Another week of doing Groceries $40 for 4. I was able to stock up on some items for our pantry so we should be good for awhile now. Most of the items I stocked up were non-perishable products this week.  A lot of the items we picked up will be great for the upcoming road trips we have this summer!  Below are my grocery shopping adventures for the week!

Groceries from Sav-Mor’s Sidewalk Box Sale – spent $7.00 at Sav-Mor for the following items

• 1 – Kellogg’s Cocoa Rice Krispies Cereal 16.5 oz
• 1 – Harvest Farms Organic Brown Rice 32 oz
• 4 – Jiffy Pops Popcorn (great for camp fire popcorn)
• 2 – Quaker Cocoa Chocolate Mint Granola (10 Bars Each)
• 1 – Near East Couscous Parmesan
• 1 – Near East Pearled Couscous Basil and Herb
• 1 – Near East Whole Grain Brown Rice Pilaf
• 3 – Mrs. Field’s Rainbow Chip Individually Wrapped Cookies (8 Count Each)
• 2 – Mrs. Field’s Oatmeal Raisin Individually Wrapped Cookies (8 Count Each)
• 1 – Mrs. Field’s Snicker Doodle Individually Wrapped Cookies (8 Count)
• 1 – Late July Organic Bite Size Cheddar Cheese Crackers 5 oz
• 1 – Pillsbury Easy Frosting Velvety Cream Cheese 13.5 oz
• 2 – Kraft Tuscan House Italian Dressings (16 oz each)
• 9 – CapriSun Fruit Punch
• 1 – Betty Crocker Dora the Explorer Fruit Snacks (10 Count)
• 1 – Atkins Dark Chocolate Bars (5 Count)
• 1 – Kellogg’s Special K Protein Bars (6 Count)
• 1 – Pasta Roni Olive Oil and Italian Herb Natures Way
• 1 – Pasta Roni Basil & Olive Oil Easy Salads
• 1 – Pasta Roni Italian Herb Easy Salads
• 6 – Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Premium Thick n’ Creamy
• 2 – Betty Crocker Whole Grain Chicken Helper Honey Mustard
• 1 – Tobblerone Swiss Milk & White Chocolate with Honey and Almond Limited Edition 3.52 oz
• 1 – Martha White Whole Grain Sweet Yellow Honey Cornbread & Muffin Mix
• 1 – Pedialyte Fruit Punch Flavor Powder Packs (4 Count)
• 4 – Jello Fat Free Sugar Free Butterscotch Pudding
• 1 – Classic Zone Perfect Chocolate Mint Bars (5 Count)
• 1 – Gatorade 2 Thirst Quencher Powder Packs Grape Flavor (8 Count)
• 1 – Dove Dark Chocolate 8.87 oz
• 1 – Nature Made Triple Flex Vitamins (60 Count)
• 1 – Jello Pumpkin Spice Pudding
• 1 – Trident Layers Cool Mint & Melon Fresco (14 pieces)
• 1 – Swedish Fish Package 9.5 oz
• 1 – Idahoan Four Cheese Mashed Potatoes 4 oz
• 2 – Jello Fat Free Sugar Free Vanilla Pudding
• 3 – Jello Fat Free Sugar Free Banana Cream Pudding
• 3 – Jello Fat Free Sugar Free White Chocolate Pudding
• 1 – Trident White Peppermint Gum (12 pieces)
• 1 – McCormick Grill Mates Tomato, Basil, and Garlic
• 2 – Stride Uber Bubble Gum (14 pieces)
• 1 – Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Eggs 6.5 0z
• 2 – Orbit Cinnamint Gum (14 pieces)
• 1 – Glutina Gluten Free Candy Bars Dark Chocolate (5 Count)
• 1 – Dentyne Spearmint Gum (12 pieces)
• 1 – Glutina Gluten Free Candy Bars Milk Chocolate (5 Count)
• 1 – Wrigley’s Solstice Warm & Cool Winter (15 pieces)
• 2 – Near East Gourmet Meals 5.6 oz
• 1 – Tridents Layers Gum Greenapple Golden Pineapple (14 pieces)
• 1 – Stride Spearmint Gum (14 pieces)
• 1 – Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit (60 pieces)

At Sav-Mor I spent $7.00 for 83 items making the cost 8 cents per item.  Considering only a couple of these items put together are worth $7 I am excited to get some of these to help restock our pantry.  Some items don’t expire until 2012, a few are already expired or will expire in the next few months.  The Sav-Mor sale is an adventure but you can really get your money’s worth in a matter of minutes.  You can learn more information about this sale at Living on a Budget: Sav-Mor Sidewalk Box Sale.  It really does help stretch your budget when you have a store in the area that does great sales.

Groceries from Walgreens:

• $3.94 at Walgreens for 2 Pure Bottle Water Packages (24 count each).  I had a raincheck from back in September for 24 pack of Pure Water for $1.99 each.   With upcoming road trips and hot months these will come in handy.

Groceries from BiLo:

• $12.56 at BiLo for 2 gallons of Pet Whole Milk, 2 gallons of Pet 2% Milk, and 1 package of Ground Hamburger (plus $1.50 clearance coupon sticker).

Groceries from Save A Lot:

• $15.71 at Save A Lot for Clearance Ground Beef, Mix Vegetables, Corn, Mushrooms, 5 packages of Hotdogs, Root Beer, Cola, Ketchup, Mustard, Clearance Peaches, Cheese Singles, Half & Half and Heavy Cream.  Many of these items were on sale at Save A Lot this week plus the additional discount for clearance items.

I am excited to be back doing our Groceries $40 for 4 budget again.  This week I spent $39.21 on groceries.  Even though I was really close to budget I was still able to stock up on several items.  Thankfully I was able to keep the amount within reason although I would like to see a little extra left over for those weeks when I find a really good deal or go a little over.  The box sale helped us restock our pantry plus shopping the sales allows us to stay within our budget.  Hopefully next week I will do better.

It is my goal to give you regular updates on this budget section so you can celebrate the good weeks with me and thump me on the bad weeks!  As always you are welcomed to join the journey with me.  I would love to hear your story and how you are doing too.  The purpose of our family doing this it to watch our grocery spending while allowing us to feed our family, enjoy life, share with others, and yet stay on track with our budget.

Living on a Budget is a series of ways our family uses a budget to help keep us accountable with our finances.  Life doesn’t always go as planned.  We have used some of the ideas I will be sharing for years while others are ones we are just starting to implement as we continue finding ways to be creative and have fun with what we have been given.  Having a plan in place allows us the freedom to be smart with what we have been given, get more creative when it is a tight (week, month, year or a season) and when necessary live a much more simplified life.  A budget helps us stay on track so we have more opportunities to enjoy the many blessings we have been given as well as share what we have with others.  There is so much more to life than having all the stuff.  We may not have the newest or greatest items in our house, we drive used cars, and wear hand-me-down clothing…..however, if our family is taken care of and have love for each other and others we have more than all the riches in the world.