January 2023 Trader Joe's Grocery Haul

It was absolutely gorgeous out this morning.

Here's a close-up of that bent top tree. The colors this morning were just stunning.

Back in October, I went down to Portland and got an eye exam and ordered some glasses. They told me I needed bifocals. I went down the first part of December to pick them up and they were not anything that I could live with, so I had them redo them all together. I have one eye that is far-sighted. I have one eye that is near-sighted. I simply wanted one pair of reading glasses and one pair of driving glasses and I didn't need all that bifocal junk. Anyhow, having that ice storm, etc., we didn't make it down there until today.

Since we were headed toward Clackamas, we decided that we'd go to Trader Joe's and stock back up on wine.

I do not drink wine. I cook with it. Trader Joe's has that 2-buck chuck that I like. It tastes pretty decent and it works for whatever I want to cook it in.

There was a beautiful view of Mt. Hood going over the bridge from Vancouver into Portland.

After picking up my glasses, we headed down the freeway to Trader Joe's.

Trader Joe's has super cheap bottles of wine. They run $2.99 each. I picked up 5 different types: Pinot Grigio, Merlot, Shiraz, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Bob found his favorite ginger cookies. I can't believe how affordable the grape tomatoes were!

Of course, we couldn't forget the doggos!

I see tons of people talking about this seasoning blend. I thought I would give it a whirl. I'm not exactly sure as to what I will put it on, but I now have it.

This is another item that was incredibly affordable. These were $2.49 cents for a pound of these little Persian cucumbers. The ones I get at Safeway are very poor quality and start rotting within just a few days. These were very fresh.

I love those pea crisps that you find in the snack aisle. I thought I would give these a whirl. They are delicious!

Bob is the one that spied my very favorite tea blend. I'm enjoying it over ice right now.

Yuzu is one of those things that I've been wanting to try. Now I get to see what it tastes like.
In Oregon, you have to pay a 10-cent can deposit. Because I'm a Washingtonian, I don't get to turn these in. No matter. We'll just recycle them like we do with the other aluminum cans.

I planned out a month's worth of meals. I only planned out the dinners and it was only the main dish. I'm going to be making teriyaki chicken bowls. These will make a great side course with them.

Bob loves tamales. He picked these out for a hot quick lunch sometime.

I've been slowly amassing the ingredients to make Budae Jiggae, or Korean Army Base Stew. These rice cakes are one of the ingredients.

I also wound up buying some reusable produce bags. I'm so sick of bringing home produce in those plastic produce bags and they wind up in the trash. All the produce bags at Trader Joe's are compostable. I saved the one from my green bell peppers to reuse, as well.

So, there's my grand total of $61.48.

We really enjoyed going through Trader Joe's this morning.

Stocking Up On A Year's Worth Of Laundry Detergent

 I do not like going into stores. They are crowded. People don't respect personal space. I just have no love lost if I don't go into a grocery store again.

I do, however, like to stock up on items so that we are not constantly running to the store. I stock up on a lot of food items, but I don't stockpile them, if that makes sense.

I will mini-stockpile non-perishables that we use. I just did a toothpaste stock up today. I have enough Crest toothpaste to last me for a couple of years and I paid 87 cents per tube. Prices are going up. Costs are going through the roof. When I find a good deal, I take advantage of it. I bought 5 pounds of a butter at $2.47 per pound. I haven't seen a better deal than that for quite some time.

I am getting off track here, though.

I'm getting my washer and dryer hooked up and I wanted to make sure I was stocked up on laundry detergent.

I jumped onto Amazon to see what I could find. I ran into what I thought was a decent deal on Ecos laundry detergent. I could buy 2 100-ounce bottles for $19.47, if I wanted to do a subscribe and save. I always opt in to subscribe and save because it's a way to save some money on my Amazon order. I am also member of Prime. It's worth the money, for us, because we watch videos, I utilize Kindle Unlimited and we take advantage of free shipping.

I looked on Walmart's website and they just didn't have any decent deals worth mentioning, which is surprising because that is where I tend to find overall lower prices on cleaning supplies.

I jumped onto Fred Meyer's (Kroger) website and I found 75-ounce bottles of Purex Free & Clear laundry detergent, regularly $5.19, on sale for $4.99. There was also a coupon.

Here's what I viewed on Amazon. 200 loads of Ecos laundry detergent for $19.47, if I do subscribe and save. I don't look at the cost per ounce when I do these deals. It doesn't pertain to anything. I'm just trying to get the most bang for my buck. The less money that I have to pay out to a retailer, the happier I am about things.

Here's what I viewed on Fred Meyer's website. $4.99 for 57 loads. I was thinking at this time that I would be able to get a few more loads for a $20 bill if I bought these.

I looked at the coupon that was an option to use on the Fred Meyer Purex detergent. It states that I get $2.50 off of $4.99 (sale price), which brings each bottle of this particular size of detergent down to $2.49. Better still, I was able to use this coupon up to 5 times in a single transaction.

Some quick calculation and I placed my order for pickup this afternoon. I held my breath that they had them in stock.

So, I multiplied 57 x 5. That equals 285 loads. 5 bottles of this, using a $2.50 coupon on each one, is a total of $12.45. This versus 200 loads for $19,47. As far as I'm concerned, they are comparable detergents. I've never used Ecos brand, but I've definitely used Purex.

So, we got home a little while ago with my 5 75-ounce bottles of Purex laundry detergent that will definitely last me a year or more.
I'm good to do and we'll have clean clothes and I won't need to run to the store for laundry detergent unless I find another deal like this.


***I am not compensated by any of the companies or products mentioned above.