I made a few shopping trips this week, and I’m excited to share them with you especially because I was able to use a lots of coupons at Whole Foods!
First up is Jewel.
I spent $40.47 after coupons and sales for everything pictured. Here’s the rundown:
$1.45 each for Organic tortilla chips (these are on sale for BOGO free, buy one at $2.89 and get the second one free – I bought a total of six bags. I decided to stock up because I normally pay $1.99 for these on sale.)
$4.00 for 12 pack of Marcal Toilet Paper (reg. price $7.99, on sale for $5.00 and I used a $1.00 manufacturer coupon)
$1.88 for 18oz. box of Corn Flakes
$5.49 for Organic Milk (this milk is regularly $6.49, but I had a coupon to save $1 on milk when you buy Kelloggs Cereal)
$3.49 for grinder of Natural Sea Salt (reg. price $5.49)
$3.49 for grinder of Organic Italian herbs (reg. price $5.49)
$3.49 for grinder of Organic 4 color Peppercorn (reg. price $5.99)
$2.49 each for Organic Bath Co. Honey Chai body butter (75% off! And this stuff smells sooo good! **Mental Note** Look for organic health/beauty products at places people don’t normally buy them at, like the grocery store. You might find a great deal!)
$2.49 each for Organic Bath Co. Body Polish (basically a really lovely body wash/scrub and again 75% off!)
One final note on Jewel, I was VERY impressed with their selection of organic foods. Wow! I took one day recently while I was shopping without kids to really take my time and explore Jewel and find out what kind of organic foods they had offer. I left the store feeling really impressed with their selection and knew I would shop there more often.
Whole Foods was really taken a toll on the food finances, and I was starting to get a little weary of it, especially since it’s out of the way for us. I also like the way that Jewel has their organic selection dispersed throughout the store in a way that makes sense. Meijer, another grocery store I shop at on occassion, needs to take a lesson. I won’t stop shopping at Whole Foods, though, because their selection of produce is a lot fresher and wider in variety plus they carry a lot of the “weird” products you can’t find at Jewel, but I am going to cut down my trips to Whole Foods to only twice a month.
Onto the next store! I made two trips to Whole Foods this week (not ordinary ;-)). One trip was for regular grocery shopping on Monday, and then we happened to be in the area again on Thursday for David’s 2yr. check up with the doctor so we decided to make another quick trip for close to free napkins and a few other things.
I spent $1.06 for 2 packs of Seventh Generation Napkins (only 1 is pictured) and 3 Glen Muir Organic Pizza sauces! Here’s what I did:
$2.17 for Seventh Generation Napkins
-$1.00 Printable Coupon
-$1.00 Whole Foods coupon found in their store flyer
=$0.17
$1.99 Glen Muir Organic Pizza Sauce
-$0.75 Printable Coupon
-$1.00 Whole Foods coupon found in their store flyer
=$0.24
The above is just the quick trip we made after the doctor’s appointment. Below is what I picked up during my bigger trip on Monday:
In all, I paid $41 after coupons and sales for everything pictured. Here’s the breakdown:
$21.11 for the two packs of grass-fed beef (about 4 pounds of meat @ $4.99/lb. – good this we only cook meat about once a week!)
$3.31 for Organic Golden Delicious apples (about 2 lbs. @ $1.69/lb.)
$3.25 for oranges (not organic – $0.99/lb.)
$6.61 for Organic bananas ($0.99/lb.)
$2.99 for SO Delicious Coconut Milk
-$1.00 Printable Coupon
-$1.00 Whole Foods coupon found in their store flyer
=$0.99
$2.99 Garden of Eatin’ tortilla chips
-$1.00 Printable Coupon
-$1.00 Whole Foods coupon found in their store flyer
=$0.99
$12.50 for (5) Naked Smoothie Drinks
-$5.00 Mail in Rebate for buying 5 (I think we found this rebate on a tearpad a few weeks ago.)
– (5) $0.75 Whole Foods coupon found in their store flyer
=$0.75 each after Rebate!
Overall, I was really happy with the savings this week, and I can’t wait to get better and better at saving money while still eating healthy and buying organically. I’m excited, too, because a friend told me that a store called Trader Joe’s has lots of organic food for a fraction of the cost that Whole Foods sells it for. I’ve never been to a Trader Joe’s store before, but the next time I make a Whole Foods trip, I’m going to stop there too since they’re in the same vicinity.
Did you grab any great deals this week?
yay, love the organic savings!!
what raw cookbook have you been using??
Hi Brooke!
I’m using “Raw Food for Everyone” by Alissa Cohen. Great book, but the recipes are quite large, and I’ve learned that I need to start cutting them in half.
Looks great! Do you ever shop at Woodman’s? They tend to have really good deals on organic produce–I usually go there for apples, pears, onions, garlic, avocados, bananas and carrots, and they have a really large selection of other natural foods, a lot of which are cheaper there than anywhere else. (Coconut milk is more expensive there, though–so you have to compare prices). I buy natural, nitrite & nitrate-free bacon, hot dogs, and lunchmeat there–all cheaper than I’ve seen anywhere else. They also have good deals on crackers, cereal, etc. Fruitful Yield is also really good for some things, but you won’t find produce there. I don’t shop at Trader Joe’s much because they don’t have much that’s friendly to our many food allergies, but I used to go there sometimes.
Way to go, Sandra, on working to shift your family’s diet to more healthy foods. I know it is a hit to the budget! But in the long run, I think you will only be glad–and it will help your budget in other ways if it makes you healthier, etc! That said, we have to pick and choose–I buy organic when I can, but some things I buy conventional as long as they don’t contain preservatives and additives or yucky things like corn syrup. My parents buy beef at a farm in Wisconsin several times a year–much cheaper than at Whole Foods. I am hoping to make the drive to the place in Indiana where some families from church buy chicken, as I haven’t found chicken that I both feel good about eating and can afford! However, Woodman’s does carry a brand called “Smart Chicken” which is good, I think–you just have to be there when they have it for a good price, and I haven’t hit it right lately.
Anyway, good work! 🙂
Thanks, Sarah!
Very helpful tips! I hadn’t even thought about looking at Woodman’s, but since they ARE close to us, I can’t wait to give them a try. And my family is going to LOVE getting nitrite-free bacon…it’s been a while since we’ve had any bacon.
I would love to purchase half a cow someday when the budget does allow. 🙂 How neat that your parents can do that a few times a year! I’ve heard Maribeth talk about chickens before and having a freezer full…I need to look into this more, too.
Thank you for stopping by my blog!
Hi Sandra, I love your blog! One question where do you get your coupons??
Hi Doris!
I get the Sunday newspaper that has coupon inserts every Sunday, but I also print coupons online. For Whole Foods, in addition to printing coupons online, I pick up the in-store flyer that is filled with coupons.
To get the best deals there, I look at blogs that post them each week so that I know exactly what to buy and which coupons to use and print ahead of time.
Missed you at church last week!