I Got It From My Momma

When I was growing up, I remember that my mom would take every ad from the Sunday paper, and she would sit at our dining room table and dedicate at least two hours to cutting and organizing her coupons. Once she was finished, we would head out to at least 5 different stores to purchase our goods for the week.

The first store was always Sam's Club, because they close the earliest on Sundays. Then we would make our way to Walmart, Food4Less, Stater Brothers, and maybe Kmart. As a kid, I had no concept of money, budgeting or the cost of groceries. I just knew that I HATED grocery shopping like this. I swore up and down that I would shop at whatever store is closest to me and that would be IT! 

So here I am 28 years old... and I am so my mother's daughter. I may not shop at the same stores as she did, because it's just my husband and I, but I have three stores that I go to for everything, and none of them are my local grocery stores. 

My favorites are: 

 I love their produce and prices. I can walk out of there with a week's worth of fruit and veggies at around $20! I'm also huge on the environment of the stores I shop at. Sprouts is so vibrant and open and colorful. (I'm weird... I know...)

I come here to buy my sandwich meats, canned items, breads, cheeses, oatmeal, and waffles. I also really like the friendliness of their staff. Trader Joe's associates are generally very helpful, which makes shopping there so much more enjoyable. 

I love Fresh & Easy, because they have fabulous quick prep items like ready-to-grill veggie packs, steamable veggie packs, quinoa and brown rice bowls, and they have a wonderful variety of F&E brand sauces. Their Chipotle glaze sauce is a staple in our home, and these items make dinner a breeze to put together! They also have a great rewards program where you can take your points and convert them to cash points to use in a future purchase.  

I may not sit and clip every coupon like my mother did on Sunday nights, but I definitely learned how to plan my week food-wise and stretch my dollar like a pro!