Grocery on a budget

As I have mentioned before our weekly grocery budget is $100.00 for a family of 4 and sometimes 6. Today was no different, I had my weekly adds with me checked with a bright pink marker what we could use from the add, checked our pantry and refrigerator to take inventory of what we needed and finally wrote our grocery list on a notepad (yes I do have an iPhone but still love to hand write) and started our grocery adventure of the week.

Photo Credit: Stroller Adventures

Planning a menu for the week helps a lot! specially when I am trying to figure out what to make for dinner at 5:30 p.m. it saves me time and makes cooking more enjoyable.

Monday: Salmon Fillets with steamed rice and veggies
Tuesday: Easy Fish Tacos
Wednesday: Mexican vegetable and chicken soup "Caldo"
Thursday: Stir-fried Honey-Ginger Chicken with Peppers
Friday: Chicken Fajitas
Saturday: Quesadillas with homemade salsa
Sunday: Eat out

We arrived at our local Warehouse Club Store exactly at the moment they opened their doors. List in hand and 1 coupon for dish washing soap. Then it was on to our local craft store -this Wednesday will be the 100th day of school. So to celebrate our 6 year old needs to bring 100 of whatever she wants that fit into a small plastic bag she was given. I found foam stickers to be fun and also gives her the chance to craft with them.

We then shopped at our favorite store -it has a bulls eye- to stock up on bandages, over the counter sinus relief, pasta sauce and saw 2 valentines day cards at $0.99 each perfect for each of our kids to receive in the mail from us.

Here in San Diego we have a small grocery store that works like a farmers market in the sense they get about 75% of their produce locally. They are also excellent for bulk items such as: rice, beans, seeds, nuts, chocolate treats, snacks, cereals, flour, etc. It is also good to know that if you shop here and bring your own reusable bag you get a $0.10 discount. It is not much but it helps the store keep their prices low because they are not spending extra money on supplying the plastic bags -not to mention you are helping the environment :)

At the end of our shopping trip we had spent a total of $96.66 leaving us with $3.34 for this week which we can save towards next week ;)

Photo Credit: Stroller Adventures

What I bought:

1 Package of Napkins
2 Gallons of Low fat Milk
1 Bag of shredded cheese
1 Bag of Salmon Fillets (7 fillets in total)
1 Bag of potatoes
1 Bag of carrots
2 green apples
2 gala apples
3 lemons
1 lb of key limes
3 oranges
1 banana
1 bunch of spinach
1 bag of goldfish snacks
1 small jar of peanut butter
1 small jar of alfredo sauce
1 pack of chewing gum
1 bunch of celery
2 valentines day cards
2 packets of foam stickers
2 sticker notebooks
1 box of 36 ct band aids
2 packages of sliced turkey
1 carton of 18 eggs
1 box of sinus pressure relief OTC medication
2 yellow onions
1 large tomato
2 red yams
1 package of 24 ct bookmarks to celebrate 100th day of school
2 zucchini squash
3 yellow nectarines
1 dish washing soap

Photo Credit: Stroller Adventures

I wanted to share this with you to show it can be done and it is easy. Just plan for what it is you really need. I would like to challenge you to a $100 or less weekly grocery/home shopping budget. Remember toiletries, paper goods (toilet paper, napkins, paper towels) and cleaning supplies are included in this budget. You can use coupons, but I only used 2 coupons one for $2.00 off for dish soap and $1.00 off at the craft store.

Take a picture of your receipts with total included and share with us your strategies.

Happy Shopping!