Grocery Shopping

I had a wonderful time checking out a new food store today. I kept on hearing about Doris' Italian Market, and, well, being of Italian decent, I decided to check it out. Now I did get some wonderful buys, but I was disappointed that it was such a speciality store that the most basic grocery items were either marked way up (see canned goods) or not in existence (see juice or milk). What did this mean for me? It meant that I was now forced to also shop at Publix or elsewhere. Our budget allows for $100/week, but I always try to stay around $80-$85 total. Feeding a family of four with one in diapers and another in "Night time underwear" gets pretty pricey in today's economy. Not to mention trying to feed us healthy and stretching items out so that we're not hungry is tough. I did already have some vegetables in my pantry and refridgerator when I started, but I did still manage to get enough items together to make us seven full meals for the week, including our traditional Saturday morning breakfast with eggs. Here is the breakdown:

Doris'

Bananas =.84
Strawbeerries = 2.00
Blueberries 16.oz. = 2.99
Cucumbers = .50
Chicken ravioli 16 oz. =5.99
Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts 5 lb. = 9.16
Beef for stirfry = 5.14

TOTAL = $26.62

Publix

Stove Top Chicken Stuffing = 2.19
Stove Top Chicken Stuffing = 2.19
Zitirigati =1.49
Rotelle = (free-the Ronzoni brand pastas were bogo)
Publix milk 1% gal = 3.75
Publix pasta sauce = 1.79
Publix pasta sauce = 1.79
Cream of chicken soup (small can) = 1.34
Cream of chicken soup (Large can) = 2.59
V8 Splash Berry juice = 2.69
V8 Splash Berry juice - 2.69
Can of peas & carrots = 1.59
Can of peas & carrots = 1.59
Publix large eggs = 1.99

TOTAL = $28.01

Had to go back to Publix for forgotten items:

Perdue short cuts (chicken strips that hubby eats in his lunches) = 4.99
Perdue short cuts = 4.99
Heinz beef gravy = 1.59
Starlight mints (my weakness) = 1.67

TOTAL =  $13.35

GRAND TOTAL = $67.98

I admit some of the meals aren't too healthy, what with the cream of chicken soups, gravy, and pastas, but some of them are! And we have fresh fruits for our cereal in the morning or cut up for snacks. And my favorite buy of the day? Well that would be the 5 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts from Doris' for $9. 16. That's 3 meals right there!!! And the chicken is fresh, doubled, and costs 1/2 of what it would anywhere else!!!

So, that's my brag for the day! Happy shopping!!