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. 

First Day Back to "Normal"

Today was the first day the boys went back to school.  It was also a work day for me.

Last night I had the boys find their back packs (they were gone for good, they were sure, assuring them that they could stay home longer.  Amazingly, S1 and I found them.  Also, we found the lunch boxes. One was hidden, I kid you not, behind a ten pound bag of potatoes.), pack their lunches, pick out their clothes and reacquaint themselves with soap.  Then we all snuggled on the couch, I got out a box of chocolates for the boys to pick through and I read aloud to them from a silly book we have been reading.

We all are really enjoying this book.

AND the main character is a girl....AND I did NOT pick it out (but I was pretty happy they did).

It was a good last night of vacation.

But this morning we woke up to temperatures colder than they have been all season - who wants to wake up to that? - and S4 literally bawled from the moment he sat down for breakfast until he sat down in the suburban.  We made it to school on time, braving roads of sheer ice, only to realize S3 forgot his book, S4 forgot his lunch AND his boots.

When I arrived home to get myself ready for work - and find all the lost items I would now be dropping off at school - my husband called to chat with me and ask me to go out and check our outdoor wood stove.  I did, got myself dressed in layers of clothes to ward off the cold, and headed to work.

As I was driving there, I realized something smelled burned just terrible.  I figured it was my coat from throwing wood in the fire, but it seemed worse than that.  I let out my hair from the bun it was in and then I realized....I had seriously singed my hair when I threw wood in the furnace.

The pharmacy was out of sudafed for my cold so I dropped the lunch and boots off, hurried into work and told Alicia my sad tale.  Because she is such a good friend, she painstakingly cut out just the single burnt hairs - as well as she could - so I wouldn't have to chop a huge chunk of my hair off.

My husband, who I had called so he would know my disgust rather than just sending him a text to tell him, laughed hysterically.  Alicia and I did not find it funny in the least.  Alicia painstakingly cut each individual piece of singed hair for me so I wouldn't be missing such a huge chunk.  When she was sure she had most of it she said, "I am so sorry.  Maybe heavy duty conditioner will help it?"

After work, I picked up the boys.  S1 was groaning over the pain of having homework again, S2 was starving and needed cereal post haste, S3 was jumping for joy to go home and S4 informed me he needed a little nap and time with his train tracks but he was NOT tired.

We had to stop at Weicks, the local grocery store, for sudafed for my now throbbing head.  But thanks to all the meth heads, they can't sell me any until the government gets some program done.  The pharmacist showed me the third best medicine for my sinus cold (since the second best was sold out) and wished me luck.

While I was doing all this, I told the boys to get themselves some bag juices for lunches.  I knew we were low.  S1 mentioned Little Debbie snacks and I just waved a "fine" to them.

As I was standing in line to pay I looked for the first time what they were having me buy.  Four boxes of pop tarts (real blueberries in two boxes, but chocolate fudge and s'mores in the other two), cloud cakes (think twinkies), chocolate chip muffins (for a healthy morning snack), zebra cakes, frosted fudge cakes and oatmeal cream pies - gotta have the healthy oatmeal.

But, just being glad we survived the day thus far, I paid and we headed home where S1 retreated to his new office spot in the landing upstairs, S2 devoured two bowls of cereal, S3 and S4 checked on the bunnies and are now building an elaborate train track.

I, my dear readers, am waiting for the third best cold medicine to kick in while I am  hunkered down in the laundry room with seriously singed hair.  Yes, the laundry room.  It's the warmest room in the house and I am terrible cold.  I also have been so on top of my laundry I have nothing soft to sit on.  But it's worth it to share with the world how my day went.

Oh, and S1 just found me.  I have to think through my foggy brain to figure out decimals.  Happy first day back to homework for me too.

How did YOUR first day back to "normal" go?