Playing The Grocery Game

   Remember my blog post “Go Big & Go Home” about once a month grocery shopping?  For 8 years now, that is how we rolled.  Go check it out, its big, its messy, but then you are done……

For a WHOLE MONTH. 

  Ahh, it was Heaven, and it was all I knew…..but THEN, as we have been going through our year of financial discipline,  I stopped going nearly all together.  Praise God, as He provides we are able to go again, just not ever $450 at a time anymore.  For this reason, I am ready to start a whole new way of shopping.  One that doesn’t require me to have that $450 ready when I go, instead I only need about $60. 

  We have 3 local grocery stores: Aldi, Dillons and Walmart.  Walmart and Aldi’s were my top 2 places to shop, due to budget reasons.  Dillons is much nicer than our Walmart, but MUCH pricier in my opinion.  I used to get a whole CART full of groceries at Walmart for $100. 2 bags at Dillons seemed to run me $75, so I never went…..

Until now.

I just finished a 4 week trial with The Grocery Game from thegrocerygame.com. The Grocery Game is a weekly list of the lowest-priced groceries at your local stores.  The idea behind this is to buy only what is on sale AND use coupons for these items as well.  Here is a break down of my 4 week trial:

Week 1) 

  I didn’t photograph all groceries, but purchased freezer pizza, Bugles, cracker packs, grapes, bananas, milk, mayo, salad dressing, granola bars, some school supplies, bounce sheets and lots of shredded cheese since it was on sale for $1.79.   I spent $80.17 and saved $40.  This was more than I was hoping to spend, but great savings none-the-less.  Besides, if I did this amount 4 times a month, I’d still be $130 under our grocery budget.  Oh and thanks to coupons + sales, I got free butter, free dip and free toothpaste, FUN!

Week 2)  There were less things on the Grocery Game “To Buy” list this week that we would use, but here is what I bought:

Treat bars, 2 jellies, 2 pens, Combos snack, cereal, milk, 2 crescent rolls, yogurt, bananas and cherry tomatoes.  I spent $28.98 and saved $20.18.  MUCH better percentage than week 1. 

  My only question is, will I be able to make menu from these sort of purchases week after week? Um, not unless we want breakfast for supper with some tomatoes on the side!  Also, some of this stuff is major junk food that I don’t usually let my kids have. 

   I am wondering when the pasta, tomato sauce, cream of soups, broth etc. will come through the list.  I guess if I just use this method to get us basics, we would still have cush in the grocery budget to buy some other ingredients, plus fresh items. 

Week 3:    I am loving this!  I spent $ 74.17 and saved $38.33 this week.  This is what I got:

Week 4:  I spent $63.04 and saved $36.18. 

  I am seeing how as you get further into this Grocery Game, you do see casserole ingredients go on sale AND you have a larger stash to make your menu from. 

  By month 2 & 3 of this, I will be set!  Our shelves are more full than they have been in a LONG time! It’s nice to have a stash of snack crackers, canned fruit, spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce and noodles overflowing the shelves.

Summary: 

The Grocery Game free trial was a success!!!! And as you can tell by all the recipes I’ve shared with you, we are still eating like kings! 🙂  YAY! We will definitely choose to keep this up until further notice. 

  If you DO decide to try Grocery Game, do the free trial. THEN, when you are done and ready to sign up for real, will you pretty pretty please use my referral link?   If you use this, it allows me to earn free weeks for sharing this with you. Thanks in advance! 

  Before you start, you’ll need at least 3 or 4 weeks stash of Sunday coupons, you’ll want to date and file each packet from here on out for easier finding, and a Dillons plus card to do this right.  After your free trial, it’s roughly $1.25 per week, basically $10 every 8 weeks, which you more than make up in savings your first shopping trip!  And they do all the work, you just locate and clip coupons and load your card! 

  I hope you love it.  It gets easier as you go!

Happy Shopping!

~T

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