Did I really say $35?!

Yeah, I did.

I'm such a moron! :)


35 bucks turned in to 52 bucks.


Bugger.


Before I talk about my grocery shopping habits and what not, let me just say this...


Vacuuming my house and cleaning off my countertops with Pine-Sol make me a happy girl. It's amazing how just having the house vacuumed makes the entire house feel cleaner.


Random, huh?


Yeah, that's how I roll.


Okay, so let me give you some information on my grocery shopping-ness. I can make up words, it's my blog.

First off, sooo many of you that I read are so way more better at all of this shopping stuff. (Don't you love that sentence? How many errors were in it?! I don't really care.) I'm just trying to get my point across that I know so many of you all get the whole shopping trip deal.

For so long, I didn't. And am actually still trying to get it.

And in case there's a girlie out there who doesn't read all of you that I do, and she shops the way I used to...this one's for you, kid!


At 18, and a new bride, I had no clue about grocery shopping. I'd gone with my mom several times growing up, but she really had no rhyme or reason to her shopping. Well, I guess she had a reason...we needed food. She wasn't a thrifty shopper or coupon clipper or anything like that. She got our staples and out the store she went. She's always hated shopping.


So...18 and here I was. My mom made me a list while we were on our honeymoon of everything I'd need to get for our kitchen.


I bought all of it. At Safeway. Didn't care about prices or anything. I just went off the list and bought everything my mother said I needed.


9 trillion dollars later...


Okay, it wasn't that bad, actually. I believe I bought all of it for under $150 and that included a mop, broom, dust pan, t.p, paper towels, spices, our food...all of it. I was excited when I got my receipt and saw the savings I'd had. I hadn't tried to get anything on sale but was excited for whatever had been.

So, each week for about seven years, I'd throw some random stuff down on a piece of paper and go buy whatever I wanted. No menu plan. Just a grocery list. I'd come home with a hundred dollars worth of groceries (for two people, mind you) and then wonder, "what can I make for dinner?" It was so discouraging and I wasn't sure how to make it better.


I continued my grocery shopping in pretty much the same manner until about three years ago. Then, I made a baby step toward my better Menu Managment. (totally just made that one up!) I started taking my Safeway flier and looking to see what was on sale. I then would write out what I was going to make for dinners for the week. I did notice a huge drop in what I was spending but I felt like my cupboards were filling up with food we weren't eating...

My piece of paper would kinda look like this:

Monday B whatever you wanna fix yerself
Monday L leftovers of whatever we had the night before
Monday D Tacos

Tuesday-Sunday followed suit.

With dinners like Tacos, Enchiladas, Spaghetti, Roast, and I'd rotate those. I wasn't very creative, and I didn't yet have amazing blog friends that posted their menus or recipes for me to learn from.

But I'd panic if I didn't have Tacos on Monday for dinner. I felt like since I put it on Monday, we had to eat it on Monday. And if we didn't eat it on Monday, well then, we went to McDonald's.

I had terrible planning ahead habits.

Now, and probably for the last year or so (after learning from others) I have started going through my cupboards and have been taking inventory of what's already in my pantry, fridge and freezer before I make out my menu and grocery list. I know that may seem so obvious to many of you. Duh, Sarah, didn't you know to do that?!

Uh, no.

I didn't.

I've now learned to make out my menu like this (and this is my actual menu for this week) (many of my recipes coming from Gayle who gets some of hers from recipezaar)

Veggie Burgers w/Corn on the Cob
Taco Joes w/Green beans (we had this last night but I didn't make the beans) I'll post the recipe later, kinda reminds me of sloppy joes but a bit different.
Latke's w/zucchini
Black Bean and Tortilla Bake w/salad
Broccoli Rice (I have a bunch of frozen spinach, so I'm going to try to substitute spinach for broccoli, we'll see how it goes)
Fiesta Crockpot Chicken (I'm making this on Saturday when we go visit some family, it's delish)
Chicken Salad Sandwiches (making this on Saturday for lunch for family)

Instead of writing each meal on a certain day and feeling like I had to make it on that day, I just write out the meals I have food for and make them on whatever day I choose.

Now for my latest-supposed-to-be-$35-shopping-trip...

On Friday night we were up in Yakima to help decorate for VBS, we got to Yakima a little early and drove by a bakery outlet. I am always wanting to go to that oulet but it's closed on Sundays (or so I thought) so I've never been in til Friday.

There wasn't a huge selection but I came out with:

2 loaves of country wheat bread
2 bags of bagels

for $5.55

I was thrilled. Why? Because at Safeway that would have cost me about $14.

Now, here's my grocery list.

black beans x 2
chicken
tortillas
coffee
packet of taco seasoning
onion x 2
*olives
white beans-dried
*pepperoni
corn on the cob
cheese
tomato x 3
bag of potatoes
celery
parsley
eggs

* didn't purchase

Now, next to each item on my grocery list I always write out about how much I think each one is. And I knew if I went to Wal Mart I could probably accomplish my 35 buck goal.

But I drove to Wal Mart and it was packed. And our Wal Mart grosses me out and makes me frustrated and I wasn't in the mood for that on Saturday.

So, I drove to Safeway. I love Safeway. It's clean. They know my name. There's excellent customer service. And they have a Starbucks inside. :)

I don't like Safeway prices. But I was and am often, willing to spend a little more on my groceries to leave there without pulling all of my hair out or wanting to commit a homicide.

Here's my receipt:

black beans 2 @ .89*
Safeway coffee 5.99*
taco seasoning .89*
great northern beans 1.35
tortillas 3.00*
18 pk lg eggs 3.29*
2 lb cheddar cheese 6.99*
2 gallons of milk 5.50*
b/s chicken breasts 4.90*
bananas 1.37*
celery 2.31
corn on the cob 1.00*
tomatoes 1.57
onion 2.19*
parsley
5# potato 3.49

I stuck pretty close to my list.

* indicates sale prices

grand total being.....$46.61+ 5.55 from outlet = $52.16

I'm okay with that.

A. because I enjoyed my grocery shopping experience (no screaming kids running thru the store (not mine, others), no rude workers, etc)
B. because I had to buy extra chicken since I'm making a couple of recipes for family this weekend.

I'm just going to keep trying to get it down.

Sorry for the long post but maybe it'll help someone who's trying to learn to grocery shop. This is what I've learned so far.

And I'm still learning.