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Super Savings Saturday – 43% Savings on Organic Groceries

Our family has recently transitioned to a whole foods diet (I will be sharing more on this in a future series) and I have been reluctant to share my shopping trips lately (since I’m spending more and buying less). I am over the reluctance now though, so I will now be posting my shopping trips again, and hopefully I can show you how I save money on whole, natural, and organic foods!

I went to Whole Foods, Sunflower Market, and CVS this week.

Total Spent: $43.41
Total Saved: $31.84 (43%)*

*Whole Foods does not calculate store savings on the receipt, so I have no idea how much I saved there aside from the coupons used!

I mostly bought produce this week, some is organic, some is not (I stick to the “dirty dozen” list usually). I recently quit my produce co-op so I could focus on buying more organic produce. I hope by shopping sales and buying only what’s in season that I won’t be spending too much more than I already was.

Some of my favorite deals were the Muir Glen tomatoes for 50¢ each after coupon, and the So Delicious coconut milk that was FREE after stacking manufacturer coupons and Whole Foods coupons!

My splurges were the pound of deli meat (though I did get free cheese, bread, and mustard for buying it!) and the bag of arrowroot flour ($5.69 – ouch!). I also had to get a 9 volt battery at CVS. One of our smoke alarms needed a new battery, and if you’ve ever had to listen to that horrible chirp sound all night then you will believe me when I say I was more than willing to pay full price! LOL!

We also bought milk, eggs, and cream from a local farm this week which adds $17.50 to our spending.

Admittedly, this was a very light week. We are stocked on meat (we bought a cow portion from my parents and I’m stocked up on chicken from Zaycon Foods and the Whole Foods one day sale) and we really just did not need much this week.

How much did you save at the grocery store this week?

    27 Comments

  1. This won’t help with the couponing since they don’t accept coupons but I’ve found Costco has the best every-day prices on organic produce. I never thought I could ‘afford’ organic produce until we started shopping there. I was just there yesterday, here’s some examples of price/lb for organics:
    Fresh/diced butternut squash: $1.89/lb
    Frozen/mixed berries: $2.87/lb
    Fresh/baby spinach: $3.79/lb
    fresh/carrots $1.10/lb
    wish I had more to share, it was a quick trip but they have many many other organic items, fresh and frozen (frozen veggies are an especially good deal although I didn’t buy any yesterday). If you don’t want to spring for a membership and have a friend with a membership, you can give them cash and ask them to purchase a Costco cash/gift card for you, that way you can go at your convenience, no membership required. They’ll have to call a manager over to check you out but they’ve never given me a hard time, just a nice pitch for membership 🙂 I believe the smallest denomination is $20 and the gift card serves as a one-time-use membership card. You can spend more than the $20 if you have cash for the balance, they won’t take a credit/debit card from a non-member. Hope that helps someone else 🙂
    …the recipe inside the squash package is DELICIOUS btw! 😉

    Reply

  2. We’re gluten-free (most GF products end up being organic as well) but also found some good deals at Whole Foods this week.

    My total went from $32 to $18 after using coupons.

    The best deals were: Pacific Foods Kosher Chicken Broth $5/5 plus coupons.com $1/1 coupons = FREE! Also, Whole Foods has a store coupon (website printable, or in-store booklet) for Udi’s GF bread $1/1 plus coupons.com $1/1 = $3.00-ish after stacking!!

    San-J sauces and Maranatha Nut butters also have stackable coupons right now through Whole Foods online printable and coupons.com. Think Thin bars were on sale and coupons.com has a $.50/1 coupon.

    So glad to see you posting Whole Foods deals here. We’re on such a tight budget and the price of buying GF for three kids can add up quickly!

    Reply

    • @andy, Woohoo! I kept hearing about the chicken broth sale, but it was always over $2 at my store. 🙁 I’m excited that I’ve been able to find any deals there. they are still pricey of course, but stackable coupons helps!

      Reply

  3. Thanks so much for sharing. It is awesome that you are focusing more on healthy foods! Where is there a Sunflower market in the DFW area?

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  4. Woo hoo! I’m so glad you’re sharing! We follow a similar diet, and it is hard to see how much cheaper other people get their groceries, but when you’re paying $5 for a gallon of milk and you go through a couple a week… Looking forward to hearing about your journey.

    Reply

  5. I’m totally psyched that you are posting about whole and organic food savings. It is way more expensive and when you try to buy exclusively organic or whole foods, it is a bit disappointing when receipts don’t equal the amazing buys seen on your blog.

    At first, I only did CVS and Walgreens since I felt like the only place I could save was on toiletries, paper goods, etc. But now I coupon at my Kroger also. Generally, I buy stuff like sodas and treats for parties and events since I have found people don’t want my “weird” healthy food. So I get the chips and sodas for events I am expected to buy for and buy healthy food for my family. It is a win, win situation! I don’t spend a ton on junk food and my friends like the treats I bring.

    I would love to see more posts on healthy foods, organic, whole foods, etc. I am so glad to see you shopping that way and I would love to see your savings. Although the savings may not appear as big as regular food shopping when buying lots of processed food, saving money is saving money as you have taught us on your blog. Thank you so much for all the hard work you do to help us save and be able to provide better for our family!!

    Reply

    • @Monica Cobbey, That is a good idea to buy the treats for parties. We recently had some family stay with us for a couple days and I’m pretty sure my homemade butter, homemade ice cream, and fresh milk totally freaked them out, lol.

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  6. Wow! We are just 2 of a kind! Our family has made a (do i dare say it) ‘new year’s resolution’ to eat only whole and (mostly) organic foods. “Nothing from a box or a window” is our new mentality. We also get a half of beef from my parents, plus we raise our own chickens (for eggs, i’m still too scared to try butchering one). But i must say, it’s a lot harder to save as much money this way — it’s so tempting to buy the processed junk since ‘it’s such a great deal’. I don’t have any health food stores in my town, but we do have a Raley’s with a natural foods section. I have found Raley’s has GREAT coupons on their website to print–(including a FREE item every weekend). I’m totally stoked that you’ll be posting some good insights on whole and organic foods for less. Thank you, thank you!

    Reply

    • @Chelsie, I had an airhead moment but it took me a minute to get the “nothing from a window” statement! LOL I so wish we could raise our own chickens! Fresh eggs would be awesome! And yes, the junk food still tempts me too. The transition has been tough (probably more for me than the kids or hubby) but I’m glad we did it.

      Reply

  7. Do you know of Urban Acres? It’s a Dallas-area co-op and is all organic. We’ve been members since May and have been very pleased. It’s $30 for a fair amount of produce every two weeks. I think the money/food ratio is good. And if it’s already in the house, we *have* to eat it, y’know?

    Reply

  8. This is exciting to see. We’re also moving towards a more organic and less processed diet and could use some tips on saving some money. So far, Trader Joe’s has been a life (and $) saver.

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  9. I’m so excited to see this post! My family has been eating this way for about 4 years now and I find it very difficult to save money. I live in a small town & the only Health Food Store is fairly expensive, but it’s difficult for me to get to a larger city to get the better prices. I do have one local grocery store that started carrying their own organic line & this week I found that brand on sale + $1.00 off coupons for any item in that brand! I saved $25 on 25 items this past week!

    I’ll be looking forward to seeing recommendations on saving money with whole foods!!!

    Reply

  10. We’ve also been doing the organic thing, for a while, over here. And I’m not sure what state you’re in, but Door to Door Organics delivers produce and now meats to different states. You might wanna look into that. It’s so hard to spend more and get less, isn’t it?? 🙂

    Reply

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