Hey guys!  I’m back with another post about my never-ending quest for healthy groceries on a budget.  I’ve slacked off with my grocery budget posts, not because anything has changed in how we buy groceries, but because it was getting a little old–writing about buying the same foods for the same menu every week.

This week, however, I changed it up a little bit and went to the grand opening of a new local store called ‘Fresh Thyme’.  They emailed me a $5 off coupon, just for signing up to get email notifications about the sales AND they had some amazing deals.  I got 85% lean ground beef for $1.99/lb, pears for $0.77/lb, onions 3 lbs/$1, and a free pineapple!  And those were just my favorite deals!

The other biggish change I’m trying out is not making the menu until after I’m done grocery shopping.  There are certain things that I know we ALWAYS need–bread, milk, eggs, half and half, coffee–and I’m in a solid routine of picking those things up, so it’s a matter of filling in the gaps.  Usually, I check out the Kroger sales on meat and base my menu plan around that.  Lately though, I’ll get to the store and find better deals on different meats or veggies and then my menu plan is shot anyways.  My new plan is to shop sales and not bother with the menu so much until I’ve bought the best, cheapest groceries I can find.

My husband thinks that there are a lot of mustard sandwiches in our future, but I’m more optimistic 😛 I might have to step up my creativity, but hey, if it’s cheap, it’s cheap.

Today was a definite success though, and I don’t think we’ll be eating mustard sandwiches!

Here’s what I bought at Fresh Thyme

And here is my list from Aldis

That is it, you guys! As you can see, I got more than enough to hold us for another week and for only $66 dollars. Actually, that should be $70 because I still need to buy bread–just couldn’t talk myself into one more stop with grumpy hungry kids today. I chose to use the remainder of the grocery money buying a few household items that we don’t need yet, but will in a couple more weeks. 

Toilet tissue, kitchen scrubbies, baby wipes, and shampoo, and I splurged a little on some chrysanthemums 🌼

Very successful shopping day! I’ve spent $95 and have everything except bread!