November is the best month for grocery sales. Harvests are in and people are preparing for Thanksgiving feasts at the end of the month.
Sales rotate around items for the Thanksgiving meal, fall harvests, and meats.
I’ve already been to Winco this month, though I may return there again later in the month.
Potato sales in November have seemed to cease being an amazing $0.10 a pound deal; or, if they have it, there is a limit of one 10-pound bag. I’ve been seeing a pretty consistent year round price of $2.48 for a 10-pound bag at Winco, so I’m just buying potatoes as I go; I picked up 50 pounds yesterday and that will last us a couple of weeks.
I also took a trip to Costco with my mom yesterday and picked up a few things, including a 50-pound bag of rice. While I like the produce deals and some of the bulk deals at Winco, rice is not a good price there; it’s over $24 for a 25-pound bag at Winco, but just over $7 at Costco and Sam’s Club for the same sized bag.
I am also not planning on stocking up on a ton of turkeys this year like I usually do. Chicken has been lower per pound the last few years (turkey used to go on sale for half the price of chicken). I’ll get a few turkeys, depending on price.
I’ll look for good sales on the following:
Produce:
canned green beans (note: my Winco has these for $0.33 a can)
broccoli ($.99 a pound at Winco)
lettuce
acorn squash ($.79 a pound at Winco)
potatoes ($0.248 cents a pound in a 10-pound bag for russets)
onions ($0.38 a pound for yellow onions at Winco)
apples
bell peppers
frozen sweet peas
clementines (on sale at Winco and Smith’s for $1 a pound)
Meats:
chicken
pork roasts (currently on sale at Smith’s for $1.19 a pound for boneless pork loin).
turkey
Dairy:
milk ($2.49 at Winco)
cream cheese (should go on sale for $1 a package sometime this month)
butter (I’ll look for a price under $2, if it is to be found; if not I will try again in December) . It’s on sale through today for $1.99 a pound in multiples of 10 at Smith’s.
feta cheese
cheddar cheese
Shelf-stable items:
rice
white chocolate chips
bittersweet chocolate chips
almonds
pasta (currently on sale for $0.49 a pound in multiples of 10 at Smith’s through today.)
My garden is producing Armenian cucumbers, Swiss chard, and several herbs, including chives, basil, sage, rosemary, thyme and oregano. My Meyer lemons will begin to be ripe at the end of the month.
The temperature dropped below 90º 2 weeks ago, and I’ll be planting most of my fall garden seeds this week. It’s later than I usually plant, and our official frost date is technically only a week away, but in my part of town, I don’t usually see a frost until December, and with the warmer weather, it could be a lot later this year. My earlier plantings in September were mostly unsuccessful, as it was still too hot for seeds to germinate (I only had 3 lettuce plants come up from that planting).
Are you looking for any great deals this month?
I’m watching for sales, but I just don’t find some of the sales that Brandy does — I never see potatoes that cheap at any store, for instance. My “sales” will be relative, since I usually shop organic, local, free-range, etc. However, I watch for any good deals and put up, freeze, or store away when I find something at a good price. I’m looking for apples (they don’t grow here, so I have to hunt for good prices), pecans, which DO grow here and can often be found much cheaper if locally grown and in the shell, stick butter for baking as compared to the local raw butter we use at the table, cranberries, and root veggies which are in season.
My grown daughters and I are planning the Thanksgiving menu now. A big holiday meal is easier to do now that we split the cooking.
Our King Soopers have pasta for $0.49/lb, butter for $1.99/lb, canned veggies at $0.49/can and other great stock up sales currently going on if you buy in multiples of ten. I got several cases of canned veggies, 60lbs of butter for the freezer, and 70lbs of pasta. That is enough pasta for us to have it once a week, plus extra for meals for our employees, or if friends are sick or experience a loss. We will go through more butter than that in a year, but I just sent a hog to butcher and won’t have freezer space for more.
Thanks to following your advice the last couple of years, I know how much we need, and the rock bottom price for the items we buy. In the last two months I have been able to put over $200 back in our food budget by purchasing a year’s supply of sugar, pasta, canned veggies and most of our butter at the lowest possible price.
I will be looking for sales on squashes, apples and dried beans this month, plus cream cheese and evaporated milk.
Kroger has some good deals. Swanson’s canned broth is on sale for .49 cents a can and Delmonte diced tomatoes are on sale for the same price. Also, Land of Lakes butter is on sale for $1.99. Canned fruit is .99 cents a can. The only drawback is you have to buy the items in multiples of 10. I love reading your blog and your inspiring posts. Thank you. Heather
Waiting and praying butter goes to $1.49-1.99 a lb. Last year it only went to $2.08 and I only bought 40 lbs. We ran out in September. I have been setting money aside to really stock up in Nov. And Dec.
Eggs and milk have been so cheap here. I am getting eggs for .19 a dozen and milk for 1.49 a gallon with coupons. Prices have gone down in the areas that I buy since 2010. I always keep the grocery ads from the week of Thanksgiving every year going back to 2007. Very interesting. Beef is the only area that is wat higher bow then back then. Chuck roast 1.99 a lb. Can you imagine?
I’ve been stocking up on (especially) meets for the last few weeks to get my freezer filled for the holidays and winter months. I got chicken breasts and 90% ground beef from Sams. Today I went to a specialty meat store and bought sausages, bacon, and pork chops. The prices are a little higher but pretty reasonable since it’s usually only a once or twice a year trip.
Later today I’m heading over to Kroger for the canned goods sale.
Check your Kroger stores. Our Fred Meyer has 10lb bag potatoes for $.88. I’m in Washington State.
I have found some excellent deals in the past two weeks…
1. cream cheese for .88
2. Boston butt for 1.00 a pound.
3. Ground chuck for 1.99 a pound
4. Sugar, 10b bag, for 3.49
5. Cream soups (mushroom and chicken) for .39 a can
6. Canned veggies 2 for 1.00
7. Bread for .68 a loaf
8. 18 count eggs for .99
9. 5 lb bags of flour for .99
10. Powdered and brown sugar for 1.19 for two pounds
And I am sure there are many more items. Potatoes are holding out at 2.48 per 10 pounds here too in South Mississippi.
In our area of TX we have 2 grocery stores and Walmart. HEB is the ‘low price’ grocery store in our area. It is not very ‘low priced’ as far as I am concerned. When I read the prices others pay for things I know that. The least expensive potatoes I have found so far are 33 cents a pound. I have not found butter less then 3.29 yet. (still looking) I am getting some turkeys to put into the freezer. Turkey is running .39 cents a pound again. (less expensive than chicken)
There are no potatoes on sale in the Smith’s ad (our Kroger affiliate) but we will have no problem going through the 50 pounds I just bought (we can eat 7 pounds in a meal as a family if we have a baked potato night, which we did last night). If we see that price I will certainly buy more! That price is likely to come closer to Thanksgiving here, if we see it at all. We love potatoes and the versatility of meals that can be made with them.
Our Kroger usually mixes and matches the 10 items. Ask, though it might say in the ad.
I’m in Michigan. This week Meijer stores have canned veggies 3/$1 and butter $2/lb. There was a limit of 4 on butter, so I am going to have my husband stop after work to get more. I should have gone back in and done another transaction after unloading the cart, but I didn’t think to.
Mine mixes and matches too. Also, right now, mine has turkey for .59 cents/lb with a $35 purchase. I’ve bought one (14 pounds for just over 7 dollars) and will get another two this week, as long as the sale is still on.
Our Kroger mixes and matches. Unfortunately I asked at the checkout counter when it was too late!
My shopping plans are pretty small this month, with one exception. We only need a few basics each week like lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, apples, bananas, and grapes, plus some milk, as we have everything else in our pantry (I can’t wait until next summer when I hope to grow a lot of this!). No Frills is usually the cheapest for this, and the DH uses a 3x points card which nets us several hundred dollars of free food over the year.
Besides that, I’ll likely only pick up some chocolate chips from Costco which has the best prices around here (I get a free membership there through my work) and we’ll likely buy a TV from there. We haven’t had a TV since we got married (fine by me, I’m quite happy with Netflix on my laptop) and we’ve budgeted so that we can buy one with cash, once we see a good sale. We’ll also get a ride there with family and pick up anything they need at the same time, using our membership. Then the DH will hook up Netflix to the TV , which means we won’t need cable. Whoohoo! The TV will be the DH’S early Christmas gift.
I’m also keeping an eye out for candied fruit for holiday baking but never seen to see it on sale. Any Canadians have suggestions as to a store that has good deals on candied fruit? BTW, I read a tip once from someone in the southern U.S. who bought candied fruit in January sales and froze it for the next year.
I just paid $1.49 for a 10 lb. bag of russet potatoes and .99 for a three lb. bag of sweet potatoes at Aldi’s in Westminster, MD a few days ago. When I saw the sign in the store that said $1.49 for potatoes I had to do a double take and look again because I just couldn’t believe the price at first. I also paid .75 a pound for acorn squash at Walmart and bought a 2 1/2 lb. top round roast at a nearby meat store for $10.00 and paid .59 a dozen for eggs two weeks ago at the same store. The only turkey special I have seen so far is at the Weiss grocery store where you have to spend $250. for free a turkey. When I checked out at the register and had spent forty some dollars, I found out the purchase would not go towards a turkey because you must spend at least $50 to earn points towards the turkey and also $50 increments after that, so my purchase would not count. I usually don’t spend $50 in that store. I will keep looking for a good turkey deal.
Hello Brandy and everyone from Australia 🙂 . Sadly we don’t get many sales here in Australia on any bulk raw ingredients for cooking although I wish we did 🙁 .
Here is our grocery list for the month on the Nov 15th –
Groceries this month will be just the basics of what we have used in the home which will be –
– 8 x 3lt Milk.
– butter.
– 2 x 1kg cheese.
– 2 dozen eggs.
– powdered milk.
– cocoa powder – purchased some and will top up on shopping day.
– toilet paper.
– Jamsetta.
– flour.
– sugar – already purchased whilst out of town.
– body wash.
– tinned lychees- already topped up whilst out of town at a cheaper price than locally.
– tinned mangoes – already topped up at cheaper out of town prices.
– 1 or 2 x 750g packets almonds – depends how far the budget stretches.
– 6 x 1kg sultanas.
I’ll repost this from the weekly savings thread. Dollar General has Libby’s canned vegetables for 3/$1 this week.
I took advantage of the Kroger deals on butter, pasta, soup and two jars of mayo. The turkeys that were 59cents a lb. were huge! I still have a turkey in the freezer so i passed on that. I do want to get some potatoes, almond and maple flavoring, whole cloves and more bread flour. Thankfully, i’m good with most of the baking supplies. Fresh fruit and vegetables are always needed.
I’m in Ontario and saw onions for $0.10/lb today (10lb bags) – much better than the usual ~$0.60/lb. Carrots were just slightly higher at $1.25/10lb bag. Also, stores have started carrying imperfect apples in recent years; $0.67/lb. And it’s not infrequent to see the 10lb bags of potatoes for y a lot of carrots and apples 🙂
We bought our candied fruit from the Bulk Barn. They have coupons for $3 off a $10 purchase on a pretty regular basis, plus you can watch the flyer for a sale. Check their website if you don’t get the flyer in your paper. You can print the coupons from the site, too. Hope that helps!
Talked to Hubby and changed some things so new post on Nov to buy list
http://chefowings.blogspot.com/2016/11/nov-food-thoughts-after-talking-to-hubby.html
* Maple syrup if I can find it cheap enough ($50 a gallon or less) I am almost out of my supply.
* Sugar – anything below $1.50 for a 4 lb bag is my buy it price.
* canned meats
* dry beans – garbanzo, pinto and black
* apples for sauce (maybe – hubby told me not to do it this year while I am dealing with his cancer and a new job)
* onions – now that it’s fall, my pantry stays cool enough for them to not start growing.
* Celery and carrots to dry in the dehydrator. I do have several pounds of carrots still in the ground in the garden but we use alot.
* cheese – we are almost out of our supply from June – 11 blocks of 8 oz pkgs at $1 each!
* I’d LOVE to find some beef that isn’t ground to add in a little variety. Hubby doesn’t like pork so I am limited.
* Baking chocolate both white, semi sweet and milk.
* dry milk and evaporated milk
* canning jars and lids (alot are on clearance right now)
* Cat litter, dry and canned food + dog food.
Of course this is all dependent on income – right now hubby doesn’t have any income and SS is probably not going to come thru for him since they did away with short term disability and now you have to terminal or unable to work for a year before you can get approved.
Our home is up for sale, as a result we are eating down out of freezers and our pantry in anticipation of moving. That being said I did pick up a couple of small 7 lb turkeys. They were #.59 and I can fit them in my largest crockpot or even butterfly and throw them on the grill. Large turkeys are great don’t get me wrong but sometimes a smaller is just easier. We did plant our kitchen/herb garden off the patio of lettuce, herbs, chard, radishes, green onions and a few mums, and are harvesting some now. This is an interesting place we are at now.. Trying to stay frugal, keep up our families normal and at the same time being flexible with showings.
In November, I plan to stock up as I find good deals. While we were moving, and preparing to move, we ate down the stockpile a bunch, and now I am building it again. Butter, for sure, cheese, canned goods like pineapple, etc. if I find a good deal–things like that. I have turkey for Thanksgiving already, but will get ham if I find a good deal. I only have 1 of those left.
I am planning a Costco trip later in the month to do some of that. I would like to get bulk white sugar somewhere. I already got 25 lbs of brown sugar at Cash and Carry on Sunday.
I also plan to buy a bunch of shampoo, hair products, etc. this month. We’ve used that stockpile up, for the most part. I have 2 African American daughters. One buys her own hair products, but I buy them for the younger one. Let’s just say that hair products are a big deal, and you need certain ones, regardless of price. It makes such a difference in their hair when I make sure that there is plenty of hair lotion, etc. available, and good shampoo. I’ve found some that works well, and isn’t too expensive, so I’ll get some more of that.
Our store has turkeys for .58 a lb. I didn’t write on my list if the minimum order was $35 or $50 but either way, I will make the minimum. Potatoes are NEVER cheap here–occasionally I can get 10# for .35 a lb but that’s the best price for the russets which I prefer. I bought apples this week directly from the farm and they were $6 a peck, which is far from cheap. Big apple growing area here–can’t understand why they are never a great deal–although I guess if I wanted a whole bushel I could do better. That’s a lot of apples for 2 people, however, and we do eat most of ours out of hand. They can keep them fresh more easily than I can.
Thanks, Rhonda! I usually buy it there too, and use the mobile coupon (it’s so easy to email the coupon link to the DH so that he can pick items up on his way home). That said, I didn’t realize that they did occasional sales on candied fruit — I’ll have to keep an eye out for those. Thanks again! 🙂
Hi Lorna I’m also in Australia I find it difficult to find cheap items here also. The best shop I seem to find is Aldi. I wish we had more competition.
Meg I do find some things cheaper in bulk from http://www.pantrypacker.com.au, they do have a lot of base ingredients such as herbs, chocolate, some of their dried fruit such as bananas and apples, base ingredients like bicarbonate of soda, salt, cooking chocolate buttons and spreads like vegemite and peanut butter. Check prices with Woolworths , Coles and Aldi on prices but they are very competitive on their bulk prices. We buy a lot of here and even with a $15 delivery fee they are still cheaper for us in the country than buying from the supermarkets.
Another place you could try is Trumps in Brisbane, they stock a lot of bulk ingredients. Search for them on the internet and ask them to send you a price list. The price list only lasts until the end of the month.
I hope this helps.
I have to say I am not at all impressed with our re-done grocer. Our store was bought out by Kroger which so many of you seem to have good luck with. Here all they did was redecorate the store, move everything around, replace half the stuff with their own brand and RAISE all the prices. They keep saying new low prices but I have not seen that, at least on anything that I buy. I buy mainly staples and fresh food. That has all gone up.
Need celery, butter, milk, cream cheese, cottage cheese, crushed pineapple, French fried onions, canned salmon. I have coupons for flour, deodorant, sugar, oil, clementines, pistachios, toothpaste, hand lotion, body wash and will buy those on double coupon days.
If you want an easy way to use a bushel of apples for just two people buy two very large jars of applesauce place in a stock pot on stove top slice and dice and add apples until it becomes /chunky applesauce will easily use half a bushel cook until apples are very soft add cinnamon if you like and place in large jar in fridg. We eat with oatmeal in the am sandwiches at lunch and after dinner for a dessert all fall long!
Wow! Brandy your food prices are amazingly low! We could never get pork or butter at such low prices!