Bountiful Basket Pickup Day! Day 2

I am really digging this bountiful baskets deal. Today was pick up day- bright and early at 7:00! I raced over there this morning and back to be at work at 8:00. It's so worth it.
In case you've never heard of them before- it's $15.00 for a regular order, $25 for all organic and then you can get extras like blueberries and bread. I just stick with the basic basket and then it's $1.50 for tax. It comes in 2 laundry baskets 1 full of veggies and 1 full of fruit.
So for a total of $16.50 I got all of this.

Here we have:
3 english cucumbers
1 bunch (I think of 6 or 7) bananas
1 head of romaine
5 lbs yukon potatoes
7 ears of corn
1 mini watermelon
1 pineapple
1 bunch of red grapes
1 head of broccoflower 
6 peaches
3 tomatoes
9 plouts 

I definately think it's worth $16.00. In the weekly ad at my favorite market, mini watermelons are 2.50, pineapple is 0.78/lb, grapes are 1.98/lb, and peaches are 1.18/lb. If I bought this there, it would add approx $11.00!
Now, I don't buy cucumbers or lettuce for more than $1 ea so that's another $4. Or ears of corn for more than 0.25/ea. Add that to the total above and I'm already at $16.50!

That doesn't include the potatoes, broccoflower, plouts or tomatoes!
Even if they were a dollar each, that'd make my total over $20.

Plus Bountiful Baskets are kinda fun because you never know what you're going to get. I've heard of broccoflower and plouts before but I've never had them before. I tried a plout and they're quite yummy. I probably never would have bought them otherwise! I'm pretty excited to try them!

Bountiful Basket Pickup Day!

My sis in law told me about this co-op called Bountiful Baskets, so I decided to try it. It was $15.00 plus a handling fee for fresh produce. This morning I went to a local elementary school parking lot where it was all set up. You have to bring you're own bags (or baskets, or boxes...) and for every order they had 1 basket of veggies and 1 basket of fruit. Here's what I got:

In this picture:

1 small watermelon

1 stalk of celery

1 bunch of bananas (I gave 2 to my mom, and 1 found left in the bag)

some Brussels sprouts

2 things of broccoli

3lb bag green apples

4 ears of corn

some nectarines

1 head lettuce

3 tomatoes

1 pinapple

AND I gave my parents:

1 cantelope (because I don't like them)

3 ears of corn (because 7 ears for 1 person is too much!)

1 stalk of celery (because, again, 2 stalks is a lot and my mom loves celery)

2 bananas because they wanted them. haha.

All in all I was pretty impressed with the whole thing. It was really a lot of produce and well worth the cost I think.  You don't know what you're going to get until you show up. Sometimes you get crazy things- last week my sis in law got a lot of bok choy. I'm not sure what she did with it all. And I'm not sure what I'm going to do with Brussels sprouts but I'm kind of excited about it all. 

Grocery Shopping Day

I finally made it to the grocery store.
Here's what we got:
Gogurt 2.25-1.00Q
FiberOne yogurt 2.00-.55Q
Red Baron Pan pasta 4.98-1.00Q
Pickles 3.00
Bbq sauce 1.68
Red baron 'by the slice' pizza 3.00 -3.00 Rebate
snap peas 2.58
Doritos 2.48 -2.48Q
1 jar banana peppers 1.68
1 bag fruit slice candies 3.88
1 pk crumb donuts 1.00
1 magazine 2.69
Dole Tropical fruit salad 2.32
Hamburger buns 1.12
Walmart brand pop tarts 1.25
2 cans grilling beans 1.48 ea -1.00Q
2 bottles of Vitamin water 1.00 ea -1.00Q
Otter pops (yum! it's that time of year!) 3.56
24 pk bottled water 2.48
2 apples 1.29
grapes 3.14
pear .84
zucchini .77
baby carrots 1.48
1 lb strawberries 1.88
-5.00 Walmart gift card
Total: 46.90 (Before I get the rebate for the red baron pizza)

At Smiths:
1 pkg bagged salad 1.99
1 cup mango chunks 1.69
Rolaids
Gas Relief pills
Water bottle 1.79
Total there was just over $22

Grocery Shopping Day

I've been at my sister in law's house all weekend but now I'm back and it feels so good to be home! Russ and I decided that he should start taking his lunch to work instead of him buying lunch every day. So I went to the grocery store to buy lunch supplies along with the rest of the things we need for dinners. Luckily we have a ton of stuff in the freezer, so I mainly just needed 'sides.'
I also want to buy more organic produce. The funny thing about being frugal is sometimes I want to get something for as little as possible, even if that sacrifices some of the quality. Yeah chili dog dinners cost like $2.00 but they're not as nutritious as say grilled chicken and veggies. So I went to a local store called Natural Grocers where they have all organic stuff but it's at a very affordable price. If you live in the St. George UT area, check out this store; I love it.

Natural Grocers:

Romaine .89 (At Walmart, the regular romaine was 1.68!)
4 Golden Delicious 2.34
3 Fuji apples 2.03
2 Pears 1.18
Panda licorice (not pictured 'cause I ate it!) .65
Fage Greek yogurt 1.75
Total: 9.11

Albertsons

Claim Jumper meal (I'm going to split this and serve for a quick dinner one day.) 1.88
10 Fruit roll ups .69 ea (expensive but they're so yummy!)
2 navel oranges .87
2 tomatoes 1.43
Total: 11.43

Walmart:

2 boxes of cereal 2.50 ea -1.00Q
1 jar salsa  1.92
2 Dannon 4 pk 1.87 ea -1.00Q
Cottage cheese 1.62
Sliced American cheese 2.63
5 String cheese .25 ea
Turkey Lunch meat 3.00 -.55Q
6 yoplait yogurts .50 ea -.40Q
Philly cream cheese minis 1.46 -1.00Q
Chocolate milk 1.08
Ham lunch meat 2.28 -.60Q
1 box of stuffing 1.00
Peaches fruit cup 1.98
Snap peas 2.58
Pkg salad 2.50
Carrots 1.48
1 can chili 1.50
bread .75
Total: 35.70

Final Total: $56.22

shopping day

Russ and I just got back from Costco and again I didn't think about taking a picture (again). Anyway we spent just under $90 and we got:
breakfast sandwiches and coffee for Russ's breakfasts for 2 weeks
apples
plums
popcorn chicken and Panda orange sauce. Russ loves(!) Panda and so we thought we'd try to make it ourselves. Well, mostly ourselves, than go to Panda and spend over $12 each time.
Oreos
Real Fruit fruit roll ups
and chocolate macadamia nuts! Couldn't help ourselves! =)

Grocery Shopping Day

So I really do plan to take a picture of my groceries but I usually forget until after all of the groceries are put away. Anyway. Today I worked late and didn't plan anything for dinner, but when I did get off work, I was starving and Russ hadn't eaten. I was planning on picking up some groceries anyway so I picked up some stuff at the store for dinner tonight. Lasagna, Garlic bread and salad (which I was going to get stuff for salad anyway.) I went with lasagna because I could microwave it in ten minutes so it'd be quick and Russ and I both agreed to it.  I went to get the Stoffers microwaveable lasagna, you know that little box but it was 7.99! So I said no to that. But then I saw Claim Jumpers lasagna. It was a smaller box, which was actually better for Russ and me because then we'd eat less and save on calories. That was only 3.50. Less than 1/2 the price. I also got the pre-frozen New York Texas Garlic bread that was 2.69 and I had a .50Q. So I grilled two of those for dinner tonight and we'll have more for later dinners. I also bought:

Toaster Strudels 1.66
Toaster Strudels 2.50- .55Q
FiberOne yogurts 2.00-1.00Q
2 healthy choice meals 1.67 ea -1.00Q= 1.17 ea
Soup at Hand Soup 1.50- .50Q
Chicken drumsticks 3.76 (can't remember who many lbs this is, I'm pretty sure it was 1.19/lb)
Romaine lettuce 1.00
2 Roma tomatoes .48
Orange .79
Pear .46
Total: 24.09
Total savings: 14.32

I don't think I did too bad. I did go over budget by just over a dollar, but I did buy dinner that I didn't plan on, and I think we're set grocery wise (except for produce) for the next three weeks.


Here's why I don't think I did too bad. Like I mentioned, I work at a grocery store and I was checking this ladies groceries today. She mentioned to be something about this is what's for dinner tonight.  Here's what she bought:
French bread 1.99
Rotisserie Chicken 7.99
Salad bar 12.51
Total: 23.82

Really? Gayle at the Grocery cart challenge was just taking about paying for convenience when buying packaged salad. At Harmons where I work we do have a great (very overpriced) salad bar that can make a great lunch option every now and then and I mean every now and then. But I would never buy it as a side dish to dinner. Ok, my salad tonight wasn't as fancy. I didn't get all the trimming like she did, but really it's salad. It can only get so fancy. Our salad consisted of: Romaine, tomato, green onion, cucumber, and banana peppers.
The lettuce was 1.00 but I literally used 2 leaves, and there's like what 20? that's .10
The tomato was .12
the green onion was maybe .20
The cucumber: .20
and the peppers were not even .50.
Total:  1.12
And I'm pretty sure I rounded up. Okay and that doesn't include dressing. Add another .50 for dressing and it's still $10.00 cheaper than her salad!! Yes I had to chop up the veggies and tear the lettuce. I did that while the lasagna cooked. How could it have been easier?

AND the chicken. 8.00 for a chicken. I got a roasting chicken the other day for 3.49. Yeah,I'll have to add in the cost of the seasonings, but it's sooo minimal I won't even do that math. Plus it's not like its too hard to cook. I'm going to plop it in my lovely crock pot and go on with my merry way.

Grocery Shopping day

Grocery shopping day!
Roasting pan (set of 2) 1.47
2 gala apples .59
2lbs green grapes 2.04
Blue Bunny Sedona Ice cream bars 4.49-2.00Q
Fiber one yogurt (4 pack) 2.00-1.00Q
Yoplait Delights 2.00-1.00Q
6 yoplait yogurts .50 ea -.50Q
Sour cream .82
2 progresso soups 1.50 ea -.50Q
Larabar 1.25 -.40Q
Betty Crocker mashed potato pouch .68-.55Q
tortillas 1.58
2 Mr Clean Magic Erasers 1.96 ea -B1G1Q
Crystal Light Rasp Lemonade 2.50
Tyson grilled chicken strips 2.50 -.50Q
Pumpkin (not pictured) 3.98
Grand total of $28.60
Savings (approx) of: $10.58

Grocery Shopping day

Since my schedule is so irregular, I have to shop when I get the day off. Today was my day off and I think I did pretty good.

ALBERTSONS:
2 lean cuisines 1.88 ea
1 Rhodes Garlic rolls 2.69 -1.00Q -1.00 Double Q
1 Can Soup at Hand 1.00 -.50Q -.50DQ
2 pkg Hormel Fridge entree 4.99 -1.00Q 1.00DQ -(another) 2.00Q
1 1lb bag baby carrots 1.00
2 Luna bars 1.29- 1.29 B1G1Q (not pictured)
TOTAL: 13.79
TOTAL SAVINGS; 22.39
(I Love saving more than I spent!!)

HARMONS:
(Sorry no picture, I took one and put everything away, then went to upload the pic and couldn't find it!)

4 Diet coke 12 pks 16.00 -2.00Q
3 Progresso soups 2.00 ea -1.10Q
1 Blue Cheese dressing 1.00
1 womans world mag 1.79 (it had Tara from the biggest loser on the cover. HAD TO HAVE IT!!)
Green Giant frozen immunity boost blend 1.50
3 Hamburger helpers 1.50 ea -.75Q
Betty Crocker Garlic mashed potato mix 1.50
2 Pilsbury Grands Biscuits 1.50 ea -1.00 Q
Fig Newton snack pack 1.00
Yoplait delights 2.00 -1.00Q
1 orange .93
-5.00 betty crocker coupon
-.10 bag credit
-10.00 Gift Certificate (I won this buy helping a customer and my name got put in a drawing that, yup I won)
TOTAL: 19.13
TOTAL SAVINGS: 24.38.
Yeah! I saved more than I spent again!