Perspective

I just had to share this. Some people could care less about what I'm about to say, but I find it very interesting. There is a point to this, so just bear with me.

Yesterday I made my grocery run (last day of the weekly sales). I hit up Food Lion, Harris Teeter and Lowes to take advantage of some great sales. Total, I spent $33.03 (which is way more than I normally spend in a week, but there were some good "stock up" items, so I splurged a little. $33.03.

For that amount here are the items I bought:

-5 packs of split chicken breast
-1 pork tenderloin (4 lbs)
-1 box of Lipton tea bags
-1 bunch of romaine lettuce
-1 cucumber
- 1.25 lbs of deli turkey
-1.59 lbs red seedless grapes
-3 tomatoes
-2 large cans Van Camps beans
-7 boxes of Orville Redenbacher popcorn
-1 Suave shampoo (large bottle)
-4 jars of Skippy peanut butter
-2 bags of Lays chips
-1- carton of orange juice
-2 bags of Flipz pretzels
-1 loaf Natures Own bread
-4 containers of Daisy sour cream

Oh and super score...at Lowes, there were restaurant coupons printed on the back of my receipt!! Since I bought the majority of the food there, the receipt was good and long :). So, I received 3 free appetizer coupons to Outback (yum) and 3 free chips and salsa coupons for Chili's. I'm going to assume that these 6 coupons alone would equate to around $33, because it makes me happy to think that. :) Also, at Harris Teeter, I was greeted at the entrance by a lovely employee giving out prescription cards for the pharmacy. For every new or transferred prescription you get there from now until August 31st, they will load $20 on your vic card...good up to 10 prescriptions or $200!! Yay! I have 3 to fill right now. These super scores were a huge plus in addition to everything else I got! I was one happy girl.

Now, I didn't list all these items so you could assume I'm sharing great deals, although you know I love to do that! Actually, I got $111.48 in groceries for $33.03, which is about a 70% savings (which isn't my average, but again, I did get some good stuff).

I listed these items to help create a visual for this....

Last night, Jon and I went to Chili's for dinner (yes, just the two of us....first time at dinner without our kids in months, however, we talked about the kids the entire time..isn't that always ironic?). Jon got chicken tenders w/ a diet coke and I got a cheeseburger w/ sweet tea (don't judge us!It was just that kind of day for me :). Our bill, including the tip was $27.00. $27.00. Okay, I'll accept that since it's the average price for a meal like that "these days" (because I'm so old and have been around so long..haha).

But.....drumroll please...here comes the perspective....

I got in the car and realized that we had just spent a few dollars short of what I spent at the store that same afternoon for all those groceries. The meat alone will provide at least 7-8 meals for us, plus leftovers. And all that lunch food I got (salad fixings and deli meat). Wow. I mean wow.

Anyone who knows me, knows that we enjoy going out to eat every now and then
(okay, a little too much at times). Who doesn't? Especially when I do all the cooking! If it were up to Jon, we would eat cereal or pb&j every night. Yuck. Although that might help me lose weight, I don't want that every night! However, this has proven to be a big downfall of mine. I coupon like crazy, get tons of good deals, unload the groceries, stuffing every nook and cranny in my kitchen... and then my brain is too tired to think and cook, so we go out. It's a sick, endless cycle (lol). This happens maybe once a week.

I think it helped having these two events happen in one day to gain some perspective on how much I really save couponing. A few weeks ago, I really committed to being better about using the food already within my house to cook more and more. I am sticking to that pretty well so far. That is not to say we still won't go out to eat about once a week, because there is certainly nothing wrong with that. What happened yesterday was very eye opening to me. I already have several meals planned.

Now, who has a good recipe to share using split chicken breast??? :)