My $40 weekly grocery shopping trip

This week I decided to combine all of my shopping trips into one picture. My total OOP for everything pictured here was $24.94. I also spend $7.10 earlier in the week (not pictured here), so my total grocery spending for the week was $32.04.

Here’s the breakdown:

Kroger – 2 cans beef broth, 2 cans enchilada sauce, 1 package tortillas, Roma tomatoes, 4 avocadoes, Uncle Ben’s boxed rice, 1 gallon milk, 3 boxes GM cereal, Total spent = $13.80, Total saved = $5.62 (26%) (used $1 Uncle Ben’s coupon, milk was free with the purchase of 3 GM cereals, and used 3 .55/1 GM cereal printable coupons)

Randalls – 1 12 pack Pepsi, 2 12 packs Mountain Dew, 4 cans 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup, 10 boxes Quaker granola bars, Kashi frozen entree, Total spent = $11.14, Total saved = $31.98 (74%) (used store coupon – 3 12 packs of Coke/Pepsi products for $6.99 w/ minimum $20 purchase, used 3 $2 Pepsi drinks coupon from Frito Lay Super Bowl rebate coupon book, Quaker granola bars are on sale buy 2, get 3 free, used 2 $1/2 Quaker granola bar printables, used free Kashi entree coupon)

Target – 5 bags of Cheetos (used $1 Target IPs), 2 jars of Pace (used $4 coupons), 1 lb asparagus, cilantro, Sara Lee bread, 2 lbs bananas, 3 bags dog treats (used .75 coupons), Gillette Gamer razor (used $2 coupon), Gillette shave gel (used $1 coupon), Total spent = $0 (I used a $5 gift card for the razor/shave gel and got a $5 gift card back and used a balance on another gift card to pay $4.35 for what was left), Total saved = $24.45

I also bought 1 gallon of milk, sub rolls, and cheese earlier in the week and spent $7.10.

I posted a poll earlier this month asking how I should pay for my freezer group meals. Most people voted that I should spend $30 a week instead of $40 and use the remaining money to put toward the freezer swap. That was my intent this week, but it didn’t quite work out as planned. I had to fill a prescription for my son and planned to use the $10 Target coupon at Randalls, and then use the gift card toward my grocery purchases, but my Randalls no longer accepts competitor coupons, so that put a kink in my plans! I was still happy with what I saved, though.

My husband and I started the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class about a month ago. This was my first week shopping with just cash and my first week using the envelope system. I have to say that it’s totally empowering to shop with just cash! Statistics show that you spend 18% more when you use “plastic” to shop (even your debit card) and I can see how that would happen because it’s easier to justify those here and there purchases.

Also, if you’re wondering about why there’s no meat this week, we’ll be using the stockpile of meat in my freezer this week. I took advantage of some good sales to stock up on some of those “splurge” items that my husband and kids love so we don’t end up spending big on them later. In the long run, it all works out.