Meal Planning and Grocery Savings Jan 31st-Feb 4th

This seems to be a topic people are actually interested in!! I have had some specific questions AND a request for some recipes!! So here we go! Kroger was having their buy 10 and get $5 off mega event this week and most of the items included in the sale I normally use anyway AND I had coupons so I stocked up! This week was the opposite of last week in that I spent MORE than normal because I wanted to stock pile some things I could get cheap! I will put pics below of everything I bought and my total.

Here is this weeks menu

Fettucini with Homemade Alfredo Sauce and Garlic Bread (meal from last week that I didnt end up making)
Taco Salads
Pizza and Garden Salad
Smoked Ham and Turkey Subs with BBQ chips

Where do I get all of my coupons?  I always buy the Sunday paper and get the smartsource and redplum coupon packets out of there. You can go to www.sundaycouponpreview.com and see what coupons will be in this sundays paper and then decide if it might be worth it to buy 2 or 3 papers so you have more than one of the "good" coupons and you can stock up on items you use frequently. You can also print coupons from the internet. A good site is www.couponmom.com.

I know all of the coupon collecting sounds time consuming BUT I have a system! First, I check my grocery ad to see what things are on sale then plan my meals according to that. Then once Ive made my shopping list I go through my coupons and see what on my list I have a coupon for.

3 Rules...

DO NOT be picky about brands!
DO NOT buy something you dont need just because you have a coupon :)
If another brand is cheaper that you DO NOT have a coupon for ...buy that! You DO NOT have to use every coupon you take into the store with you :)

 Frozen Items

Organic Items

I forgot to take pics of my stuff when I got home from the grocery on friday morning SOOO I had to get it all back out today! Other items I bought that I forgot to include in the pics were:

1lb of smoked ham

1lb smoked turkey breast

4 lbs of shredded cheddar cheese

2 lbs colby cheese

My total this week was $108.21 after my coupons and plus card savings. I saved a total of $44.26.  I should be able to purchase a few produce items for next week and thats it! My goal is to keep next weeks bill under $35.00....that might be pushing it though!