Giving, Saving, and Eating Well

I had a GREAT day at the grocery store today and I only used 1 coupon from the newspaper. I bought a bunch of food to donate to my church's food drive, bottled water for the Rescue Mission and most of the ingredients for the freezer meal exchange group I belong to.  I also bought the ingredients for several meals for my family.

At grocery store #1 I bought
2 cases of water @1.99ea (Rescue Mission)
4 12pks of Coke @9.98 for 4
1 2lb, 8oz head of Napa cabbage
2 cans of tuna @ $.44 ea after in-store coupon (food drive)
1 salad dressing @ $.27 after in-store coupon + manufacturer coupon
1 peanut butter @.99 (food drive)
1 head of iceburg lettuce @ $.44 after in-store coupon
4 lbs of strawberries @ $3.88
2 red bell peppers @ $.99 ea (I hadn't planned on these, but my 3yo picked them out. I'll never discourage his love of fresh veggies)
2 Broccoli crowns @ $.99 ea (Again, I hadn't planned on these but my son asked for them and this Mommy won't complain about a toddler asking for broccoli!)

All told at this store I spent $25.54

I went to another grocery store as well this morning where I bought things that weren't on sale, but that I needed (coffee filters, 8x8 pans for my meal exchange, manicotti shells, frozen spinach, cans of crushed tomatoes, onions, garlic, Italian sausage, etc) and still saved a ton.

Grocery store #2 highlights

4 whole chickens @ $.49/lb. ($8.67 for all 4) The chickens actually on sale a couple of weeks ago, but I had a rain check since the store was out when I went to buy them. The chickens were already defrosted so I have 2 cooking now and will put two in later. Whole chickens are one of my favorite ways to save money. I'll write a blog on those another day.

Cantaloupe @ $.25/lb.  Mine was just under 4lbs so it was $.94

Canned vegetables and canned beans were $.44/can. I ended up buying 12 cans of beans for our family + 22 cans of veggies for the food drive.

All told I spent less than $100 on food for my family + food to help others. Our freezer and pantry are overflowing and, except for items like milk, it may be weeks before I have to do any "real" grocery shopping.

See my next post for ways I will use today's bargains.  Our grocery budget (family of 4) is $300 a month and I do almost all of the cooking from scratch.

The strawberries we don't eat before they start to turn will be made into smoothies and/or will be frozen.