marvholly
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Post by marvholly on May 18, 2014 5:49:08 GMT -5
Dancin I usually use a half ground chuck, half ground turkey mix for meatloaf and sweet and sour meatballs. Sometimes I dilute even further by rehydrating some TVP (textured veg protein) for another portion stretching 1 lb to 3 lb. I do make tacos & nachos but not much on cassaroles.
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murphath
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Post by murphath on May 19, 2014 11:30:01 GMT -5
I've gone to using ground turkey for my meatloaf. Everyone seems to like it just as well.
If we get a hankering for a real hamburger, I will have the meat dept. ground up some sirloin for me. Expensive, yes; but we're worth it. Especially since we only do it around 3-4 times a year.
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marvholly
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Post by marvholly on May 20, 2014 4:53:34 GMT -5
Good thing I was digging thru my freezer this am. Had planned to go to Food4less for the Kroger cheeses deal at $1.79/8oz pkg. However, found backup pkg of both motz & ched so do NOT need & I MUST work on getting the freezer a bit less (over) loaded. I'll just get the oil.
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emhalf
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Post by emhalf on May 20, 2014 8:13:28 GMT -5
I was expecting to get another $5 beauty club reward at CVS this week because of purchases I made last week: 2 shampoos, 2 hair color, 2 sunscreens and a neutrogena bar that originally cost ~$50 total. BUT the sunscreens didn't count toward beauty club, even though they are listed on the website as a skin care item I was planning to send another email to customer care, but then they sent me a survey with $10 EB so I decided to quit whining at them. I do think it's really misleading though...there doesn't seem to be any way to actually tell what qualifies for beauty club and what doesn't. I also got a $3/30 from RA. Not much of a savings, but I think there are enough deals going on this week to be able to use it.
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dancinmama
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Post by dancinmama on May 20, 2014 14:51:16 GMT -5
I know this is maybe too late to do anyone any good cuz the deal ends today, but if you have a Safeway and J4U, look in the coupon center under frozen foods. There is a J4U coupon that expires today for 4-6 cnt. Klondike novelties @ $2.49 ea. (Limit 3) AND there's a J4U coupon for $3/3 any Klondike novelty. That makes a 6 cnt. package $1.49 ($.25/ice cream treat). They had a Heath candy bar variety and DH loves Heath bars so I scored some big time points when I brought them home.
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marvholly
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Post by marvholly on May 21, 2014 6:06:04 GMT -5
This is a week where I have more grocery list than grocery money. Will need to do some trimming as soon as all the ads are available. Local market has boineless, skinless chicken breasts for $1.49/lb and that is a BIG hit.
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dancinmama
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Post by dancinmama on May 21, 2014 10:28:43 GMT -5
Don't know if I already posted this, but Safeway caught on to my method of getting really cheap, healthier (Lays Kettle Cooked 40% less fat) potato chips. Whenever they had them in the ad BOGO, I'd look to see if I had a J4U deal on them and if I did, I combine the two to get them for around $.80-$1.25/bag (often buying them using a $5/$20). I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was doing this and apparently they finally saw what we were doing and put a stop to it. This week they are BOGO and I have a J4U price of $2.57, but the limit on the J4U special price is 1 per day and the BOGO is Buy 2/Get 2 Free. I did get a $1/$8 any potato chips so I'll be able to get (6) bags for $1.43/ea. which is still a decent deal - just not a killer deal. $6.98 (2) Bags @ regular price of $3.49 $2.57 (1) Bag @ J4U price of $2.57 $0.00 (3) Bags FREE $9.55 Subtotal -1.00 $1/$8 ANY potato chips $8.55 / 6 = $1.43/bag EDIT: I realized when I got to the store that this scenario wouldn't work cuz I'd have to buy 8 bags to get the BOGO deal. They didn't have the 40% less fat variety in stock anyway.
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rubyslippers
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Post by rubyslippers on May 21, 2014 22:21:30 GMT -5
Meijer has had some seriously good mperks lately. Last weekend, I earned a $5.00 apparel reward for buying $90.00 worth of clothes for $20.00, stacking multiple percentage off coupons. This week I used the $5.00 reward and got 6 Chi Chi salsas and 2 Kraft salad dressings for $.17 OOP. Today I bought 5 Oscar M. bologna @ $1.00 each and got back a $4.00 catalina. I used that to get 4 Ziplock bags and paid $1.44 OOP and earned a $2.00 catalina. I used that to buy 2 more Chi Chi salsas and 2 more bottles of salad dressing. $6.59 OOP for8 jars salsa, 4 salad dressings, 4 Ziplock bags and 5 bologna. I used MQ's for the dressings and salsa in addition to the catalinas and rewards.
At Kroger, I bought 3 Cool Whips @ $1.00 each and earned a $1.00 catalina. I used that to get 2 cans Van Camp pork and beans. With discount, I spent $2.80. I also got a bag of Twistos which was a Friday Freebie from last week. Kroger also has quadruple fuel points starting today. I got our gasoline cards and some for graduations, a birthday and a bridal shower.
I have a $25.00 UP reward at Rite Aid for a prescription transfer. I haven't decided how to spend it but Scott TP is on sale so I might start with buying a couple 12 packs.
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marvholly
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Post by marvholly on May 22, 2014 5:37:38 GMT -5
Got my planned grocery spending under control. Knocked off an item that was on decent sale (20% off) that I did not need but could use. However, no coupons available for it. Really surprised no great sale on watermelon this week. Corn price is fair. No decent sales on salad fixings or other veggies. Disappointing.
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dancinmama
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Post by dancinmama on May 22, 2014 8:37:02 GMT -5
Got my planned grocery spending under control. Knocked off an item that was on decent sale (20% off) that I did not need but could use. However, no coupons available for it. Really surprised no great sale on watermelon this week. Corn price is fair. No decent sales on salad fixings or other veggies. Disappointing. Barbecue holiday sales sure aren't what they used to be. I used to be able to use them to stockpile barbecue condiments, soda, etc. I haven't found any killer deals on much of anything in this week's ads either. Safeway has corn @ $.25/ear. I guess for today that's not bad. I'm more used to 6 or 8 for $1. Well, I guess it beats Nob Hill which has them on ad for $.50/ear!!
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murphath
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Post by murphath on May 22, 2014 10:51:02 GMT -5
I decided to give the $10 off $50 Target coupon a try this week. Here's what I did:
1 Hilshire Farm beef sausage $2.84 1 Don Francisco coffee $4.99; minus $1.50 q 3 Green Giant frozen veggies: $3.75; minus $1/3 q 6 Smart Ones: $12.16; minus $5 q 1 Weight Watchers string cheese: $4.39; minus $4.39 (free) q 1 Yoplait light greek yogurt: $1.02 The Green Giants, Yoplait, Smart Ones, string cheese allowed me to use 20% WW Target q: -$2.00 1 12 pk. Coke lime: $5.49; minus $5 (coke q from mycokerewards) 4 Hebrew National fat free hotdogs: $11.96; minus 2 $1/2 Target q's 3 M&M Peanut Butter 10 oz pkg $7.98; minus $2 IP; minus $1.50/3 Target q Minus $10/$50 -.10 bag credit -.76 Red Card discount -$5.00 previous gift card (from Aveeno sunblock deal)
Total paid: $14.41
Not sure why I wasn't charged any tax. The coke should have been taxed, I believe. I'll get the .60 back for the can deposit so my true total is $13.81. Since the sale price of the Hebrew National hot dogs was $11.96, I think I "done good". If you can believe it, the regular price of those hot dogs is $4.29 at Target and $5.99 or $6.49 at Safeway/Raleys. I can sometimes find them at Grocery Outlet but even there the reg. price is $3.29 or so.
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saveinla
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Post by saveinla on May 22, 2014 10:53:40 GMT -5
murphath,
Great job. Since all of it was food, it was not taxed. Coke is not taxed here - they only take the CRV for the cans.
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murphath
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Post by murphath on May 22, 2014 11:00:19 GMT -5
There was a young couple behind me in line at Target who only had 2 items. I let them go ahead of me--especially since I had so many coupons. She commented on that and said, "I always forget my coupons". I said (with a smile), "In my mind, these are not just pieces of paper. They are actual money." I showed her the $10$50 Target q and said, "you have to think of this as a $10 bill. Even those .25 coupons that people think aren't worth the effort, that's a quarter to me. Once you start thinking of them in those terms, you won't forget them as much." I told her there was a Target coupon online for the 2 items she was buying worth about $5.00. I showed her the Target cartwheel barcode thing as well. Don't know if she'll think of coupons any differently now, but they seemed to want the info. And they waited to see what my end total would be--they were impressed. If only they had seen me "back in the day." The conversation continued into the parking lot--they were really a cute couple.
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rubyslippers
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Post by rubyslippers on May 22, 2014 21:11:45 GMT -5
Murpath, that's really impressive, especially since you got all food. That's neat that the couple stayed to watch your final total.
I made a mistake today at Walmart when I was price matching a few items. I quoted a price on Lays chips and the cashier told me she thought they were on the smaller bags but let me have them when I told her I checked the size. It bugged me the whole way home so I looked at the ad and the cashier was right I happened to know her first name so I called the store and she answered the phone. I told her she was right about the size of chips and that I owed $1.96 and I would bring the money up some time this weekend. She was very nice about it and since I price match about everything, I don't want to be a person that they do not trust.
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marvholly
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Post by marvholly on May 23, 2014 5:45:14 GMT -5
Hit it REALLY lucky at an independent, local chain’s deli end cuts section on Thur. They almost always have ham & turkey but today I was able to get thick ham rounds (think ham steak for dinner), salami, corn beef in addition to my usual turkey. I skipped the roast beef as it was too thick a cut BUT if I had not had so much else I could have had it in steak salad. I have sort of decided this will be a limited cooking weekend. They also had name brand hummus on sale 2-10oz for $5 AND I had a BOGO coupon. I cannot make 20 oz at home for $2.50
The above purchase plus rolls, plus lox and the sale chicken meant I did run out of money before I ran out of list. I put off buying the steak I planned to have as a treat this weekend as well as a sweet and/or salty treat. Guess between the hummus & lox I DID buy myself treats (over $5 worth).
One of my errands NOT done on Thur was cat food. Good thing as I came home to a $5 off cat food coupon in my email from PetsMart. Now I need to find a store near today’s route since I do NEED cat food.
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dancinmama
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Post by dancinmama on May 23, 2014 12:28:18 GMT -5
I decided to give the $10 off $50 Target coupon a try this week. Here's what I did: 1 Hilshire Farm beef sausage $2.84 1 Don Francisco coffee $4.99; minus $1.50 q 3 Green Giant frozen veggies: $3.75; minus $1/3 q 6 Smart Ones: $12.16; minus $5 q 1 Weight Watchers string cheese: $4.39; minus $4.39 (free) q 1 Yoplait light greek yogurt: $1.02 The Green Giants, Yoplait, Smart Ones, string cheese allowed me to use 20% WW Target q: -$2.00 1 12 pk. Coke lime: $5.49; minus $5 (coke q from mycokerewards) 4 Hebrew National fat free hotdogs: $11.96; minus 2 $1/2 Target q's 3 M&M Peanut Butter 10 oz pkg $7.98; minus $2 IP; minus $1.50/3 Target q Minus $10/$50 -.10 bag credit -.76 Red Card discount -$5.00 previous gift card (from Aveeno sunblock deal) Total paid: $14.41 Not sure why I wasn't charged any tax. The coke should have been taxed, I believe. I'll get the .60 back for the can deposit so my true total is $13.81. Since the sale price of the Hebrew National hot dogs was $11.96, I think I "done good". If you can believe it, the regular price of those hot dogs is $4.29 at Target and $5.99 or $6.49 at Safeway/Raleys. I can sometimes find them at Grocery Outlet but even there the reg. price is $3.29 or so.AWESOME JOB!! The regular price for Hebrew National (11 oz.) is $3.99 at my GO. Last year at the end of August they had them marked down to $.50/pkg. and I stockpiled several. The lowest that I've seen them so far this year is $1.97/ea. I didn't buy them; instead, I bought Ball Park no nitrate/nitrite (14 oz.) for $1.49. I am hoping that again toward the end of the summer they have a killer clearance deal so that I can stockpile several packages.
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FreeSalsa
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Post by FreeSalsa on May 24, 2014 21:55:11 GMT -5
I got my hands on some ads delivered near work that I don't get at home so I stopped by Albertsons on Tuesday for the last day of the sale. I picked up the Charmin 12 pk for $3.99 ea., limit 2. The young guy cashier gave me a 3's A Crowd Discount of $1 because of "the short wait." I barely had to wait so I don't know what he meant but they're starting their thing up again where they'll open a new register if more than 3 people are in line. So that made the TP $3.50 ea.
There's no store card so I went back in another line, purposely as the 4th person, hoping for another discount but I didn't get it. That's ok, since I was planning on paying the sale price to start with. I'm glad to have gotten the discount on one run. There was probably a 25c Q too but I didn't have time to look it up first.
Not much to report from Sprouts this week, other than that they keep charging me regular price for much of the organic produce I've been buying. My favorite checker has not been around (she knows what she's doing) and these have been people who don't know me or are kinda new.
Got 10 lemons from someone at work, from their tree.
I ordered my free $50 gas card from Swagbucks. It will take a while to get it but I will love getting $50 in free gas!!
ETA: Marvholly I got Bogo Hummos (spelled that way, I think it's the brand?) this week $2 each after BOGO.
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hopetoberich
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Post by hopetoberich on May 24, 2014 21:58:27 GMT -5
We have 4\6 BBQ sauce from a free deal I did last year or even the year before. I got 20+ bottles and glad I did...look what happened since then. I just collected 10+ different ss rp and one p&g from folks around the office. Barely any mq's were clipped so I have some to work with its hard to put a deal together without multiples though. Like Holly, my independant store seems to be giving the best deals lately. Not much on meat though, lucky i barely eat any. I paid 50c after up rewards in RA last week for colgate. I bought shares in RA when they were $3 or so! Now they are up to $8 so i better start shopping there more. I wish i had thrown everythng at those shares but being to careful cost me.
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dancinmama
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Post by dancinmama on May 25, 2014 9:31:10 GMT -5
We have 4\6 BBQ sauce from a free deal I did last year or even the year before. I got 20+ bottles and glad I did...look what happened since then. I just collected 10+ different ss rp and one p&g from folks around the office. Barely any mq's were clipped so I have some to work with its hard to put a deal together without multiples though.Like Holly, my independant store seems to be giving the best deals lately. Not much on meat though, lucky i barely eat any. I paid 50c after up rewards in RA last week for colgate. I bought shares in RA when they were $3 or so! Now they are up to $8 so i better start shopping there more. I wish i had thrown everythng at those shares but being to careful cost me. That's the catch these days. The ROI on purchasing extra newspapers for inserts is pretty iffy; but when you have a free resource, you have absolutely nothing to lose.
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dancinmama
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Post by dancinmama on May 25, 2014 9:33:50 GMT -5
We have 4\6 BBQ sauce from a free deal I did last year or even the year before. I got 20+ bottles and glad I did...look what happened since then. The contents of the BBQ sauce will darken over time, but the product will be just fine for use. If you only have 4-6 left though, it will probably not be an issue for you.
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hopetoberich
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Post by hopetoberich on May 25, 2014 14:42:16 GMT -5
I ordered my free $50 gas card from Swagbucks. It will take a while to get it but I will love getting $50 in free gas!! Way to go I am ordering Home Depot cards right now. Must be all the spring flowers i see
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marvholly
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Post by marvholly on May 29, 2014 5:53:13 GMT -5
Strange. My BIG fruit/veg mkt has ALWAYS posted their new ad in the wee hours of the morning the day the ad starts. NOTHING today, even at 5 am which is VERY late for them. Wonder if their web person is on vacation.
I may/may not bother going. Not seeing much in fruit/veg I want/need anywhere.
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FreeSalsa
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Post by FreeSalsa on May 31, 2014 0:36:21 GMT -5
I made three big lists for Sprouts, Vons, and CVS, but didn't get that much. As it often happens, the price is more and the coupon is less than what is listed on coupon mom, which doesn't make it worth the deal. I had a 30% off Q at CVS so I bought some Woolite. I got a lot of ice cream at Vons, way more than I need to eat. But it's summer, so why not?
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FreeSalsa
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Post by FreeSalsa on Jun 1, 2014 19:38:17 GMT -5
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FreeSalsa
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Post by FreeSalsa on Jun 1, 2014 19:39:40 GMT -5
Does anyone use iBotta or Savingstar? Briefly, how does it work? Is it worth the effort? TIA.
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murphath
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Post by murphath on Jun 2, 2014 11:08:51 GMT -5
FreeSalsa: I signed up for Savingstar quite some time ago. You just give them your loyalty card numbers for stores that take part: CVS, Rite Aid, WAGS, Raleys etc. They send you an email with the offers and you click on the ones you want. Sometimes a deal comes along that makes it worth it and I get a little rebate in my account (as well as having used q's etc. to bring the cost down). I haven't gotten much: less than $20 or so but that's $20 more than I had before, right? As for iBotta, I don't have a smart phone and I think one is required for that. I do see myfrugaladventures posting lots of deals at Target using iBotta and other discounts so maybe that would work for you. Hope that helps! Well, we had guests for the last 5 days so my food budget was well over the $200 mark! I forgot how much more expensive it is to constantly feed other people. Having them here was worth it though.
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emhalf
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Post by emhalf on Jun 3, 2014 9:48:16 GMT -5
I use savingstar also. I use the website or smartphone app to activate offers. I really like it in the fact that you can combine the offers with paper Qs and other deals (EBs, UPs, etc.) and that you can cash out with as little as $5. The cashout process is super easy too-you can get an amazon gc, paypal deposit, or have it transferred to your bank account. I've gotten about $160 total. They've also started offering a nice bonus lately called "friday freebie"...they have a certain offer that you can activate only on Friday, and if you buy the item by Sunday you get the full value of the item back.
I used ibotta for awhile, but I got irritated with the hoops you have to jump through to activate the coupons...watch a video, share on FB, share on twitter, etc. Right now I use checkout51 because you don't have to do anything to "activate" the offers, you just click on them after you buy the item. You still have to take pictures of your receipts and upload them to redeem the coupons though, which is also a bit time consuming. You also have to get $20 before you can cash out, and the only way to get the money is to have them send you a check. I think it took me about 3 months to earn $20, then another 2 weeks or so to receive the check. The benefit that they have over savingstar is that you can shop at literally any store and still redeem the coupons because it's not tied to a loyalty card.
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skubikky
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Post by skubikky on Jun 3, 2014 10:54:06 GMT -5
checkout51 requires that you have a smart phone...correct?
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emhalf
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Post by emhalf on Jun 3, 2014 11:18:46 GMT -5
checkout51 requires that you have a smart phone...correct? You can upload photos via the website. I've never tried it, but I would assume if you have a camera that is capable of sending digital pics to your computer it would work that way too.
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skubikky
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Post by skubikky on Jun 3, 2014 13:14:57 GMT -5
got it .....thanks.
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