From Crystal: What We Ate & What We Bought at the Grocery Store

I tried Kroger delivery for the first time this week! And I’m happy to report I had a really good experience with it. In fact, we are considering switching to Kroger Boost because — with the current deal — we figured out it’d be a little less than $1/week to have someone buy our groceries and deliver them to our door each week. Plus, you get double the points on gas, which would WAY more than pay for the Boost subscription.

But I wanted to try Kroger delivery first, before committing to a membership. They had a free delivery digital coupon + a $15 off $100 digital coupon that I was able to use this past week. So it ended up being less expensive to have groceries delivered to my door than it would have been to shop in-store or do pickup!!!

Some things I loved about Kroger delivery:

It is very easy to change/update your order. After I placed my order, I thought of some additional items I wanted to add to my order. It was super easy to go in and add that to my order.
I was able to see exactly what my total would be before I checked out (they take off the coupons and deals at checkout so you can see exactly what you will pay). This would be especially valuable if you are wanting to stick to a strict grocery budget. You can adjust your order based upon what your total is — before you hit the checkout button!
There are often digital coupons that are for delivery only. So you may find that you’ll get some additional deals and coupons by using delivery that you wouldn’t get if you shopped in-store or did grocery pick-up.
Tipping is not allowed. Kroger delivery (and the Boost program) don’t allow tipping. It says right on their website that their drivers are paid directly and tipping is not allowed. (Note: If you order through Instacart delivery not Kroger delivery, you will be charged a fee for delivery and you should also add a tip as Instacart drivers rely on tips for a big part of their income.)
There were special offers when I went to checkout. This one was a surprise to me! I went to checkout and some bonus offers popped up. Most of them weren’t ones I would use and almost all of them were for items I’d never heard of before. But, one of the offers was for Maple Brown Sugar Swirl bread for just $1.50/loaf — which is a GREAT deal!

My order came exactly as I had ordered. The only one complaint I had was that I noticed one of the packs of bacon didn’t seem 100% airtight/vacuum packed. It didn’t look like it was bad or anything and I stuck it right in the freezer and I think it will be okay. But, I wouldn’t have picked that package for myself. That said, I’ve been told it is very easy to go on the app and submit a ticket if something is wrong with your order and they’ll refund it.

How I Menu Plan

If you’re new here, I don’t do a rigid meal plan most weeks; I usually just make sure we have enough on hand for 8-10 different dinners and then I plan that day what we’re having based upon the time I have and what sounds good.

I know that this system doesn’t work for everyone, but it’s worked pretty well for this season. I also make sure to have back-up emergency dinner options in the freezer (chicken nuggets/strips + frozen pizza) so that if I just don’t feel like cooking at all or run out of time, we still have options that are much less expensive than takeout.

If you are the type who needs a structured meal plan and you feel stuck in a rut, check out my 10 Weeks of Money-Saving Menus for some of our very favorite inexpensive and easy recipes — all done for you, complete with grocery lists! (And you can also download my FREE 60 Meals to Make Instead of Getting Takeout list for some great last-minute dinner ideas.)

What We Ate This Past Week

Sunday: Papa John’s Pizza while watching the Chief’s game!

Monday: Mac & Cheese and Sourdough Bread

Tuesday: Breakfast Casserole (using what we had on hand — sausage, eggs, frozen potatoes, cheese, and milk)

Wednesday: Fend For Yourself (Silas had a basketball game and the school bought Chick-fil-A for them, Kaitlynn went out to dinner on her own, Jesse and I and the younger kids had leftovers)

Thursday: Marinated Chicken, Steamed Veggies, Avocados, and Sourdough Bread

Friday: Jesse and I went out with another couple, Kaitlynn got takeout, the younger kids had mac & cheese, and Silas had dinner at a friend’s house

Saturday: Frozen Lasagna, Green Beans, Sourdough bread

The kids have been eating lots of cereal around here since there have been so many cereal deals recently. It makes such a quick breakfast and our teens love it for an after-school snack!

My sourdough game is going strong! This past week, I made two loaves of bread, Banana Sourdough Pancakes, and Sourdough English Muffins.

These Sourdough English Muffins were definitely the most time-intensive sourdough recipe I’ve made so far. They were delicious and it felt pretty fulfilling to see how beautifully they turned out. (It was my first time to make English Muffins!)

I think they will be easier to make next time — now that I know how to make them!

Psst! Want a much easier recipe? Check out my Homemade English Muffin Bread recipe.

Next up, I want to try making homemade sauerkraut and am still waiting on my water kefir grains to come in and my Kombucha Kit to come in. What other from scratch ideas should I try??

Here was the Banana Pancake recipe I used. I added about a cup and a half of milk to the recipe, also, since it was too thick (I think she may have left off milk on the ingredients listed?)

Micah and I went to visit Kathrynne at her house in Murfreesboro on Friday and he loved helping her do her dishes. She’s become quite the cook since moving out! Almost every week, she’s trying some new recipe. This past week, she perfected Shrimp Fried Rice!

The best deals at Kroger this week were the bacon ($2.99), the Malt-O-Meal cereal ($1.49), the Brown Sugar Bread ($1.50), and deli meat ($3.99).

I also stocked up on flour, got a few packages of beef hot dogs, picked up 5 packages of cheese to stick in the freezer, got some toilet paper and bath salts, and 5 18-packs of eggs ($1.99 each with the digital coupon).