We survived Week 1! We survived Week 1! There are so many things going through my head, but I’m going to save this post for the usual specifics and write about some other things separately. Suffice it to say that what started out as a challenge that was intended to help people has helped John & me more than we could have imagined – and the month is only 7 days old.
PURCHASES
Big shopping day, but we had a few tricks up our sleeves this time around. As you can see from the photo we got quite a bit in our shopping trip at Walmart, where we went because they will price match and accept competitor’s coupons.
A few notes on the shopping list:
- By ad matching a competitor & using a coupon, the Sierra Mist 2 Liters cost $.21 each.
- Found a coupon at Recyclebank for $2 off 2 Earthbound Farms organic produce items. The bags of carrots were priced at $.94 each, so the store actually paid us $.06 per bag.
- Finding the beef brisket was an accident. It was a huge piece of beef that was reduced to $1.90 per pound, which is the lowest cost anywhere in the area for beef of any sort. 73/27 ground beef in a chub pack runs as high as $3.49 in the area. Look below for details on what we did with all that beef.
| ITEM | SIZE | PRICE | UNIT | PRICE/ UNIT |
| tuna steaks | (2) 10.5 oz packs | 3.87 (R) | 5.25 oz serving | .97 |
| wheat flour | 3.53 | cup | ||
| quick oats | 42 oz. canister | 2.70 | 2 oz serving | .14 |
| sandwich cheese | 1.29 | slice | ||
| shredded cheese | 2.53 | cup | ||
| shredded cheese | 2.53 | cup | ||
| organic carrots | (4) 1 lb bags | +.24 (C) | oz | free |
| sour cream | 16 oz | 1.72 | oz | |
| ground turkey | 3 lbs | 4.72 (R) | pounds | |
| garlic | 1 bulb | .41 | ||
| cabbage | 3.72 lbs | 1.18 (P) | ||
| red peppers | 2 | 2.18 (P) | each | |
| 2% milk | gallon | 3.26 (P) | ||
| V8 Juice | 46 oz can | .94 (C) | oz | |
| Sierra Mist Soda | (2) 2 Liter bottles | .42 (C,P) | oz | |
| yellow rice | packet | .24 (C) | ||
| cream of chicken | (2) cans | 1.74 (C) | can | |
| cream of mushrm | (2) cans | 1.74 (C) | can | |
| beef brisket | 14.64 lbs | 30.31 (R) | ||
| C: Coupon | P: Price Match | R: Reduced | D: Damaged |
THE BIG BEEF BREAKDOWN
For starters, this is what 14.64 pounds of beef brisket looks like sitting on a cutting board in our kitchen. Holy crap that’s a lot of meat!
We spent quite a bit of time tonight breaking it down into the cuts that we wanted. In the event that you find a large cut like this at a great price, your store’s meat market will usually cut it into whatever you ask for. Since we happen to have a grinder and we’re kinda masochistic, we did it all ourselves.
When it came to the ground beef, we did something a little different. We also found ground turkey at the store discounted
At the end of the day, that brisket had become:
- (10) sausage patties
- (16) Italian meatballs
- 14 oz loose sausage
- 6 lbs of ground beef/ground turkey (50/50)
- 1.5 lbs brisket
- 1.5 lbs stew meat
- 1 lb fajita meat
- 2.25 lb roast
- 1.5 lb roast
- .75 lb beef fat
MEALS
BREAKFAST: $1.08
rice griddlecakes [source]
coffee
sugar
creamer
BREAKFAST NOTE: Leftover rice was used in this meal.
LUNCH: $0.97
2 peanut butter & jelly sandwiches
2 egg salad sandwiches
LUNCH NOTE: 9 eggs were used to make the egg salad, and the cost for all of them was assumed in this meal.
DINNER: $2.68
teriyaki marinated tuna
yellow rice with diced pepper
DINNER NOTES: A simple dinner done start to finish in 20 minutes while we were doing other things. The frozen and pre-marinated tuna steaks were reduced by the store because they were being discontinued.
DAILY TOTAL: 4.73 (+$3.45 for the day, +30.13 for the week)
Total Spent to Date: $138.07
Total Remaining: $141.11
QUESTION OF THE DAY:
Do you know how to cut up a whole chicken?
It’s bedtime here, but look for some big announcements coming very soon. We have a lot to talk about!
