I haven’t been to the store for a while, and we were low on supplies. So I did some stocking up at Safeway:

Total spent: $32.01
Total before coupons: $46.89
View receipt

Got:

1 package of tortillas (10 count) – Safeway had an advertised sale on Mission tortillas for $1.99, but they were all out of the variety that was on sale, so they substituted this “low fat” package for the same price.
4 2-liter bottles of Wild Cherry Pepsi – a treat for the flu-stricken! I was only planning on buying 2 bottles, but with the sale they were having it was a better deal to get four.
2 boxes of Kashi Go Lean Crunch – on sale for $3.00, used two $3.00/1 coupons that I received in the mail from Vocalpoint, which doubled; making the final price free plus $1.00 in overage.
2 cans of refried beans – on sale for .89 cents, final price: $1.78
2 boxes of Coffee Mate powder singles – on sale for $1.29 each, used one “Buy one, get one free” coupon from the 8/09 Red Plum newspaper inserts. This will be handy to have on hand for emergencies when I run out of coffee creamer!
1 24-pack of toilet paper – price: $4.99
2 32 oz bags of cheese – on sale for $4.49 each, for a total of $8.98
2 gallons of milk – on sale for $3.98 for 2
2 16 oz bottles of International Delight – on sale for $2.19 each, used two .55/1 printables, which doubled; making the final price $1.14 each.
1 pint of Starbucks ice cream – on sale for $3.00, used one free coupon that I received for signing up on Facebook back in July. Although the ice cream was on sale, the coupon automatically took off the full price of $4.49, so I ended up with $1.49 in overage.
1 bottle of Gillette shaving gel – price: $2.49
1 carrot – price: .19 cents
1 bunch of cilantro – price: .99 cents
1 10-lb bag of potatoes – on sale for $1.38

I bought these items to compliment what I already have on hand, and should be able to get many meals out of it. Here’s my planned menu for the coming week – I kept it really simple, because we’ve been eating out way too much with everything being so hectic. I know if I have something easy to make, I won’t feel so tempted to order out.

Breakfasts:

Cereal, oatmeal, or pancakes/waffles

Lunches:

Leftovers, grilled cheese sandwiches on homemade bread, black bean and cheese quesadillas with chopped onion and cilantro, omelettes

Dinners:

Homemade chili served in homemade bread bowls
Meat and potato pie
Refried beans topped with cheese and served with rice (seasoned with curry powder, chopped onion and cilantro)
Homemade pumpkin soup served with pumpkin bread (I still have several bags of frozen pumpkin puree from last year)

The meat, onion, black beans, and baking supplies for bread and pancakes are items that I already have on hand. I plan on improvising a few more meals from what I have on hand – I’ll probably make burritos one night, and maybe pasta – I like to take stock of what I have throughout the week and use up any leftovers or overripe produce as needed. I like doing Google searches for recipes that call for ingredients which I need to use; I’ve found it’s a really good way to get inspiration and find new ways to use what you have.