2016 Groceries Week 35 - $55.10

I didn't spend much on groceries the week I was out of town.  Pictures to come later.

I bought a box of baby cereal for $2.86 at Wal-Mart on Tuesday.

I was back at Fred Meyer on Wednesday for milk and more creamer.  I also bought a malt-o-meal cereal bag, 2 boxes of organic formula, a bag of lifesavers, bananas, clearance sourdough bread bowls. garlic, and 3 baby snackfoods.  I spent $52.24.  *note the bacon in the photo I bought and left for my mom.  I didn't include it in the total.

Total Week 35 - $55.10
YTD 2016 Total - $5,523.12
Weekly Average - $157.80

Finally!  A small week.

Katie

2016 Groceries Week 34 - $215.05

I'm two weeks behind on grocery posts because we've been out town.

Week 34 was big due to a Costco run.

These were a few things I picked in the garden on Monday.

Tuesday I went to Costco and spent a whopping $157.92.  I bought organic sugar, organic brown rice, organic gluten free flour, organic quinoa, organic tortilla chips, organic flour, organic diced tomatoes, organic hummus, corn dogs, grilled chicken strips, bananas, curry simmer sauce, organic chicken thighs, organic peanut butter, watermelon.

I went to QFC Friday for milk & grapes.  I didn't want to stock up since we were leaving town.  I also bought DD2 a soy yogurt since they were on sale for $1.00.  I spent 6.88.

We left town Saturday, but I went to the store early Sunday morning to buy a few things and not eat my parents out of house and home.  I bought coconut milk, bacon, 2 boxes of cereal, a brownie mix, baby teething biscuits, baby puffs, 2 cucumbers, creamer, a gallon of organic milk, a hershey bar, gluten free flour, pita bread, wheat bread, gluten free bread, bananas & a gf/df pizza for DD2.  I spent $50.35.

Week 34 Total: $215.05
Year-to-Date 2016 Total: $5,468.02
Weekly Average: $160.82

Katie

Baby Food Ninja!

So I'm loving making A his baby food.  For 4 kids I've purchased jars of food and transitioned to solids as soon as possible.  This time I decided to give making it a try and it's been great! 

Here's a recent example:

Yellow Squash & Zucchini to sautee for dinner.

cut off the ends, plus a little for A's dinner

Peel & microwave with a little water for 2 minutes

Toss in the ninja with a little oatmeal

Voila!  Baby food.

Scrape into bowl & A gobbles it up!

 Seriously, this baby is like a little disposal with the way he eats up all the bits & pieces around here.  A little cucumber, some tomatoes leftover?  I just whip it up in the Ninja and A's dinner is done.

Katie

2016 Groceries Week 33 - $146.91

Even though we're home and I had lots of food planned for dinner I couldn't resist the lure of good sales (that had matching coupons) at Fred Meyer.  $83.15 later I had a large quantity of groceries to photograph! 

Here's the rundown:

• Tostitos on sale for $1.88 each with store coupon
• Corn dogs for $5.69
• Creamer for $2.50 with $1.35/2 MC = $1.83 each
• Baby Mum-Mum crackers for $2.50 each (almost half price)
• Almond coconut milk sale $2.50 each with $1.00/2 MC = $2.00 each
• Tyson chicken strips on sale for $5.99 with $2.50/2 MC = $4.74 each
• Horizon Mac'n'cheese $1.00 each with $1.00/3 MC = $0.67 each for 3, $1.00 for the other 2
• Better Than Cream Cheese - $3.49
• Lunchmeat - $3.00 for 1# packages with store coupon
• Kielbasa - nitrate free - $3.50 sale price (great for a crockpot stew we like)
• Brookside chocolates - $3.50 sale price with $2.00/1 MC = $1.50!
• 18 eggs - $1.93
• Navel oranges - $0.99/lb
• Bananas - $0.69/lb
• Bread (no sugar, no high fructose corn syrup, just honey) - $1.33 with store coupon
• Organic carrots - 2# for $1.79
• Frozen potatoes (to go with corn dogs) = $1.50 each on sale
• Parsley  - $0.79
• Baby food - $0.62 each with $1.00/3 MC = 0.29 each
• Cream cheese - $0.88 each with store coupon
• Peanut Butter - $1.79 on sale with $0.45 store coupon = $1.34
• Uncured bacon on clearance for $4.49

The little guy is eating a lot of banana so stopped Wednesday to grab a hand of bananas & cruised the borders of the store.  I spotted organic sour cream for $0.49!  I already had 2 or 3 tubs at home so I just bought one.  I spent $2.24.

I picked all of these goodies in the garden Thursday morning.  The garden is producing pretty perfectly for us right now.  Just enough tomatoes, zucchini in abundance (but we're keeping up pretty well), a cucumber now and then, a few strawberries to mix in the baby's cereal, and I was adjusting the cage on the tomatillo plant and one fell off into my hand.  I'm not sure what to do with it, but wow they've been interesting to watch grow.  It's like this empty husk of leaves, hollow, and it slowly grows fruit inside and gets heavier and heavier! Very cool.

Thursday night I went to Fred Meyer again and got lots of the same deals I mentioned above.  I laid out all the groceries - $41.03 worth - and put them away without taking a picture. 

Finally, one more stop at Fred Meyer to pick up grapes for a potluck contribution.  I also grabbed chips. I spent $20.49

 

 

Week 33 Total: $146.91

Year to Date: $5,252.97

Weekly Average: $159.18

 



2016 Groceries Week 32 - $31.95

We camped the first half of the week and DD1 broke her arm on Thurday night requiring an ambulance ride to the nearest hospital, xrays, then another ambulance ride to Seattle Children's, more xrays, a terrible, horrible manual partial realignment to move a protruding bone away from the spot where it was nearly puncturing the skin (Praise the Lord they knocked her out) and then surgery Friday morning where they resituated the bones, muscle and an artery (!) that was wrapped around the bone and put 3 pins in the bottom end of her humerus.  We were kept overnight for observation, mostly because of the artery, and finally were able to come home Saturday late morning.  Phew!

We had another camping trip scheduled to start Saturday but we cancelled it. So I have all sorts of 'camping food' ready to go that we'll be eating this next week.

This week I went to a store near the campground Monday for ketchup, lettuce, & hot dogs.  I found these packages of no sugar added fruit cups for $1.25 each and bought 4.  Lettuce & one package of fruit not pictured.  I only spent $9.83.

I picked all this from the garden when I got home from the hospital Saturday afternoon.

I went to Fred Meyer late Saturday night to buy milk and of course, bought a bunch of other stuff.  I got organic salad mix for $1.99, a kale salad mix for $1.79, nitrate-free beef hot dogs are $3.50/pack, some vegan cheese on clearance for $2.29, fresh mozzarella for $4.99, 3 organic apples for $1.00, organic potatoes for $3.99, crackers for $1.67 each with a $1.00/2 coupon, and the organic milk.  I had a $10.82 reward to use so I only spent $22.12 altogether.

Finally!  A small week.

Week 32 Total: $31.95
YTD 2016 Total: $5,106.06
Weekly Average: $159.56

2016 Groceries Week 31 - $347.27

Another big week.  The bulk buying is killer.

 



My first stop was Monday night at QFC. I had a coupon for $5.00 off two organic formulas expiring that day & I wanted to use it.  I also bought fake sour cream for DD2, a clearance mozzarella ball for $2.99, a bag of clearance apples for $0.99, a few bananas, clearance organic beef for $5.99/lb, and a gallon of organic milk.  I spent $60.31.  

Tuesday I had arranged to pick up 100# of apples from Tonnemakers just about 4 miles down the road from our house.  He gave me exactly 100# and I handed over $100.

Also Tuesday I stopped in at County Market for the last day of their ad.  I bought 3 bags of daiya cheese for $3.99 each and a package of udi's buns for $3.99, too.  We will have some bbq pulled turkey soon as well as hamburgers on a camping trip so buns are needed.  I spent $15.96.

Since we were in Woodinville we stopped at The Dollar Tree.  I wanted to get one thing: a new plastic cup for DD4 since hers had cracked.  But since I was there I bought more pepperoni for $5.00.

Tuesday was also the last day of the Haggen ad.  There were several coupons I wanted to use, but you had to spend $50 so the girls and I did some careful shopping.  Our groceries totaled $51.26 and we used 5 coupons for $2.00 off each, paying $41.26 after coupons. We   bought 4 cans of olives, organic coconut milk, organic graham crackers, vegetable oil, grapes, a watermelon, a daiya pizza, an organic whole chicken on clearance for $11.71, and some potatoes, green onions, and a red onion I needed for a potluck baked potato bar. 

I was back at Haggen Wednesday.  I had forgotten to get yellow onions the day before and the new ad had butter for $1.99 and eggs for just $0.99/dozen.  I also got cucumbers that were on sale for $0.79/each spending $8.79 total.

I stopped back at Tonnemakers Wednesday to return the fruit boxes and picked up a few plums and 2 peaches for the kids.  I spent $1.90.

I picked these veggies on Wednesday.  A small yellow tomato, a lone cherry tomato, a handful of strawberries, a green chile (I think), a yellow squash and a zucchini squash.

I had a quick shopping trip to Fred Meyer on Friday.  I needed to make a veggie tray for a potluck and only had cucumbers & carrots at home so I wanted a couple other things and some hummus.  While at Freddie's I also saw clearance lettuce mixes, clearance udi's muffins, clearance cake mixes, clearance refried beans, and clearance cereal bars.  I spent $16.22 on food.

I had a huge trip to Fred Meyer on Saturday.  I had a pretty good list of things to buy for a camping trip and it just added up.  Tortilla chips, a box of fun cereal (traditional camping treat), corndogs, a loaf of bread, a package of hot dog buns, sour cream & df version, shredded cheese, df butter (these last 3 for the baked potato bar potluck), and chocolate for s'mores.  I also bought more formula because I had another $5.00/2 coupon, some microwave popcorn, myzithra cheese on clearance, hummus, a lime, a deli chicken that was on clearance, and a whole lot of extra sour supreme because it was cheaper than I'd seen it in a long while and has a long shelf life in the fridge.  I spent a whopping $97.83 on this one.

I picked these guys from the garden on Sunday.  An organic zucchini, another yellow squash, 2 wimpy cucumbers, and a big tomato that had been chomped by something. 

Wow.  Week 31 was a whopping $347.27
Year to date total: $5,074.11 (I only spent $5,075 the entire year of 2014)
Weekly Average: $163.68

Katie