Grocery Day!

Now, since this is the maiden voyage of this blog, I will actually have three separate posts. This post is the second and will become a common theme in this blog. Today was payday, which means that I also had the opportunity to go grocery shopping. I learned a good deal from the first shopping trip of this insanity, so I will share what I learned as well as a bunch of numbers that are probably uninteresting to anyone but myself.

What I Learned

I went into this trip with a list. This was to curb my impulse-buying habits, especially when food is involved. It was also nice to know what products I would be able to purchase with a coupon. Hopefully, what I learned during this first trip will help me make better decisions in the future.

• Hamburger Helper is expensive. Even with a coupon and store special, the store-brand was more than $0.15
  
• Kraft Mac & Cheese is also expensive. At $1.59/box, I was a little flabbergasted. I admit, though, part of my surprise came from the Walgreens coupon that let me purchase three boxes at $0.69 each. It also came from my never having bought Kraft brand before (I know, I know. You should know now, then, that I don't like apple pie, either).
• My impulse-buying habits will be hard to overcome.
• My local grocery store will double a manufacturer's coupon up to $1. Considering that this made Yoplait cheaper than the store brand, even an extra $0.40 makes a big difference.
• My store does not, however, still offer a discount when you bring your own bags. Either that or the cashier didn't think to put it on my purchase.
• Most dry goods cost about $0.25 per serving. At least the ones that I bought.
• Most store brand sauces cost less than $0.05 per serving.
• By cost per serving, the most expensive items I bought were frozen meals.
• I'm all right at estimating the prices of groceries, although I was horribly off on some items.

So, I have gathered quite a few facts, although I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with them. Mostly what I will take from this is that having someone else prepare your food is more expensive than doing it yourself. And, while I should have known this, knowing and understanding are different creatures entirely.
Numbers
Here comes the part that will probably interest only me. Feel free to turn back, noble explorer! If you've read this far, I'm a little stunned but ready to continue. The time has come for me to put down some numbers. Who knows what they mean together.

Total spent on food: $32.70
Coupons brought: 21
Coupons used: 4
Money saved by coupons: $0.90
Money saved by "cardmember only" deals: $0.69
Money saved by coupon "doubling": $0.90

Those are the numbers! And that wraps up my grocery post.