Trip to Grocery Outlet, Fred Meyer and Dollar Tree.

Usually, when we go to town, I like to try to hit as much as possible so that I can save more than the gas we use to go.    Grocery Outlet and Dollar Tree are next door to each other.    Fred Meyer is on the way home.  

At Dollar tree, I didn't buy any food this time.   I did get 100 percent cotton shirts for granddaughter.   She , like many three year olds, is a messy painter and eater.  Having a T shirt for her to change nto that is dark and doesn't show stains, helps greatly in the stress level of the house.  It isn't a bib, because she is a "big girl" and it teaches her to change into grubbies when she is doing something messy.    I found Revlon nail enamel and Elf lipstick.   SCORE!

Grocery Outlet didn't score much.   Blue cheese for .79, five head bands for DGD, and some Tillamook cheese and vegetable stock.

Fred Meyers had some good sales.  Their ad didn't have a lot, but keeping eyes open saved a lot.  
I did splurge and bought a DVD ten per cent off for DGD.  Soup was .79.  Yoplait was 10/5 and I had a dollar coupon.   I got 20 Folgers coffee pods for 4.29.   canned tomatoes and canned beans were fifty cents.  Milk was .99.  hopefully I got enough to last until QFC has it on sale again.  Frozen entrees were .79,  

We came home and put the vegetable stock, tomatoes, beans and two carrots and celery ribs in the crock pot on high for dinner.   I added some herbs and garlic and onion.   About a five dollar pot of soup and enough for tomorrow's dinner too.  

My daughter went shopping too.  She got five pair of shoes (summer) for .50 TOTAL.   Also pants, leggings and a jacket for the baby and the total was 18.00,

I digress, back to food.  

Meal plans go a long way to make sure you eat what needs to be eaten soon in your fridge and  stave off the take out bandits.   But, never underestimate the  joy of finding a unadvertised special and taking advantage of it.  

If you are on the four dollar a day budget, or less, it is imperative that you average five dollars a dinner.  That is still doable in this climate. It certainly is not the same meals we had for five dollars even five years ago, but it is doable.   Food prices have taken a jump.   I spent eighty dollars a week for the past quarter.    I do have to say that the pantry and freezer is stuffed and we don't need to spend a lot the next month.   Still, twenty dollars per person per week is not over budget.   Four dollars a day is 28.00 and that is not counting the cost of a stock.  

Thanks for stopping by
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jane