A Trip to the Grocery Store with the Saturdays!

Jan 21, 2017 | Lifestyle, Living Well

Mr. Saturday and I almost always go grocery shopping together. With my partner by my side, everything is more fun. Except, truth be told, this is one of the only things that drives us a little crazy. You see, Mr. Saturday would prefer to take a slow stroll through the grocery store while sipping on coffee, while Iโ€™m usually out in a flash, unless itโ€™s a shoe or home improvement store… (Mr. Saturday note: I think she likes when I take my time, because she bolts over to the shoes & swimsuits and I can’t find her!)

We already have most of our fruit and veggies from this weekโ€™s trip to our local farmers market, but itโ€™s time to buy a few other essentials. Each month, we make our rounds to a handful of grocery and health food stores, and today is Target day.

(For an alternative shopping strategy – Mad Money Monster avoids the Target trap altogether!)

We pull into the Target store parking lot. People are scrambling to get the closest parking spots to the entrance, but we avoid that headache and look for a spot either in the middle of the lot or towards the back. Weโ€™re thinking ahead โ€“ we park next to one of those cart return areas so that we wonโ€™t have to walk far to return the cart later. By the time these other cars have found a suitable temporary home in the parking lot, we are already in the store.

Target cart return in parking lot

So our trip today, as every Target trip, begins with getting out the coupons Iโ€™ve collected and the digital or hand-written grocery list. I usually keep a running list of necessary items so that we donโ€™t get side-tracked in the store and spend more money than we intended. And, thanks to planning, we arrived at the store on full stomachs. Otherwise, Iโ€™d want to buy everything in sight!

I like that our Target store proudly displays its healthiest food choice at the very front of the store. We skip the Starbucks coffee shop at the front (since Mr. Saturday makes his at home) and start picking out a few fruit and veggies that werenโ€™t available at the farmers market, or things weโ€™re out of. Weโ€™re out of bananas, like always, so we pick up a bunch. Berries? Hmm, weโ€™d better not today. Theyโ€™re cheaper either at BJโ€™s Wholesale Club or the farmers market, so thatโ€™s not usually on our Target list unless weโ€™re in a pinch.

Fresh produce displayed in grocery store

Raspberry & blackberry cartons on display

We end up getting cabbage, garlic, and a few loaves of our go-to sprouted whole grain bread. The bread was on sale so weโ€™ll freeze it. With the melon, pineapple, limes, green beans, brussel sprouts, tomatoes, green and red peppers, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, and squash we picked up at the farmers market, we should be all set on fruits and veggies for the next week or two. We also have a consistent growth of green onions, kale, and herbs in our garden, so we no longer need to buy those.

Bags of sprouted whole grain bread loaves

Now itโ€™s time to wander down the aisles. This is where will power comes into play. Repeat after me:

โ€œI will not go down the baking or chip aisles.โ€

Bags of chips in the chip aisle

Mr. Saturday has a problem with this one.

Junk food aisle in the grocery store

It’s a good thing we’re vegan! Junk food doesn’t fit into our lifestyle anyways. ๐Ÿ˜‰

I refuse to even look down those aisles! Too much temptationโ€ฆ I will eat whatever is in the house, so I try to keep our stock healthy. In fact, we avoid packaged food as much as possible and try to stick to whole foods. The high cost of packaged food compared to whole foods is another incentive!

In the condiments aisle, we pick up hot sauce, Just Mayo products (love these indulgences!), and some canned beans. We tend to stock up on whatโ€™s on sale, and in many cases I wonโ€™t even consider buying it otherwise. Today the Target brand of beans are on sale, so we stock up on those. We use beans in our rice bowls or to make a creamy non-dairy sauce, so weโ€™ll definitely go through these.

Mrs. Saturday grocery shopping & deciding

Hmm… should I or shouldn’t I?

Shelf with cans of beans on sale

We skip the chip and baking goods, and while the cereal aisle catches our eye, we decide we better steer clear. Again, we usually buy cereal in bulk from BJโ€™s Wholesale Club to save money, and they have a couple healthier options that we like.

I know weโ€™re about halfway done with our shopping trip and I better keep Mr. Saturday on track, so I start to run down the list. I send him off to pick up the non-dairy milk, raisins, and frozen veggies for our stir-fries, and I go find the paper towels and cat litter.

Frozen peas & other vegetables on a shelf

Frozen wild blueberries & other fruit

Good – the paper towels are on sale and I have a coupon! Itโ€™s time to take out my phone to run a quick cost analysis. (Yes, Iโ€™m one of those people!) You would think that the larger packs of paper towels would be the best deal, but not always. Weโ€™re not talking about a whole lot of money here, but I just canโ€™t stand the idea of paying more for something when I donโ€™t have to. Sure enough, the mid-sized pack is actually cheaper per square foot than the larger pack. Tricky, tricky!

Mrs. Saturday calculating paper towel prices

Mr. Saturday finds me while Iโ€™m running the cost comparison on the cat litter, and I see heโ€™s also carrying a carton of chocolate milk in addition to the other items on the list. I had a feeling he would pick up the extra chocolate milk, but I donโ€™t mind because Iโ€™m already looking forward to having a glass when we get home! (Mr. Saturday note: I know, I’m a bad influence. ;-D )

Non-dairy milks in refrigerator case - chocolate, soymilk, cashew

Shopping cart full of groceries

See Mr. Saturday’s semi-junk food sneak-in at the bottom?

Since we donโ€™t have too many items today, we choose one of the easy self-checkout lines. I watch the prices like a hound as Mr. Saturday rings up our items, although itโ€™s going to be rather annoying to request a price check at the self-checkout. Anyhow, I watch just in case. After scanning my mailed Target coupons and those I found in the newspaper, Mr. Saturday uses our Target Red Card to save another 5%.

Target self checkout

That should do it! Until next time, Target!

Trip to the Grocery Store with Seeking Saturdays

Is your grocery trip like ours?


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8 Comments

  1. Kate @ cashville Skyline

    Y’all are so much more organized than me! I’m impressed. Believe it or not, we never shop at Target. We order our household stuff from Amazon and have it delivered for free via Prime. Lately, I’ve been hitting Trader Joe’s for my weekly grocery haul. I struggle to spend less than ~$80 per week. It’s still *much* better than my old habits of constantly going out to eat, though!

    Reply
    • Mrs. Saturday

      Thanks for sharing Kate! I agree – groceries save money over going out to eat. Though we do love to treat ourselves to a date night sometimes! I wish we had a Trader Joe’s. Love their giant chocolate bars. ๐Ÿ˜‰

      Reply
  2. mrs. picky pincher

    This is awesome! I love that you guys try to pick up produce at the farmer’s market first. I do admit that it’s cheaper to go to different stores to get what you need, but we pay for the convenience of shopping only at one grocery store (womp womp). We do a lot of upfront planning, and occasionally we do buy processed foods (Mr. Picky Pincher loves him some Cosmic Brownies). We recently have been able to get our weekly grocery bills under $80, which has been amazing!

    Reply
    • Mrs. Saturday

      Thanks Mrs. Picky Pincher for sharing! I’m impressed with your weekly grocery bill. It prompted me to look up ours and it turns out we are at $79.77 per week! (On average over the last year) And… brownies are a weakness for us too. ๐Ÿ˜‰

      Reply
  3. Mrs. Mad Money Monster

    Our trip is so not like yours! Why? Because we stopped going to the grocery store altogether ๐Ÿ™‚ Ironically, we also mostly stopped going to stores like Target (I actually wrote a post about this today – BEFORE I read this one – Hahaha). I’ve noticed that the less we physically step foot in stores of any kind, the less money we spend. Not to mention, the time and energy that is saved. We absolutely hate grocery shopping so we order ours online and have everything delivered to our door. Yes, there are delivery fees and tips (should you want to tip the deliver person) but we still end up saving money because we stick to the list and save all of our time. Plus, we’re not using our vehicle to get to and fro. It’s a win-win for everyone ๐Ÿ™‚

    Mrs. Mad Money Monster

    Reply
    • Mrs. Saturday

      Wow – everything online? That would certainly save a lot of time! I liked your article. Great timing!

      Reply
  4. Mrs. Groovy

    Good job on the cost containment! I mostly shop at Aldi, early in the week. I’ll pick up more bananas and veggies later in the week if needed. We averaged $346/mo last year in groceries although I track cleaning and pet supplies in separate categories, so that’s just on food. Mr Groovy gave up on processed condiments so I just began making more fresh salad dressings. I may need to stock up a bit on some vinegars and olive oil. World Market and Aldi usually have good prices on olive oil.

    Reply
    • Mrs. Saturday

      Homemade sauces and dressings are the best. Very Groovy!

      Reply

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