning down properly and not filling with water repeatedly. We saved money by not hiring someone to help, thanks YouTube, and the water bill will ease again.
That is an Awesome Grocery Haul, Katy!
1. Filled the two dehydrators, again, with apples and some of the pears that have been ripening. This batch of pears are a big disappointment, they are a bit bitter and then they go to mush. I wonder if I picked too soon, however the hens were pecking them as they were hanging down too low, so I can't win for trying.
2. Still have BOXES of apples to deal with – some are past their prime so destined for apple sauce, however I need to get more bagged up in the freezer. Taking a break is good as the back aches.
3. Made croutons a lá Frugal Gal, with some foccacia bread growing stale on the counter – My new oommate is working at a bakery and brings home goodies faster than we can sometimes deal.
When I put some buns she brought us into a freezer, I pulled out some at-the-edge pre-cooked chicken breast chunks. Croutons, chicken chunks, the end of a parmesan block and some romaine lettuce in the fridge made a grand supper.
4. I also found a big chunk of frozen turkey (that I had obviously stuck in the freezer in too much turkey desperation). I wisely had added a bunch of broth to the container so the turkey wasn't freezer burned.
I thawed it enough to hack into chunks, and stuck in the fridge for the Roommate to take with some brown rice that I cooked up – she has been struggling with pulling it together as she settles in, so ensuring that she has a healthy lunch is the least I can do (particularly as otherwise she might just eat bread / pastries for lunch, and while tasty that won't serve her well).
5. Not frugal but sure was fun – I spent much of the day with my daughter.
We went to the weekend farmer's market and had a grand wander, I only purchased a couple of things (honey from a local vender, and some special onions).
We indulged in fresh pastries which are costly and delicious.
Then we met up with a new friend of mine and all three of us wandered through a number of the local stores, doing a LOT of window shopping and filling our eyes with beauty.
We visited a newish-to-me thrift store and bartered for two large framed pictures for my daughter – the frames alone are worth several hundreds of dollars, and she got both for $45.
We went to my dented vegetable store, where (not frugal but delicious) we bought salmon sausage rolls and inhaled them, then I did a regular careful shop. Only bananas in the discount pile (huge bag for $1.99), however many other veggies discounted due to Canadian Thanksgiving.
THEN we went to an art show where I indulged in a small photograph of my feed store (yes, weird but true) and my daughter used some of her windfall from selling a gaming name money to buy herself a very pretty ring. This art show is a fundraiser for a really great arts organization so it was a win-win.
Finally, we visited the library (right next door) where I got an unexpected training from both a librarian and then the HEAD librarian (Oooooo!) – I was looking for how to read an article in The Atlantic, online. The end result was that I actually am not as technically challenged as I thought (!!) , and as far as we all could discover The Atlantic isn't available at my library. HOWEVER, I discovered (!! who knew???) that I CAN read The New Yorker and many other magazines on Libby! I thought Libby was just books and audiobooks. I came away vilified about my challenges with The Atlantic, and excited about the possibilities on Libby.
To clarify my daughter's "windfall from selling a gaming name money" - she owned a specific name for an online game, and after years of resisting offers, she finally negotiated an excellent price for the name (who knew?) = this is totally windfall money, and I was encouraging her to be kind to herself and get something she really wanted. Sometimes my over-frugal instincts spill over onto my daughter and she, although VERY good with her money, has trouble treating herself.
as others here have noted: we are frugal so we CAN treat ourselves without guilt, and we are frugal so we really value a 'treat'.