Today, I picked up the groceries I ordered yesterday. There were no substitutions or unavailable items and I am glad for that! The pick up went smoothly, too, with Jennifer bringing the groceries to the car. She said she just got off work, but, when she saw that I had checked in, she decided to bring my groceries to me. She said the store was busy and she was tired!
I bought:
3 bananas @ $0.32* = $0.96
1 cucumber = $0.99
7.75 lb. chicken thighs (2 trays) @ $0.99/lb. (reg. price $2.49/lb.) = $7.67
2 smoked sausages @14 oz.;@ $2.79 with digital coupon (reg. price $5.49) = $5.58
1 lb. ground beef (80/20) = $5.49
1 loaf bread (20 oz.) = $1.99
6 ct. plain bagels = $2.99 (price increased $1 since Jan. 7, when I bought the same item for $1.99)
1/2 gal. whole milk = $2.39
8 oz. package cream cheese = $2.39
Groceries Total = $30.45
I also bought one toiletry item for $4.99 plus $0.47 sales tax = $5.46 (not included in my grocery budget)
Total spent = $30.45 + $5.46 = $35.91, which qualified for free pick up!
My February grocery budget is $100 minus $1.64 that I overspent in January = $98.36
Spent to date = $30.45
Balance left in the February grocery budget = $67.91
After I came home and put away the groceries, I had a toasted bagel with some cream cheese for brunch.
Later, in the evening, I cooked the ground beef, extending it with vegetables:
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| Frozen grated zucchini, onion, celery, bell pepper, carrots |
I added a package of frozen grated zucchini (2 cups, I believe), two big carrots, grated, half a large onion, diced, some diced celery (from the freezer) and diced bell pepper (also from the freezer), and a bit of minced garlic. I cooked the vegetables, first, in the water that came from the zucchini, then, removed the vegetables and browned the ground beef. Afterwards, I mixed the vegetables in with the browned ground beef and seasoned it with salt, ground pepper, some soy sauce, and a bit of Worcestershire sauce.
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| Ground beef with vegetables! |
The end result is more vegetables than ground beef, but, that's fine with me. I had some of it with leftover macaroni and cheese for my dinner and it tasted wonderful. I will freeze half of what's left and keep the other half in the fridge to add to some pasta sauce for a spaghetti dinner, maybe on Sunday.
By the way, I diced the other half of the onion and froze it. It will be
I kept both trays of chicken in the fridge for now; I plan to make chicken curry with them, tomorrow, and I will freeze the curry in portions.
I froze the smoked sausages - they'll be used for stir fries, later.
That was my first grocery shopping for February. I will be watching the sales to see if there are any good deals in the coming weeks. If not, I don't anticipate needing more groceries for another 10 days or so.
Today, I am grateful for:
- Being able to order groceries online and pick up at the store
- Being able to get all the items I wanted
- A safe drive to the grocery store and back
- A sunny and warm day (high of 73F)
- M bringing the rest of the bags of pea gravel (yes, the price increased by $1 per bag for the new shipment!)
Today's joyful activity was video chatting with my daughter.
How is your February grocery shopping coming along? Do you add vegetables to your ground meat to stretch it out?
Jennifer sounds such a lovely lady and fond of you. It's strange with bananas here too, I noticed in one store they are 14 pence each at the checkout but when I order them online from my regular supermarket at 14 pence each they are weighed and charged by weight but that makes sense for online ordering proposes.
ReplyDeleteWhat a shame the pea gravel price has increased but i know you half expected that to happen, at least you have it now to finish the job.
Jennifer has such a bubbly personality! She's got really good customer service skills. :)
DeleteI guess it is easier for the stores to charge per item than by weight. I wouldn't be surprised if that was to disguise a price increase! I didn't weigh these bananas, but, usually, it's about 3 bananas to the pound and they used to be $,65/lb. (so, around $.22 each). Either that, or, there's a banana shortage or the shipment didn't come in on time!
Yes, I was half expecting the price of the gravel to go up! But, as you say, the parkway can now be completed and that will be good. :)
You certainly got a good number of vegetables with your ground beef. I prefer more vegetables than meat, so it sounded delicious. Glad to hear that you got to see Jennifer. I've never met her, but when you mention her, she brings a smile to my face.
ReplyDeleteI am not too much of a fan of vegetables, so I have to sneak them in! LOL. I am fine with adding them to my ground beef to extend the meat. Jennifer is very friendly and has really good customer service skills. I must tell her that I blog about her! :D
DeleteHow nice that Jennifer was able to help you. We have a price per banana in one of our two stores and guess who picks out the bigger ones? I only buy 2 or 3 at a time so I don't get stuck with a lot of overripe ones. We had toasted bagels with cream cheese on Friday, too!
ReplyDeleteIt was very nice of Jennifer to help me, Bushlady, and she held up the bananas for my inspection and said she tried to select the greenest ones (I always request green bananas); the ones she showed me looked OK, though. I don't like very ripe bananas and I, too, usually buy 3 or so when it's only me. My daughter likes her bananas to be ripe so, I'll buy more when she's home. Ha, ha, talk about great minds thinking alike - toasted bagels with cream cheese (or butter) is a favorite breakfast/snack!
DeleteHope you are having a lovely weekend, Bushlady. It's partly sunny and 58F over here. :)
You got a good price on the chicken and will have many meals from that purchase. And you stretched your ground beef beautifully (yeah for zucchini!) You are off to a good start to your February grocery shopping.
ReplyDeleteI was under budget (finally!) in January and hope to be again in February.
That's weird about the bananas. The unit pricing hasn't come to my stores yet. I am still paying .55 lb at Aldi's.
Yes, I was very happy to get the chicken at that price. It should last me for a good long time. One of the ethnic stores is selling chicken drumsticks for $0.69/lb., but, they don't offer curbside pick up. They are also having a special on lean ground beef for $3.99/lb. on Tuesday only; the thing is whether I am ready to shop in person.
DeleteHa, ha, do I know how to stretch ground beef or don't I? :D
The ground beef is actually mixed vegetables with some ground beef added to it, but it works for me! :D I froze two small baggies of the mixture and kept the rest in the fridge.
The banana pricing is a bit odd. Today, the website says that bananas are $.75/lb. and comes to about $.32 each. There is no mention about it being only for instore purchase and unavailable for pick up; maybe they received their shipment later in the night!
Yay you came under budget in Jan.! Well done! I hope you'll come under budget in Feb., too.
TheHub and I have laughed at how you can tell we are old by looking at our dinner plates. We always have more veggies than meats.
ReplyDeleteToo funny! I am not the biggest fan of vegetables, but, I know I need to eat them!
DeleteThat looks and sounds like a really tasty, healthy mince!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lady Ella; I used some of it for my spaghetti sauce. :)
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