Grocery Challenge Part 2

     Good morning, good morning!!  If you read my post, http://survivingthisazeconomy.blogspot.com/2011/05/couponing-like-crazy.html, you know that I have challenged myself to do all the grocery and household shopping for my family of 5 for $200 this month.  Well, I was excited for the weekly grocery ads to come out last Wednesday and was quickly disappointed because the deals were not fabulous and I was not going to have a great start to my challenge.  I made a monthly menu and figured out how much of everything I would need for the month and hoped a good chunk of the items would be in the ads for the "best price ever".  However, when I looked, there were not many.
     I made a very detailed list for each store (at this time I am going to more than one).  My list told how many of each item, coupons I was going to use and how much my total should be at each store.  I figured at the end of my shopping, I would have spent $50.  I made a few mistakes.
     First, I did not check the coupon policies before I went shopping.  While checking out at Albertson's, I was surprised when my coupons did not double and my order came to $8.00 more than I anticipated.  That doesn't seem like much, but compared to $200 it is quite a bit.  Then at Fry's, I added a few items that pushed my bill up to $14 more than I planned for.  So now I am up $22 dollars for the week.  I also decided to go to Walmart and pick up a few of the items I know are lowest priced there and found mac and cheese for $.38 a box.  Instead of just buying enough for this month, I bought enough for two months and I am afraid that will sabotage my monthly plan as well.  In a nutshell, with my purchases last weekend, my total for the month is now up to $111 and I still have three shopping weeks left...aaahhh.  That leaves me $33 each week.  I am hoping the lessons I learned this week will help.

So here is what I got for $103 this week:
3 lbs of shredded cheese, 3 lbs of strawberries, 2 bags of Tostios, 2 jars of salsa, 6 bottles of Pepsi, 2 bunches of radishes, 3 boxes of granola bars, 4 whole chickens, 4 tubs of sour cream, 1 bag of mini carrots, 1 doz eggs, 1 bag of 72 corn tortillas, 2 beef ravioli meals, 12 cans of enchilada sauce, 10 cans of soup, 1 bottle of ranch dressing, 3 Nivea body wash, 24 boxes of mac and cheese, 2 boxes of fruit snack, 2 boxes of Cookie Crisp cereal, 3 boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios, 2 bags of Lays chips, 2 bags of Boulder chips, 3 fresh garlic, 3 lbs of bananas, 2 gallons of milk, 2.25 lbs of broccoli, 6 packets of Lawry's seasoning, 2 Schick Quattro Razors and 2 seedless watermelons.  I spent $103 and saved $189.  Not too bad, but I have to do better!