Heavenly Homemakers

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Whole Chicken with Potato Wedges Recipe – $0.99/person!

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It seems like a good idea to kick off our 30 Days of Dollar Dinners series with this Whole Chicken with Potato Wedges recipe. Check out this amazing meal for just $0.99 per person!

Did you sign up for our 30 Days of Dollar Dinners series yet? We have these freebies for you, detailing how to make 30 entire meals for just $1.00 per person! Sign up here and we’ll send these to you.

One chicken makes three meals

Here’s what makes this Whole Chicken recipe so great – well besides the fact that it’s easy and tastes really good. :) Your effort to bake a chicken is going to produce three meals!

  1. Whole Chicken with Potato Wedges
  2. Parmesan Chicken and Rice
  3. Creamy Potato Soup (made with broth from the chicken bones we’ll save after de-boning this chicken)

Intentionally only serve half the meat from this baked chicken at your first meal. Save the leftover meat to make the Parmesan Chicken and Rice (recipe coming soon!). Once the meat has been removed, use the bones from this chicken to make broth like this. You’ll save that to make Creamy Potato Soup!

How much does a whole chicken cost?

You can buy a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken for $5 at Sam’s or Costco. If you want to skip the baking part of this recipe idea, buy the cooked chicken for $5, divide the meat into two portions – one for this meal and one for the Parmesan Chicken and Rice. Then, make broth with the bones. This gives you three meals from one $5 chicken, making each chicken portion cost only $1.67. AMAZING!!!

OR, if you want to follow this recipe and bake a chicken at home, a whole chicken at Walmart is around $7. Then you can season it the way you like!

Here’s the recipe:

Whole Chicken with Potato Wedges

Whole Chicken with Potato Wedges Recipe - $0.99/person!
 
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Author:
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 1 whole chicken with the innards removed
  • 2 Tablespoons melted butter
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • ⅛ teaspoon ground pepper
  • 3 large yukon gold potatoes
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • Sea salt
Instructions
  1. Place chicken in a 9x13 inch baking dish.
  2. Remove gizzards from the cavity. (Save them to make broth later!)
  3. Spread or brush butter over the chicken.
  4. Mix spices in a bowl, then rub them all over the chicken.
  5. Bake, uncovered, in a 300 degree oven for 2½ hours.
  6. Scrub potatoes and slice into eight wedges each.
  7. Toss them in a bowl large bowl with olive oil until they are evenly coated.
  8. Lay wedges singularly on a cookie sheet.
  9. Sprinkle with salt.
  10. Bake at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Be sure to save half the meat for our Parmesan Chicken and Rice and save the bones to make broth.

Can’t wait to share more in this 30 Days of Dollar Dinners series. We’re working hard to complete our cookbook that goes along with all the freebies, so be watching for that!

 

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Big Family Food: More Ways to Save on Groceries. Maybe?

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I think we’re all looking for more ways to save on groceries right now. I’m finding that we are flying through groceries faster than ever with our growing family. And it won’t slow down! Our littles will turn into bigs and then we will really be eating through the grocery store.

Even with grocery prices on the rise, I’ve been challenging myself to stay under our $1,200/month budget. I’m not sure that I can and I’ve found that I have to get a little bit creative to try and make it happen. Some specifics about how I shop right now:

  • With so many little ones, I don’t have time or ability to shop lots of deals at several different stores. I know I’m missing out on lots of savings (loss leader sales) because of this, but I can get creative in other ways, right?
  • I stick with once-a-month trips to Sam’s and Costco, plus a Walmart pickup order every week or so as needed. (I’m looking into adjusting this though because I’m finding I might need to go to the warehouses every two weeks so I can keep up.)
  • We get some groceries from Azure Standard every couple of months, plus a few from Amazon.
  • We get milk and eggs from local farmers and friends.

Who I’m Feeding for $1,200/Month

Daily:

  • 3 adults
  • 5 kids
  • 3 toddlers

Here are some of the littlest of our crew:

Frequently:

  • some of our adult kids who don’t live with us anymore (Elias comes home from the University to grab food; Justus and Kelsey are over a few times a week)
  • babysitters (a variety of help at our house almost daily)
  • my kids’ friend
  • college students (Sunday lunches and then some)
  • company

I used to take meals to people often as needed, but that’s not something I’m able to do right now. Eventually, I hope to get back to being able to do that!

I’m thankful to be able to feed so many people every day. I delight in it and sometimes don’t care how much it costs, simply because feeding, nourishing, and loving people is such a joy. But at the same time, I have to care about the cost, especially when feeding so many.

Recently, I’ve been trying to share some great ways I’ve found to save on food costs. Like these:

 

I’ve been working on more ways to save…

More Ways to Save on Groceries

1. Skip the pre-packaged snacks.

This might seem like a no-brainer, but during this season in my life, I found that I was falling back on buying cases of little packages of crackers or other snacks at Sam’s or Costco. After all, I truly do need grab-and-go snacks for our kids to eat during walks, at the soccer field, or in the car.

Instead, though, I’ve been purchasing boxes of snack-sized ziplock baggies and letting my 6 and 8-year-olds help me package up snacks for these purposes. This is saving us a lot of money plus helping us choose healthier snacks overall.

Also, because of some extra helpers I’ve had during the past few months, I’ve also been a little bit more able to make snacks from scratch again. It feels so good to make more homemade goodies again!

2. Pack a lunch instead of buying a school lunch.

This might seem silly because the school lunch is very reasonably priced. But I can easily pack our kids’ school lunch for much less than the $3.20 that they charge. (Here are lots of ideas.) Plus, my kids don’t make great school lunch choices (eat the cookie, skip the veggies). ;) So packing a nourishing lunch for them saves quite a bit and helps them be healthier too.

3. Make meat a side dish instead of a main dish.

Instead of planning my meals around meat, I’ve started planning my meals around my fruits and vegetables and other sides. We have been eating a plateful of rice or potatoes, steamed veggie, bowl of fruit, and a little meat. Some meals we don’t have meat at all if we eat beans for protein.

4. Eat more fruits and veggies.

This truly is a money saver!!!!! Meat is $3-$8 per pound while fresh produce is between $0.19-$4.00/pound – with a lot in between. I love that we can eat such nourishing foods at such low cost. I’ve learned to fill my cart and not hold back, knowing that fruits and vegetables are much needed and extremely reasonable in price.

5. Do a little math.

If you take the time to do a price breakdown of some of your favorite meals, you might find, like I have, that many homemade meals cost very little to make. This doesn’t save money, necessarily. It’s just encouraging!! It helps me know that I really am feeding my family well for a very low cost per person!

Here are some examples I’ve shared here:

6. Buy turkeys on sale at holiday time.

I was shocked when I realized that I could make ten meals with just one turkey! I used that bird to feed company, to make soup, to create easy lunches – all for such a low cost! If we can take advantage of holiday sales on turkeys, then thaw and bake them throughout the year, we can really save a lot on great meat.

7. Don’t waste produce.

Here are details about how I buy and use all of our produce before it goes bad. This is a huge money saver!

8. Drink more water.

Ok, but don’t take away my coffee!! (<— which I make at home for only $0.35!)

Many of you probably already do this, and I used to be better at sticking with only water at our house. But as our older boys got older, I found that having Body Armor, Izzes, Bubblys and a few other fun drinks on hand was nice for when their friends came over.

I still plan to get some cases of drinks from Costco and Sam’s here and there, but it will save my grocery budget if I buy them less frequently.

9. Don’t overthink it. 

We need to eat and we want to eat well. So sometimes I just have to ignore the rising price and know that I need to buy it anyway, especially when it’s a nourishing need for our family. There are many of us, we eat a lot of food, and that’s that. (Still, it’s good that I’m considering splurges that I might be able to cut out while not worrying about the necessities.)

10. Recognize the huge cost savings compared to eating out.

Even when we’re eating something that has been pre-packaged for convenience, we are still saving an incredible amount of money by eating at home compared to eating out. Here’s what works for us and how much we save by eating at home!

Share your best grocery saving tips!

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How I Saved $480 on my Grocery Budget in September

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You’ve heard this tip before, but I wanted to share it again because practicing it gave us significant savings last month! Here’s how I saved $480 on my grocery budget in September.

I have a very large grocery budget, so saving $480 was pretty significant. We feed 9 people three meals every day, 2 additional people at dinnertime most nights, and regularly have guests and friends eating with us. So we typically spend around $1,200/month on food.

How I Saved $480 on my Grocery Budget in September

Every once a in while, I feel the need to focus on eating what we have instead of continually stocking up. This is a little bit tricky, simply because part of the way we save money is to constantly have a nice variety of food on hand so I can “shop” my freezers and pantry when I make meals and snacks. Running out can potentially mean a super expensive shopping trip to make up for all the food we’ve used up.

On the other hand, I reached that point most of us get to in which I needed to use up the random items lurking in the back of the freezer and pantry. There were plenty of great meals that could be made with what we had on hand; I just had to get creative!

And so, after huge stock-up purchases at Sam’s last month and at Costco early in September, I decided to see how long I could go without grocery shopping.

What I had:

Rest assured, I took the worst pictures ever to show you my freezer and pantry stockpile. I hate being unorganized, and yet, so much of the time I live in a state of disorganization while focusing instead on caring for so many littles.

Cringe with me while you look through my (unorganized) full freezers, fridge, and pantry so you can see that I truly had a lot of food to work with while I challenged myself to avoid grocery shopping!

Ack, here’s what my fridge always looks like right after a Sam’s or Costco trip: we just stuff the food in wherever it fits until we can regroup. :)

The cases of canned and jarred food go on a shelf in the kitchen.

While at Costco early in the month, I’d picked up three boxes of fruit.

As you can see, we had loads of food to work with! But…

What I’d still need

There’s no way for me to buy enough milk, fruits, or vegetables to last an entire month. So I still allowed myself to buy dairy products and produce as needed through the end of the month.

Some disclaimers

  • Three of our foster children qualify for WIC benefits. So each month, we are blessed to pick up around $180 worth of groceries (cheese, milk, produce, cereal, beans, and bread) at no cost to us. This is a huge help!
  • When I refer anyone to Azure Standard, I receive a small credit to my account. I let the credit add up for several months, then I place an order for a few free groceries about three times each year.

With so many mouths to feed, these two perks are a huge help to us and we are thankful for the bonus groceries!

What we ate in September

Now for the fun pictures! Here are many examples of food we made and ate during our weeks of eating from our stockpile.

I’d had a ham roast in the freezer for over two years (see why I needed this challenge?!). I think I had avoided it because I didn’t know what to do with it.

Solution: Cook it. Eat it. Hmmm, why didn’t I think of that sooner?

I simply put it into the crock pot in the morning to cook on low all day. Later in the day I dumped on some barbecue sauce. It was brainless and turned out super tasty!

Here are the plates I fixed for the seven littlest that night: ham roast, green beans, cheesy noodles, and sliced fruit.

I had a bag of fish sticks in the back of a freezer, so I air-fried them along with sweet potato fries one evening. We had corn on the cob, strawberries, and these smoothies to complete the meal. (I got my huge 10-quart air-fryer at Sam’s. It’s perfect for us!

I made these snacks to keep on hand for all the littles – these are a lifesaver! Mudballs, Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Bars, and Snickerdoodle Bites

Here’s a plate I fixed one afternoon for two of our toddlers to eat at our small picnic table while they played outside.

One night before our 6-year-old’s soccer game, we ate an entire double-package of tortelloni with sauce, spinach dipped in ranch, and a bag of clementines. (I forgot to take a picture, so I grabbed this one from my files!)

One Sunday, I’d run out of time before church to prep anything for our lunch so I just dumped some Costco meatballs into the crock pot with barbecue sauce. When we came home, I warmed up corn and got out a big can of peaches and some fresh spinach to eat with ranch dressing. It was simple and all the kids loved it!

I had a 4-pack of beef smoked sausages from Sam’s. So I cooked two (but needed a third one, so cooked that while we were devouring the rest!) along with a bunch of quesadillas, peas, and sliced pears.

I marinated a big 3-pack of chicken legs, then smoked them early one afternoon. I put them into a crock pot to stay warm while we headed to Malachi’s tennis match. When we came home I steamed broccoli, warmed up leftover corn, and opened cans of mandarin oranges for us to eat before we headed to a little league soccer game for our 6-year-old.

I had three small packages of different meat in my freezer that had been sitting in the back simply because not one of the packages was enough to feed my family a full meal. I decided one day to thaw all three of the packages at the same time and smoke them to make a meal. So, one big pork chop, four chicken thighs, and five beef ribs made us a feast that night! I served the meat with smoothies, steamed broccoli, and tortilla chips with this dip.

A dear friend gave us a rotisserie chicken from Costco, so I used some of the meat to create an amazing Chicken Alfredo meal. Matt, Malachi, the littles, and I all ate it. A family friend joined us. Then later that night Elias came home with two college buddies and they finished it off. :) :) :)

On Fridays, we often like to celebrate the end of a school week with “French Fry Fridays” at dinnertime. I didn’t have any frozen fries but had a big bag of potatoes so I experimented by making homemade fries in the air fryer. They weren’t difficult to make but it did take forever to cook them in the fryer compared to cooking store-bought frozen fries. The taste though? INCREDIBLE.

I had a double pack of brats in the freezer so smoked them for dinner one night. Justus and Kelsey joined us, which was a treat! Then Elias showed up – so everyone was here except for Asa and Eva, who live in Lincoln. :)

I served the brats with steamed broccoli and cauliflower, steamed green beans, several boxes of mac and cheese, and a few sliced apples.

We have a lot of company coming mid-October and I wanted to get ahead on meal prep one morning when I had help around to watch the littlest kiddos. I decided that our October guests would get to eat whatever I had to work with on this day, during the last week of September. Lucky for them, I had all the fixings for Lasagna and Chili. So those are ready and in the freezer to thaw and serve to the company (14-22 per meal).

 

I had frozen cooked turkey in the back of the freezer plus two jars of homemade broth. So one morning when I knew I’d be gone all afternoon, I made a big pot of turkey and noodle soup to warm up and enjoy when we got home. (Made like this, except that I’d bought a huge bag of egg noodles at Sam’s and used those.)

Here’s a look at a lunch I served to our four littlest kids, plus Malachi, Matt, and myself. I didn’t think to take a picture until after half of our lunch was gone! But we did go through an entire loaf of bread, lots of meat and cheese, and half a watermelon. And that was without any extra guests or our elementary kids at home. Grilled cheese is a favorite!

I discovered some chicken in the back of the freezer that I didn’t realize was there (woot!) and had all the ingredients needed to make White Chicken Chili, so at the end of the month, I put that into the crockpot to slow cook all day. It was perfect as we headed into fall!

As we reached the end of the month, I was pleasantly surprised to see that we still had about a week’s worth of great meal options left. It did help that I’d allowed myself to continue to buy fruits, veggies, milk, and cheese as needed. Still, we’d saved $480 on our overall monthly budget so I feel that this was a huge win!

Have you ever challenged yourself to avoid the store and eat only what you have on hand for a few weeks? It’s actually pretty fun and a great way to save money!

 

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Food I Often Buy at Costco

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Curious about what I usually buy at Costco? Here’s the list!

Perhaps I should start with the hotdog?

There it is, the monthly Costco-trip hotdog. As I’ve shared, shopping at Costco is a big deal for me, simply because I can only get there once each month and we have a lot of mouths to feed! I burn a lot of calories while shopping, and that hotdog keeps me on my feet. True story.

Here’s a refresher on how I shop Costco:

  1. Walk into the store, take a deep breath, and shop for all non-perishables. Clothing, paper products, canned goods, boxed snacks and chips, baking products, applesauce, and whatever else doesn’t require refrigeration or extra care.
  2. Check-out, load the van, then go back in.
  3. Take a bathroom break.
  4. Eat a hotdog and drink a big cup of water. This job makes a person need some major sustenance and $1.50 for the big dog/drink combo is pretty rockin’.
  5. Grab an empty cart again and fill it with all the fresh produce, frozen foods, refrigerated foods, and bread products that we need.
  6. Check out again, load the van again, open the box of Kombucha I just bought, and drink a bottle for refreshment and survival.

Indeed, I’ve found that I have to fill my cart twice when I shop at Costco. I’d take one of my big kids with me so that they could help me get the job done in one trip, but actually? My Costco shopping trips also involves “a day off for Mom.” Once each month, we make arrangements for me to head to Lincoln (about an hour from home) to have a day to myself. I take my laptop and work at Panera for hours. I shop at Sam’s, Costco, and any other place that has items our family needs. I come home refreshed and with a van filled with groceries!

Food I Often Buy at Costco

Beyond the hotdog, here’s a rundown of what I almost always grab when I’m at Costco.

1. Lots of fresh produce

  • apples
  • bananas
  • clementines
  • blueberries
  • strawberries
  • raspberries
  • blackberries
  • carrots
  • mixed greens
  • spinach
  • broccoli
  • potatoes
  • pears
  • grapes
  • melons
  • whatever else is in season

2. Frozen Food

I usually pick up frozen:

  • Vegetables
  • Fruit
  • Hamburger patties
  • Pizza
  • Chicken nuggets
  • Sweet potato fries
  • Bacon
  • Tilapia

3. Refrigerated Food

  • Shredded cheese
  • Turkey and ham for sandwiches
  • Sliced cheese
  • White queso
  • Tortellonni
  • Cream cheese
  • Sour cream
  • Cottage cheese
  • Butter
  • Boneless chicken thighs
  • Kombucha
  • Avocado mash (our little girls love these!)

4. Snack Food

  • Applesauce squeezies
  • Tortilla chips
  • Granola bars
  • Occasional other individually packaged snacks to grab for the kids to eat at soccer games or on walks

5. Breads

6. Baking

  • Peanut butter
  • Almond butter
  • Honey
  • Brown sugar
  • Raw sugar
  • Baking powder
  • Baking soda
  • Pancake mix

7. Other

  • Coffee
  • Canned tuna
  • Canned chicken
  • Pasta
  • Baked beans
  • Refried beans
  • Canned corn
  • Rotel
  • Canned olives
  • Spices
  • Mac and cheese

What do you like to buy at Costco?

P.S. I also shop at Sam’s, and my list there is similar. Which do I like better, Costco or Sam’s?? You can read my answer here.

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Sam’s Smoked Sausage Meal: $1.48/person

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This super tasty Sam’s Smoked Sausage Meal cost just $1.48/person. Here’s how!

Are you finding this as interesting as I am, or am I just a little on the geeky side as I break down the cost of our meals and discover that we really are eating well for quite a low cost!

If nothing else, perhaps you’re getting some good meal ideas. :) I just love that even with the big rise in grocery costs, we are all still able to eat for very little money overall. We can all be so encouraged!

Sam’s Smoked Sausage Meal: $1.48/person

I’d picked up a nice package of beef smoked sausage on a recent Sam’s trip. Cost for a 4-pack of beef smoked sausage was: $11.28. I like having items like this in my freezer because they offer a very quick meal I know my family will like!

One day when I was planning a meal around the leftover mashed potatoes and green beans in my fridge, I spotted the sausages and knew they’d be perfect! We had guests eating with us that night, so we fed six adults, three kids (who’d been swimming and were hungry!!), and three toddlers.

Total cost for this meal with smoked sausage, mashed potatoes, green beans, and watermelon was $17.78. Divided by 12 people, this cost just $1.48 per person!


Let’s keep looking for ways to cut back and save as we buy groceries. But let’s also recognize that eating high-quality, well-balanced meals is very doable on a budget!

 

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Sunday Roast Dinner: $1.62/person!

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I didn’t hold back on buying food to make our high-quality Sunday roast dinner. Still, the total cost per plate was only $1.62!

On a recent trip to Sam’s, I picked up a high-quality beef roast. I hesitated at the $17 price tag, but I knew it would feed a lot of people, so I took a deep breath and grabbed it. I also splurged on a package of Hawaiian rolls, which I don’t do very often. I got two meals out of this roast and the rolls, feeding 13 people (7 adults, 3 kids, 3 toddlers) the first meal and 10 people (4 adults, 3 kids, 3 toddlers) the second meal. (Details below!)

Here’s what I love about doing the price breakdown on meals like this:

If I can splurge on a big roast, mashed potatoes, grapes, green beans, and Hawaiian rolls and still get away with feeding everyone for just $1.62 per plate – how much less will I be spending when I make more frugal-minded meals?? I am so excited to challenge myself with this to see what other great meals we can all make for this much or less per person!

Sunday Roast Dinner: $1.62/person

This meal was super easy to put together before church. (As easy as it is to put a meal together while trying to get six littles dressed and out the door, ha!)

We hollered at a few college students to join us, and three took us up on our offer. We feasted on this:

Want to see what I did with the roast leftovers?

While putting away leftovers of our meal, I cut the remaining 16 Hawaiian rolls in half and spread the saucy roast over the bottom halves of the rolls.

I put cheese slices on top.

Then put the top halves of the rolls on. I covered and refrigerated the “sliders” I’d built and baked them for lunch a few days later!

This was a great way to use leftovers and to have a work-free lunch ready for my family!

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How I Make a Grocery List (Without Making a Grocery List)

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This is how I make a grocery list without making a grocery list. It’s kind of like taking my kitchen to the store with me…

Have you ever been at the grocery store and wished you had looked in your fridge first to check on your bottle of ketchup? Do you see a sale on pickles but can’t remember if you are already stocked up for the next three years worth of picnics?

The most recent time I was heading out of town to do a great big Sam’s run, I started to write down everything I wanted to be sure to pick up. But with babies underfoot I really didn’t have an opportunity, so I decided to try this instead…

How I Make a Grocery List (Without Making a Grocery List)

I took quick pictures on my phone.

I know what goes where on my shelves. I know what a full pantry and freezer are supposed to look like for our family. So instead of taking pen and paper into the store, I had these pictures to reference! Then I could see what was missing on my shelves.

Did I need canned beans in any form? No I did not. But was my fruit shelf almost empty? Indeed. Was I almost out of corn and olives? Yep. Did I have to question these things when walking down the canned food aisles? Nope. There’s the picture I took that morning!

Freezer number one shows that I have pasta on the top shelf (yes, I keep it in the freezer because we have mice issues if I don’t store things well.) I’m good on pasta. The second shelf shows that we are getting low on frozen pizza but I prefer buying those at Costco, and today I am going to Sam’s. We’ll make do, ha. The third shelf shows just one package of chicken thighs and a package of chicken legs. That’s not enough to get us by until the next time I have a chance to stock up. Get chicken…check!

There’s a frozen turkey someone gifted us with and some bags of whole wheat flour…

In the other freezer, I can see meat from our local farmers, meat I’ve bought from mark-downs, frozen veggies and fruit, and some meatballs from Costco. Overall, that freezer is looking pretty good!

This is the inside of my second refrigerator, which is out in our storage room. We keep extra milk out there, and usually, it is full of extra cold food that doesn’t fit in our kitchen fridge. Yikes, it’s almost bear! So at Sam’s I will stock up!

My Sam’s Trip with my “Grocery List”

We were completely out of fresh produce, plus we were getting ready to head to Montana for Justus’ wedding: a 12-hour road trip. Snacks for littles (and bigs) were very necessary. So I bought packaged food I don’t normally buy in an effort to help our long drive be a little more fun. :)

The pictures I’d taken on my phone were super helpful so that I could reference what I already had and what I still needed to pick up. I’m telling you though, they just don’t make carts big enough for our monthly grocery shopping needs, ha!!

I barely made it out of the store without spilling this mountain of food. :)

It might be hard to tell the difference, but here’s our shelf once I got our canned foods restocked.

From here on out, I will definitely be taking pictures on my phone to the grocery store so that I can use this as my list. Technology at its finest!

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Sam’s or Costco: Which is Better??

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If you have a Sam’s or Costco membership – or both like I do – I’m wondering if you have an opinion about which is better. :)

My first membership purchase was Costco because I polled Facebook and the overall consensus was that Costco was better. So I joined in and love it!

A few months later, I came across a pay $45 for a Sam’s membership, get $45 back in gift card. So basically a free Sam’s membership! I took advantage of the deal simply because I live 45-minutes from Grand Island, which only has a Sam’s. And I live about an hour from Lincoln, which has both Sam’s and Costco. So I now have the ability to shop at either warehouse or both as needed!

Sam’s or Costco: Which is Better??

Well now, that’s the question, isn’t it?

I truly like them both for different reasons, and now that I have both memberships, I think I will keep them both for the long term.

My favorite aspects of Sam’s:

  1. Their Scan-and-Go feature. I absolutely love this! As I put items into my cart, I scan the bar code into my phone. It keeps a running tally of my order, then when I finish shopping I simply swipe to pay, then show my phone to the worker as I leave. SO EASY and a huge time saver!!!
  2. They offer a pick-up option. This is super handy if I want to avoid going inside to shop. Just like I do with my frequent Wal-mart pick-up orders, I can order my Sam’s groceries online and select a time to pick them up. Very convenient!
  3. They have a few fun food items that Costco doesn’t have. Now that I’ve shopped both stores for several months, I’ve found items that I prefer from each place so I make sure to grab them while I’m there. (Orange Chicken from Sam’s frozen section – a great convenience food I always pick up at my family’s request! And what is it about the delicious frozen Sam’s beef hotdogs??)
  4. Markdowns. Sometimes I find meat marked down. Sometimes they are clearing out items for huge clearance prices. It’s so fun to come across these steals!

I don’t have a fun money-saving code for Costco. But I do have this one for Sam’s and you’ll get a free $20 eGift card when you join!

My favorite aspects of Costco:

  1. Organic food. There is a much bigger selection of organic food at Costco – from fresh produce to frozen food to meat to cereal and coffee. I love this. So many organic items at such good prices! So overall, if I had to pick, I’d say I like Costco food better than Sam’s.
  2. Their clothes. Sam’s also has great clothes and I’ve found that with so many kids in our home now, I really take advantage of both stores when it comes to jammies, school clothes, and coats. But clothes for me and for my older sons – man Costco is awesome. Such a great high-quality selection (and you never know what you might find!) at such great prices.
  3. Gifts. There is always a really nice selection of items I like to look through to pick up as gifts for birthdays and showers. I have to be careful when shopping, actually, because their stuff is so cool, I find I want one of everything!

Is there a price difference?

The Costco membership costs more, especially since I got my Sam’s membership for free for the first year.

Of the items we can get at both Costco and Sam’s, I’ve found that maybe a few items here and there are a few cents or dollars different in cost. But there hasn’t been anything I’ve found to be drastic enough for me to say, “I’ll wait and get that at Costco (or Sam’s).” Both have great prices on bulk items!!

So in summary, I love both Costco and Sam’s and I’m glad I don’t have to pick one!

What’s your opinion on which is better, Sam’s or Costco?

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Big Family Food: Have Grocery Prices Gone Up at Sam’s?

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This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

There’s so much talk about high grocery costs! So have grocery prices gone up at Sam’s also?

I had just made a run to our local grocery store – the one I try to support if at all possible. But they aren’t a chain so their prices are often higher than most other stores. Their sales are good though, and I like to support them since they are local, so I go there when I can. (Read here to get some great tips and recipes to help keep food costs down!)

One particular day recently though, I came home so discouraged. It seemed that everything everyone had been saying about grocery prices going up was very true. Everything I needed at the store that day seemed to have doubled in price. Ouch, that can really add up. And because we go through so much food at our house, I just couldn’t justify putting many “convenience foods” (Like bagels, hashbrowns, frozen fruit, yogurt…) into my cart.

I stuck to the very basics, came home with very few groceries, and tried to think creatively about how I could stay within our grocery budget while still recognizing that my cooking/baking time is very, very limited.

(Ha, “came home with very few groceries” was still a cart full. I had planned to get much more for our family that day, that’s all.) ;)

A few days later, I was able to head out of town to Sam’s to try to really stock up on items we needed. I took our 6-year-old with me for a much-needed one-on-one outing. She was BEAMING the entire time we were out! (And chatting. And chatting, and chatting. I’m learning that girls are different than boys, ha!)

Have Grocery Prices Gone Up at Sam’s?

My fear was that Sam’s grocery prices were going to be just as hiked up as they had been at our small grocery store.

I was getting low on just about all of our staples, plus I always need fresh produce. So I decided not to hold back while shopping that day. I was hoping to get enough food to last us at least two weeks. Maybe?? But I was also hoping to avoid going broke.

The only carts available that day were the flats, which I knew I would need. But I also don’t like how difficult it is to get everything onto a flat without stuff falling out. So I took the advice left by JJ on this post, and I grabbed boxes at the front of the store. Instead of just putting items onto the flat, I loaded them into the big boxes that sat on the flat. Worked like a charm!!!

After check out, the boxes filled the back of our Transit, but they sure did stack up nicely!

Then, of course, unloading it and putting it all away once we got home was the fun challenge.

What I got:

  • Big bag of apples
  • Big bag of pears
  • Big bag of nectarines
  • Bananas
  • 1 container of mixed greens
  • 2 containers of spinach
  • Container of blueberries
  • Container of strawberries
  • Container of kiwi
  • Asparagus
  • Big bag of petite baby carrots
  • 2 large bags of Fritos
  • 2 large bags of tortilla chips
  • Case of peaches
  • Case of mandarine oranges
  • Case of Rotel
  • Case of refried beans
  • Box of beef hotdogs
  • Box of orange chicken
  • Box of cheese curds
  • Bag of chicken nuggets
  • Pack of lime juice bottles
  • Coffee creamer
  • 1/2 & 1/2
  • Big bag of tator tots
  • Turkey lunch meat
  • Ham lunch meat
  • White queso
  • Sliced colby jack cheese
  • Shredded colby jack cheese
  • Box of avocado mash cups
  • Double bag of plain bagels
  • 2 large bags of frozen fruit
  • A few clothing items we needed

Total for food: $367

I was AMAZED and grateful that I got so much food for less than $400!

While grocery prices have gone up here and there, I didn’t find that the prices at Sam’s were shocking by any means.

Are Sam’s and Costco still going to save us money?

Absolutely.

Yes, prices have gone up somewhat because that’s what’s happening right now. But the savings I experienced at Sam’s that day was significant compared to what I’d found at a regular grocery store. Plus, overall prices were still extremely reasonable at Sam’s.

Next time I go to Costco I’ll do a similar comparison to see if the savings are still there. :)

What have you experienced with grocery prices where you shop? Are they going up?

P.S. Read this post to get great tips and recipes for help in keeping food costs down!

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Big Family Food Shopping Trip: I Spent HOW MUCH?!

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This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

If you’ve been following our Big Family Food series, you’ve only just begun to see how food works at our house right now. I am having so much fun sharing and can’t wait to keep adding to this series. Today I’m going to tell you about a big food shopping trip I had in January!

Where I shop for groceries:

First, let me detail a little bit for you where we buy food for our family.

  • I try to sneak away to Lincoln (about an hour away from home) once each month for a big grocery shopping day. At the very least I hit Costco. Sometimes I’ll also go to Aldi. And I just signed up for a Sam’s membership (which I’ll talk about below).
  • I usually place 2-3 local Walmart pick-up orders each month. This fills in the gaps before I can go to Costco again, and keeps us supplied with fresh produce. As you’ll see below, WE GO THROUGH A LOT OF FRESH PRODUCE. Oy!
  • We get two gallons of fresh milk from a local farm once each week. Of course, that isn’t enough for our family, so I also grab a few gallons each month from the store too.
  • This leads me to share that we get WIC benefits for our foster babes, which is a huge blessing because it provides milk, eggs, cheese, cereal, and my favorite: FRESH PRODUCE! ;) Typically, I go pick up our WIC food items at a local grocery store that is close to our house.
  • I order several staples every couple of months from Azure Standard, which is a food co-op that delivers groceries right into town for us to pick up! My favorites from them are big bags of frozen veggies, cases of tortillas, and either fresh flour or grain to grind into flour. (Currently, I’m just buying flour because I don’t have time to grind it right now.) You can read here to learn more about the items I often buy from Azure.

The day I spent HOW MUCH?!

So now let me tell you about my great big food shopping trip day back in January. I needed to take our littlest babe to Lincoln for an appointment, so she and I headed out with cooler bags and boxes to get our groceries stocked up! It’s not often I get one-on-one time with our kids, so this was special, even if it was ridiculously cold outside that day!

Oh wait – this first!

Since I was going to be shopping by myself with a six-month-old, and I know that I usually need at least two big Costco carts, which isn’t possible with a baby in tow, I tried out a new idea and I super love it!

I sat down at my computer one day and ordered all of the dry-good staples I like to pick up at Costco. I tell you what, I am going to do this every time from now on! There’s no way all of these items plus all of the fresh and frozen items would have fit into one cart (which you’ll see below). So in just a few days after ordering, and with free shipping right to my porch, here’s my online Costco order:

I know it’s hard to see everything in these boxes, but here’s the rundown:

  • 2 Cases of applesauce pouches
  • Box of peach cups
  • Box of mandarin orange cups
  • Box of packs of nuts
  • Case of olives
  • Case of black beans
  • Case of baked beans
  • Box of quinoa and rice mix (such a wonderful convenience food to have on hand!)
  • Bag of coffee
  • Several big containers of spices we use regularly
  • Brown sugar
  • Pack of canned chicken
  • Bag of dried blueberries
  • French fried onions

January Costco Online Order $267

Then, I went into Costco with the babe and filled our cart with everything else we needed!

I’m all about grocery shopping, but one of my favorite things about Costco is the clothing they offer! I found really nice coats for three of our kids for just $7 each. Our littlest just moved up a size in clothing, so I found a few outfits and jammies for her. I grabbed a case of diapers. And what about food? Oh joy, all the good food!

  • Strawberries
  • Blueberries
  • Boneless Chicken Thighs
  • Flautas (we love these for a quick meal in our Air Fryer!)
  • Tilapia
  • Grapes
  • Mixed Greens
  • Sparkling Water (a fun treat for all the bigs at our house, including me) ;)
  • Tortilla Chips
  • French Fries
  • Chicken Nuggets
  • Pizzas
  • 2 cases of Naked (because it never gets old to say “I got Naked at Costco.”)
  • Ham
  • Turkey
  • Croissants
  • Bananas
  • Apples
  • Blackberries
  • Pears

January In-Store Costco Trip $256

Sam’s too?

Well, shucks if I didn’t get sucked into an offer for “Spend $45, get a $45 eGiftCard.” But a free Sam’s membership, just to try and see if I like it for a year? Why not?

—- > Pssst, here’s a link for you to take advantage of this also if you want!) Spend $45, get a $45 eGiftCard. Online only. <——

The biggest pull for me is that there is a Sam’s in Grand Island (45 minutes west of us) but not a Costco (which is in Lincoln, an hour to the east). So I think it will be nice to have this Sams membership when I am in GI. Plus, I wanted to compare Sam’s to Costco and see what might meet our needs better.

So after our Costco shopping was complete, Baby and I headed to Sam’s to check it out before her appointment.

I like it!

I feel like I’m going to like Costco better, but at the same time, Sam’s had some fun sales and clearance that I really appreciated! I got a couple of birthday gifts for our littles for super cheap since it was right after Christmas. Awesome fun! Plus they had some really neat food clearance items too.

I filled my cart here too, which I wasn’t expecting to do. But it doesn’t take much to fill a cart when you’re buying in bulk!

  • Frozen fruit for smoothies
  • Pepperoni
  • Rice Cake snacks (for one of our college kids to take to his apartment)
  • Clementines
  • Salad Mix
  • Cheese Slices (x2)
  • Canned Pineapple
  • Fresh Pineapple
  • Instant Oatmeal Pouches (for a special treat for the kids)
  • Box of Spaghetti Noodles
  • Tub of Whole Milk Yogurt
  • Whatever else is buried under there that I can see. I lost my receipt. :)

January Sams Food Purchase $117

Then we had to take it all in and put it all away. :/

This is a huge job, not just because of the big food shopping trip and how it filled the back of our van, but also because there are so many babies who need to be held, especially after Mommy has been gone all day! So while I juggled baby snuggles, Matt, Malachi, Brayden, and our 6yo Girlie trudged in and out bringing everything in. :)

Food piled up all over the living room and kitchen, and we slowly got it put away.

Hmmm. I need to show you my freezers and food storage spaces huh?! Sounds like a good upcoming post in our Big Family Food series!

Big Family Food Shopping Trip: I Spent HOW MUCH?!

Between my online Costco order, my in-store Costco purchase, and my Sams purchase, my total was $640. I was expecting it to be much more, actually. (It was more with the clothes, coats, toys, paper towels, and diapers. But I only count actual food in our food budget.)

I feel like $640 isn’t bad for a great big, once-a-month Costco and Sam’s shopping trip. But here’s something that I am both giggling at and trying to re-evaluate:

Much of this food was gone after a week and a half.

A WEEK AND A HALF!

We still have plenty of pasta, rice, beans, fries, and fruit cups left. There’s a little chicken left in the freezer plus half the flautas. We haven’t finished all of the ‘Pellegrinos, ha.

But did you see all the fresh produce in those pictures? I’m talking six pounds of grapes, eight pounds of strawberries, two tubs of blueberries, seven pounds of apples, five pounds of clementines, eight pounds of pears, two containers of greens, a tub of pineapple, and whatever else I missed. Ten days later, we were left with 3 apples and a small bowl of shriveled grapes. Whoa, baby. Where does it all go?

Truly, feeding this tribe and watching the food disappear fills me with joy!! My college-age niece, who drops by frequently, opened my fridge just after the ten days had passed since my shopping trip and was like, “Whoa, your fridge is so empty!” Hahaha, I know, Kailey. I know.

Not to worry, because we really do have plenty of food in the house at all times. It’s the fresh food that’s hard to keep up with.

I’m chewing on this:

I think it’s time to re-think our grocery budget and my shopping practices. The budget might need to increase or shift in some places. Also, I don’t know how I’d make it happen (because I have to move a few mountains to be able to go out of town for these big shopping trips), but I might need more than a once-a-month Costco or Sam’s trip.

So stay tuned to our Big Family Food series. I’ll share as I figure all of this out. I hope you’re having as much fun with this series as I am!

Where are your favorite places to grocery shop?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

P.S. I finished this post and scheduled it. Then I went back to Sam’s a few days later because I was in Lincoln for an event and there was a Sam’s a mile away. I spent another $250 on produce and meat. Yes. It’s time to take another look at our grocery budget. Oy! But hey, at least I’m getting the most out of my free Sam’s membership!

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