Last Tuesday we finally made it to Sam's Club. I wanted to walk around and look at prices and I did to some extent. Enough to know about what the better buys were and that I am doing well enough in shopping in other places. Sam's Club advantage is that I can buy flour in bulk (25-pound bags) and that was totally my reason for going. There are also some frozen entree things I wanted to price (all were far less than at mainstream groceries). Again, I'll remind everyone I don't keep a price book, but I am blessed with a head that remembers prices, page numbers, etc. very well.
I do not have a picture of a single thing I bought. I had it all divided up and put away before I even thought of taking a picture. But I'll tell you what I got and how much it all cost.
So I thought I'd share what we bought and how we fared on the total.
I got 5 pounds shredded Mozzarella cheese, $14.96
40 flour tortillas, $5.43*
2 loaves of Nature's Own butter top bread, $5.43
3-pound block cream cheese $8.98
5 pounds Mandarins $7.57
3 pounds Lemons $3.96
2 whole non-GMO chickens, total 9.65 pounds @ $1.88/pound $18.31
10-pound (more or less) chub of 90/10 ground beef at $4.48/pound $45.07
1-pound smoked Gouda $7.68
3 pounds Chicken Potstickers $11.48
2 25-pound bags AP flour, $9.98 each
240 Solo cups $12.98
8ct. package of bagels $3.98
1.5 pounds sliced uncured black forest ham $6.98
We also purchased a huge bag of candy to donate to the church Trunk or Treat ($16) and a new mouse for my laptop ($17). Those won't count as coming from my grocery budget.
We avoided most temptations and didn't buy anything extra except the meats (I hadn't planned to purchase simply to price) and the smoked Gouda which we see on occasion and John enjoys having with apples. And the pot stickers which John will eat but mostly they are for me. I like to make them for myself on one of those days when he insists that he only wants a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Other times I'll make chicken soup and toss a few in. I suppose I should also include the disposable plastic cups as 'extra'. I'd noted last family visit day that I was getting low on disposable cups and had planned to watch for a sale. This was a great price. John laughed when I said I'd have cups for years, but I will.
The tortillas were not the same price as the bread. I can't remember now just how much the tortillas were but when I checked my receipt, I found I'd been charged for bread twice and not for tortillas at all. The two items were side by side and I guess ringing two items up was good enough for the cashier. I'm thinking the tortillas were right in that price range. Online the price is $5.68.
The total spent on food and cups was $188. That includes any tax (SPLOST not state) and state tax on the cups and mouse. I had set aside $150 and I'm quite all right with the overage given the amount of meat I also got.
At Sam's I didn't see any spinach or lettuce, just ready-made bagged salads and we missed the chips and dried fruits (I needed raisins). The half and half available had either sugar or disodium phosphate and the heavy cream had carrageenan.
I had intended to do a lot more looking and pricing than I got done at Sam's. John sort of 'hurried me up'. I'd suggested he go on to the car and I'd just look on the ride over as long as he'd come help load the flour. I went to where they kept flour ages and ages ago. Turns out they'd moved it to the front on the other side. I almost got to look at things as we looked for it. I went in with a short list which I'd pretty much finished before we walked towards the front of the store again when we were seeking flour and candy.
I divided up the mozzarella. I've learned from experience those multi-pound bags become one solid block of frozen cheese, so I figured I'd make life easy on me and divide into 2 cup portions. I think I got 8 packages. I also divided the loaf bread (4 slices each packet), and tortillas (4 each for a total of 10 packages) and the luncheon meat (4 slices each package for a total of 6 packages after we'd had a sandwich each for lunch). I left the chicken's whole as they are more roasting hen size and not broiler fryer sized. I divided the ground beef into 8 3/4-pound packages and 3 1.5-pound packages. That doesn't That's approximate weights, not exact. And please know that though the chubs said 10# on the packaging they varied by weight and were priced per pound.
We stopped at Dollar General Market in the town to the north of us (last town before home) where I grabbed iceberg lettuce and fresh spinach (since I couldn't get romaine), chips and half and half. I know the Clover Valley half and half at DG has nothing but milk and cream in it. I do check the label each time I buy it though because things are subject to change. I think I ended up spending just under $30 there, and honestly the chips were about half that total since I got more than one bag.
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