Food Snobs BEWARE!!!!

I warned you.... if you are a food snob, you better not read this post. Because we in this household are definitely not. And I am about to share with you what a grocery day for us yields.

Some of you know our food budget, and have asked how we do it. (Food budget= food, drink, and any household items we might need). For those of you who don't know, it is somewhere between $199 and $201 dollars a month. That is for a family of hubby, baby girl, and me.  Today I am going to let you see what a pay day grocery shopping trip yields for me. I hope it helps you think out of the box with your normal shopping trips and encourages you by reminding you that the Lord provides all you need on whatever budget He has allowed you!

First things first, I try to always remember to pray BEFORE I go shopping. I know that the Lord is the one providing our foods, so I specifically ask Him to provide what we need within our budget and direct me to the right places. And it is AMAZING the deals that He has provided! It also helps me to keep a clear mind of buying what we need, versus all the fun things that I want. But it's so fun when He provides all those fun things I want too!

Second, since we don't get a paper here, I look at local grocers adds online. And I write down the sales. I shop according to sales, and then create the meals from what I came home with. Although, I have found that there are specific places that I generally end up for specific products.

•  Ralphs- Sunday or Monday for meats, I LOVE manager specials. I buy meat when it's cheap and stock up our freezer. 
• Vallarta- produce mainly. I have found that when selectively buying from the bins (nothing prepackaged), there is no problem with the produce going bad quickly. 
• 99 cent store- YUP, I'm a dollar store shopper! Some things are DEFINITELY NOT good quality  or better prices, but again, when shopping selectively- they do have lots of good options (especially if you aren't afraid to try all those weirdly named brands. haha)

Here are some pictures of what today's shopping trip yielded:

10 total pounds flour, 20 pounds rice, 10 pounds russet potatoes,
1/2 gallon milk, 2 dozen eggs, 1 tub BestLife  "butter"

One thing that I'm sure impacts our budget is that I am allergic to dairy AND egg. Soooo, we are only buying those items for one member of our family, since baby girl has yet to be introduced to them. (I want her to be able to clearly communicate to us that her throat is closing before she tries them) OH- and I only buy my "butters" when they are at the 99cent store. I've found they are there semi- kind of- regularly. And I stock up when I see them. 

Foil, Wax Paper, Sandwhich bags, 2 Cleaners, Bleach

Thankfully that was all that we needed by way of "household" items this time.

8 cups natural applesauce, 6 cans of corn, 2 cans refried beans, 1 sm can tomato paste, 5 cans tomato sauce,
 pickle relish, pickles, sauerkraut, 2 cans pinneapples, organic tahini

1 head cabbage, 4 heads garlic, large amounts of tomato, mexican squash, granny smith apples, oranges, white onion, bananas, and broccoli. Also, celery, organic baby spinach leaves, and lettuce bag.

3 boxes of Happy O's (the 99 cent rip off version of cheerios, baby girl doesn't know the difference, and they're  a pretty good rip off if you ask me), 2 boxes of saltine crackers, two bags of popcorn colonels, two bags bagels, 1 box of rip off teddy grahams that I wanted to try. 

2 whole chickens, 1 5lb thing of ground beef, there were 2 of the Jennie O turkey sausages but we already ate one.

All in all, I think I have spent about 90 dollars? I still have to buy some apple juice and formula (with a Target gift card- PTL), oatmeal, and soymilk. Luckily the applejuice, oatmeal, and soymilk are on sale at Albertsons, I believe.  And if I have money still left, I would like to get some other items that are on sale, to stock up. OH, and in case you didn't notice, I don't buy much bread stuff. I make our breads thanks to our handy dandy $5 garage sale bread machine! =)

So that's what we got this time. As you saw, we are not name brand eaters. I'm always wanting to try new knock-offs to see what is out there for cheap. And, I wish I was, but I am not an avid coupon-er. Hopefully someday I will get the hang of it, but for now, I'm still a bit lost with it... so mostly all of what I get is without coupons. And it will last us 2 weeks or more, depending on how hungry we are and what kind of meals I create.   

And because I know you are all sooo curious what meals I come up with, I'll let you know as soon as I do! 

What are your grocery shopping tips?