Couponing for Healthier Foods at Target - $7.38

This week Target has some great Mobile Coupons this week.  If you haven't signed up them yet, go here.  Once you're signed up, text the word "FRESH" to 827438 to get these awesome coupons.

Here's what we got today at Target for $7.38.

We used:
Target Mobile Coupons
$1 off Fresh Fruit
$1 off Fresh Vegetable
$1 off Fresh Meat
$1 off Frozen Item
$1 off Sandwich Bread
$0.75 off Dishwashing Item
$1 off Archer Farms $2 purchase

Target Coupons
$1.25/2 Dole Shakers
$0.50/1 Sara Lee
$1 off $3 Purchase of Simply Balanced Products

Target Cartwheel
5% off Cantaloupe
5% off Ground Beef

Printable Coupons
$0.50/1 Green Works Coupon

Ibotta (sign up here)
$0.50/1 Bush's Best Baked Beans
*Bonus $1 cash back for completing Bonus

Also, received $0.05 for using a reusable bag and 5% off for using my Target Debit RedCard.

Week 4 Done... On to Week 5!

I started the week spending $44.06 on Produce and Chicken.  I of course ended up buying more produce, milk, yogurt, cheese and a bag of organic tortilla chips and a couple other small things for my son.  My total for the week in groceries was $75.15!  Woo hoo!  Shaved $25 off this week.  :)  Though I did have a bit of stuff leftover from the last week.  But I'm going to see if I can keep this up and maybe even get down to $50 a week.

So, to start this week out!  I bought a few things Thursday that obviously will mostly be used this week, so I split the cost up between the two weeks.  I have Potatoes, Milk, Broccoli, Ginger Root, Apples and Onion that added $4.61 to this week.

Today I bought:

15+lbs of Chicken for $14.85

$21.59 on Fresh Produce ($4.22 for Watermelon!)

FREE

$2.93 for Olive Oil

So, to start the week I've spent $43.98!  And that chicken is going to last us a few weeks!  Yipee!  

My poor husband didn't realize that although I've been calling this a "30 Day Challenge" that I was going to KEEP going with this lifestyle after the 30 days.  I think I will reward him by having pizza sometime this week.  He's been such a trooper through all this with me!

Week Three Done... On to Week Four!

Last week we ended up spending $103.16 on food.  After the initial purchase, we bought more chicken, some lunch meat for my husband, yogurt, almond milk and a little more produce.  We had a small amount of waste last week and that really bothers me.  My fridge decided to freeze my Spinach and Lettuce and I forgot about the beets.  Shoot.  While we still have a fair amount of food left from previous weeks (Lots of fruit in the freezer as well as chicken and beans), I am wanting to cut back on our weekly spending.  I would love to get down to only $50 a week, but with the cost of meat that's hard to do.  So, I'm setting my goal for $75 instead of $100.

I decided to not get a share this week of produce, but rather go to a local Produce Stand from a local farm.  One of these weeks I'll get around to checking out the Olympia Farmer's Market, just haven't made it that way yet.  So, here's what I bought yesterday to get this week started:

$14.37 @ Safeway (Saved on Bananas using Just4U)

$7.49 @ Winco (used $0.50 coupon and $0.50 Ibotta refund)

$4.31 @ Target (Seriously, Watermelon for $1.62! Score!)
(Used Target Mobile $1/$1 produce coupon and $0.75 Ibotta coupon for milk)

$15.93 @ Local Produce Stand

So, I'm starting this week out with $44.06 spent.  Can I make it through the rest of the week only spending another $30?  I'm feeling good about it!

Week One Done. On To Week Two!

I have completed 7 days of (mostly) Whole Foods eating!  Here's how we're looking...

Money Spent: $90.96 (Budget $75-$100) This is how much we spent total on groceries, including for my son and 6 cartons of Almond Milk and 3 packs of All Natural Nitrite Free Turkey Dogs which were 3/$5 which is an amazing deal because they are normally $4 a piece.  Also, my husband joined in my lifestyle change starting on Day 2 and I think he's lost 5lbs already.

Calories: I averaged 300-500 calories a day less than my goal .  I know that's low, but seriously...  I ate so much food.  I was never hungry.  I was low on calories, but I made sure I was hitting the mark with Protein, Fiber, Iron and other Vitamins and staying under or close on Fat, Carbs and Sugar.  All the Fat, Carbs and Sugar I was eating was GOOD for me, too.  What matters is being healthy, it's not how much you do or don't eat.

How many calories a day should you shoot for?  Good question!  Here's a calculator that will tell you after just a few simple questions.

And how much protein do you need?  Here's a calculator for that, too.

I think I may have overstocked myself for week 2...  I've already spent $69.45.  Here's how it breaks down:

$13.45 at Safeway for about 6.5lbs of chicken.

$11.56 with OlympiaLocalFoods.com

I found an awesome little produce stand and got all this for $7.12

And here's everything I got from my CSA share for $24.25 (Plus 3 doz Free Range Eggs for $8.50)

And $5.48 at Safeway.

Whew that's a lot of fresh food!  My fridge is FULL!  

Day 5 Recap and Shopping Trip

So I did a bit better today on my calories, only 335 left to spare at the end of the day!

For breakfast I had a Green Smoothie, for snacks I had Bananas, Cantaloupe, Cauliflower, Carrots, Apples and a little bit of my son's cereal that he fed me (no, it wasn't a whole foods but it was pretty darn delicious).

I went to Trader Joe's for the first time today to check it out.  Spent $6.32 on more bananas, yams and Quinoa.

Tonight I went to Safeway to use some coupons and take advantage of their Dairy Deal.  My son drinks Almond Milk like it's going out of style, so that is a big expense around here.  Needless to say I was ecstatic when I ended up with this shopping deal...

I had a Just4U Safeway coupon for an additional $0.75 off the Silk, the Rice Dream was 50% off of $2.49 and I had a $2/1 coupon (which ended up giving me $0.76 back), Just4U coupons for the Chobani making them $1.89 then $1/1 coupons for each, making them only $0.89!  The bell peppers were 2/$1.  The dip Greek Yogurt dip is for my husband and was marked 50% off of $3.99, but it also had a $1/1 coupon attached to it!  Basically, I paid for the 4 Almond Breeze milks and the rest was free (the price for those are $2.99 each).  I forgot how much I love couponing :)

Week 1 Groceries, CSAs & Co-Ops

I've been trying different Co-Ops, CSAs, etc trying to find a good one around here for fresh, local and organic produce.  First I tried Full Circle.  While their food was fabulous and delivered to my door, it was way overpriced for what I got.  I was glad I had used a coupon code I found for 50% off.  They have several sizes to choose from, the one I got was $27.95 for 1 Bunch of Broccoli, .33lb Mixed Greens, 1 Cucumber, 4oz Mushrooms, 1 Green Leaf Lettuce, 1 Swiss Chard, 2 Fuji Apples, 3 Navel Oranges.  I forgot to take a picture, but that's not much food for almost $30.

Then I tried Olympia Local Foods and was much happier.  I got all this for just under $40, delivered to my door for $0.01.  Still a little high priced but I did get to pick and choose what I wanted.  It's set up like an online store and you pick what you want.

This week, I found a local CSA Blissfully Organic Co-Op and ordered a share from them.  *Happy Dance!* Much, much better!  $22.50 for everything seen here.  They're just a few minute drive away from me so it worked out pretty nice.

I wanted to see how this breaks down price wise.  As much as I like local, organic produce, I have a budget, too.

If I would have purchased all this from Winco (Not local, not organic) I would have paid $19!  So, for only an extra $3.50 I have much better quality, Organic produce!  That works for me!

Yesterday I also bought just under 6lbs of chicken breast from Safeway for $11.99 and a box of Green Tea for $2.50.  Green Tea is supposed to be really good for weight loss, so I am going to add it to my diet.  

I finished up my grocery shopping at Winco today for the week (hopefully, but not promising).  I bought Spinach, Kale, Cantaloupe, Ginger Root, Cauliflower, Sunflower Seeds and Dry Garbanzo Beans for $9.96.

So, here it is.  For the week (and I'll let you know if I buy anything else, I usually do):

Bananas

Strawberries

Apples

Mango

Grapes

Limes

Cantaloupe

Eggplant

Onions

Mushrooms

Red Leaf Lettuce

Kale

Spinach

Cauliflower

Chicken

Various Dried Beans

Of course I still have stuff around the house from previous weeks, but so far I've spent $46.95.  My goal budget is $75-$100.  This is to include breakfast/lunches for my husband and son, which you will not see, as I am only sharing my meals.  My husband is eating dinners with me, my son eats what he eats.  I use coupons to save money on what he needs.  

So, here we go!