I had a post already partially written up, that I'd planned on posting today, but I just came back from my shopping trip and it was such a successful and frugal trip that it made me really excited, and I felt I just had to share it with you instead of what I'd originally planned.
The original plan was for me to go pick up my bulk order of coconut sugar- 44 lbs- that I'm splitting with friends- 17.6 lbs of which I am keeping for myself.
However, when I went to cook up supper for the family to be eating while I was gone, I realized that I had no vegetables left in the house, pretty much (the frozen corn, peas, and okra don't count in my book)... The only fresh produce I had were some oranges, clementines, and lemons. I needed to go shopping pronto, so I decided that after I picked up the coconut sugar, if I felt it was manageable, I'd go to the farmer's market.
(In case you were wondering what I did for food since I had no veggies- I foraged a bunch of mallow, and used up my last three carrots, and sauted the carrots with the mallow, and served them as the veggie for supper, along with the rest of the meal.)
But Mike didn't get home from work so early, so by the time I got to the store that had my bulk order, it was already late, and even later once I got to the farmer's market- almost everything was closed.
This had benefits and drawbacks.
The variety of stalls I had to choose from was very, very minimal- just finding a stand that was open was hard enough, let alone enough to do some price comparing and shopping around.
However, since it was the end of the day, some of the stalls were in a rush to get rid of what they had, so were selling things for dirt cheap!
And I also got free produce left behind from stalls that were closing up and didn't bother keeping those past prime products, etc...
So, here's what I got:
44 lbs/17.6 lbs of coconut sugar at $3.07 per pound. So that's $53.94 for my share of the coconut sugar, or $134.85 total.
At the farmer's market, the first stall I saw open was selling tomatoes for 39 cents a pound- I bought 4.69 lbs for $1.83, and 16 heads of garlic for $2.85.
At the next stall open I bought onions and cucumbers- 18.15 lbs for 26 cents a pound- $4.72, and 1.76 lbs of carrots at 39 cents a pound- 69 cents.
I nearly bought fresh ginger root for $9.09 a pound, but then had second thoughts, and found a different store selling it for $7.14 per pound. I got 1.2 lbs for $8.57.
And at one last store, just as they were closing up, I saw tomatoes labeled 26 cents a pound, so I bought 3.88 lbs for $1.00.
But, as I mentioned- I also got some stuff free! I got 7 avocados, 4 oranges, 3 grapefruits, 2 lemons, a head of romaine lettuce, a bag of shredded purple cabbage, and a whole bag full of fish heads and fish "frames" (aka carcasses, lol) which I'll be using to make soup.
So, grand total for my shop? $19.64 not counting the coconut sugar, $73.60 counting my share of the coconut sugar, and $154.51 total if you count the coconut sugar that's also going to my friends.
Not bad for a day's work!
Did you have any great shopping trips lately? What were your best scores?
Ever get free groceries? How do you do that? What have been your best free grocery finds?
The original plan was for me to go pick up my bulk order of coconut sugar- 44 lbs- that I'm splitting with friends- 17.6 lbs of which I am keeping for myself.
However, when I went to cook up supper for the family to be eating while I was gone, I realized that I had no vegetables left in the house, pretty much (the frozen corn, peas, and okra don't count in my book)... The only fresh produce I had were some oranges, clementines, and lemons. I needed to go shopping pronto, so I decided that after I picked up the coconut sugar, if I felt it was manageable, I'd go to the farmer's market.
(In case you were wondering what I did for food since I had no veggies- I foraged a bunch of mallow, and used up my last three carrots, and sauted the carrots with the mallow, and served them as the veggie for supper, along with the rest of the meal.)
But Mike didn't get home from work so early, so by the time I got to the store that had my bulk order, it was already late, and even later once I got to the farmer's market- almost everything was closed.
This had benefits and drawbacks.
The variety of stalls I had to choose from was very, very minimal- just finding a stand that was open was hard enough, let alone enough to do some price comparing and shopping around.
However, since it was the end of the day, some of the stalls were in a rush to get rid of what they had, so were selling things for dirt cheap!
And I also got free produce left behind from stalls that were closing up and didn't bother keeping those past prime products, etc...
So, here's what I got:
44 lbs/17.6 lbs of coconut sugar at $3.07 per pound. So that's $53.94 for my share of the coconut sugar, or $134.85 total.
At the farmer's market, the first stall I saw open was selling tomatoes for 39 cents a pound- I bought 4.69 lbs for $1.83, and 16 heads of garlic for $2.85.
At the next stall open I bought onions and cucumbers- 18.15 lbs for 26 cents a pound- $4.72, and 1.76 lbs of carrots at 39 cents a pound- 69 cents.
I nearly bought fresh ginger root for $9.09 a pound, but then had second thoughts, and found a different store selling it for $7.14 per pound. I got 1.2 lbs for $8.57.
And at one last store, just as they were closing up, I saw tomatoes labeled 26 cents a pound, so I bought 3.88 lbs for $1.00.
But, as I mentioned- I also got some stuff free! I got 7 avocados, 4 oranges, 3 grapefruits, 2 lemons, a head of romaine lettuce, a bag of shredded purple cabbage, and a whole bag full of fish heads and fish "frames" (aka carcasses, lol) which I'll be using to make soup.
So, grand total for my shop? $19.64 not counting the coconut sugar, $73.60 counting my share of the coconut sugar, and $154.51 total if you count the coconut sugar that's also going to my friends.
Not bad for a day's work!
Did you have any great shopping trips lately? What were your best scores?
Ever get free groceries? How do you do that? What have been your best free grocery finds?
Tags
bulk
don't throw that out yet
dumpster diving
extreme frugality
free stuff
frugal shopping
frugal strategies
grocery shopping
produce
shopping list
That's an amazing shop...I'm especially jealous of the avocados. What will you make?
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteGuacamole!
I already made some out of three of the avocados!
I may also stick some in smoothies or ice cream. If I manage to find bananas at the grocery store tomorrow cheaply. Really hoping for that!
Wow. Ginger root is expensive in your parts. The only free groceries we get are the ones we grow or boxes of older greens from some local stores that we bring back for our chickens.
ReplyDelete