March groceries #SNAP

I made several trip this week and have drawn up menus/ideas for this months food budget. I was also fortunate to find several items on sale. Kroger sends coupons on a regular basis to their card members and this months mailing included some free vegetables! I always find it worthwhile to use my Kroger card to save money. I also found cereal on sale at Walgreen's. I always keep an eye out for sales at Walgreen's and it paid off this month!

Kroger 1 minute oatmeal $3.89 (about 15 1 cup servings)

1 box spaghetti $1

1 box whole wheat Rotini $1

3-1 lb dry beans (@1.39 each) $4.17

4 boxes veggie Rotini (sale @.69) $2.76

4 lb sugar $1.50

5 lb rice $2.98

Kroger non-fat dry milk $6.59

(should make 3-4 gallons)

1 jar pasta sauce $1.29

3 boxes Cheerios $5.91

(Walgreens sale @ $1.97 each!)

4 loaves of bread (Kroger) $1.96

(mgrs special!  put 3 in freezer)

3 cans spinach (@ $1 each) $3.00

Kroger brand peanut butter $2.99

Dozen eggs $2.00

(sale at Kroger)

mini carrots FREE

Frozen broccoli FREE

$41.04 total spent over several shopping trips!  I have tea, olive oil, ketchup, and margarine in the pantry as well.  This should easily last through the rest of March.  Meaning that I am going to eat on $1.64 a day- well below the KY SNAP average of $4.24 a day) until the end of March!  I did buy several Rubbermaid containers that I found on sale.  Cooking for one is a pain and means I usually make 2-6 meals at a time and stash them in the fridge.

Note that I only used 2 coupons (for the free carrots and broccoli). I'm just not into cutting coupons when buying store brands and catching sales is a much better way (for me anyhow) to stretch money.

Have you ever tried dry milk (as opposed to running out for milk every week)? I've had it before- it does take some getting used to. I've just never did the math and realized the significant savings per serving (and it doesn't go bad- so no waste!)