2015 Grocery Challenge

[marvholly]

Two of my all-time fav veggies (Brussel sprouts & asparagus) are on special at 2 different markets this week. They are still significantly above what I would prefer to pay but since fruit/veg purchases have been low I am going to go for them.

Butternut squash is also on sale at a good $. What can I do w/it?

[rubyslippers]

Marvholly, I can't vouch for the taste but there are a lot of soup recipes that use butternut squash.

I had a very good day at the stores combining coupons, discounts and catalinas.

    Dairy: 2 cream cheese, 4 shredded cheese, 3 lbs. butter, 1 sour cream

    Produce: 3 peppers, 1 celery, potatoes, grapes

    Grocery: 6 boxes pasta, 4 dog treats, 1 Miracle Whip, coffee, 4 lbs. brown sugar, 3 cans tomatoes, 3 loaves bread, 2 lbs. lunchmeat

    Frozen: 2 Breyer ice cream, 1 bag frozen vegetables

    HB: 5 Angel Soft TP, 2 Viva towels 6 pks., 3 Soft Soap hand soaps

    Misc.: 2 bathroom hand towels, 1 top, 8"x10" photo

I spent $41.34 and saved $67.60

I looked at Meijer's ad for black Fri. weekend and am not impressed with the sale they have on their baking items.  I saved last year's ad and the selection isn't as good this year and there are too many hoops to jump through.  This week's sale of brown sugar is part of their buy 10 get 1 free, which makes each item $.91.  Two were $1.82 for a total of 4 lbs. and last year a 4 lb. bag was $2.49 each when you bought 5 items during black Saturday. 

[marvholly]

Happened to go to Aldi on Tue - last day of the current ad here. Found some significant knockdowns on week's veggie deals:

asparagus $1.49 to 0.89

baby carrots 0.39 to 0.35

Anyone know if this often happens on the last day of the ad. Might start checking regularly.

[hitenney]

Hi all!  Ruby - you sure did a great job!  Holly, I can't believe you can get carrots for 0.39 - ours are pretty much always at least 1.50/lb if not more. What was your price on the Brussel sprouts? It was my boss's birthday on Friday, and she has no sweet tooth at all, plus she's not fond of flowers, so I picked up a bag of Brussel sprouts ($5.99!) and another of those small, cute colorful peppers ($4.99), and made a lei out of those!  She loves vegetables, so I guess she liked it.  Also on Friday, Safeway had excellent choices for the $5 specials, including New York steak!  I got the last three packages - regular $12.99/lb, so we haven't had any of those for quite awhile.  They were already out of the TP that was on special, which also worked out well, as I got a rain check.

The coupon event I attended was interesting, but sponsored by the newspaper, and so focused on selling Sunday papers.  However, they do have a helpful tool for making use of your coupons: a website specific to our stores and their current ads, with a built in spreadsheet for making lists that already show what the specials are at a particular store, a rating of how good a deal it is (blank for so-so, 3 stars for fair, 4 stars for good, "EXTREME", and "FREE".  Then there's a column that tells you where the coupons are, and even links to IP Q's.  I noticed WalMart and Target are not on the store list, but Safeway and our 3 local chains are, and CVS/Longs and Walgreens.  And you can build your spreadsheet, deleting the items you are not interested in, so you end up with a very good list to shop from. In case anybody's interested, the website is www Hawaiismartshopper com - I got the impression there are other "smartshopper" websites around the country.  I know we used to use websites like that, but because what got distributed here was always so much less than what they would list on the mainland, it was very frustrating!  I was also contacted to see if I wanted to work part-time doing data entry.

I spoke to the speaker after - she was from Texas, and had never heard of beer rebates!  I've got to start working those again - I'm missing out on a lot of $5 checks!  Happy Turkey Day, everybody!

[Deleted]

Nov 11, 2015 22:51:55 GMT -5 hitenney said:

I spoke to the speaker after - she was from Texas, and had never heard of beer rebates!  I've got to start working those again - I'm missing out on a lot of $5 checks!  Happy Turkey Day, everybody!

Do you have to buy the wine or beer in your state? Here we don't so they are free money if you would buy the stuff, anyway. The forms are hard to find around here, though. I used to buy them online, but that got pricey because the sellers want 10% plus postage.  It's worth it for the $10+ forms, but not for the $5 ones. I've been sticking with the local ones.

Today was a good day for me. Walmart had the 3 pound rolls of extra-lean ground beef that expires tomorrow for $8.99. I bought two, divided it, and froze it.  That's a couple of months worth of hamburger for us.

I also had two $3 Tide coupons so I got two of the $5.94 jugs for $2.94. I kept waiting for a better deal, but they expire 11/21. I didn't want to forget to use them.

I try to only coupon for stuff we use, but DH said he had never seen the cabinets so filled with food.  It is all the Del Monte canned vegetables and Progresso soup that Publix was practically giving away. 

[marvholly]

I have a new fav store: dollar Tree

It will be my go to for everything before anything else (exception is fresh produce-they do not have).

Why?  My 3 ediamond nail files have bit the dust (2 revlon, 1 WAG).  Cheapest replacement I found wa Walmart at $2.18 ea.  Dollar Tree had a 4 pack for $1.

[skubikky]

Haven't done a deal at CVS like this in a long time:

Colgate Total $2.99
Colgate Total $2.99
Dawn $0.99
Dawn $0.99
Revlon eyeshadow $3.19
Revlon eyeshadow $1.59(B1 get 1 50% off)

subtotal $12.74
Tax        $0.62

-$5 ECB (from survey)
-$1.99 Revlon CRT
-$3 Revlon MC
-$0.75/2 Dawn MC
-$2 Colgate MC

100% savings, OOP = $0.62 => $2 ECB Colgate

[FreeSalsa]

Hoping for luck at the CVS BF sales today.  Happy shopping, all!

[FreeSalsa]

I had no problem at CVS this time.  I got everything I wanted except for the Ludens cough drops.  Fortunately or unfortunately, I didn't want too much so I got the candy, gum, wipes, and GG veggies.  Just used enough cards to cover my family and didn't go crazy.  I will do the same tomorrow.  My local store shouldn't be too busy, I just hope they have the stock.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! 

[saveinla]

Had a great time shopping the RA BF ad. Got a bunch of free stuff and will go back for more tomorrow.

[Deleted]

I went to CVS's BF sale almost by accident. I just happened to stop by.

I picked up the toothbrushes (always good for charities), the candy, and some Tresseme Keratin Smooth shampoo that was $1.37 after 75% off.  I didn't have a coupon since I've got so much shampoo in the stockpile that I rarely buy any more.  But I'd like to try it, and it was cheap enough.

The shampoo was the only thing that wasn't FAR.  We'll throw the candy in someone's stocking. 

[FreeSalsa]

Nov 26, 2015 15:52:20 GMT -5 saveinla said:

Had a great time shopping the RA BF ad. Got a bunch of free stuff and will go back for more tomorrow.

What did you get?  I didn't see too much that I wanted.  And I forgot how the Plenti points work.  Do you get cash back on a credit card after you reach a certain amount?

[saveinla]

There was a lot of free after points stuff. The points load to your online account and you can use them for the next trip. It also takes the tax in points, so most of the time, you really have zero OOP. I had accumulated 45$ from buying gift cards the previous weeks and I spent 41$ yesterday of the points and got back 45$.

Today I spent 71$ and got back 54$ - this is for 5 Tide, 2 Vaseline lotions, 2 gillette razors, 2 Clear shampoo, 2 Belvita, 2 Wet n Wild nail kits, 2 GE CFL bulb and 2 Sally Hansen nail polish.

I will go back tomorrow and get some more stuff that I want including the planters 3 pk peanuts and Venus razors.

[rubyslippers]

Saveinla, there is a new midweek Rite Aid sale starting Wednesday.   There are a few freebies and a lot of BOGOF items.  I had a lot of fun last week during the black Friday weekend and have been accumulating a lot of points.  This week there is a good deal on Schick disposable razors 2/14.00 and there is an IPQ for $7/2.  I have been receiving a lot of $$ off coupons which helps on each transaction I do.

My Aldi price matches have been more celery and onions for $.69 and a gallon of milk for $1.69.  I haven't been buying a lot of groceries the last couple of weeks but tomorrow I will be getting 4 lb. bags of Domino sugar for $.57 each at Kroger after coupons and senior discount.  I will be looking for a decent price on hams at Meijer as I have $13.00 in rewards to use up and I am really hungry for some good oranges.

 

Most of my Christmas shopping has been online this year and the prices were as good or better than the door busters in the stores. 

Kroger is having quadruple fuel points until the 8th of December and many different stores are offering discounts on gift cards.  I filled up my car yesterday and paid $.72 a gallon using fuel points. 

[marvholly]

Produce prices have been……….outrageous. However, it looks like meat prices (particularly beef & chicken) are sloooowly coming down.

My mailed ad flyers did NOT come on Tue. I have been checking my fav stores online but it is slooow going and there is NOT much I want or need.

[FreeSalsa]

In the last few weeks I was able to get Gold Medal flour for $1.25 after sale and peelie, C&H sugar for 63c after sale and IP, and Friday at Safeway/Vons i got Nestle chocolate chips for $1.50 after Friday 3/$5 sale and one Q.  

I looked for a frozen pizza the was on the B4G$ sale and noticed they had Open Nature (their natural brand) frozen pizzas marked down from $5 to $4, with a 50% markdown since it was nearing the date, so they were $2, I bought 2 and got a cat for $1 off 1 so I bought another, making it $1!  Then I got another Q, and another.  So I got 2 for $2 each and 3 for $1 each.  I could have kept going but I thought my ice cream was probably starting to melt and I had no space in the freezer for the pizzas and ice creams I bought anyway!  

Hope you are all enjoying your holidays and getting good deals!

[rubyslippers]

Last week I got 6 pkgs. of bacon 12 oz. at Meijer for $1.00 OOP after $1.00 digital Q and mperks rewards.  This week I used my Staples reward and MQ to get a 20 pk. of batteries for $2.00 OOP.  Rite Aid had free Lysol products after rewards.  At Kohls I bought a top and fragrance for a little over $2.00 using an anniversary coupon.

Aldi has been having produce on sale that I needed.  They have celery and onions @ $.69 each,  potatoes 10 lb. for $1.49, oranges 4 lb. for $2.49 and pineapple for $.99, and milk for $1.69.   I am hoping to get last minute produce items by Sunday so I don't have to be in ANY store before it gets really crazy before Christmas.

[marvholly]

i am not having family or guests for Christmas so everything 'on sale' this week is WAAAY outside my budget and/or needs.  Going to avoid almost all shopping.  Groceries until after Christmas and other stuff until about Jan 10 for deep discount after holiday sales & returns purchasing.

[FreeSalsa]

At Super King on Wednesday at a one-day only sale I got 73% ground beef for 99c/lb.!!!!!  I haven't seen that price in at least five years.  I bought 15 lb. and have some recipes in mind.

We are having family over so I'm buying things for that.  I don't know what Stove Top stuffing goes for but I almost bought it for $3 a box at Super King.  Then today I found an organic mix marked down at Ralphs for $1.29 so I got that instead.  I needed two so instead of $6 I paid $2.60.  Same with frozen pie crust--I almost got two for $2.99 but found it today for $2.49 without BHT preservatives or food coloring so that made me happy.  I'm sure I can get a better price somewhere but I'm running out of time and don't want to make trips anyway.

I just noticed that marvholly, saveinla, (and probably many others) and I joined this site just about 5 years ago.  And that was after years at the other site.  It's been a long time we've been web buddies!  Hope you are all enjoying your holidays!!

[marvholly]

Who does CVS ‘think’ they are kidding? Last week vitamins & supplements were Buy 1 Get one ½ odd. The week before they were buy one get one for $1. Starting this Sun (12/27) they are again BOGO.

glad that w/my incurance change next week I just get to order this stuff pretty free from their OTC supplier.

[FreeSalsa]

Hi Everybody!!

I hope you all enjoyed your holidays.  I sure did.

Does anyone see any good deals coming up with the first inserts of the year?  Is anyone buying multiples?  Will we be able to get cheap/free dishwasher soap?

[saveinla]

Freesalsa, Check out the rite aid deals starting ths week - there is a promotion to get 10$ back WYB 30 and it doubles with some of the Promos. This week - P&G has a 10$ back WYB 30$ that doubles with the RA promo. So you get 20$ back WYB 30 of P&G stuff.

Makes for Cheap Charmin, Bounty etc, since they are BOGO Free this week and count for the promo and there are 1$ IPQs available.
Bounty may also be generating a cat Q WYB 2 or more. Tide is also cheap this week.

[rubyslippers]

I went to Rite Aid yesterday and got 6 bottles of Tide.  I used $24.00 in points and 6 $2.00 MQ's and got $20.00 back in rewards.  This is a good week to shop at Rite Aid. 

[marvholly]

I looked over the preview of insert coupons for this week this morning. FINALLY! A week it is actually worthwhile to buy the paper. It has been many months.

[murphath]

I did a deal at Rite Aid, too:  6 Pantene shampoo, 2 Tide.  I used $23 in Plenti points and received the $20 Plenti points in return.  Used 2 $5/3 Pantene and 2/$2 off Tide q's.  I actually had enough shampoo to last this year so I guess the 6 Pantene will be for 2017!  I only had two extra detergents in my stash, so the Tide with "tide" me over!

[saveinla]

Next week Rite aid has the deal on Finish dishwasher detergent - same 20$ WYB 30$ worth and there are 2$ coupons coming on 1/3.

I am down to my last 2 boxes stocked from 2010 and need to stock up on these.

[marvholly]

I tried a bag of chopped broccoli from the dollar store. NOT doing that again. It was WAAAAY too heavy on stem pieces & some of them had hard, inedible spots. I have been reasonably happy w/most items but NOT pancake syrup, pancake mix or Italian dressing. Those things I either buy at Aldi or buy name brand on sale w/a coupon.

NOTE:  I don't care for Aldi or any other frozen broccoli either.  Fresh all the way for me.

[FreeSalsa]

I guess I'm missing something.  I don't understand how you get the bonus $10 from RA.  I didn't see Finish as one of the items that gave you the extra 10.  I didn't see Finish Qs in the paper I looked at.  What am I missing?

Second questions--do the Plenti Points accumulate on your RA card or your credit card?  Do they expire?  Can you use them individually or do you have to use all of them at once?

Third questions--why am I up at 4:00 a.m worried about this  

[rubyslippers]

FreeSalsa, I can answer your second questions.  Yes, the PP accumulate on your card and you can start using them the day after you earn them.  You don't have to use them all at once but your total has to be at least $2.00.  They expire in two years after you earn them and it does pay for the tax.  Most times I don't need to have any money on me.  This week I'm working on stocking up on Scott TP and Dove soaps.  Rite Aid also has digital coupons to use.  On their plentidotcom site there are random offers to earn extra points.

[saveinla]

The bonus comes from Special deals they have in January called Starting Points. Every week in Jan, you can buy certain products for 30$ that give 10$ regular and an extra 10$ promotion. Check I heart RA or any deal site and you should see the promo.