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I was thrilled to have five people send in their entries for this week's Real Food Grocery Trip of the Week $20 giveaway! They all did such a good job but I had to choose one winner at random (I wish I could have given everyone one!) Â I thought you all would want to see all the pictures though, because I know it's helpful to see what really works for shoppers. Here we go!
Winner: Shannon – Spent $23.34 at Kroger
- 2 boxes Quorn vegetarian Chick’n patties- $1.99 each (in freezer markdowns section)
- 1 Honestly Good Lean Cuisine frozen meal- $2.39 (in freezer markdowns section)
- 1 organic apple- 76 cents ($1.49/lb. on sale)
- almost 1 lb. organic baby zucchini- $2.69 ($2.99/lb.)
- 3 Lara bars- $1 each; used 75 cents off 3 digital coupon from Kroger (made them 75 cents each)
- 1 lb all-natural Kroger sour cream- $1 (on sale)
- Organic baby dill- 99 cents (marked down for near expiration)
- 3 lb. bag organic russet potatoes- $2.29
- Organic maple syrup-$5.49 (on sale)
- Muller Greek Yogurt with fruit- free Friday download
- Athenos red pepper hummus- $1.50 (on sale)
- Â Total:Â Â $23.34 plus taxÂ
Denise at Earth Fare
- (1) Organic Baby Spinach
- (2) Organic Apple Juice
- (3) Organic Frozen Sweet Corn
- (1) Organic Valley 1/2 &1/2
- (1) 1/2 gallon whole milk
- (1) .59 lb ground peanut butter
- (1) organic popcorn
- (1) GMO free potato chips
- 3# organic gala apples
- organic celery
- (3) organic peppers
- 5# organic russet potatoes
- (1) bunch organic radishes
- Used $3 in tomato bank points
- Used  $11/65 coupon and $1.50 saved with Fare Deal
- (6) Dawn dish soap
- 4.21 lbs bananas,
- 2 pop secret poppin corn
- (3) grands biscuits
- (5) speed stick deodorant
- (1) organic celery
- (10) Muellers pasta
- 3# organic fuji apples
- (4) packs of organic strawberries
- Used (1) $11/65 Earth Fare Coupon,
- (1)Â $1/3 Pillsbury Refrigerated Bread, exp. 3/14/14 (Publix, Viva Italia Coupons!)
- (2) Â $0.50/1 Pillsbury Grands, exp. 5/3/14 (SS 02/09/14)
- (2) $1/1 Pop Secret coupon
- (5)Â $1/1 Speed Stick Mens or Lady, exp. 3/29/14 (SS 03/09/14)
- Â (10)Â $1/1 Speed Stick Mens or Lady, exp. 3/29/14 (SS 03/09/14)
- (6)Â $0.50/1 Dawn Hand Renewal, Power Clean, Bleach Alternative, or Oxi, exp. 6/30/14 (Charmin Insert)Â Â Â
- Total: $85.70 + tax, saved $83.54
- Uncle Matt's Orange Juice $5.99 (Ouch!)
- Homestead Creamery Half & half $2.99+$2 bottle deposit
- 2 Kevita Organic Probiotic Drinks $3.49 each- used 2 $1.50/1 printable manufacture coupon (coupons.com).
- 4 Kits organic fruit and nut bars $1.50 each-used $1/1 manu printable coupon from mambosprouts.com
- 1 Halo Top Ice Cream pint $5.69- used free mobile earthfare coupon (text lotstoshare to 71700) was only available on Sunday.
- 2 Large yellow organic onions@$1.49lb=$1.64
- 1 bunch conventional bananas@.
- 65/lb=$1.27
- 1 Bunch organic kale@$3
- 5 loose organic carrots @$1.99 lb=$1.39
- Spent $26.31
- 2 Fresh Express Spinach $2
- 3 Strawberries 3/$5
- Bananas $1.40
- Broccoli $2.99
- Cauliflower $2.99
- Kraft Dressing BOGO $2.99, used $2/1 Publix digital coupon
- Raisins $3.85
- Cantaloupe $2.50
- Celery $1.99
- Carrots $1.89
- Sargento Cheese $3
- Spent $41.98, saved $15.67
Sarah at Meijer
- 2- 6oz packages of blueberries
- 1- half gallon Silk almond milk
- 1- half gallon organic whole milk
- 1- Pint silk soy creamer
- 1- 15oz can of organic refried beans
- 1- package organic baby spinach
- 1- carton organic cage-free eggs
- 1- 20oz package simply potatoes
- Spent $27.13Â
A huge thanks to everyone who submitted their savings – I love seeing how you all saved!  Are you trying to save big using coupons and shopping the sales ads for whole foods or organic items? Send a picture of your grocery trip to contact @ passionate penny pincher.com (leave out spaces) including whole or organic foods (items like diapers, cleaning supplies, and paper products can be included as well, just no Velveeta, please.) 😉 If you're the lucky winner, I'll send you a $20 gift card to your grocery store of choice!
We are flying through our fruits and vegetables. We eat a lot of it now. Your food choices get cranked down so much that it is amazing how many fruits and veggies we eat now. I do have a little trick on meat. My Ingle’s grocery store if you go early in the morning they discount meat that is still 4-5 days out for some good cuts that are already on sale.
This is a good read on kids snacks for sports by that lady’s assistant. http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2014/03/04/kids-dont-need-snacks-recreational-sports/
I will keep you updated on the budget…it is still a question mark but no doubt your site has helped me get started from all the couponing. Last year I spent $3,600.00 total on food from my spreadsheet.
I am glad you are incorporating real food into your site!!!
We found this site online when we switched our diet. http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/ She does a real good job and has tons of recipes. We now use honey and maple syrup as our sweeteners. The deserts take some getting used to but it is so much healthier. We also aren’t eating as much. I think the processed foods make me crave food because I wasn’t satisfied.
Even a lot of the organic foods have sugar in them. It really is amazing what is in all our food even the stuff we consider healthy. By switching our diets I am losing my love for salt and I think that is because all the packaged stuff has such high sodium. My wife is making whole grain bread and tortillas for cheaper than what it costs in the store. 6 ingredients with the yeast. The tortillas are really good. Now when I try to eat something outside of that it doesn’t taste good anymore. The kids are eating so much better. We buy popcorn kernels, beans, oatmeal, etc. in bulk bags now at Earth Fare and it is actually cheaper than the old way of buying that stuff even without coupons. Even popcorn, after you eat it natural with some butter and a little salt it tastes so much better. It makes the processed popcorn taste bad IMO.
I don’t do much couponing anymore but Earthfare helps in that department. It definitely isn’t as cheap but we feel so much better. My daughter hasn’t needed prune juice anymore to go to the bathroom. My hands don’t get swollen from all the water retention ie. my wedding ring is loose every day now. My wife had a skin irritation on here forehead that hadn’t gone away for months. She was using a topical cream to no avail…not sure if it was diet but it went away. Our stools are clean LOL….my wife said she isn’t gassy anymore which she always hated.
You can’t really put a price tag on healthier food if it improves your health especially with the costs involved in going to the doctor nowadays!
My goal is $400-$450 a month for the family.
I think spending $400-$500 is still incredible Jim – you’re doing great and I do think you have to weigh the value of what you’re eating too! Thanks so much for sharing – and I definitely think you can save so much sometimes just by cooking from scratch. Love it!