Unusual food sales?

Every week, I check the circular for my local grocery store online.  Typically, I find around three sale items I’m interested in.  I do try to shop with the sales, but only buy items I would normally buy.  And when things are on sale, I definitely do my best to stock up.

This week, after I finished going through the circular, I had over ten items on my list.  It seemed like there were a number of things on sale.  And weird sale combinations as well.  I’m not sure if this is due to the time of year or the economy if it’s just a random happenstance.  Maybe it’s something I noticed because the items on sale were items I buy.

For example, Lean Cuisine frozen meals are a staple in my freezer.  I prefer to take leftovers or a sandwich for lunch, but grab a Lean Cuisine at least once a week rather than end up eating out.  Typically, they are sale priced at 4 for $10, or $2.50 each.  Paired with a coupon, it’s not a bad deal.  This week, they were on sale at 6 for $12, or $2 each.  Additionally, if you bought six, you got a package of Skinny Cow ice cream treats (something I enjoy, but very rarely buy in order to save money) for free.

Clearly, I took advantage of this sale.  As well as a few others.  While checking out, I expected to be spending a significantly higher amount than normal, just because I did stock up a bit.  According to my receipt, I saved nearly as much as I spent.

I don’t know the reasons that things are going on sale like this, but I’m not about to complain.

(Plus, if some of the news reports are to be believed, I should be stocking up on groceries before Inauguration weekend.  Alcohol I can see, but food?  Seriously?)

Megan Smith

Megan is a 40-something government employee in the Washington, DC area. She got interested in Personal Finance when she got out of college and realized that her paycheck wasn’t going to go as far as she had hoped. Since starting this blog, she has managed to buy a house and make a solid start on her retirement goals, and hopes to help others do the same. Here is her story:

In 2007, I was a gainfully employed 20-something with no debt but not a lot of knowledge about personal finance.  It was a co-worker’s comment about Roth IRAs that sent me to the internet, searching for information.  It was then that I realized that I really didn’t know a whole lot about personal finance and that my current financial situation was due a lot to inherent frugal tendencies, generous family members, a fear of debt, and good luck.  While that was working for me, clearly I needed a better plan.

While I had no debt, I was also pretty much living paycheck to paycheck and not worrying about going over budget (I say this as if I had a real budget) because I had an emergency fund set aside to cover any overages.

Except that’s not what an emergency fund is for.

So I did a lot of research, read a lot of blogs, and decided that I needed a plan.  I needed to budget.  I needed to know what I was spending my money on.  I needed to prepare for the future.

I decided to create a blog not only to make myself accountable to others but also to share the knowledge that I gained along the way.  I’ve learned so much from my fellow bloggers, and I hope that my readers can find something useful in what I have to share as well.