Trading Up Downtown

Happy Thanksgiving Week!

I can’t believe Turkey Day is just about here. I mean, the temperatures reached 70 degrees in Boston last week. At this time of year, that kind of weather is typically unheard of!

I’m not complaining– I love the warm weather– but it doesn’t make it seem like Thanksgiving should be here already. Even still, Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and I shopped appropriately at the grocery store this week: light.

In this week’s cart:

• Bananas (NuVal score: 91)
• Brussels sprouts (NuVal score: 94)
• Kettle Backyard BBQ Chips (NuVal score: 24)
• Kettle Krinkle Cut Chips Buffalo Bleu All Natural (NuVal score: 24)
• Sweet potatoes (NuVal score: 96)
• Broccoli (NuVal score: 100)
• Cheez-Its (NuVal score: 23)
• Land O Lakes All Natural Extra Large Brown Eggs (NuVal score: 33)
• Diamond Shelled Walnuts (NuVal score: 82)
• Wonderful Pistachios Roasted & Salted (NuVal score: 41)
• Wishbone Italian Dressing (NuVal score: 3)
• Yoplait Fat Free Plain Greek Yogurt (NuVal score: 99)
• One Pie Pumpkin (NuVal score: 91)
• Coffeemate Natural Bliss Vanilla Creamer (NuVal score: 2)

Save

Even though I didn’t have a lot to buy at the grocery store this week, I still wanted to save as much money as possible, so I took advantage of in-store sales and used a bunch of coupons.

Items on sale:

Items that I had a coupon for:

This week’s grocery shopping was pretty expensive with the bill coming in nearly $15 overbudget. We meal planned, used coupons, and took advantage of in-store sales, but it just wasn’t a cheap trip to the grocery store because of the amount of meat that we purchased. Three of our meals this week have meat as a main ingredient, so it just adds up. If you want to save money on meat at the grocery store, here’s a post with some great tips.

In this week’s cart:

• Bananas (NuVal score: 91)
• Chicken breast (NuVal score: 39)
• Yellow potatoes (NuVal score: 93)
• Store brand bagels
• Butter (NuVal score: 1)
• Red wine vinegar
• Eggs (NuVal score: 33)
• Avocado (NuVal score: 89)
• Pears (NuVal score: 96)
• Romaine lettuce (NuVal score: 100)
• Store brand sliced cheddar cheese
• Store brand black beans
• Store brand canned pumpkin
• Van’s Homestyle Frozen Waffles (NuVal score: 25)
• Cape Cod Kettle Cooked Parmesan & Roasted Garlic Potato Chips (NuVal score: 25)
• Red bell pepper (NuVal score: 96)
• Mushrooms (NuVal score: 93)
• Store brand blue cheese

And here’s where most of our weekly grocery budget was spent:

Sirloin steak (NuVal score: 30)

Turkey breast (skinless) (NuVal score: 48)

Chicken breast (NuVal score: 39)

How much of your weekly grocery budget is spent on meat?

Another week, another shopping!

Surprisingly, we didn’t need a ton of groceries this week, but I still managed to spend quite a bit of money at the grocery store. I swear, it was for a good reason though! I had a coupon for $10 off a $50 purchase at my local grocery store, so this week’s shopping was all about stocking up on items that I know we’d use, so I could save $10 off of my bill.

In this week’s cart:

• Bananas (NuVal score: 91)
• Store brand vanilla soy milk
• Chicken breast (NuVal score: 39)
• Thomas Whole Wheat Bagel Thins (NuVal score: 32)
• Garlic (NuVal score: 96)
• Arnold 100% Whole Wheat Bread (NuVal score: 37)
• Brown sugar (NuVal score: 1)
• Sugar (NuVal score: 1)
• Green beans (NuVal score: 99)
• Boar’s Head Honey Smoked Sliced Turkey (NuVal score: 26)
• Boar’s Head Cheddar Cheese (NuVal score: 23)
• Teddie Super Chunky Peanut Butter (NuVal score: 38)
• Yellow potatoes (NuVal score: 93)
• Store brand bagels
• Store brand whipped cream cheese
• Butternut squash (NuVal score: 100)
• Eggs (NuVal score: 33)
• 93% Lean Ground Beef (NuVal score: 30)
• Prince pasta (NuVal score: 57)
• Campbell’s Condensed Tomato Soup (NuVal score: 24)

Save

I wanted to hit the $50 mark, so I could save $10, which is essentially a free $10 in my mind. As long as none of the food that I buy goes to waste, it’s a deal to me!

I stocked up on items that I know will not go to waste in our house: soy milk, Campbells Tomato Soup, Teddie Peanut Butter, and Prince pasta.

Over the weekend, I had a serious craving for a big toasted bagel with cream cheese. I thought about buying one at my favorite bagel shop, but I decided to save my money and buy some bagels and cream cheese at the grocery store this week. I saved even more money by buying day-old bagels and whipped cream cheese, which is the same price as regular cream cheese, but seems to last longer in our house. Maybe because it’s light and fluffy? Or because it’s easier to spread?

How often do you take advantage of store coupons?