I did pick up a fresh turkey locally.  Otherwise no actual shopping this past week.  And, I don’t anticipate going to the grocery store this week either.  But, I did go to BJs for diapers, milk, and a few other items.

December TOTAL: $1012.58
Stop & Shop: $236.76
BJs: $292.80
Other: $483.02
Local: $234.90
Wegman’s: $105.95
Star Market: $135.87
Trader Joe’s: $0.00
Target: $6.30

Things are back on course.  I would say that I’m done restocking, but this time of year I do a lot of stocking up so my pantry is very full at present.  That being said, there were a lot of coupons this month – $29 for Stop & Shop and $45 for Wegman’s excluding manufacturers coupons, e-offers, etc.

• November TOTAL: $752.89
  • Stop & Shop: $274.23
  • BJs: $117.08
  • Other: $361.58
    • Local: $33.03
    • Wegman’s: $146.25
    • Star Market: $127.05
    • Trader Joe’s: $22.60
    • Target: $32.65

For kicks I saved the milk cartons for November.  I buy based on our drinking one gallon per day and this picture shows it – just about one carton per day.

Here’s the last batch of groceries from my Stop & Shop run.  Total was $106.09 after all sales, offers, and coupons.  Plus I got lots of gas points which, with my 18 gallon tank, come to almost $10 next time I fill up.

I need to note that I’ll be doing less writing this month.  It’s super busy with the holidays.  And, I’m gearing up for the online launch.  I’ll be writing on Monday’s only until January when we will get back to normal.

So, Wegman’s…

I was so intrigued by this place because friends who lived near one previously positively drooled over its arrival.  People traveled untoward distances to visit the others that opened in this state previously.  I had to see what all the fuss is about.

The store is very big – like a big Target – but has the same categories as a regular grocery store.  Some are just bigger.  Because of this it is overwhelming and I didn’t really feel comfortable until my 3^rd visit (I went 4 times.)  Once I was over myself and able to think rationally I came up with a few bullet points:

• A lot of square footage is occupied by departments I won’t/will barely use – prepared foods and organic. The variety is excellent in both areas if those are things you value.  For me it was nice to realize I could just ignore them.
• Some departments are bigger and better staffed than your typical grocery store giving a more gourmet feel – think deli, cheese counter, and bakery. I didn’t study them enough to compare pricing, but the variety was definitely better in both areas.
• There are not as many options. It’s mostly Wegman’s brand.  Similarly, I looked for salad dressing and had one brand name choice.  So, you need to like/learn to like the Wegman’s brand.  I will say that I would buy the store brand items we selected again, though not go out of my way to do so.
• Many things are pre-done. Deli meats are pre-sliced, though I’m told they’ll slice them fresh if you prefer.  Seafood is cut to portion size.  Meats are packaged individually or as meals.  If the sizes work for you that’s great, but it didn’t always for me.  So, I felt odd finding someone to track down so I could get the amount I needed.   Since they’re all about customer service, I shouldn’t feel weird.  But, since it took effort and obviously nobody else was having this issue I did.
• I did some price checking. This was made incredibly easy by their app, which shows real time pricing.  So, I went to my regular store and stood in the aisles and decided not to buy things if they were cheaper at Wegman’s since I was going there later in the week.  For what I checked (all major brand name aisle items), Wegman’s was cheaper when the item was not on sale at the regular grocery store.  But, if the item was on sale it was 50/50 whether it was the same price or cheaper at Stop & Shop.
• The app is a big improvement over the Stop & Shop app. It’s easy to put things on your list.  Those items then show the price and aisle to help navigate the big store.  It does require going back a lot, which is odd.  It also lets me see what items Wegman’s doesn’t carry.
• My biggest pet peeve is that it seems to be impossible to get a list of what’s on sale. They send a flyer, but it includes a few sale items with mostly regular priced stuff they want to feature.  Plus, in the store you find a lot on sale that isn’t in the flyer.  So, as of now I’ve made a list of stuff I regularly buy in the app so I can price check against a Stop & Shop sale flyer.  But, it means I’d miss out on sales for items I only buy once in a while.
• My guess is that if one didn’t sale shop and just bought the same thing every week, one would come out ahead at Wegman’s. But, I do sale shop and I’m pretty sure I can come out ahead or at least break even at Stop & Shop.
• Stop & Shop is much closer to me so breaking even is a win. I still can’t imagine how I would get to Wegman’s this month as it requires driving past the mall which is already a traffic horror area this time of year.
• With all their advertising of “Family Packs”, I had real hopes that I could cut down on my BJs visits. But, the Family Pack of apples I got turned out to be in bad shape – worse than I’ve ever gotten at BJs.  And, that was after picking through the bags to try to grab the best one.  (They boys have eaten them anyway.)  Also, the meat packages are so small that they don’t necessarily make sense for us.  And, the meat pricing didn’t compare to BJs.
• The meat department does have a much larger selection of roasts and other large meats (not primal) than either Stop & Shop or BJs. So, we may well be going there vs the local meat shop as the prices are much better.

In summary, I will be back.  But, it is unlikely to become my regular grocery store.  Their sales last a long time and I can price check so next time I need to stock up on aisle items I can run the app and see if a trip makes sense.

Sometime I’m going to give Aldi a try too.  It’s a bit farther even than Wegman’s so it’s less likely to be a regular visit.  But, I have to see what all the hype is about!

I went to BJs again.  It’s become apparent to me that two weeks is just a much better interval than one month.  At first I thought I could save some gas and energy only going once a month.  Gas yes; energy not so much.

It is farther than other places I can shop for food.  But, going once a month I anticipate what we will eat and our schedule is so irregular that that is just hard to do.  This is why my most recent trip is relatively small.

I also filled a cart with just this stuff so when I buy more I have to go through checkout twice and make two trips to the car.  This isn’t terrible, just time consuming.  The second main reason is that our house is cleaned every two weeks so I need to be out of it.  BJs, along with some other stop, takes just the right amount of time.  And, I can take the three year old.  When I was trying to stretch my BJs trips out I found it difficult to do something I actually needed to do during that interval.  Since I have to be gone for the entire morning and my little guy would rather nap in the morning even a trip to the park is difficult.  He does better with the stimulus of shopping.  So, I’m going back to every two weeks as needed.

Normally, I make most all of the deserts around here.  A significant sale on Oreos or ice cream is an exception.  But, as part of the Wegman’s store opening I had a “$1 off any bakery item” coupon.  Since I also make many non-sandwich breads (sandwich bread I’d buy in a bag, not at the bakery anyway) I took the opportunity to try a $1 chocolate croissant.  It was very good, and free!

Last week was an odd grocery shopping week.  Not only am I trying to get the most bang for my buck with two stores offering significant weekly deals currently.  But, I also needed to do my every two months or so visit to a third grocery store for the three items they carry that nobody else does (plus one sale item).  At Stop & Shop, I need to spend $50 before coupons to get $5 off plus a free item.  This week’s free item was the bottled water.  I don’t usually buy it, and we use it only rarely, but I’m not turning it down either.  The final total for the stuff in the picture was $43.39.

I’m going to Wegman’s again later in the week (to use the week 2 coupons) so I loaded those items I could buy at either store into the Wegman’s app so I could compare prices while I was at Stop & Shop.  I really appreciate that the app gives you the prices, but I really don’t like that I can’t find a complete list anywhere of what’s on sale.  I’ll do a full Wegman’s review after my four weeks of intro offers are completed.  But, while I was at Stop & Shop I compared 5 items, all of which were cheaper at Wegman’s.  Now, none were on sale at Stop & Shop while three were on sale at Wegman’s; I don’t know what their regular prices are, but two weren’t on sale.  That being said, milk and bananas were exactly the same so it’s better to buy them at Stop & Shop and get the gas points (or BJs and get the cash back!).  Also, I got bread cheaper at Stop & Shop (and I’m not super brand loyal).  And, there were a few items that I wanted that Wegman’s doesn’t carry so I bought those too.

For anyone who’s keeping track, I think the Monday posts are getting too long.  So, I’m only going to post the upcoming week’s menu once a month (give or take).  If I get too many comments otherwise I can do it more often again.