Grocerys for 1/14/09

Check out Gayle's Grocery Roundup for more shopping trips from fellow frugal bloggers!

From Kroger:
(6) Green Giant Broccoli & Cheese, $1.00 ea - $.50 ea. AQ
*used (2) $.50/2 coupons - each doubles to $1/2
*used (1) $1.00/2 Cellfire coupon
(3) Kroger OJ, $1.00 ea - $3.00
Kroger Block Cheese - $2.19
2lbs. Brown Sugar, 1.99 - $1.49 AQ
*used $.50/2 coupon - doubles to $1/2, so $.50/1
(the second one was for a separate order, but in the same transaction)
Kroger Chicken Bouillon Powder - $1.65
Balsamic Vinegar, $2.89 - $1.89 AQ
*used $1.00 coupon
.55lb. Round Steak - $2.11
3 doz. Eggland's Best Lg. Brown Eggs, $.50/ea!! - $1.50
Total OOP - $17.23
Total Coupon & Kroger Plus Card Savings - $12.22
Used my own bags - $.10 credit
Total Savings - $12.32/42%

From Food Lion:
(not pictured, sorry)
Parmesan Cheese Wedge - $4.39
FL Mozzarella Block Cheese - $3.43
Total OOP - $8.02

Totals for this week:
OOP - $25.25
Savings - $12.32/33%

Not bad if I do say so myself! I milked this week's budget for all it was worth. The Food Lion trip was actually this past Saturday. My sister was here for the weekend and we were in the middle of making Lasagna when I realized that I didn't have enough mozzarella cheese and no Parmesan cheese. Bummer. Oh well. I knew it was going to have to come out of this week's budget, so when I went to Kroger this morning I only had $16.98 to spend. Somehow I thought I had it figured out that my total was going to be just a few pennies under $25 (I was even calculating the tax...), but I guess I messed up somewhere on my little tiny calculator there in the store :P

I went in with a list of "must haves" and a list of "things would like to have/restock". I was quite happy to see that I caught their sale week for OJ... I was dreading having to hand over my arm and leg the next time I needed to buy some. I didn't have it on my list, but the savings when it's on sale for $1.00 is SO MUCH that I went ahead and worked 3 cans into my budget anyway. The Green Giant Veggies, while I wouldn't "normally" buy them, they are cheap when they're on sale (10/$10), and when combining the sale with coupons, I like to stock up. It saves me from buying frozen broccoli later when it's not on sale to fill in our homegrown veg. supply.

The eggs!! Oh my, the EGGS!! I have NEVER, ever, EVER bought eggs for $.50/dozen!! I was getting ready to pick up another 1 1/2 doz. pack of Kroger eggs off the bottom of the shelf when for whatever reason, I looked up on the top shelf and saw 1 box for $.50!! I couldn't believe it! I pulled down that box, and there was another one! Then another one!! I will ALWAYS check for marked down eggs from now on! I doubt it happens very often, but it won't hurt to look!

I had finished everything up, tallied up my total and had a couple dollars left. It wasn't enough to get any of the "would like to have" items, so I went to the meat section doubting that I could find anything marked down to fit my little leftover budget money. Lo and behold, there was a steak marked down to $2.11! I grabbed it up, then stood there and tallied up my figures again to make sure it fit. I ended up being $.25 over my budget this week, but I think that's ok. I guess I will leave a few extra pennies designated to Uncle Sam next time I'm trying to figure up my total in the store before checkout :)

I did the self checkout again today and love it! The lady in charge there is SO nice (I've decided that Kroger simply has GREAT customer service and PR!) and it's so easy! Even with using coupons it's very quick. Maybe not quite as fast as going through the reg. checkout line, but this way I can pack my bags the way I like them, scan the items in the order I want them to show up on the receipt (ok, is that anal or what?) and so on :) I'm really not usually picky about my receipts, I promise. Only when I'm getting things that are being paid for out of different categories of the budget. It makes it easier to figure it out in the end.

I'm glad to see that they credit you for using your own bags! I have 2 bags (will be getting a third one soon since I won Liz's bloggy giveaway!! Yay!!) and now that I know they give credit for them, you can bet I'll be using them faithfully!!

Oh yeah, and yesterday while I was digging in the frige I found my original chunck of Parmesan Cheese - up on the top shelf where it doesn't belong. That's why I thought I didn't have any!