Let the grocery games begin!

So...it's been over a year now.  I'm not sure how to begin again, but I found some inspiration that takes my blog back to it's roots and it's name.  Here we go:

My groceries each month have been the death of me.  It's a constant battle.  I stick to my list and spend too much.  I avoid a list and spend too much.  I've revamped my shopping and cooking style about 500 ways in the past year.  Nothing has worked well for me.  I've been reading up on it and have found many solutions, thoughts, answers to this dilemma.  My response to most was eh, ew, or what?!?!

One of the "Ew!" items, however, was the one I've found to work best for me.  Somewhere on some blog, article, or whatever it may have been, suggested looking for clearanced out meat at the grocery store.  My knee jerk reaction was less than ideal.  Who wants old meat?  Seriously?  Not gonna happen.

 Then I found the clearance meat at my Kroger...I decided to eat my words.  It's a very small section of the meat department that I've passed unnoticed time & time again--until I went looking for it.  It's FAR less scary than I anticipated.  The meat in this section is still a few days away from it's sell-by date and beautiful.  It varies by week, even day.  It's typically the more expensive cuts of meat and the organic stuff for about 1/2 price.  Here are a few of the things I've found in the past week or two.  There are more, these are just what I can remember prices & all.

Top Round Steak--Originally $9, Purchased $5
I've been using these for a few different meals, but my favorite is, by far, the beef & broccoli recipe that I found on Pinterest.  This one is ideally marbled without any big fatty edges.  It looks delish!

Roast--Originally $23, Purchased $11
This ginormous piece of meat will spend a day in the crockpot, hanging out with some veggies.  That night, I'll probably make gravy & eat it as roast is intended to be eaten.  However, there will be leftovers for a few meals.  Our favorite leftovers from roast are:  barbecue beef, beef nachos/quesadillas, or shredded in soup.  

Eye of Round Steak (family pack of 8)--Originally $18, Purchased $9
I'll probably smother these in sauteed mushrooms.  Scott's will have onions too (ick!).  We'll have two meals, for us & the littles, with leftovers...probably to make Scott a fancy pants salad for his lunch.

Filet Mignon--Originally $20+, Purchased $8
There were two.  They were huge.  It was one totally delicious meal.

This discovery has turned grocery shopping into a glorious game for me.  Once I scope out the meaty deals, I decide what we'll eat for the week, what we'll freeze, and what'll go with it all.  Then I'm off on the hunt for the accompaniments and other bargains.  The past few weeks of shopping have been so much fun...yep, I'm a dork.  Anyway, it's turned drudgery into a game.  I'll take it.

After I realized these deals were to be found, it created a monster. It was a "if you give a mouse a cookie" kinda thing.  Then I thought I should look for similar deals in produce.  That made me think to look in dairy.  And if you find a deal in dairy, you're going to need to look at the canned goods.  You get my point?  Good, I'd hate to put you through more of that.  :)

Maybe I'll do a post soon about the other sections of the store?

Lingering thought of the day:  My hubby just keeps getting better with age.  I love that man with my whole heart.  I was gonna say some other niceties, but he distracted me...