Spartan Sale

Once a year, we load up on THE sale of the year.

Spartan brand is a brand is a local brand here.  Stores are "Spartan Stores" or not.  Spartan is your brand name like a Walmart brand.  And once a year, they have a huge "Stock Up Sale".  We wait all  year for this sale.

I have been watching for the sale this year because this year, our garden did not grow.  For years - okay, since we moved here - we have been the place you would call to get tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini, summer squash, strawberries, etc.  This year we had asparagus.  

Yes, just asparagus.

The drought hit us so very hard.  It hit my friends hard.  We have been visiting our town's community garden wagon for free produce, my friends have given us what they have too much of and some blessed person dropped us off a bin of tomatoes on our front porch on a day we weren't home.  I canned those tomatoes so fast!  They were beautiful.

Grocery prices have been going up so high.  My grocery bill is higher than ever and I am attempting to buy as wisely as possible.

I wasn't sure how the Spartan Sale would look this year, but God bless the people at Spartan who put this sale on every year because this sale is a lifesaver for our family.

Yes, really.  This sale helps us more than I could ever put into words.

We buy all our canned vegetables for the entire year at this sale.  Once that is purchased and put away, we load up on as much soups (cream of mushroom, tomato), beans (chili, kidney), baking needs (flour, sugar, cooking oil) and anything else we can cram into our tiny house.  Jake built me a pantry largely with this sale and my canning in mind.

The sale is once a year for one week.  And as I was afraid, they have severely scaled back the sale this year.  But they still put the sale on and for that, this mama thanks them with a full heart.

So, if you are looking to stock your house, your church pantry, a food bank...here you go....

Here are the best prices I have found for my little local area.....

I looked at three stores...Family Fare, Hardings and a little family owned store Weicks.

Family Fare is the largest of all the stores and is located all over the Grand Rapids area. If you purchase canned vegetables here, they are buy six, get six with a limit of 24 cans of each variety.

Hardings is a smaller version of Family Fare, still a Spartan store.  If you are looking to really really really stock up on vegetables, this is the store to visit.  For every two cans you purchase, you get three free and there is no limit. 

Weicks has the same sale prices as Family Fare, buy six, get six, limit 24.

For canned soups (tomato, cream of mushroom) all stores are the same - four cans for $3.00.

If you are looking for canned fruit, all three stores are the same - buy ten for $10.00.

Family Fare shows three pound bags of russet potatoes at 10 bags for $10.00.  Hardings and Weicks did not show potatoes for sale, that does not mean they are not for sale.

Shredded cheese and brick cheese is three packages for $5.00 at Family Fare, they are buy one get one free at Hardings and Weicks.

While Family Fare has the most to show for sale (I looked at their flyer on line), Weicks is equal to them on nearly every price.  On butter, Weicks is one pound for $1.99 and the other stores are $2.29 or $2.50.  You can freeze butter.  I'll probably buy twenty pounds of butter.

That's not a joke.

There is something that puts me at peace knowing that the pantry is packed this time of the year.  If we get snowed in (keep in mind, I live all of 1.5 miles from a grocery store), I know we can survive on kidney beans and canned corn.  Not survive well, but still.

I literally worry over food costs and feeding my boys.  This is one of my biggest concerns.  I joke about our grocery bill and my growing boys but this is seriously one of my hugest stresses.  This sale is sets my mind at ease a bit...even if the drought seems to have effected the prices by quite a bit.

If you care to read on, I'll list what I found (quickly) as I looked over the flyers for the best prices.  Just because Weicks and Hardings aren't listing all the same items for sale, it does not mean that they are not on sale, they just can't list it all in their tiny flyers.  But this will give you some sort of starting point for price watching.

Go to Family Fare for....

Tuna - 69 cents

Sugar - 2.79

Soup - 4 for $3

Lunch cheese - $1.97 a pack

Pasta sauce - 4 for $5

Ravioli - 10 for $10

Cooking Oil - 2.99

Orange Juice - 2.47

Oatmeal - 1.77

These prices were only in the FF flyer - 

Ketchup - 1.69

String Cheese - 2.97

Shredded cheese is 3 for $5

3 lb Potato bags - 10 for $10

canned mushrooms - 4 for $3

Chili and Kidney beans - 12 for $8

Ham (like for a dinner) is $1.99 a pound

Watch at Family Fare to make sure that you are paying a particular price of a price using your Yes Points.  There is a big difference if you use your Yes Points, but if you don't, some prices are higher. 

Go to Harding's for....

Vegetables - Buy 2, get 3 - NO LIMIT

Soup - 4 for $3

Chicken Broth - 2 for $3

Old fashioned dinner ham - .$0.99 a pound

Smoky links - Buy 1, Get 1

Go to Weicks for.....

Sugar - 2.79

BUTTER - $1.99

Soup - 4 for $3

Cooking oil - 2.99

Bread - 4 loaves for $5

Orange juice - $2.47

Cheese - buy one, get one

Cream cheese - $1.27

Bottled juice - $2.29

Dinner ham - $1.99

Mac and Cheese - Buy 6, get 6

Pasta - 10 pkgs for $10

Jam - 2.99

Smoky links - Buy 1, Get 1 ($3.49)

And check back here to see if I update this post through the week or if YOU know of a great deal this week or a great price on something PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

Thank you, Spartan stores, for this once a year sale!!!

A good stock up pantry post is by the Pioneer Woman, just giving you her "must be in the pantry" items if you want an idea to look at.