Weekly Shopping Trip and our Game Day Dinner Menu

Earlier in the week, John and I sat on the couch together to enjoy a bit of tv after putting the girls to bed.  We scrolled through our list of recorded shows and came across this episode of The Pioneer Woman, The Big Game.  I'm fascinated by this woman's life.  Maybe it's her red hair.  Maybe it's my secret desire to live in the middle of nowhere despite the fact that I've always lived in a populated area.  Maybe it's because she loves to make easy food for those she loves.  Whatever the reason, she made some simple game day snacks for her family on the show.  By the end of the half hour, our mouths were watering, and John asked if we could have a similar menu for Sunday's Superbowl game.

We'll be having tortilla chips with Pico de Gallo and Guacamole, chicken wings (traditional hot wings and Asian hot wings with sweet, hot chile sauce), veggies and ranch dip, and Knock You Naked Brownies. 

I needed to pick up almost everything for this menu except the chips and the ranch dip along with the regular old stuff we need to buy every week. The 3 year old and I headed out to do our weekly shopping on Friday after a very busy week on our family calendar.  I was not the most prepared with my list, my coupons, or my thoughts, so it was not the Queen's best work this week.  We have plenty to eat for the week, but I had to do some rearranging on our menu plan and we maybe won't have the variety that I usually aim to include.  And I'll probably have to head back to the store at some point before the end of the week because I don't know if we have enough fruit or sandwich bread to last us for the week. 

We hit Sam's Club, Meijer, and Aldi, all in one morning.  Kind of insane with a 3 year old in tow, I know.   Here's our haul from the morning:

   

                                         

Total Spent: $98.49

Total Saved Using In store specials and coupons: $42.27

I feel like I bought kind of a hodge podge of items this week, but I did pick up some great deals on a few things I know we'll eat in the weeks to come.  I also couldn't remember if we were out of ziploc bags or not, so I threw in 2 boxes at the checkout lane.  Here are a few of the best deals I found this week combining coupons and in store specials keeping our game day menu in mind:
Nabisco Snack Crackers - $1.25/box X 4
Kraft Shredded Cheese -  $1.50 X 4
Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts - $1.77/lb
Chicken Bratwurst - $2
Chicken Wings - $5.99
12 Turkey Burgers - $5.99
2 Bottles of Wing Sauce - 1 free, 1 @ $0.80
Nestle Chocolate Chips - $1.69 X 2
Baby Carrots - $ 0.49 (Aldi)
6 Roma tomatoes - $ 0.99 (Aldi)
2 Avocados - $1 each
2 gallons of Mrs. Butterworth's Syrup - $6.38 (yes, I know it contains High Fructose Corn Syrup!  All in moderation. . . .) (Sam's)
6 packages of Eggo Waffles - $6.24 (Sam's)
2 packages of Mission Tortillas - $2.12 each (Sam's)

I had to stop into Kroger on the way home from school to pick up a few more things because when I got home with my haul in the morning and doublechecked my menu and supplies, I had forgotten several important items.  See?  Not really my best day.  Oh well!  Hopefully it's my realness that keeps you reading.  There are many days when I'm just flying by the seat of my pants trying to keep this house running smoothly.  This was one of those days.  I was rushed when we got home and exhausted from having spent 3 hours at the school volunteering after the morning at the 3 stores with the 3 year old, so I forgot to take a picture.  I spent another $27.79 picking up $1 blackberries, milk, caramels, evaporated milk, Nutella, $1 pineapple, apples, juice, green chiles, sweet potato fries, milk, bacon, and sausage.  We were hungry and picked up more things than were on my list. 

So, my weekly goal for shopping is somewhere around $100.  I went over this week's budget by a little more than $25.  But, we'll be enjoying two weekend days of celebrating National Nutella Day and Superbowl Sunday.  Buying specific foods for these special menus certainly put me over my spending limit for the week.   (And maybe going to the store on the way home from school with a hungry 11 year old.  Or maybe not being fully prepared with my list, coupons, and thoughts before heading out the door in the morning.  Oh well!)

What foods did you pick up on your weekly shopping trip for Superbowl Sunday?