Would you go back if you forgot your groceries? : The Grocery game challenge June 2-8, 2014
IS IT WORTH THE TRIP BACK?
Finding out your forgot groceries at the grocery store can be a big pain but it’s also money out of your grocery budget.
Whether you decide to make the trip back to the grocery store if you forgot groceries you paid for depends on a couple of factors.
I know we have in the past forgotten something at the cash register because we weren’t paying attention or the cashier didn’t send it down the chute or conveyor. (That’s what I call it).
Sometimes items get stuck and if you or the cashier aren’t paying attention a product or many products might get missed going in your shopping bag.
Luckily we were in the parking lot when we noticed some of our groceries were missing. Now we seem to go through the self-checkout which makes it a bit more difficult to forget anything because it all has to go on the weigh scale once scanned. You are in charge of your groceries.
Depending on what time of the day you shop it can be chaos at the grocery store so things are moving quickly and if you aren’t alert you can miss groceries you paid for or potentially a scanning code of practice (SCOP) on a product.
The good thing about SCOP is worst case scenario when you get home you telephone the store and talk to customer service. Let them know about your SCOP and ask them if it’s OK with them when you come in next if you can have SCOP honoured.
We have never had a problem with the store saying no. We bring in our original receipt and they keep our name at the customer service desk for verification. Easy peasy
Forgot your groceries…now what?
An all too common scenario is when you are in the kitchen putting your groceries away only to notice you are missing some products you know you bought. You may be missing an entire grocery bag that you left in the shopping cart in the parking lot, an item at the bottom of your shopping cart or groceries at the cash register.
You may not want to go back to get your groceries depending on what it is you left. Then again, you may want to if it was quite a bit of groceries you are missing.
If you forgot your groceries in a shopping cart I’m the first to say that you might be S.O.L if you go back because someone might have already scooped up your groceries and took them home.
I know there are honest people out there but let’s just say that there aren’t as many as we’d like. I would call the grocery store first before making the trip. Maybe they can send a grocery clerk to the parking lot to check and see if your groceries are still in the grocery cart.
The other thing you may want to consider is if you forgot your groceries whether it’s worth it to go back. It may depend on where you live and whether you have time or the transportation to get back to the grocery store.
If you are lucky like one of my CBB fans who lives across the street from her local Foodland grocery store it’s a simple trip across the road. Better yet they know her by name so they’d like bring the groceries to her house.
If you live far away and all you forgot was $5.00 worth of groceries or a lemon rolled out of a bag on the way out you may have to think about cutting your losses. Is it really worth your time and gas money to drive back to the grocery store?
If it was a bag loaded with ample amounts of groceries and you are just across town then sure go back. If it is out of your way you may have to buy the groceries again next time you go grocery shopping unless of course you need the products right away for a recipe.
In that case it’s likely best to pay a bit more if you got them on sale to pick them up in town. If your store price matches you could always save a few pennies so the dent won’t be so bad.
Have you ever forgot groceries you paid for and did you go back for them?
If the grocery store went out of their way for you to make sure you got your groceries what did they do?
June grocery game challenge posts
If you missed any grocery game posts for the month I will post the line-up for the month each week here in this section for you. Congratulations to our May grocery game WINNER…. Joanne T ballot #22. Email me so I can get your prize sent out to you in the mail.
Grocery saving tips
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Free Money Saving Downloads are awesome lists that were created to get us on track to work towards reaching our budgeting goals and now we are sharing them with you.
I hope you take the time to get back on track and start the savings process in your grocery budget today.
Get organized with a FREE freezer inventory, meal plan, shopping list, price comparison list and much more all for FREE. CLICK HERE to download all the free lists and even our family budget spreadsheet for FREE.
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Ultimate grocery shopping guide
Everything you want to know about grocery shopping in Canada is below with new information added monthly.
If you missed a Grocery Game Challenge post some of the most popular posts are listed below or you can now find the posts listed on their own page called The Ultimate Grocery Shopping Guide.
If you know a topic that should be discussed send me an email and let me know.
Food food and more food
Shoppers Drug Mart
- 2 x 4 Litres Neilson Milk- $3.97
- 1 x dozen eggs Sale $1.99
Total out-of-pocket $9.93
Zehrs
- PC Salsa Sale $2.49
- PC Garlic Croutons Sale $1.99
- 2x Nordica Cottage Cheese Sale $2.99-$1.00 coupons
- 8 x 500g Cracker Barrel Cheese Bars Sale $4.99- pink stickers (You better believe our eyes did a double take) -stockpile budget
- Renee’s Mighty Cesar dressing $4.49- $1.50 coupon +350 PC Plus points 🙂
- Ground Beef Sale $9.99
- 2x PC thin buns $2.50 each (No pink stickers. Boo)
Total out-of-pocket $46.36
Food Basics
- Halal Yogurt Plain Sale $2.49
- Maille mustard grainy $2.99
- Maille mustard Dijon $2.99
- 6 x Bavarian sandwich bread Sale $2.00 each
- Black olives sliced Selection brand $0.99
- 4 x 227g White mushrooms Sale $1.00- $0.50 coupons
- 2 x selection tortellini $1.99 each
- Red onion $1.03
- Seedless cucumber $1.00
- Red Delicious apples Sale $1.49
- Red tomatoes on the vine Sale $2.49
- Reduced produce red peppers $0.99
Total out-of-pocket $ 34.92
Grocery shop results
Yearly grocery budget for two: $2820
(The above total does not include the stockpile budget of $240 per year or $20 per month.)
- Total Grocery Budget for the Month: $235.00 or $78.33 week with potentially one no-shop week per month or $58.75 for 4 weeks per month. (During the months with 5 weeks we just make it work)
- Total Budget for June $235.00-$20.89=$225.49/4=$56.37 per week or $75.16 per week if we do 1 no-shop week.
- Total Coupons Used this Week : $3.50
- Total Coupons Used to date: $39.25
- Total Discounts this Week: $22.00
- Total Discounts Used to date: $27.54
- Total Gift Cards Used to date: $33.18
- Total Rewards Points Used: $0
- Total Rewards Points Used to date: $20.00
- Stockpile Budget ($20.00): $
- Stockpile Budget Used to Date: $20.00+$19.08+$17.94+ $2.06+$20.00+$15.10 (May)+ $20.00 (June)
- Total Spent This Week: $91.21- $20.00 stockpile cheese= $71.21
- Total Spent So Far June: $71.21
- Total Over/Under spend this shop: over $14.84 over
- Total Over/Under spend for the month: over $14.84 over so far
- Total Left to Spend for the Month: $154.28
- Total to Carry Over Next Month: $n/a
- Total Spent To Date This Year: (does not include stockpile budget) Jan $242.66+ Feb $191.74+ March $255.82+April $235.07+May $223.62+June
- Weekly Overview: It was one of those weeks grocery shopping where we thought we’d have no problem staying under budget because we didn’t need much. Boy were we wrong. Out came those pink stickers on that Cracker Barrel cheese and we were hooked. Cheese bars cost a fortune to buy at $8.99 regular price. Sure they go on sale often but we love cheese and would hate to have to pay full-price for a bar. So we wiped out our stockpile budget this week and went over a bit with our grocery budget.
Coupon Sleuth
Did you find any coupons? If so share the details in the comment section of this post where you found it and what the coupon is for with expiry.
Surprisingly we found coupons around Zehrs and even better during the week they had sample booths around the store which is very uncommon to see. Normally they have samples on the weekends for customers.
The best part was the coupons they offer. Although the product tasted good it’s not something we would purchase. I did grab a coupon for you all to see though. It was the frozen pizza rolls. Click the photo to enlarge it.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Grocery Game Challenge RULES: Read the rules first and if you have any questions email me or comment on this post with your question and someone will answer you as soon as possible.
- Do I have to be Canadian to post my Grocery Shop?: No, you don’t have to be Canadian to post your shops only to win a monthly prize. We have fans who post their grocery shop who live all over the world.
- When does the Grocery Game close each month?: The Grocery Game Challenge closes at midnight of the last Sunday of the last post for the month. You can post your shops all month-long.
- Does your Grocery Budget include health and beauty and laundry products?: Yes our Grocery Budget includes such items as shampoo, conditioner, laundry soap, fabric softener, dish soap etc. We don’t mind stockpiling items that won’t be affected by expiry dates or have long expiry dates but not so much food any more. It’s just one way to help cut your budget to save money.
- Where can I find Canadian Coupons?: Here are your latest Coupon Match-ups of the week and your weekly Checkout 51 offers from 25 Newspaper Inserts around Canada compliments of Save Big Live Better that you can use to help you save money in the Grocery Game Challenge.
- What is an FPC?: An FPC is a free product coupon which means you can get a free product as described on the coupon.
- How Do I Know what stores accept coupons? : You can find all your store coupon policies here. If you are not sure it’s always best to call the store and ask.
- How Do I Grocery Shop?: I can tell you about grocery shopping and what we do in terms of shopping to save money and how it works for us. There are no wrong or right answers, just smart choices.
Over time you will gradually learn where you should and shouldn’t go in the grocery store or at least how to say no, I’m on a budget I need to buy this or that.
You may also substitute items in order to stick to your grocery budget to make it work. Nobody is perfect, heck we struggle with this part of our budget like many people do.
This is why the grocery game challenge was created to not only show you that we are like everyone else but to bring us all together to work as a team to get our budgets on track.
If you have just joined The Grocery Game Challenge 2014 get ready to dive deep into your grocery budget and learn just where you are spending, how much you are spending and what you are saving.
Feel free to read all the above posts that I linked to above which I feel are relevant to learning about the grocery budget and grocery shopping in general.
You’ve made a wise decision to take control of your grocery budget now show me your shops and let’s get saving!
Welcome to The Grocery Game Challenge Canada 2014!
-Mr.CBB
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