Grocery Basket 7/22

I'm going to share what my grocery basket looked like this week.  I think that shopping and cooking for one person is way harder than for a family, and I've done both.  Miss MoneyPenny would rather cook for six hungry loggers.  I find myself running out of cooked food by the end of the week, or waiting to die from botulism, because I made too much.  It is a real balancing act because I want good, healthy food and I don't want to waste a single radish.  Don't get me started on cilantro.  Have you ever used it all before it became black slime?  I love the stuff and can't seem to do it.

I digress.  I mentioned in my last post that I was planning on shopping at QFC and World Peace Produce this week.  I also said that once you become a couponer, coupons will be everywhere.  I was leafing through my mail that evening and noticed that QFC had sent out their little monthly magazine.  There are always coupons in the back and, lo and behold, there was a coupon for $2 off $10 of salmon and salmon was on my list.  Again, free money! 

I first drove over to World Peace this morning.  I like to get my produce from the lady that owns the place, not just for the wonderful produce and prices, but because I actually can see her and talk to her.  Today, Elvis was crooning to us from her boom box and she was singing along.  I got all my ingredients for the gazpacho I'm planning on making this weekend, plus corn on the cob, red potatoes, Bing cherries and a bunch of other stuff that I can't think of right now.  All for $15!  Plus the entertainment.  That place is great!

I've never met Mr. QFC but he sure has an expensive store.  He does have some really good sales though, and combined with coupons, you can do pretty good.  This is what I bought:

Blueberries - $4.99/2 pounds
Personal size watermelon - $2.50
Zucchini - .99/lb
Orzo pasta - $1/25
Salmon - $9.99/lb
Bakery slider buns - $2.99
Deli roasted chicken breast - $2.39

This came to $25.39 after I used my $2 coupon on salmon.  I was going to buy the $7.99/lb salmon, but they had beautiful, fresh, Columbia River King salmon for $9.99/lb.  I bought $10 worth.  Do you see how this works?  The $2 coupon brought the price down and I got a beautiful piece of fish for the same price.  At the check stand, the register shot out a Catalina coupon for a free pint of ice cream.  I'll save that for when I've had a bad day at work.

My week's groceries came to $40.39, well under the $50 I budget for.  Granted, there is no junk food and I do a fair amount of cooking on Sundays, so my weekly menu plan has to be in place.  I added the menu plan a couple of months ago at the urging of my Weight Watcher leader to help with weight loss.  When I first started planning my menus, I just hated it.  It was like homework!  But I quickly realized that this could go hand in hand with my weekly grocery list and might just save more money. 

The way this works is, I see what is on sale for the week, what coupons I have, and then I figure out what I can cook from this.  I keep a stocked pantry and freezer, so I am always looking to rotate that into the mix, also.  Then I sit down and write the menu, three meals and a snack, seven days worth. After I've written my menu, I can see what items I need to fill in and see if there are coupons.  Works like a charm, and not only saves money, it saves time.

Feel free to leave a comment.  Mr. SuperGenius, so called by the gamers at the Library because he calmly saunters over and saves their computer games, adjusted the settings on the blog yesterday.  I've heard that it was very difficult to comment and I was really looking forward to that.  What does your grocery basket look like?