Grocery Shopping Savings of the Day

[amandajane]

I love this site, there's so much to talk about :0)

I thought this could be a bit of a motivator, hope it's not too boring! How about a thread about what we saved whilst out grocery shopping?

I can start with yesterdays bargains, luckily it's all listed on the docket/receipt, maths was never my strong point, lol.

Baking powder - normally $1.89 - now $1.49
Baking soda - normally $1.72 - now $1.49
Brown rice - normally $2.32 - now $1.49
Surf concentrated washing powder 1kg - normally $4.35 - now $1.91

Total savings $3.92



I'm not going shopping again until Thursday because I've got no registration (road tax) on my car till then, that'll save me money too, lol.

[Joanne]

Great idea for a thread Amanda Jane!

The next time we go food shopping, I'll write what we save but here's a small one from today.

Chocolate covered cherries are usually sold here only around the holidays and they're one of my husband's favorites. Walmart is having their after-holiday sale and they're 47 cents a box. Normally they're 97 cents a box and he bought 10 boxes and froze some.

[amandajane]

I forgot about this thread, doh!

Mmm, chocolate covered cherries, sounds delicious!

I did the supermarket compare exercise. This is an abstract of my blog post

The results were amazing. My shop consisted of 45 items, ranging through meat (pork, lamb, chicken and beef) and vegetables, staple items and dairy. I brought a couple of ’superpriced’ items that I normally wouldn’t buy but it made sense to do so because of the prices. Besides, I have allowed myself $10 a week to spend on bulk items from now on anyway. I brought a tray of thirty eggs, a 12 pack of toilet roll, a 5kg bag of brushed potatoes and some meat packs.

Pak’n'Save total: $112.43
Foodtown total: $166.62

That’s a $54.19 saving - on one shop! That really is a ridiculous amount of money - very nearly a third difference. What warrants these huge price differences? I know where I will be shopping from now on. The inconvenience of having to drive 10 - 15 mins to get there is the only differential!

[Gootsy]

That's kinda big difference .

My kneejerk reaction was that the quantities you bought must be different to cause such a big gap. I mean with meat a little bit here and there can add up hehe.

Just checked your site and saw that you're going to put it into a spreadsheet so we can see your list. If you do decide to do this, think you could highlight what's on sale?!

Great IDEA BTW. It's something I've thought about doing in the past for the more expensive items (meats, cheeses. and a few veggies).

[amandajane]

It is a big difference eh. I entered the quantities for the product as thankfully the online site has that facility so it's 100% accurate, it took a while but it was worth it to get the results!

I will be putting it into a spread sheet, but the thing is my shopping habits and preferences are likely different so you'd have to edit it. Getting the info for sale items could be difficult. I'll have to have a think and see what I can come up with :0)

[Joanne]

I went to our local dent and bent store today (I love that place) and got some great deals. Cheerios for .99 a box (box had a slight rip in the cardboard, but the inner bag was fine), bottles of flavored water for .50 (label was ripped) and juice boxes for $1.00 a box.

If you have a dent and bent store near you I highly suggest giving them a look. Some of them are dirty and yukky but the one near me is clean and rotates their stock all the time. Everythime I go in there they have new stuff on the shelves.

[amandajane]

Sounds like you've grabbed some great bargains Joanne :0)

We don't have dent and bent over here unfortunately. It sounds like Pak'n'Save though, good rotation of stock.

[purplefdu]

We managed to spend $30 in groceries and save $40 this week. And got ten cents off a gallon for gas since the total before savings was $50.

I also got candle refils for 0.50 each and the holders for 1.50 each. Salt for .20, Nerds candy and the same cerries for .25-.37 each. Bath sets for 1.00 each. I made more than on clerk scratch their head at the amount I saved.

[lucille]

I started a grocery notebook like many people suggest. I did it on an Excel spreadsheet and used my grocery receipts to go back and record everything. I when I am shopping and I want to compare the price of something I write it down and see if it is a deal worth stocking up or if Amazon has it cheaper.

I discovered that our local grocery really plays games with prices. Their ads are constantly full of things on sale that are not on sale. But since I have been keeping a price book I know what a real sale there is. Like refried beans for 40 cents a can. They advertise them on sale for 88 cents all the time. The highest I have ever seen them in 89 cents. So when I see them on sale for 40 cents I pile them in the cart. People always look at me weird too.

I really didn't get any single great bargains when we shopped this week but our grocery bills have suddenly taken a nose dive. Bulk buying and changing what we buy is finally paying off. I just really didn't have that much I needed to buy. More perishables like fruit and veggies, milk and some more meat to put in the freezer.

I can't imagine the grocery bills of people who have a bunch of kids and buy only convenience food and single serving packs.

[purplefdu]

The lady in the next isle from me checking out had two kids. Her weekly total was almost $200. I don't think anything she bought was on sale, lol.

I've thought about making an excel sheet, but my husband might finally think I've been brainwashed by the frugal I do have a photographic memory and three grocery stores within the range of weekly chores though so I have plenty of options to browse the weekly flyers for where to shop best.