Grocery Shopping in Harlem, continued

Here's the tally from our most recent trip to the store:

"Golden Puffs" cereal-in-a-bag: $2.29
"Apple Jacks" cereal-in-a-bag: $2.29
Food Town Corn Flakes: $2.19 (least expensive per-lbs cereal in the store)
Skim Milk, 1 gallon: $3.99
Frozen Peas (small-ish bag): $1.99 ($.50 off, on sale)
Frozen Peas and Carrots (small-ish bag): $1.99 ($.50 off, on sale)
Chipotle Gouda Deli Sliced Cheese (not pre-packaged), 1/4 lbs: $2.00
Peppermill Turkey Deli Sliced Meat (not pre-packaged), 1/4 lbs: $2.29
Goya Chickpeas, 1 can: $.89 ($.20 off, on sale)
Grape Tomatoes, 2 pints: $2.49/pint (on sale)
Salad Mix (Half Spinach, Half Spring Mix): $2.99
Goya Ranchero Refried Pinto Beans, 2 cans: $1.69/can
Goya Black Beans: $.89 ($.20 off, on sale)
Russet Potatoes (5 lbs bag): $2.99
Blueberries, 1 pint: $1.99 (on sale, down from $4.99)
Jell-O Instant Pudding Mix: $1.49
Split Top Wheat Bread Loaf: $2.19

TOTAL: $40.82

The sale savings might not seem like much, but they do add up to $5.40 when all is said and done. Choosing off-brand and bag cereal also helps... my grocery store includes a unit price to do an equal price comparison, and the bag cereal per-unit price hovers around $2.62, whereas the boxed cereal per-unit price is closer to $3.50. The Food Town Corn Flakes per-unti price is around $1.50, I believe, making it the best value in the store, which is definitely something worth buying when you're a cereal addict like me. Hope this helps some people out there!

Grocery shopping in NYC on a budget

I've posted my receipts from my grocery store crawl and other, more specific trips, but here's a recent receipt when we were "out of everything". We've also been on a tight budget recently, so I wanted to spend less than $40 and get food for a week or so. I'll add to this - we have a stockpile of pasta from when it went on sale for $1/box (brought home 30 boxes of pasta that week, and loving it). We also have a freezer full of meat that we got from FreshDirect with a $50 off coupon (spent $145, so $195 worth of meat; planning to post on that at some point, too). So - with that in mind - here's what I spent this week (need to go back for milk, olive oil, and beans) at my local grocery store, FoodTown:

Grape Tomatoes: 2 pints @ $2.49/pint (on sale)
Loose Carrots: 1.35 lbs (6 or so carrots) @ 1lb/$.99
28oz can of crushed tomatoes: 5 cans @ $1/can (on sale - usually $2.19/can)
Small can of tomato paste: 3 cans @ $.59/can
Vidalia Onions: 1.56 lbs (2 large onions) @ 1lb/$1.29
"Apple Jacks" in-a-bag (off-brand cereal): $2.29
"Froot Loops" in-a-bag (off-brand cereal): $2.29
Red Delicious Apples: 2.47 lbs (5 or 6 apples) @ 1lb/$1.99 (least expensive apples this week)
Strawberries: $2.99 (on sale)
Salad mix, Spring Mix/Spinach: $2.99
Blueberries: 2 pints @$1.99/pint (on sale - usually $4.99/pint)

TOTAL: $34.57

As you can see, the focus was on fresh ingredients, sale items, and stocking up to make homemade pasta sauce (way more delicious than the jar and inexpensive/easy to make). We keep a stock of 'pantry staples', like rice, flour, sugar, seasonings/spices, etc., so we just needed things to complement that. I hope this helps people out there curious about NYC or looking to move here!