I think Albertsons has the best sales on things like cereal and other dry goods. Fred Meyer tends to have good deals on more natural food type stuff (a couple of weeks ago a bunch of their bulk beans and rice were 40% off). Safeway is hit or miss for sales. QFC rarely has good deals, but sometimes surprises me and you can get good quality meat there for a good price when on sale. I love Trader Joes for expeller pressed cooking oil, fancy cheeses, and some of their produce. You can also sometimes find good meat deals at trader joes. I've never been to Winco. I shop at Champion Grocery Outlet in Issaquah for things like dry beans, wheat berries, etc, as they seem to have pretty good prices. Sometimes I score good deals on other things there too (like organic coffee for $4/lb), but it's hit or miss.

Yes, there are TONS of stores around here! It's crazy! Though with 2 littles and being pregnant I rarely go to more than 1-2 a week. I just can't spend the time or energy, even if it would save a few more $$$.

I consider myself an expert on getting the best grocery deals here in Eugene, Oregon. I won't compromise on quality, so to afford it I have to shop around. The best thing about Albertsons is that they accept competitor's coupons. Safeway almost always has coupons in their weekly (in Wednesday's paper down here) and Fred Meyer has excellent coupons every week in the Sunday paper. (at least once per month, you can get 1/2 gallon of milk, chocolate milk, or orange juice for only $1!! No limit. I usually take all these coupons to Albertsons so I can get these deals plus the best sale prices there. Our Albertsons are always clean and they have great produce. I don't buy meat there. Fred Meyer definitely has the best natural food section at the best prices.

I agree that you will find Albertsons to be the best prices, but their meat and produce are questionable. We no longer have an Albertsons within 20 miles, so Safeway is our closest bet next to Costco. I still wish we had an Aldi's though, and Winco is too far for us to go where we are at (about 35 miles).

I hope you are enjoying Washington and feeling settled in. I love it here though I'm farther in the country than you are (I'd avoid anything along I-5 between Olympia and Marysville just becuase of the traffic!)

I'm afraid I can't help you, as I live in TX. I just think it's interesting how we get used to the stores that we have! Of your list of "usual stores", we only have one-Walgreens! I've never seen a Winco, Grocery Outlet, Trader Joe's, Rite-aid, Fred Meyer, or QFC. We used to have an Albertson's, but it went out of business, probably because HEB is so popular. I guess if I ever moved out of TX, I'd be asking the same question as you! :)

I used to live in the Seattle area. For the best savings find a WINCO. It's like an enormouse ALDI only cleaner and better organized. They also have much more variety than ALDI. Before gas prices went up I drove 20 mi. once a month to the nearest WINCO and saved $100 a month on my grocery bill.Our grocery bill is fairly high since there are 7 of us and all of us are one one of two different spcialized diets. Most of my savings comes from condiments (including p.butter and jelly), snacks, and produce. Sometimes they have realy good meat sales as well. The things I don't save big on are comparatively priced, but you save time and gas by not having to go from one store to another. Hope you find one and this helps.

I can feed a family of me, and three kids(husbands a truck driver) on less than $80 a week and yes that includes diapers and households. My husband is amazed. I shope at walmart. I find that the walmart brand is usually the cheapest. Today I brought a weeks of groceries for $50 I got $5.00 for 4lbs of hamburger. my kids are not big meat eaters so this is all we need, usually, I will halv a recipie. we are not big eaters. there is a website that you can go on that will give you all the flyers in your area and whats for sale. menuesformoms.com. I am saving to buy new furniture for the house and that is why I do that. Plus I found that if I planned bif menues, we would not eat and it went to waste.

I live in southwest Washington (practically on the border), but I can give you my input anyway. :)

Grocery Outlet is fantastic... but they're really hit and miss. I often don't find things that are on my list, but once in a while I find something that is and it's WAY cheaper! I mainly go to Winco for the majority of my groceries though. They are SUUUUPER cheap, but their chicken is questionable... and their produce downright sucks. It's super cheap, but if you don't eat it in a day or two it goes bad (it's not good quality anyway even if you eat it in time!). I don't go to Safeway except once in a great while when they have something on sale that I need, but that's probably once every 6 months. Everything is cheaper at Winco. For meat and produce, I go to Fred Meyer. They have the best produce, a good selection of organic produce as well, and it's not too bad in price. A little more expensive than Winco, but it lasts a week instead of a day, and it tastes better. And it's always local. They also have a great selection of organic foods for pretty cheap, too, whereas Winco doesn't have a very big selection of organic foods (produce or otherwise). Fred Meyer's health food section is excellent, too.

I shop at Winco, Grocery outlet, Trader JOes (cheaper than Whole foods I believe) and Costco. I buy my TP, frozen chicken and salmon from Costco. I buy yummy little bags of potatoes from Trader Joes as well as their Peanut Butter, yogurt and ketchup and occasionally a few other things. I go to Grocery outlet first to see what I can find, then hit Winco for the rest. Once you learn prices, you'll know what to buy where. I find that Winco has the best deals. I haven't shopped at a Top Foods in a long time, but it is probably pretty compareable.

I spend $180 every two weeks... actually we just upped it to $210 every two weeks for grocery, household products, toiletries, for a family of four (and my girls are 13 and 10).

I think you can do it on what you have..

We have Safeway, Fred Meyer and Costco up here... and that's about it. We do a Costco run about once a month, and weekly trips to Safeway (because it is closest). And we spend about $100 a week for just the three of us, but that is the way it is up here, especially if you try to buy any of it organic.

I do like Fred Meyer's natural foods selections, so do try them once or twice.

~Elizabeth in Alaska

Here are a few more interesting places- Country Farms on Hwy-99 is a nice produce stand open from mid-spring until November. Cash and Carry is another bulk store but it has some interesting stuff and as the name says you need cash. Try Business Costco also on Hwy-99 at least a couple times, they cater more to small business and have different things than regular Costco, don't miss the kitchen utensils. If you shop at TOP watch pull dates. Albertson's around here will accept up to ten competitor coupons per trip,they are my snack and cereal store. There are a few Super Walmarts around -Marysville up north has one as does Federal Way down south. Garage sale season tends to be limited to summer because of rain but some communities like Mill Creek and Mountlake Terrace have certain weekends each year when community wide garage sales are held. If you can get a copy of your local Enterprize newspaper, usually in your library's lobby you will find out many of these type of community happenings. Fred Meyer has good loose-leaf tea in the bulk spices.
-Kattmaxx

The WinCo bulk section is great. They have a good selection of spices, nothing specialty or Asian, but all the basics. They have lots of whole grains and flours as well as organic flours, sugar, whole oats, etc. You can also buy some beans, oats and flour in 25 lb bags. The bulk honey runs $32/gallon. The produce is fine, but they don't carry much organic produce. They do carry the best tasting organic milk in the area but Fred Meyers has the best price on organic milk ($1/gallon less than Costco). Azure (www.azurestandard.com) has better bulk prices than winco on honey (wich is also raw), peanut butter (which is also organic) and many of the grains, flours, and rice. Definitely buy TP at Costco. We also purchase our coffee beans at Costco (which starbucks will grind for you if you purchase the Starbucks brand or the Kirkland brand that is roasted by Starbucks). They also have larger bags of some grains. Oh, and the best price on bananas, 1/2 and 1/2, whole grain high fructose-free bread, digital phot printing and butter.

There are two Wincos south of Seattle. One is just south of Renton on hwy 167. The other is in Federal Way off of hwy 18.

We also like PCC Natural Markets, but they aren't near us. When I was in seminary and traveling to Seattle I regularly shopped at PCC for more specialized things and for a good lunch! But, now we buy our special laundry soap at Freddies.

I think that's it. Oh, Safeway and Costco usually have the best prices on Satsuma oranges!

We just moved too, and now live in a place that has one grocery store - Albertsons and it is no where near where I live. The only other place to shop is Super WalMart and it is on the edge of town opposite from my edge of town. I'm not use to this and I'm not going to like it much.

There are certain things I buy when I go to Trader Joe's.

--Their hormone-free milk is fairly reasonable ($3.69 per gallon here).
--I love their hummus which is also pretty reasonable ($3.49 for 16 ounces).
--Their pasta imported from Italy is cheap (99 cents).
--Their frozen corn (supersweet corn) is absolutely the best. It is so sweet. I cannot buy frozen corn anywhere else b/c it's so good. It's 1.29 per bag.
--Their petite frozen peas are good (1.29), too as are the broccoli florets and spinach.
--I know you make your own tomato sauce, but if you run out their tomato basil sauce is great for $1.69. ---I also buy their hormone-free cream cheese.
It's a great store for certain products!

Glad you made it there safely. Sounds like you are doing well!

Michele in Northern Virginia

At Costco, we buy frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts (and thighs) in vacuum-sealed packages. When they have Bounty paper towels that are *not* select-a-size, we buy them there.

Around here (North Carolina), Trader Joe's has the cheapest nuts and dried fruits, but the store here isn't very big and I haven't been very impressed. But I drive past it going to and from work, so it's not out of my way. :)

I LOVE my Winco. I have been going for about 17 years. Many years when we lived in Oregon. When we moved to Fresno there wasn't one, and I felt so lost. The other discount food store don't even come close to Winco. Good priced, selection, very clean and organized. The clerks are friendly most of the time. Finally a store opened up here about 4 years ago. I was sooo happy! Next year they will open one up down the street from me. And a CVS right next to it!! I will be so spoiled!!
Safeway and Fred Meyer are good to watch for great sales. And FM has great clearances on clothes and household, so watch out for their additional 50-75% off clearance prices. I miss them, too. I really should be paid by Winco because I am always telling people to go there. I have to every store around, always looking for great food deals, as money has always been very tight. Winco is awesome!!

Melanie

Winco is the BEST. Sandwich meat is super cheap (we use their ham to make fried ham for breakfast-yum!) the produce tends to be priced well, and most importantly... bulk foods! so many, so cheap! i get spices, flour, oatmeal, etc there.

Trader Joe's carries both organic frozen veggies and non-organic. The organic ones are slightly higher in price.

Michele in Northern Virginia

I too love WinCo! They came to our area and since then, I will rarely shop elsewhere. Although, sometimes the produce is less than fresh, then I go and buy it at another store. I've foiund that WinCo's prices are much better than Albertsons or Vons.

Blessings to you and your family in your new home! I've moved many, many times with small children and though it can be a challenge, the Lord provides! Just keep your cheerful attitude....it definitely blesses those around you!