Nate Berkus Show: A Week Worth of Groceries for $10

Gosh, I wished I had the TLC channel.  Nate Berkus had this super great episode on Saving on Fashion, Food and Home Decor.  And they put a really useful clip up of the one of the KrazyCouponLadies buying a  week worth of groceries for $10.  I was a little skeptical about the budget because NYC is more difficult to get those crazy grocery deals than the Midwest but after watching the clip, I think its some what doable for New Yorker's cooking for two people.

Tips from the clip:

• Tuna is cheap protein, she got hers for $.50 buy waiting for a sale and then using a coupon.  

*Normally, in NYC your not going to find a good coupon for Tuna its rare.  But we do have occasional sales at Grocery stores, and surprisingly Drug Stores one that stands out is CVS.

• Pasta ..wait for good sale and match your coupons to them. She got hers for $.25. 

*This is very true even in NYC you just have to wait for the right sale.  Right now, even Whole Foods offers the opportunity to buy Pasta at $.50 with coupons.

• Buy whole chicken because its much cheaper, and you get a lot more for your money.  Not to mention you can use the bones for Chicken Stock.

*This works if you can buy it on a good sale.  But Chicken Breast goes on sale more often so might not be worth the extra work.

• Buy your Grocery Staples like eggs and milk from convenience store because these stores will make them doorbuster deals for you to enter the store.

*Ocassionally, Grocery Stores will have sales on eggs.  But its more likely Target, Drugstores and Ethnic Grocery Stores will have more sales or all around cheaper prices.

• Buy Fresh Veggies, Herbs in small amounts from Farmers Market and Grocery Store.

*NY Farmers markets are super expensive. But ethnic Grocery Stores are great sources for cheaper Veggies.

• Potatoes are cheap, she got a 5lb bag without coupons for $1. 

*$1.50 is about as low as I've ever found it.

• Look out for Weekend Doorbuster Sales (Fri-Sun) for some great deals

So very true!  Get there early if your going for Doorbusters because these sales don't do rain checks.

Conclusion
If you get creative with where you shop, like turning to great dollar stores like Cheap Jacks this task is doable.  You can regularly find bottled peppers for $.99 there and breads at $1.29.  The thing to remember is that this was a segment to meet a one time $10 budget. We are not on a one week $10 deadline.  I personally would never buy a little bit of rice, when buying a big bag is so so much cheaper.  Depending on your lifestyle, you have many days to shop to build a pantry and find good deals.  And what I liked about a lot of the items is most of the times you can buy in bulk and have long shelf life.

Watch Clip