2013 Grocery Challenge

[marvholly]

Strange. Two weeks in a row and nothing on the Aldi ad I want.

[rubyslippers]

By using coupons, catalinas, mperks, UPs, price matching, freebies and overage, I got $176.83 worth of groceries for $26.08.  I shopped at Kroger, Meijer, Rite Aid and Walmart and was in and out for the most part.  DH was looking for a part for his gas grill at Meijer, so that took
us a bit longer.  I have $7.00 in Meijer catalinas to use next week which is also the last week for double coupons there.

Starting tomorrow at Rite Aid, $25.00 Kohls, Sears and Bass Pro giftcards are giving a $5.00 UP reward, limit of 2 total gift cards per household according to next week's ad.

[marvholly]

The ONE independent store I do not get the ad for and my local bloggers do NOT cover had raspberries for 0.99/small pkg. That is a decnet in season price here. SOOO glad I did NOT indulge at my big fruit/veg market where they were $1.50. Suspect I will go back before the ad ends and get a few more.

Had MAJOR issues getting the FREE milk at Meijer. Used self check-out. It did NOT come off on the bill even though I had entered my mPerks info. Called the attendant over & she had NO clue (I avoid this gal if I can). She called CS who told her to enter as a vendor coupon. I MAJOR objected since it IS a store coupon and a vendor coupon costs MUCH more in sales tax. Eventually (I did suggest paging the store mgr) it worked out but WAAAAY too much work/drama/time involved. Next time I will just leave the ENTIRE order & file an online complaint w/ corp. There is NOTHING I need to desperately to do a repeat of that experience.

[dancinmama]

Another killer deal at The Grocery Outlet.

Yesterday I scored (14) 12 oz. packages of Schwarz Italian Sausage.  The package says, "Pork raised with no antibiotics and 100% Vegetarian Feed.  No added MSG.  No nitrates or nitrites except for those which occur natually in sea salt.  Ingredients:  Pork, water, and contains 2% or less of vinegar, seal salt, fennel, pepper, spices, garlic, dextrose, and spice extract (from red pepper).  I could pronounce every single one!!

They were already reduced to $1.50/pkg. but the best sell-by date was last Wednesday, so if they would reduce them further and they did!!    AND my fav - they came vacuum sealed for long-term storage without worry of freezer burn.

[MonicaLee5186]

***HOUND ALERT***

If anyone has extras of the $1.50/1 energizer batteries I have a rain check to get them for $1.88 a package, making them only .38 a package.  I would really appreciate any extras if anyone has them to spare!


Thanks

[FreeSalsa]

Aug 14, 2013 9:40:23 GMT -5 saveinla said:

Aug 14, 2013 8:41:53 GMT -5 FreeSalsa said:

Having trouble with my e-mail today so I'm posting my Sprouts list here, in hopes of retrieving it later.

Cashew butter 3.99
Oats 69c
larabar 99c - $1/2 store Q
Organic Red Onion $.88/lb
Rosie’s Organic Chicken Drumsticks $1.99/lb
Organic Valley Milk $5.59 (96 oz) -$.35/1 Real California Milk Coupon =$5.24 - .50 store Q
Cascadian Farm Cereal or Bars $2.50 -$1/2 Cascadian Farm Sprouts Coupon -$.75/1 Cascadian Farm Cereal or Bars Printable =$1.25

FreeSalsa,

Can you give me the details on the Oats for 69c?

Thanks

Bulk bins.  69c/lb.  They usually have the quick, slow, and whole oats.

[FreeSalsa]

Aug 18, 2013 13:10:15 GMT -5 dancinmama said:

Another killer deal at The Grocery Outlet.

Yesterday I scored (14) 12 oz. packages of Schwarz Italian Sausage.  The package says, "Pork raised with no antibiotics and 100% Vegetarian Feed.  No added MSG.  No nitrates or nitrites except for those which occur natually in sea salt.  Ingredients:  Pork, water, and contains 2% or less of vinegar, seal salt, fennel, pepper, spices, garlic, dextrose, and spice extract (from red pepper).  I could pronounce every single one!!

They were already reduced to $1.50/pkg. but the best sell-by date was last Wednesday, so if they would reduce them further and they did!!    AND my fav - they came vacuum sealed for long-term storage without worry of freezer burn.

Nice work on the pork!  So what was the final price?

[saveinla]

Aug 17, 2013 12:35:17 GMT -5 rubyslippers said:

By using coupons, catalinas, mperks, UPs, price matching, freebies and overage, I got $176.83 worth of groceries for $26.08.  I shopped at Kroger, Meijer, Rite Aid and Walmart and was in and out for the most part.  DH was looking for a part for his gas grill at Meijer, so that took
us a bit longer.  I have $7.00 in Meijer catalinas to use next week which is also the last week for double coupons there.

Starting tomorrow at Rite Aid, $25.00 Kohls, Sears and Bass Pro giftcards are giving a $5.00 UP reward, limit of 2 total gift cards per household according to next week's ad.

The Kohls GC is a good deal and Staples has 10$ off 30$ Qs printing all last week.

[saveinla]

Aug 18, 2013 21:10:44 GMT -5 FreeSalsa said:

Aug 14, 2013 9:40:23 GMT -5 saveinla said:

FreeSalsa,

Can you give me the details on the Oats for 69c?

Thanks

Bulk bins.  69c/lb.  They usually have the quick, slow, and whole oats.

Thank you. Unfortunately I will not be able to go to Sprouts this week. Hoping it comes back again soon.

[dancinmama]

Aug 18, 2013 21:13:16 GMT -5 FreeSalsa said:

Aug 18, 2013 13:10:15 GMT -5 dancinmama said:

Another killer deal at The Grocery Outlet.

Yesterday I scored (14) 12 oz. packages of Schwarz Italian Sausage.  The package says, "Pork raised with no antibiotics and 100% Vegetarian Feed.  No added MSG.  No nitrates or nitrites except for those which occur natually in sea salt.  Ingredients:  Pork, water, and contains 2% or less of vinegar, seal salt, fennel, pepper, spices, garlic, dextrose, and spice extract (from red pepper).  I could pronounce every single one!!

They were already reduced to $1.50/pkg. but the best sell-by date was last Wednesday, so if they would reduce them further and they did!!    AND my fav - they came vacuum sealed for long-term storage without worry of freezer burn.

Nice work on the pork!  So what was the final price?

LOL!!  I'm such a dope.    I paid $.99/pkg.

[marvholly]

Have not been getting many good clearance/reduced items lately. no meat or dairy bargains at Safeway. Independent market has NOT had any day old rye for several weeks (on the days I am in that direction but have tried several). However, they still have still had good produce end of code buys.

[FreeSalsa]

Aug 18, 2013 21:16:38 GMT -5 saveinla said:

Aug 18, 2013 21:10:44 GMT -5 FreeSalsa said:

Bulk bins.  69c/lb.  They usually have the quick, slow, and whole oats.

Thank you. Unfortunately I will not be able to go to Sprouts this week. Hoping it comes back again soon.

They have that price every now and then.  I feel like they had it just a few weeks ago.  I'll let you know if I see it again.  

[FreeSalsa]

Aug 19, 2013 0:21:30 GMT -5 dancinmama said:

Aug 18, 2013 21:13:16 GMT -5 FreeSalsa said:

Nice work on the pork!  So what was the final price?

LOL!!  I'm such a dope.    I paid $.99/pkg.

Nice!  Especially for no MSG and no nitrates.

[hopetoberich]

Holly we never get raspberries here for under 2/$5 and that's a hard to find price. Sometimes I break down and buy raspberries, blackberries strawberries and bananas to have with shipped cream but it adds up to a big bill so its a treat I don,t do that often which is a shame because we enjoy fruits. Recently I have been buying peaches by the lb for 82c at wm. It must be a good year for them....decent price and big and sweet.
My grocery store has finally lost all control on pricing and wants $1.99 lb on most things, the nice stuff...$2.99-$3.49 a lb
I just dropped into the grocery store the past two nights after work and spent $25 each time. Not controlled shopping more like I need cakes, bread and ice cream...I'm sick so I love ice cream when my throws Is sore. But $50? Remember what $50 used to buy us in the hay day?

[marvholly]

Hope
I get some pretty good produce prices at my specialty markets MOST of the time. It has NOT been nearly as good this year. I have gotten strawberries (1 lb pkg) for as low as 0.59. I have gotten raspberries and blackberries (1/2 pint) for 0.99 but these raspberries are the first that low this year. Bluberries have been priced decently for several weeks but I dont eat/like them.

I like my berries mixed w/plain yogurt or with waffles & cool whip.

I suspect I am older than you because I remember chain store prices:
whole chicken 0.25/lb
ground beef 0.59/lb
pot roast 0.49/lb
blad lamb chops 0.59/lb
tomatoes 0.10/lb
Jello 0.10/pkg

it was only a few (5?) years ago when canned tuna was cheaper than cat food a couple Febs and same store ran chicken leg quarters for 0.25/lb the same month/years.

[dancinmama]

Aug 20, 2013 6:40:37 GMT -5 marvholly said:

it was only a few (5?) years ago when canned tuna was cheaper than cat food a couple Febs and same store ran chicken leg quarters for 0.25/lb the same month/years.

I have been shocked at the ad prices for tuna.  I remember getting chunk light at CVS for $.39/can (free after EBs) and now recently I saw it on ad for $.89.   I even remember one time when they were out of the chunk light when it was on ad and substituted albacore.  Thank goodness for my free-to-me tuna stockpile. 

[dancinmama]

Aug 20, 2013 3:50:57 GMT -5 hopetoberich said:

Holly we never get raspberries here for under 2/$5 and that's a hard to find price. Sometimes I break down and buy raspberries, blackberries strawberries and bananas to have with shipped cream but it adds up to a big bill so its a treat I don,t do that often which is a shame because we enjoy fruits. Recently I have been buying peaches by the lb for 82c at wm. It must be a good year for them....decent price and big and sweet.
My grocery store has finally lost all control on pricing and wants $1.99 lb on most things, the nice stuff...$2.99-$3.49 a lb
I just dropped into the grocery store the past two nights after work and spent $25 each time. Not controlled shopping more like I need cakes, bread and ice cream...I'm sick so I love ice cream when my throws Is sore. But $50? Remember what $50 used to buy us in the hay day?

Food has just gotten outrageous.  The only way to fight it is to really know your prices and stockpile when something you use regularly is at its rock bottom price - with or without coupons, being careful not to overbuy when the product in not very shelf stable.

BTW, I have been using the Ziploc vacuum bags and they have worked quite well.  When I buy meat, I first package in Ziploc sandwich bags, then I put those in the Ziploc vacuum bags, then I put those in Ziploc freezer bags.  I reuse everything but the sandwich bags.  I've experienced a lot less freezer burn since doing this.

[FreeSalsa]

I've been cleaning out my receipts (why did I save these things) and seeing prices like eggs for $0.99, $1.19, then $1.49, now $1.99 or $2.49.  

Even the sale prices are higher now.  When there is free toothpaste after ECB it's $3.49 then ECB to make it free, but that makes higher OOP and more tax, when it used to be $1.99 for the same sale.

I was getting bummed that I'm spending more on food but I'm buying more food (one more person) and different kinds of foods (no more 25c Uncle Bens pre-made rice pilaf) and the prices are just plain higher.  

I have to keep reminding myself of all that when I look at the grand totals.  I'm still saving about half off regular prices but regular prices are getting close to double what they were 5 years ago.

[hopetoberich]

 we have changed the foods we buy when shopping grocery. Rarely do I buy beef now. Rarely hamburger either. I can go without meat for days with no problems but dh moans some.
Turkey has been a new thing for us to buy. The big frozen ones are a fairly good deal and we get 5 days worth from a big one.
This week I again scored lbs of free Tomatoes after talking to a gardener and saying how much I miss gardening etc low and behold 2 large grocery bags7lbs ish of yellow and red tom's plus 4-5 lbs of the small yellow tomatoes arrived at work for me today.  I can eat those with sharp cheese and French bread   dh asked if i had bought a lb of turkey breast at the deli @7.99lb to eat with  it......errrrrNO ...lol

[constanz22]

No grocery related, but I HAVE to tell you guys my latest clearance deal!  About a week ago I stopped at Sears and was browsing clearance.  They had a bunch of mattresses stacked on clearance, most looked like floor models.  I was looking thru them and found a queen Tempurpedic, a $1500 mattress.  It was priced $239.99!  It was pretty dirty but I decided at that price I didn't care.  Nobody would see it once it had a mattress pad and sheets on it.  

Fast forward to delivery yesterday.  They get here and the delivery guy says "I want you to look at this first.  It's REALLY dirty and I'm not sure you want it."  I say, "oh, I knew it was dirty, it's fine, it was a great deal."  So they bring it in, unwrap it and I notice there is a zippered COVER that comes off.  I took the cover off and the mattress underneath was impeccable.  I threw the cover in the wash and it came out looking BRAND NEW!  Not a speck of dirt on it!  Total SCORE   Talk about being in the right place at the right time!

[murphath]

constanz22: 
Total SCORE Talk about being in the right place at the right time!


Congrats on that one!

[murphath]

I still keep a running tally on what we spend on food per month just 'cuz I'm curious.  It has gone down since we are now totally empty nesters.  I no longer buy any kind of "junk" food because DH and I rarely eat that stuff--it was always for the kids' consumption. We do eat granola bars, though, and I was happy to get those for .99 box this past week at Safeway after the in ad q/man q's.  Got a $3 cat back for good measure.

I am so grateful for my stockpile--but it is dwindling in some areas because there haven't been any super deals lately.  And I never had the number of inserts in the past that others were able to obtain.  But I'm not complaining.  I've saved so much money during those "glory days" and I'm hoping the old saying, "what comes around, goes around".

I did get a $3 EB for my birthday from CVS.  I combined that with a .50 man q and a .50 EB to get a box of Finish for .03 (tax).

There was a tv program last week that featured the "krazy coupon lady" gals.  Even they were saying that coupon usage has changed but the old strategies still worked to save money--maybe not free, but good nonetheless.  One of them had actually been on Extreme Couponing showing her dumpster diving for inserts.  She acknowledged the show made manufacturers/stores aware of our existence and policies changed drastically.  Ya think

[skubikky]

Aug 21, 2013 0:15:31 GMT -5 FreeSalsa said:

I've been cleaning out my receipts (why did I save these things) and seeing prices like eggs for $0.99, $1.19, then $1.49, now $1.99 or $2.49.

Tops markets here in Western NY often has medium eggs on sale for $1.00/dozen.  I've taken to buying about 4 dozen at a time as I didn't realize that they last a few months.

[dancinmama]

Aug 21, 2013 10:01:05 GMT -5 murphath said:

There was a tv program last week that featured the "krazy coupon lady" gals.  Even they were saying that coupon usage has changed but the old strategies still worked to save money--maybe not free, but good nonetheless.  One of them had actually been on Extreme Couponing showing her dumpster diving for inserts.  She acknowledged the show made manufacturers/stores aware of our existence and policies changed drastically.  Ya think

Is her name Jonie?   I think she appeared in the second episode. 

Several people who appeared on EC did it to increase traffic to their couponing blogs.   Pretty stupid if you ask me.  IF they are even still blogging, my guess would be that their traffic is now lower than it was before they went on the show.  This is what happens when people don't stop to think about the possible consequences of what they do.  Did they think that the manufacturers were just going to sit back while we used their money (in the form of coupons) to stockpile their products for free?   Dumb, dumb, dumb.

[rubyslippers]

Constanz: Congratulations on your purchase.  What a  great deal!!!

Meijer has been having some fantastic deals on certain things, like Fantastic cleaners, 2 for $3.34-1.00 instant-2.00 in coupons=$.34 OOP yielding a $1.50 cat.  I used the cat to buy 2 Prego sauces $3.34-1.00 mperk-1.50 cat= $.84 OOP for 2.  I'm planning on stocking up this weekend with their 5% mperks off groceries.  Last year I got a dozen jars of Prego really inexpensively and they lasted us throughout the fall/winter.  The type of Fantastic that I've been buying is the kind I use, so I'm hoping to stockpile enough for a few years.

I've been saving on produce by price matching Aldi's ad.  This week I got bananas $.39 lb., oranges $1.99 3 lbs., red onions $.99 2 lbs. and artisan lettuce for $.99.  I price matched bacon from a local ad and got it for $2.50 lb.

Murpath: I keep track of our spending/saving and have spent less this year by purely cherry picking and getting enough of a really good sale item to last us awhile.  I believe my coupon savings will be less after this week since Meijer will no longer double them.

[FreeSalsa]

3 x .99 CVS travel pack cotton swabs 
- 3 x CRT $1 off one CVS cotton or nail polish remover =
3 FREE  (no tax!)

Did one on each of 3 cards.

[skubikky]

Aug 21, 2013 23:39:09 GMT -5 FreeSalsa said:

3 x .99 CVS travel pack cotton swabs 
- 3 x CRT $1 off one CVS cotton or nail polish remover =
3 FREE  (no tax!)

Did one on each of 3 cards.

Thanks for the heads up on this one. 

I got 2 of the $1 CRT cotton or nail polish remover.

3 x .67 CVS travel pack cotton swabs
 - 3 x CRT $1 cotton = $0.01 (no tax!)

[emhalf]

IIRC, the bags of CVS cotton balls will be on sale for $1 next week, so those should also be free if you got the CRTs.

I worked out a pretty good deal at RA this week, which was good for me since I had UPs expiring. YMMV on the available coupons.

Schick trimstyle razor: 8.99
playtex sport tampons: 3.99
skintimate (or edge) shave gel: 2.49
=15.47
-$3/1 in-ad coupon for schick razor
-$4/1 schick trimstyle IP at coupons.com
-$1/1 playtex sport on their website
-$1.50/1 edge/skintimate peelie
=$5.97, get back $5 UPs

I would consider that a decent price for just the "cotton ponies" as they never seem to be free anymore

[rubyslippers]

At Rite Aid, the Gain powder detergent was not marked but clearanced 75%.  I got 4 boxes @$1.94 each and used two $2/2 MQ's and $4.00 in UPs.  I also got a little chocolate filler and paid $.65 OOP for 120 loads total.

Emhalf, you're lucky to get the Schick for women.  Every store around here was out of stock, but I got a raincheck.

Dancin, I opened my last box of J&J swabs from the deal a few years ago.  I remember you laying the deal out and I got enough then to last up until now.  The box I have is a big one, but I'll be looking for another deal on those.

We just got our bill from getting a new roof put on and a couple of other things fixed.  Glad to see it was under budget.

[dancinmama]

Aug 23, 2013 21:15:53 GMT -5 rubyslippers said:

At Rite Aid, the Gain powder detergent was not marked but clearanced 75%.  I got 4 boxes @$1.94 each and used two $2/2 MQ's and $4.00 in UPs.  I also got a little chocolate filler and paid $.65 OOP for 120 loads total.

Emhalf, you're lucky to get the Schick for women.  Every store around here was out of stock, but I got a raincheck.

Dancin, I opened my last box of J&J swabs from the deal a few years ago.  I remember you laying the deal out and I got enough then to last up until now.  The box I have is a big one, but I'll be looking for another deal on those.

We just got our bill from getting a new roof put on and a couple of other things fixed.  Glad to see it was under budget.

That deal at RA was the first time I had been able to get cotton swabs that were free and I don't believe I've seen free ones since.  My cotton swab stockpile is still pretty healthy.