2015 Grocery Challenge

[Deleted]

Your comments on meat were interesting, Dancinmama.  Fortunately, I guess, DH doesn't eat much beef.  We usually split a chicken breast or butterfly pork chop.

i have started using less beef in stuff.  A half-pound package of beef makes our chili meaty enough.

[dancinmama]

Jan 28, 2015 21:37:59 GMT -5 southernsusana said:

Your comments on meat were interesting, Dancinmama.  Fortunately, I guess, DH doesn't eat much beef.  We usually split a chicken breast or butterfly pork chop.

i have started using less beef in stuff.  A half-pound package of beef makes our chili meaty enough.

Ya, I'm trying to "convert" DH which is why I'm always stopping by Safeway to see what "sell by date" fish they might have.  In spite of that, I'm not sorry that I stockpiled beef.  My ground turkey/ground beef meatloaf was made with $2.88/lb. ground beef vs. $4.99/lb. ground beef.

Oh, I forgot to ad that DH is active and a pretty big guy - 6'2".  Splitting a chicken breast would certainly work for me, but not for him.

[marvholly]

talking about stores pricing themselves out of business:

I have a local chain. They recently remodeled my store and WAAAAY upscaled w/a smoothie bar, sushi bar, prepared sandwich bar, HUGE ($$)salad bar, olive bar...........This would be GREAT IF my store was located in an area with household incomes to pay the new prices. This store is surrounded by people in section 8 housing getting food assistance.

Dumb. Dumber. Dumbest.

[dancinmama]

Jan 29, 2015 6:42:01 GMT -5 marvholly said:

talking about stores pricing themselves out of business:

I have a local chain. They recently remodeled my store and WAAAAY upscaled w/a smoothie bar, sushi bar, prepared sandwich bar, HUGE ($$)salad bar, olive bar...........This would be GREAT IF my store was located in an area with household incomes to pay the new prices. This store is surrounded by people in section 8 housing getting food assistance.

Dumb. Dumber. Dumbest.

Can EBT cards not be spent on those types of things?  I'm asking cuz I really don't know.

[murphath]

Dancin:

I figured you had a freezer full of beef/chicken.   I don't eat a lot of beef anymore--every now and again I get a hankering for a good cheeseburger but that's about it.  I use ground turkey in all my recipes that call for ground beef.  DH hasn't said a word so I don't think he's really noticed.  Must be the spices I use.   And because he works at so many concerts, etc., he eats many meals there and brings home the leftovers.  I never thought I'd get tired of salmon but after 3 or 4 nights of it, I'm ready for a change.  Our neighbors love it because we're constantly bringing stuff over to them.  The two boys across the street get all (well, mostly all) the deserts.  Jan and Feb are his slow months so we've been eating what I was able to freeze.  Concert season won't begin again until March so I know I'll have to go grocery shopping again.  Ughh! 

Raley's does have Eggland cage free brown eggs on sale this week for $2.99.  There's a q in the 11/2/14 SS that will bring the price down a bit. Also, the Thomas' English muffins are B1G1F.  They're $4.39 at my store so $2.20 each.  There's a .40 q from a couple weeks back which will make them $2 each.  I can get the Open Nature ones at SW for $1.50 each wyb4 but DH loves Thomas' so I may bite the bullet and get those for him.  Fuji apples are also on sale there for .97lb. 

Some of you are probably thinking "those are sale prices??!!" but in this neck of the woods, they sure are.  Apples are usually $2.49-$2.99 lb and they're huge!  I hate that because you're usually paying $2.50 per apple.  Just crazy.  So, if they're medium size, I might get a few of those, too.

If you like the I Can't believe it's not butter, Target cartwheel has 10% download and there are man q's for .50 off (last week's RP, I think).  There was also a Target q (don't know if still there) for $1/2.  I believe their normal price is $2.50ish so you could get them for $1.35 each (must buy 2, of course).  If you bring your own bag and use the Target red card, the price for two would be $2.52 or $1.26 each.  Not as good as Dancin's .99 at GO but my GO NEVER has the deals she gets.  They have some good prices but I've not seen the reductions she's getting.  So jealous.

[973beachbum]

Jan 29, 2015 11:04:44 GMT -5 dancinmama said:

Jan 29, 2015 6:42:01 GMT -5 marvholly said:

talking about stores pricing themselves out of business:

I have a local chain. They recently remodeled my store and WAAAAY upscaled w/a smoothie bar, sushi bar, prepared sandwich bar, HUGE ($$)salad bar, olive bar...........This would be GREAT IF my store was located in an area with household incomes to pay the new prices. This store is surrounded by people in section 8 housing getting food assistance.

Dumb. Dumber. Dumbest.

Can EBT cards not be spent on those types of things?  I'm asking cuz I really don't know.

it depends.   EBT can be used for things like the cold salad bar but not ready to order things like the smoothie bar, hogies or hot foods like fried chicken or soups or rotisserie chickens.  But if the store has some it isn't selling they can put it in the fridge section and slap a cold prepared sticker on it and it will work for EBT.

Seriously why is Mountain Dew and a candy bar okay to pay for with food stamps but a rotisserie chicken or cup of soup is out of the question?

[rubyslippers]

Aldi had a good sale on some vegetables this week and I got 3 pkg. grape tomatoes, 2 pkg. mushrooms and celery for $.69 each. Rite Aid had Post Cereal 2/$5.00 and I used a MQ to get a free gallon of milk. I paid with UPs so got it for free and also got a catalina for another free gallon of milk. I bought a $100.00 JC Penny gift card and received $20.00 in UPs. I paid $1.50 at Meijer after mperk rewards and e-coupons and got 3 shredded cheese, 1 sliced cheese, 1 Philly cheese and a 14 oz. bag of Starbursts. I price matched a local store's bacon for $2.50 lb. and bought 4 for the freezer.

The beef I bought last April from a local farmer is getting low and I put my order in to get some more in March. I carefully watch my stock and serve it only once or maybe twice a week if that much. I don't want to go back to buying beef from the grocery store as there's no comparison. I would like to find a source for free range chicken and put several in my freezer. We do not have a good source for fish so I'm stuck with canned or frozen.

[dancinmama]

Jan 29, 2015 11:47:33 GMT -5 murphath said:

Not as good as Dancin's .99 at GO but my GO NEVER has the deals she gets.  They have some good prices but I've not seen the reductions she's getting.  So jealous.

I think one of the reasons I get better deals at my GO is that it is a small store in a small town.  I've been to the GOs in more metropolitan areas and I very rarely find a killer deal in them.  Occasionally I'll find a deal at the GO near my sister.  That's where I found the bacon. 

That said, I'm not getting near the deals that I used to.  I think more people have caught on to shopping there so the great deals go fast.

[marvholly]

I take back what I said about WAG stocking better. NOT at the WAG I was in on Thur but that one is not one of my usual stores. Would NOT take a raincheck since it is a (free after) RR item which will NOT print after 1/31. Do NOT need it if no RR. Now I have to hit WAG again this week. HATE that.

WOW! There is a good produce market about 2 mi further from me than my DD1. I ONLY go there if I am going to DD1’s. Just read a blurb online that they are opening another location MUCH closer to me. It will be HUGE as it will be in an old Dominick’s (Safeway) store.

[Opti]

Jan 29, 2015 14:37:15 GMT -5 973beachbum said:

Jan 29, 2015 11:04:44 GMT -5 dancinmama said:

Can EBT cards not be spent on those types of things?  I'm asking cuz I really don't know.

it depends.   EBT can be used for things like the cold salad bar but not ready to order things like the smoothie bar, hogies or hot foods like fried chicken or soups or rotisserie chickens.  But if the store has some it isn't selling they can put it in the fridge section and slap a cold prepared sticker on it and it will work for EBT.

Seriously why is Mountain Dew and a candy bar okay to pay for with food stamps but a rotisserie chicken or cup of soup is out of the question?

I often wonder if part of it is store policy. I've been buying Traditional Medicinal tea, the Breathe

Easy version, to keep my sinuses draining. At ShopRite I can buy on EBT, but at Wegman's where

it was cheaper I had to pay OOP. I've also notice reduced items can be a crap shoot depending

on how they sticker them. I have had instances where I could buy a full price version on EBT

but because they didn't use a grocery sticker on the reduced item I could not. I also have a cheap

spatula I bought at discount, reduced price, which surprisingly came up as grocery so it went

against the EBT!

[FreeSalsa]

I stopped in at Ralphs. Bought blueberries for $1.50, organic carrots 99c, brie cheese marked down to $2.99 and this awesome Jarlsberg dip in the deli marked down to $1.99. They've been marking down lots of stuff lately, usually half price as it nears the expiration date. They also had Naked juices that will be $1 after sale and blink coupon right there so I'll go back for those. We walked there and couldn't carry too much home.

[FreeSalsa]

Jan 28, 2015 6:37:47 GMT -5 marvholly said:

I reviewed all the ads for my local stores except my BIG fruit/veg market (posted on Thur).

Looks like the marketing mavens decided since it is Superbowl weekend people will shop & buy regardless of price. NOT this cat. I can and WILL wait. NOTHING I need that bad, esp since I read yesterday that pork prices should be coming down & chicken prices (at least here in the mid-west) generally come down in the spring.

I found a lot of mark downs in the deli on cheese, deli meats, veggie trays and the like at Ralphs, probably because of the game so check those.  If we were having people over we might have gotten some.

[FreeSalsa]

Bummer news on my dried fruit.  First reminder is that I get my organic fruit free from a local market (stuff they pull off the sales shelf) and I dry a lot of it.  Second reminder is that I just moved into a house that is not well sealed and has lots of bugs in it.  Well…some moths found the dried fruit, which, in hindsight, was not very well wrapped against bugs and…well, you can imagine all the moths and little baby moth worms we found in there.  Gross!  And disappointing.  Not just lost food, but so much time and electricity lost cutting and peeling and drying fruit.   

I'm trying to brush it off but we lost a lot of fruit.  The good news is that they were on two different shelves and they left the other shelf alone.  So we lost one full box that was mostly bananas, my least favorite, and one box that we had been eating from so there wasn't much in it.  The other two that were fine were full, so let's say I lost 35% of my stash.  We will have to look at better storage for the survivors. 

[dancinmama]

Jan 28, 2015 6:37:47 GMT -5 marvholly said:

Looks like the marketing mavens decided since it is Superbowl weekend people will shop & buy regardless of price. NOT this cat. I can and WILL wait. NOTHING I need that bad, esp since I read yesterday that pork prices should be coming down & chicken prices (at least here in the mid-west) generally come down in the spring.

Yep, I've been noticing this with the ads for the last 2 or 3 years.  The prices for chips, soda, etc. are cheaper than usual, but not by much.

[dancinmama]

Jan 30, 2015 19:24:15 GMT -5 FreeSalsa said:

Bummer news on my dried fruit.  First reminder is that I get my organic fruit free from a local market (stuff they pull off the sales shelf) and I dry a lot of it.  Second reminder is that I just moved into a house that is not well sealed and has lots of bugs in it.  Well…some moths found the dried fruit, which, in hindsight, was not very well wrapped against bugs and…well, you can imagine all the moths and little baby moth worms we found in there.  Gross!  And disappointing.  Not just lost food, but so much time and electricity lost cutting and peeling and drying fruit.   

I'm trying to brush it off but we lost a lot of fruit.  The good news is that they were on two different shelves and they left the other shelf alone.  So we lost one full box that was mostly bananas, my least favorite, and one box that we had been eating from so there wasn't much in it.  The other two that were fine were full, so let's say I lost 35% of my stash.  We will have to look at better storage for the survivors. 

So sorry to hear that.  At least what was lost was mostly your least fav.

[marvholly]

Free Salsa

I have a bunch of fresh cranberries that I would like to dry since ALL my cranberry recipies call for dried.
Can I do it in a low oven. I promise to store in a screw cap jar.

[Happy prose]

This is the last day of the sale in Shoprite, but a good one. They have the Carvel football cake on sale for $9.99. There's a $5 coupon out there, make the cake $5. Great price for Carvel cake. Usually there little tiny cake is $13.

[rubyslippers]

I had rewards at Meijer I wanted to use and they had some awesome mperks that went with their sale this weekend, 5%, 10%, and 15% off of different categories and also percentage off coupons on top of that. I had $10.00 in rewards and got a 1 lb. bag of walnuts, 2 pkg. yeast, baking soda, 1 can of green chilies, 3 Suave lotions, and 2 Dove shampoo/conditioners for free. The lotions and shampoo were part of spend $15.00 save $5.00. My total on those 5 products came to $15.15 after 5% off, less $5.00 instant, less $10.00 in MQ's in last week's inserts. My total for 5 was $.15 but I used my rewards and digital coupons and got it all free. I also found some baby clothes on clearance and got a little onsie and a little shirt for a total of $.74 after all discounts. That store was an absolute zoo due to a storm we're getting this weekend and also because of the Super Bowl. I would've liked to look around a little but not with that crowd and shopping carts coming and going in all directions.

Marvholly, check out youtube for drying fruits in the oven. I dry my herbs that way and I know someone who dries vegetables. I dry herbs on a rack on top of a cookie sheet on very low heat for a couple of hours.

[973beachbum]

Jan 30, 2015 9:29:22 GMT -5 Opti said:

Jan 29, 2015 14:37:15 GMT -5 973beachbum said:

it depends.   EBT can be used for things like the cold salad bar but not ready to order things like the smoothie bar, hogies or hot foods like fried chicken or soups or rotisserie chickens.  But if the store has some it isn't selling they can put it in the fridge section and slap a cold prepared sticker on it and it will work for EBT.

Seriously why is Mountain Dew and a candy bar okay to pay for with food stamps but a rotisserie chicken or cup of soup is out of the question?

I often wonder if part of it is store policy. I've been buying Traditional Medicinal tea, the Breathe

Easy version, to keep my sinuses draining. At ShopRite I can buy on EBT, but at Wegman's where

it was cheaper I had to pay OOP. I've also notice reduced items can be a crap shoot depending

on how they sticker them. I have had instances where I could buy a full price version on EBT

but because they didn't use a grocery sticker on the reduced item I could not. I also have a cheap

spatula I bought at discount, reduced price, which surprisingly came up as grocery so it went

against the EBT!

Those things are cashier driven.  Reduced gets a sticker and the cashier puts in grocery or grocery-non food type of thing themselves.  I would say 90% of those things at my store are regular food grocery items so it becomes real easy to just hit buttons on auto pilot.  it is also the one thing that really can't be checked afterwards.  They can come back and say I wrong  up a WIC order wrong or messed up some coupons, but there really is no way after the fact to know if a reduced item was really rung up using the right dept after the fact.

And no one ever complains if something goes through.

[FreeSalsa]

Jan 31, 2015 7:39:31 GMT -5 marvholly said:

Free Salsa

I have a bunch of fresh cranberries that I would like to dry since ALL my cranberry recipies call for dried.
Can I do it in a low oven. I promise to store in a screw cap jar.

You can.  I looked up a couple quick recipes and they say you should blanch (but not boil) them first to make the skins pop.  Yes, please put them in a jar!  I don't think there are enough jars in the state to store all mine but I will look for some!

[FreeSalsa]

Yesterday I went back to Ralphs and got the Naked juices for $1 each after sale and blinkie.  
We got deli chicken and mac and cheese marked down half price.  
Chiobani Greek 100 yogurt was free after Friday freebie digital coupon.  
Tombstone pizzas 4/$10.  
16 oz. brick cheese $3.50 store brand.
Blueberries 2/$3.  DH really wanted them last week when they were 2/$5 but I said we had to wait.
Avocados 59c
But the best was the La Brea Bakery French bread loaves marked down to 79c and I had 75c Qs expiring that day!  I didn't think I'd get a chance to use them but I did.  They are a bit hard but I heated one in the oven and it softened up.  For 4c a loaf you can't complain.  The rest we cut up and put in the freezer.  I can't wait to make bruschetta in the summer.  I'm starting my Roma tomato seeds shortly.

At Wags I used my cashed-out CVS GC and got the KY MM after RR and with it bought Jergens lotion 10 oz. $1.70 after Qs and a 3-pack of Extra gum marked down to $1.19 as a filler, so about 40c ea., not bad.  I haven't seen any good deals on lotion for a long time and I was just about out.

[murphath]

After running some errands yesterday and getting home late, DH told me he was out of deodorant and razors. He swore up and down that he had seen some in the garage (Murph Mart) but all of a sudden, they were gone. Since Murph Mart is used by many others (our kids and their significant others), I was not surprised. But this called for some quick action. Raley's had sent me a $5/$25 q so I cobbled the following:

2 Bic Flex disposable razors: $14.98

2 GEAR deodorant: $10.58

Total: $25.56 + tax

Minus: ($16.78)

$5 Raley's q

$7.49 BOG1F Bic q

$4.29 BOG1F GEAR q (max value of q; actual price $5.29!)

Total:  $8.78 + tax

Not my best work, but it had to do at the last minute.  Can't have a stinky, unshaven DH running around.

I noticed we're almost out of mouthwash so will have to look for some deals there as well.

[dancinmama]

I went to Nob Hill today to stockpile Dr. Pepper @ $2.60/12 pk. (Buy 2/Get 3 Free) - not great, but I thought it might be the best that I'd see all year.  The soda guy surprised me and put $1/2 peelies on some of the 12 pks. so I was able to stockpile for $2.10/12 pk. instead!!  I haven't seen soda that cheap in a very long time.  I buy regular because it has a longer expiration date (today's was OCT/15).  Then as the months pass, I exchange it for diet.  It's kind of a PITA, but it's the only way I can do it.

When I couponed at CVS, the price was higher per 12 pk. but with coupons, $/$$, and EBs, I used to NEVER pay OOP for soda.

Those were the days my friend.....

[dancinmama]

Feb 1, 2015 11:49:58 GMT -5 murphath said:

After running some errands yesterday and getting home late, DH told me he was out of deodorant and razors. He swore up and down that he had seen some in the garage (Murph Mart) but all of a sudden, they were gone. Since Murph Mart is used by many others (our kids and their significant others), I was not surprised. But this called for some quick action. Raley's had sent me a $5/$25 q so I cobbled the following:

2 Bic Flex disposable razors: $14.98

2 GEAR deodorant: $10.58

Total: $25.56 + tax

Minus: ($16.78)

$5 Raley's q

$7.49 BOG1F Bic q

$4.29 BOG1F GEAR q (max value of q; actual price $5.29!)

Total:  $8.78 + tax

Not my best work, but it had to do at the last minute.  Can't have a stinky, unshaven DH running around.

I noticed we're almost out of mouthwash so will have to look for some deals there as well.

Maybe not your best, but still pretty darn good!!

I would have loved to have gotten a $5/$25 from Raley's/Nob Hill.  Was it snail mail or email?  I don't shop there very much so maybe that's why.

[marvholly]

I am guessing there will be a LOT of deli, rotis chicken, meat, produce..........clearance in metro Chicago today. We got hit with 17.5 inches of snow + high winds giving us 2-3 foot drifts.

It is COLD out there (10)& I will NOT be going anywhere.

[murphath]

Dancin:

It was via the mail--probably because they just completed the store renovation. Since DH's original total was over $25, there was another $5/$25 CRT. I did sign up for their loyalty program "Something Extra" because every now and again, they give me something good. They also give you $5 coupon for every $500 you spend. In all of last year I spent $326 there. Mostly because I only buy what's on sale. That's a place where I am really disciplined. Kelloggs cereals are $5.59 box! I just wait until they do the $1.49 ea wyb 4 and use the $1 IP q's from Kelloggsfamily rewards. Big diff between .49 ea and $5.59 ea.!

I will be going there this week as they gave me .25 off lb. bananas (up to 3 lbs), $1.25 off $6 or more produce purchase; and 20% off produce purchase. Fuji apples are on sale for .87 lb so I'll get some of those and 2lbs. strawberries are $4.99. I'm going to try to keep the total under $6/$7 when all said and done.

[dancinmama]

murphath:  Thanks for letting me know. 

Yesterday when I was in Safeway looking for last date of sale fish, I noticed a 1.15 lb. package of Dover sole (one of my favs) dated today.  I rather doubted that people would be picking up Dover sole for the Super Bowl, so I decided to take a field trip to Safeway in hopes of getting it for 50% off and sure enough, it was still there.

Near the registers there was a table display of Super Bowl cakes.  The regular price was $9.99, but they were selling them for $2.  I can barely bake and frost a cake for that myself, so I grabbed one.  It's not as good as home made, but not bad.

[chiver78]

so I took a breather from unpacking and wandered over to the Market Basket near the Sagamore Bridge to get some basics and check the place out. I got a lot of stuff for about $100, and I can easily see myself stocking up on things there. I wasn't very impressed with the produce department though, so will be leaning heavily on farmer's markets in warmer weather. the layout of the store was pretty odd, too. cooler cases around the majority of the perimeter of the store and produce in the back corner? interesting. that will take some getting used to.

[TheHaitian]

Feb 3, 2015 16:02:16 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

so I took a breather from unpacking and wandered over to the Market Basket near the Sagamore Bridge to get some basics and check the place out. I got a lot of stuff for about $100, and I can easily see myself stocking up on things there. I wasn't very impressed with the produce department though, so will be leaning heavily on farmer's markets in warmer weather. the layout of the store was pretty odd, too. cooler cases around the majority of the perimeter of the store and produce in the back corner? interesting. that will take some getting used to.

Nnnnnnnnoooooooooo

[chiver78]

Feb 3, 2015 16:15:40 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Feb 3, 2015 16:02:16 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

so I took a breather from unpacking and wandered over to the Market Basket near the Sagamore Bridge to get some basics and check the place out. I got a lot of stuff for about $100, and I can easily see myself stocking up on things there. I wasn't very impressed with the produce department though, so will be leaning heavily on farmer's markets in warmer weather. the layout of the store was pretty odd, too. cooler cases around the majority of the perimeter of the store and produce in the back corner? interesting. that will take some getting used to.

Nnnnnnnnoooooooooo

lol...and that is in response to which piece of my post?