Shopping Trip 4/21: No Coupons And Under Budget

I was seriously expecting some big pre-Easter grocery deals to be advertised this week, but again I was let down.  I made my weekly pilgrimage to Aldi today to get some things we had run out of and a few of their produce deals as always.  It seems like there were some price increases of about $0.10-$0.30 on each item I picked up, but I was not shopping at my usual Aldi store, so I cannot be certain of that.  I went to a different store than usual because I also wanted to get some deals that I saw advertised at El Rio Grande, which is a bit out of my normal shopping route. 

Here are the items that I got from El Rio Grande:

Total Spent:  $14.33

Here is what I got:

1 3lb pack of Eckrich sausage  $3.99 w/ $10 additional purchase

3 rolls of paper towels   3 for $1 w/ $10 additional purchase

3 1lb bags of kidney beans  @$1.19 each  (I'm going to make red beans and rice!)

yellow onions @ 10lbs for $1 =$0.32

1 head of lettuce @$0.50 each

1 4lb bag of rice @ $1.89 (grabbed this to put me over the $10 mark after my sausage did not ring up the sale price...the price of the sausage did not count toward my $10 I learned today.)

AND...$2.99 for a 24 count pack of tortillas that were so fresh and hot that they were still warm when we got home.  I could not help myself.  I also could not wait to eat them.  I thawed out some frozen fajita leftovers and gorged myself for lunch.

Today I also learned to look at the sale ads more closely!  I had wanted to pick up some tilapia fillets that were advertised for $1.99/lb, but when I got there today, they were marked $2.99/lb.  I asked about it, and was directed to the small print that read "Abril 20 Solamente".  =(  They were also out of the fresh corn advertised 4 for $1.  That is ok though, because I would not have stayed under budget if I would have gotten those items.

At Aldi, here is what I got:

Price Paid:  $38.15

It seems like that is a lot to spend on as few items as I bought, but I have to remember that I bought a 12 double roll pack of toilet tissue, a pack of diapers, a jug of cat litter and a 12 pack of diet sodas, plus a few more items we needed around the house.  I grabbed some more strawberries because they were still $0.99, as was the pineapple.  The celery was $0.69 each.

All of this, along with my CVS trip, cost me $53.05, and I just might be done for the week.  I am still debating whether a few items at Kroger and Albertsons are worth making a trip there after we stop by the library tomorrow.  I may forgo them though, because the last $16 of my grocery budget has to last me not just until Saturday like normal, but until payday on Wednesday.  It shouldn't be a problem, but that is the hard part about being paid monthly.  The last "week" is always hard because it is actually a week and a half.

I think I've done a great job sticking to my grocery budget without using coupons for the past few weeks except for at CVS and one small stop by Albertsons.  I am ready for some great coupon deals to start up again, though.

What about you?  Have your stores been having great sales lately, or have they been pretty slow like the stores here?