Thursday, June 21, 2012

Weekly Budgeted Grocery List



I am going to try and make a series of posts about our money and time saving tactics we have adopted to help make our family run smoothly. I guess it also involves the balance of my life, hence the reason for the blog :) I will add posts about our daily routines, freezer food adventures ideas, and other incredibly fascinating things for other Moms (sorry, Dads).


For the past couple of months, we have gradually changed our lifestyle to eating less processed foods, and more fresh and organic (when possible). We switched Matthew to organic formula about 2-3 months ago. It’s a fact that organic is more expensive than conventional, but the higher the demand (from us, consumers), the lower the prices will get. Also, there are many more coupons for organic foods now, including produce. Keep in mind to always compare the organic price and the conventional when shopping if you feel overwhelmed or uncertain by the prices. Sometimes it’s not that much more to go organic. For example, grapes this week are the same price (1.99/lb) for organic and conventional at Sunflower. Organic blueberries and strawberries are $1.00 more.


Here is a peak into our weekly grocery list. I looked up the ads online. Every week we purchase the staples: milk, yogurt and produce (and Matthew’s formula). I keep bread in the freezer so we hardly buy it. We also keep meat, veggies, and some pre-made meals in the freezer. And, of course, ice cream (yum!).


Sunflower


Grocery


Annie’s Fruit Snacks $2.99


            $0.75 Q = $2.26


Bulk


Organic raisins $1.99/lb


Garbanzo beans $0.99/lb


Produce


Organic blueberries $2.99


            $0.75 Q = $2.26


Organic strawberries $2.99


            $0.75 Q = $2.26


Organic seedless grapes $1.99/lb


Organic Avocados $0.99


Organic Mangoes $0.99


Organic Girl Salad Mix $3.00


            $2.00 Q = $1.00


Organic Romaine hearts 3 pk $2.50


            $0.75 Q = $1.75


Meat


Chicken breasts 40% off


Safeway


Activia 4 pk $1.88


            $1.00 Q = $0.88


Raspberries $0.99


Plums $0.99


Bananas $0.57/lb


Fry’s


Oikos Greek yogurt $0.88


            $1/2 Q = $0.38


Ken’s Salad Dressing $0.88


            $1.00 Q = Free ($0.12 MM)


Shamrock Farms Organic milk



I try to stay under budget of $60/week. Sometimes we stay way under, sometimes we go over (if meat is on sale, or we go to Costco). It evens out to around $60/week. Of course, that is not including formula and diapers. I keep a separate budget for those.

3 comments:

tmlinaman said...

Good for you to switching to organic formula! It's so darn expensive, but I wish we would have used it. I wish we could afford to by organic meat too with all the antibiotics they pump into the animals.
I have around the same weekly budget but I've been doing badly with keeping track lately. Are your berry coupons for Driscoll's or Earthbound Farms? FYI Alb's has org straw $2.99/lb vs. the 8oz container at Sunflower and double coupons this week so $1 off with EF q. We buy a lot of organic produce but go for regular on thick-skinned fruit & veggies (tropical, citrus, melons, squash, corn, peas) as they are at the low end of the pesticide list. Avocados & mangoes are some of the cleanest so we save some money there. We do buy all organic milk and yogurt and I'm usually able to get it for a cheap price with coupons & mardowns, but the organic cheese prices kill me!

Tristy L. said...

I use coupons for the organic Similac, so it's actually only $1 or 2 more expensive than the regular one. I haven't purchased organic meat yet because of the price, but I do make sure they meat I buy is all natural with no added hormones or enrichments. Thanks for the deal at Alb's - I didn't see that one. I have the EF coupons. We switched to organic milk but not butter or cheese yet. Haven't found a good coupon yet! I printed that dirty dozen list but I need to refresh my memory. That's a good rule though - any thick-skinned fruit & veggies. I know we can't be 100% organic, but every little bit helps.

tmlinaman said...

safeway has ef org straw $2.49/lb!

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