2015 Grocery Challenge

[marvholly]

I plan to buy my 4th dinner: ribs from Aldi, potato salad and cole slaw from the fruit/veg market. This will be done on Fri so I can add onion to the potato and celery seed to the slaw.  limited other shopping needed but some wanted.

[skubikky]

Picked strawberries 2 weekends ago and made jam and froze some.
Paid $2,75 for as much as I could put in a quart container.   
I had a peck basket that had 3 quarts overflowing.
When I got home it was over 4 quarts when I washed and cleaned them.

My raspberry bushes look good.  Hoping to get a good crop to do more jam.

Got a good deal on flowers to send to my SIL for her retirement.

I ordered them online as amex was giving a $15 credit for purchase over $50.
Our total was $50.72.   The local florist delivered them 2 days earlier than I ordered.
The online company credited me $15 for the delivery and re-delivered another bouquet on the correct day.
Then Amex credited me $15 for the purchase.
Total was $20.72 which I split with my other SIL.

I've sold a number of items on ebay in the last month that had come to me at no cost.
It's amazing what people will buy.  One man's trash is another man's treasure. 

[murphath]

Have you ever looked into other people's shopping cart? I must admit to being guilty of this. A lot of times, I'll be the coupon fairy and hand them some q's to save money. Last time was last weekend at Pennys. I stopped in to pick up a new bath mat using the $10/$10 q they'd sent me. Mat was on sale for $12.99 so I paid $2.99 plus tax--the original price was $26. But I digress... I was standing in line behind a lady buying a whole new bedroom sheet/comforter/pillows combo. Her total was well over $200. I tapped her on the shoulder and asked if she was using a JC Penny cc. She said no, so I handed her the 15% off coupon for other form of payment.. If she was using the Pennys card, I'd have given her the 20% off q. As it was, she was very happy to save close to $40. Hey, it all helps, right.

My point is that people spend money like water and don't take advantage of the methods available to save a ton. The grocery store and/or Target are the worst.  People have carts full of "stuff"--they must just wander around the stores and put whatever hits their eye into the cart. No wonder debt is such a problem for folks. The term mindless eating comes to mind---but in this case it's mindless spending.

Ok, my mini rant is over.

[marvholly]

mupath

I frequently look at other peoples carts to

determine if I missed a sale of some sort

they found something I could not find

they found any special clearance stuff

I have tried/given people coupons.  They usually look at me as if I had 2 heads; both with horns.

[rubyslippers]

Over the last couple of days I got 16 bottles of Suave body wash at $1.50 each.  I used a $1/2 MQ and received a $2.00 catalina.  I rolled the catalina with coupon and paid tax.  I ended up using the last catalina at Kroger where I bought 6 boxes of Ronzoni pasta at $.49 each. I paid $3.71 for the body wash and $.94 for the pasta. Kroger also had Hefty slider bags as part of their buy 6 Mega sale for $.99 each.  Earlier, I printed out $2/3 coupons and spent $1.94 plus tax on 6 bags. Pineapples were $.99 and I bought one.  I will go back before the sale is over and get another one.  I price matched eggs @ $1.29 and got 3 dozen.

I am getting green beans and peas from my garden and have been busy picking and freezing the ones that we haven't eaten.  I've also been dehydrating some of my herbs. 

At Rite Aid I got 2 tubes of Crest TP, 2 cans of Diamond almonds and a bottle of olive oil (75% off) and paid nothing.  I also got $50.00 on my card for 2 prescription transfers.  I am planning on going back and getting 2 cases water @ $1.99 and using points on my card.  I'll still have $100 left.

At the gas station I saved $23.00 on gas using my Kroger fuel rewards and got gas for $1.64 a gallon.

[marvholly]

Glad I guessed right:

I filled my tank w/gasoline for 2.94 on last Mon because stations around here tend to jump prices ove holidays.

Yesterday gas was 3.19 just about everywhere I looked (lowest 3.15).

[dancinmama]

Jul 3, 2015 5:37:56 GMT -5 marvholly said:

I have tried/given people coupons.  They usually look at me as if I had 2 heads; both with horns.

Before couponing got a bad rap, most people were very appreciative when I gave them coupons.  Afterwards, not so much.

[dancinmama]

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY ALL YOU HOUNDS!!

I think I'm ready.  The potato salad is made.  The watermelon is cut up.  The fried chicken will come from Safeway (4 legs and 4 thighs for $5).  And for dessert, the root beer is chilling in the fridge waiting to be poured over vanilla ice cream.

We get a great view of several fireworks shows at the Elk's Lodge parking lot which is less than 5 minutes from home.  As soon as it gets dark, we'll head up there.  Fireworks are legal in all but a few areas in our town, so we'll be hearing them go off for hours tonight.

[FreeSalsa]

Happy 4th to all of you too!  Those root beer floats sound so good.

Today we put out the patio furniture that my dad made of scrap wood, it looks great.  I got a patio umbrella at DIY for $45, it seems like the average price is about $80 for that size.  When we painted the furniture I repainted an old table I rescued from near a dumpster and it fits right in.  I also used another small outdoor shelf that was left behind when someone moved out of my last apartment building.  Paint and everything included it cost about $80 for a full patio set.

We were also able to watch fireworks from our patio!  No gas, no parking, no hassle.

Our gas is down to about $3.45, much better than the $3.85 it was for Memorial day.  $1.69 is incredible!!! Nice work, ruby!

This week we got lemons, watermelon, and herbs in the free fruit box.  Yesterday and today I've been doing stuff with that.  Mint simple syrup, lemon/rosemary simple syrup, mint tea, watermelon mint daiquiris , cucumber/feta/mint salad, lemonade, pesto.  Tomorrow is mint extract and lemon/rosemary cocktails .  

Whatever mint I can't use I'll dry.  Does anyone have any recipes with mint??  I have at least 4 more cups of it.

[marvholly]

Gas was up even higher on Sat - 3.15-3.27 leaning closer to the 3.27 at most places I wet past.

I did run to Salvation Army for their 4th sale. Did NOT find any clothing I wanted BUT I did get 3 wine glasses. Marked w/green tags for 0.99. Color of the week was green so s/b 0.69. Cashier rang up for 0.49. ? ok-I'll take it.

I think I am DONE with WAG. Two months ish ago they had sharpie markers 3/$1. Been carrying the raincheck since. Hit at least 1 Wag/week. Hit 4 last week. NADA, Zip, Zilch. Got a mgr on Sat who said it must have been a special buy or close out. Plain black sharpies a special buy or close out? HOGWASH. This week they have Butterball turkey bacon on sale. Hit 4 stores in 4 different towns. Nada, Zip, Zilch. Same mgr told me their supplier did NOT deliver. HOGWASH!!! Nationally, WAG is probably only 2nd to Walmart in number of stores. Any supplier who let me down like that would be TOTALLY off my list of possible/approved vendors.  Cynic that I am I suspect the supply WILL become available AFTER all the coupons out thee expire.

[marvholly]

I have given up on most coupons because:

Very few I want in inserts so NOT worth buying the Sun paper
Too low value – most are worth 0.25/less per item
Requires the purchase of too many for a single person household

[Blonde Granny]

Finally, I scored last night. Monday evening we went to our local Walmart Neighborhood Market for a few groceries. In the butter area there were very plain 1 # packages of butter for $1.89. We bought 1 to try.....it's kind of like "what's wrong with this picture"? Land of Lakes butter was almost $5. We tried some of it last night and it was quite good.

Off to the Neighborhood Market. We cleaned it out of what was left on display and brought home 9 #s. It rang up at $2.24, so cashier corrected it. Will be going back today for more. I'll toss it into the freezer, so my goal would be 26#. Right now we already have 14# in there.

[marvholly]

One of my local fruit/veg markets has opened a 2nd location in the western suburbs (I am north). Lately his local advertising has been erratic. I suspect he is positioning himself to close my location as a really GREAT market (been to the one near DD1) is opening 1.5 mi away shortly.

[murphath]

I ran out of facial moisturizer so had to come up with a deal on the fly. I've been wanting to try Cereve and it is on sale BOGO50% at CVS.  I'd printed those $6 off q's awhile back and had a $5 ECB.  The lotion was $14.99 and 7.49 so essentially $22.50 plus tax.  The coupons beeped--why can't they get those things to work.  Arghhh!  The guy wasn't going to let me use them but I convinced him to just type in the code numbers.  Voila!  Success.  I used a CVS e-gift card from My Points to pay the balance.  Even that took some time to go through.  I've found the CVS gift cards don't scan well and we usually end up having to punch in all the numbers.  Why do these things have bar codes if they aren't going to function as intended??  In any event, I'm going back today to buy 2 of the Cereve soap bars ($6.49 and 3.25 each).  I'll use 2/$3 off q's from a past Sunday insert and pay the balance with the gift card.  This will give me a $10 and $5 ECB: one from $30 of Cereve and the other my beauty purchases reaching the $50 goal.  The $15 in ECBs will replace my original $5 ECB and the $10 deducted from my gift card.  No quite free but pretty much under $1.  Not bad!

For you bodywash users, Nivea is $3.99 at Target.  If you go to totallytarget, she has a link to a $3 off Target q.  You can also use the $2 Nivea q from 6/21 inserts.  After tax, you should still have @ .60 overage to cover the cost of something else.

[dancinmama]

I

Jul 8, 2015 5:38:08 GMT -5 marvholly said:

I have given up on most coupons because:

Very few I want in inserts so NOT worth buying the Sun paper
Too low value – most are worth 0.25/less per item
Requires the purchase of too many for a single person household

Don't feel badly; I'm on hiatus too.  Maybe I wouldn't be if I did not have my stockpiles of non-perishables. 

I did actually use (3) "clip or click" coupons at Safeway last week to get Best Foods mayo for $1.88/30 oz. jar.  I haven't seen mayo on clearance at the GO in probably over a year and the best they have right now is $2.49 for an off brand.  I was down to (2) jars in my pantry which will go pretty quickly when making summer potato salads and such.  I practically fell over when I saw that the regular price for that mayo was $5.49!! 

I also picked up some Dr. Pepper (Buy 2/Get 3 Free) @ $2.40/12 pk. instead of my "go to" price of $2.50.  Just in case the Labor Day sales are not so good, I snagged a couple of rain checks for them that don't expire until October which will take me through to Super Bowl Sunday if need be.

Overall, I don't know what I'd do without the GO and the 99 Cent Store.  Unlike the Best Foods mayo, the prices I get are regularly MUCH lower than any sale at Safeway + a coupon deduction.

[saveinla]

Check your CVS advisor emails - survey today to get 10$ ECB

[marvholly]

I done it again. Chicken leg quarters 0.29/lb vs. pork chops 1.29/lb at my big fruit/veg market. Had to do it. However, the recipe I want to try needs the oven so not likely to make in the next week.

Did hit it BIG at my local Jewel (Albertsons). Had a raincheck good 4 for Ready Pac Bistro Salad bowls at 0.99 each. Had 4 coupons for 0.50 off on 1. Heard there was also a catalina for buy 4 get $2 off my next order but was NOT sure it would print with the raincheck + coupons. It Did. IT DID!

About 2 weeks ago I bought a new small (8”), teflon house brand fry pan at Walmart. I LOVE it. High on my list of GREAT, CHEAP purchases ($3).

[marvholly]

Caught up wih the regional Wag store mgr on Sat at my local WAG. Described my experience with a nearby store (aat mgr LIED to me) and used my turkey bacon coupon.

Well I will NOT be shopping at CVS this week. Seems IL is a test market and there is NO ad here. Thus, nothing to entice me into going into the store. Guess I should email corp about what a S.A.D. idea I think this is.  tried to email but would NOT go through.  Will call CS later when they open.

[dancinmama]

Well, I hit it again at the GO.  DH and I did a day trip yesterday in the new ride and passed by the GO on our way home. 

I found 20-cnt Oscar Mayer Selects Angus Beef bun length hot dogs for $2.97.  I really like their 'selects' line because it has no nitrates or nitrites.  I bought (5).  I would have gotten more, but I already have some all beef hot dogs in the freezer that we need to use. 

[rubyslippers]

I went to Rite Aid yesterday and got 2 Suave body washes, 2 Colgate toothpaste, and 2 Crest mouthwash (clearance). I bought the Suave first to get a $2.00 catalina.  I got the other 4 items using coupons and catalina.  My PP deducted $11.00 and I earned $15.00 in new PP.

I bought 2 pineapple @ $.99 each by price matching the sale at Aldi.  I cut and froze the slices for the freezer so not to have any waste. 

From our garden, I cut 7 jalapeno peppers into strips and got 2 more bags of green beans for the freezer.

Today our local store will have Con Agra products for $.79 each when you buy 10 items.  I will stock up on ketchup, Rotel and Hunts ketchup.

When our local peaches are ready I plan to can a bushel of them.

[murphath]

Dancin:

What kind of car did you decide to get? And is it as comfy as you wanted?

[murphath]

Target had a 20% off Weight Watchers smart ones cartwheel offer last week. I combined that with a $5/5 q and my 5% red card discount to get them for 64cents each. I don't make a habit of eating these but I like to have a few on hand in the event I don't feel like cooking. Now that the kids no longer live at home, I actually get to eat one or two myself. Even DH has been known to grab one "for a snack".

Yuban coffee is on sale at CVS for $5.99 and I've finally run out of my stash. I have a $10 ECB so I think I'll buy two and use the My Points gift card for the balance. Two 30 oz cans should last me awhile.

I know most of you have a large amount of stored laundry detergent.  But if you get the Sunday paper, there was a $3 off Oxiclean liquid detergent.  It's on sale for $3.99 at Rite Aid this week and my store had peelies on the bottles for a rebate on the purchase price--so in the end it would be free.  Well, postage and tax, but pretty close to free these days.

[dancinmama]

Jul 13, 2015 9:53:39 GMT -5 murphath said:

Dancin:

What kind of car did you decide to get? And is it as comfy as you wanted?

We ended up getting a Lincoln MKC.  It is extremely comfortable, quiet, and offers a very smooth ride.

I didn't even know that the car existed (first build was in July 2014).  I was shown one at a Ford/Lincoln dealer after test driving the Ford Escape and the Ford Edge.  After I drove it, I knew it was "my car".  I found the one I wanted (exterior/interior color, engine, FWD vs AWD, etc.) at another dealership and did all the negotiations myself....and didn't do too badly if I do say so myself.  DH was impressed, but then he's not much of a haggler. 

[dancinmama]

Had another good day at the GO.  They sent me an email saying that they had 11 oz. Eight O'Clock ground coffee for $.97!!

Since I was on that side of town, I popped into the 99 Cent Store and found cherries for $1.49/lb. and nectarines for $.50/lb.  YEAH!!

[FreeSalsa]

I thought about you Marvholly.  A local chain has chicken leg quarters on a one-day sale for 29c/lb.  I have never seen this price before.  I thought 59c was amazing but this is even better.  I'll go tomorrow and get as many as I can.  DH likes dark meat and now that I've been eating it more, I do too.

Here's a crock pot recipe that's good with leg quarters as well as chicken breast.  I've gotten artichoke hearts with gift cards at Longs (before they disappeared) and Trader Joe's.  I've made this twice now and really liked it with orzo or rice.  I left out the mushrooms though.

www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/slow-cooker-chicken-with-tomatoes-and-artichokes/12b3ec32-5534-44d3-a488-02f8afa0621b

Last time I got gas about ten days ago, it was still going down and was $3.43.  This week I went and it was $3.99 at the cheapest station around.  The rest are all well over $4.  What happened? ? ? 

[marvholly]

last week the market w/the cheap legs advertised them for 0.49/lb. However, when I looked the pk were 0.29/lb. Weird how chicken is 'supposed' to be getting $$ due to the avian flu thing (like eggs) but is not $$ in reality.

This week several stores are running legs for 0.49-0.59.

[FreeSalsa]

I see why you're always so tempted, Marvholly.  I bought almost 25 lb. of chicken leg quarters.  I've never seen any meat so low.  I tried Super King, which I've never been to before.  It was nicer than I expected and it was a very big store.  Saveinla, they had lots of produce in good condition, grown in the U.S., and much cheaper than a lot of other places.  It's a bit out of my way but I would make a trip now and again for special sales.  I bought so much food.  DH guessed that it cost $80 or more but it was only $45 and I bought a lot of meat and veggies.  

The medium eggs, on the other hand, were $2.99, but I saved so much on everything else that I bought them, I'm completely out and have company coming this weekend.  We need them for baking etc. too.

[saveinla]

Yes. I like the store, but it's out of the way for me also. I went once and came back with a whole bunch of veggies and some good fresh hummus and fresh pita.

There is another one called Sunland produce which is very cheap and is on Glenoaks - Saturday morning they have really fresh produce - not sure where their stuff comes from though - probably both US and Mexico.

[dancinmama]

Another great day at the GO for me.

I tried the Eight O'Clock coffee as I'd never had it before and it is REALLY good.  11 oz. of really good coffee for $.97 - you can't beat that.  I went back for (20) more bags and noticed that they had 15 oz. Country Crock spreadable butter for $.77.  My go to price on that is $.99.  I got the last (9) that they had.

[rubyslippers]

Dancin, I would love to find coffee at that price.  How do you store yours?

Meijer is having a 2 day sale and they have leg quarters for $.29 lb., but I am low on freezer space due to the vegetables I've been putting away.

My best buys this week: $.69/2 pack green peppers and $.69 red onion 2 lb. bag at Aldi,  $.36 lb. bananas, $2.14 Land-0-Frost lunchmeat 1 lb. (after MQ's), and $.29 per pack of Gillette razors (after MQ's), and a free sharpie marker from Meijer.

At Rite Aid, I got 4 Suave body washes, 2 Colgates, 2 Crest mouth wash, 4 Oxiclean detergents and a 12 pk. Scott toilet paper for $1.26 after Plenti Points.  I still have $73.00 left on my card. 

Freesalsa, I'm going to try your chicken recipe in a couple of weeks; it sounds delicious.