Grocery Games: Week of Feb 24

I follow a United States based blog called Money Saving Mom and each week Gretchen writes a post about her grocery shopping and their meals for the week.

Grocery shopping in the U.S. is a game and the winner is the shopper who can get the most stuff for the least money. Grocery store points, coupons, double or triple coupon days … it has a spawned a whole genre and a TV show called Extreme Couponing.

In Canada, we having nothing so extreme. We have flyers, weekly sales and the odd store that price matches. Occasionally, there might be a bonus coupon stuck to a product or hanging on the store shelf, but this is rare. So how do we spread our grocery dollar? I shop at multiple stores for the best price, buy in multiples and store, and price match if possible. I use the phone app Flipp to sort through the local flyers and create my grocery list. Thankfully, the grocery stores will allow Flipp to price match so I don’t need any paper flyers.

So what did I buy this week?

• Ziploc Reusable Containers – on sale – $3.50 each if more than two purchased (bought 4 packages). I like the twist tops for most items and the container and lid is harder to break than the other style. (SAVED $5.96)
• Ziploc sandwich bags (1 box) – regular price – $3.79/box. I have been slowly purchasing more reusable fabric bags but sometimes the situation calls for these.
• Method dish soap (2 bottles) – on sale – $4.99/bottle. (SAVED $2.00)
• Black Diamond Shredded Cheddar (2 bags) – on sale- $3.99/bag. (SAVED $8.00)
• Olympia Krema Plain Yogurt – on sale – $4.49/container (SAVED $0.50)
• Grapes – on sale – $1.99/lb (SAVED $3.86)
• Avocado, 5 per bag – on sale – $2.99/bag (SAVED $2.00)
• Blackberries – on sale – 2 containers for $5.00 (SAVED $1.98)
• Kielbasa – regular price – $4.99
• Muffins – regular price – $5.29
• Cookies – regular price – $3.99
• Baguette – regular price – $3.69

I also got a raincheck for 4 blocks of Black Diamond Extra Old Cheddar since they were out of stock. I will need to use this coupon in the next 30 days to get the $3.99 sale price. Thanks to the Metro receipt, I know there was a total promotional savings on this shop of $24.30 … if I use the raincheck, the savings will be $40.30! I also paid $10.00 of this bill using 90 AirMiles.

• Apple Sauce Pouches (12/box) – regular price – $7.97/box
• Granola Bars – regular price – $1.50/box
• Vegetable Broth – regular price – $1.67/container
• Fresh Pasta (4 packages) – on sale – $2.00/package (SAVED $6.68)
• Salami – regular price – $3.00/item
• Italian Style Frozen Vegetables – regular price – $2.00/bag
• Garden Salad & Coleslaw packs (3 packages) – on sale – $1.00/bag (SAVED $4.41)
• Baby Carrots (2 packages) – on sale – $1.00/bag (SAVED $1.94)
• Extra Old Cheddar – regular price – $5.77/block
• Havarti (2 packages) – regular price – $5.47/block
• Butter (2 boxes) – regular price – $5.77/box
• Alymer Accent canned tomatoes – on sale – $1.00/can (SAVED $0.67)
• Baby Tomatoes – on sale – $1.00/container (SAVED $1.97)
• Zucchini – regular price – $6.55/kg – $2.88

By looking through the flyers beforehand and thinking about how I can use the deals, I saved $15.67, got 1,800 PC points for loading my offers, and additional PC points for paying with my President’s Choice MasterCard.

• Large Organic Eggs – regular price – $9.99
• Feta Cheese – regular price – $9.99
• Excel gum – regular price – $9.59
• Praline Pecans – regular price – $16.99
• Pistachios – regular price – $18.99
• Jet Dry – on sale – $8.99 (SAVED $4.00)

If you purchase large organic eggs, Costco is usually the best price. Since everything is in bulk sizes, you need to know that you can use all of it or your items just end up as food waste. Sometimes it is hard not to ‘try’ a new item – remember to share or donate the remainder if it turns out you don’t like it.

Total cost of the three shops: $216.47 >>> Total (minimum) savings: $43.97

What Will I Be Making?

• Italian Vegetable Soup with Beef Tortellini Pasta – frozen Italian Vegetables, broth, canned tomatoes, and beef tortellini pasta from this shop. I will add onion, some leftover beans, a bit of pesto and spices that I already have. This will be a dinner, lunch, and a freezer item – all for less than $10.00 worth of ingredients ($6.67of grocery items plus pantry items).
• Zucchini Bread – zucchini and butter from this shop. I already have the other baking ingredients. This will be for breakfast and snacks.
• Thursday is pasta day in our schedule so I got enough fresh pasta for the next three weeks. We have pesto and red sauce in the freezer; as well as frozen meatballs.
• The cheese will be used with the baguette, added to some leftover tortillas, and added to scrambled eggs.
• Salad will be for lunches and dinner sides.
• Yogurt is used for smoothies (frozen fruit, avocado, and kale in freezer) and breakfast granola/fruit bowls (which can also use the blackberries).

Is this everything for the week? Nope. We will need some more milk but I purchase organic ($4.99) from Loblaws. This shop was also very light on protein so we either need to purchase some meat or more likely, raid our freezer. My husband also purchased some items from M&M Food Market (e.g. Pot Roast, Chicken & Vegetable Stew) for future meals.

I am constantly trying to keep the food budget down and control food waste. Perhaps by sharing my purchases, it can help you save a few dollars too.

Please share on social media or comment on this post, your favourite buys of the week and what you plan to make.