To downoad a $1 off coupon for Udi’s Bread, visit Udi’s Website.  Then go buy some bread for your gluten-free Thanksgiving guests. They will humbly weep and thank you profusely. I promise.  No pressure, Nanna.

When one thinks of Costco, one often conjures up images of party packs of Pizzas, insanely huge cakes, and industrial-size bags of cheetos.  But can Costco be a healthy, even Organic and Thrifty place to shop?

I am fortunate to live within walking distance to Costco, which allows me to limit my spending on large items.  I go weekly to Costco and pick up the items that our family eats on a regular basis and it ends up being a very thrifty place for me to shop.  The advantages to shopping at Costco are that Costco does strive to carry local products, and they are improving their selection of quality food offerings.

The downside to Costco is that you do have to pay an annual membership fee, the crowds are often unbearable, and the produce is not locally grown.

In my practice, I give my clients my “Nourishing Shopping Guide” with a breakdown of where to get the best deals on organic (or sustainably produced) foods.  This is the first in a series of posts I will share about the best deals I have found in local stores around the Portland, Oregon metro area.  I hope you find this applicable and helpful to your area as well!  Please note that in some cases, prices will vary!  These are my local prices!

Maranatha Almond Butter Locally produced in Ashland, Oregon, this naturally roasted almond butter is a great price for 16 oz at just over $5.00.

Organic, frozen green beans $5.45 This is a large, 5# bag of tender, french cut green beans. These cook up fast in the steamer or in a stir-fry, and make for an ultra-healthy dinner when paired with a quality protein.  I send a large pyrex full of frozen green beans topped with shredded Parmesan cheese with my husband to work many days and he loves this veggie-rich, delicious meal!

Organic, frozen green peas $5.29 This is another large, 5# bag (I believe!) that provides many meals for our family. We enjoy steamed peas with tiny pieces of turkey bacon as a delicious breakfast.  We also love steamed peas with melted butter and cheese as a delicious alternative to mac and cheese!

Organic, grass-fed beef Honestly, I’m not sure at the price per pound on this, but I think it’s around $3.99.  I am not aware as to whether or not this is grass-fed, or rather grass-finished beef, but certainly a step up from conventional beef!

New Zealand Lamb The prices vary here based on cuts. They offer a boneless leg of lamb, lamb chops, and french ribs.  The boneless leg of lamb is the best value, and for about $20 you can buy a boneless leg, roast it with some Dijon mustard and a bit of honey and garlic in the slow cooker, and easily have 4 meals for a family of 4 to stretch a week. 

Kerrygold Dubliner Cheese (grass-fed) $9.00 I know this looks expensive, but it’s a 2 # brick of delicious, nutrient-dense cheese. A great source of vitamins A and D, you don’t need much of these amazing cheese to satisfy you.  This brick of cheese lasts a long time if used sparingly as a flavor enhancer of a large veggie dish.  Great topper for steamed broccoli and cauliflower! Also a wonderful snack with some celery!

Organic, Free-Range Eggs  18 for $4.45 I don’t know about you, but this is a fantastic deal on organic free-range eggs in my book! Other than having my own chicken farm, that is!  I am not sure if these are really pastured or not, so these are certainly not my first choice, but they are a great buy if you’re looking for organic!

Organic carrots $4.99 I believe I’m right on the price here for a 10# bag. These are great for roasting or steaming up.  A very cheap, delicous veggie that is very versatile. I also like to shred these and mix with other veggies in a Chinese-inspired stir-fry.

Cut Broccoli $3.99 I believe this is a 2 or 3# bag. Since Broccoli has been shown to not contain pesticide residues and is rarely sprayed, I can buy conventional broccoli with a fairly clean conscience.  This makes serving fresh broccoli ultra simple. I just throw everything in my Electric Steamer and in 10-12 minutes I have cooked broccoli! 

Brussels Sprouts $4.49 I think this also comes in a 2# bag. These delicious nuggets of nutrition need only be sliced in half and thrown in the steamer and topped with melted butter, garlic, and shredded cheese for a delicious take on this once-unpopular vegetable.  We can easily get 2 or 3 meals out of this bag of sprouts as they are very filling and nourishing.  We call them “turtles” in our house!

Bolthouse Farms Organic Carrot Juice 3 Pack for $6.99 We go through 1 bottle of carrot juice a day in this household as we all drink about 5-10 oz. of carrot juice per day. Obviously if we had a juicer we could probably get our carrot juice cheaper, but I’ve chosen to simply buy 2 of these 3-packs per week. I serve it to the kids every morning in place of “orange juice”. It ensures a great dose of veggies with breakfast as well!

Organic Baby Spinach (fresh) $3.99 This Earthbound Farms classic is a must-buy organic, as spinach retains lots of pesticides and is very dirty if not organic.  These tender leaves are great sauteed into scrambled eggs or one of Kirsten’s Mini-Quiches!  Or just saute up a mound of these leaves with chopped, nitrate-free sausages for a quick meal!

Aidell’s nitrate-free sausages $12.00 for 12 Okay, so these are not the thriftiest looking, but if you use them correctly you can really make them stretch. I love using them in soups, or sliced and sauteed together with organic green beans or other veggies.  When you slice them up you can make 2 sausages stretch for 4 people easily. 
(There are several good brands of such sausages there!)

Greens to Go (in supplement section) Again, not sure on the cost here, but this is a nice little supplement that my kids (and others I know) really enjoy.  No sugar at all, only dehydrated green veggies including kale, broccoli, and wheat and barley grass.  Mix with water (or a bit of carrot juice and water) and you have 6 servings of veggies in one glass.  Obviously freshly cooked veggies are best, but these are great in a pinch and certainly better than juice.

Jenny-O nitrate-free turkey bacon Again, drawing a blank on the price here, but it’s nice to see that they finally have nitrate-free bacon!  We have transitioned pork products out of our diet, so we are enjoying turkey bacon again.  It’s great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner! We like it chopped up with beans or peas.

Wild Alaskan Salmon 6 pack for $10.59, which is a great deal for wild salmon that tastes really delicious.  We love this mixed with a little yogurt and flax or olive oil and seasonings.  An awesome source of omega-3′s and a quick protein meal!

Fage rBST Free Greek Yogurt $5.79 for 1 Quart.  I felt that this was a good deal, since this is such a dense yogurt. One only needs a few scoops to pack in high amounts of protein. This is strained non fat yogurt, unfortuately, though. I sometimes buy it purely for the protein content, and it’s fine for slow oxidizers, but I keep waiting for our Costco to carry a good quality plain full fat organic yogurt.

Organic Butter, Kirkland Brand, 2 pack For around $5 you can get a two pack of organic butter, which we like well enoguh. We prefer Kerrygold all around, but the Organic Butter is great too!

These are a few of my favorite things.  I will likely add more as find more items I love to buy. But as you can see, I keep it pretty simple and fresh, and since we do very low grains I don’t actually take advantage of the other great deals like Organic Lundburg Rice and Bob’s Red Mill Steel Cut Oats.  I know there are other great deals at Costco.

What are your favorite Costco Deals?

Organic cleaning products can be so expensive!  For those of you who haven’t taken the leap to simply rely on water, vinegar, and essential oils for cleaning, this is a good time to stock up on some earth-friendly cleaning products!  I personally like to buy Seventh Generation’s Dish Soap, but I also have been very pleased with their other cleaning products.  Seventh Generation seems to have launched an enormous marketing plan which includes generous deals and coupons, and now they have a rebate going, making it very affordable (even free in some cases!) to get these products.  I love how organic products are becoming more affordable with demand!!!!

Seventh Generation is running a generous rebate right now, and with coupons and deals going on all over the place, it’s very likely that you can score these products for free!  For the rebate you need to purchase any 3 Seventh Generation Products. 

You can find a manufacturer’s coupon here for Seventh Generation Products.

Additionally, here’s where you can find some good deals on Seventh Generation Products:

Albertson’s

Here in the NW, Albertsons is selling some of their Seventh Generation products on clearance for $2.00 each.  Paired with a coupon and the rebate, you could get some free cleaning products!

Babies R Us

I have heard reports from a few sources that Babies R Us also has Seventh Generation Products on Clearance. It’s worth checking out if you live close to one!

Fred Meyer

Freddie’s (a Kroger affiliate) has all of their Seventh Generation Cleaning items on sale for 30% off.  The prices will vary, but this is a great time to match up a manufacturer’s coupon with a sale AND a rebate!

Target

Last I checked, Seventh Generation cleaners were priced at $2.99 each.  That was last Tuesday (but that was the regular price as far as I could tell).  If you purchase 3 and use 3 $1 off coupons, you would pay about $6 out of pocket and get a $5 rebate, which is not quite free but almost free.

Whole Foods

Whole Foods also has an internet store coupon for $1 off 7th Generation products!  Match it with your manufacturer’s coupons and the rebate for a great deal!

This week, I tried something different when shopping at the grocery store: I went with cash-only.  Although my husband and I have different philosophies about using cash, I found that it helped me tremendously when sticking to my budget and not making impulse purchases.  Of course, it took a bit of planning on my part; I had to scour the local food ads and find the best deals and be restrained to only purchase the items that I really felt we needed for this week.  I did cheat a bit, however, and take advantage of some amazing meat and chicken deals for the freezer. I justified going a bit over my $30 budget for the week since next week is Holy Week and I really don’t want to go shopping next week if I don’t have to.  I am also gearing up to attempt my first ever Once a Month Cooking adventure with my mom next weekend, and so I needed to be a bit forward-looking for next week/month. But more on that later! 

Either way, I was amazed that I got a good two week’s worth of groceries for under $60, including lots of organic produce, local dairy, and free-range eggs.  I couldn’t have done it without lots of coupons, including a few store-specific $5 off $25 coupons from the Chinook Book.  According to my receipts, I saved over $50 from coupons and in-store specials.  They key is really using coupons to purchase items that are already on sale, and stocking up on items when there are good deals.

For example, some of my stock-up items this week were beef that was sold at rock-bottom prices.  One local store had buy one roast, get another roast free, plus 10 lbs. of potatoes free.  Now granted we are not huge potato-eating folks, but we’ve found that the kids can tolerate a baked potato once a week without big problems.  Also, with Easter picnics and potlucks coming up, having extra potatoes around the house can be helpful!  The roasts (along with some discounted stew meat I found), as well as a great deal on chicken breasts, will provide more than enough meat for the next two months, possibly three!

My recent post on Real Food Deals, shows you where to find great real food coupons so that you can save money on nutrient-dense, whole foods! Among my finds this week were $0.25 Garden of Eatin’ Organic Tortilla Chips (New Seasons Market has the mini rounds for $1.25, and you can find $1 off coupon here).  New Seasons also had frozen organic, locally-grown Stahlbush veggies on sale for $1.59, and I used my Chinook Book coupon to deduct $1 off each bag, scoring a couple bags for $0.59 each! For you local Portland folks, these deals remain until Tuesday!

Anyway, on to the meal plan:

Breakfasts:
French Toast (made from grain-free bread), Green Juice (made in Vita Mix with Greens and Berries)
Coconut Flour Banana Muffins (recipe coming soon!) and homemade Matsoni Yogurt
Sausages (for kids) and modified Green Smoothies 
Scrambled eggs (for kids) and Sauteed Greens
Grain-Free Granola
Grain-Free Waffles

Lunches:
Roast Chicken and Veggies (kids)
Leftover Cioppino, Clam Chowder
Taco Meat, steamed broccoli (kids)
Tuna Sandwiches/Wraps, carrot sticks
Leftover Soup

Dinners:
potato soup and sauteed cabbage
French onion soup, sauteed kale and onions, garlic toast (grain-free)
white chili with purplekraut and tortilla chips
Thai Coconut Soup with scallops and shrimp
Baked Potato Bar

Have a great week!

This post is part of Orgjunkie’s Menu Plan Monday Round-up .

Check out the Barlean’s website for the opportunity to score some free samles of healthy Essential Fatty Acids!  You can get a free sample of the Swirl product, or a Free 8oz bottle of Fish Oil for only the price of shipping, which is less than $6! This product sells for over $20 in the stores!

As I’ve mentioned here before, I’ve been really getting more serious about finding deals using coupons, and several people have asked me to try to “demystify” the whole couponing process. There are many, many amazing coupon tutorials out there, and so I wanted to give my personal twist on finding the best deals for Real Food.

As I’ve said many times before, if you want to find the best deals on food, you probably need to forget about one-stop-shopping.  I’m fortunate to live within a 2 mile radius of just about every type of grocery store there is, and I’ve got it figured out exactly what I buy at each store, depending upon the current deals and coupons. 

Rule # 1 With couponing is to NEVER clip a coupon on something you know you won’t use.  That’s not saving money at all.

Rule #2 Invest in a Sunday paper and clip out all of the coupons for products you use anyway; dish soap, diapers, personal care products, and any real food items (they’re rare, but occasionally you’ll find a good coupon for nuts, frozen veggies, nitrate-free cold cuts, or even organic eggs).  The Sunday paper is best for the toothpaste/shampoo/razors coupons, I’ve found.

Rule #2: Get a printer and an ink cartridge and get ready to search the net for coupons! The internet is really the best place to go for the coupons of the products you will really use.  Again, I still probably only use about 20% (or 1 for every 5) coupons I find on the net, but they are out there.  You can start by looking here:

Coupons.Com

See? Sometimes there are actually useful coupons there! Feel free to browse around. You generally only get two prints, however, so keep track of them!

Other Sources:

SmartSource.com
RedPlum.com Red Plum has a great coupon running right now: $5 off a $25 purchase at Rite Aid!  Great for stocking up on sale items you need anyway!  Don’t forget to scour the Rite Aid Weekly!Eat Better America has some addtional frozen veggie (non-organic) coupons that are printable. Great for doubling!

For more organic, earth-friendly coupons:

Mambo Sprouts is a free coupon book dedicated to organic, quality products.  Sign up if you haven’t already! They have coupons for great companies like Organic Valley, Maranatha Nut Butters, Knudesen’s Juices, Celestial Seasonings Teas, Cliff Bars, Earthbound Organics, and much more!

Natural Food Connection has a free newsletter you can sign up for that will send you coupons for organic, natural food products. I haven’t yet received my newsletter, but will let you know if it’s any good when I do!

Vegetarian Times often has several good quality organic coupons availabe through its website.  Simply click on the “Special Offers” tab on the home page, and click on “Coupons”. 

Living Without Magazine occasionally has some printable coupons on their website as well, and there is currently a $0.55 off Almond Thins printable!

Naturally Preferred magazine (found at Fred Meyer, Kroger, and QFC) has great coupons for organic products. They issue a new one each month, found in the Natural Living Section.

Whole Foods’ The Whole Deal magazine has in-store coupons available. I hear they also have a calendar available for purchase which contains several coupons as well.

Company-Direct Websites:

Earthbound Organics  take quiz on their website and you will have a chance to enter your e-mail address and you will be sent a $1 off coupon.

Organic Prairie a good source for nitrate-free bacon, hot dogs, sausages, etc. has 2 high value $1 off printables. This would be great in a store that honors doubles as well (Albertsons, Safeway, Thriftway).

Organic Valley is a cooperative of small, family-owned farms throughout the country that provide organic milk, cream, half and half, butter, pasture butter, raw cheese, sour cream, and cottage cheese.  You can access a variety of high value coupons from their website as well, totally $8 in savings. They refresh in March, so even if you have recently printed a few of these, you can likely print two more now since the refresh!

Muir Glen organic tomatoes are an excellent choice, since conventionally grown tomatoes are so likely to be laden with pesticides.  You can get a free printable coupon on their website, and currently they have “peelies” on many of their products in stores.

Cascadian Farm will send you a $1 off coupon when you sign up for their newsletter. These are great to match with in-store coupons at Target, as they often go on sale there. I prefer to use this coupon on frozen veggies rather than cereal, of course!

Organic Grocery Deals is a great forum for getting information on the latest deals and coupon match-ups local organic stores, such as Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods.  If you become a member, tell them “OrganicThrifty” sent you!  There is also an online coupon exchange, lots of discussion forums, and helpful info.  There are also printable coupons available.

Health E Savers is a website with printable organic foods and supplement coupons. On their website you have an opportunity to sign up for a weekly e-mail to receive even more printable organic coupons. If their sponsors are any indication, you might expect to see coupons for Country Life, Bob’s Red Mill, and Carlson’s!

Knudsen’s Juices has 3 valuable coupons for their products on their website. Again, pair these with a sale or a deal and this is a great price.  Do I need to explain why you should NEVER, EVER drink non-organic juice?  It rhymes with “nesticides”.

Santa Cruz organics offers $0.75 off their peanut butters (you know what’s wrong with nonorganic peanut better, right?) and their sparkly “Celebration Drinks”.  This will also work great with doubles at Albertson’s or Safeway!

Seventh Generation allows you to become a member of their site and offers lots of great coupons. These go on sale regularly as well, so you can get “stock up” deals on dish soap, cleaner, and diapers!

Hormel (I know, I know, probably not the greatest) but they do offer a gluten-free, all-natural, MSG/Nitrate-Free lunch meat that is servicable, and on their website you can find a $0.55 off coupon. This also is great for when they go on sale at Safeway, and you can use your weekly Safeway Double to get $1.05 off!

Al Fresco offers nitrate-free, preservative-free, chicken sausages in gourmet flavors. Sign up for their newsletter and get $1.00 off!

Applegate Farms will send you a $1.00 off coupon when you sign up for their mailing list. This company makes delicious nitrate-free bacon.

Join the Bakery on Main Healthy Living Club and receive a $1.50 off coupon, along with many special offers. Bakery on Main offers gluten-free, refined-sugar free, additive-free granolas.

Brown Cow organic yogurt now has printable e-coupons!

Coleman Natural Meats offers antibiotic, hormone, and preservative-free meats such as the “Rocky” and “Rosie” chickens, as well as sausages and hot dogs. If you take their survey, you will be sent 5 $1 coupons!

Enjoy Life Gluten-Free Foods has a $0.55 off printable you can download from the website.

Food Should Taste Good (offering delicious, gluten-free tortilla chips with unique flavors)has  $1 off printable coupon on their website as well as an opportunity to e-mail a coupon to a friend (your husband?)!.

Okay, it’s late, and this is just scratching the surface.  Stay tuned, keep checking back for weekly coupon deals I’ll post about! 

This post is a part of Real Food Wednesday.

I even splurged and bought some Gorilla Munch Cereal (gluten free with like 2 ingredients) and GF Corn Flakes. They ended up being $0.99 each per box after coupons! I figured they would be good “potty treats” for DS, and if he never decides to actually try to use the potty, then I will drop them into the food bank bin and bless some other family with some organic goodness!

I ended up stocking up on lots of Pacific Soups ($0.50 each….I know I can make soup for pretty cheap, but this is the “emergency pantry stash” or the “oops, I forgot to pack DH’s lunch” stash!

There was a peelie coupon on the Muir Glen Tomatoes, which were already 10/$10,  it was for $1 off 2, so I ended up getting a bunch of Muir Glen Organic Canned Tomatoes for $0.50 each! This unheard of people!

I scored several bags of Flax Meal for $3 and $2 each (I had some different priced coupons, but this stuff is regularly over $10). I will add this to the grain-free sandwich bread in Elana Amsterdam’s Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook.

Did I mention that I LOVE Elana’s Cookbook and don’t know what I would do without it in my life!?!??! (I do sub coconut oil for all the grapeseed oil in her book).

Back to the savings….

Cage-Free (I know, it doesn’t mean much…) Eggs were $0.50 each after coupon. I bought 2 cartons.
Tillamook Cheddar Cheese was $5.99, which is as good as it gets unless you’re at Fred’s this week
Organic Apples were $0.99/lb, which I used to make my Apple Kraut!
Organic Half and Half was $1.99, which I used to make Matsoni Yogurt which is a steal for organic yogurt!
We got more cleaner for our bamboo floors, which was on sale and I had a coupon. $1.49 after coupons.
I had several coupons for tea, Yogi Berry Detox and SleepyTime, saving a dollar on each box.  We are big tea people!
Tillamook butter was $1.99 and I couldn’t resist a 100% Cacao Dagoba Bar that I had a coupon for!

Oh! I almost forgot…

Organic Oranges were $0.59/lb, so I got a few of those.
Organic Grape Juice (used in small amounts in my kombucha) was an absolute steal; $1.50 per bottle after discounts and coupons! I bought 2 of these.
I also scored some 7th Generation diapers for $6.99 after discounts and coupons.  That’s a good deal for any diapers!
I also used my savings ($37) to purchase another Chinook Book, since it’s full of coupons that we use that are very valuable and because they were discounted to only $13.00!

OH, and last but not least: I got 2 jars of Organic Peanut Butter for $1.99 each!!! That is a steal for any kind of PB, let alone Maranatha Organic!

Not pictured:

2 # of Chicken Breasts for $3.99/lb
1 # of Chicken Drumsticks for $1.99/b
1 carton of Luna and Larry’s Coconut Bliss (guilty pleasure)
3 Cliff “G” bars (for the kids…all fruit and nut)
1 Gourmet Chicken Basil Sausage Link (Free)
3 bottles of Kombucha ($1.99 each) To share at a presentation
2 bottles of whole milk kefir (for presentation and one as a payment for babysitting….I love bartering!)

GRAND TOTAL: ~$97.oo (this is more than my weekly allotment, but as you will soon find out, I am doing a No-Spend March so I have stocked up on some great things for the freezer and for the pantry with this shopping trip and will make this stretch for as long as I can. I intend to NOT go shopping this week as my pantries are full!

There is still one more day, if you’re a Portlander, to take advantage of these savings! Sale ends on Tuesday, March 2!

This post is part of the Grocery Cart Challenge Link-Up!

New Seasons Market is celebrating their 10-year anniversary this week with “Roll Back Prices” reflective of the year 2000 when they opened!  I was pretty impressed with all of the deals going on there this week. If you have a Chinook Book or a Mambo Sprouts Coupon Catalogue, you can score some great match-up deals!

Here are some of the notable deals I found:

2 lbs Tillamook Cheddar $4.99

Kettle Chips 10 for $10

Muir Glen Organic Tomatoes 10 for $10
Join the Muir Glen Connoissuer’s Club and Get $1/1 Coupon
Free after coupon!

GT Dave’s Kombucha $1.99

Westbrae Organic Beans (Canned) $10 for 10

Maranatha Organic Peanut Butter $2.99
Use $1/1 Mambo Sprouts Winter Catalogue
$1.99 After Coupon

Cascadia Farms Organic Granola $2.50
Join the Cascadia Farms Online Community for $1/1
$1.50 After Coupon

Pacific Natural Foods Organic Soups $1.50 ea.
$1/1 from Chinook Book
$0.50 each After Coupon

Knudson Organic Juice $2.50
$1/1 from Healthy Clippings Coupon Book (at Customer Service Counter)
$1.50 each After Coupon

Stiebrs Cage Free Eggs $1.50
BOGO Coupon in Chinook Book
$0.75 each when you buy 2!

Yogi Tea $2.99 each
$1/1 from the 2/7 Smart Source (I believe)
$1.99 After Coupon

7th Generation Diapers $8.99
$2/1 7th Generation Diapers or Baby Wipes MF Coupon I found at Naturpath Office
$6.99 After Coupon!

Organic Valley Organic Milk $2.99 (Half Gallon)
Printable $1/1 Organic Valley Coupons Here
$1.99 After Coupon!

Note: This is a STEAL if you want to make homemade organicyogurt! You couldn’t buy a quart of organic yogurt for a $1.00, could you? Matsoni is super easy! See my resources page for starters!

Organic Valley Cottage Cheese $3.50
Printable $1/1 Organic Valley Coupons Here
$2.50 After Coupons

Organic Valley Organic Organge Juice $3.99
$1/1 Mambo Sprouts Winter Catalogue
$2.99 After Coupon

Coconut Bliss Ice Cream $3.50
$1/1 Chinook Book Coupon
$2.50 After Coupon

Organic Broccoli and Cauliflower $0.99/lb

Spectrum Organic Ground Flax Meal $5.00
$2/1 any Spectrum Essentials Supplement from Chinook Book
$3.00 After Coupon!

These deals are seriously hot, and there are more I haven’t mentioned, so check them out at New Seasons Market’s website. This week will be full of freebies, samples, prizes, and “surprise unadvertised” specials, so if you follow them on twitter you can get the scoop!

This post has been contributed to Pennywise Platter Thursday, and is dedicated to all my fellow frugal Portlanders who don’t frequent New Seasons much due to the higher prices. This week is your chance! Let’s show this wonderful store that we appreciate their lower prices, and perhaps send them a message to do this more often!

I’m very fortunate to live within a 2 mile radius of just about every grocery store you could imagine; Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, New Seasons, Safeway, Winco, Grocery Outlet, Albertson’s, Thriftway, Fred Meyer, and Target.  I also live close to several Rite Aids and Walgreen’s, so I really can “make the rounds” and go right into the store and get their “loss leader” deals and be in and out of there in 15 minutes. I shop on Saturday when the kids can be with dad to maximize my efficiency of course!  Here’s a recap of some of the deals I received:

Once again, I scored some good stuff at Grocery Outlet. I hesitate to even post these things, because obviously unless you live in my neighborhood and shop at my {possessive?} Grocery Outlet, your mileage will vary tremendously on your ability to score equally sweet deals.  But I must say, if my dietary restrictions were even a little bit lighter, I would have been able to score many more good things (think: organic, gluten-free cereal)!  So, here’s a bit of what I was able to snag, all for under $10:

Again, forgive the sideways pic…but where else can you find macadamia nuts for $1.99?!?!? A very filling Lenten snack!

I LOVE the bargain produce rack. A little wilted, but perfect to go atop this week's spaghetti squash casserole!

I am always excited to find organic produce; these romaine lettuce heads were $1.50 for 3!

I purchased two bags of 4 avocados; an essential for Lenten eating!

Not pictured: A $1.99 carton of Strauss Creamery (all grass-fed milk!) Organic Eggnog Ice Cream, a little splurge for the Orthodox version of “Mardi Gras”, as well as some yellow peppers priced at $0.50 each! 

Speaking of deals, I had fun watching the checker at Safeway bring my total from $20 down to just over $6 with lots of BOGOs, coupons, and doubles! I got two packages of Hormel All Natural roast beef (no nitrates, MSG, or anything yucky there, but probably not the best quality meat), 2 packages of breakfast sausages, 2 bottles of rice vinegar (I use it for Asain salad dressings), and tabasco sauce all for less than $6!

A local grocery store in my neighborhood, Bales Thriftway, also doubles up to 4 coupons each week. This week they had an in-store coupon for Tillamook butter ($1.99), eggs for $0.68 (I buy “cheapo” eggs for baking with and save the organic ones for eating), asparagus, Northwest bay shrimp for $2.98/lb (a steal!), organic eggs I had a coupon for (which doubled) and organic bananas and a few other things I can’t remember right now all for under $20.

Fred Meyer has a great deal going this month on frozen vegetables.  Unfortunatley these are not organic, but the deal was too good to pass up. They have an in-store coupon for all of their frozen veggies for $0.79, up to four.  I have gone in two separate times and used this deal to stock up my freezer with frozen green beans, broccoli, and brussels sprouts (the kids love these veggies laden with butter and cheese). 

I also combined some in-store coupons with manufacturer’s to score some Traditional Medicinals Tea for $1.00 and some super reduced Stash Teas.  Our family has regular “tea time” every day (it somehow is a magical antidote to the 4 o’clock “witching hour” so we are constantly going through tea!)  All of my Fred Meyer food deals came to right around $20.

So this week’s rougly adding up to under $60 for our groceries!  I’d love to try to keep it under $40 for the rest of Lent. I think its doable given my pantry is still fairly stocked, but the question is will I keep my obsession with finding “good deals” and buying them in check!?!?!? I’ll keep you posted…..I need the accountability.

This post is part of Grocery Cart Challenge’s Weekly Round-up!

Join the Bora Bora E-Village and sign up for a FREE Pomegranite Pecan Bora Bora Bar!  These delicious bars are gluten-free, organic, and made of all whole-food ingredients. No soy, refined sugars, or anything yucky. Not GAPS-legal, though, as they contain rice crisps and some cane juice {why oh why?}.  Nonetheless, it’s a great deal for a great-tasting, organic product!