Have I mentioned how much I love going to the market in my nearby city? When life gets busy and I can't make it there to do my shopping, I miss it. And the vendors miss me too. My last trip there was the other day, and the vendors asked why they haven't seen me in a while, that they had such good stuff that I would have appreciated, but missed out on because I didn't come. I've been busy and sometimes its hard to find the time to go there, but when I push myself and go there anyhow, I never come home disappointed.
This last shopping trip I'll break down into two parts- the produce and everything else. (In large part since there wasn't room on my counter to put everything there at once to take a picture.)
Total this shop was $60.31, of which $32.74 was on produce, and $27.57 was on non produce items.
Can I say that these, without a doubt, were the best deals I could have possibly gotten, or the best deals that I've gotten there in the past? No. I might have been able to get even better deals if I'd spent even more time in the market, but I decided to keep my visit short so it wouldn't suck too much energy out of me, and fortunately it worked- I didn't come home too exhausted and unable to work for the next few days after that, so that was a success. They still were great deals though, much better prices than I'd be able to get at my local grocery stores.
So what did I buy?
First stop was at the store that sells jaggery- I bought 3 containers, 950 grams (2.1 lbs) each, at $5.14 a container, for a total of $15.42 at that store.
Next I stopped at the scratch and dent/salvage store, where I can often find great deals on a variety of gluten free items, but this time didn't have too much success. I bought 4 cans of corn at 71 cents each, a bottle of sweet chili sauce at $1.43, and 3 packages of gluten free cookies for $1.43 each, plus a package of candies for 71 cents, since I was told to send in treats for a party in Ike's school next week.
After that, I paid a visit to my favorite produce vendor in the market, Gideon, to see what he had available. He didn't have so much this time, just a lot of giant sweet potatoes that he was selling at 26 cents a pound, some hot peppers, and leeks. Because I've built a relationship with the vendors at the market by coming regularly, I often get cheaper prices than the already low prices listed. He gave me 24.2 lbs of sweet potatoes for $4.29, working out to be 18 cents a pound! Have I mentioned that my family and I absolutely love sweet potatoes? So these were funny looking- I don't care. They still taste just as good. I got 3 leeks for $1.43, and he threw in a few hot peppers for free. Total at that stall was $5.72.
The next stall I visited, the owner knows how much I love my reduced price produce, and knows I take things in large quantities, so he offered me a big bag of overripe bananas (my favorite kind, so its a plus that they're cheaper) for 39 cents a pound- I paid $9.82 for over 25 lbs of bananas. I got carrots for 26 cents a pound, 11.6 lbs for $3, eggplant at 32 cents a pound, 2.4 lbs for 77 cents. Total at that stall was $13.63.
At another stall I saw perfect zucchinis being sold as seconds, and tomatoes that looked in decent condition, each for 39 cents a pound. I got a total of 14.3 lbs of zucchinis and tomatoes for $5.57.
Another stall was selling great looking apples for 39 cents a pound and orange peppers for 52 cents a pound, but because I've developed a relationship with the vendors, they decided to give it all to me at 39 cents a pound, so I spent a total of $7.82 for a total of 20 pounds of apples and orange bell peppers.
Last but not least, I bought two packages of 10 pitas each, a total of 20 pitas, for $2.85. This is for my husband and Lee's sake, the two gluten eaters in the house. Yes, I can and do make homemade bread for them, but sometimes I want something quick to give them....
All in all, I think I got some pretty good deals, and this produce should definitely last me at least a little while.
Bummer though, because I went to the market planning on getting onions, and came home without any, so needed to buy that from the local mom and pop's store.
Have you gotten any good deals on food lately? What was it and where did you find those deals? How much would such a shopping trip, like I did, cost you locally?
This last shopping trip I'll break down into two parts- the produce and everything else. (In large part since there wasn't room on my counter to put everything there at once to take a picture.)
Total this shop was $60.31, of which $32.74 was on produce, and $27.57 was on non produce items.
Can I say that these, without a doubt, were the best deals I could have possibly gotten, or the best deals that I've gotten there in the past? No. I might have been able to get even better deals if I'd spent even more time in the market, but I decided to keep my visit short so it wouldn't suck too much energy out of me, and fortunately it worked- I didn't come home too exhausted and unable to work for the next few days after that, so that was a success. They still were great deals though, much better prices than I'd be able to get at my local grocery stores.
So what did I buy?
First stop was at the store that sells jaggery- I bought 3 containers, 950 grams (2.1 lbs) each, at $5.14 a container, for a total of $15.42 at that store.
Next I stopped at the scratch and dent/salvage store, where I can often find great deals on a variety of gluten free items, but this time didn't have too much success. I bought 4 cans of corn at 71 cents each, a bottle of sweet chili sauce at $1.43, and 3 packages of gluten free cookies for $1.43 each, plus a package of candies for 71 cents, since I was told to send in treats for a party in Ike's school next week.
After that, I paid a visit to my favorite produce vendor in the market, Gideon, to see what he had available. He didn't have so much this time, just a lot of giant sweet potatoes that he was selling at 26 cents a pound, some hot peppers, and leeks. Because I've built a relationship with the vendors at the market by coming regularly, I often get cheaper prices than the already low prices listed. He gave me 24.2 lbs of sweet potatoes for $4.29, working out to be 18 cents a pound! Have I mentioned that my family and I absolutely love sweet potatoes? So these were funny looking- I don't care. They still taste just as good. I got 3 leeks for $1.43, and he threw in a few hot peppers for free. Total at that stall was $5.72.
The next stall I visited, the owner knows how much I love my reduced price produce, and knows I take things in large quantities, so he offered me a big bag of overripe bananas (my favorite kind, so its a plus that they're cheaper) for 39 cents a pound- I paid $9.82 for over 25 lbs of bananas. I got carrots for 26 cents a pound, 11.6 lbs for $3, eggplant at 32 cents a pound, 2.4 lbs for 77 cents. Total at that stall was $13.63.
At another stall I saw perfect zucchinis being sold as seconds, and tomatoes that looked in decent condition, each for 39 cents a pound. I got a total of 14.3 lbs of zucchinis and tomatoes for $5.57.
Another stall was selling great looking apples for 39 cents a pound and orange peppers for 52 cents a pound, but because I've developed a relationship with the vendors, they decided to give it all to me at 39 cents a pound, so I spent a total of $7.82 for a total of 20 pounds of apples and orange bell peppers.
Last but not least, I bought two packages of 10 pitas each, a total of 20 pitas, for $2.85. This is for my husband and Lee's sake, the two gluten eaters in the house. Yes, I can and do make homemade bread for them, but sometimes I want something quick to give them....
All in all, I think I got some pretty good deals, and this produce should definitely last me at least a little while.
Bummer though, because I went to the market planning on getting onions, and came home without any, so needed to buy that from the local mom and pop's store.
Have you gotten any good deals on food lately? What was it and where did you find those deals? How much would such a shopping trip, like I did, cost you locally?
Tags
extreme frugality
frugal food
frugal shopping
frugal strategies
gluten free
grocery shopping
produce
reduced rack
scratch and dent
shopping list
I think that much groceries here (Vancouver Island, Canada) would be around $90-100.
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