My Weekly Grocery trip

I decided to start posting my weekly grocery trips, in addition to coupon trips.  The truth is that I am not an "extreme couponer" and I do need to do supplemental shopping trips for my groceries.  How much can a single girl on a budget get for her buck?  I tried to keep this trip under $20.  I do have some groceries on hand from my Doubler Trip to Albertsons, and a few things from my weekly trip last week, as well as things in my stockpile from the last year.

This was mostly Fred Meyer and a little Trader Joe's.  Total Spent $19.44.  Yes!  Just under the wire.

Foster Farms Whole Chicken (Sale .99 cents/lb - $4.07)
Ground Pepper from Bulk Spices (.84 cents)
Organic Broccoli ($1.29/lb - $1.84)
Organic Baby Carrots ($1.50)
Organic Fresh Herbs Poultry Mix ( Clearance .99 cents)
Fuji Apples (.99cents/lb - $1.81)
Lemon (.59 cents)
Garlic (.34 cents)
Bell Pepper ($1.79)
Fred Meyer English Muffins ($1.39)
Total - $15.16
( A note about the organic stuff.  I love to buy organic, but often can't afford it.  I will buy it if it is the same or cheaper than conventional - which does happen sometimes.  In this case, Fred Meyer only had organic available in the broccoli, carrots, and herbs.)

Trader Joe's Pizza Dough ($1.29)
Charles Shaw Pinot Grigio ($2.99)
Total: $4.28

Yes, there were a few splurges here.  The herbs were not on my list, but I grabbed them since I was going to roast the chicken, and they were marked down, so it was kismet.  The bell pepper was also a "splurge".  Yeah.  It's fun when you are so broke that a $1.79 bell pepper is considered a splurge.

Obviously the wine is a splurge.  See above.

What am I going to do with this?  Well, as I type I am roasting that little chicken, which will be my late dinner tonight.  Since I am only feeding myself, I can usually get about 3 meals out of one of those babies (Sometimes 4!).  So, I plan to make a stir fry one night and a BBQ chicken pizza another.  I will post my meals another time, maybe.  I also made myself a nice little appetizer:

I have a confession.  I love happy hour.  After a long day at work, I love a good nosh and a nice glass of wine.  Plus, happy hour prices are usually pretty good.  However, happy hour is another rare indulgence since I became broke girl.  I present to you...homemade happy hour!  Quick, easy, and only about $2.25.  Wine - $2.99 for the bottle, so about .75 cents a glass.  Apples .99 cents a lb, so that particular apple cost about .50 cents.  The goat cheese I bought on Friday when I was feeling rich ( payday, the only day I feel like I have money to burn).  It was about $4.99 (Yikes!) so about $1 an ounce. This same setup would have probably cost me $10-$14 bucks at a wine bar.  Granted, the wine probably wouldn't have been 2 Buck Chuck, but.... still, not too shabby.  You gotta treat yourself right, even when you think you can't afford it.