2014 Grocery Challenge

[marvholly]

Hit a BIGGIE at my largest fruit/veg market on Tue. Asparagus was an unadvertised special at $1.49/lb. Everywhere else is 2.49-2.99.

[alabamagal]

Publix is updating their coupon policy to deal with the extreme couponing crowd.  Honestly I didn't think the extreme couponing was going on much anymore


www.ajc.com/news/news/national/publix-updates-coupon-policy-cracks-down-on-extrem/nhcPn/

[saveinla]

murphath,

Thanks for the heads up on the 3$ CVS ECB. I got one too and stocked up 2 bags of halls for free this week.

[dancinmama]

Oct 8, 2014 10:51:01 GMT -5 alabamagal said:

Publix is updating their coupon policy to deal with the extreme couponing crowd.  Honestly I didn't think the extreme couponing was going on much anymore


www.ajc.com/news/news/national/publix-updates-coupon-policy-cracks-down-on-extrem/nhcPn/

Many more people than Publix ever expected found ways to save money there....A LOT of money.  Okay, change the policy; but tell it like it is.  We (Publix) screwed up.  We offered our patrons a generous coupon policy.  We were stupid because we never imagined that so many people would become interested or could even be bothered with clipping coupons and saving money.  The truth is that too many shoppers were smarter than our corporate big-wigs that wrote the policy.  We apologize for being so stupid.

[marvholly]

I am using FAR fewer coupons than ever before because they offer such small savings per unit and require the purchase of WAAAY too many units for this single person household. Also, the majority of my $$ is spent on meat & fresh produce and I am buying more & more stuff at my independent grocer (doesn't take IPs), Aldi and/or the dollar store . Seldom coupons for meat or produce. My stockpile(s) of detergent, dw soap, paper goods, personal care stuff is still bigger than I want/need.

[dogmom]

I do use far fewer coupons than I have in the past.  I also just went thru our freezer and I'm pleased with what is there. 

It did absolutely help purchasing non perishable items for free or maybe a couple of dollars for the past few years.  That's what did stock the freezer.    However, in using the non perishables, and having a small house and storage space, our non perishables (mostly paper goods and detergent) have dwindled.  For us, the quest goes on.

[dancinmama]

Oct 12, 2014 8:51:52 GMT -5 dogmom said:

I do use far fewer coupons than I have in the past.  I also just went thru our freezer and I'm pleased with what is there. 

It did absolutely help purchasing non perishable items for free or maybe a couple of dollars for the past few years.  That's what did stock the freezer.    However, in using the non perishables, and having a small house and storage space, our non perishables (mostly paper goods and detergent) have dwindled.  For us, the quest goes on.

Just keep up on your price book and buy at rock bottom prices combining with a coupon(s) when you can.  Just buy a couple of an item so you don't get caught having to pay full price for something.  The only time I would "stockpile" is when I see something at an unusually low price or hear news that there is going to be a shortage of a commodity like coffee or sugar and then when I see a rock bottom price, I'd buy enough to last a year.

[marvholly]

YIPPEEEE! I did get my diet cranberry Sierra Mist at CVS on Sun using the raincheck for the sale price from the 10/5 ad. They did NOT get their Pepsi order until late Fri night. DUMB on a sale week.

Another miss on a Dollar Tree product. I bought a 12 oz bottle of French Vanilla flavored syrup. I LOVE to flavor my coffee w/French vanilla. However, in the suggested amount it did NOTHING, I will try it again using MUCH more and/or adding creamer too but I am unlikely to buy again. Cream helped.

[FreeSalsa]

Oct 7, 2014 11:18:05 GMT -5 murphath said:

Finally a freebie this week:  Wags has the 4ct AdvilPM on sale for $1.  There were $1 off any Advil PM q's in last Sunday's inserts.  I managed to scrounge up 4 of them so now have a 16 pill supply.  These are nice if you have a headache and want to go to sleep!

If you're going to do this deal, they are in a small box on the shelf next to the bigger containers.  Fortunately, my Wags had a sign.  There were quite a few (a shock!) so I think lots of folks have jumped off the q'ing bandwagon.

CVS also sent me a $3 EB so I'm going to use it to get two bags of Hershey mini-bars (like KitKats) for Halloween.  They are on sale 2/$5 and I have a $1.10 q/2 from coupons.com.  That will make them .90 and I get $1 EB back.

I find I have to get really creative to get more bang for my buck these days.  Seattle's Best coffee is on sale at Target this week at $5.39.  I have 3 $2 off q's (coupons.com) and will use my $5 Target gift card from a prior purchase .  Will probably buy two so:  $10.78 - $5 -$4= $1.78-.05 use own bag; -.09 5% red card discount = $1.64 for two bags of coffee

Thanks for all the details. If I had been home I would have done these!

[FreeSalsa]

Sept 29, 2014 10:05:05 GMT -5 dancinmama said:

Sept 27, 2014 21:21:50 GMT -5 hopetoberich said:

Am I in the right place? Not posting since the 23rd?

It's hard to believe that at one time it wasn't unusual to have 100 posts a day.  

There are just a few of us stragglers left.  Will we even have a 2015 Grocery Challenge?  

Yes, let,s pleeeeeeease have a 2015 gc!!!

[FreeSalsa]

Oct 5, 2014 21:01:31 GMT -5 rubyslippers said:

Good job on free cereal, Dancin.

I've been too busy lately to post but DS1 got married last week and with my dad's poor health, it's been hectic. I made all the food for son's rehearsal dinner, planning for up to 50 people. I had all year to shop and I used every coupon strategy to get the food for a good deal. I bought coupons, used double coupons at a store that still offers them, used overage and price matching at Walmart, store rewards and sales and spent a total of $36.73. I made 90 lasagna rolls, 48 brownies, salad, salad dressing and 80 pieces of garlic bread. The salad and the bread were bought last and cost more than all the ingredients I got for the lasagna rolls, brownies and dressing. I made and froze the lasagna and brownies over a month ago and my sister helped get it cooked and ready for the meal. It was fun for me trying to get the cost down but I'm glad it's over.

Today I went to Dollar General and bought a 4 lb. bag of sugar and 1 Kool-Aid and walked out after paying $.06 OOP. There is a digital coupon for $2.00 off anything $2.01 or over. The coupon is good through Friday.

A friend gave us jalapenos and we canned 6 pints of candies jalapeno pepper rings.

DH and I went away last week and I bought 3 lbs. of butter for $2.99 at a farmers market. We were too far from home to bring back larger amounts as we had other stuff that needed chilled besides the butter. I can't believe how the price has gone up since the beginning of summer.

Amazing deals!!! I wish I could find that price for butter.

and great work on the wedding rehearsal feast! Most people spend thousands on the food.

[FreeSalsa]

I moved in, am trying to find room for everything in the kitchen.  Even with eating mostly from the stockpile to try to use up everything, the pantry is full.

i was on vacation last week but I, m back and ready to start finding deals on the things we are out of. No real printer at work or at home for the last month and my news sub. ran out so no q,s to speak of.

In my new place there are tons of critters around. I,m still in the city but more in the woods. We have raccoons and or squirrels leaving half eaten avocados in or yard. The good news about that is that some neighbor must have an avocado tree that hopefully they are willing to share from.

We also have centipedes inside and out. Gross! I already got two of them this morning.  Any cheap ideas on how to get rid of those?

[alabamagal]

Got a great deal on Diet Coke at CVS that was totally unexpected.  They are advertised on the front of the flyer as 3 for $9 regular price $5.  I got 3 and paid $9 plus tax, and I got a $5EB!!  The EB says it is for spending on selected products and the receipt says "Coke spend 15 and get 5 EB"  But I only spent $9 ($15 was regular price).  On the back page of the flyer it says $5 EB for makeup and diet coke, and I only bought diet coke.

Dont know if this was an error, but I will certainly use my $5EB.

[rubyslippers]

Last week I got items that were on sale totaling $130.01, including tax and paid $24.70 OOP. I used CVS ECB's (thanks Murpath),e-coupon, MQ's, IPQ's, instant savings, senior discount, mperk rewards, mperks and Friday freebies. I took home:
1 bag sugar
1 Kool-Aid
2 boxes Post Cereal
1 can Folgers
4 Playtex tampons 36 ct.
6 Schick Hydro Silk razors
4 bags frozen vegetables
1 lb. butter
3 cans chili beans
1 loaf bread
1 bag expensive coffee beans
2 boxes potatoes (donated to food pantry)

I also filled up on gas for $1.99 a gallon after using fuel pts. rewards from Kroger.

[marvholly]

I agree. I would like to see GC keep going even w/the lower participation. I think we need Jmo back. Her stories were GREAT and it would be fun to hear (read) what her kids are up to. Is she a granny yet?............

One independent store has chicken leg quarters on a good sale starting today. IF I can get 6-8 lb pkg I will buy them again. Have several dishes in my near future plans to make. Also, Aldi has mushrooms this week for 0.49/8 oz so my mushroom, veggie soup is on my make week of 10/19 list if it all works. Otherwise I do have some chicken in the freezer I can use for some of the dishes.

[marvholly]

I will definitely be buying chicken leg quarters again this week. My fav fruit/veg market also has them for 0.59/lb and they NEVER have the huge bags. Average pkg is 2-3 lb. I’ll get 2-3 pkg (about 6 lb). It is forecast to be cool enough this week end to try out making my muchroom, veg, barley soup w/chicken instead of beef.

I think I may start to cluck soon.

[murphath]

Georgiagal wrote:

Got a great deal on Diet Coke at CVS that was totally unexpected. They are advertised on the front of the flyer as 3 for $9 regular price $5. I got 3 and paid $9 plus tax, and I got a $5EB!! The EB says it is for spending on selected products and the receipt says "Coke spend 15 and get 5 EB" But I only spent $9 ($15 was regular price). On the back page of the flyer it says $5 EB for makeup and diet coke, and I only bought diet coke.

You might want to check your email inbox--there was another CVS q in mine: $5/$15 purchase.  One could buy 5 of the coke for $15, get $5 off and then also get a $5 EB.

I might try this as I have a man. q for free 12 pack (from mycokerewards).  CVS used to take off the full value of the q ($4.99) but I don't know if that's changed.  I usually use them at Target when coke goes on sale 4/$12 as Target gives full value of the q no matter their price so I get overage when I use 4 q's.  Usually covers the CRV and tax plus a little more.

[marvholly]

I am going to have to pay MUCH more attention to the Target ads. I just won a $75 gift card. I have 2 stores in my area. One is WAAAY off my regular travel pattern. I seldom shop at the other. Prices are not the best and parking is generally horrendous and checkout is SLOOOWWW. Wonder how long I can cover a LOT of my food & HBA expenses as my Targets are NOT supers. Cosest super is WAAAY too far to routinly drive to. Thought the email was spam BUT it had a phone number which checked out.

[rubyslippers]

I generally avoid sales that are buy 5 save $5.00 but lately, Meijer has been having some good deals and I've managed to have the coupons. This week they had a buy 3/save 3 on Scrubbing Bubbles and there were $1.00 IQ's plus a rolling $3.00 catalina. I did the deal 3 times this week as that's what I use to clean my bathrooms. They also had a Unilever deal buy 5/save $5.00. There were some great coupons that made many of the products free, including boxes of Good Humor Bars and Suave Shampoo and hair spray. I had a $5.00 reward to start with so this week I bought 6 pack of Sparkle paper towels, 2 boxes Good Humor Bars, 2 boxes Klondike Bars, 11 Shampoos, 9 Hair Sprays, and 9 cans Scrubbing Bubbles. I had digital coupons making the Good Humor bars free and the Klondike Bars $.49 a pack.

At Rite Aid I used my $8.00 UPs to buy an 8 pk. Scott paper towels and 4 nail polish remover pads and I got a free bag of Temptation Kitty treats at Kroger.

My total was $12.84 OOP and I earned a $5.00 mperk reward at Meijer and should be pretty close to getting another $5.00 reward.

I also bought a Red Lobster gift card for a birthday gift at Meijer and got a $10.00 catalina. I used the catalina on 5 bags of shredded cheese.

[dancinmama]

SCORE at the Grocery Outlet!!

(15) 15 oz. Country Crock Spreadable Butter @ $.97/ea.  I couldn't believe I was seeing butter for that price.  I took all they had.  They freeze beautifully.

(4) 26 oz. pkgs of Hillshire Farms Black Forest Ham @ $3.97/ea.  That equates to $2.44 per pound!!

EDIT:  I was just looking at my receipt and although the sign in front of the ham said $3.97, it rang up at $3.27 which makes it $2.01/lb.!!

I seem to find better clearance deals at the GO on Fridays.  Maybe it's just a coincidence, but for now it will become my new shopping day.

[marvholly]

Going to hit up Domino’s for their $1 pizza deal (noon-1:40) & a local liquor store for their wine tasting (1-4 pm) today. CHEAP lunch. Will make or at least start my veg, mushroom barley soup.

I have been shopping at my larger Dollar Tree store but stopped at the small one on Fri since the big one was out of a seasonal item. SURPRISE! The small one has added one fridge case and 2 freezer cases. Not as much as my regular large store or nearly as much as the one near DD1 but good for most of what I buy/use.

[marvholly]

most of my grocery ads are out as they are Wed starts. Only my fav, big fruit/veg market is a Thur sale & will get that VERY early on Thur. So far, I am really NOT very impressed. I have 3 stores that each have 1 item I want/could use/need to stockpile BUT I generally do NOT do 1 item stops. BIG PITA.

[marvholly]

My big, fav fruit/veg market does NOT have much on their ad I want/need. However, they do have granny smith apples CHEAP (0.49) so I will definatly drop one of my 1 item stops (honey crisp apples 0.69) & go there. Also, they ALWAYS have a bunch of stuff on unadvertised specials so I ALWAYS check them out.

[murphath]

This is not grocery related at all.  Just got back from DD1's house in Reno area.  Since I've done a bunch of painting for DS and his fiancé, I offered my services to DD1.  Her bridal shower was last weekend so I went back to Reno with her.  Believe it or not, she wanted ultra white for some of her walls.  I hate painting white!  But anything for her, ya know....  I got her foyer, long hallway, and dining area archway done as well as, one wall in her kitchen and the half wall that separates the kitchen from the great room.  She just has one long wall in the great room and the rest of the kitchen to do.  It does "pop" with the color she chose for the other areas.  But I am tired.  She has vaulted ceilings so I spent 2 days going up and down that ladder (which didn't have a paint tray holder).  I took the train back to our neck of the woods and I must say, it was very relaxing. 
The seats are very comfy with tons of leg room.  The observation car was fun--people were very friendly.  $41 one way is a great price, too.  Only downfall is the length of the trip: 6 hours.  Definitely can't be in a rush which I'm not because I'm RETIRED.

 In case I didn't tell you guys, DD1 is getting married Jan. 5 in Reno (civil ceremony) and in Puerto Vallarta in Feb for a fun wedding.  DS recently got engaged and is getting married in July in San Diego.  DD1's BFF (like another daughter to us) is getting married in August of next year as is my nephew.  2015 will be known as the year of weddings. 

[dancinmama]

Oct 23, 2014 11:05:41 GMT -5 murphath said:

I took the train back to our neck of the woods and I must say, it was very relaxing. 
The seats are very comfy with tons of leg room.  The observation car was fun--people were very friendly.  $41 one way is a great price, too.  Only downfall is the length of the trip: 6 hours.  Definitely can't be in a rush which I'm not because I'm RETIRED.

I recently took Amtrak from the Bay Area to Portland, OR to spend some bonding time with my sister.   I agree - the leg room is ample, and the scenery was beautiful.  The trip took 19 hours, but I too was not in a rush because I'm also RETIRED!! 

The only tip I would give people who are not getting a sleeping car is to make sure you have a light blanket.  I am never cold and I was FREEZING at night.  I was so thankful when they assigned the seat to next to me to a very nice man who got on in Sacramento and had a twin sized blanket.  He saw that I was shivering and offered to share with me.  I packed train snacks:  eggs salad sandwich, turkey sandwich, smoked almonds, dried fruit, cheezits, organic lemonade, etc.  I gladly shared with him (except the turkey sandwich cuz he's a vegetarian). 

I will most definitely be taking the train again.

[dancinmama]

Oct 23, 2014 6:12:23 GMT -5 marvholly said:

My big, fav fruit/veg market does NOT have much on their ad I want/need. However, they do have granny smith apples CHEAP (0.49) so I will definatly drop one of my 1 item stops (honey crisp apples 0.69) & go there. Also, they ALWAYS have a bunch of stuff on unadvertised specials so I ALWAYS check them out.

For me, this week I have Fuji apples for $.50/lb. and onions for $.25/lb.

[dancinmama]

Another great day at the Grocery Outlet:

(8) 1-lb. packages of Oscar Mayer deli sliced oven roasted turkey breast @ $.99/lb.  I bought (4) for us and (4) for DS.

So my strategy of shopping at the GO on Fridays is paying off.  The gal that does the stocking said that they marked them down from $1.99/lb. to $.99/lb. yesterday.  There weren't that many on the shelf so the chances of being able to wait until Senior day and get the additional 5% discount are slim to none.

I also got a couple of boxes of Pillsbury double chocolate brownie mix for DH @ $.99/box.  He's been asking for brownies.    

[marvholly]

Big market did NOT have anything much I wanted. Shoud have figgured that from the empty (for them) parking lot.

Dancin
I SOOOO envy you your grocery outlet. Nothing around here like that.

[973beachbum]

Hi guys!  (waves furiously )

If anyone has an Acme around they have a new online thing to add coupons to your phone, or in my dumb phone case my phone number.  they have a Friday start to their sales so it runs until next thursday and there are some great deals to encourage people to sign up for the My Mixx program including

$5.00 off your order of $20 or more
Free dozen eggs, w/min $20 purchase limit 1
Free 2ltr Coke/diet coke
99 cents 24 pack case of bottled water
3.99 for 50 ounce Tide, plus addl mfr coupon
2.99 oscar mayer bacon plus addl mfr coupon

With the addl mfr coupons the Tide ends up as 1.99 and the bacon as 99 cents.  You can either virtually clip the mfr coupons or use regular paper ones but in this case I can't see any benefit to doing paper for this.

There is also a P&G catalina deal of get $15 OYNO when you spend $35 , get $10 WYS 30 and get $& wys 25.  There are a bunch of things some of which have some coupons but really to me are only enough when I include the $5 off my order as I really don't need much of what is listed and most of what I do doesn't have very good coupons IMO.  What is with all the 0.20 cents off coupons from P&G

Well that is all for my drive by post.  Have a great day everyone!

[rubyslippers]

My best deals of the week were eggs for $1.29 (Aldi), $1.95 bacon 12 oz. (Meijer) and 4 large Snapware containers to use for baking supplies for a Christmas gift for $1.60 plus tax. I used $18.00 in mperk rewards, 20% ecoupon and 15% discount using Meijer card to get the canisters. I earned another $5.00 mperk reward and am very close to earning another one. I also filled up on gas for $1.95 a gallon with Kroger's fuel rewards.