Shopping With Food Stamps: Week 2

I knew this week was going to be hectic as hell, so before the chaos kicked in, I went to three different stores to procure provisions.

Aldi

I'll be honest, the primary reason I went to Aldi was to get vegan granola. It's a challenge to find granola without honey, but Aldi's Millville brand protein granola has two vegan flavors: Oat & Dark Chocolate and Cranberry Almond. I went for chocolate this week ($2.65).

While I was at Aldi, I also grabbed burger buns ($1.45), marinara sauce ($1.65), and frozen vegan meatballs ($5.15). 

I usually buy coffee at Aldi as well, because they have the most affordable fair trade beans I can find locally, but I knew there was a Trader Joes trip in my future, so I held off.

My total at Aldi was $13.55.

 

"Regular" Grocery Store

 

You've heard me lament about the prices at the grocery store near my house. Last week, they actually had some good sales. This week, not so much. Their ad was bragging about cabbage for $0.12/pound... but only if you spent $25. So I skipped the cabbage. Instead, I bought Daiya cheese slices (on sale for $3.99) and stocked up on Barilla Protein Pasta, which is usually $2.99 at this store or $2.52 at Walmart, but with the sale and a coupon, I snagged four boxes for $1.88 each.

My total at the grocery store was $11.49.

 

Walmart

Once again, I did the bulk of my shopping at Walmart. Your girl likes to eat, and your girl is living on a dime, so Walmart is our bread and butter.

At Walmart, I got:

Butter Sticks - $3.98

Tater Tots - $2.97

Hard & Soft Taco Kit - $2.98 after coupon

Tortilla Boat Taco Kit - $3.18 after coupon

Black Beans - $0.86

Canned Potatoes - $0.96

Canned Carrots - $0.67

Ketchup - $1.92

Zucchini - $1.37

My total at Walmart was $18.89 

Before my Trader Joes adventure, my weekly total was $43.93.

 

Trader Joe's

I had to go out of town for a doctor's appointment this week, so I rewarded myself with a stop at Trader Joe's. 

It's incredibly easy for me to get carried away at "fun" grocery stores like Trader Joe's and Wegmans, but given my budgetary constraints, I made my best effort to be practical this go-round. At Trader Joes, I snagged a big tin of coffee ($17), two bags of nutritional yeast ($3.50 each), some shallots, and two bags of rice cracker mix. 

I lost my receipt, but my total was $36.10. 

 

My weekly EBT spend came to $80.03.

Stay tuned to see what I ate with these groceries!