I Fed 25 People For Under $100-thanks to Kroger

My husband and I began a tradition last year of hosting a "summer kick-off" cookout/party for our friends. This year we decided to invite over 30 people and kick it up a notch. When 22 of them rsvp'd that they'd be attending, I started to think "Wow! That's going to be a lot of food." Luckily, we had enough food because we actually had 25 in attendance. We even ended up with leftovers to munch on through the week. My husband was shocked at how little I spent on food. He had estimated we'd spend $175 on groceries alone. When I told him our total bill was $129(after $13 in coupons) he couldn't believe it. That total included items for our own consumption so the true party food total was around $98 and some change. Kroger had some good deals that combined with coupons made for good savings. Here's some of the best deals I found:

Oscar Meyer Hot Dogs

Kroger had Beef dogs on sale for $2.50 and the "other" Oscar varieties for $2. I had a coupon through this promotion for free beef dogs so I picked one of those up and two of the $2 varieties. A nice coupon fairy had left a $1/2 behind for me so I ended up getting 3 packs of Oscar Meyer Hot Dogs for $3 or $1 each.

French's Mustard

I used a printable for 50 cents (which Kroger doubled) to get a 20 oz bottle of yellow mustard for 47 cents.

Kool-Aid

Kool-Aid packets were 15 cents each. I used a 50 cent off ten packets printable which Kroger doubled so I got 10 packets for 50 cents or a nickel each.

Crescent Rolls

I made an appetizer with a crescent roll base so I bought 3 cans at 2.28 each. I had a 75 cent off/3 printable. I also had a $2 off $10 of Kroger dairy (excluding cheese and milk) that was "spread" across the rolls, two cartons of sour cream and a dozen eggs. Final price: $1.92 each

Eggs

Kroger eggs were on sale for 98 cents. After the above mentioned dairy coupon, the price would be 65 cents.

And those Kraft printables! I saved on Mayo, cream cheese and Kraft singles with those. I also reduced my bill by buying Kroger brand cream cheese (I needed 5 bricks so I bought two Philly brand with my coupons and the remainder in Kroger brand) and Kroger brand Ranch dressing mix. That's a huge savings because Hidden Valley was $1.99 for one packet and a box of Kroger mix with 4 packets was only $2.49! I was also lucky that Kroger had Angus Ground Chuck on sale for $1.99 per lb.

So what did I serve? 3 appetizers: Tortilla Rollups, Veggie Pizza and Herbed Cheese Ball (bought ALL ingredients for each except for the fresh herbs from my garden)

Main course: Burgers, dogs, and chili with all the trimmings. Bought all ingredients except chili powder for chili.

Sides: Baked beans, loaded potato salad and ramen noodle slaw. Bought all ingredients except brown sugar and bacon for beans, and olive oil for slaw.

Desserts: Paula Deen's Lemon Blossoms and Kroger frozen cream puffs. Bought all ingredients except oil, and pudding mix for blossoms. Had a $1 coupon on the cream puffs.

Thanks to Money Saving Mom for pointing me toward so many great printables!