Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Come With Me On A Tour of WINCO My Favorite Grocery Store

Dear blogging friends. I thought I'd take you on a tour of my grocery store. Will you please come with me and afterwards will you show me how you shop? I'd love to know. WINCO stands for Washington, Idaho, Nevada, California and Oregon. They will take manufacturer's coupons, but not Internet coupons.
The fruit and vegetables are clean and fresh
The eggs are fresh and priced right.
I've always liked the meat.


Seasonal or holiday food is lined up at the entry for convenience
Cereals, baking mixes, tang, tea bags
Pretzels, flour, cornmeal, sunflower seeds, nuts, honey
Spices, pasta, rice and legumes. Where are all the people? I shop at 7:30 am!!! I have the store to myself!!
Dried fruit. I love these craisins!!!
More dried fruit including figs
Vine ripe tomatoes
These prices are available without coupons
I honestly don't have time for clipping coupons. I will occasionally use them though.



Tomato sauce .24 cents a can for the small size
Often times WINCO places a price comparison note like this
The milk is fresh and always tastes good.
I'm a happy homemaker doing my best to budget and WINCO really helps.
I got more than a week's worth of groceries for $128.00, that's feeding six people. Not included in the picture was two gallons of milk, two cans of albacore tuna, two pounds of ground beef and a gallon of vinegar, also my canned goods and two cans of frosting for the cakes.
Three of them are hungry teenagers who eat a lot.
If you live in the Pacific NW you need to know about a store called WINCO. Other helps for my budget: Gardening
Freezing what I've grown
Canning what I've grown. (These photos are before my recent weight gain. I think I was 5 pounds under in the above pic.).

Thanks for coming with me. Please post about your budgeting and grocery shopping. I'd love to hear all about it. Have a pleasant day ~ Kathi
"The Lord is my helper."

28 comments:

Rose of Sharon said...

What a cute post Kathi! I love it! So colorful and cheerful. The pictures of you are so darling! I love the one when you are cooking and when you are in the pantry, you are so pretty!

I LOVE Winco and am so happy I have one near by. The prices are amazing and totally worth having to bag the groceries yourself. Sometimes it is really crowded, so I try to go at off times like from early morning up until 4:00. To help out our food budget, Eric hunts and we get elk and deer, which we have a a lot of it processed into hamburger. Also, Eric gets lots of fish. Last year we bought Grayson's pig and had it processed, so for a year the only meat I had to buy was chicken, which really helped out the budget. I make strawberry jam each summer and I make enough to last one full year.

I hope you have a beautiful day Kathi!

Love Sharon

A Romantic Porch said...

Oh Kathi, I'm applauding! Grocery shopping is a hard job for me. I really like your store. All the dried fruit and fresh vegetables look so yummy. You did great on $128.00. Have a wonderful day dear. You look so pretty in your pictures. xoRachel

luvmy4sons said...

Great stuff! Budgeting is so key with a large family! Our store that is really cheap is Aldi. I can't get everything there so I have to follow up some place else. You have to bag your own groceries and use empty boxes from around the plac or pay ten cetns a bag! You have to put a quarter into the cart and you get it back when you return the cart-keeps the parking lot clean! Well, your post has made me hungry! Thanks for your lovely comment on my blog. I truly get peace when I take things to God. He knows my son's learning disabilities better than me and He called me to home educate him, so God will equip me. Sometimes though I argue with Him about my ability to do so! LOL!

candy said...

Loved this post! :)
You are so adorable! :)
Hugs,
Candy

Deb said...

Kathi! I'm floored, I can't believe the savings, a gallon of milk here is 4.00. Albacore tuna is 2.74 for the large can, don't know what you spent for yours, not much I'm sure with all you got at that price. You quite a shopper, don't think you could take any tips from me. And the 5 pounds could'nt have hurt you, you look lovely. Deb

Joyfull said...

I loved the trip to the store with you! You are a smart shopper, I wish we had a WINCO around here. Most of my shopping is done at Wal Mart with meat purchases at Winn-Dixie and buy one get one free goodies at Publix! There are teenagers also in my home, so budgeting is a must. Loved the pictures, thanks for sharing.

tincanlily said...

Thanks for the tour of your local grocery store. We have a fantastic grocery store here in RI called Dave's Market. Their prepared foods are out of this world but a little on the pricey side. Not a big fan of grocery shopping. It may have to do with the fact I am not a big fan of cooking. Baking yes, the rest not so much.

Charlotte said...

Looks like a very good place to shop. Usually I shop at Fry's. I think I'm not as savy a shopper as you are. But we have one thing in common. I've gained about 5 pounds too.
Thanks for visiting my blog and for all the lovely comments you leave there.

Sarah Vertner said...

Hi! loving your blog... linked from my friend (and yours I think) Brenna (expressions of Grace). I'm in the NW and LOVE love love my Winco too. Have you tried the dried strawberry cranberries?? - YUMMO!
I have 4 littles - 6 mo, 2,4 and 6, and I find Winco to be a great place to learn... they love to help bag. And a corn dog from the deli counter to munch on while we shop is a treat for them.
I'm also getting into my 4th year of gardening and will plan on doing lots of freezing and canning this summer. If you have suggestions for a first time canner... maybe a blog topic??

Things I'm doing to save on the grocery bill is avoiding individually packaged stuff and trying to do more from scratch. No more 6 oz yogurts - 64 oz and flavoring myself (like a package of instant pudding). Experimenting with recipes for homemade granola and an apple cinnamon oatmeal mix (like the instant but more than individual servings and WAY cheaper). We used to have fruit snacks and granola bars for each kid, every day... lots of individual packaging in the trash and more money spent than need be.
Great topic - awesome pictures - thanks!

Sarah

Unknown said...

Thanks for coming to my Blog and thanks so much for your kind comments about my special daughter Sherry . You blog is so nice . Love you store pics . I'll read some more later , time for bed . Mary

Gina said...

Kathi- I Winco. I have to drive 35 minutes for it, but I once-a-month cook so it's so worth the trip. I pay a little more for somethings. I buy yoplait yogurt for about 50 cents as oposed to 25-30 cents for the store stuff. But yoplait is yummier and smaller, and if the throw away 1/2 of the carton of the cheaper, bigger stuff it's not really cheaper,is it now? I did my once a month and spent $350. I buy bread from the bakery outlet. I HATE store jam so I always make my kids pick me a lot of berries in the summer. The plusses to that are manifold. My girls get to help me make jam and they all get to see where our food comes from and that someone has to labor to bring it to our table. But perhaps the best of all is that my "babies" get to sit in the feilds with the sun shining on thier heads making thier hair hot, and eat all the berries they could possibly stuff into themselves FOR FREE. And they stay out of the berries we bring home for long enough for me to process them!
I have to buy milk and cerial every week along with fresh produce- I have a brown thumb. The only thing I manage to grow is weeds!
The upside is that when we get out of the pool, our dinner is in the oven just turning on and we can come home and finish it up and eat at a reasonable hour.

Cathy said...

I shop at Winco too--in Idaho, but I didn't know that's what their name stood for. Cool! My favorite is their bulk food dept. I buy everything I can there, because it's sooooo much cheaper! I can get a pound of yeast in the bulk foods for less than I could pay for just a few ounces in a jar. Your shopping budget sounds just like mine, only ours is for 5 people. Gotta be creative and get the best prices!

Cathy :)

jen said...

Awesome post-great idea! I think this is neat to see-thanks.

Kathi said...

Jen, Thank you for stopping by. I could not go to your blog. It won't let me. I hope you come back for a visit, and can figure out what's causing the problem. Hugs, Kathi

Terrie's Lil' Piece of Serenity said...

Kathi, Just another thing we have in common. I love being a homemaker. I enjoyed your trip to the grocery store. I wish we had a store like that. You are just so.. darn cute!! Have a great day!
Hugs, Terrie

PS. We don't know how Sammie hurt his back. It's a doxie thing! He is getting better, He has to be confined for another two weeks.

Heather said...

Oh, I wish we had a WinCo! Unfortunately, in my small town in the midwest, we have HyVee. Not the cheapest place in town. Fareway, our other grocery store is a little cheaper. My daughter works there, so she likes us to shop there, of course. I prefer Walmart. Although, I have to travel 45 mins to get to one. I can shop at Walmart for approximately $250 a month. It's GREAT! That feeds all 4 of us girls. We eat a lot of spaghetti, white pasta, hamburger...things you can s-t-r-e-t-c-h:)

What a fun post!!! Thanks for taking us shopping with you:)

Love and blessings...

j said...

Your teens look so COOL! Like the way you took this photo.

Jennifer

Kelly said...

I am going to have to find what is comaprable to a WINCO out here.....the basics I will buy at Target, and the others well I guess it depends where it is and what it is. We have nothing at all like that organic section in your store with all the bulk items, shopping is very difficult for me. And I end up spending way too much, in fact I think that is where most of it goes. I need to find a good store, I live in the a big city so I try to go shop out by my Aunts where the tax is a TON lower. I will let you know what I find, this was a great post, I learn so much from you!!!!

Love,
Kelly

Simply Heart And Home said...

It is a shame that the N doesn't stand for New Jersey! Your grocery store looks like Disneyland! It is so well lit and everything looks like it is in its place. And the prices are great!

Thank you for taking us on a guided tour of your grocery store. :)

Blessings,

Gina

christa jean said...

Winco ROCKS!!! Especially when you're trying to be frugal! I've been trying to buy much of my snacks from the bulk section and all my baking goods, it has helped a lot! Thanks for being great at what you do and encouraging us to be great too! ;-D

nannykim said...

We have nothing like that near me!! WOW!!!

Stacy said...

Those prices are amazing. I have nevr seen a store with so many despensers like that! Ours doesn't have any i don't think o_0 I wish i could give you a glimpse of how i usually do the grocery thing, but i havent bought grocerys in 8 months o_0 When we move out i will be sure to post my first grocery trip =)

Anonymous said...

You are too cute! :) You are SUCH a mom...and remind me so much of myself. :) I love that! I have never heard of WinCo, but I sure wish we had one around here. We have a place that is comparable, but smaller called Erie County Farms. They have mostly fresh produce and meats, but at prices that our budget can handle! I just see these two stores as another "small" way God gives us stay-home moms wisdom to frugally and effectively take care of our families.

Kathi said...

Thank you sweet Sarah, for you kind comments. I'm so blessed that we met each other. You are a wonderful wife and mother. God has blessed you in many ways. Happy Friday. Hugs, Kathi

Shelldell said...

Great minds think alike we don't shop any where else. WINCO is always cheaper, the quality is good and now that we are empty nesters we still have guest come and stay with us so we still feed the masses.
We have 11 raised beds in our garden, lots of fruit trees, grapes, Kiwi, figs, blueberries bushes, and other good things to put up.
I love God's creation and the food he provides for us every day.

Elena said...

I love Winco! I didn't know what the name stood for, so that was cool finding that out. I also shop at Food4Less. It is a regional chain down here. It is on my side of town and the prices are as good as Winco. I just like Winco's layout better:)

Anonymous said...

We have Winco too but, with 8 people to feed and our diet, I end up buying most of our food through co-ops or Costco.I do buy several odds and ends there for certain recipes, but don't find their fresh food items to be as nice as yours. P.S. I wish I could say I only had 5 pounds to lose!

Anonymous said...

Great Blog! I work for WinCo and love the company and the stores. A little info for you. Though WinCo originally was in those states, the name actually stands for Winning Company, as the company history states, and was named by an employee during a contest. Most stores DO accept internet coupons, as long as they can be scanned. Check with your store manager to see if they do or not. Due to some fraud not all stores are able to.

WinCo is great! We love customers like you and hope you continue to find everything you need/want in our store and in LIFE!

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