2015 Grocery Challenge

[dancinmama]

Welcome to the 2015 Grocery Challenge.  We're a small group now, but the goal is the same - to save money on groceries.  Everyone is welcome, so please join in!!

[wonderland]

I'd like to get back into the grocery game. I use to be a major couponer, before I got pregnant. I've tried to get back into the couponing, but the site I use to use, southern savers, doesn't seem as relevant anymore. What are some good resources for finding coupon matchups?

[dancinmama]

Jan 1, 2015 21:00:58 GMT -5 wonderland said:

I'd like to get back into the grocery game. I use to be a major couponer, before I got pregnant. I've tried to get back into the couponing, but the site I use to use, southern savers, doesn't seem as relevant anymore. What are some good resources for finding coupon matchups?

Welcome, wonderland!! 

I don't know how long it's been since you used coupons, but the coupon game is not what it used to be.  Due to coupon usage restrictions by both the manufacturers and the retailers (and depending on what stores you used to coupon at), the deals you remember seeing/doing may be a much more rare occurrence today or may not exist at all.  Perhaps that is the problem with what you're seeing (or not seeing) on Southern Savers.

Other sites you might try (for comparison) are hotcouponworld and WeUseCoupons, but the participation rate on all the sites has been dropping because the deals are not as "productive" as they used to be. 


 

[murphath]

Happy New Year Everyone!

For those of you that at one time signed up for coupons from Kashi, you should have received an email giving you a $2 off q. It allows you to print twice. I used those q's at Target to buy 2 boxes of Kashi cereal for a total of .48. Target has a b1g1 50% off on all cereal this week (ends today).

I also finally received my coupon for a free Gevalia coffee from Kelloggs family rewards.  I bought the required boxes of Special K with the Gevalia picture and submitted the rewards codes online.  While I like the Kellogg's rewards, they do take some patience.

[dancinmama]

Jan 3, 2015 12:49:11 GMT -5 murphath said:

Happy New Year Everyone!

For those of you that at one time signed up for coupons from Kashi, you should have received an email giving you a $2 off q. It allows you to print twice. I used those q's at Target to buy 2 boxes of Kashi cereal for a total of .48. Target has a b1g1 50% off on all cereal this week (ends today).

I also finally received my coupon for a free Gevalia coffee from Kelloggs family rewards.  I bought the required boxes of Special K with the Gevalia picture and submitted the rewards codes online.  While I like the Kellogg's rewards, they do take some patience.

Wow, awesome deal on the cereal!!  OOP like that is hard to come be these days.

[dancinmama]

hitenney:  Buddy and Rocket say "thank you" again.  I was able to get a 50 lb. bag at WalMart for free. 

[dancinmama]

I've been rolling my BF EBs.  I have $15 (a $10 EB and a $5BB EB).

Last week I got a $5/$15 in an email, but didn't find a good way to use it, so I let it go.

Starting 1/11 CVS gas relief will be $9.99 and giving a $9.99 EB.  I am hoping that they give me another $5/$15 this week as I did notice that they had A LOT of the Snickers nutcrackers (2 or 3 unopened boxes), so maybe I can score some of those cheaply.  They also have Snow's clams for $.88, so that will be a good option too since it's home-made clam chowder season.

[marvholly]

Dancin
Get to CVS early Sun if you want the clams. They quickly ran out here a time they were 0.88 & did NOT get stock back for WAAAAY more than 4-6 months. Supposedly a mfg issue BUT other grocers & Big Lots had plent on their shelves withing a couple weeks.

[FreeSalsa]

Ah, here you are!  I thought it was awfully quiet on the 2014 thread.  I was wondering where you all went.  

[marvholly]

I did not get the grocery ads on Tue. Sometimes they come on Wed. However, several of my local bloggers have posted the deals from 2 stores and 2 others I checked online. I still have 2 places to check.

There is NOTHING I really need. In fact, there are only a few things I even want. Considering the ‘high’ temps around here are forecast to be between 0 and 20 for the next week I am sort of glad. I may not grocery shop at all. Also, I do need to reduce the amount of stuff in my freezer. The only thing I really want is a Sun paper for the Ken’s coupon(s).

[dancinmama]

Jan 6, 2015 7:23:57 GMT -5 marvholly said:

Dancin
Get to CVS early Sun if you want the clams. They quickly ran out here a time they were 0.88 & did NOT get stock back for WAAAAY more than 4-6 months. Supposedly a mfg issue BUT other grocers & Big Lots had plent on their shelves withing a couple weeks.

Thanks for the tip.  I'm definitely not going in until the rude, night cashier is out of there.  I'd like to maybe use the clams as a filler, but if they run out, I'll just get a rain check.

I still have over $60 worth of CVS GCs from the old days.    

[dancinmama]

Jan 6, 2015 23:48:47 GMT -5 FreeSalsa said:

Ah, here you are!  I thought it was awfully quiet on the 2014 thread.  I was wondering where you all went.  

Oops.  I probably should have posted a note alerting all that a new thread had been started.

Sorry about that. 

[mizbear]

I have to get back into the grocery game. I am still working full time and going to school part time. Need to save everything I can.

[marvholly]

Welcome back mizbear. Be aware the game (deals) is NOT nearly as good. Tighter buying requirements, lower coupon values, higher shelf prices..........

Well I was wrong. I do need to do some grocery shopping this week. My fav fruit/veg market has a bunch of thing on GREAT sale but I have thru Wed to shop there.

[973beachbum]

Hi guys!  I got a small victory this week.  Shoprite had musselmans apple sauce 6 pack cups  and 4 pack big cups were on sale for .99 cents a pack.  There were coupons for .75 cents off of 2.  My shoprite doesn't fully double, which sucks because the store I work at does but, they still brought it up to $1. 

So I ended up paying .49 cents a pack.  That is still a screaming deal these days.

And the total cost of the 8 packs counted before coupons so I could get my 5 12 packs of Coke cans for $11 without any add'l OOP even though they stated you needed to spend $10 in add'l purchases they counted the money paid by the coupons as part of it.

[dancinmama]

Saved $5.03 by buying yellow onions at the ethic market for $.20/lb. vs buying them at Safeway for $1.99/lb.  We bought (5) onions (2.81 lbs.) and paid $.56 instead of the $5.59 they would have cost at Safeway.  Do people really pay $5.59 for (5) onions!!??

[973beachbum]

Jan 9, 2015 16:45:56 GMT -5 dancinmama said:

Saved $5.03 by buying yellow onions at the ethic market for $.20/lb. vs buying them at Safeway for $1.99/lb.  We bought (5) onions (2.81 lbs.) and paid $.56 instead of the $5.59 they would have cost at Safeway.  Do people really pay $5.59 for (5) onions!!??

When i ring people up I regularly ring up grapes that a smallish bag is over $12 or 5/6 apples for $9.  Most people don't bat an eyelash.  

[Happy prose]

973beachbum Shoprite has a good deal this Sunday on Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom cleaner. $1.99 and there's a $1 coupon out there to print. Buy 3, get a $3 CAT. Free! I'll keep you posted on the Shoprite deals, as it's almost the only store I shop in. 

Hi everyone! Is anyone else a Shoprite shopper?

[dancinmama]

Jan 9, 2015 19:44:31 GMT -5 973beachbum said:

Jan 9, 2015 16:45:56 GMT -5 dancinmama said:

Saved $5.03 by buying yellow onions at the ethic market for $.20/lb. vs buying them at Safeway for $1.99/lb.  We bought (5) onions (2.81 lbs.) and paid $.56 instead of the $5.59 they would have cost at Safeway.  Do people really pay $5.59 for (5) onions!!??

When i ring people up I regularly ring up grapes that a smallish bag is over $12 or 5/6 apples for $9.  Most people don't bat an eyelash.  

How do you keep yourself from gasping when you see what they're going to pay? 

[dancinmama]

Jan 9, 2015 19:53:45 GMT -5 Happy prose said:

973beachbum Shoprite has a good deal this Sunday on Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom cleaner. $1.99 and there's a $1 coupon out there to print. Buy 3, get a $3 CAT. Free! I'll keep you posted on the Shoprite deals, as it's almost the only store I shop in. 

Hi everyone! Is anyone else a Shoprite shopper?

Welcome, Happy prose!!

No Shoprite in my neck of the woods. 

[Happy prose]

What grocery stores do you shop dancinmama?

[dancinmama]

Jan 9, 2015 21:04:04 GMT -5 Happy prose said:

What grocery stores do you shop dancinmama?

We have Safeway and Nob Hill, but I rarely shop at either of them these days. 

I do most of our shopping at the 99 Cent Store, the Grocery Outlet, and a couple of small ethnic markets.  I am REALLY lucky because by hitting these stores regularly, I am able to purchase high quality food at ridiculously low prices.  

[marvholly]

I always stock up on onions when any of my fruit/veg markets have them for 0.25/lb or less. NO WAY will I pay chain store prices. Same for apples. Big fruit/veg market has granny smiths for 0.49/lb this week.

No Shoprite in metro Chicago either.
Interesting this week Albertson’s (Jewel) had $5 Fri only specials like Safeway (Dominicks) used to offer. Going to keep an eye on those especially if/when the weather gets better.

[murphath]

I'm with dancinmama: the 99c store is great. I got a pkg. of really nice looking strawberries there for .99 when they are $5.99 at Raleys!!! Grocery Outlet usually has the yogurt we like but I can get deals for that at Target by using man. q's, Target q's, my 5% off Target card, and bring my own bags (.05 off per bag).

I only shop the deals (loss leaders) at Safeway and Raleys and what they give me via their loyalty programs. How can you afford to feed your family when apples are $2.99 lb! And they are HUGE! That's my biggest gripe: you pay almost $2.99 for one apple.

Safeway gave me a $5.99 price for a gallon of Organic Valley milk.  I get the 0% because it tastes so darn good!  It's normally $7.99.  So off I go to SW and, lo and behold, no gallon sizes.  The clerk allowed me to sub 2 1/2 gallons ($5.99 ea. reg price!).  I used a Real Calif. milk q and got it down to $5.64.  If I'd known I needed to sub, I would have brought 2 q's w/me!

[rubyslippers]

My best deals this week were getting bananas $.39 lb., 3 lb. bag of apples $.99, and grape tomatoes $.79 at Aldi.
At Kroger I got a free box of Belvita crackers and Clorox toilet bowl cleaners for $.24 each after IPQ's. I price matched canned mushrooms for $.60 a can at Walmart and I got gas for $.85 a gallon using fuel rewards. I spent a lot of UPs at Rite Aid but got the moisturizers I wanted and bags of Christmas chocolate for $.07 each this week. Next week I will be getting free Colgate, eggs and paper products with the UPs I have left.

[FreeSalsa]

Jan 9, 2015 20:38:42 GMT -5 dancinmama said:

Jan 9, 2015 19:44:31 GMT -5 973beachbum said:

When i ring people up I regularly ring up grapes that a smallish bag is over $12 or 5/6 apples for $9.  Most people don't bat an eyelash.  

How do you keep yourself from gasping when you see what they're going to pay? 

Ha ha ha!  i would have to say something ever time.  But it's true.  People don't even notice.  Or what I hear often is, "Well that's what it costs."  It doesn't occur to people that they could pay less.

[FreeSalsa]

Ok, I'm going to really try again this year to keep track of my spending.  It's hard on the weekends after spending all week at a desk to sit down at a desk and do my own paperwork.  I really enjoyed my holiday schedule.  I worked only 6 days from 12/11-1/4 and it was nice, just a few days here and there.  But that doesn't pay the bills.

Today I cut up the two organic pumpkins I got from my free fruit guy a while back and I will cook those tonight.  I also plan to squeeze the free lemons I got from my parents' neighbor and make lemonade.  I also have a recipe for lemon granita so I might try that.  For a lot of the recipes you need an ice cream maker but for this one you don't.  

I did't buy anything at CVS this week.  I might hit up Albertsons or Ralphs.  We don't have a lot of meat in the house but the pantry is overflowing with boxes and cans.

[tootsieroll]

Beachbum and Happy Prose - I am a Shoprite shopper, too I used to to CVS and several stores but now try to stick to Shoprite, Wegmans, and Target. I was able to get those Musselmans 6 packs for .48 each because my .75/2 fully doubled.  I was happy with that price.  I use the SR app to get store coupons, but mainly try to save on HBA items.  We eat a good amount of organic veggies and fruit, which does add up.

Tomorrow I will try to get some free Yardley body wash - there is a 1.00/1 coupon in this week's inserts and it is on sale for $1.99.

[hopetoberich]

I got some gold bond lotion at CVS recently. I have a $6 ecb to use and will check out this weeks add tomorrow. Its just too cold to go out tonight.
Bad news today...a 96 load (remember those) burst and complexly filled the tub it was stored in. Tide is super expensive and I will be calling them monday  wot a mess, it ruined all other stuff in the tub. 

[marvholly]

One of my local fruit/veg markets has opened a new location in a burb about 25-30 mi from me. He is ONLY running an ad for the new place. I do NOT understand this as the cost of his supplies should be the same everywhere in the same metro area. To me this is DUMB marketing. I will NOT be shopping there this week. AND there is no fruit or veggies on that ad. Who needs to bother. I have plenty of othe places that want my $$.