DAY 16 - WHERE I SHOP

No matter what my budget, I've always shopped at different stores.   I look through the grocery ads and shop the best sales.  Some weeks I just need a few items to get by and may only visit a store or two.  Other weeks I may be running low on lots of items and need to stock up at different stores.  Here are some of my regular stops.

REGULAR GROCERY STORES

(Fry's, Safeway, Albertson's, Bashas', Fresh & Easy)

I generally shop the sales and only what I need for my menu plan.  If I'm short on time, I can pick one store and just get my shopping done quick.

COSTCO

Yes, I realize that it costs $55/year to shop here, but I think it's worth it.  Not only do I buy groceries here, but we buy gasoline, eyeglasses, Christmas gifts, clothes, and books.  (Plus - food samples....my kids really love these!)  These are my regular buys:  2 lb. block of cheese (cheddar and mozzerella), turkey bacon or breakfast sausage, 6 lbs. tortilla chips (3 - 2lb. bags), 5 dozen eggs (local), 2.5 lb. spinach or 3 lb. broccoli, and Kirkland's mayo.  Plus, my family loves to eat lunch or dinner here. 

PRO'S RANCH MARKET

I come to this Mexican market for all my tortillas - corn and flour.  You won't get a fresher tortilla and they have great prices.  They also have great weekly sales on lots of produce like cilantro, avocados, tomatoes, limes, green onions, and tomatillos.

LEELEE'S  INTERNATIONAL MARKET

I buy my soy sauce, veggies, rice noodles, rice paper wrappers and produce here. 

 

SPROUTS

I love their selection and sale prices on their fruits and veggies and they have double ad Wednesdays!  Their bulk bins have been a lifesaver for me!  Occasionally I want to try a new recipe, but it may have a more expensive ingredient.  Taking just what I need from the bins has saved me money and allowed me to explore other recipes that I wouldn't be able to if I had to buy a larger portion of that ingredient.  It's also allowed me to spoil my kids with a portion of their favorite treat.  Everyone gets what they want and I didn't break the bank.

 SUPERSTITION RANCH MARKET
Tons of fruits and veggies at incredible prices!  If you live in the east valley in Arizona, I recommend going.

WINCO 

They just opened up in the east valley a couple of weeks ago.  I'm not sure how often I'll go, but I do love all their bins!  It's fun to see what they have and to be able to buy in any portion I want.  My best buy was bay leaves.  I put about 20-25 bay leaves from the bin section into a small bag, it cost me $0.04!!!  LOVE!

Happy Shopping!

My 31 days started here

Fellow 31 dayers here

SPROUT'S FARMERS MARKET

I love Sprout's!

It's one store I don't mind taking my boys to.  If there good, they still get to pick a little treat from the bins.

  I love their selection and sale prices on their fruits and veggies.

I use their weekly flyer to help write my menu.  I can rely on them for having consistently good quality produce.

  I love their bulk bins.  

This has been a lifesaver for me!  Occasionally I want to try a new recipe, but it may have a more expensive ingredient.  Taking just what I need from the bins has saved me money and allowed me to explore other recipes that I wouldn't be able to if I had to buy a larger portion of that ingredient.  It's also allowed me to spoil my kids with a portion of their favorite treat.  Everyone gets what they want and I didn't break the bank.

I especially love their double ad Wednesdays!!!  

What's better than a weekly ad....TWO!  Every Wednesday you can use the last week's ad and the new ad.   Love it!

HAPPY SHOPPING!

AMERICAN DISCOUNT FOODS

Two years ago, when I was first challenged with our $50/week budget, I was scrambling to figure this out and make my family happy.  It was very difficult to explain why I wasn't buying their favorites anymore - goldfish crackers, fruit snacks, cereals, etc.  I felt confident that I could feed my family, but this was a big change and I didn't want to make the boys feel deprived.  This is where American Discount Foods comes in.  It's located on Extension Road just north of Broadway Road in Mesa, AZ.  I think it's a great place to find some fantastic deals, but it's not your neighborhood grocer.  It's different.  However, if you're willing to look, I'm sure you'll find something worth getting. They have lots of food and other products that come to them from closeouts, discontinued and damaged case products.


So, back to two years ago, I was looking for ways to help the boys not feel so deprived.  Shopping here helped so much in the first few months.  I could buy breaded chicken nuggets, often at $0.99/lb and the desire for fast food meals was calmed.  I could buy pepperoni (which I haven't found for a while) and cooked sausage topping to make our homemade pizzas.  I could buy name brand individual chip bags and the boys felt really spoiled.  We didn't buy them before our budget was "GRANT"ed....SCORE!  They loved going with me during the summer since they could have a say in what was put in the cart.  One time we found Stitch cookies (from Lilo & Stitch).  They were 20/$1.  We bought 20 cookies, but the best part wasn't eating them.  One of my boys figured out that a Stitch cookie was a very valuable trade at the lunch table. It was exciting to hear what his lunchtime trading had awarded him!

Their deals change daily and you never know what's in the store.  You can go to their home page and sign up for emails.  They'll let you know what's on sale that week and when new arrivals hit the store.  Remember, when it's gone, it's gone!  Some other great items we've found at the store over the past two years include: tortillas, bread, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, greek yogurt, blue cheese, Hickman's eggs, breaded chicken patties, soups, salad dressings, steak sauce, cereal, chips, crackers, candy, sodas....you get the idea.  So, how do they do this?  Well, I'll let them answer, this is from their website:

How do we sell so cheap?

We get our food from a wide variety of sources due to closeouts, short codes, discontinued and damaged case products.  If you have shopped here for any period of time you know that most of our products are, “here today & gone tomorrow”, so we always urge our customers to stock up if they find something they like.  At American Discount Foods, you never know what you’ll find; we bring out the bargain hunter in everyone.   You will find some products around the store that are close to or even past its best by date.  This does not mean the product is bad and in almost every case you will have a hard time differentiating between the product before and after the best by date.  Here is a link to the USDA’s site and what they have to say about product dating.  http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Factsheets/Food_Product_Dating/index.asp. 

If you try American Discount Foods out, let me know what you deals you found.

(Reviewing stores will be a regular item on the blog.  All opinions are my own and I'm not compensated in any way for this review.)