saving without coupons

even if you don't use coupons, there are still ways to save on groceries. Here is one way I saved this week:
I decided to make a yummy-sounding recipe from the back of an extra package of shredded cheese I had leftover from the baseball party (forgot to put it out for the chili. sorry party people!) and I had all the ingredients needed for this recipe already in the house except for a bag of baby spinach, so I added spinach to my grocery list yesterday. I didn't have a coupon and I wasn't sure if it would be on sale, but I really wanted to make this particular recipe. As I was standing in front of the bagged salads at Vons, I found no baby spinach on sale and the cheapest bag was $3.79. I looked to my left and saw that the salad mixes (the kinds with dressing and other toppings included) were on sale for $3 so I picked up a strawberry fields spinach salad mix, peered through the clear plastic to make sure that only spinach was in the main portion of the bag and added it to my cart. When I got home, I opened the outer bag, removed the smaller bag with dressing and toppings in it and added the spinach to my recipe. Today for snack I will be giving Little Miss some freeze dried strawberries and I added the sliced almonds to my oatmeal this morning. Tomorrow I plan to use the strawberry vinaigrette on some leftover fruit salad to make it a little more interesting. So, for 79 cents less than I could have paid, I got three extra bonus items! Sometimes all it takes is a little flexibility.
And for those of you who think 79 cents isn't worth it, just small choices like that every shopping trip can really add up. Also, this salad choice was just part of my total savings for the trip of $26; 19 of those dollars coming from coupons.