I decided this week I would go ahead and do Grocery Outlet. In case you don't have one of those by you, it's basically the type of store that gets the "overstock" from other stores and sells it to you for ,supposedly, a huge discount. We have one near by and it gets a lot of hype. I frequently see numerous cars in the parking lot and people walking in and out, so it seemed like it was popular around here and I figured it was worth a shot. Plus I had a $5 off coupon if you spent $25 bucks or more. So that's a pretty good deal.
Before I get to my receipts, Let's talk a bit about how a store like Grocery Outlet works and how it's different from your regular grocery. Like I said, they get the extras from stores and sell it for a lower price. What does that mean for shoppers? Well it means lower prices for one thing, but it also means stock that can be a little hit or miss. As in, you won't always get the same items week by week and not all of these items will be a brand you recognize. This isn't always bad, but you have to be aware of what you are getting. Another thing is, you have to REALLY check the dates on the packages. If something is frozen, fine, but you definitely want to check the dates on your fresh stuff like cheeses, meats, etc. And, you have to be prepared that they may not have an item you need for a recipe or you may not like the brand or quality of that product. So as long as you keep all of these in mind for your trip, you will be good to go, and hopefully not disappointed..
So last night as I built my meal plan for the week, I tried to pick products that I knew would be just about anywhere. I also knew that I was going to have to be prepared to either substitute or change the plan if something wasn't available or up to my standards OR I was going to have to be prepared to go to another store. I was prepared for that and decided that I would just play it by ear when I got there. If something was a really imperative product, I would have to go elsewhere, but if it was easily subbed for something they did have, I would do it.
So let's get to comparing, shall we?
My meal plan this week is:
Monday: Beef Tacos with rice
Tuesday: Ricotta Stuffed meatballs with pasta and a veggie
Wednesday: Hamburgers with couscous
Thursday: Greek lemon rice soup with a veggie
Friday: Meat and spinach lasagna
Saturday: Pork tenderloin with mashed potatoes and a veggie
Sunday: Crock pot Hawaiian chicken with rice
I'm going to actually talk about my overall experience and opinion before I get to the receipt because this was a bit of a different circumstance. You can walk into a major grocery store and know what you are going to find, but this was a different beast, so to speak.
This week was a typical week for us as far as items go. I needed toilet paper and frozen chicken breasts, but we had frozen ground beef, so like I said in the intro post to this project, it all kind of equaled out. I was a little nervous because some of the items I needed this week were things that are typical for us, but may not be typical for all stores. I mean sure, I figured I could get shredded mozzarella and toilet paper at Grocery Outlet, but would they have ricotta cheese? Would they have pork tenderloin? If they did, would it look okay to me? I was a little nervous going in about where I would draw the line and shop at another store.But I was prepared for that so in I went.
Walking through the aisles, it was clean and organized and pretty well stocked for the most part, maybe not quite like Safeway or Target but still put together and I could easily maneuver my way through the aisles to find my products. I was pleasantly surprised by quite a few items. A bag of onions for 99 cents? SCORE! 99 cents for a carton of Swanson's chicken broth? SCORE! They had the frozen chicken breasts I needed, they were Foster Farms (score for a good, trustworthy brand) and they were only $6.00 which is at least $2.00 off what I would have found at Safeway for the same product. But I was also a bit disappointed in some things. Like there was no pork tenderloin, which we really wanted and needed since we are having my father in law over on Saturday night for dinner. They had no ricotta cheese, which accounted for 2 meals I was making this week, including one that was going to be a freezer meal for us. I was totally unimpressed with the potatoes and fresh, whole garlic selection there. They had milk but the date wasn't great on it and I would rather have had milk from a place I trusted more then the sorta off brand that was there. The refrigerated meat didn't look bad, but I would have only bought the meat from a big name brand like Jennie-O or Foster Farms, and I really didn't need any of that, except frozen chicken breasts. Plus the biggest disappointment? They had almost no toilet paper. They had 2 choices, that was all and they were only 4 packs AND they were still 3 bucks! Really? Toilet paper? I was convinced that they would have a selection and a great deal on it. At that point, I felt defeated. So I decided to just buy what I could and what I liked and then go to Safeway for the rest.
Here's my receipts for both stores and the weekly total.
Grocery Outlet:
Frozen Chicken Breasts
Soft Tofu
3 lb bag of onions
1 Loaf of Wonder Bread
Green Giant fresh green beans (in that plastic steamer bag)
Dole Broccoli (int he plastic steamer bag in the fresh produce section)
Swanson's Chicken Broth (16oz)
Libby brand canned pineaple
Shredded Mozzarella
Christopher Ranch peeled garlic (in a refrigerated bag in the fresh section, I bought this instead of a head of garlic, I was hoping it would last me longer)
Total: $21.20
I saved: 21.70 according to my receipt (I didn't end up getting to use my coupon though since I didn't spend $25.00)
Safeway:
4 Bottles of Refreshe Sparkling Fruit Water (Rob's favorite)
Toilet Paper (12 double rolls)
Ricotta cheese (32oz)
Milk
Pork Tenderloin
4.24 lbs of Red Potatoes
2 Lemons
2 bags of Pistachios
Total: $46.10
I saved $9.09 with my club card and sales
Weekly total: 67.80
So I spent 40 cents more then last week. I will be honest, I was a bit disappointed. Yes, I did need toilet paper and frozen chicken. And yes pork tenderloin can be a bit pricey, but I also was using ground beef from the freezer and didn't go crazy with the extras.Plus last week I bought 3 kinds of meat, which is a lot for me to buy in one week, and those weren't all cheap meats! And I know that some of it was because I personally wasn't happy with the quality of some of the fresh products, but I won't buy off brands of certain things, and I won't skimp on produce. But, I did buy a lot of good stuff, stuff that isn't just a one week item, and we are entertaining this week which means a bit more food. And I did buy pistachios which totally weren't on the list, but they were on sale buy one get one free, and they are something that we like to snack on so I knew they wouldn't be a waste. So all in all, I'm still under budget, and got some good items. Will I go back there again? Probably, especially now that I have a better idea of what's there, but it won't be my weekly store.
So that was week 2! I'm looking forward to next week to see what the next store brings!
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