Being Frugal: At the Grocery Store 4

This weeks' and last week's shopping trips are going to roll into one post (although I picked up the ad while I was at the store yesterday, and there were a few things I'll go back for later this week).

February 16th trip - $28.51
Tator Tots - $2.48
This will be enough for topping 3 tator tot casseroles. 

5 frozen pizzas - $10
At $2 each, this is a pretty darn cheap meal. And it's something hubby can quickly and easily make himself when I'm not home in the evening.

2 boxes spaghetti, 1 box pasta shells, and 1 box vermicelli - $4
Great to just have on hand for an easy meal, and the vermicelli was already used in hubby's Valentine's dinner.

2.5lb bag of chicken breasts - $4.98
I usually wait till this goes on sale for $3.98, but missed that one this time around. This is great for stirfry.

1 package imitation crab meat - $1
This is for Seafood Lasagna. Not sure when I'm going to make it, but it's in the plan for...sometime.

5lb potatoes - $1.88
2.5lbs onions - $2.88
These are staples in our house and I use onions in just about everything.


February 23rd trip - $12.83
Powdered milk - $6.98
This will make 32 cups of milk and I bought it at the suggestion of a 2nd cousin, to use in baking, etc. Not to drink straight. Although I did try a sip. Gross. lol. I'm very snooty about milk. I'm going to try it with the Loaded Baked Potato Chowder that we like - 1/2 real milk, 1/2 powdered milk.

Oatmeal - $1.98
Breakfast, every morning. This'll make between 30-40 breakfasts...and that's a lot cheaper than a bowl of cereal. 

Green onions - $0.99
For the Loaded Baked Potato Chowder.

2.28lb Oranges - $2.26 
Yep. Oranges again. For lunches. Apparently the pith is the healthiest part of the orange...and I don't like the pith at all. 

We've started buying milk at Walgreens after church - last week it was $3.79/gallon, which is a pretty good price!

We're fairly stocked up in the Larson household, so I'm trying to cut back on what I buy every week until we get the pantry/freezer emptied a little bit. I'll be sure to share the recipes that I make.

Spaghetti With Mushrooms and Parsley Lemon Pesto

Remember that 1/2 container of mushrooms leftover from the Cubed Steak Paprika I made about a week ago? And how 'bout the rest of that bunch of fresh parsley and the de-zested lemon Jordan used in the Valentine's dinner he made me?

I'm not one to let food go to waste, so I did a little googling ("fresh parsley, lemon, mushrooms") and found a yummy little vegetarian dish on www.anjasfood4thought.com. My hubby, the meat man, even ate it. (Although, he did suggest that chicken would have been a good addition. And it would have been.)

It was a great way to use up the "odd" ingredients I had on hand and I didn't need to buy anything else, either! I'm guessing this meal is around $1.50/serving - that's just a guess b/c I had everything on hand, but I included my cost estimate after each ingredient.

Sauteing mushrooms. Yum. (I don't think I ever thought I'd use "yum" and "mushrooms" in the same thought.)

I made my pesto the night before - forgot to take pics as we made it.

Tada! Easy and delicious. (A poor-quality pic though. Oops.)

Spaghetti With Mushrooms and Parsley Lemon Pesto

Spaghetti (I used approx 2/3 of a 1-lb box) $0.66 (cost of 3/4 box)
2 cups mushrooms, sliced (I believe I had about 7 or 8 mushrooms left) $1 (cost of 1/2 the box)
1 tablespoon olive oil

Parsley Lemon Pesto
2 cups fresh flat-leaf parsley $0.50 (cost of 1/2 the bunch)
1 garlic cloves, peeled
juice of a lemon $0.88
3/4 cups walnuts (chopped) $2 (this is a really rough estimate; it's probably high)
1/3 cup  olive oil
salt to taste

The other ingredients (olive oil, salt and garlic) I estimated about $1 for those.

Serves 4

1. To make pesto, place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until it becomes a paste. If it's crumbly, add some olive oil. Add salt to taste. 
2. Make and drain spaghetti. Brown mushrooms for 5-7mins in the olive oil. Add a bit of pesto. 
3. Mix spaghetti, mushrooms, and pesto. Enjoy. 

Our (not-so) Exciting Lives

I've been blogging a lot about saving money...mostly centered around saving at the grocery store for mealtime. I have other ideas for saving money elsewhere in your home, but those will come later.

For those of you that are interested in what the Larsons have been up to in KC the last few weeks...it's been not-so-exciting. Jordan's been busy studying and studying and...yep, that's about it. Here's what we've been up to since February started:

At trip to St. Louis!

The 1st weekend in February, I went to St. Louis with Amanda, a friend and fellow-Pampered Chef consultant, for PC Spring Launch. We had a great time learning about the new products (and even got to take home a new piece of stoneware!) and an even greater time enjoying the city. Amanda grew up in St. Louis, so we got to stay with her grandparents (yay for free overnights!) and went to church with them on Sunday. We enjoyed dinner at Joey B's with her aunt, cousin and brother. I ordered the Pasta Primavera (7 fresh veggies served in a garlic butter sauce with angel hair pasta), which was HUGE. I took the rest home and made grilled chicken breasts to go with it for Jordan's and my dinner. (See? Even saving money at a restaurant! A $12.99 meal became 3 meals!)

We got some delicious (and SUPER affordable) goodies at Missouri Baking Company on The Hill - I got 4 little cookies and a piece of german chocolate cake (for Jordan, his fav) and it was only $3something. A note about The Hill - this is the Italian part of town and there are all sorts of cute little Italian shops and restaurants. They have the Italian flag painted on things and Amanda told me that the area is still run by the Italian mafia...really!! 

We also got some provel cheese and salami from a little Italian grocery store with a meat counter. Yum. Here's what wiki had to say about Provel cheese: "Provel is a white processed cheese that is popular in St. Louis, Missouri.It is flavored with Cheddar, Swiss, and provolone." Spot on. And it's delicious.

Last but not least, we got sandwiches from Amighetti's to eat on the drive home. The Amighetti's special is made with ham, roast beef, genoa salami, brick cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, pepperoncini with Amighetti's secret dressing on fresh-baked Italian bread. Also yum. And a definite Jordan sandwich.

When Jordan and I visit St. Louis, we're doing all of this (and more). 

Bringing home the bacon

I've been doing some freelance editing for a friend (at her job) so that's been keeping me busy in the evenings, I've probably put 10-15hrs in for her these past couple weeks. Every little bit counts when it comes to the budget! 

Working off the bacon

I decided to kick my workout routine into high gear (aka actually go to the gym on a consistent basis)...so I needed some motivation. If I work out for 30+ mins, I get $1. YAY ME. bwaha. Since the 7th of January I've earned $17. I haven't  decided what my reward is going to be with the money that I earned...but it's motivating me to think that I'm "earning" money. Maybe that'll be my fun money, like, I have to earn it, I don't just get it. (Jordan would tell you that I never spend any fun money on myself, lol.) 

A new part of my work-out routine is this Killer Core Yoga Workout that my friend Emily posted about. It says beginner, and you don't think it would be that bad, but it seriously is KILLER. I've done it twice now, and my goal is to try to do it every other day (and on the opposite days do cardio and weights at the gym). My abs were dying. In a good way. Go ahead, print it off and try it yourself...this is something easy to do right in your home!

Game Night

We had 5 other med school couples over for games and munchies after finals week...and I forgot to take any pictures! So lame. We had a really good time playing Settlers and the other half of the group played Apples to Apples. There was also delicious food that everyone brought to share. And wine. And beer. And margaritas. It was a good evening. 

And that's about it! We'd still love to have visitors, so if you're ever feeling like a little vacation, KC is pretty fab! 

A Spoiled Girl for Valentine's Day

This is our 3rd married Valentine's Day (which we celebrated today, since Thursday was Jordan's last final and he was decompressing from a crazy finals week and yesterday we had friends over), and Jordan has made it a tradition to cook me dinner and do the dishes afterwards. What a good man. 

He always spoils me with something that I would never buy the ingredients for (aka, something that uses spendy ingredients, because [as you all know from my previous posts] I'm extremely frugal at the grocery store). This year was no different. I got spoiled with Linguine With Seafood and Sundried Tomatoes (recipe posted below, courtesy of allrecipes.com). 

Since I'm keeping track of how much we spend, Jordan spent $25 on this meal (thank you to mother-in-law Lisa for the Valentine's gift that paid for this meal!). The recipe was enough for him and I to have a very filling (and super-delicious) supper, plus 3 lunches for me and 2 lunches for him. That's approx $3.60/serving. 

Getting ready for his once-a-year cooking extravaganza. 

Fresh-zested lemon. Yum.

Ready to eat. Yes, those are ice cubes in our white wine. Don't judge.

Happy wife, happy life.

Linguine With Seafood and Sundried Tomatoes

1lb vermicelli pasta - $0.99 (linguine wasn't on sale, lol)

1/2 cup olive oil - had on hand
1/2 cup butter - had on hand
4 cloves garlic, minced - had on hand
1lb bay scallops - $9.99/lb
1lb medium shrimp - $8.99/lb
1 oz jar clam juice - $2.97
1/3 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes - had on hand
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley - $0.99/bunch
2 1/2 tsp lemon zest - 1 lemon $0.88
1/4 tsp salt - hand on hand
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes - had on hand

1. Make pasta. 
2. Add butter and olive oil to skillet. After butter is melted, add garlic. Saute until tender.
3. Add scallops and shrimp (peeled and deveined) to skillet. Cook until shrimp is pink (about 10mins), then add clam juice, salt and pepper. Cook 3mins more.
4. Add tomatoes, parsley and lemon zest to pasta. Toss. Pour seafood mixture over pasta. Enjoy.

Being Frugal: At the Grocery Store 3

You'll see a dramatic dip in the amount I spent last week...and I'm even contemplating NOT going to the store this week (minus picking up milk) because I have so many things stocked up. (Although thinking about missing the great sales is making it tough!!)

I'm also going to try to get these out earlier...like a week earlier, when the sales are still going on. Although, I don't think HyVee has the same sales at every store? So I'm not sure how helpful that would be...

On my shopping trip on Feb. 9th, I spent $18.23. Here's what I bought and why:

Sour cream - $0.88
This was for the Cubed Steaks Paprika (bottom of this post) that I made last week. I still have 1/2 the container left. 

3 Boxes Cake Mix - $2.97
This is a super easy dessert to have on hand...whenever we get invited somewhere and get asked to bring dessert, I'll probably use a box cake mix to make something delicious, like German Chocolate Lava Cake. 

2 bags HyVee corn chips - $3
Jordan's still working on his Rotel dip, plus this is great for the Heiberger-favorite Texas Skillet, and Jordan's mom gives us jars of homemade salsa, too. $1.50 is a really good price for chips. 

HyVee Pizza Sauce - $0.98
It was an endcap, I'd just bought those 2 pizza crusts mixes a couple weeks ago and I figured what the heck. One jar is enough for 2 pizzas, so I'll just use half of it and freeze the other half for the next time.

1lb cheddar cheese - $3.99
I divided out the ounces and the cost and the 1-lb brick was the cheapest per ounce. Grilled ham and cheese sandwiches have been my fall-back dinner option recently. And I just found another pound of ham lunch meat that Jordan froze a while back, so I guess there's no shortage of that!

Celery - $0.98
A great price for celery, plus I used it in the roast (bottom of this post) I made last week (it fed us for 1 dinner together plus 4 lunches for me and 3 lunches for Jordan). It only called for 2 stalks, so I'll probably freeze the rest and use it as I need it in recipes. I'm also thinking about making a cream of celery soup, as I have a fabulous recipe for cream soups. Yum.

1.65 lbs Pink Lady apples - $1.62
Weekly fruit for lunches, cheapest in the fruit section at $0.98/pound. 

Box of mushrooms - $1.99
This was also for the Cubed Steaks Paprika (bottom of this post) that I made last week. I still have 1/2 the container left.

Thanks to a tip from my friend Jess, I bought milk at the Walgreens by our church (which is 30mins from our apartment) and it WAS cheaper than the grocery store! The store is usually $4.08/gallon and Walgreens was $3.87/gallon, so we'll be picking up milk every Sunday after church. This will also help because I'm the type of person that if we run out on Friday, it'll be too bad so sad until Sunday after church! When The Gas Stop had Milk Mondays in SF (yeah, they still have them, but they're not ANYWHERE as good as they used to be), we'd run out of milk early a lot and we'd just have to go without until Milk Monday!

I'm always looking for ways to save more, and you all have given me (and others!) a lot of great ideas! From buying milk elsewhere to getting avocados for $0.38/each at Aldi to using powdered milk in recipes instead of real milk to buying dried instead of canned beans...keep sharing your tips! I'm excited to hear them!

Eating With the Larsons

Now that you've seen two weeks of my grocery shopping (here and here), you may wonder what we're eating during the week. Here's last week's menu (if we can even call it that).

We're not very formal...as you're going to see. But I try to put more effort into our lunches because, in my opinion, that's when it really counts - you're away from home, you can't just get something else to eat from the kitchen...lunch should be really good.

Breakfast
Jordan - a strong cup of black coffee, every morning
Me - this week, a piece of banana bread, every morning (courtesy of mom, had been frozen since Christmas)

Jordan's lunches

• Monday - Chicken Tortilla Soup, an orange, a yogurt (leftovers from the week before's dinner, courtesy of the freezer dinner exchange) 
• Tuesday - too busy to eat
• Wednesday - free lunch provided on campus 
• Thursday - Chicken Tortilla Soup, an orange, a yogurt
• Friday - 1 corn muffin and orange (he forgot to warm up the chicken and brussel sprouts [leftoever from Thursday's dinner] before going to a study session)
• Saturday - Chicken legs, brussel sprouts and a corn muffin (from yesterday's lunch)
• Sunday - Rotel Velveeta Dip. Yeah, he loves it.

My lunches

• Monday - Spaghetti Casserole and an orange (leftovers from last week's dinner, courtesy of the freezer dinner exchange)
• Tuesday - Chicken Tortilla Soup and an orange (same as above)
• Wednesday - Loaded Baked Potato Chowder and an orange (leftoever from Tuesday night's supper)
• Thursday - an avocado and an orange
• Friday - the boss took us all out to LuLu's
• Saturday - grilled ham & cheese sandwich
• Sunday - this is a Heiberger weekly tradition: eggs after church (it's before church for us, since we go to the 5pm service...but still...) + toast (and usually bacon, for Jordan, man's gotta have meat!) AND if I ever feel really adventurous I make hashbrowns, but not today.

Dinner

• Monday - Jordan: PB&J sandwich.  Me: granola bar from work (I didn't go home in between work and hanging out with friends). 
• Tuesday - Loaded Baked Potato Chowder (You should probably make this immediately. So delicious. I always include a bag of fresh, frozen [thawed] broccoli and bacon.)
• Wednesday - Buttermilk-roasted Chicken legs with corn muffins and brussel sprouts with gorgonzola cheese. (This was a freezer meal from the exchange - I used the broccoli that came with it in the Loaded Baked Potato Chowder. I try to keep frozen brussel sprouts on hand b/c they're hubby's fave. If you like this veggie, don't buy fresh - they're really spendy. The frozen bag is affordable, healthy, and still delicious.)
• Thursday - Jordan: Rotel Velveeta Dip (what can I say, the man eats what he wants). Me: leftover chowder from Tuesday. 
• Friday - Jordan: more dip (I told you he loves it). Me: avocado mixed with a tablespoon or so of Rotel Velveeta Dip. Yeah...we're that informal sometimes...
• Saturday - Cubed Steaks Paprika. ...So, I'd had these 6 5-oz cubed beef steaks in our freezer for...*cough*...years. Yeah. I brought them with me from SD. I bought them before my bro got married in July 2011. Eek. They were old. But frozen!!! I got them as part of a HyVee deal: 100 pieces of meat (a variety) for $100. We split it with my bro - he got $50 worth and we got $50 worth. These cube steaks were the last of that deal...I just didn't know what to do with them! They were only a dollar each (I had 6 of them)...but I was not going to let that $6 go to waste! Even after almost 3 years! (How embarrassing.) I (finally) opened up my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (best thing ever. Christmas gift a few years ago from my sis, I read it cover to cover. Not kidding.) and found one recipe for beef cubed steaks. And it was a hit (and only took 30mins to make). Jordan said it tasted like "gourmet hamburger helper" (and he loves HH). Recipe posted below. 



And beets! I love beets. Courtesy of my mom's garden and her mad canning skills.


• Sunday - Beef Pot Roast. This is a super simple, and delicious, pot roast, recipe courtesy of the amazing Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. It cooks for 10-12hrs in the crockpot and will be more than plenty for lunches this week. Recipe is posted below. 

Fresh veggies. My fav.

This meat is BROWNED. Not cooked yet.
Ready to go in the crockpot!

Cubed Steaks Paprika

1 tbsp butter

4 4- to 6-oz beef cubed steaks

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp pepper

1 cup beef broth

1/2 cup sour cream

2 tbsp flour

2 cups hot cooked noodles

1. Melt butter in skillet. Brown steaks for 5-8mins, turning once. Remove steaks (leave meat drippings in skillet).
2. Add mushrooms, onion, garlic, paprika and pepper to skillet. Cook until mushrooms are tender. 
3. Stir in broth. Mix together sour cream and flour, then add to skillet. Cook and stir until mixture thickens and is bubbly. 
4. Return steaks to skillet with sauce; heat through. Serve over hot noodles.

I had everything on hand for this recipe except for the mushrooms ($1.99 - I used half the container in this recipe) and the sour cream ($0.88 - I used half of the 8oz container for this recipe). The ingredients (mushrooms, sour cream and meat [$4]) cost $6.87...add a few bucks for the other items that most people probably have on hand and this recipe for four cost a little over $2 per serving. Jordan will definitely be eating this "gourmet hamburger helper" for lunch two times in the upcoming week. (Plus I've got the other 2 of the 6 "steaks" that I cooked up and will probably use in something else...maybe...spaghetti? lol)


Beef Pot Roast

1. Trim fat off roast (this recipe says 2.5-3lb roast) and brown all sides in oil in a skillet on the stove. 
2. Cut up potatoes (2 medium), carrots (6 sticks), onions (2 small) and celery (2 stalks) and put in the bottom of your crockpot. Place roast on top.
3. Mix together 3/4 cup water, 1 beef bullion cube, 1 tbsp worcestershire sauce, 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper, 1 tsp crush basil. Pour over roast and veggies. Cook on low for 10-12 hrs.   

As you can see, we're (mostly) leftover eaters. How do you keep mealtime simple?

Being Frugal: At the Grocery Store 2

We'll give this another go. (Don't worry - I still plan to post other things on this blog...just a fluke that it's two posts in a row.) This week's grocery trip was centered on 2 recipes whose ingredients were almost all on sale.

Who really has a great grocery-shopping idea is my friend from college, Shateen. She creates her entire week of meals from the grocery ad. If I ever really grow up, I'll buy meat from the meat counter, like her. (That counts as being a grown-up, for me...I think I've done this once in my life. It was cool. And scary.) She blogs over at Knit2Together and just did a great post about Shopping from the Ad.

Here's what my shopping trip got me this week:

Taco Soup (recipe here, at the bottom of the post if you missed it)
I'm doing another freezer meals exchange at the end of this month and since this is pretty much a "can" recipe, I don't need to worry about fresh ingredients. I bought enough to make 3x the recipe (so, about 50 cups of soup total).

• 3 cans of pinto beans - $2.67
• 3 cans diced green chiles - $2.31 
• 5 HyVee Taco Seasoning - $2.50 (2 extra, b/c taco seasoning is good to have on hand)
• Hidden Valley Ranch dry dressing mix, box of 4 - $4.98
• 6 cans kidney beans - $3 (3 extra, b/c I tend to use kidney beans in quite a few things)
• 3 cans hominy - $2.37
• 3 cans diced tomatoes - $2.64
• 3 cans tomatoes and green chiles - $2.94 (HyVee and Rotel are the same price, but Rotel is only 10oz and HyVee is 16oz and the recipe calls for 16oz...so when I use Rotel, I end up buying 2 cans instead of 1. So in this case, that would've been 6 cans total instead of 3.)
• 3lb ground beef - $7.47

COST: $37.85 to make a triple recipe. That's 12.62/recipe (16 cups). That's $0.79 for a cup of soup. That's cheap.
Note: I removed my 2 extra taco seasonings, 3 extra kidney beans, and added 3 more pounds of ground beef to my price calculation. The only thing I didn't buy was onions b/c I had those at home...I added $2 for the cost of 3 onions (I can usually find them much cheaper, that was a high guess).

Rotel Velveeta Dip
My hubby loves this dip. And it's the weekend before finals week. Pretty sure this is a necessary in our apartment right now - and, lucky me, there was a $4-off coupon for buying these items:

• 1 bag Tostitos - $2.50
• 2 cans Rotel - $1.96
• 6lb box of Velveeta - $5.99

COST: $10.45 - $4 coupon = $6.45 for a crockpot full (and a very happy husband).

The other items on my list were mostly staples, and a few other sales items that I picked up:

Bread - $1.59
I'm not loyal to a bread brand. I watch for it to be $0.99 and usually buy a couple to freeze; otherwise, I look for whatever's the cheapest. 

Onion Soup Mix - $0.67
Every time I need onion soup mix I have to buy some. That's silly.

12 6oz yogurts - $5.97
Hubby gets one yogurt with lunch every day.

2lbs butter - $3.98
It was on sale. I had to buy more. Now it's in the freezer, with the other 3lbs. I HAVE run out before though (not recently though!) and had to buy it at full price...I try not to let that happen.

Milk - $4.08
We drink like a gallon a week. We really love milk.

3 bags shredded cheese - $4
It was on sale...for something that's generally $2.30something/bag...I couldn't turn that down (and it joined the other 9 bags in the freezer). 

2 avocados - $1.60
I love these things. And they're really expensive. If they're ever $1 or less each, I treat myself to 1 or 2. Occasionally I splurge and get the gauc seasoning mix...but not today.

I spent $63.50, which is a little high for what I like to spend per week - but I did pick up ingredients to make 6 meals of Taco Soup, so I guess that counts for something.

How did you save $$ at the grocery store this week?

Being Frugal: At the Grocery Store

Up until recently, I didn't think my grocery store philosophy was anything special. Not that it's necessarily "special" but it seems to be a bit different than what most other people do. 

This may shock you, but outside of the "essentials" (like milk...yep, pretty much only milk) I shop the sales ad. If I deviate from the sales ad, my general rule of thumb is that something needs to be $1.99 or less, and it'd be even better if it was $0.99 or less. 

Let's look at my shopping receipt from last week (Jan. 28, specifically). It was during HyVee's $1 week, so my take-home haul was especially good. I'd bought 2 gallons of milk the week before when it was on sale for $2.99/gallon, so that's why you won't see it on this list. I'll add a little note so you can see why I bought what I did and what I plan to use it for.

Dozen large eggs - $1

Always keep eggs on hand. They're cheap, healthy and filling. You can make a super-affordable lunch of egg salad sandwich with a piece of fruit. We also eat eggs and toast every Sunday for lunch/brunch. It's also a great quick breakfast.

6 8x8 tin square pans - $2

I bought these in anticipation of making more freezer meals - normally I wouldn't buy these b/c I have re-usable pans for a reason, lol.

3 jars of HyVee Pasta Sauce - $3

Another must-have in the pantry for a quick, affordable meal (plus leftovers for lunch). Just add pasta and a veggie and you're set.

1 Jiffy Corn Muffin mix - $0.50

I make 12 muffins out of this and it rounds out quite a few meals of soup really well.

2 Jiffy Pizza Crust Mixes - $1

Another easy meal (plus leftovers for lunch). I stock up on shredded cheese when it's $0.99 and freeze it for later. I also generally have fresh peppers (if they're on sale) or frozen peppers available, along with onions (always in my kitchen), plus sausage that I stock up on when it's $1/lb. The only thing that I splurge for is the pizza sauce - and a lot of the time we just get the little $0.50 can of tomato paste and add italian seasoning.

Midwest Country Fare Crunchy Peanut Butter - $1.98

My husband loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He generally piles it about 1/2 an inch thick (no joke) and if I'm not home to feed him, this is his go-to meal. I'm not loyal to any one brand of peanut butter (and luckily my fabulous hubby doesn't demand his fave, but rather eats what I buy) so whenever I see a sale, I buy some. He goes through it fast.

1 lb carrots - $1

Healthy. Easy. Great for lunches. Great for soups. Hubby loves it as a snack with...peanut butter.

1 bunch green onions - $0.50

I have a lot of potatoes (from when I bought a 5-lb bag for a $1) and want to make Loaded Baked Potato Chowder this coming week. The only things I don't generally have on-hand for this recipe are the green onions and the cream cheese (which I forgot when I was at the store and bought today for $1.50 when I picked up milk). A month or so ago, I bought 5 packs of bacon when they were on sale for $2.99 (that's cheap for bacon) and froze them, and I buy bags of fresh, frozen broccoli when they're on sale for $1.

3.82lbs of oranges - $5.65

Fresh fruit is so important. I buy it every week. I always look at everything and buy whatever's the cheapest per pound. I'm really happy if I find something for $0.99/lb. This past week, oranges were $1.48/lb. (And now you're thinking that bananas are always the cheapest...they get smooshed in hubby's lunch and they're not exactly my fave for eating week in and week out with my lunches. So, yeah, I splurge on fruit.)

8 chicken thighs - $3.31

I don't normally buy chicken like this, but it was $1/lb and I'm going to use it for freezer meals later on. It's frozen now, and I just need to decide what recipe I'm going to use it for.

2 lbs Farmland Ground Sausage - $2

The aforementioned pizza. I also occasionally make sausage patties with our every-week Sunday brunch. This is great in a variety of other recipes that call for ground sausage, too.

2 boxes of Farmland sausage links - $2

Each box contains 12 links and these are great for hubby's Sunday brunch...the man likes his meat. That's a little over $0.08/link, people. That's cheap. 

2 pork loin butterfly cut - $4

I'm going to cut these in half for 4 servings of meat. I might make my mom's super-easy pork and rice recipe with this. Or a stir fry. Or something else. The possibilities are endless. 

3 Chapsticks - $3

This is cheap for chapstick. And we both use chapstick. 

I spent $32.94 on this weekly shopping trip. Granted, this is one of my best ones, thanks for the $1 sale at HyVee. But still. Look at all the staples I got, and a lot of great bases to meals. 

How do you save money at the grocery store?