I Broke My Frugal Shopping Rule

I've written quite a few times on how to save money on groceries, its almost like the main part of my blog, other than recipes, and one of the money-saving grocery shopping tips that is pretty much the most basic one is stay out of the grocery store. Grocery stores legitimately learn the best tricks to get you to spend as much money as possible, using psychology, etc... (watch this awesomely fun and hilarious Food Theory video that talks about these tricks) and therefore, the more times you enter the grocery store the more money you'll spend. Almost no one ever manages to leave the store with just that one thing because the stores are designed to make you spend money. Better get your shopping done all at once and then just leave! And if you want to go to more than one store because each store has better prices for specific things, then rotate- going one week to one store, one week to another, and buy things at each store for more than one week, because the more times you enter a grocery store, the more money you'll spend, even with a list.

But I broke that rule of mine recently. But only because I trusted myself, and knew I could trust myself in this manner...

Basically, the story is like this.

I went to a nearby supermarket where they have decent prices for most things. I did my shopping, getting what I needed, buying what had good prices and sales. And a few things just a little extra, including a block of vegan cheese, which I usually don't get because it is expensive, but I had a vegan guest coming and wanted to make something with that, and some gluten free tea biscuits for a recipe that I wanted to make. While I was there I also bought some precut french fries, because when I have no energy or don't feel well, its easy to pop them into the oven along with a protein and chop up veggies to have a quick and easy meal.

As I was at the register, I didn't do what I should have and watch what was being rung up until the end, but before I left I did take a look at my receipt and was caught by surprise. Often the surprises on the receipts are being charged for things you didn't buy, mistakes, being overcharged, etc... which is why it is important to check your receipts. But this time what I caught on the receipt was something else entirely. 

Three things that I bought, when rung up, showed they were on sale, even though they aren't things that were marked as on sale. And they were great sales. Great enough that I would have gone back to get more had I known that, but I was in a rush and had another appointment that I needed to get to.

While on the way home from my appointment, I was thinking about how good the sale was, and how it would be a shame to have passed it up, so I made the decision to stop at the store again and just buy the sale items. I knew I'd be able to do that because I went in single mindedly, rushing through as to not get distracted by other things, and going straight in and out, not browsing at all. 

So what did I buy?

Well, as I mentioned above, vegan cheese is pricey locally. While other stores are more expensive, this store sells it for $5.15 a package. For comparison, non vegan cheese costs $4 for the same amount, when not purchased from the cheese counter (which I do whenever I am at a store with a cheese counter, because there it is significantly cheaper). The sale that showed up on my receipt was that all the vegan cheeses were 25% off! Which means that each package was only $3.80! You see why I was excited about this? Vegan cheese cheaper than regular cheese! And this is a good melty brand that tastes like regular cheese. 

I bought a bunch of packages (this freezes well), from mozerella style to cheddar style to parmesan. This was really the reason I came back to the store. The rest were extras.

Gluten free tea biscuits in most stores cost anywhere from $3.15-$3.40 for a package. This store sells them for $2.54, but on sale they were only $1.97! Another steal! I got a few packages of this as well.

And then there was the sale on french fries but unfortunately, I don't remember what that was, but it was good enough for me to pick them up as well. (I took a picture of the receipt but when I look at it now I see the French Fries listing didn't make it into the picture.)

And then I paid and walked out.

That's it. No extraneous purchases.

And I took the bus home, using a transfer, so I didn't need to pay for transportation home, since my shop was quick enough.

Sometimes, ok sometimes, it is ok to go to a store more than once a day. For a sale like this, maybe. If you trust yourself to not be tempted to spend more, maybe. But you have to know yourself.

Have you gotten any great deals lately? What were they?