THE MARCH 2011 GROCERY CHALLENGE THREAD

[dancinmama]

Apr 1, 2011 12:38:17 GMT -5 bluecluessubtlety said:

Am I completely blind? I don't see an A P R I L grocery challenge thread?

<eta: this is as bad as my stupid phone not letting me curse by autocorrecting everything>

suzi hasn't switched over yet; just keep looking.

[herekittykitty]

Dancin: How do you package to avoid freezer burn? It seems like no matter what I use or how many layers, I still have issues...

[dancinmama]

Apr 1, 2011 12:43:58 GMT -5 herekittykitty said:

Dancin: How do you package to avoid freezer burn? It seems like no matter what I use or how many layers, I still have issues...

herekittykitty: I have focused on the meats that are sold in freezer burn resistant packaging. An example would be the Hormel Always Tender pork tenderloin. Its packaging is a thick, plastic, almost vacuum sealed package. I have had these in my freezer for over (2) years and when defrosted, it is as if you just brought it home from the store.

I was able to purchase (15) packages of beef fillet at Safeway packaged this way. I also have (6) corned beef that were packaged this way. Bacon is also packaged this way.

Everything that I have purchased has been at rock-bottom prices.

Today I plan to buy more Hormel pork tenderloin @ $4/1.7 lb. package or $2.35/lb. It is more than I have paid in the past, but the deepest discount that I can now get on these at my Safeway is 50% so this week's sale is now rock bottom. IF Safeway goes back to their old ways of discounting this type of meat, I will have paid a little more than I needed to; but it is a gamble that I'm willing to take.

[skubikky]

"laughs* my new avatar looks constipated!! "

.....you just caused me to laugh out loud.....you are a cute pink pudgy funny bunny

[leanna]

Apr 1, 2011 2:22:39 GMT -5 p8nt said:

I did quite a bit of shopping this week, but nothing anyone hasn't already listed.

I did have my first run-in at WAGs. I had a $3.00 Secret Clinical Strength Q and wanted to use it on the $2.99 travel size to get the spend $10/$3 RR deal. I asked the Asst Mgr about adjusting my Q down to $2.99 and he said no but he would go talk to the manager. I wait and about 5 min later he comes back and says, "Well the manager FEELS.... blah blah blah and we don't want to abuse the coupons...blah blah blah" I explained and showed him their policy, but he wouldn't budge. I lost out on the $3 RR's because I put it back and grabbed a regalar secret. My total was $9.96 DUH!!! That doesn't equal $10.

After a call to corporate, I received a call from the store manager. He, of course, would take my Q's and train his staff but no offer to give me the RR's or do anything else to make it right. Hopefully this doesn't start to be a problem there.

Sorry you had that problem. Wags is getting so weird. Yesterday, I did a nice F&F deal. But the Beauty Advisor was about to mark my Colgate toothbrush coupons down to .84 - she said my toothbrushes were only .84. Huh? Nope, the 15% discount took .84 OFF the price. The strange thing is, that is the first time I've had a cashier say they're going to mark a coupon down at Wags. And, of course, they were going to do it wrongly. Oy vey.

The fun at Wags continues

[leanna]

Apr 1, 2011 12:43:58 GMT -5 herekittykitty said:

Dancin: How do you package to avoid freezer burn? It seems like no matter what I use or how many layers, I still have issues...

I hope you don't mind if I join in here herekittykitty. I've never gotten freezer burn on my meat or chicken. What I do is wrap each item in plastic wrap (tightly), and then I wrap in aluminum foil. You can then put the pieces in a ziploc bag, but the ziploc bag doesn't make a difference for me in terms of freezer burn. My Mom always wrapped meat in aluminum back in the day and we never had freezer burn.

[picghaw]

Mar 31, 2011 22:40:07 GMT -5 dancinmama said:

Mar 31, 2011 22:32:12 GMT -5 picghaw said:

Hello Ladies ... I have odd question.. A coupon from an Insert can not be applied towards an online purchase? Or can it?

picghaw: Coupons that can be used for online purchases usually have a code that you have to enter for the discount. Most insert coupons do not have such a code. Sometimes there will be an "advertisement" in the inserts that will provide an online discount code (like those you see to order checks, etc.).

HTH

dancinmama: That's what I thought, just wanted to confirm. Thank you.

[jdnstl]

picghaw - it's not too late to do the WM gc deal with cotonelle. it ends 4/15 i think.

[jdnstl]

dancin - i think the avatars are resetting at noon in your time zone.

[oreo]

dancinmama - How are you storing your 32 pounds of sugar? Do you just store it in a dry place or do you do something special? How long do you anticipate that much sugar will last for you? I normally don't buy more than I can use in 1 year but maybe it will last a lot longer than that?

[kathyattraverse]

Wow Dancin..........I don't think I go through two bags a year!!

[dancinmama]

Apr 1, 2011 13:58:14 GMT -5 oreo said:

dancinmama - How are you storing your 32 pounds of sugar? Do you just store it in a dry place or do you do something special? How long do you anticipate that much sugar will last for you? I normally don't buy more than I can use in 1 year but maybe it will last a lot longer than that?

oreo: The sugar is stored in its original packaging in our pantry which is cool, but dry. I would say that its shelf life is indefinite. My biggest use is to make maple syrup (1/2 C. water, 1 C. sugar, 1 T. Mapleine). I also stockpiled Mapleine.

I had a gut feeling that the price of sugar was going to skyrocket and just this week, it was reported to go up 10%. Until fairly recently you could get sugar regularly at WAGs for $1.99/5 lb. bag (on sale); recently it was $2.49/4 lb. bag (with in-ad Q). So a few weeks ago, I had some RRs that I got for sales tax only in OOP, so I decided to use them to stockpile some 4 lb. bags of sugar.

My strategy in stockpiling since the economy has gotten so bad is to get drug chain rewards for close to free and convert those into rebates (first choice) or food items. If one of my pantry staples was on sale (coffee or sugar for example) the same week that I had rewards to burn, I'd hone in on that product, check my coupons, and stockpile accordingly.

[dancinmama]

Apr 1, 2011 13:40:01 GMT -5 jdnstl said:

dancin - i think the avatars are resetting at noon in your time zone.

Yep, my kitty in the hammock is back!!

[kathyattraverse]

Apr 1, 2011 14:35:22 GMT -5 dancinmama said:

Apr 1, 2011 13:40:01 GMT -5 jdnstl said:

dancin - i think the avatars are resetting at noon in your time zone.

Yep, my kitty in the hammock is back!!

How does one obtain an avatar? I feel kind of naked!!

[bobbysgirl]

I posted the SS coupons for this Sunday on my blog. It doesn't look like there will be a RP. Also 2 freebies at RA that I could find.

[The Home 6]

I got a great GREAT deal today, no April Fooling! The commissary, which I have a love-hate relationship with, had 1 pound blocks of Kraft cheese for $2.50. Which is their NORMAL price (sometimes I go in there, and they have arbitrarily raised the price to $4.49 per pound ) But, and here is the BEST part...there were in store coupons for $1 off per pound! I bought 4 pounds and hoarded 7-8 more coupons. They expire at the end of April.

[oreo]

dancinmama : Do you store your flour in the freezer or just in the pantry? I remember my mother talking about weevils (?) but I've never had the problem in flour (had it in Wondra though) I used to freeze it but I don't have the room now so I store the unopened packages in plastic containers (same with my sugar but I only have 2 bags!)

I think I have a lifetime's supply of candy in my freezer which takes up a ton of room. I think I bought it over the years 1/2 price after holidays. I don't eat a lot of candy so it just sits in there taking up space. Maybe I need to start eating more candy!

[kathyattraverse]

Oreo: You could donate the candy to a shelter if you want to get rid of some of it.

[jdnstl]

WHO SAID THAT THERE WILL ONLY BE ONE INSERT THIS WEEKEND?

check your papers carefully. SCJ sent a right @ home email saying their will be $35 in savings this weekend.

[dancinmama]

Apr 1, 2011 16:36:02 GMT -5 jdnstl said:

WHO SAID THAT THERE WILL ONLY BE ONE INSERT THIS WEEKEND?

check your papers carefully. SCJ sent a right @ home email saying their will be $35 in savings this weekend.

I did, but I went back and edited my post. At the time, the only insert up on The Coupon Clippers was P&G, but then I saw a blog where they showed a coupon preview for the SS and said that there WAS supposed to be a RP, but as of the post, there was no information on it. Sorry.

[dancinmama]

Apr 1, 2011 15:55:35 GMT -5 oreo said:

dancinmama : Do you store your flour in the freezer or just in the pantry? I remember my mother talking about weevils (?) but I've never had the problem in flour (had it in Wondra though) I used to freeze it but I don't have the room now so I store the unopened packages in plastic containers (same with my sugar but I only have 2 bags!)

oreo: No, I store my flour in an air tight container. I buy a couple bags when they are on sale at Christmas time and that usually does us for a year.

[dancinmama]

Apr 1, 2011 15:15:19 GMT -5 kathyattraverse said:

Apr 1, 2011 14:35:22 GMT -5 dancinmama said:

Yep, my kitty in the hammock is back!!

How does one obtain an avatar? I feel kind of naked!!

kathyattraverse: Google avatars and pick one. There are tons of them to choose from. I was looking for a doggy in a tutu or something like that (for dancinmama screen name), but I couldn't find anything that I liked so I saw the "kick back" kitty and decided that was good enough.

I think it was "The J" (one of the administrators) that helped get it up for me, but maybe someone here knows how to do it. The J was very helpful. The only bad thing is that it DID have a white background making the kitty easier to see, but when it came up here the background was black - that's okay.

[dancinmama]

I went to Safeway to get my Hormel Always Tender pork tenderloin. What a fiasco to save $10, but hey - $10 is $10.

I used the self check out. I scanned all my items, paid, and got my $10 Spring Savings Reward. Then I took my coupons ($15) worth to customer service. They had to refund everything that I used a coupon on and then re-ring and take my coupons. That's fine. I got it done.

I spent $60.49 OOP and got (14) 1.7 lb packages of pork tenderloin, 2 lbs. of carrots, and a 12 oz. package of bacon AND I got a $10 OYNO CAT. I plan to go back and get (6) more packages of bacon @ $2.99 ea. use (6) $1/1 coupons and the $10 OYNO and pay $1.94 OOP for the six packages unless I see a better deal on something else that we need in the meantime.

[suziq38]

Good Evening, Hounds!
Happy April Fools!
No "fooling around," we've moved to the new April 2011 Thread.
Please add your new posts there.

We have a lot to talk about!
See you there!

[debinwa]

Apr 1, 2011 10:50:23 GMT -5 jdnstl said:

Apr 1, 2011 2:15:42 GMT -5 debinwa said:

Hey all of a sudden, everybody has a new avatar. I like them! I think we've been second quarter bewildered! ;D

Edit: even my words above have been changed!! ;D

YEP! go read the thread at the top about pro-boards-and-avatars! you'll be crying with laughter!!!!

I read some of them last night and was surprised how many people didn't realize it was a joke. Went back and read the rest just now. Funny thread!